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Author Topic: Ham radio ops here?  (Read 918 times)

DonTom

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Ham radio ops here?
« on: October 15, 2023, 08:05:40 AM »

I assume there are a few other ham radio operators in this forum.


Let's start a list of them.


I am AA6GA.


I only work CW and only on HF. From both houses as well as from my RVs.


I will soon be leaving in my newer RV towards Utah, with my 2017 Zero DS on the hitch.


Electric bikes are great for RV travel. Since there is no clutch, I can use its power to get up the cycle ramp on the hitch of my RV.


Anyway, I will be on the air from my newer Class A RV in a few days. First from Utah. Not sure where I will go from there.


-Don-  Auburn, CA
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1971 BMW R75/5
1984 Yamaha Venture
2002 Suzuki DR200SE
2013 Triumph Trophy SE
2016 Kawasaki Versys 650 LT
2017 Blk/Gold HD Road Glide Ultra
2017 Org Zero DS ZF 6.5/(now is 7.2)
2017 Red Zero SR ZF13 w/ Pwr Tank
2020 Energica EVA SS9
2023 Energica Experia LE
2023 Zero DSR/X

stevenh

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Re: Ham radio ops here?
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2023, 04:33:35 PM »

K1SCQ here, I only operate HF from home these days (used to do a lot of 2m mobile, but not any more).  I only operate SSB phone for the most part with an occasional foray into AM on the low bands.  I've got a home-made dual FET (LDMOS) linear amp driven by a FT-DX3000 into either a ground mounted multi-band vertical or a 160M folded dipole (with a home-made tuner).

I just got back from NEAR-FEST (New England Amateur Radio Festival) on Friday and Saturday.  It's our local ham-fest/swap meet.

Nice to have the vehicle to load on my Ioniq-5 for powering new purchases and to demo stuff we are selling from the tailgate!  The SR/F did not make the trip this year.

Steve
« Last Edit: October 16, 2023, 07:03:25 AM by stevenh »
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DonTom

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Re: Ham radio ops here?
« Reply #2 on: October 15, 2023, 11:51:06 PM »

K1SCQ here, I only operate HF from home these days (used to do a lot of 2m mobile, but not any more).  I only operate SSW phone for the most part with an occasional foray into AM on the low bands.  I've got a home-made dual FET (LDMOS) linear amp driven by a FT-DX3000 into either a ground mounted multi-band vertical or a 160M folded dipole (with a home-made tuner).

I just got back from NEAR-FEST (New England Amateur Radio Festival) on Friday and Saturday.  It's our local ham-fest/swap meet.

Nice to have the vehicle to load on my Ioniq-5 for powering new purchases and to demo stuff we are selling from the tailgate!  The SR/F did not make the trip this year.

Steve
Steve, nice to meet another ham here, I assume there will be a few others to check in.  I see you run a Yaesu FT-DX3000 there. I have a FTdx1200 at each of my QTHs. Neither have ever had a mic connected to them since new. While I also have several VHF/UHF rigs, I have not turned on any of them for years. I am stickily HF CW, and on the air almost every day/night lately.


73, -Don-  AA6GA Auburn, CA
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1971 BMW R75/5
1984 Yamaha Venture
2002 Suzuki DR200SE
2013 Triumph Trophy SE
2016 Kawasaki Versys 650 LT
2017 Blk/Gold HD Road Glide Ultra
2017 Org Zero DS ZF 6.5/(now is 7.2)
2017 Red Zero SR ZF13 w/ Pwr Tank
2020 Energica EVA SS9
2023 Energica Experia LE
2023 Zero DSR/X

Specter

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Re: Ham radio ops here?
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2023, 06:40:19 AM »

Steven,  sadly the 2M bands have become like CB radio in the past decade.  All the manners that HAM's used to observe, and protocols that made us stand out as, well 'Professional Ameteurs' kind of went out the window.  While the language is much cleaner, the talk over, the yammer for 5 minutes straight, and fast keying is as bad as any CB channel.  I used to bring my 2M out on my boat with me as well, just to see how many stations I could hit when offshore, and as a time killer for inbetween bites.  Given it's proximity to Marine Band, re-tuning and being able to re'use the same antenna worked nicely.

I haven't been on HAM for years, in fact, this here reminded me to check if my license is still valid!  It is.

I have a random wire stretched around my fenced in yard, I used to play 40M  80 M on when I wasn't on 10M
If I wasn't so busy with everything else I got going on I would probably get back into it, but well, have it for emergencies mostly now
KJ4GNK

Aaron
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stevenh

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Re: Ham radio ops here?
« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2023, 05:56:20 PM »

Good to see a couple of ham's lurking here! (AA6GA and KJ4GNK).  I used 2M quite a bit when I commuted every day to Boston from Southeastern NH every day (1 hour each way), but once I moved to remote most of the time (full time remote now), I did not install the 2M rig when I switched cars last time.

Don, I never got into CW, I did do 5WPM for my Novice in the 5th grade (WD9FOK), and when I got my Technician after college in the mid 80's (N1FWN), but never went any further with code.  I think I've made 2-3 CW contacts in my ham radio career on 40m.  My hat is off to you for keeping CW going.  I got my Extra shortly after the code was lifted.  My son got his Extra this weekend, and he pretty much got me back into the hobby (building stuff in my basement).  He's a EE (I am as well).

