Any Ham Radio Operators here?

[Hangtime]

Just curious...  got my ticket awhile back, was wondering if any others 'had the privilege'. Possibly get an 'O-club' round table going down on the low bands....

Hang
Fat Drunk Bastard
W1NBS

[GtoRA2]

Heya Hang! Longtime no see!

You still selling Batteries? The ones you made for the M26 I built are still going strong!

[Hangtime]

Yup... still crankin 'em out. That Tank still scarin the hell outta stray cats? LOL!  Nice project, that wuz.

Hang

[ROX]

Hi!

I put up a post but few answered.

Meatwad in Illinois is also a ham.

I am K5TEN.  Love the low bands.  Now that the sunspot cycle is bottomed out they are a good place to be.  My Yaeseu 757 GX mkII needs repair.  I am going to have it fixed soon.  I have nothing up for 160 right now, but I'll get a Alpha-Delta double sloper for 40-160 and put up another 40M dipole for everything else.

I've worked a lot of DX on 75M.  Now that we're on even par with the rest of the planet as far as priveledges are concerned, I am studying and plan to up grade to Extra within a year.



ROX

[olddobe]

I've been a ham for about 25 years now.I run a Yaesu 990,with a trap vertical.I'm not active anymore,as I lost interest a little bit after I made extra class.My call is AB7AG,but like I say I haven't been on in long while.I suppose by now morse code is gone,and I guess that's what caused me to quit.Might as well use my rig for boat anchor!bah!You fellows get a freq. and band figured out,I might try to get back to you,if I can figure out how to turn on my rig!
Dobe

[Hangtime]

LOL...

"I suppose by now morse code is gone,and I guess that's what caused me to quit."

Most government buildings are plastered with Latin... with the vast majority of us Americans not being conversant in Latin; I guess that makes us all unworthy Americans?

No... morse is not dead. Still very much alive.. but as the 'language of radio'... well; for the few guys out there still hammering away exclusively on their keys about 'paradise lost', I guess the rest of the planet is 'unworthy of communicating with'... and it seems to annoy them no end that the rest of us are doing pretty well with our gear working the world via Voice, Digital Modes and the Internet.

I got interested right after Katrina... when it became exceedingly obvious (to me, anyway) that having a communications system that can save lives (particularly my families) when the traditional communications networks (cell, landline and road) fail under duress.... well, lets just say that having long range radio capabilities are a vital survival skill.

So, I got my 'ticket'.

And, what started out as 'survival skill familiarization' turned into a pretty kewl hobby... I enjoy 80m voice late at night; lots of good ragchew groups out there. With a kilowatt signal I can work the planet... I also enjoy the equipment... getting 'studio quality' voice communications outta sideband gear was a challenge... I'm having a blast; the majority of the folks I encounter out there on the air are interesting folks and the ability to gain and act on info not commonly disseminated via the traditional media is enlighting.

You should get that Yaesu 990 back on the air... that's a very nice rig; and using yer lungs instead of your fist on a key won't make you a bad operator.

73's

Hang

 

 

[Captfish]

As a captain i use a SSB to talk with fellow ships does that count 
I have a ICOM IC-M700 Pro SSB.

Frequency coverage: Receive 500 kHz–29.999 MHz Transmit 1.6– 2.9999 MHz 4.0– 4.9999 MHz 6.0– 6.9999 MHz 8.0– 8.9999 MHz 12.0–13.9999 MHz 16.0–17.9999 MHz 18.0–19.9999 MHz 22.0–22.9999 MHz 25.0–27.5000 MHz

[Hawk78th]

QSL?          hmmm... may have ta put the Kenwood Twins back in operation again  (last thought about them approx 5 yrs ago)......

<-- Wonders what the 10m band will do... sunspots killed my fun so I kinda let it go....

QRX?

73

[Hangtime]

W1NBS; QRZed?

Good news... the 'band' is opening again... 10 has been open again (sporadically, but solid during greyline) for the last few weeks; cycle hit bottom this past winter, and it's on the way back up.

