And Your Weekend...

[Radio]

Well, lets see...

Plowed the garden
Mowed the yard, after I
Fixed the lawn mower then I
played taxi for my Mom,
Ran the weed trimmer for a while
Studied my A&P book for a while which
brought on a nap.

And yours?

No telling what will come up tomorrow.
If I ever get to live on the road, I will not miss mowing the yard!

[KF5BET]

Well...

Confirmed the truck is now in critical need. EGR cooler is leaking :wall:
Put the old faithful Chevy back together to get it on the road.
tried to find some kids on the radio for kids day (no luck yet...)
mowed the grass.

[W9WLS]

05:00 Up for Xyl's Infusion , put coffee on , let "2nd Lt. FuzzButt" out on the front porch (screened in), started infusion, got first quart of coffee, checked e-mail and Down loads.
06:45 Infusion finished , turned rig on , all quiet.
From there it's pretty repetitious , next infusion starts at 13:30 and the night time one at 21:30 , if I'm lucky I may be able to grab a nap sometime during the day if things go smoothly, fix meals, do laundry as needed, change dressing's, .
Only takes 2 hrs to mow the 2.5 acres of yard (once every week or so) , squeeze in a bit of air time when I can , let "The FUZZ" in and out several times a day.
This routine will go on pretty much the same for at least the next 4-6 weeks , then we will see where it go'es from there.

Jack of all trades, Master of absolutely nothing !

You shouldn't have asked ! ;-))

[W5DOK]

Let's see how to start this. Got up about 5 and started the coffee. Took the Bear dog out for his morning constitutional and it was 40 degrees. Hurried the Bear dog up and had my first cup and started getting the fishing gear ready to go fishing. Went out in the South Fork of the Rio Grande and caught about 20 fish, rainbows and browns. Came back and started working on my screwdriver. It has a SWR of about 1.5 on every band except 40 meters and that one is 3. Since 40 is where I want to be, looks like I've got some troubleshooting to do. Spent most of the day getting the RV unpacked and set up for the summer. Plan to be here until mid September. It gets into the 30"s at night and 70"s in the day. Beats the heck out of that Texas heat. Plan to be back on the river at daylight tomorrow.
Doc

[NJ5N]

Hello the name here is Chris and am new on this site as well as a new MH owner. I have been reading all I can about antennas and motorhomes and wonder how you mounted your screwdriver. I have a class A toyhauler so the back is a ramp that allows me to pull the Harley into the garage, so I do not have a ladder there except when I am climbing up top.
I spoke to the guy from Tarneel while at HamCom in Plano a couple of weeks ago and he suggested the 200 even though I do not run any power, he stated it would perform better than the smaller antenna. I might be able to mount one of the mounts on the top part of the ladder that lays down, but I was also thinking about using a tripod. As I said new to MH but have been a ham for over 30 yrs, any suggestions would be appreciatd.

Thanks,
Chris
NJ5N

[Andy N1ORK]

Hi Chris! Welcome to the ORR site!:welcome:
Can't help you with your antenna issue, just wanted to say hello. We have a permanent seasonal park-model here in NH and a G5RVjr hung in the trees. You'll find a lot of info here and many good folks to answer your questions. Don't forget to post some photos of your set-up.
73!

[Radio]

Our upstairs air conditioning is busted. (worn out) So what we do is pull in cool air all light and close the windows in the morning, trapping the cool air inside.

It was 62 in the bedroom this morning, great for sleeping under a blanket! :sleep:

It might get up around 76 in here today. Not bad for free "air conditioning"

[NJ5N]

Thanks Andy,
I appreciate it and am reading as I go. I will post pictures as I get things set up.

73,
Chris

[W5DOK]

Hello the name here is Chris and am new on this site as well as a new MH owner. I have been reading all I can about antennas and motorhomes and wonder how you mounted your screwdriver. I have a class A toyhauler so the back is a ramp that allows me to pull the Harley into the garage, so I do not have a ladder there except when I am climbing up top.
I spoke to the guy from Tarneel while at HamCom in Plano a couple of weeks ago and he suggested the 200 even though I do not run any power, he stated it would perform better than the smaller antenna. I might be able to mount one of the mounts on the top part of the ladder that lays down, but I was also thinking about using a tripod. As I said new to MH but have been a ham for over 30 yrs, any suggestions would be appreciatd.