Aaron,  Sorry to hear 2M has gone in that direction.  I know there are plenty of lid's on 80m and 40m these days as well, pretty sad.  Still lots of solid operators on HF though.  I do phone from 160m-10m a few times a week, most of the time on 20m.  I had a HF mobile setup along with my 2m rig when I operated from the car.  I had an 857d and an ATAS 120 (worked pretty well).  I used the same rig for 2M and 440 back then.

Seems Ham radio is a bit of a dying hobby based on the average age of the attendees at this last weekends ham-fest locally.

Steve
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DonTom

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Re: Ham radio ops here?
« Reply #5 on: October 16, 2023, 09:28:51 PM »

Good to see a couple of ham's lurking here! (AA6GA and KJ4GNK).  I used 2M quite a bit when I commuted every day to Boston from Southeastern NH every day (1 hour each way), but once I moved to remote most of the time (full time remote now), I did not install the 2M rig when I switched cars last time.

Don, I never got into CW, I did do 5WPM for my Novice in the 5th grade (WD9FOK), and when I got my Technician after college in the mid 80's (N1FWN), but never went any further with code.  I think I've made 2-3 CW contacts in my ham radio career on 40m.  My hat is off to you for keeping CW going.  I got my Extra shortly after the code was lifted.  My son got his Extra this weekend, and he pretty much got me back into the hobby (building stuff in my basement).  He's a EE (I am as well).

Aaron,  Sorry to hear 2M has gone in that direction.  I know there are plenty of lid's on 80m and 40m these days as well, pretty sad.  Still lots of solid operators on HF though.  I do phone from 160m-10m a few times a week, most of the time on 20m.  I had a HF mobile setup along with my 2m rig when I operated from the car.  I had an 857d and an ATAS 120 (worked pretty well).  I used the same rig for 2M and 440 back then.

Seems Ham radio is a bit of a dying hobby based on the average age of the attendees at this last weekends ham-fest locally.

Steve
On CW there is a different type of lid. Those who are QLF. Other than that, CW is lid free. Yeah, most of us CW ops have been hams for a long time. Perhaps it was not such a great idea to no longer require code for CW. IMAO, to not at least require CW for the Extra Class is ridiculous. Now there is no incentive to learn CW so very few bother with it. But of the few that do, they normally get hooked on it.


-Don-  AA6GA/7  Reno, NV
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1971 BMW R75/5
1984 Yamaha Venture
2002 Suzuki DR200SE
2013 Triumph Trophy SE
2016 Kawasaki Versys 650 LT
2017 Blk/Gold HD Road Glide Ultra
2017 Org Zero DS ZF 6.5/(now is 7.2)
2017 Red Zero SR ZF13 w/ Pwr Tank
2020 Energica EVA SS9
2023 Energica Experia LE
2023 Zero DSR/X

Specter

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Re: Ham radio ops here?
« Reply #6 on: October 16, 2023, 11:47:42 PM »

The cw is nice in an emergency.  don't need any kind of decoders, trans muxers bla bla,  you can basically draw an arc and spark a message across the globe if you need to.  I think part of the problem is the kids today, want instant gratification.  CW you have to take some time and learn it, it's like a discipline.  That word does not set well with Z's, and if they can't take 20 seconds to read a 3 sentence paragraph, because it's 'too long' they surely are not going to learn morse.

It's dying because well, no need for it anymore,  I can talk to anyone anywhere on the planet instantly, or near instantly with the internet now.  Just click an app and im telling everyone all about MEEEeeeeee.  You don't need to work at it, and its pretty much a guaranteed 'hit' every time.

There is no more desire to DO or LEARN, no inquisitiveness anymore, it's all sloth, lazy and,  SIRI do this for me,  Alexa do that for me, I dont' want to have to do any research myself, oh heavens NO if I have to actually do any work !!

Another thing that iMO is a HUGE mistake is the old analog television dying.  Ok so the signal was weak, you'd have ghosts, you'd have static, but you could still see a faint picture, and still hear faint sound no matter how shitty the signal got.  Today with this digital crap, one tiny error and it pixelates, blocks up and freezes to black.  How the F'k is THAT an improvement??
Cell Phones, back when they first came out, I could hit a tower at 60 miles and still make a call with the analog and a booster.  Now, with this digital crap, you are lucky to hit a tower at 10 miles.

Just because it's Digital, does NOT mean it's better or works better.
Oh, they will soon find out.

Aaron
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DonTom

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Re: Ham radio ops here?
« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2023, 12:01:29 PM »

I expected there to be a lot more amateur radio operator here than have checked in so far.


I have been on the air a lot during this RV trip, but only when parked for a while.



-Don- Flagstaff, AZ
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1971 BMW R75/5
1984 Yamaha Venture
2002 Suzuki DR200SE
2013 Triumph Trophy SE
2016 Kawasaki Versys 650 LT
2017 Blk/Gold HD Road Glide Ultra
2017 Org Zero DS ZF 6.5/(now is 7.2)
2017 Red Zero SR ZF13 w/ Pwr Tank
2020 Energica EVA SS9
2023 Energica Experia LE
2023 Zero DSR/X
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