Category: radio

A Sunday In November

Temperatures have dropped here in eastern Kansas, off the Missouri and Platte Rivers. Morning temps are getting down to the high teens but we’ve had generally clear skies – so no snow yet.

Been having a problem with my Toyota Tundra. I had the shocks replaced about two months ago, but I am still having a suspension issues. Often when I drive over uneven pavement I hear a type of popping or low banging. I’m dropping the truck off tomorrow morning at a garage in town and I hope they identify and fix the problem.

I popped the first cap on the KC Ale this past Thursday. One word: Tasty! I was so happy with the results that I brought in a 12-pack to distribute to my small group at CGSC. We will see what kind of feed back I get tomorrow. The KC Ale batch has a great cooper color, medium head, slight hoppy aroma. The taste is crisp and smooth, no off-flavors.

The California Common batch went into secondary fermentation last Tuesday (18 NOV). I’ll try to get it bottled up this coming Wednesday (26 NOV). Then it should be ready for a first by 11 DEC… a good day to celebrate my last night class for this term.

While the CGSC program here at Fort Leavenworth is considered a Masters-level program, it does not award a degree at graduation (unlike the Navy’s program in Monterey or the Air Force in Alabama). Therefore, in order to get a masters, I signed up to take two night classes a week and then by graduation I’ll get the degree. It is a bit of pain now, but this is really the only opportunity I am going to get to earn a master’s degree.

Back to beer: I need to get crackin’ and cook up the batch of Raspberry Wheat. If I am able to get it into primary fermentation today, I should be able to hit secondary fermentation by next Sunday (30 NOV) and then bottle by 14 DEC. It should be nice and tasty by New Year’s Eve.

I need to put together a sample pack for my Team Jedi brethren (Team Jedi are the fine folks I spent my last year in Iraq with). So it looks like the pack will consist of ESB, KC Ale, California Common, and the Raspberry Wheat.

I’ve also had a request from the 7-land Inbound QSL Bureau back in Oregon. I received an email from Marc, NC7M, who let me know I had 200+ QSL cards headed my way. I need to also replenish my postal funds for the bureau. And next week – I will answer all the YI9MI QSL card request that I have… which is quite a significant pile.

TS-930S – no display and on the bench


I’ve got no frequency display on my TS-930S! I’ve had this problem since I arrived in Kansas (note to self: I need to pack in rig myself next move). From what I can tell, the display is probably not broken but the PLL needs to be adjusted. The problem – how do I adjust the PLL? I’ve been unable to find the service manual and I’m hoping I can find someone who has the knowledge of how to do this. I’ve popped the top, but I’m not seeing anything that looks like I should be adjusting. While I don’t need this rig to operate (I have my Icom IC-7000), I really like this this Kenwood rig. It has a wonderful sound and great sensitivity. I hope I can bring it back to life.

Contesting… the thrill of victory!

I posted this picture last year – but as we are in the midst of football (and contest) season again, I thought it would do some good to post it again.

From the ASU website:


(Seated: KC7MOD and KD7LGH. Background: Six members of the Sun Devil Dance Team.)

While gathering before the upcoming football game, a group of ladies from the ASU Sun Devil Dance Team stopped by to watch W7ASU operate in the 2004 Collegiate QSO Party. No doubt impressed by our smooth (contest) operating techniques, we expect these ladies will be licensed in the near future. We just can’t wait until they join our club!

…. ..- -… -… .- …. ..- -… -… .-

note the expression on the face of KD7LGH – you can tell he is enjoying the contest!

Fabulous Friday

We had an offsite for class this morning at the Santa Fe Station in downtown Leavenworth, KS. Great breakfast and great discussion.

I’ve got the wort in the bucket, should be done with primary fermentation in a day or two. This was the first time I had a hydrometer and I need to figure out how to use it. I’ve got to get a good bottle count. I have about a dozen with the rubber seal and stopper. I think I may need to get new rubber seals.

