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The Ham Shack - B&B's Amateur Radio Club

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Has any one assisted in disaster relief? In this day and age, do relief groups still use Ham operators from time to time? Heck, I should ask my father- since retiring he does a lot of stuff for the Red Cross.
Yes, they still do, maybe not as much as in the past. I know this because I met a lady that was a somewhat big Mucketty Muck in the Red Cross when I was a nursing student. When she found out I was a Ham she told me to sign up. I would be cross trained and could both be a nurse and handle radio traffic. Life got in the way and never did it. It's on my bucket list, tho.
 
Hi Bill. Thats a nice set of cans for sure. I have a Heil set ive been using for 4 years now. I use a boom mic so the mic in mine doesnt get used. Have been thinking about getting a different set. Mine have spent most the time hanging up. Not in use. Got them to do contesting but just dont get time to put into contesting. Think ive done 3. Oh well.

I do catch europe on 20m cw now and then but its hard to pull them out. Cant wait for the cycle to restart. Trying to get my dxcc for 300 but its going to have to wait. The beam helps me a lot but right now evan the beam isnt hearing anything new.

My only radio time is on my days off as i spend 14hrs in a truck. Got a 706 in the big truck with a tuner but right now thats not getting me anywhere. Lets all pray that the next cycle will be better than the last. It didnt stick around as long as it should have. Pettering out too quickly. Well it gives me something to look forward too.
 

oc_in_fw

Fridays are Fishtastic!
Hi Bill. Thats a nice set of cans for sure. I have a Heil set ive been using for 4 years now. I use a boom mic so the mic in mine doesnt get used. Have been thinking about getting a different set. Mine have spent most the time hanging up. Not in use. Got them to do contesting but just dont get time to put into contesting. Think ive done 3. Oh well.

I do catch europe on 20m cw now and then but its hard to pull them out. Cant wait for the cycle to restart. Trying to get my dxcc for 300 but its going to have to wait. The beam helps me a lot but right now evan the beam isnt hearing anything new.

My only radio time is on my days off as i spend 14hrs in a truck. Got a 706 in the big truck with a tuner but right now thats not getting me anywhere. Lets all pray that the next cycle will be better than the last. It didnt stick around as long as it should have. Pettering out too quickly. Well it gives me something to look forward too.

What is this cycle which you speak of? Sorry, I don't know much about this stuff yet.
 
What is this cycle which you speak of? Sorry, I don't know much about this stuff yet.

Sunspot cycle. Low frequency radio propogation over long distances happens via bouncing between the ground and certain layers in the atmosphere. These layers don't bounce the signal back down unless they are sufficient ionized. This is a significant simplification, but they are more ionized during high sunspot activity. The sun has a cycle of this activity that is ~11 years long. We're coming down now off of the peak of the cycle - one that was very weak even at the peak. This will continue through the solar minimum (around 2020 or so) then start to climb back up for the next cycle.
 

oc_in_fw

Fridays are Fishtastic!
Sunspot cycle. Low frequency radio propogation over long distances happens via bouncing between the ground and certain layers in the atmosphere. These layers don't bounce the signal back down unless they are sufficient ionized. This is a significant simplification, but they are more ionized during high sunspot activity. The sun has a cycle of this activity that is ~11 years long. We're coming down now off of the peak of the cycle - one that was very weak even at the peak. This will continue through the solar minimum (around 2020 or so) then start to climb back up for the next cycle.

Thanks for the refresher. I knew the sun had something to do with it, but couldn't remember if it was high activity or low activity that worked as a benefit.
 
2020! Thanks for reminding me. NOT!
Ha. I dont know if i can last that long.

LOL... Unfortunately, that's the minimum, so we'll have a bit longer to wait until thing get better again. It's funny actually - I'm torn on the sunspot issue. As a Ham it hurts to see it this quiet. As a follower of the sun's activity and its general effects on the earth I'm fascinated by what's been happening over the last couple of cycles, and the general downward trend of the solar cycle, not to the mention the double peaked maximum this last cycle. We may be entering a period that's not like anything we've seen since advanced solar measurements and observation became possible. It's an interesting (but at the same time boring) time for fans of the sun.

http://spaceweather.com/ for further study.
 
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Good deal on the parks. I got a few but havent been chasing them.

Took a pic of my house. Guess which one is mine...
$20160725_165447.jpg

Hope this works from my phone.
 
I need a beam. Multi-band dipole at 35 feet is not bad for digital, but severely lacking for phone. Prior owner of my house seems to have been a ham. Couple of concrete pours behind the shed with what appears to be tower bases. Hmmm.
 
As soon as I save a bit of $$$, planning to get a GAP Titan vertical since I"m space challenged as this time. Looking forward to (hopefully) better results than my G5RV at 35'.
 
Have you asked for any comments on the titan on qrz? I have herd mixed reports. The g5rv seems to work well as a lot of folks use it for primary antenna. If you could get it up higher and hang it properly its a good antenna but you need a tuner. The Titan being a vertical is noisy. And if you live in the middle of a city its very noisy. I prefer hoizontal.

But when your limited you got ti do anything you can. I live in the middle of a large city. As you can see from pics i dont have a lor of room but still managed to get some aluminum in the air.
 
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Fb Stan. I read all the other threads posts. Looks like a bunch of hams here on b and b. With conditions being as bad as they are we might get some more posts as its easier than chasing dx right now.

GD DX TO ALL ES CW FOREVER (period)
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