Author: KB3CVO

A Mini Vacation

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment

We went on a mini trip down to West Virginia and Ohio. It is very peaceful driving at 3 in the morning. You seem to be in a tunnel, with the trees arching overhead. The main thing is to watch out for the animals that spring into the road in front of you. After a bit, we got on to the turnpike and then it just becomes sort of tedious. Mile after mile of dodging trucks and drinking bad coffee. Well the coffee was not the worst that I have ever had but it came damn close. I called several times on 146.520 MHz but got no replies. Then we got to our first destination: Chester West Virginia, home of the World’s Larges Teapot!

Big teapot

Our next stop was in New Cumberland West Virginia where there is a house with some interesting yard art:

A bison
Nessie
More critters
The judge
Yard Art

The next stop was at Hill Billy Hotdogs. We were really disappointed with the place. There was a lot of hype but there was nothing special about the dogs. The Hamilton in Carlisle PA makes much better dogs. I am not saying they were not good, they just did not live up to the hype.

Hill Billy Hotdogs

We did visit the Mothman and take a pic with him:

The Mothman

And we happened to find the grave of Bob Evans, founder of the restaurant chain that bears his name.

Grave of Bob Evans

Overall, we had a great time. I was unable to get anyone to answer me on 146.520 MHz but that can happen. Not everybody monitors that frequency. The motel we stayed at reeked of cigarette smoke in the hallways and we found a lizard in the bathroom. I took the poor critter outside and let him go. 🙂

The Mother Road

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment

US 66 was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before terminating in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km).

Every year in September, the Citrus Belt Amateur Radio Club sponsors a special event to celebrate this piece of American history/culture. You can find information on their webpage: W6JBT.org including a preview of what the certificate will look like. It is a fun event and can be challenging depending on band conditions. I have never gotten a clean sweep but I do enjoy working the stations along the route. This year there are 22 stations including 2 rovers who will be cruising up and down what is left of Route 66. The various operators will be using SSB, CW and digital modes. This is the 22nd year of the event. Why not give it a try?

Relaxing how?

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Had a good day and now it is time to relax and play on my radio.

Frist thing this morning we went to breakfast at a local restaurant. We then took my mother in law down to a Walmart and then to a food store. That is always an interesting experience. After we came back I fired up the weedwacker and brought Hell’s Half Acre back under control. I have been without a weedwacker for a few weeks as my old one shit the bed. I tried to have it fixed but no luck. I ended up getting a new one. My pole saw fits on it so first I cut down some lilacs that had been killed by a huge wild grape. Once I got that done, I did the weed trimming. It does take a bit out of a person.

Now I am on the radio calling CQ. I just worked a gent from Oklahoma and and trying to see if anyone else can hear me. I am on the 30 Meter band at 10.121 MHz. This is the band I built the antenna for the other day. If I don’t get anyone to reply soon I will change frequencies and try the 40 Meter band. I have found 40 M is a good all day band. I can always find someone on there. I just moved to 7.113 MHz. This is in the old novice portion of the band but I have found it to be a good area to use. Sometimes it is very relaxing to just tune through the bands listening to any signals I might hear. I am seeing spots … not if front of my eyes, but I am being “spotted” by folks who enter it into a database online where you can look and see who is on. I use a couple: reverse beacon network and cw club rbn spotter. Sometimes I use the DX Summit webpage, too. It is a good place to find special event stations.

Well back to relaxing!

Ruminants and Moggies and Hawks! Oh my!!

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Odocoileus virginianus: Not a very catchy name, I know. I usually refer to them as ruminants on my Instagram page. We don’t mention their common name out loud as it tends to attract them and entice them to run out in front of my car. My wyfe and I enjoy going for recons in the evening and counting the critters we see. For example, tonight we counted 23 ruminants, 27 moggies and 1 hawk. 16 of the ruminants were standing together in a field. Moggies are the only domestic animals that we count. There is no agenda to what we are doing, it is just for fun. We often bring cameras and phones to take pictures. It is amazing what can amuse a person. Back to the common name. Every time we have been driving along and casually used the common name, one jumps out in front of the car. At one time I considered buying some stickers and putting them on the driver side door. At this point, I would qualify as an ace. The proof is in the car repair bills. Other animals we count are owls. turtles, turkeys, groundhogs, squirrels, ducks, gooses and chipmunks. We don’t reveal where we see the ruminants as I believe hunters should do their own recons. I do keep my radio on in case someone calls (ham radio, not broadcast). There are a few repeaters I can reach in the areas we drive. It never hurts to be ready for anything.

A weekend of Antenna fun!

