Certifiable. My antenna came down during the ice storm earlier this month and I haven’t been able to get on the air. Well, the weather was nice today and I had talked about putting the antenna back up. My wife suggested that today would be perfect before it got cold and nasty again.
Yep. Me. On a ladder. Working above my head. Outside.
Yep. Crazy!
But, I did it! I’m darn proud of it, too. See, I don’t really care for heights, let alone ladders. Gravity and I don’t get along too well. Tonya gave me moral support and held the ladder while I was up there.
There were only two moments when I really wanted to click my fingers and be off the ladder, inside, and sitting down. Once when I was soldering the dipole leads (the main wires going from the house to the trees) onto the ladder line (the wire that goes down and into the house). I decided to try out my new butane soldering torch. Here I am, 5,000 feet (okay, 15 feet) off the ground, soldering with FIRE in such a way that the any extra solder would come down on my coat.
Kids, don’t try that at home.
The second moment was when I went up the tree in the back yard to make the final attachment. The ladder wasn’t as secure as I’d like it (though, I’m sure it was just fine) and I had to basically hug the tree to get the cord around it. Egads. Then I had to tie it off above my head which, unfortunately, requires two hands.
Well, it’s up. And thank goodness - it works!
I talked to a guy (ever so briefly) on 80 meters tonight in Paris, TN. It was an odd-ball mode that I had never used called Hellschreiber (or Feld-Hell for short). It’s an old teletype mode the German’s invented back during WWI. People decided to try it with modern day computers and have breathed new life into the mode. My understanding is that it was the first mechanized form of radio communication.
Well, hope everyone has a happy new year - and I’ll try to stay off the ladders for a while.
Well, I just got a lesson in proper electrical grounding last night. Tonya woke up in the middle of the night to hear a “clicking” sound coming from the GFI outlet in our upstairs bathroom. As it turns out, I just happened to be transmitting on 40 meters (around 7.200 khz). The clicking and poppings sounds culminated in the GFI actually tripping, though the clicking didn’t cease.
When we remodeled our upstairs, I took stock in that bathroom’s wiring. I almost updated it, but we weren’t working on the bathroom, so I left it alone. The previouso owners of the house had remodeled that bathroom a number of years ago and, at the time, there was no grounding system for the house. Code requires a GFI in the bathroom, and a GFI requires, well, a ground! Since there was no ground, the electrician connected the GFI’s ground connection to the water pipes.
Which, coincidentally, I also did for my radio… in the basement. Now, there’s a quite a distance from my water meter (where my radio’s ground is connected) to the ground pole. I do have a solid copper line running from the water pipe ground to the ground rod (as per code), but I think it’s too long to be running the radio on. Basically, my ground wire has become part of the antenna. That’s not good.
So I think I’ll be getting a ground rod tonight and driving it into the ground closer to the side of the basement where my radio is. Then I’ll run a copper line between it and the other ground rod. Wonder what that’s going to cost me…
Well, I got on the air this last weekend, thanks to my dad and my friend Korey. I made my first QSO with NK7U in Baker City, OR. He (and the contacts to follow) were doing a contest, so I pretty much settled for contest contacts. Not a bad way to get contacts in the log book, but I was itching for ragchew. Well, tonight I got one… but not over voice.
I had also been itching to get on the digital radio modes. However, my radio is an old tube type analog unit. Now, I’m sure I could hook my laptop directly to it with no problems, but that whole “RF” thing kinda scares me (I like my laptop, I’d like to keep it). Now, Tube or Solid State alike, most guys recommend separating that computer from the radio with some sort of isolation. A transformer, a photocoupler - anything.
Costs money - takes time (gotta order it online - Radio Shack sells cell phones). Not for me! I needed instant gratification! (not a trait I plan on passing on to my kids).
Well, I figured out how to get digital radio to work using a slightly different form of isolation - AIR!
It turns out that my studio headphones fit perfectly over my radio’s microphone!
I simply play the digital audio off the computer through the headphones and into the mic! Of course keying the transmitter is a touchy issue. These fancy schmancy new solid state rigs have auto- “push to talk” where the computer keys the transmitter. Not for me! The good ‘ole index finger does the trick. And the mic button can stay pushed to free up my hands for typing!
And it was cheap! $10! It’s the imfamous “Pixie II”, the world’s smallest tranceiver (CIA gadgets not withstanding). It’s basically an oscillator on a switch with small audio amp. It’s been around for a while (since 1995, I think), but it really helped the “Altoids Can” QRP radio revolution take off.
Now that I have my full license, I can take this little rig out in boonies and work stations around the world with a radio that fits in my front pocket. How cool is that? The only catch there is that I have to get my Morse Code up to snuff. I can do 5 WPM, but that’s just painful. It takes 2 minutes to say “My name is Paul and I live in Normal, IL.” Ugh!
This weekend, my Dad (WB9YWE) is going come over and help me get my antenna tuned up for transmit! I’m actually going to use that old Yaesu Tempo One! The thing’s older than I am, but still seems to work well.
Well, I got my “advanced extra” ham radio license today. It was quite an adventure involving broken down trucks and a few other mishapes, but the testers were troopers and got me tested! Now I just need to get my antenna up to snuff so I can transmit!
All that said - I’m really glad to have that morse code exam done. Of course, I’m going to go back and learn the whole thing over again at a faster speed. Hopefully, it won’t be quite so bad as starting from scratch since I at least of a bit of an association with all the letters, numbers, etc.
Well, I was tunning around 7240 khz tonight to try my hand at copying some morse code from the ether. Well, I experienced what a pile sounds like - for real - for the first time.
Basically, a “pile-up” happens during a contest or an expedition.
Someone is off in some obscure country or on some expedition to, say, Antarctica, or some other place that people all around the world want to contact - really, really, really badly. For some, they want to just work a wierd station. Others want to get that last country or continent for some award. Whatever the reason… a few dozen people try to answer the same call to the same station at the same time.
… did you get that? I’ll give $10 to anyone who can tell me how many people are sending in that pile up and what their call signs are! I’ll give another $10 to anyone who can convince me that they really figured it out… no guessing!
Well, I go in at the end of the month to shoot for my Extra Advanced ham license. I’m still working on the code (procrastinator till the end), but I should be ready. I have the letters kinda figured out - though more practice is needed. I’ve also started working on my numbers. Those little buggers are going to be harder than they I had thought.
I’ve sold out to 5 WPM - just to get past the test. I intend go back and re-learn everything at 20+ WPM. But at this point I’m just eager to give this ‘ole Yeasu Tempo One a try.
Well, yesterday, my dad and I, along with some help from a friend, managed to get a dipole antenna up outside. It’s about 43 feet long on both sides and has a few kinks to be worked out, but all in all it’s working fine (at least to receive).
And then today I went and passed elements 2 & 3 (written exams) for my license. That will get me a technician’s license with a CSCE (certificate of completion) for the written portion of the general license. I still need element 1 (morse code) to get my actual general license. Hopefully another month and I’ll have that licked.
Yep. I’m crazy.
The second moment was when I went up the tree in the back yard to make the final attachment. The ladder wasn’t as secure as I’d like it (though, I’m sure it was just fine) and I had to basically hug the tree to get the cord around it. Egads. Then I had to tie it off above my head which, unfortunately, requires two hands.
