• I finally got my license

    From Ray Quinn@VERT/US99 to DaiTengu on Mon Sep 28 14:57:40 2020
    Hello DaiTengu!

    13 Sep 20 01:10, you wrote to all:

    Well, I finally did it. A co-worker is a VE for a remote testing organization, and he managed to squeeze me into a session late
    thursday night (with some other VE in Texas). I passed my Tech and General exams, and Friday I received my callsign: KD9QHQ

    Congratulations!! I'm not sure whether or not our VE group is setup for remote testing. I do know that we use Zoom for a lot of things, Club meetings (board & general), and just general stuff.


    Now that I've spent $18 on testing/studying, I guess I'll need to save
    up for the $2000+ I want to spend to build my hamshack :)

    ONLY $2000? I lost track a long time ago.

    ... Extreme boredom serves to cure boredom.

    Talk about extreme boredom. I am on day 44 of "working" on the California wildfires. My job is deliver the dozer and then wait until they need to move it again. I was "staging" at the same location for over a week, going to base camp every night for a hot meal and a shower. The owner of the dozer I am hauling on this trip brought his travel trailer for us to sleep in. I know very much about boredom... zzzzz zzzz zzzz

    73 de Ray Quinn W6RAY
    Creek Fire Day 22 - Shaver Lake Marina
    37.126579, -119.306862 DM07id

    Home QTH - Visalia, CA USA

    --- GoldED+/W64-MSVC 1.1.5-b20180707
    * Origin: Ham Radio operators do it with frequency! (1:214/23)
    þ Synchronet þ US 99 BBS - Visalia, CA - bbs.quinnnet.org
  • From Daryl Stout@VERT/TBOLT to Ray Quinn on Fri Oct 2 01:37:00 2020
    Ray,

    Congratulations!! I'm not sure whether or not our VE group is setup for remote testing. I do know that we use Zoom for a lot of things, Club meetings (board & general), and just general stuff.

    My VE Team talked about that, and there are too many logistics to jump through (collecting money, paperwork, and to be sure there's no cheating). Plus, most of my team is in "the vulnerable age group" for COVID-19. If we
    do testing again, it'll be low contact, in person.

    ONLY $2000? I lost track a long time ago.

    I think of the meme where the OM laments "My greatest fear is that I'll
    die, and my XYL will sell my gear for what I told her I paid for them!!"
    (hi hi). I understand that some ham radio vendors, for a fee, will create
    "a personalized invoice" for the buyer. But, then I think of the meme
    that shows the angry XYL behind the door, as her OM is coming home. There
    is a rack with 3 items on it, as follows:

    1) Wooden/Metal Spoon - Came Home Late
    2) Rolling Pin - Came Home Drunk
    3) Loaded Rifle - Bought Another Ham Radio

    Or another one where the YL is sobbing, saying "I said 'It's Me Or The Radio', and he replied '73 and 88'"!! (hi hi).

    Talk about extreme boredom. I am on day 44 of "working" on the
    California wildfires. My job is deliver the dozer and then wait until
    they need to move it again. I was "staging" at the same location for
    over a week, going to base camp every night for a hot meal and a
    shower. The owner of the dozer I am hauling on this trip brought his travel trailer for us to sleep in. I know very much about boredom...
    zzzzz zzzz zzzz

    I have 2 other hobbies besides ham radio...square dancing, and the BBS...mainly so I don't burn out on one of them. I try not to spend
    more than 2 hours a day on them. But, some days, I don't feel like
    doing anything.

    In fact, it has become such "a mad rush" to check into nets by these
    who feel that "they will be sent to Hell if they don't check into every
    net in existence" (there is such a sin to cause that, but missing a ham
    radio net is not that sin).

    There is NO prize, bonus, award, certificate, etc., for checking into
    every net in existence each night. In fact, so many meet at the same day
    and time (overlapping), that it's impossible to do so.

    So, I'm only on the air now for a sked (rare), or for nets where I
    have to run it.

    Daryl, WX4QZ

    ... If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do Humanitarians eat??
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
    þ Synchronet þ The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net
  • From DaiTengu@VERT/ENSEMBLE to Ray Quinn on Tue Oct 6 15:58:50 2020
    Re: I finally got my license
    By: Ray Quinn to DaiTengu on Mon Sep 28 2020 02:57 pm

    Well, I finally did it. A co-worker is a VE for a remote testing
    organization, and he managed to squeeze me into a session late
    thursday night (with some other VE in Texas). I passed my Tech and
    General exams, and Friday I received my callsign: KD9QHQ

    Congratulations!! I'm not sure whether or not our VE group is setup for remote testing. I do know that we use Zoom for a lot of things, Club meetings (board & general), and just general stuff.

    Our local club held its first meeting since Feburary a few weeks ago, it was mixed in-person and on Zoom. I attended remotely, as I was taking care of a sick dog at the time, and I'm trying to be responsible and stay home when I can.

