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Hey Ham Community, this is an automated post on behalf of our new member: kj7hpc, On behalf of Ham Community, let's give kj7hpc a warm welcome. kj7hpc, we encourage you to browse around and get to know the Community's many sections. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask, as with all things HAM, we all love to give advice 😎 For everyone's information, kj7hpc joined on the 10/25/2021; this is their profile: View Member.

First off: WOW, amazing setup. Second, thanks for the great images. Next is my own - and most hams' - fantasy, to some day have the ability to set something like this up, if not personally, at least in the context of a club. Only caveat, not sure I love being so close to the tanks, but at least I see no transformers or high voltage lines. Guess where I'm headed in two weekends... Ohio to visit my daughter. Hmmm....

Recently I went on a short (but sorely needed) vacation with my family in the downtime I have been jobs at the moment. One of our routes took us through Findlay, OH ("Flag City, USA") and I remembered that W8FT was there. I was aware of this club because I had seen a TikTok about their antenna farm and decided to see if I could arrange a visit. I reached out to them via their Facebook page and was able to contact a club member and was told that they had sent a message about my impending visit to the membership, but that they couldn't guarantee that someone would be available (it was the middle of the workweek). Undaunted, we stopped by anyways and would you BELIEVE my LUCK, the club president Alan W8ALC as well as another member were present and more than happy to give a tour. We started in the shack where they showed me all their various rigs old and new on which they can work "any band on any mode". Very exciting. Unfortunately, due to a recent windstorm a number of the yagi directionals were out of service so we did not get to get on the air. We did get to play with the satellite tracker and I learned a bit about amateur satellites, azimuth and incident angle, and tracking and contacting the ISS. We then went outside and toured the farm itself. There are several 80-foot towers with Yagis and one 100-footer with VHF/UHF verticals as well as some more verticals for the Motorola talkgroup they host (I am not super knowledgeable about the Motorola digital modes so I may be using the wrong terms). Lastly, we toured the shack where the repeater lives as well as their brand-new communications trailer that they had just begun construction on. All-in-all it was a great experience and I felt quite fortunate to connect with some very knowledgeable hams from another region and really get the red carpet tour of their setup. Please check out the pictures I will attach below. I obtained permission to take and share pictures as long as I "told everybody how awesome Alan W8ALC is". He is VERY awesome and a very generous ham. Thanks again to W8FT for having me! 73 W3ESX Jamison

i just found out my 2020 f250 cab is alm. thought only the bed was. but looking at the cowling on the drivers side for a stick, same way the stock fm antenna is on the pass side. kinda like where that one is in the photo. but behind the hood hinge. i like the adapters for the third brake lite... but the co$t. a shaped bent plate of steel/alm costs more than some duel band radios. (no wire would be hanging out like in the photo of the back window. https://sdhqoffroad.com/collections/bullet-proof-diesel-third-brake-light-antenna-mounts/products/19-current-ford-ranger-third-brake-light-antenna-mount-with-rigid-leds hows this for pricing to sell. i have been thinking about a anti static ground strap. but because i get zapped all the time. i have a electric personalty 😉

i am not a engineer but i see so much fail in the photos. need a way to deflect the blast up and away from the truck. not contain it. no safety for passengers. no second seat up front. must have more than one or two sets of eyes forward. the box around the rear wheels will pop it end over end when something goes boom under it. the winch is just plan mounted wrong should be inside not hanging outside. the rear step rods are a great way to break a leg with a misstep. the windows are to big on the sides. no glass is that strong. and the inside shows it needs a lot of supports, not enough seating, lots of junk to bash around and hurt/maim/kill somebody. is the body made of armored steel? or shrapnel?

Well well, here's a topic that merits some introspection. I AM GUILTY AS CHARGED - sometimes! I too am a purist at heart and yet I find myself often making the mistake. I often sign 73s. And yet, in my heart, I know that's wrong. Think about the Q code or the 10 code. Do you hear an officer saying 10-4s or do we say QRTs. This said, we do say, QSOs, but that one actually makes sense if it's more than one. So @NS7X, I do believe that with all the respect we owe Hiram, going forward, I may well become a purist, once again. 73 Jim 😇

Hey Ham Community, this is an automated post on behalf of our new member: WB3KIS, On behalf of Ham Community, let's give WB3KIS a warm welcome. WB3KIS, we encourage you to browse around and get to know the Community's many sections. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask, as with all things HAM, we all love to give advice 😎 For everyone's information, WB3KIS joined on the 10/13/2021; this is their profile: View Member.

