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[#] Tue Mar 18 2014 19:39:20 EDT from Sig

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Sorry, I haven't had a need yet. I just got my lotw certificate today, haven't even installed it.

[#] Wed Mar 19 2014 01:27:14 EDT from vince-q <vince-q@ns1.netk2ne.net>

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For those interested in a quick and easy multiband wire antenna...

Just buy a 4:1 current balun (roughly $30 from HRO).
And about 150' of 14 gauge stranded copper wire.
And two end-insulators, about 150 ft of decent rope.
And a strategically located tree with a "tie point" about 40' above the ground.

Cut one length of wire 95' and the other 45'.
Use 1' off each end of the wire to tie off - one end on one of the insulators the other on one side of the balun - repeat for the other wire.
Erect center (the balun) at roughly 40' above ground, and bring the two "legs" (the wires) down so they make a 120 degree angle and tie them off so the ends of the wire are roughly 10' above ground.

Feed the balun with good 50 ohm coax (RG8 or RG8X) straight down toward the ground, then at a 90 degr angle into your building.

Should work on 80m, 40m, 20m, and 10m WITHOUT an antenna tuner, and the other HF bands with minimal "intrusion" from a tuner.

Total cost - about fifty bucks.
Buy it from a "ham store" (??) for anywhere from $150 to $225.
Or do it my way (see the preceeding) and save $75 to $175.

--K2NE (the antenna guy!)

[#] Wed Mar 19 2014 13:26:34 EDT from vince-q <vince-q@ns1.netk2ne.net>

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Two Meters (144 to 148 Mhz), even when using FM, can be magical.

Of course, it helps to have "a mountain under you" and I am at 2600 ft ASL.


So here's a tidbit or three...

1) yesterday I managed to get into a repeater in Roseville from here. About 70 miles. Full quieting into the machine.

2) then later yesterday I worked a guy down in Chico (about 20 miles) who told me I was "the strongest signal he's ever heard" on 2 meters at his QTH.

3) then this morning I worked a guy who was on I-5 going north just above Corning - about 70 miles from here - with about 80% quieting both ways until he went out of range (or behind a hill - same thing).

The hardware here is a Kenwood TM281A running 65 watts into a discone antenna about 25' above the ground.

Basic rig, even *more* basic antenna, feeding the antenna with non-exotic (cheap!) RG58 "Radio Shack" coax.

As I intimated at the beginning of this note - this mountain is ***magic*** on VHF!

I simply can't **wait** to get the six meter stuff (50 MHz) up and running!!!

--K2NE


[#] Wed Mar 19 2014 22:50:31 EDT from ax25

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Sat Mar 15 2014 11:16:19 AM EDT from Sig @ Uncensored
Received a QSL card for a signal report I gave for the N5FUN beacon in Texas. I'd picked it up just for a few minutes on an untuned wire (roughly 1/2 wave) haning out of my window. My wife is utterly unimpressed by all of my radio gear, but thinks
the idea of getting a postcard from someone I've communicated with is magical.

I am afraid my wife would find that the most interesting bit of my hobby as well.  Told her just now, and she giggled and said "that's me".

 



[#] Tue Apr 01 2014 21:25:54 EDT from Sig

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We're planning a road trip to South Dakota in the not-too-distant future.
Not super excited about spending that much time in the car, but I should be able to find some time to do radio. All of my HF gear fits in a medium-sized camera bag, so I might get in some hiking, too.

[#] Wed Apr 02 2014 00:52:49 EDT from ax25

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Tue Apr 01 2014 09:25:54 PM EDT from Sig @ Uncensored
We're planning a road trip to South Dakota in the not-too-distant future.
Not super excited about spending that much time in the car, but I should be able to find some time to do radio. All of my HF gear fits in a medium-sized camera bag, so I might get in some hiking, too.

Sounds like a QSO Sig.  Do you plan on hauling some HF gear?  If so, I should bone up on getting my General license so I can talk to you outside of sporadic contacts on 10M data.  If you get close to the border of Minnesota, the data landscape is a bit more broad:

http://14567.org/

Still slow speed for the wide coverage, but we are trying.  Keep in touch if you find any ah-ha moments that you can share on easy ways to make it simple for expanding coverage that will involve the local ham like the early days of packet did.  Hell, just let me know any wild plans you may have...  I would be willing to entertain them all as I have some folks that would entertain most SWAG thoughts :-)



[#] Wed Apr 02 2014 11:13:33 EDT from Sig

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General class is next on my list after I test for CEH (this week) and Security+ (in a few weeks). I listen on all sorts of bands, transmit relatively rarely.

[#] Mon Apr 21 2014 00:47:31 EDT from vince-q <vince-q@ns1.netk2ne.net>

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I am copying beacon stations on six meters (low-power CW sigs) and so far the furthest is 180 miles from here.

This is not spectacular in and of itself.

What *makes* it spectacular is that I am only using my HF off-center fed inverted vee - **not** a six meter antenna.

This mountain is absolutely ***magical*** !!!

So....

The six meter monster array project is now "on the table" and I've started a few tentative designs. This will be a fixed-direction very high gain array with a wide H-plane pattern and a **lot** of compression in the vertical plane (which is how the system will develop its gain). I'm thinking an array of "many" small yagis, or perhaps a return to the collinear curtain design.

The array will be pointed on a heading of (roughly) 185 degr (just slightly to the west of due south).

This puts it on line with the San Diego area and into Mexico for weak-signal work (tropo scatter and meteor-burst).