    Speaking of which, we had to put the dog to sleep 2 weeks ago, he had bone cancer and the pain meds just weren't doing it anymore, so it was the humane thing to do. We made the appointment, and took him in. They weren't allowing anyone inside the vet's office, so the vet and the vet tech came outside and it was handled in the back of our vehicle (which was fine). Turns out the vet tech didn't feel real well the next day, took a test and was positive for covid. We were all wearing masks and washed our hands/sanitized, etc. THe wife and I quarrantined for two weeks, but we haven't had any symptoms, so according to the WHO and CDC we're in the clear. I guess we dodged a bullet there, as both of us are "high risk"

    Now that I've spent $18 on testing/studying, I guess I'll need to
    save up for the $2000+ I want to spend to build my hamshack :)

    ONLY $2000? I lost track a long time ago.



    Well, since i posted that I went and spent the $2000. I got an IC-7300 (like the rest of the world, apparently), and an End-fed Halfwave antenna that has been a giant pain in the ass (it's about 130ft long).

    It's been years since I've put connectors on coax, but I honestly don't remember it being this hard. I have the proper tools, soldering iron, coax stripper, right size crimper, etc, and they either short out on me, or pop off with a simple tug.

    I mean, the coax I have isn't the best right now, it's 3 lengths of RG8u, with a Mix31 toroid that has rg58 wrapped around it about 15 times, and a short rg58 jumper to run through the window. Yesterday I spent hours re-doing everything, and getting the antenna up where I wanted it (it literally runs diagonally from the top of a tree in my front yard, all the way across my house, to the top of a tree in my back yard.

    Anyway, I tested all the connectors, got the antenna up to the top of the tree with ropes and a really long pole to push the transformer box over branches, and everything was quite ducky.

    Until I was on the radio about 7pm last night, and suddenly my band went dead, then came back, then went dead, then came back ... my SWR would go from 1:1 to off the scale. I went outside and adjusted the coax coming off the antenna, and that fixed things for a little while, but it got windy and it started again.

    I'm going to have to pull the whole thing down and re-do the connector on the antenna. which is probably the one connector that I haven't re-done on that cable. <sigh>


    It's great when it works though! I'm having a blast doing FT8! I've worked almost all 50 states, I'm just missing Alaska. Which I worked once, but it's sitting unconfirmed.

    ... Extreme boredom serves to cure boredom.

    Talk about extreme boredom. I am on day 44 of "working" on the California wildfires. My job is deliver the dozer and then wait until they need to move it again. I was "staging" at the same location for over a week, going to base camp every night for a hot meal and a shower. The owner of the dozer I am hauling on this trip brought his travel trailer for us to sleep in. I know very much about boredom... zzzzz zzzz zzzz

    Man, I don't think I'd be able to hack it. I need to keep my mind occupied with .. something. You'rea stronger man than I am!

    DaiTengu

    ... Ahh! Come on Erick, just this one last little feature!

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ War Ensemble BBS - The sport is war, total war - warensemble.com
  • From Daryl Stout@VERT/TBOLT to DaiTengu on Wed Oct 7 09:16:00 2020
    Speaking of which, we had to put the dog to sleep 2 weeks ago, he had
    bone cancer and the pain meds just weren't doing it anymore, so it was
    the humane thing to do. We made the appointment, and took him in. They weren't allowing anyone inside the vet's office, so the vet and the vet tech came outside and it was handled in the back of our vehicle (which
    was fine). Turns out the vet tech didn't feel real well the next day, took a test and was positive for covid. We were all wearing masks and washed our hands/sanitized, etc. THe wife and I quarrantined for two weeks, but we haven't had any symptoms, so according to the WHO and CDC we're in the clear. I guess we dodged a bullet there, as both of us
    are "high risk"

    Glad you dodged the COVID-19 bullet. Been there, done that, with putting
    down a pet. Our dachshund became diabetic, resistant to the insulin, then
    went blind from glaucoma and cataracts...but he had a working nose, a full
    set of teeth, and an attitude, until he died. I cried like a baby for 15 minutes in the car afterwards.

    Well, since i posted that I went and spent the $2000. I got an
    IC-7300 (like the rest of the world, apparently), and an End-fed
    Halfwave antenna that has been a giant pain in the ass (it's about
    130ft long).

    It would be if you stuck it up your backside <G>, but that's what most
    HF propagation has been like lately, from what I've heard.

    It's been years since I've put connectors on coax, but I honestly don't remember it being this hard. I have the proper tools, soldering iron,
    coax stripper, right size crimper, etc, and they either short out on
    me, or pop off with a simple tug.

    I liked the graphic that noted "I work with strippers", and you see the
    wire strippers. <G>

    Anyway, I tested all the connectors, got the antenna up to the top of
    the tree with ropes and a really long pole to push the transformer box over branches, and everything was quite ducky.

    Fine business.

    Until I was on the radio about 7pm last night, and suddenly my band
    went dead, then came back, then went dead, then came back ... my SWR
    would go from 1:1 to off the scale. I went outside and adjusted the
    coax coming off the antenna, and that fixed things for a little while,
    but it got windy and it started again.

