Hobby

A book Review

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The book I am reviewing today is “Today I Am A Ham” by Ethelyn M Parkinson. My wife found it at a yardsale. For a youth-oriented book, I found it interesting and enjoyable. 14 year old Eric aspires to be a ham while maneuvering through typical family and school and friend issues. He isn’t the athlete that his coach father wants him to be; he also is’t the perfect brother that his drama queen sister wants him to be. He gets the full support of his other sister and, with the help of friends and local adults, he is able to get his ham ticket. As for sports, I will leave that to you. On the whole, it was a good read. Below is a link to some reader reviews:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1697633.Today_I_Am_a_Ham

Another day

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A nice day here in Pencilvania. We were out and about doing some shopping earlier and then when we got home, we burned some trash and I got Satan’s Putting Green under control. I was even nice enough to sweep the grass cuttings off of the road. 🙂 I refer to my lawn as Satan’s Putting Green as it isn’t really lawn. It is more pasture that over grows easily with the wrong kind of grass and other plants. I do have a lot of purslane and millefoil, so it isn’t all that bad. I also have ground ivy which can be used for bittering beer.

Now I am drinking coffee, relaxing and trying to make contacts on my radio. Hmmm … no wonder I am not even getting spotted. I just checked the MUF prediction for this area and I am well above the Maximum Useable Frequency for the bands today. I have been calling on 24.910 MHz and getting no response. Time to tune to a different band. Ok. Now I am on 10.118 MHz. 30 Meters is a good all around band. I will try here. My signal should get out. That is one nice thing about being an Amateur Extra and using CW … you can use any Amateur Radio band. I have even, on occasion, invaded the SSB (voice) portions of bands like 80M and 160M. I am not obnoxious about it. I do listen first for a clear frequency. I just got spotted by a station from Portugal. My signal is travelling. I think one reason that I am not getting anyone is that there are some contests going on. Since 30M is not a contest band, there might be few people here. Oh well, it is all part of the fun. The antenna I am using is my homemade dipole. Dipoles are easy to make and work very well. They can also bee difficult for people to see which is a good thing. There. I worked a station down in Florida. Well closing this for now. Almost time to go on recon.

A Mini Vacation

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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

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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?

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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!!

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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!

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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…

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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.

Installing an antenna

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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.

Some IR video from a local old cemetery

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Pioneer Cemetery Laurel Run Road Blain PA

My wyfe and I enjoy exploring old cemeteries and taking pictures and video. About 20 minutes from where we live is this one cemetery located out along a gravel road up on the local mountain. The area was known as Pandemonium and the Pioneer cemetery once served the settlement. Back in the day this area had a water mill, a tannery and a lumber industry. A short drive up Laurel Run Road takes you to the area and the cemetery is located up a short driveway off of the main road. It is secluded and peaceful. While we were there, last night, there was some animal out a bit in the woods watching us. I could hear it moving about now and then. Probably a bear or a deer. There are a lot of cabins along the road where people stay when they are hunting or just want some welcome solitude.