Emergency Operations

Tuesday the 10th vs Friday the 13th

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This is a tale of 2 activations, 2 owls and one park. On Tuesday, Oct 10th, My long suffering wyfe and I set out to Kings Gap (K-4361 for you POTA types) and I activated the park. This consists of setting up my radio and making a minimum of 10 contacts. I was able to make 34 contacts in the time I had to be there and enjoyed the day. Everything went smoothly. I got my antenna line over a tree branch in one throw and was set up in less than 15 minutes. My wyfe wandered around taking pictures and also spent some time on the interwebs and enjoying the weather. It was a great afternoon. As I said, everything went smoothly. My owl decoy, Ptolomey (pictured below) kept watch for bears and made sure we weren’t bothered by insects or other pests. Then there was today, Friday the 13th. My wyfe, on the spur of the moment, decided that she wanted to do some videoing up at Kings Gap and since we would be going up there I decided to bring my equipment and activate. First, I had to turn back 1/2 km from home as I had forgotten to barricade off the area of the house where the cellar stairs are. I rather prefer not to return home to our Rhoomba on its back at the bottom of the stairs screaming for help and being circled by well-meaning cats. Then the small store at the bottom of the hill at Kings Gap did not carry the brand of chips my wyfe wanted. Once we go to the top of the hill where the mansion is, there were workmen doing various and sundry things preparing the place for the upcoming fall/winter seasons. My wyfe settled herself in to doing her thing and I started setting up my radio. Yeah … On the 4th throw, my throwing bag wound 3 times around a branch. I stood there, about 15 or so meters below staring at it and uttering lots of nsfw words. There was no way I could leave an weighted throwing bag attached to several meters of florescent twine attached to that branch. Finally the thought hit me: The twine has 2 ends!! I took a convenient stick and tied it up with the other end of the twine and threw it over the branch 3 times. This unwound the throwing bag. Unfortunately, my wyfe had wandered over to observe the spectacle and almost got hit with the bag when it came loose and plummeted to the ground. Now 3 more throws got it over the branch and I was able to raise my antenna. My usual 15 minute set-up took me almost 45 minutes. Now my owl Tootsie was able to scare away any bears but the gnats were another story. They ignored him and swarmed me. I did my best to ignore them. I made 55 contacts and had a very successful activation in spite of Friday the 13th and Murphy. Feel free to look at my pictures and to laugh at me. 🙂 Pic 1 is Ptolomey, Pic 2 is Me on the 10th, Pic 3 is Tootsie and Pic 4 is me on the 13th. Namaste Y’all

WOW!! Where did September go???

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It has been a busy month, I guess. I have really been into the whole POTA thing and between that and work and keeping my life from falling into the usual chaos, it has been one amazing fun filled blur. I mentioned in my last post that I had activated 2 parks on 3 September. Well, just the other day, 1 October, I went out to the same place, Big Spring State Park, located in Tuscarora State Forest and activated again. I made a total of 49 contacts in an hour including several park-to-park contacts and was able to withstand the constant bombardment of acorns falling from the trees. It was a beautiful early autumn day and I was very happy to be out and about. I will include a picture or 2 below. I prefer to go out on nice days as I do not want my radio rained on. There are pavilions I could use, I guess but I do prefer the open air and sunshine. It doesn’t take me long to set up and I can be on the air within 15 minutes of pulling into the park. I prefer to use a G5RV Junior antenna as it is a good multi-band antenna and works well as an inverted vee. Right now the only limiting factor in my setup is my power situation. The battery pack I use just isn’t up to the job which is why I am going the pick up a LiFePo 12V 20ah battery tomorrow which will allow me to run my rig for a much longer period of time. You can expect a more contacts listed from my next activation report. well kidlets, enough for now. Namaste, you’all.

As for Summer, I don’t hear no singing!

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It was a beautiful day today and I decided to go activate a park. I went to Big Spring State Park which is located in Tuscarora State Forest, making it a two-fer! All went well. I put my antenna up over a convenient branch with my arborist bag and quickly got on the air. I self spotted on the POTA app and soon was making contacts. I had no real issues until an operator started using AM on a nearby freq. I just moved down the band and started over. I ran for a while more before the heat got to me. Overall a very successful activation. I made 44 contacts including 3 park to parks. I will be back there in the near future as it is a nice park and is nearby. I enjoy working portable and POTA gives me a chance to get outdoors. Yesterday I was out on my lawn and, with the help of my long-suffering wyfe, got my Buddistick tuned up using a 4″ by 20′ length of copper screen as a ground radial. It worked great and I will have to try it at a park next. Now I think I will sit here and stream some shows.