Thanks,
Chris
NJ5N
Hi Chris. Welcome aboard. Lots of good folks on here and a couple of old grouches. I have my Tarheel mounted on a 2 section telescoping pole. I took an antenna pole, cut both ends off so it would fit in my basement and left 2 telescoping sections. I have it attached to my rear ladder on the MH, but you can set it up almost anywhere that you you can hold it upright. Maybe the top latch on your ramp. I ran a twisted ground from the antenna base to the MH frame for a ground plane. Has worked perfectly in the past, but this year, no 40m. I'm is South Fork, CO and usually I can talk back to my nets in TX with no problem. Got some work to do to get 40m working. The rv park that I'm in (River Bend RV Resort) is Ham friendly, so I'll probably get some supervision when I start working on it.
Doc

[NJ5N]

Doc,

Thanks for the reply and ok on your antenna mount. Will have to see what I can attach to if I decide to go that direction. I have wondered about using the screwdriver in a tripod and just keep it off the MH completely but not sure how it would react being that low, have you seen anyone using a tripod?

Fine on being in CO, sure is getting hot here in Texas so that sounds great, can you smell the smoke from the fires?


Thanks again,
73
Chris

[W5DOK]

I've never seen anyone mount a screwdriver to a tripod, but I'm sure it can be done. I also have a Comet CHA250-B that I sometimes use. I mount it to the rear ladder and it has worked great in the past. All bands and no radials. We've got some of the smoke, but not bad. A little hazy when the wind's from the North. Fishings great. Weathers cool. Just can't beat that.
Doc

[W9WLS]

I've never seen anyone mount a screwdriver to a tripod, but I'm sure it can be done. I also have a Comet CHA250-B that I sometimes use. I mount it to the rear ladder and it has worked great in the past. All bands and no radials. We've got some of the smoke, but not bad. A little hazy when the wind's from the North. Fishings great. Weathers cool. Just can't beat that.
Doc

A friend of mine in Texas (KT5AL) has one on a tripod on the roof of his stick built house as a back-up , work's at least as well as the one on his truck.
He did run a ground wire to the mount though .

[KF5BET]

Welcome aboard Chris. Glad you found us.

No info on the tarheel, but all that smoke you are seeing and smelling is coming from my hometown of Ruidoso, NM. Sure is sad to see pictures of where I grew up burned and destroyed. Did a lot of hiking and camping in those mountains as a kid.

[NJ5N]

Thanks to all for the feedback on antenna ideas, I have not bought anything yet have wire and ham sticks that I can use until I decide what I want to do.
The screwdriver would be nice however I am not sure if it would outperform a multi-band vertical that could also go into a tripod..

Oh well that is what makes this fun!

Chris
73
NJ5N

[wa8yxm]

Well from 2 pm Sat to 2pm Sun was Amateur radio field day so I turned the radio off cause.. Well,,, I am not feeling like FD this year.. Sunday was routine, So was Sat,

Today I got paid so we went and got money, Got gasoline (3.129/gallon) got some parts, replaced the blower for the HEVAC, (I really only needed the squirl cage but they only had assemblies, and the price is nearly identical so now I have a spare motor) Got the spare circuit breaker for same (Just in cuss, old one is workind since I serviced it) Oiled the generator (Checked and topped off) Watered the batteries (likewise) Got stuff to make bean soup with, Took wife to assorted grocery stores, Picked up new bifocals, (I was a bit off on how long it would take me to adjust to them, Doctor thought a few days, I figured by the time I hit checkout in the attched grocery.. Actually took about 10 minutes past that) Called the RV parts person to have the dump valve I need delivered, and re-parked the house on site.

LIFE IS GOOD TODAY

Dash HEVAC blower, which 3 weeks ago did not work now not only works (Which I fixed 2 weeks ago) but works on HIGH (Could not use high yesterday, due to unbalanced blower)