I have to decide if I want to do a secondary fermentation with the carboy.

I turned on the HF rig briefly and heard stateside stations talking with a station on Guantanamo. Then I heard a familiar voice, K4STW, Stew in Virginia Beach. Stew probably doesn’t remember me, but we chatted now and again on the 2M repeaters in Hampton Roads. It was great to hear his voice.

I got Ubuntu working with my Linksys print server. This will make my life much easier.

Looks like we’ll have good weather this weekend.

Another day in the shade

I hooked up my Morse key to my Icom IC-7000 and it appears to be working fine. Also hooked up an external speaker which is working nicely. I tried to connect my SM-20 microphone but realize now that a need a connector that I don’t have. I don’t want to hook up my Heil headset with the boom mike just yet. I was able to have a QSO with an Italian station and again with TI8II (Costa Rica), except on 20M this time.

More stuff I’m going to get done tomorrow:
– gather up my old (digital) logs
– back up my current Kansas log
– load up my YI9MI logs and prepare and organize the remaining received QSL cards
– order the adapter for the SM-20 mic
– find my weather station software
– have a CW QSO

I’m prepping to start a batch of homebrew beer. Tomorrow I’m going to start the process. Maybe have some fresh beer by Halloween?

Back in the saddle

I -finally- got my HF rig working here at the Kansas QTH.

Since arriving here back in July, I’ve been super busy. School (the Army’s Command & General Staff College (CGSC)) kicked in at the beginning of August. The last formal schooling I had was eight years ago – so I was a bit rusty at getting into the swing of things (i.e. reading, reading… and more reading). I’m also taking a complementarity master’s degree program in International Relations through Webster University (two nights a week). The good news is I was able to talk the XYL into taking the master’s courses with me. The bad news is that sometimes the master’s stuff chews up more time than my school work for CGSC.

CGSC can be intense. September was packed with wall-to-wall learning, usually from 0830 to at least 1530. The schedule is starting to lighten up a bit.

Today I was able catch my breath a bit… out of class at 1130. The sun was shining, a beautiful day. I had some antenna maintenance to do. A little bit of time on the roof and the majority of my HF problems were fixed. I’m now up on HF, except for 80M. I think a little work on my counterpoise will fix that.

Back in the basement (aka The Scud Bunker) I hooked up my Icom IC-7000 to the new and improved HF antenna – bingo… all the problems I was experiencing in the past were gone. A QSO with KC2PBX, Pierre on Long Island, NY on 20M and then TI8II from Costa Rica on 17M, later with Ray, W1RAA from Tampa, FL. It felt good having some HF QSOs. I did a little more work with my station setup; hooking up the RIGtalk and RIGblaster Plug&Play. There’s more work to do and I should have time later in the week.

Other news:
– I’m switching from Windows to Ubuntu Linux. I WILL NOT UPGRADE FROM XP TO VISTA. Vista is a tool of the devil and I will have no part of it. My Toshiba laptop has been dual boot between XP and Ubuntu for a while, but had rarely been using the Ubuntu. I ordered a Dell Mini 9 (very tiny netbook) to help with school (writing papers in the library rather than goofing off in the Scud Bunker). The Dell Mini is coming with Ubuntu pre-loaded. Sweet. The next step will be setting up one of my towers as an Ubuntu server. Goodbye Microsoft.
– I’ve gone Kindle. Both the XYL and myself have the Amazon Kindle. I like it a lot better than my Sony eBook. Getting the Washington Post first thing every morning is great. The battery life is a little to be desired. The best part is that I can read KE9V’s blog right on my Kindle.

Ok – back to the books. I will get better at making frequent updates here.

Invention Lab: RadioShack

http://rsinventionlab.com/

What stuff have you done?

The tag line from a RadioShack contest and website called The Invention Lab. And they are partnered with MAKE! How cool is that?

There’s also a blog and different sections talking about various projects.