Namaste, y’all

Radio Active in a good way

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Had a great day yesterday. My long suffering wyfe and I went camping at a local state forest and I activated it for the POTA program. Please note that my wyfe isn’t into camping and only went along to keep me company as I could not find anyone else to join in on the adventure. The campsite we chose was very remote. While we were there no cars went by, which pleased me to no end. It is up on a dirt road on top of a ridge. The only amenities there are a parking area, a picnic table and a fire ring. This was very suitable. While we were there the wind was blowing which kept the bugs to a minimum, even though the temperature was in the 80’s (farenheit) or high 20’s in Celsius. We had the camp set up in about an hour and I was soon on the air. I got to try out some new equipment. To hang my antenna I used a weighted arborists throwing bag. This was easier than using a stick and allowed me to throw the line higher in a tree. I had my generator that I had won in a raffle and my tent which I had also won. Both my owls were there, Ptolomy and Tootsie (pictured below) to guard the camp. I even brought along a slingshot with steel ball bearings in case a bear showed up and I wanted to piss it off. In reality the only critters we saw were a porcupine which walked purposefully past the camp, a large beetle doing beetle things a big toad, and a racoon which came by the tent this morning to see what was blocking his path. As for the activation, I had a very successful time. I made a total of 78 contacts with 4 of them park-to-park contacts. I stayed on the 40M band as it seemed to have a good result. I worked as far away as Puerto Rico, and several places in the eastern half of the country and a few Canadian stations before I had to stop due to my power supply running low. Overall, a good time was had by all. Hats off to my wyfe who made us a great supper of cabbage and kielbasa!

Not a Good day, a Great day!

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It was a great day today. The weather was beautiful and it was a very nice day to be off. One of those Sundays that come along once in a while that make you want to go outside and do things. Today my wonderful wyfe and I went out to a State Park about 15 miles down the road and did a POTA activation. POTA stands for Parks On The Air and is a program for ham radio operators to get out and be active in the public, operating in State and Federal parks, Forests and Game Lands. The park we were at was Big Spring State Park ( POTA Number K-4355) which is located on the western edge of Perry County PA. As I said, it was a beautiful day. It only took me about 15 minutes to set up. I put up an inverted Vee antenna with the apex up about 30 feet. My radio is a Yaesu FT891 and I was using my new LDG Z11 Pro II tuner. The setup worked great and I was able to make 26 contacts in less than an hour of operating before the bugs drove me out of there. In the meantime, my wonderful and long suffering wyfe was enjoying herself making videos of nature and of me operating. All in all, a good time was had by all. Following is a pic of me operating and my setup. The random hunks of tree bark on the table were still there when we left. 🙂

Summertime is getting closer and the living will be easy

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Soon it will be time to start thinking about getting outside more and enjoying the warmer weather …. until it is 95 degrees Fahrenheit ( for those who still use that system, I prefer 35 degrees Celsius) with a relative humidity of about 85% then you will want to lay about in the AC and bitch. Actually I was out yesterday with my new radio and a G5RV Junior playing around. First off I was learning the foibles of tuning this set up as an inverted vee. I didn’t want to have it set up in too permanent looking a configuration as I was in a public location. Second, I was learning the menu system of the radio as so far I have not had a lot of time to use it. Third, I was fine tuning my grab and go style. Back some years ago I could have a portable QRP station up and on the air within 15 minutes of pulling into a location. Yesterday it took me over 40 minutes to get on the air not including having to return home to get my power supply (turning red with embarrassment). I am not as readiness able as I used to be, I reckon. Guess I just need to practice. My plans for the future include bringing alternate antennas to try out. One nice thing is that my wyfe is willing to assist. She enjoys coming along for the ride and likes to laugh at my mistakes. 🙂 In any event, I will keep plodding away and keep posting here. For now, namaste, y’all.

New year/ new revolutions

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So … did I make any resolutions? Hardly. I never do. I don’t see the point. I am the same old me and do not foresee any changes aside from my beard going greyer. 🙂

As for radio stuff, I am currently starting to put together a special event for May. There is a lot to do and not much time to do it. This will have 2 purposes: 1, to commemorate the life of Marie Doro, a silent film star who was born in this county and is buried locally. and, B, to do a practice/shakedown for field day. I am about to start seeking volunteers to provide radios, antennae, a venue, food and operators. I am looking at the 27th of May as the date and plan to have the event run from 0800 local until 1600 local (1200 UTC until 2000 UTC). The certificate will be done via e-mail. We will fill out contact information from e-mails submitted and reply with the certificate attached as a jpg or pdf file. Hopefully I can find people interested. If enough people sign up and participate I might make a batch of chili! If anyone reading this is interested please feel free to contact me.