    We're all at the mercy of the weather...never mind sunspots.

    I'm going to have to pull the whole thing down and re-do the connector
    on the antenna. which is probably the one connector that I haven't
    re-done on that cable. <sigh>

    We can't keep Murphy out of the shack. :P

    It's great when it works though! I'm having a blast doing FT8! I've worked almost all 50 states, I'm just missing Alaska. Which I worked
    once, but it's sitting unconfirmed.

    One can do so much more with digital than phone.

    Man, I don't think I'd be able to hack it. I need to keep my mind occupied with .. something. You'rea stronger man than I am!

    I do know if I get fatigued, I better get a power nap, than try to
    work with the BBS, or run a traffic net.

    Daryl, WX4QZ

    ... H.A.M. Radio Operator: H)ave A)nother M)eal.
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
    þ Synchronet þ The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net
  • From DaiTengu@VERT/ENSEMBLE to Daryl Stout on Wed Oct 7 15:33:38 2020
    Re: I finally got my license
    By: Daryl Stout to DaiTengu on Wed Oct 07 2020 09:16 am

    Glad you dodged the COVID-19 bullet. Been there, done that, with putting down a pet. Our dachshund became diabetic, resistant to the insulin, then went blind from glaucoma and cataracts...but he had a working nose, a full set of teeth, and an attitude, until he died. I cried like a baby for 15 minutes in the car afterwards.

    Yeah, I had an hour to drive home, I struggled to keep it together. Heck, 2 weeks later and sometimes I still struggle to keep it together....

    Unfortunately I now live in the COVID Hot-zone. My metro area is #3 on the "cases per capita" list right now, The area directly to the south of me is #1, and Green Bay, which is just to the North, is #4. At least I have this shiny new radio to play with, while I stay inside!

    Until I was on the radio about 7pm last night, and suddenly my band
    went dead, then came back, then went dead, then came back ... my SWR
    would go from 1:1 to off the scale. I went outside and adjusted the
    coax coming off the antenna, and that fixed things for a little
    while, but it got windy and it started again.

    We're all at the mercy of the weather...never mind sunspots.

    I've been dragging my feet on going outside to fix my issues. All day yesterday I had no issues, until around 9pm, when the whole thing started again.

    I have to untie ropes, grab my 15ft extension pole, and work the coax and transformer out of the tree and back down to the ground. Then I have to pull on the rope and work it back up into the tree. It's a pain in the ass, but I don't have a better solution that covers 80-10m. (It also tunes on 160m, but I really haven't messed with that, yet. The manufacturer doesn't say anything about 160m. I mean, it makes sense, since it's 1/4 wave on that band...


    My next project, after I sort out the antenna, is to sort out the RFI stuff. I had a constant S7-S9 background noise on all bands. I added in a choke (Mix 31 toroid with 15 wraps of rg58 coax), and that helped lower it to S3-S5 on everything under 20m, but I still have some RFI anomalies, including a random sweep that will run across my 40m band from time to time.

    I picked up a TinySA to see if I can track down the worst offenders. So far I haven't found anything super outstanding other than the monitors in my office, but that interference goes away if I back off a foot or two.

    I'm probably going to grab a battery and cut power to my house, then slowly turn everything back on to see if I can isolate the issues.

    DaiTengu

    ... A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer.

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ War Ensemble BBS - The sport is war, total war - warensemble.com
  • From Daryl Stout@VERT/TBOLT to DaiTengu on Wed Oct 7 19:03:00 2020
    Yeah, I had an hour to drive home, I struggled to keep it together.
    Heck, 2 weeks later and sometimes I still struggle to keep it
    together....

    To many folks, their pets are their kids.

    On another sad note, I just found out that one of the most active
    posters in BBS networks, Nancy Backus, lost her battle with stomach
    cancer this morning. She will be sorely missed. :'(

    Unfortunately I now live in the COVID Hot-zone. My metro area is #3 on
    the "cases per capita" list right now, The area directly to the south
    of me is #1, and Green Bay, which is just to the North, is #4. At least
    I have this shiny new radio to play with, while I stay inside!

    Even if I could get gear, I don't have the means to have antennas here.
    Plus, we get lightning like mad with thunderstorms. This is the 6th time
    this year, Louisiana has had to prepare for hurricanes (now with Delta).

    I've been dragging my feet on going outside to fix my issues. All day yesterday I had no issues, until around 9pm, when the whole thing
    started again.

    Again, we can't keep Murphy out of the shack. Even with "internet radio", Windows 10 likes to muck with the programs and the sound card.

    I have to untie ropes, grab my 15ft extension pole, and work the coax
    and transformer out of the tree and back down to the ground. Then I
    have to pull on the rope and work it back up into the tree. It's a
    pain in the ass, but I don't have a better solution that covers 80-10m. (It also tunes on 160m, but I really haven't messed with that, yet. The manufacturer doesn't say anything about 160m. I mean, it makes sense, since it's 1/4 wave on that band...

