Don't be breathing it ! I ordered an Icom 880d D-star radio yesterday . Damn sight cheaper then a 2820. With a d-star module those go for almost a grand. The 880 is under 5.

have you 2 ham'r heads seen this video....
Climbing A 1,768 Foot Transmission Tower.

apparently the vid is getting pulled a bunch of places because this guy is breaking safety rules left-right and center.

excellent training aid for teenagers looking for something to prove because, "look how easy it is." i'm talking about the ones that outgrew skinny jeans and skateboards last week but still require a punch in the face, this is perfect. it needs to go out to all points.

Homebrew tube amp, 6AB4, works great. Nice gain, the A and B scales on the scope are .1 and .5 V/div. I'm going to build an oscillator next, I'll have a homebrew Tx on 80M by the New Year.



That's the tube kinda blurry on the left.

Going to the Gray hamfest in the morning.

How was it?

Finally got the picture I wanted.

What's the point when you have nothing worthwhile to say?

Homebrew VFO works. Kinda.

I recently took my Yaesu FT 1000 mp field to a local repairman. He was aces !!! He had a homemade SDR radio sitting on his bench monitoring 30 meters. He did everything from scratch including the circuit boards !

What was the story with the FT1k?

I'm going the other direction with tube circuits. I changed things a bit in the VFO, and I am out of the dog whistle frequencies, dead in the AM broadcast band. I think I will switch gears and modulate this through a 6AQ5 and make an AM transmitter so I can listen to computer and XM radio music, etc. over the ancient history AM receivers I have.

I'll bet SDR is lots of fun to play with. You got me thinking, if I need a software project, that would be a great one.

Holy fucking shit! I just answered a CQ on 7.112 CW from W6RO and guess who it was? The fucking Queen Mary! And, I got a QSO number so I will send off a SASE and get a QSL card! Fucking luck, just trolling around with the 6BTV, first time I had the TS570 on air in months. Must be something telling me to get the wires back up (ice storm took 'em down while I was in Texas) and make some Q's.

I worked an aeronautical mobile [plane] of the coast of Spain the other day on 15. You never know what's gonna turn up on hf do you ?

Are you coming up for the big show next month?

Some assembly required.

All this to beam Gag Factor audio tracks to New Zealand.

Is there any chance you could electrocute and kill yourself?

He's gonna hook it to his dick to see how many watts it puts out while fapping to a Gag Factor.

What!?! And break my record?!?

I'm QRP.

Wow, 850W peak!

Horse laugh !

Now you are posting pics of your jizz?? Does round 2 start as your dog licks the box cover clean??

Please get back on the bottle, it is obvious you have nothing to live for.

Ohio QSO Party tomorrow.

Big QSL card from the Queen Mary.

I just replaced a shopping list of electronics. The list included a Darlington transistor and a shitload of other resistors and transistors. All this shit on some control board attached to one A/C fan blower in the Jaguar I mentioned before. Why they felt the need to put all that shit- half on one control panel in the fascia and then two quarters divided between the two fans I cannot understand. It was beyond my capability to test each component and much cheaper for me to just order replacements and resolder them all into the control board. I think it cost less than 20 bucks and now the fan works and I have a spare set of everything for when, not if, the other fan goes out.

What year Jag is this?

Why the fuck aren't you a ham ?

It's an '88 Jag. Electronics were new to them and the Brits went nuts in their use. For good measure they held onto relays and sprinkled them around the car in random places. I'd guess there are 50-60 of the modular automotive type relays in this car in about 8 disparate banks- from the trunk to the grille. Then there are the fuse panels. This car is known for the "Pac-Man" digital display that looks like an 80's 8 bit video game.

And, I'm not a ham because I have plenty of other hobbies. I have a close friend who is one, and I'm sure he'd like me to get into it so he'd have someone to give all his cast-off stuff to, but I just can't get interested. (But in the apocalypse, if you were dead and I came across your ham shit all fucked up, I could probably kludge it together well enough to get it working).

I worked several stations last weekend on a 160m contest with my DX-LB at 35 feet. As far as Texas. Not bad for a city lot.

I haven't been on 160 in a while. Been working the hell out of 10, 12 and 15 though.

My RV screwdriver is screwed. Smoked a resistor inside the control. It won't move or hear. I'm gonna get some Hustler resonators and keep things simple. I'll work enough CW with them, with the 72 inch mast. Might order Monday.

Where you spend the Holidays? On an adventure somewhere or home?

Ohio for Christmas, RV in Texas before New Year.

Ham radio is a worldwide adventure every day !

Happy Birthday (Zulu Time) to Mr. Marconi.

I just worked these guys on 7119.

I'm gonna try it again this year. You should, too, BDM. Load up the folded dipole, I guarantee you'll make several contacts.

http://www.arrl.org/160-meter

73,
N8**

I may give it a shot. Been working a lot of 15 lately !

14 contacts so far, needed the amp to do it. I am on a trapped dipole at 30 feet.

bummer

I've been having trouble receiving some FM stations on my new tuner card so I started looking for a new antenna. I've used the Terk powered antennas before and am less than impressed. In fact that is what I'm using now.

I'm also considering adding a police and fire scanner, so shortwave is a must now. This is what I've found:

Godar DXR-1000

Overkill or not enough?

I always go to eHam.net for reviews. One review of the Godar antena:

http://www.eham.net/reviews/review/93779

Several of an AM Terk unit:

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/8505

Looks to me like the Godar placed outside and up a few feet would work great for FM and scanner freqs. You will want something to use as a ground plane. For $99 I might try to roll my own first, but I have whips and a deep junk box already.

I spent a night listening to the local cops ( see http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?mid=178 ) and it was boring. Most systems now are also trunked, meaning they use several frequencies, so you will probably need a trunk tracker scanner.

A Ham doesn't know what antenna overkill is...

Thanks Chuck. I have a 3' piece of rebar staked into the ground and wired to the terminal block where my coax comes into the house it grounds the cables shield.

Here's a little ham humor. Probably old news to the old-timers but was new to me

All you QRPers:

https://hackaday.com/2016/07/26/history-of-the-capacitor-the-modern-era/

A buddy of mine just put up a 900 meg antenna at my house for linking to a repeater including internet capability. Will be able to access tons of shit from one frequency and dial up linked systems. My house is high on a hill.

Due to poor propagation on 20 meters, due on part to an ongoing geomagnetic storm, the Hurricane Watch Net will be operating simultaneously on both the primary frequency of 14.325 MHz and the backup of 7.268 MHz until Earl is no longer a threat.