Yes. It works. And yes - the distance is attainable. As the saying goes... "been there, done that."

--K2NE

[#] Thu Apr 24 2014 04:41:36 EDT from vince-q <vince-q@ns1.netk2ne.net>

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It looks like we might actually be able to get the first half of the six meter "monster antenna" up in the air and usable by mid-summer.

That will be four 3-element yagis in an H-frame configuration with the "center of the H" at roughly 30 ft above ground.

Please remember that we are on a 2,600 ft mountain with that wonderful "clear shot" to the SSW direction (optimal for what we want to do on "six").

Fingers are crossed.... ;)

--K2NE

[#] Fri Apr 25 2014 16:00:44 EDT from ax25

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Thu Apr 24 2014 04:41:36 AM EDTfrom vince-q @ Cascade Lodge BBS
...

Please remember that we are on a 2,600 ft mountain with that wonderful "clear shot" to the SSW direction (optimal for what we want to do on "six").

Fingers are crossed.... ;)
And that would be... interfere with older baby monitors in the SSW part of the US of A :-)
Just kidding of course.
 


[#] Sat May 03 2014 00:06:34 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

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We're planning a road trip to South Dakota in the not-too-distant
future.

Say hi to Stan Gibilisco for me.

[#] Tue May 06 2014 15:29:54 EDT from Sig

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I never did pull the radio out but once. Herding the children, wife, and dog en route there and back took up a lot of energy, and once we were there, we mostly drank a lot of coffee and talked. I did sit on my aunt's back porch and tap into their steel dog run as an antenna; SWR was negligible according to my radio, but I didn't really have the time or energy to really dig into it for more than a few mintues.

[#] Sun May 11 2014 23:27:27 EDT from ax25

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Rangling kids does take a bit of time.  Though I would have more as they got older, but alas, not the case.  Hobby by the wayside at present.



[#] Sat May 17 2014 00:49:32 EDT from Sig

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I'm going to MD by myself for work for the first few weeks of June, so I am probably going to bring all of my mobile kit and try again. Also promised myself a visit to the National Electronics Museum. It being June, I have no interest in the capital mall this time, but I'm told there are other things worth seeing in that time zone during my free time.

[#] Mon May 19 2014 23:39:44 EDT from vince-q

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Heh - thunderboomers abound. So all the rigs are firmly disconnected from the multitude of antennas and I'm "strictly HT" for the duration. Not too bad - 2m FM and 70 cm FM and a bunch of repeaters in range from here on the Mountain.

Gotta love those little BaoFeng toys - especially the $35 to $40 price range for the UV-5R which is the one I have.

--K2NE

[#] Thu May 22 2014 07:24:23 EDT from vince-q <vince-q@ns1.netk2ne.net>

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Well, we survived the round of Donner Und Blitzen the other night with no problems. Connectivity to the local repeaters (and some not so local) with the BaoFeng UV-5R and the aftermarket 144/450 flexible antenna was easy. From the back deck I can "hit" the NorCal linked-system through the Cohasset Mountain input (34/94 on 2m) and the Marysville repeater, although 50 miles from here, is another easy "hit."

Lots of interesting stuff on 450 (70 cm) including the CARLA linked system, but the weather does strangeness on 450. Heck, that band can be strange enough *without* any "help" from the WX...

--K2NE

[#] Sat Jun 14 2014 15:08:15 EDT from Sig

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National Electronics Museum was kind of neat, though it tended to focus mostly on products developed or built locally in Baltimore (i.e. the things that businesses or people donated), so there were a lot of radars and jamming displays and whatnot, but there was a communications gallery with a very nice amateur radio setup, and a few odds and ends. Took the obligatory picture of their Enigma.

I brought all of my gear, but haven't been adventurous enough to take it out. Setup in the hotel room is pretty mediocre in terms of reception (on a half wave wire dipole), of course, but I've ironed out most of the weirdnesses with my Linux Mint laptop, the Signalink USB interface, the CAT interface, and the radio itself (a Yaesu FT-817ND). They all seem to be playing nicely together, finally.

Part of the issue is that a) the weather has been very muggy with occasional thunderstorms (albeit usually while I'm at work) and b) I've had a persistent cough/allergies since I arrived 11 days ago. I bought significantly more aggressive OTC medications today and am feeling a heck of a lot better. We'll see how it goes from here.

Also studying to take my General class license test in a week and a half or so, the Tuesday before Field Day. Hoping to make contact with the Radio CLub of Tacoma, one of the longest running clubs on the West coast, and maybe help out with their activities this year.

[#] Sun Jun 15 2014 02:57:13 EDT from vince-q <vince-q@ns1.netk2ne.net>

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Also studying to take my General class license test in a week and a

half or so, the Tuesday before Field Day. Hoping to make contact with

the Radio CLub of Tacoma, one of the longest running clubs on the West

coast, and maybe help out with their activities this year.




Good luck on the "G" test!!!
And have fun on Field Day. I'll be with the W6EK club field day this year, and as soon as I can locate a 2 meter ssb transceiver, starting assembly of the large fixed array on 2m up on the mountain.

--K2NE

[#] Mon Jun 16 2014 08:58:50 EDT from fleeb

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I dunno if you're still in the area, Sig, but we're due to have a bright, sun-shiny day today. Then, more storms.

[#] Tue Jun 17 2014 01:30:25 EDT from ax25

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Damn, field day again?



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