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NS2B Amateur Radio |
Things have been happening, or not happening as it were... First I quit hamming and sold all of my radios... Now I have the bug again... Acquired a vanity call - never really liked my old call. Now I have to shop for new radios...
Well, the CB conversion projects have made me crazy. The Royce conversion went ok until the PLL fell over and I couldn't get it back up. The Cobra conversion I ended up doing with all crystals so it covers pretty from 28.03 up to 28.33 - perfect for doing data modes - but it still needs a bit of an alignment so I've set it aside until I can get an RF voltmeter borrowed from my elmer.
Other madness includes the long term loan of a Heathkit HW-12A. I need to clean it up, check the tubes and then see if I can scare up one of the boatanchor nets on 75... More to come...
Lately I got this crazy idea to convert a couple of CBs to the 10m band. I have a Royce 1-648 40 channel AM CB that I plan to turn into a CW machine, and a Cobra 134 AM/SSB that will be used for voice. The Royce uses the "sardine can" PLL and was easy enough to get on 10m with the change of its mix crystal. The Cobra is old crystal matrix technolgy - it'd be real easy just to recrystal it - but expensive! So I've ordered an AmQRP DDS-60 kit for it - stay tuned on that one. As of last night, the Royce was keying a pretty good note in the CW segment of 10m. Next will come the receiver work - stay tuned...
Ok, so I need to get a lot better at updating this page!
Where am I? Running HF almost exclusively - the inventory looks like this:
Base OperationsThis stuff gets used for digital modes. Hellschreiber, Olivia, and a recent flurry of JT65A activity. I don't know why I like Hellscreiber, it's not a weak signal mode, you need power or good conditions - I don't run power and we're at the wrong end of the sunspot cycle for conditions, but I still like it. JT65A was interesting for a couple of days, but I prefer more of a ragchew mode, and it ain't. I've only recently discovered Olivia. Works well in weak signal conditions and it's great for ragchewing because I can type faster than it runs so I don't feel hurried.
Mobile OperationsEven though I have 20m capability, so far I've only been running 40m. I try to checkin to one of the mobile centric nets a couple times a week during drive time. E-CARS typically, occasionally MID-CARS, and once in a great while 'the 6-8 bunch'.
Portable OperationsThis is the only VHF I run. I use it mostly for scanning around the 2m repeaters and a few of the VHF public safety frequencies. Once in a while I'll checkin to the local 2m FM net, that's about it.
I finally decided to start doing this page in a blog like fashion; the newest information at the top, all the history farther down the page.
Things have changed around here; I upgraded to Extra back in December, I'm not running packet any longer, I've been playing with Hellschreiber on HF, and I've been causht up in a renewed shortwave listening experience including listening to DRM broadcasts. I need to take some pictures and fill in the details - stay tuned...
Going back to the 70's when I was an aircraft radar technician for the United States Marine Corps I always wanted my ham license, but at the time I could never muster up the discipline to learn morse code. Later in life the FCC introduced a license class lovingly referred to as the no-code tech license. A license that allowed operation on VHF and higher frequencies. In 1994 I took advantage of that license and soon discovered packet radio. A mode of operation that suited my interests perfectly! As time passed, I met other hams and fell in with a group of fellows that shamed me into learning morse code, thus allowing me to upgrade to a General Class license. Along the way I've dabbled with a number of modes of operation; CW, PSK31, SSTV, etc. - but I always come running home to packet it seems.
This is a packet mailbox with a Kenwood TR-7400A running 25 watts hooked to a KAM+ TNC. Antenna is a Ringo up about 30 feet.