I think it’s great that RadioShack is trying to inspire the builder. RadioShack has had a pretty bad reputation over the past few years with most hams looking down there nose at the businesses drift into cell phones instead of their previous focus on radios and component parts. I believe the biggest difference between the RadioShack of yore and today’s ‘Shack is the sales people. Back in the day, the man behind the desk knew electronics inside and out. He also knew where every diode and every transistor was in the store. Today’s sales clerk does not know any of the electronic components the store carries, much less where to find them in the actual store. But this shift in the dumbing down of sales clerks is true across all lines of business. Have you been to Fry’s Electronics lately? The sales clerk at Sears in the hardware department can’t even tell you anything about the Craftsman tools they carry. So I’m a support of RadioShack – if you look hard you can usually find one that’s close that carries what you need. After you hunt and peck around the store, you’ll know where everything is and will only need the clerk to ring you up.

A New Beginning – Goals For The Kansas Radio Shack

One advantage of the move to Kansas will be the opportunity to redesign and implement a new shack layout. I don’t have a clear picture of what I want it to look like, so I am going to start with making a list of what I want to be able to accomplish in the shack. This will be a basement shack… a big basement. I’ve never lived in a house that had a basement and I’m looking forward to the possibilities.

What I want to accomplish in the Kansas Shack:
– HF phone and CW operation; 80m-10m
– HF digital modes (PSK-31, RTTY, PACTOR III)
– Computer logging
– 2m FM base station
– APRS weather station, interfaced with a dedicated 2m transceiver
– Online weather page, showing current weather conditions
– Separate, organized workbench

There are a number of tall trees to the north of the house that will support some different wire antenna options. My plan is to start out with a RadioWavz 246′ End Fed Zep. We’ll see how that works. Maybe try a loop before winter comes. Another challenge will be getting the feedline into the basement.

Mini-Hamfest (a.k.a. – our Moving Sale)

Although yesterday (5 July) was not strategically the best day for a yard sale, the XYL and I were running out of time as the movers are due to show this coming week. We’ve have a lot of extra “stuff” and tried to strictly enforce the rule that if it hadn’t been used/touched/worn/opened/looked at since the last move in 2005 it was time to get rid of it. I’d also acquired an amazing amount of ham stuff (the XYL has a different terminology for it). I could sell it on eBay, but I didn’t want to invest the time or energy… nor the trips to the Post Office. Here’s what was up for sale:

Heathkit SB-220 amplifier
MFJ Versa Tuner V, MFJ-989C
Astatic D-104 microphone
ICOM AT-180, HF+50MHz Automatic Antenna Tuner (in original box, very good condition)
MFJ 6 Meter SSB Transceiver, MFJ-9406 (includes AC power supply)
MFJ 6 Meter Tuner, MFJ-906
Cushcraft 6 Meter 3 element beam (well weathered)
Ten Tec RX320 (with manual)
ICOM IC-PCR1000, Communications Receiver For Computer (with manual)
Kantronics KPC-9612 Plus (with manual)
Pakratt-232, Model PK-232 MBX (with manual)
MFJ Multi-Mode Data Controller, MFJ-1278 (with manual)
MFJ TNC 2 Packet Radio, MFJ-1274
MFJ Deluxe Code Practice Oscillator, MFJ-557
MFJ Electric Keyer Paddle with Memory, MFJ-442
Dymek DA100E, Active Receiver Antenna, 50kHz-30MHz (with manual)
Radio Shack Amplified Base Station Microphone, CAT NO 21-1173
Radio Shack SWR/Power Meter, CAT NO 21-534
MFJ-8128 VHF 114-220 MHz SWR/Wattmeter
MARS Model LE-2 Hybrid Phone Patch
Heathkit Hybrid Phone Patch, Model HD-15 (with manual)
Quad magnetic mount for antenna
Various Hamsticks and Hustler single band mobile antennas
Various amateur radio books

We did have quite a few hams show up and my prices were incredibly reasonable if not down right ludicrous. The MFJ 6 Meter SSB rig went quick, but I’m surprised no one grabbed the 3-element beam. All the three of the phone patches sold (I had two Heathkits) – that surprised me. What all surprised me was why I had three phone patches. All the Hamsticks and Hustlers went. Some of the books. Bottom line – I was able to find new homes for a lot of gear I wasn’t using and got a bit of reimbursement in the process.

