Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Bad Antenna?

Well, I received my tuner and it does tune but I am not getting too many good calls nor receiving to well - according to my friend down in FL.  Since I have no reference of what a good antenna really is I guess I have to take his word for that I have to put it up higher in the air, like lots higher say to 50'.

Anyway, we made our trips to Texas and got the niece and grandson married so we may be set for a while.  Now we are looking at class A motor homes in the 30-34' class and brands of Winnebago, Itasca, Monticello and Tiffin.  I drove one today and found it ok to drive but not as marshmallow as I thought it would be.  I can see why RV'ers only drive 250-400 miles per day.

Time was short today but we found time to go to Doris's house and I spray some weeds with brush killer while SAM weeded some of her flowerbeds.  We spent 2 hours on this and headed home.  After that, we did and "advanced' search on some RV's and selected the ones we would like to call on.

Now I am listening to the TechNet on reflector 9050 and typing this blog out.  BFN - Moore later.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

A Visit to Texas

We are on our second visit to Texas in a month.  This time it is for the marriage of my grandson Jacob.  The two day trip was fraught with overcast skies, rain and a horrific accident that closed I-40 for two hours.  Now the rain is coming down here in College Station in large quanties and is supposed to persist until late tonight.  We are just hanging in the La Quinta after having lunch with my son who works nearby. The sound of thunder constantly peals in the background as I write.

We ate lunch at a place called Freebirds Burrito and it was good.  I had the box size and you get to chose what goes on it.  I went light on the beans and had no cheese but went heavier on the corn, sauteed veggies and fresh veggies.  It was good & I would like to return.  SAM had a traditional burrito and so did my son but they were custom made to each individual's specifications.

Moore later.


Tuesday, May 10, 2016

IRLP 9050: Tech Net


I spent the day in the Amateur Radio room moving over the radio gear from the previous spot to the new "Ham Shack".  All is working ok as of this afternoon.




The big deal is my new installation of the HF radio which is a Icom IC-7200 with an AH-4 tuner.  I had a lot of work, beyond the cosmetic issues, to add an earth ground and wire halo around the shack. Also was populating the GE cabinet with the IRLP 8891 and Allstar 42119 nodes.  As of 1600 hrs today all was operational. Yea!!

I am now listening to the TechNet on reflector 9050 and the ham radio stations all over the world.


Monday, May 2, 2016

My HF Rig

The weather here in NE Indiana has been cold, overcast, dreary and wet.

Right now I am waiting for the rain to stop so I can mount the Icom AH-4 long wire antenna tuner on the tower.  Today I connectorized the RF cable and added the 4 wire control cable for the AH-4 antenna tuner.  Tomorrow is supposed to be good so I will bring the feed lines and control cable into the radio shack.

I just finished the connector that will go to the inside of the radio shack and connect to the HF radio.  The HF rig is an Icom IC-7200 and is more or less ruggedized and spray proof.  I think it will work on the boat pretty well since the tuner can connect to the long wire backstay or a halyard that has a wire embedded in it.

The only thing I don't have to make a viable sailboat HF rig is the KISS counterpoise and that I can get at the last minute.  In the mean time I will run soe tuned radials out on the ground under the antenna tower. Perhaps I will make a block diagram of the setup and attach it to this blog later.