K3MRI

We agree... this was QRP?

Hey Maria, welcome aboard!! Glad to have you here 😀 👏

Some day I'll tell you a story about the Jedburgh teams. I actually met a Jed in the 80s. Quite the concept. Among the first true special operators.

20 Watts. And if you ask me how I know, I'll have to ... 😇

Is it the same weight? As in, does it feel nice and heavy?

I love it. Very basic looking but classy. How big?

Did someone say photo? I did! Show us, show us!!

Welcome John. Sorry about your dad but great that his callsign lives on through you. Good call on both the 705 and the 52. Both are great, albeit specialized, units. The 705, of course, is a challenge when the cycle is low or the bands are closed, but with a little bit of perseverance you will make great contacts. Remember, it’s all about having a great antenna and good soil/location. Are you hearing traffic on HF? That’s your first step. If you can hear, they might be able to hear you. Let us know when you make that first amazing QSO 😉

Antenna, antenna, antenna. Half the people we spoke with in those days had lousy antennas with steep take-off angles that flew over you. The trick to surface waves is a very very low take-off angle, as in under 10º and NVIS is ideally 80º to 90º. Anything in between is headed for Namibia.

Hi Steve. This year will not be possible, HOWEVER going forward, we are absolutely planning to attend hamfests nationwide and Tucson just happens to be one of my favorite places anywhere, period. So yes, you will see us, absolutely, but likely not this November due to prior engagements. Thank you so much for reaching out.

At 38 miles, round (aka surface) wave. Here is a nice graph from VU2NSB (https://vu2nsb.com). With 100W, you would have a ground wave propagation at S9 at 100 Km, so 60 miles. Could it be a combination of NVIS and surface wave? Absolutely but you'll never know until you speak to someone. When we do the Cherry Tree net, the reason our signals are fairly subject to conditions, including weather, is that we are mostly using ground waves close by. To get true hyper-local NVIS you would need a near 90-degree takeoff angle on your antenna, which is rarely the case. Our NVIS signal, again depending on the antenna, only really kicks in well beyond the horizon. Does my argument make sense?

What an absolutely excellent point!!! I have actually given it substantial thought and use it as my main argument to get my spouse to get her tech license, at least. I have not yet succeeded (still trying) but that at least would give me an effective alternate means of staying in touch with her. I think that I will insist more! As for the go-bag, on that front we are all set. We actually have short and long term ‘kits’. We have the ‘get out of the house, it’s on fire’ set of items that we grab (passports, birth certificates, etc.) but we also have a ‘we need to survive in the woods for a month’ kit. As for the work side, a workplace scenario no longer applies to me but, indeed, I am quite certain that few of us plan adequately for having to ‘go’ from work or, more relevant to your point, having to ‘stay at work’ for extended periods of time. Which does bring me to the Pandemic. If anything, it has taught us the dos and donts of isolation. If you had talked to someone about being cooped up for six months, even just one month, in 2019, they would have told you how impossible it was. Ask them today and they will all tell you that, if nothing else, they know ‘how’ to do it. That does not mean we are prepared for an extended stay at work, but I think that we are now better prepared to ‘figure it out’.

Wind, wind, wind! One of nature’s most under-estimated weather threats! My dad used to call it nature’s way of punching you. I sometimes think of it as nature’s bully. This said, as I write this, I think of all the other manifestations of severe weather and I don’t think I like any one of them over the other. I mean by that, that even a drought, which is imperceptibly slow in its advance, will devastate a region also. In short, mother nature is showing us that we are, despite all of our advances, still at her mercy!

I very much like separating wheat from chaff 😉 I like excellence, not to be confused with elitism or arrogance. I just like it when time is spent on the useful. Thanks again for your interest!! Jim

Hi Chris. The Elmer Quizzes were designed to be brutal. They ask the most insanely difficult and 'why would I need to know that?' questions. The purpose is to truly seek out the most knowledgeable among us. As far as the study required, I would say it's a combo of three things: Yes, they are definitely Extra level questions But the questions require more than just Extra study, they require real world experience. Many of the questions are answerable by people who have tried things and failed or succeeded. Lastly, I would say there is no reading to be done. Just dive in and expect some pain. This said, because the questions are so tough, the required score is acceptably low. I then look at the answers and determine where someone fits in. And yes, I occasionally disregard the score and just look at the knowledge that I see is reflected int he answers or in the conversations I later have with potential Elmers. To be clear, the Elmer concept at Ham Community is sacred. We're really looking to have people who can answer a question authoritatively. Something that bothers me on many forums is that you do not know the level of genuine knowledge and competence your interlocutor has. Just because someone is an Extra does not make him a safety expert like say (sorry to single you out Tom, but @W3TDH who is leagues above the rest of us). Ask Tom a question about safety measures and you know you're getting a true and tried response. He does not go onto the Internet to 'look it up', he's learned it, lived it, multiple times over. Sorry for the long answer, but it shows you how much I care about this concept. So yes, absolutely, zero shame, take the quizzes 😉 And then, like going to the dentist, feel free to hate me 😇 for the ridiculous tenor of the questions. Jim PS> Now I'll go and see what's wrong with that other quiz that wasn't working... 😰