Hey Ham Community, this is an automated post on behalf of our new member: W7BCS, On behalf of Ham Community, let's give W7BCS a warm welcome. W7BCS, we encourage you to browse around and get to know the Community's many sections. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask, as with all things HAM, we all love to give advice 😎 For everyone's information, W7BCS joined on the 10/13/2021; this is their profile: View Member.

All right. I'm a purist. I admit it. I'm one of those obnoxious people who becomes annoyed when a ham signs off with "best regardses." The complaint goes something like this: "73" means best regards so when you use "73's" you are making a plural into a double plural. Regards becomes regardses. The same is true for 88. Adding an "s" to 88 turns "love and kisses" into "love and kisseses." This is the kind of thing which rancors fussbudgets like me. At least it used to. Now, I'm a reformed nit-picker. You see, one day I ran into a ham who happened to know a little more than I did and he educated me on the subject. The fellow pointed out that The Old Man, the discoverer of the rettysnitch, one of the great amateur radio pioneers, the founder of the ARRL, Hiram Percy Maxim W1AW himself used "73's" on his QSL cards. Who am I to fault the remarkable Hiram Percy Maxim? So it no longer bothers me when I hear "seven threes" on a sign-off. If truth be told, it's a gentle reminder of the legacy the early hams left us with, and that makes me smile. 73 es 88 MaryAnn NS7X

My two favorite ham jokes are oldies, but goodies: QRP'ers never die. They just QSB. ❧ Most people don't know that George Washington was a ham. In fact, he was not only a ham, he was a CW operator. We know this because of the old story about the cherry tree being destroyed. When his angry father demanded to know who chopped down the tree, George responded, "I didit dadah."

Absolutely MAGNIFICENT. When Maria and I hit the road in 2026, this will be on our calendar!!

The 49th Balloon Fiesta is in the books. The balloons got to fly 7 out of 9 days and a good time was had by all. There's excitement in the air because next year will be the 50th Fiesta and lots of plans are in the works for a huge celebration. They say the Balloon Fiesta is the world's most photographed event, so it should come as no big surprise that a lot of people have it on their bucket list. And rightly so. Personally, I think that everyone should see it at least once in their lifetime. If you're among those who would like to see it for yourself, give me a heads up if you're in need of a native guide. These are a few of my favorite Balloon Fiesta photos.

I actually really like him too 😇 Every time he's on screen on NCIS, I take the time to instruct my wife, who is not familiar with the Man from U.N.C.L.E. about how I would so look forward to watching. Side note, I think my sister super celebrity-crushed on him 🥰

First I would like to thank all of you on this thread. This is why I created Ham Community, to create a space where we could disagree with respect and empathy. Kudos to all of you. I also want to weigh in on a couple of points. I actually really like @KG6TGU description of a prepper. I say this because the term does indeed have a negative connotation for many. And the way Larry puts it makes a lot of sense. Indeed, then, I am a prepper too by that definition. I have a Jeep, it has VHF and HF radios. I have a sparse go-kit in the car, and a full one at home. I also have a kit in my all-terrain motorcycle. I have enough food for several weeks and all the basic survival gear one would need to stay alive for several months. What Larry says that I like most is the notion of the Government, any government, in the U.S. or abroad, from Federal to local, cannot always be expected to show up on our doorstep in a moment's notice. Years ago I wrote a book called The Critical Century which spoke of the risks to society posed by a convergence of potential systemic failures. We really do live in a time where many of the systems we rely on are a moment away from catastrophic failure. Is it wrong to, at least, consider some preparedness? This said, I admit that I find some prepping efforts to be a little extreme in their preparedness. Apocalyptic-scale preparedness assumes a collapse on a magnitude that presents an infinitesimally small percentage of occurrence. Preparing for something that has a .00X% of occurring is a right, but not one that I have spent time developing. And throughout all this, we come back to the original question of this thread: what's in a name? I think we agree that the 'hobby' is about much more than emergencies, so using that term seems unfair and inaccurate. But the word amateur sends a rather clumsy message. Quick story: in high school I had a drama teacher (Ron Dobrin) who taught that there is no such thing as Amateur or Professional, only Good or Bad. You can be a high-performance Amateur; look no further than the Olympic Games. Nonetheless, the word Amateur implies sub-par performance hence my continuing belief that the instances that govern us should at least consider opening the topic up for constructive debate. If possible, let's keep this thread on the topic of the 'naming' of the hobby. You're welcome to open another thread on prepping. Again, thanks all; I really enjoy good discussion.

