CQ CQ CQ all ORR Net Members - K

[WD8QBQ]

I have never had a problem with amateur radio in any rv park, but then I don't ask and would fight back if challenged. :eyebrow:

JIM

[KE5ZRT]

Lows in the high teens tonight and light accumulations of snow are expected. The RV park is filling up as drivers are coming in off of the road. I am looking forward to warmer weather and spring thunderstorms! We are attending our annual SKYWARN certification class at the beginning of February, and I am already getting excited.

As soon as the government returns a small portion of the funds they have skimmed from my till all year, I will have my first HF radio! I've struck a deal with a local elmer friend for an Icom 718 and an LDG Z100 auto-tuner for $400. I have already ordered a full set of MFJ HF Sticks (minus 30 & 60 meters) and I have about 200' of RG-213. Now I just need to decide how to mount them. I live a mile from 5-6 truck stops and 2 CB shops, so I have a lot of options for hamstick mounts! I am strongly considering bolting the mount to a steel rib in the dead-center of the fiberglass roof. I think as long as I seal things up well, it will be OK on my 1987 Class A.

I am looking forward to working some of you on HF real soon!:jitter:

[KF5BET]

LLLLUUUUCCCCKKKKYYYYYY....Hope you enjoy the new rig set up!

[AE5BI]

We were here for a year, happily operating 20 and 40M before they gave us a copy of the rules. There may have been a time when I would have made an argument but I have chilled out over the years. Now that I know the rules I choose to obey them rather than give all us Hams a bad name. The other factor is that I keep thinking we won't be here long enough to worry about it but I have been thinking that for two years now. We still use our radios when we move the rig, it's pretty handy to be able to talk to your spotter when you are fitting into a tight spot. Anyway, that's the whole story. Lame I know. If we have a major earthquake and I am passing wellness messages out to relatives I bet I would be able to talk them out of that particular rule! I see an antenna on one of the rigs in the park and I am hoping I can catch them at home and meet them, it'd be nice to have an eyeball QSO, maybe refresh my memory on how to operate a radio. :)

[KE5ZRT]

Sorry I haven't checked in in a while. I spent every spare minute for about a month and a half studying for the Amateur Extra Class Test and I passed with a score of 88% on April 2nd! I have been studying Morse Code. I found an application on my Droid phone that turns it into a portable Morse Code tutor and within 2 weeks I have learned characters A-Z and 0-9. I still have not learned any of the special characters yet. My goal is to be able to compete in the ARRL CW Rookie Roundup by December. I would also like to be able to pass the code proficiency test. I've also been fundraising for Walk MS with the Panhandle Amateur Radio Club's Team PARC. My wife Terra, KE5ZRU, and I are the communications coordinators for the MS 150 Bike Tour in our area which is coming up in July, and we are starting preparations for that. I have scheduled a lengthy vacation beginning in May and ending in June. For 6 weeks, I will be working 2 days each week and taking off 5 days a week. I usually work 0400-1230. With storm season coming up, I don't want to worry about how late we are out spotting weather for SKYWARN weather nets. Last year, Terra and I caught 12 tornadoes, and we hope to not miss any opportunities this year. We are still enjoying the full time RV life. I am in the process of building a 4 band hamstick dipole antenna, which will be great for RV use, as well as EmComm use. I will put together a post with full details of the antenna build when it is complete.

73 y'all!

[Andy N1ORK]

You've been a busy boy Chris! Congrats on passing the Extra and your CW work. You and Terra keep safe chasing those twisters and we're all looking forward to seeing the HamStick dipole.

[One Country Boy]

I agree with Andy. You have been one busy person. Congratulations on the Extra Class again. I'm pleased to hear that you are learning the code. You will never regret it. Good luck on the Rookie Roundup in December. I'm sure you will do well.

You and Terra send us a pic or two of your storm chasing adventures. That would be interesting to me. Be safe out there.

[KE5ZRT]

It's been a while since I last checked in. We've been very busy still with Field Day coordination and also with communications coordination for a charitable bicycle race with the MS society. The storm spotting vacation was a bust, we didn't have a single storm in the entire 6 weeks that I took vacation. The multi band hamstick antenna that I was designing was also a bust. I learned that the hamstick antennas were too close together and they caused interference between the bands. However I was able to salvage the hamsticks and I created individual hamstick dipoles for each band and that works great on a pushup pole mounted to my ladder rack. Next month I am putting together a parade float advertising amateur radio for our ham radio club. And in October I will be helping out with another bicycle race event. I will share photos of the parade.

I hope you all had a great summer. 73

[N7ZAL]

Curious how you will run the multiband ham sticks? Stack more than 2 on the same pole/mast? I'm in the process of making some hamstick dipoles and was thinking of mounting several on the same pole/mast....stacked??

[KE5ZRT]

Curious how you will run the multiband ham sticks? Stack more than 2 on the same pole/mast? I'm in the process of making some hamstick dipoles and was thinking of mounting several on the same pole/mast....stacked??

I apologize for not being clear, but the stacked multiband dipoles did not work at all. There was too much interference between the resonators. I am now using single band hamstick dipoles with very good results.

Here's a link to another thread here at ORR where a multiband hamstick project of mine did work fairly well... (http://openroadsradio.net/forums/showthread.php?t=904&highlight=hamstick)

[KE5ZRT]

Tower removal:

Friday morning we removed a 40' tower from a business in downtown Amarillo. The most difficult part was removing the 20' mast with the DB228 loop antenna array. We had to remove each loop, then slide the mast down a foot to the next one.

KJ5DOG and his son hauled off their new tower at around 2:00 and the property owner was happy to have the tower removed.

We learned a lot about how to remove a vertical loop array, and I
finally learned how to tie a real knot!--skills that will come in handy
for the 100 footer we have to take down in Panhandle soon. princess
terra Seright, ke5zru, faced her fear and harnessed up to climb 20'!

Much thanks to the cast and crew today: KJ5DOG & wife & son, W5MJM,
N5BNU, K5ZKQ, KE5WXN, KF5GBL, KC2UZT, N5RNY, & W5CEH.


Results: Tour d Cotton 10/1/11

Saturday we provided ham radio communications for a charitable bicycle race to restore the historical Palace Theater in Chisdress Texas. Initially, the race coordinator was unsure of the benefit of ham radio communications in such a scenario. By the end of the race, she was raving about us and urged us to come back next year.

10 operators (6 from Amarillo & 4 from Childress) provided support communications for 31 cyclists covering 98 rural route miles by handling 97 pieces of radio traffic during the event which lasted 4 hours and 48 minutes. We truly showed the race staff and the community of Childress what amateur radio operators are capable of. For us, this was an excellent training exercise in emergency communications skills. But most importantly, WE HAD FUN!

I am grateful to all who participated: KE5ZRU, KE5WXN, N5LTZ, W5FQZ, KF5CBR, KF5CBS, N5OLP, AF5S, & W5VTH

Etc.

After the race, I stopped by the mobile home and RV parts store to pick up some plumbing fittings to repair a leak in the freshwater line on the back of commode. That repair went fairly well and easy.

Then I bought a can of R-134a and a hose assembly and recharged the AC on our little sports car. princess terra is much happier now that the AC works again.

This afternoon I am replacing the brake pads on our car, and applying some polymeric sealant to the seams in our fiberglass RV roof.

Whew! What a productive weekend!

73 de KE5ZRT y'all

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