And the 'twins!!' ahhh, now THAT's real radio gear.

I have a Kenwood TS-830S.. tube finals. Glass certainly kicks ass. Currently in line here in the shack is a Kenwood
TS-870, TS-850SAT and TS-940SAT. For the 'club monkey' bands, (2m, 440) I have a lil Kenwood TR-741A, and out in the 'mobile' there's a Yaesu 857D. Out in the shop, there's a TS-570DG

I have a veritable 'antenna farm' goin... Cushcraft MA5B 5 band beam (20-10m), a Double Bazooka and a Windom up for the low bands and some home brew beams and verticals for 10m. To push the signal around a bit, there's an Ameritron AL-80B... I'm usually heard when I throw for QRO.. "hello... moscow calling..." I love 'crushing' Russians.   Muahahahhaaaa!

Hope to hear yah out there...

73's!

Hang

[Meatwad]

KG9JZ here, advanced class.

HF is an Icom Ic-706 (the original) with a butternut HF-9vx vertical in need of replacement, its missing a few parts plus the impedience coil at the base. Good ol antenna tuner fixed that

Do a lot of packet and some voice. Every once in a while I will run packet on 20 meters but I am on VHF all the time. Favorite is to work 6 meters when it is open

[ROX]

CQ DE K5TEN K


While CW is no longer required to get your ticket it is still VERY much in use.  Whats nice is the CW portions of the bands aren't as crowded as they used to be.  The juciest DX is still on CW in the bottom 15 kHz of each band--making getting your extra (I'm working on it) a great thing.  There are so many new digital modes it's not even funny.  Some of these can be picked up by computer at a signal strength not barely audible to the "naked" ear.

We also all have more privelidge space.  Go to arrl.org and download all the new band maps and band plans.  If you are a General class, you picked up more SSB space on most of the HF bands.

I also have a pair of Kenwood Twins.  If any of you (licenced) guys are interested in buying them let me know.  I'd give you first shot before I ebay them.  I also have a Kenwood TS-700A 2M all mode I'm going to unload as well as an old legal limit + all HF amplifier I'm going to sell.  

I love my old Yaeseu 757GX mkII--it's unlocked from 10 kHz all the way to 29.999.  I loved being on of the first on 60M when we got the OK to operate there.  

My new 5-Land QSL Bureau sorter says I have 15 cards...hopefully there are at least 3 more new countries in there.  I'm only that many away from DXCC (hey, it only took since 1981 to do it)!  

I'm not active until I get the Yaesu repaired.

I really miss DXing on 160 to 20 M!  30M is one of my favorite bands!  There's an EXCELLENT wire antenna with gain for 30M I plan to put up.  There's some awesome DX on that band.

I'm very much into 10-10, and try to enter as many contests as I can.  The ARRL 10M Contest is my favorite!  I came in 1st in AR in 2002 and 5th in the Division that year SSB/Low Power.  10-10 is a blast and you make a ton of long-time friends.  Getting your VP number is a HUGE accomplishment.  As you can tell from my callsign, 10M is my favorite band.  Welcome back sunspots!

There is not much that can be better than on a cold winters night--no other lights on in the shack--scanning the lower end of 160 for a hauntingly echo-like CW signal and working some long-haul DX!  (Unless it's breaking the pile-up on Khazakstan on the first call on 10M in a contest).

Working the Russians over the pole on 20 through the Aurora Borealis was a hoot!  Watery sounding signals that all sounded like BORAT.

I found a way to make a 6 element quad beam for 10M using pvc electric pipe and wire.  I had it up between 2 70' pine trees (static, non-turnable) pointed toward EU/Africa.  That sucker was AWESOME!  Cost less than $100 to build.  Use pvc conduit for the spreaders and a heavy-duty W2AU balun.  100w going in sounded like 2,500w going out.