    Never mind being a PITA switching antennas.

    My next project, after I sort out the antenna, is to sort out the RFI stuff. I had a constant S7-S9 background noise on all bands. I added
    in a choke (Mix 31 toroid with 15 wraps of rg58 coax), and that helped lower it to S3-S5 on everything under 20m, but I still have some RFI anomalies, including a random sweep that will run across my 40m band
    from time to time.

    Good luck on that.

    I picked up a TinySA to see if I can track down the worst offenders. So far I haven't found anything super outstanding other than the monitors
    in my office, but that interference goes away if I back off a foot or
    two.

    I've even seen when I get my hand near a monitor, something else, things
    can get funky. I wonder if it's a delayed charge from the 2 lightning strikes
    I had over the years?? :P

    I'm probably going to grab a battery and cut power to my house, then slowly turn everything back on to see if I can isolate the issues.

    Good luck finding "that needle in the haystack".

    ... A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer.

    A clean shack is a sign of a sick mind. Don't straighten up my desk...you will goof up my system. <G>

    Daryl

    ... Amateur Radio Chicken Dinner -- Ham And Eggs.
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
    þ Synchronet þ The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net
  • From Ray Quinn@VERT/US99 to DaiTengu on Tue Oct 13 13:09:14 2020
    Hello DaiTengu!

    06 Oct 20 15:58, you wrote to me:

    Speaking of which, we had to put the dog to sleep 2 weeks ago, he had

    That is a difficult thing to do. We had to do that a couple of times with my wife's cats over the years. We now have four cats and a dog. I worry about one of the cats, in particular. He likes to climb on the roof and then is afraid to climb down. (this happened last night and my wife was in a panic. He finally jumped down onto the fence and then the ground.)

    all wearing masks and washed our hands/sanitized, etc. THe wife and I quarrantined for two weeks, but we haven't had any symptoms, so
    according to the WHO and CDC we're in the clear. I guess we dodged a bullet there, as both of us are "high risk"

    We are "high risk" as well. I heard a report on the radio this morning stating that more than 85% (may have been 95%) of people who were diagnosed with Covid were vigilant about wearing masks - meaning they cought it even though they wore masks. Think about this: If your underwear and jeans don't stop a fart, how is a cloth bandana or mask going to stop a virus?

    Now that I've spent $18 on testing/studying, I guess I'll need
    to save up for the $2000+ I want to spend to build my hamshack
    :)

    ONLY $2000? I lost track a long time ago.

    Well, since i posted that I went and spent the $2000. I got an
    IC-7300 (like the rest of the world, apparently), and an End-fed
    Halfwave antenna that has been a giant pain in the ass (it's about
    130ft long).

    Back around the end of September, I ordered something like that. I can't remember exactly what at this moment, but it was a little box that you use to connect coax to and a random length of wire to make an antenna. I finally set it up last week, but didn't attempt to make any contacts. I just listened. Then a few days ago (I have since moved back to this location) I attached one end to the muffler guard on the truck and the other end of the wire to a pickup that was parked behind the lowboy trailer. I was able to check into a traffic net in Utah without any effort.

    The antenna was in a basic north-south configuration so it talked east-west. I tried to check into another net to the north of me and they couldn't hear me well enough to get my call. I haven't gotten it back out since.

    It's been years since I've put connectors on coax, but I honestly
    don't remember it being this hard. I have the proper tools, soldering iron, coax stripper, right size crimper, etc, and they either short
    out on me, or pop off with a simple tug.

    I have similar issues. The supplies I bought for my antenna included pre-terminated coax as I don't have room for much. I had to go to the local hardware store to get come cutters (to cut the wire), string (to tie up the antenna to whatever), zip ties, and a couple other things.

    I mean, the coax I have isn't the best right now, it's 3 lengths of
    RG8u, with a Mix31 toroid that has rg58 wrapped around it about 15
    times, and a short rg58 jumper to run through the window. Yesterday
    I spent hours re-doing everything, and getting the antenna up where I wanted it (it literally runs diagonally from the top of a tree in my
    front yard, all the way across my house, to the top of a tree in my
    back yard.

    I have an orange tree and a almost dead peach tree in my small back yard. Neither are tall enough to attach an antenna to. I do have a 30' tower in the back yard with a microwave dish on it (5.8 gHZ internet link to our repeater site 37 miles away)

    Anyway, I tested all the connectors, got the antenna up to the top of
    the tree with ropes and a really long pole to push the transformer box over branches, and everything was quite ducky.

    Until I was on the radio about 7pm last night, and suddenly my band
    went dead, then came back, then went dead, then came back ... my SWR
    would go from 1:1 to off the scale. I went outside and adjusted the
    coax coming off the antenna, and that fixed things for a little while,
    but it got windy and it started again.

    I'm going to have to pull the whole thing down and re-do the connector
    on the antenna. which is probably the one connector that I haven't
    re-done on that cable. <sigh>

    Sounds like my luck. However, I haven't been home enough lately to do anytning except sleep.