Oh! The Man from UNCLE! My first love was Illya Kuryakin! If I had been a ham in those days, I would have had posters of Illya covering my ham shack walls. Especially the ones where he's operating the super secret spy radio - "open channel D"...

I have a Jeep, and it has my call on its license plate. In fact, I have my call emblazoned on my paddles, hats, mugs, and shirts. My welcome mat says "NS7X QTH." I have a hand-made southwestern silver bracelet which reads "NS7X." A convict from the Wyoming State Penitentiary manufactured an "NS7X" western-style belt buckle for me. I even have a seam-ripper with my call inscribed on it. I'll probably have my call engraved on my tombstone along with some glib comment about my being on the ultimate DXpedition. Guess I'm one of those "hot dog" amateurs you guys are so anxious to distance yourselves from. On the other hand, I've also been a volunteer firefighter, a volunteer paramedic, and a full-time paid (ie professional) paramedic/EMS instructor for a county-wide 911 service. Trust me on this one, the term "volunteer" is met with derision in EMS circles. "Volunteers" are seen as inept, unpracticed, inexperienced individuals who wear bright orange jackets decorated with 37 patches and pins and proudly proclaim that "trauma makes my [you-know-what] hard." It's a shame really, because it's the unpaid, usually rural EMT's and firefighters who perform the miracles. But that's another rant. My experience has been that the general public doesn't recognize the term "amateur radio operator" at all. So I really don't think it matters one way or the other if we call ourselves amateurs, volunteers, or enthusiasts. Most people, however, have heard the phrase "ham radio," and even have a mental image of a ham (usually involving an attic, an eccentric uncle, and about a ton of tube-type electronics which emit the same sound effects used by the 1950's SF movies.) It seems to me any effort to change our identity from amateur to volunteer is a moot exercise when we are primarily known as hams. But that's just me.

Photos are nice. Video is fun. Looks like beautiful country. Can't wait to visit with Maria when we hit the road.

I've posted a new set of pictures (Zion National Park) and a new video (The Wrangler). https://flickr.com/photos/clind/albums https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBiM_vtaHY_fXuZCGhhY-PQ

help a bit, thank you. but is a dead end, i contacted a company that makes such wire assembly's, and they say no go. due to the pin count, setting, and angle. there are some angled out there but for a completely different pin count/combo. i will keep on looking. but till then i will make the assembly i have into what i need. a little knife work, bunch of epoxy, the easy part is just making the wire shorter.

The Manual Transfer Switch would be used as an alternative way to recharge the site's back up battery array to full capacity. If severe weather, such as a damaging hail storm, put the solar array and windmill out of service the APRS beacon located at the site would report the loss of DC charging current for the battery array to the repeater committee members who are monitoring for such reports given the occurrence of that severe weather. A support team from the MARC Repeater Committee would go to the building that houses the KV3B North remote receiver for the 146.955 MHz repeater and the KV3B D-STAR repeater to determine how to keep some or all of the site's equipment in service. The team would determine whether the photovoltaic array or the wind generator could be rapidly returned to service. They would also check the state of charge of the battery array which stores the solar and wind power provided by those 2 outdoor power production systems. If restoring one or both of the on site power generation systems was not immediately doable then the utility AC electric supply to the converter charger for the batteries and the normal DC power to operate the site would be switched from it's building electrical system receptacle outlet to a dry (non-energized) fixed plug electrical inlet. Because of the small size of the circuit to be switched the transfer assembly would be made from regular electrical parts such as the ones shown in the attached photographs. Those include a Double Pole, Double Throw, Center Off Switch, a fixed plug inlet to except the cord from another AC power source, with the boxes and parts to put them together into a complete transfer assembly. Factory built transfer assemblies are not manufactured in such a small size. By throwing the switch to the down position; because that is the position customarily used for that purpose; the Charger Converter AC supply would then be connected to the inlet which will except an extension cord's receptacle end cord cap which is supplied by another source of AC power. The Generator used would have to run long enough to charge the battery array to it's maximum capacity. That would have to be repeated as often as needed until one or both of the alternate sources could be repaired and brought back on line, a suitable extension cord was run to an power outlet elsewhere in the building which is supplied by the building's emergency generator, or utility power was restored. Since access to the topmost roof of that building is controlled by security it might be possible to leave a small generator with an extended run tank on the roof and replenish the fuel and lubricant oil as often as needed to keep it running. If you think of the photovoltaic array as the belt and the wind generator as the suspenders then the alternative AC power inlet is a BIG safety pin that can make the waist of the pants tight enough to stay up. It's not elegant nor even convenient but it allows the wearer to keep working. -- Tom W3TDH

