AD0HW Portable in Tennessee!

AD0HW/Portable in Tennessee: 

I brought the radio along fir Christmas vacation (you never know, Santa might send out a distress call and if I wasn't on the radio it could ruin Christmas).

Went to a park and put a 20 meter wire dipole in the tree. Made several contacts on Christmas day.

Here is a bit of footage on my setup!

Congratulations to KD0SRD!

Eric has passed his Extra exam. BTARC congratulates Eric. Congratulations.

Antennas in the rain.

Lots of work... triband HF, 2m, 432, and 6m beams are up!!!

Well people said it couldn't be done...  yet here we are.

I now have a respectable station...

HF:

-Homebrew triband Vertical (built from an old Antron 99 CB antenna, some wire and a old coax)

-Wilson SY-33 3 element Triband beam
         -about 14.5 feet long boom
         -nearly 30 feet wide on each of the 3 elements

For 6m or 50Mhz  I took some scrap aluminum and PVC, this allowed me to build a 2 element Moxon, around 5.5dbd of gain and 25 DB front to back ratio...  it's about twice the size a 6m square halo antenna...  I have worked stations over 1000 miles out on this antenna.  The best part is that the antenna has a 50 ohm feed point at resonance without using a matching device and weighs almost nothing with less than a 0.75 square foot wind load

For 144Mhz (weak signal, not FM repeater work)  JD (N0IRS) gave me a Cushcraft 11 element beam, it works great...  I have managed contact as far as 354 miles...  and normally see 80-100 miles

As for 432Mhz (70cm weak signal) I recently installed a M2 28 element yagi from W0HPY...  he works at Johnstone and when I came int othe store, I met him and he gave me a bunch of antenna parts, this yagi was in the bunch of parts...  the elements were bent and the boom was twisted and bent...   AD0HW (Lee)  and I fixed the boom and then I got the antenna on the air...





Also N0RIV and AD0HW came by to help my sure up the mounting system for the  VHF/UHF stack

All of these are double lagged into at least one stud, with 19 lag bolts, 4 u bolts and 1 hose clamp...  I dont think this antenna stack is going anywhere...

All together the project consisted of the following:

- 1 Hygain Ham IV rotator and controller  -  trade

- 1 older CDE HAM IV rotator and controller -  traded for (2) two 150 foot runs of RG6u with PL259 ends

- 120 feet of rotor control line, half of this was given to me by N0IRS, the other half traded for some HAM radio labor

- nearly 200 feet of LMR 400  , FREE some of it came from AD0HW, most of it came from N0IRS

- misc mounts for free from AD0HW

- Wilson SY33 triband beam, $150

- misc  hose clamps  $15???

- 65 feet of RG-214u (for the triband HF beam)

- 3 sticks of all thread, nuts, and washers  $10

- misc nuts and bolts, $10???

- Diawa CS-201 switch (with fancy gold N connectors)  random trade

While finishing up I managed to cut myself when a hose clamp snapped and blood was rushing out... by the time I got off the roof there was a trail of blood from the roof, to the back deck, to the breakfast nook, to the kitchen, I was a little worried at first...  but hey it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt, then it's just awesome!!!

I want to thank everyone that helped make this happen

- N0IRS, thank you for all the help, and the donations to get me on the air (2m yagi antenna, feed line, etc)

- N0RIV, thanks for the help

- AD0HW, thanks for the feed line, and the Yeti

- W0HPY, thanks for the 'antenna parts', built 1 antenna and repaired another from them

-KA0REN, thanks for loaning my your MFJ-259B analyzer

- 73 to all, I hope to hear you on the air

KD0SRD, closing station for the night

Member SK.

I regret to inform you that our El Presedente has passed away and become a silent key. Pablo Vazquez, the worlds only insect radio amatuer will be deeply missed. I would greatly appreciate if someone would pass the information to Larrys List for me as I am too depressed.

Maybe We'll Have Some Good Prop?

http://www.weather.com/news/science/solar-storm-earthbound-20140910?sf4596008=1

He's in your shack makin' contacts with your mom (assuming she is a HAM)

I had a visitor in my shack...

He was making contacts on the South Side ARC 2m repeater...

Here he is crankin' the drive level to 11...

as you can see he is getting ready to key up the D104 base mic...  yep makin' contacts with your mom on 40m...

Now if he could just do his real job and kill they cricket in my HAM shack

$5 APRS SETUP!!!

Well there you have it folks...  a $5 APRS setup!

Parts list:

-Any 2m radio...

I got mine for FREE!!!  A fellow HAM donated it to me!!