    It's great when it works though! I'm having a blast doing FT8! I've worked almost all 50 states, I'm just missing Alaska. Which I worked
    once, but it's sitting unconfirmed.

    I haven't tried many of the digital modes, and FT8 wasn't one of them. I don't have a proper cable to connect my computer to my radio and finding one online has proven difficult. I have (with me) an Icom IC-706 and the cable I have (at home) has failed to work lately.

    ... Extreme boredom serves to cure boredom.

    Talk about extreme boredom. I am on day 44 of "working" on the
    California wildfires. My job is deliver the dozer and then wait

    Man, I don't think I'd be able to hack it. I need to keep my mind occupied with .. something. You'rea stronger man than I am!

    Well, I have the computer which allows me to read email, echomail on several nets, and ham radio to occupy my time.

    73 de Ray Quinn W6RAY
    Creek Fire day 37 (59 overall)

    Ray's Road Node
    Somewhere in California

    --- GoldED+/W64-MSVC 1.1.5-b20180707
    * Origin: Ham Radio operators do it with frequency! (1:214/23)
    þ Synchronet þ US 99 BBS - Visalia, CA - bbs.quinnnet.org
  • From DaiTengu@VERT/ENSEMBLE to Daryl Stout on Tue Oct 20 15:00:09 2020
    Re: I finally got my license
    By: Daryl Stout to DaiTengu on Wed Oct 07 2020 07:03 pm

    On another sad note, I just found out that one of the most active
    posters in BBS networks, Nancy Backus, lost her battle with stomach
    cancer this morning. She will be sorely missed. :'(

    Oh No! I'll miss Nancy :(


    Even if I could get gear, I don't have the means to have antennas here. Plus, we get lightning like mad with thunderstorms. This is the 6th time this year, Louisiana has had to prepare for hurricanes (now with Delta).

    I'm in a pretty suburban area, but I do have a yard big enough that I could put a tower up if I had the money (and the desire). I don't think the neighbors would be too thrilled, though. So right now I'm just using an end-fed halfwave.

    As an update with my EFHW battles, I had a pretty bad wind storm last week, and it not only appears to have stretched my antenna out, but it snapped about 5 feet off the end of it. I pulled one side down and repaired it, but now it sags like crazy. I need to re-measure the whole blasted thing, and probably put some bungee ropes up to releive tension when it gets windy. I'm terrified with the winter.

    I also seem to be getting water in my coax, which I assume is due my connectors being cheap, so I spent the money and ordered a 75' long piece of LMR-400. That should be here tomorrow. I just hope I don't have to buy a new antenna wire, that will set me back another $80.

    ... A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer.

    A clean shack is a sign of a sick mind. Don't straighten up my desk...you will goof up my system. <G>

    My office/shack is a disaster. I don't even know where to start cleaning it.

    DaiTengu

    ... SENILE.COM found...Out of Memory...

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ War Ensemble BBS - The sport is war, total war - warensemble.com
  • From DaiTengu@VERT/ENSEMBLE to Ray Quinn on Tue Oct 20 15:15:31 2020
    Re: I finally got my license
    By: Ray Quinn to DaiTengu on Tue Oct 13 2020 01:09 pm

    Speaking of which, we had to put the dog to sleep 2 weeks ago, he
    had

    That is a difficult thing to do. We had to do that a couple of times with my wife's cats over the years. We now have four cats and a dog. I worry about one of the cats, in particular. He likes to climb on the roof and then is afraid to climb down. (this happened last night and my wife was in a panic. He finally jumped down onto the fence and then the ground.)

    Yeah, we're down to 5 cats, a bird, 6 bunnies, and a dog. The cats are getting up there in age, the bunnies are about 3-5 years old, The dog is 3, and the bird is 12. The bird will likely outlive us.


    We once had a cat that got stuck on the roof of our old house in a rainstorm. She never went back out there.

    We are "high risk" as well. I heard a report on the radio this morning stating that more than 85% (may have been 95%) of people who were diagnosed with Covid were vigilant about wearing masks - meaning they cought it even though they wore masks. Think about this: If your underwear and jeans don't stop a fart, how is a cloth bandana or mask going to stop a virus?

    Well, the mask isn't really for your own protection, it's for other people's protection. It's more like, if you run around without pants, you can piss on anyone you want. If they wear pants, they'll still get wet, but it might not be as bad. If you wear pants, you're going to have to piss mighty hard to get any of that out of your pants.

    The virus has to ride on water droplets, which are mostly stopped by masks.


    That said, that's why masks _AND_ social distancing are important, not just one or the other. If we could get everyone to wear a mask the second they stepped out of their house, not touch the thing, sanitize/wash their hands, and not come within 6-10 feet of anyone else for a period of 6 weeks, this would all be over. Everyone could go back to work, The economy could return to normal, and we could all hang out with each other again.

    But we can't, apparently. Because people don't want to be inconvenienced to protect others. Our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents that went through WWI and WWII would be ashamed of us.