Tom W3TDH, First, thank you for the absolute TREASURE TROVE of information here. I have printed it all out and skimmed over it several times (skimmed because I have a 19-month-old and rarely have time to deep-dive on amateur stuff these days...just 5-10 minutes here and there hihi). Once I have fully read and comprehend everything you have written and so thoughtfully put together, I will make a plan for moving forward. A couple things have changed since the last time I posted on this thread: I have learned that lightning arresters, in their amateur form, are NOT intended for dispersion of direct lightning strikes, but rather for eliminating the static discharge that may build up from an antenna swaying in the wind and potentially traveling down the feed line to damage sensitive equipment at one end. As a result of learning this, I called a professional lightning protection system installation company and got a quote for my property...nearly $3k to "do the job proper". So that's a dead end, I just don't have that kind of cash. It was around THIS time that I noticed that there is a lightning rod atop the power pole across the street from my house. I believe the height from ground of this pole is higher than my antenna would be. I am curious if this would be sufficient to protect my property from lightning strikes. (I will still disconnect all equipment during lightning storms for added safety) If I'm going to have to dig a big ol' trench halfway around the home, trencher tool or no, that may be a big problem, as I just don't have the time to do that kind of thing (or license to do such drastic things from the XYL). It may just be easier to use the existing grounding rod on the opposite side of the house and do long cable runs to the shack side, although in the case of coax this will almost certainly result in some loss unless I upgrade to super fancy LMR400 or some such. Tom @W3TDH in regards to getting cable through the house...it's possible. I plan on purchasing an MFJ passthru panel and installing it in a window, then passing cables through that. I could potentially move the antenna to the opposite side of the house (non-shack-side/grounding-rod-side), run the coax down the side of the house, through the passthru panel, over the joist in the basement, and up the central column which I believe connects to the attic, and then into my shack. And then I could run the equipment grounding wire from the grounding bus in the shack along the same route, back out through the passthru panel, and over to the grounding rod. However, I believe as discussed previously we decided it's not the best idea to run a grounding wire parallel to a signal line. Back to the drawing board!

Tom, trying to understand what you mean. Does that mean that the manual transfer happens 'after' a power failure? That means that before be useable you'd have to wait for the battery bank to be recharged?

Tom, do you still have the clock? Would love to see a photo of it, or in person next time we cross paths.

Hi Larry. Sorry I took so long to reply, this one slipped through. These DIN plugs, I've used them for years having grown up in Europe where they were the absolute norm for decades, are hard to come by in 90-degree angles. I spent a little while looking for properly wired DIN plugs online, as you must've, and could not find any. However, and this is a long stretch, if you're willing to take the time to look for 'MIDI' plugs/cables, you may find a solution. The problem with out of the box MIDI cables is their pin wiring; it's different than the Yaesu ones. But with a little creativity, and even a custom job at a music store, you might be able to get a wire cut precisely. I had the same problem with my 891 when I had the FC-30 (which I then sold). Hope this helps, albeit late...

Pse mark your calendar for Sat, 16 Oct @ 1130 for our monthly Ch 91meeting, via zoom. The topic is an historical perspective of the ARRL 1921 Transatlantic test – the first Amateur Radio transatlantic radio test. Our speaker is Bruce Godley Littlefield, the grandson of Paul Godley, 2XE and one of the principals radio operators of the 1921 test. Bruce has extensively researched his grandfather’s journey in Amateur Radio, and I believe you’ll find his talk stimulating. The Zoom link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/968580533?pwd=QUJPWHh2ZWpOcW9TNVdyUjdFMWw2QT09 Click on the link, or copy and paste it to your browser ... DONOT use the Zoom app!