Anybody need an MFJ Deluxe Code Practice Oscillator?

What’s amazing is the amount of gear I still have that I’m unwilling to part with and is coming with me to Kansas.

On The Road Again!

It was good to get back behind the wheel of my 2005 Toyota Tundra – although can’t say I am excited about paying to fuel it up. I’ve attempted to get a good HF install for mobile operations before experiencing limited success… with perhaps my biggest rookie mistake being an attempt to use the ICOM AT-180 autotuner along with my IC-706MKIIG.

I used Hamsticks and Hustler mono band resonators – it worked pretty well but I got tired of having to exit the vehicle every time I wanted to change bands.

My answer was to install a screwdriver antenna. I’d been planning this mobile install for some time, using lessons from my trials in the Spring of 2007 as well as a significant amount of reading and research (eHam, WorldRadio, CQ Magazine, websites). I decided on basing my mobile install around the Tarheel Model 75 “Stubby” providing continuous coverage from 3.7 to 34 MHz. The folks at Tarheel worked with me to get me going – responsive to my emails and questions.

The radio for this mobile install: my ICOM IC-706MKIIG. I’d originally purchased this radio when I arrived in Hampton back in the early Summer of 2005. The purchase was in part to motivate me to upgrade from Tech to General – which it did. That Summer I passed the written exam (Element 3) at a nearby hamfest for General. But I was not yet ready for the Morse (Element 1). It wasn’t until later that Fall that I was ready for the Morse… and barely passed too. I’ve been very pleased with the IC-706MKIIG; it is a great radio for a beginner, easy to operate, solid performance, flexible to use either in the radio shack, portable, or mobile.

To mount the antenna to my Toyota Tundra, I really did not want to permanently mar the exterior of the truck. I’d admired K4GUN’s install and thought his implementation of using the Geotool stake pocket on the bed of the truck was brilliant. I wrote Steve, K4GUN, concerning his install and he provided some great additional information concerning the challenges of the stake pocket mount. After working with Rick, WA6JKH, to ensure I was ordering the proper mount, I placed my order and Rick gave me a nice active duty military discount.

I decided to get N2VZ’s Turbo Tuner for ease of operation. Operating HF while driving is already complicated enough and I wanted to make tuning the antenna as easy as possible. Bill was very responsive and also provided a military discount.

I had ordered all the equipment while in Iraq, so everything was waiting for me when I arrived home.

The install took two days. Perhaps the hardest part was mounting the IC-706MKIIG under the passenger’s seat. Already installed under the seat was my ICOM IC-208H – my trusty VHF/UHF rig. I’d originally installed this rig during my circumnavigation of the continental US back in 2005. During that install, I only partially removed the passenger’s seat. This time I pulled the seat completely out of the truck which greatly helped me successfully position both the IC-208H and the IC-706MKIIG in the limited space.

Routing the feedline from the rig to the stake pocket mount was fairly easy, making use of the rubber grommet directly under the passenger’s seat and zip ties along the feedline’s path to the rear of the truck. Soldering the connections to the stake pocket mount was straight forward but it was a bit tricky feeding the line up through the bottom of the stake pocket.

Setup of the Turbo Tuner was a snap; I followed the provided instructions step-by-step, making sure I had the DIP switches positioned properly.

Mounting the antenna onto the Geotool stake pocket mount was made easier by using the HI-Q’s Giant Quick Disconnect. Payment was via PayPal and Charlie, W6HIQ, had it on my doorstep within the week. Thanks Charlie!

How does it work? So far, so good. More reports from the road are coming… and maybe a picture or two.