    I haven't tried many of the digital modes, and FT8 wasn't one of them. I don't have a proper cable to connect my computer to my radio and finding one online has proven difficult. I have (with me) an Icom IC-706 and the cable I have (at home) has failed to work lately.

    I'm not sure how the 706 interfaces, I assume you need a custom cable or something, along with a soundcard on your computer.

    I also signed up for winlink, so I now I can get e-mail over HF, which is pretty nifty. Even if it does run at about 1000 bytes per minute.

    DaiTengu

    ... Nothing matters very much, and very few things matter at all.

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ War Ensemble BBS - The sport is war, total war - warensemble.com
  • From Daryl Stout@VERT/TBOLT to DaiTengu on Wed Oct 21 07:53:00 2020
    On another sad note, I just found out that one of the most active
    posters in BBS networks, Nancy Backus, lost her battle with stomach
    cancer this morning. She will be sorely missed. :'(

    Oh No! I'll miss Nancy :(

    You and everyone else. My favorite memory of her was when I posted
    a message with the QWK Tagline "I took an IQ Test, and the results
    were negative". She replied "That explains a lot <g,d,r>". <G>

    She said a few days later "You know I was saying that in jest", and
    I said "I got a good laugh out of it". :)

    I'm in a pretty suburban area, but I do have a yard big enough that I could put a tower up if I had the money (and the desire). I don't
    think the neighbors would be too thrilled, though. So right now I'm
    just using an end-fed halfwave.

    I've got too many trees and ivy around. One of the trees is dead, and
    the ivy (it grows like kudzu) has spread around the yard. Critters like
    snakes and rats can hide in there. So, my new yard man is going to remove
    the dead tree, and put "killer" on the ivy.

    As an update with my EFHW battles, I had a pretty bad wind storm last week, and it not only appears to have stretched my antenna out, but it snapped about 5 feet off the end of it. I pulled one side down and repaired it, but now it sags like crazy. I need to re-measure the whole blasted thing, and probably put some bungee ropes up to releive tension when it gets windy. I'm terrified with the winter.

    We haven't had much of a winter in Arkansas the last several years.
    I'm afraid we're long overdue for a snow or ice storm. In past La Nina
    years (as it is now), we've ranged from calm weather, to tornadoes, to
    snow and ice storms. Back to back ice storms in 2000, put portions of
    north Arkansas in the dark for nearly 2 months.

    I also seem to be getting water in my coax, which I assume is due my connectors being cheap, so I spent the money and ordered a 75' long
    piece of LMR-400. That should be here tomorrow. I just hope I don't
    have to buy a new antenna wire, that will set me back another $80.

    The bills never end. :P

    My office/shack is a disaster. I don't even know where to start
    cleaning it.

    If it's the thought that counts, then our places should be
    immaculately clean. But, it's more like:

    1) The house was clean last week. Sorry you missed it!!
    2) My house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough
    to be happy.

    Daryl

    ... I'm not a lunatic. I just found this straightjacket.
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
    þ Synchronet þ The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net
  • From Daryl Stout@VERT/TBOLT to DaiTengu on Wed Oct 21 08:21:00 2020
    Yeah, we're down to 5 cats, a bird, 6 bunnies, and a dog. The cats
    are getting up there in age, the bunnies are about 3-5 years old, The
    dog is 3, and the bird is 12. The bird will likely outlive us.

    You forgot the partridge in a pear tree. <G>

    Well, the mask isn't really for your own protection, it's for other people's protection. It's more like, if you run around without pants,
    you can piss on anyone you want. If they wear pants, they'll still get wet, but it might not be as bad. If you wear pants, you're going to
    have to piss mighty hard to get any of that out of your pants.

    If you can smell the fart, you're too close for social distancing. <G>

    But we can't, apparently. Because people don't want to be
    inconvenienced to protect others. Our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents that went through WWI and WWII would be ashamed of us.

    The Apostle Paul, in his letter to Timothy, noted "In the last days,
    perilous times shall come. For [people] shall be [selfish]". He was spot
    on. So many are with the *I* and *ME* attitude (never mind the person who
    is repeatedly sending messages to himself in one of the Dove-Net echoes...
    he's lonely, vain, or both). I guess being considerate of your fellow human being went the way of the dinosaurs...just like good sportsmanship.

    I'm not sure how the 706 interfaces, I assume you need a custom cable
    or something, along with a soundcard on your computer.

    What gets me is that you see the price on a rig, but then you have to
    buy all these accessories.

    I also signed up for winlink, so I now I can get e-mail over HF, which
    is pretty nifty. Even if it does run at about 1000 bytes per minute.

    You can email me at wx4qz@winlink.org -- I use RMS Express for Winlink,
    and Outpost for Packet. I am the scribe and alternating Net Control for a
    net on the NS2B BBS in Penfield, New York, on Mondays at 8pm Eastern Time
    (the net does NOT meet during a week where a holiday exists).