-Built a really simple COM port radio keyer (less than $5.00 worth of Radio Shack parts)

http://www.logger32.net/help/Logger32/Configuring%20Push%20To%20Talk.htm

-Old Computer(already had)

-random wires and connectors...  in the JUNK BOX

-old RG8x coax

-old 2m J pole tied to a rope and pulled 35 feet into a tree

Well Got a Few Beams in the Air...

I got a few beams in the air, FINALLY!

The top one is a homebrew 6m Moxon, made from scrap aluminium, the bottom one is 2m an 11 element 2m antenna, Cushcraft A144-11, which was donated to me by N0IRS  (JD).

The rotator is an old HAM IV from Hy-gain

So far I have managed to make several 125 mile contacts on 2m side band and EVEN contacted a guy 214 miles away just south of St. Louis!!!

APRS for 2 meter openings.

Recently, I've started playing with APRS as a tool for monitoring VHF band conditions. Very good idea! With a couple programs, I was able to get a map up plotting the APRS stations that I could pick up.

I started picking up stations from Iowa for a moment tonight.

The X at the bottom of the image is approximately where I live and the two circles at the top are the stations from Iowa that I was able to pick up.

The programs used are linked below...

Packet Engine Pro
WinAPRS

Search good for instructions if you are interested in setting one up your self. With Packet Engine Pro, you do not need a Terminal Node Controller and can simply use your sound card.

We may put together a tutorial at some point when we get things a little more figured out. Until then, you're on your own. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions though!

-AD0HW

New Member!

Buzzing toasters would like to welcome KA0REN to the group. Thanks for your application and welcome! 

Repeater Map

There are a several resources to find repeaters near you but this has to be my favorite. It went down for some time and now it is up and running again.

This site uses the Google maps search engine to plot the location of repeaters near you or whatever location you desire.

http://k5ehx.net/

Give it a try! 

Added a shunt coil to the mobile HF antenna today. Now 40 gives me a good match and 20 worked well for me today! I was 10 over s9 with the first station I contacted. It was only stateside but still a glowing report.  

Hope to see everyone on the air. 73 from AD0HW!

Something to build!

The invention that creeped the Hell out of Tesla himself (and you can build it)

Southeast Kansas Amateur Radio Club: AM and FM Explained

Check out this video shared by our friends at SEKARC!

Southeast Kansas Amateur Radio Club: AM and FM Explained: AM and FM explained by an old Army training film! This is excellent and informative. It is in two parts so be sure and watch them both ! ...

Darn Ham Radio Operators!

Thought this was funny! Worth a share!

RF penetration graphic

RF penetration graphic. 

Illustrates the behavior of UHF frequencies and how well the move through walls. 

Check out Tony's portable set up at his campsite.

While you are at the link, like us on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/buzzingtoasters/posts/703508676385241?ref=notif&notif_t=like

Meeting CANCELLED.

It's not going to work out for anyone so we have postponed meeting until further notice. 

Change in plans....

We are not meeting Saturday night.  We will meet sunday afternoon after church. Same place at 1:30pm-ish. Any questions,  reply below.

Meeting time and place....

We will be meeting at Buffalo Wild Wings in Lee's Summit, MO to discuss what we would like to do as a club, discuss some possible ground rules and mostly just shoot the breeze, eat wings and talk about radios.

Time: 8:00 PM

Address:

Buffalo Wild Wings

1806 NW Chipman Rd

Lee's Summit, MO 64081

Everyone is welcome to come hang out! 

Cool New Knobs.

While recently trying to tune a quick 6 meter dipole, (the band was open and I thought I'd give it a try!) I used a bit too much haste and knocked my MFJ-269 analyzer off of the table and onto the hard concrete. Fortunately, no damage was done other than cosmetic. The mode and gate buttons fell out and I cracked a knob beyond repair.

Once everything was returned as much as it could be to the original state, I pondered what I wanted to do about the knobs. Picked up a few big ol' red ones from Radio Shack.  We have a decent Radio Shack in Belton, MO in case you were thinking to yourself, "I thought they only sold cell phones".

Anyhow, I think it looks better than before. When life hands you lemons, but new knobs on it. 

Meeting thus Saturday

We will try to meet this Saturday to get things rolling. We plan to meet at a restaurant in the Lee's Summit/Independence area.  Please suggest a place to eat some grub in the comments. 

Meeting of the Minds?

Some of us are planning on meeting soon to lay some groundwork for the club and kick some ideas around. If you are interested in meeting with us, please respond here and we'll try to keep you posted. 

Now taking applications.

An online application is now available if you look up above.  There are no dues and for joining you get your name on our list and will be recognized as an official member.  Please consider if you really want to be affiliated with us before joining.  ;)

Beginnings.

Buzzing Toasters ARC is currently in the building phase. Our purpose is simple. We like to play with radios and want to make friends with other people who play with radios. We look forward to getting things started and seeing (probably just hearing you unless it's TV!) on the air!