Anyway, it has been a good evening on the radio. I tossed my call out a few times and had several stations call me. That is always nice. The days are getting longer and I look forward to more light.

Until next time, namaste kidlets.

Look! Up In The SKY …

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So … yesterday my wyfe and I were in the yard doing some outdoors type chores. I happened to glance up into the back yard and, to my horror, I did not see one leg of my big dipole! Thinking it was down to a) wind b) a falling tree branch or 3) a squirrel chewing through it (yes I have had that happen), I went to the house and grabbed some 550 cord, some crimp on connectors and other implements of repair. I made my way up the hill and through the picker bushes and started looking for the end where it fell. I found it. Up in the air where it belongs. Due to the angle of the dipole and the color of the sky/trees in the background, it is nearly invisible unless you are in close proximity. My wyfe is still laughing at me. Could be worse. She could totally ignore me.

I am going to have to prepare myself over the course of the winter. I have a suitable antenna for field work and am looking for a portable HF rig. I got a call the other day from a local fire company and I won a portable generator in a raffle. As soon as I get a rig and the weather is a bit warmer I plan to head out to some of the local state parks/ state forests and do some POTA activations.

Hope you all have a pleasant week. Namaste.

Ahhhh …. Autumn

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Well it is Autumn again. I just got done beating Satan’s Putting Green back into submission and I am looking forward to the seasonal die-back. In any event, running a lawn mower reminds me of safety. Thinking of safety reminds me of the annual Simulated Emergency Test. What is that, you might ask? Well :

The annual Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is a training exercise involving the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and the National Traffic System (NTS), a message-handling service of amateur radio. The American Radio Relay League is a prime mover in this event, which is organized somewhat like a contest. Its primary purposes are to evaluate strengths and weaknesses in emergency preparedness and communications, and to demonstrate amateur radio to the public.

During the first full weekend of October of every year in the United States, a nationwide radio communications network is set up that links every major city and most of the geography of the country. This technological infrastructure is set up from scratch within a few hours at locations that vary from state and local government Emergency Operations Centers to isolated areas without utilities of any kind. Every mode of radio communications is utilized including analog, digital, voice, data, simplex, duplex, satellites and even automated relay stations launched on aircraft and with weather balloons. For no more than 48 continuous hours, this nationwide radio communications network is exercised with the primary objective of proving the system’s readiness and capabilities. Then as quickly as it was set up, the system is dismantled and stored in preparation for when it is needed. The system has demonstrated its value time after time during earthquakes, hurricanes, forest fires, terrorist attacks and other disasters. All of this capability is provided by volunteers who continuously hone their technical skills and acquire, build, and maintain their own equipment. These radio engineers and operators, along with their equipment, combine into an important resource for emergency communications.

There you have it. The SET will be held this weekend, OCT 1 and 2. The SET is held this time of year because it is near the end of hurricane season and is a good way of evaluating performance under stressful conditions. Right now, Florida and other areas in the South are being pummeled by Hurricane Ian. There are traffic nets set up on the HF bands to pass health and welfare messages into and out of the affected areas. Ham radio has been a major part of emergency communications and will remain so.

“Of course you know this means war!”

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I have a weather station. One of the great topics to talk about on ham radio is the weather. I am also a NOAA Storm Spotter ( which doesn’t mean that I chase down tornadoes, it means that I report to the NOAA any unusual and or dangerous weather). So anyway I noticed yesterday that for 2 consecutive days my anemometer had registered no wind. I went out to check it and found a spider had built a web on my station and it was locking the wind cups in place. I brushed the spider web away and thought that that was it. NOOOOOOOOO! The frackin spider rebuilt the web. I had to clear it away today. I also took a yard broom to the weather station and hopefully evicted the spider. I think this whole thing was caused by me freeing a praying mantis from a spider web at my mum-in-law’s place. The poor thing was climbing the wall and the web kept pulling it back. I freed it and it flew off happily. I believe the spiders communicated with each other and decided to mess with me. I am waiting the next move. I hope I don’t have to exercise the nuclear option!

Namaste kidlets.