    I have a file in my D-Rats shared folder, called "The E.D. Net".
    Originally, The PCL Net (Patience And Chicken Lips -- Packet is SLOW, and Chicken Lips >>> is sent when we're done with our traffic (similar to K on
    CW, or "over" on Phone), was in Branson, Missouri...but moved to Penfield,
    New York, after the deaths of K.O., N0KFQ, and his XYL, Billie, KB0WSA
    (he was Sysop, and she was Net Control).

    Anyway, this one night, was after I had first gotten my prior vanity callsign...and discussion was about the vanity callsigns. One ham in
    Missouri, Ed, KI0HQ, wanted K0ED, but a ham in California already had it.
    Well, he typed (as all of us did at our keyboards) that "I'm married, and
    E.D. is not an issue".

    Billie, KB0WSA, as Net Control (XYL of K.O., N0KFQ, the Sysop), passed
    it over to Roger, KB0SON, in Minnesota. He thought that E.D. stood for "electronic doofus" (hi hi). Now, *I* can relate to that, as electronics
    was never my forte' -- although I can tell you the colors on a resistor
    (thanks to Violet (hi hi)), and that not even an amp of electricity could
    kill you. Most hams have heard of BBROYGBVGW (hi hi).

    When it got to K.O., all he typed was "I'm curious to see how Ed is
    going to explain E.D. to Roger". I'm about to bust a gut laughing at
    this point (hi hi).

    Then, it got back to Ed, and he typed "Billie, do you know Morse
    Code", and she typed "Yes, and I know a lot of other things as well!!".
    At this point, I was laughing so hard, that I was about to pee my pants...
    as Ed typed "erectile dysfunction" in Morse Code.

    Which proves, with friends like us, you don't need any enemies (hi hi).

    About a year after Billie became a Silent Key, I was reminiscing on
    that net, and K.O. was there. He commented "it was so refreshing to hear
    that again...and it happened EXACTLY the way Daryl told it!!" (hi hi).
    He became a Silent Key about 2 years after Billie did.

    As for D-Rats, unless thunderstorms are in my area, I leave it up all
    the time. I've used that as communications and checkins for nets. I also
    have also started using the Netlogger program for my nets.

    There is a packet deal in Ohio where you can send a post via both
    Winlink and Packet...if you want details, let me know.

    Daryl, WX4QZ

    ... Deja Two: When you just can't get to three.
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
    þ Synchronet þ The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net
  • From DaiTengu@VERT/ENSEMBLE to Daryl Stout on Fri Oct 23 08:18:27 2020
    Re: I finally got my license
    By: Daryl Stout to DaiTengu on Wed Oct 21 2020 08:21 am

    Yeah, we're down to 5 cats, a bird, 6 bunnies, and a dog. The cats
    are getting up there in age, the bunnies are about 3-5 years old,
    The dog is 3, and the bird is 12. The bird will likely outlive us.

    You forgot the partridge in a pear tree. <G>

    My wife always makes that joke, :)

    I'm not sure how the 706 interfaces, I assume you need a custom
    cable or something, along with a soundcard on your computer.

    What gets me is that you see the price on a rig, but then you have to
    buy all these accessories.

    Yep! Fortunately all I needed when I got my IC-7300 was a power supply, a USB cable and an antenna. The antenna has been the bane of my existence, and it looks like I'm going to have to drop the $80 on a new wire. If it would stop raining here, maybe I could get outside and fix the stretching issue.

    THe good news is, it's supposed to stop raining soon.
    The bad news is, it's just going to switch over to snow.

    I also signed up for winlink, so I now I can get e-mail over HF,
    which is pretty nifty. Even if it does run at about 1000 bytes per
    minute.

    You can email me at wx4qz@winlink.org -- I use RMS Express for Winlink, and Outpost for Packet. I am the scribe and alternating Net Control for a net on the NS2B BBS in Penfield, New York, on Mondays at 8pm Eastern Time (the net does NOT meet during a week where a holiday exists).

    I listen in on nets I hear on HF from time to time, but the only net I actively participate in is the weekly FCARC (Fox Cities Amateur Radio Club, my local ham club) net on 2m. Unfortunately all I have for VHF/UHF is one of those cheap, BaoFeng HTs. It seems to work though. I'll probably look at getting a 2m/70cm radio next year.


    You can email me at wx4qz@winlink.org -- I use RMS Express for Winlink, and Outpost for Packet. I am the scribe and alternating Net Control for a net on the NS2B BBS in Penfield, New York, on Mondays at 8pm Eastern Time (the net does NOT meet during a week where a holiday exists).

    The only digital stuff I've gotten into heavily at this point is FT8, mainly because it's so simple to set up. I'm about 4 confirmations short of getting a "Worked All States" badge on QRZ (and probably LOTW).

    Which reminds me, my buddy is pestering me to update my QRZ.com profile, which is something I should probably do at some point. I'm just not very good at listing information about myself when it's not part of a conversation.


    DaiTengu

    ... All's well that ends.