Had a 40M loop antenna up back then too...top was 70' suspended between two trees and using door springs to keep it square.  It was VERY quiet and worked plenty of DX with just 100 watts.  Once I unload all the old equipment I'll get an Ameritron amp and get that antenna back up.

Anybody have WAS?  DXCC?  10-10 VP number?

What's your best QRP contact?

Anyone have a great novice story to tell?

What's your oldest piece of boat anchor equipment?

Ever work a "celebrity" ham?



Back when Air Warrior was king, there were a group of guys on the East Coast that used an 75M frequency for game VOX!  The folks who thought the "kills" were for real had a real shock!



Let's keep this going!

CQ Meatwad!


73


ROX
K5TEN  



K

[ROX]

PS-- How about we get a 75 meter net going this fall?  I'm in AR so I can hear both coasts.




ROX

[ROX]

As a captain i use a SSB to talk with fellow ships does that count 
I have a ICOM IC-M700 Pro SSB.

Frequency coverage: Receive 500 kHz–29.999 MHz Transmit 1.6– 2.9999 MHz 4.0– 4.9999 MHz 6.0– 6.9999 MHz 8.0– 8.9999 MHz 12.0–13.9999 MHz 16.0–17.9999 MHz 18.0–19.9999 MHz 22.0–22.9999 MHz 25.0–27.5000 MHz

Hi Captain!   


Maritime Mobile operators are a great thing.  Many a time there is an emergency and hams are more than happy to help.

The only problem is when maritime mobile operators decide that ham radio bands can be operated on without a licence.  We have a lot of interlopers on our bands (Russian, Korean, and South American fishing vessels have been a problem) and it can be dissapointing to be in a conversation and have unlicenced folks show up and interfere.

If you can, look into getting a ham licence (THOUSANDS of folks are willing to help you).  Then you can legally get on the ham bands and have fun with us.  The maritime mobile (Ham) frequency is 14.313 mHz. 

Besides, if you get into trouble there are plenty of hams on to help!  We have since the Titanic disaster.



ROX

[Meatwad]

Wonder what would happen if 75 meters was used for game vox again?


Just checked, 6 meters is dead

Here is my setup

HF - Icom IC-706 original plus Butternut HF-9VX vertical and MFJ 949E tuner. Also an MFj 1278 TNC for packet/data

VHF/UHF voice-  Yaesu FT-7100 and an Opek hy gain vertical (8.4db VHF, 12.8 UHf)

Packet - Alinco ALR-22HTE 45 watt model hooked to a Kantronics 9612+ TNC also running Knet node software (Diamind 6db vertical)

Packet - HTX-202 5 watt HT plus HL-35V 35 watt amp into a Kantronics KAM currently running a JNOS bbs on an old Pentium II pc through Linux (running 2.5 watts through a small vertical)

In standby is an MFJ 1274 tnc with an eeprom of TheNet node software. That I am planning (hoping) to use plus some hardware I can come across with to put up a packet node somewhere. Trying to get a packet network running from indiana to missouri one node/system at a time

Mobile is an Icom Ic-2200 (I think, 65 watt model) plus an Opek 5.2 db mobile antenna

[BillyD]

Haven't hammed in years got my General Class when I was 13. I have to assume it has long expired, but it was a great experience and bond to share in what turned out sadly to be the last years of my fathers life. We used to drive around with a 10m radio. I talked to Britain, Germany, Finland all kinds of places when the sunspots got the ionisphere all riled up. I remember using 2m repeaters, and Packet radio ( early wormhole style internet ) and doing " field day " staying up all night CQ ing on 20m or 40m. I almost mastered that dang paddle style morse sender too

My callsign was KA3WEK, and my late father was KA3WJK. We graduated "novice" class together and I kept my callsign thru technician and general. He passed and I never really picked it up ever again but maybe one day.

Man this brings back great memories of the Pottstown Area Repeater Team meetings w/ donuts and my Morse code mentor Rolf jespersen  ( N3LA ). He was a norweigan navy radio operator and no lie the guy could send and recieve morse code at upwards of 40 wpm or more


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