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Well we had a productive weekend, antenna-wise. First of all we moved my Fan Dipole up. We connected the center to a pulley on the tower and brought it up about 15 feet from its last position. Since nothing is ever simple, this also involved moving the legs to different positions and discovering which tree branches I had to maneuver around. It was further a matter of pushing my way through thick wild roses and blackberry canes and avoiding stepping on a luna moth caterpillar. Finally got that done and then relaxed for a bit. Today I built a 30 Meter dipole which is working great. I have this set up as a sloper coming down from my tower. I tested it and was able to work stations. This is a good thing.

Stripping wire
Parts and pieces
Connection to the center connecter

Hamfest! Mmmm… ham…

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment
w3uu-2021-oktober-hamfest-rev23aug-1Download

What is a hamfest? Well, amateur radio operators have flea markets/swapmeets called hamfests. You can look for items of radio gear, browse for new or used equipment, eat a meal and meet up with other hams. Granted, these have been losing popularity in recent years due to the availability of anything and everything on the internet but there are still some around. I have attached a file detailing a local hamfest upcoming in October. It is hosted by Harrisburg Radio Amateurs Club.

Cross my heart: a short bit about cross band operations

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment

So into it again. I would like to talk a bit about cross band operations. Basically, this is a feature in a lot of mobile rigs which allows you to extend the range of your hand held unit. You set up a mobile or fixed station to take an incoming signal on one frequency and re transmit the signal on another frequency. Here is an example: you are performing communications for a public event and you cannot reach a repeater with your HT. Your radio in your car, on the other hand, can easily communicate with the repeater of your choice. If the rig is capable, you can set it up for cross band. You would transmit on a simplex frequency on your HT and the mobile rig would take that signal and re transmit it on the input frequency of the repeater. When the repeater transmits, your mobile rig would re transmit that signal onto the simplex frequency that your HT is set on. This allows you to be away from your car if needed and still be in communication with the people you need to talk to (usually a command center or net control station). One thing they caution you about is not to cross band two repeaters as this would cause a loop which could lock up all radios involved. Not cool and potentially harmful to to all radios involved. You should also be aware that your radio doing the cross band is operating at 100% duty cycle and could over heat if not given a rest now and then.

After a short pause …

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Well it has been 4 days since my last entry. I am glad I am not on any schedule. I worked this weekend and just did not have the time/energy to write anything.

Have you ever done something that is totally futile, knowing the futility and you do it just ’cause? I am doing that now. I am calling CQ on the 12 Meter band and it is not likely I will get a reply, though you never know. I will probably switch to another band in a few but for now I am enjoying the rhythm of sending CW. If there is only dead air out there, so be it. I can always move. I guess it is a lazy sort of attitude, though I call it relaxing. No response yet but that gave me time to do my daily weather recording. I keep records of the weather every day in a composition book. There is no purpose to it, just a thing to do. Sometimes doing something for no reason can be fun.

Time to switch bands. I wasn’t even getting spotted on any of the online spotting groups. There are sites online where people can post the frequency you are working and your call sign so that other hams can look for you and try to work you. The internet has made ham radio a lot easier. It used to be you would have to tune up and down the bands looking for signals. Now you can see who is where. I dislike crowds and that is why I avoid 20 Meters as it can get crowded. I do use it occasionally for working special event stations, though. Right now I am on 17 Meters using my christmas light dipole. I will soon be replacing it with a 30 meter dipole. I now have the pullys on the tower to handle it. I will also be raising my multiband dipole to see if It works better at a higher level.

Oh, if this reads like a journal, oh well. I make no apologies. Besides, very few peoples read this. 🙂

A day that will live in …

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment
Before
After

What a day! My friend Don got here on time, unlike the satellite tech who called and said he couldn’t make it and I had to reschedule. This is the second time. The first appointment was in June and we sat here waiting from noon until 15:45 (the scheduled maintenance window was noon to 16:00) when a robot called and informed us we just wasted 4 hours because they could not make it today. I called the company and was able to get an appointment for today. Now my appointment is on Tuesday from 08:00 until Noon. Yes, that is annoying. The work on the antenna went smoothly and we took Don to breakfast. After that I attempted to unplug a drain. Note the word “attempted”. I finally broke down and started calling around for a plumber. Several in the area told me that they are swamped. I finally got one to claim they are coming tomorrow morning. Keeping my fingers finged. So I tried out my radio that is attached to the new antenna and things seem to be working well. Now I can relax a bit.

Installing an antenna

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment

I have a tower that has an antenna on it that has taken a lot of damage over the years due to weather. The day after tomorrow, I have a friend coming over to remove the damaged antenna and install another in its place. He will be swapping out a 2M quad beam for a 2m/400 vertical. This will go on the top of the tower and should allow me to hit some of the local repeaters. Basically, we live in a hollow which shelters our house from a lot of the worst weather but is not a good location for VHF/UHF communications. The tower will put the antenna around 40 feet above the ground level. I am also having him install some pulleys at the top which will allow me to raise the level of my dipoles and hang an american flag. I am looking forward to the project. I might even post some pics and or video on here. Stay tuned.