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

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!

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.