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ War Ensemble BBS - The sport is war, total war - warensemble.com
  • From Daryl Stout@VERT/TBOLT to DaiTengu on Sat Oct 24 21:28:00 2020
    Yeah, we're down to 5 cats, a bird, 6 bunnies, and a dog. The cats
    are getting up there in age, the bunnies are about 3-5 years old,
    The dog is 3, and the bird is 12. The bird will likely outlive us.

    You forgot the partridge in a pear tree. <G>

    My wife always makes that joke, :)

    Or a partridge in a pair of trees. :P

    What gets me is that you see the price on a rig, but then you have to
    buy all these accessories.

    Yep! Fortunately all I needed when I got my IC-7300 was a power
    supply, a USB cable and an antenna. The antenna has been the bane of
    my existence, and it looks like I'm going to have to drop the $80 on a
    new wire. If it would stop raining here, maybe I could get outside and
    fix the stretching issue.

    We're in a stormy weather pattern here right now...with rain and storms forecast here much of next week. If I can ever get the BBS into the cloud,
    I won't have to worry about as many downtimes.

    THe good news is, it's supposed to stop raining soon.
    The bad news is, it's just going to switch over to snow.

    I talked to Virginia, KC5SAM, in Frontenanc, MN (her brother, George,
    N3ZKV, in Rincon, GA, are faithful checkins to nets), and she noted the
    snow that they had up there...and that more was forecast.

    We haven't had much of a winter here in the last few years, so I think
    we're overdue.

    I listen in on nets I hear on HF from time to time, but the only net I actively participate in is the weekly FCARC (Fox Cities Amateur Radio Club, my local ham club) net on 2m. Unfortunately all I have for
    VHF/UHF is one of those cheap, BaoFeng HTs. It seems to work though.
    I'll probably look at getting a 2m/70cm radio next year.

    I just operate "internet radio", but I'm thinking of an HT with out of
    band receive on 2 meters, on my train trip next June. I plan to have the
    laptop computer and Verizon Mi-Fi on the trip, to be Amtrak Railroad Mobile.

    The only digital stuff I've gotten into heavily at this point is FT8, mainly because it's so simple to set up. I'm about 4 confirmations
    short of getting a "Worked All States" badge on QRZ (and probably
    LOTW).

    Lots of folks are using FT8 on the digital modes now...as poor as HF conditions have been, it sure helps to get those contacts.

    Which reminds me, my buddy is pestering me to update my QRZ.com
    profile, which is something I should probably do at some point. I'm
    just not very good at listing information about myself when it's not
    part of a conversation.

    I update mine every so often...but, considering I've been a ham nearly
    30 years, I have quite a bit there.

    Daryl, WX4QZ

    ... Winter is a Sysops friend...Thunderstorms are the enemy.
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
    þ Synchronet þ The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net
  • From DaiTengu@VERT/ENSEMBLE to Daryl Stout on Sun Oct 25 23:39:21 2020
    Re: I finally got my license
    By: Daryl Stout to DaiTengu on Sat Oct 24 2020 09:28 pm

    You forgot the partridge in a pear tree. <G>

    My wife always makes that joke, :)

    Or a partridge in a pair of trees. :P

    Reminds me of the old "Dead baby joke"

    What's gross? A dead baby nailed to a tree
    What's grosser than that? 10 dead babies nailed to a tree
    What's even grosser than that? A dead baby nailed to 10 trees.

    We haven't had much of a winter here in the last few years, so I think we're overdue.

    Last year was pretty mild here (Wisconsin). It got cold early, but then was warm all through the end of November and December. I'm an avid ice fisherman, and ice fishing was completely rubbish.
    Lake Winnebago never froze enough to drive on, and many winter events were cancelled in February due to the warm temperatures and sketchy ice conditions.

    I'd really like to see a good, hard freeze in late December that will set us up for a nice ice fishing season this year. I really need it.

    The only digital stuff I've gotten into heavily at this point is
    FT8, mainly because it's so simple to set up. I'm about 4
    confirmations short of getting a "Worked All States" badge on QRZ
    (and probably LOTW).

    Lots of folks are using FT8 on the digital modes now...as poor as HF conditions have been, it sure helps to get those contacts.

    12m was open today, briefly, but I'm still having antenna issues, so I haven't been able to get a decent SWR on anything above 20m (nothing tunable).

    I'm working 80m on FT8 as I type this. although conditions don't seem to be that great.

    DaiTengu

    ... This tagline's just for you.

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ War Ensemble BBS - The sport is war, total war - warensemble.com
  • From Daryl Stout@VERT/TBOLT to DaiTengu on Mon Oct 26 08:09:00 2020
    Reminds me of the old "Dead baby joke"

    You have too much time on your hands. :P

    Last year was pretty mild here (Wisconsin). It got cold early, but
    then was warm all through the end of November and December. I'm an avid ice fisherman, and ice fishing was completely rubbish. Lake Winnebago never froze enough to drive on, and many winter events were cancelled
    in February due to the warm temperatures and sketchy ice conditions.

    I never tried fishing for ice cubes <G>. Seriously, most folks forget
    that ice freezes from the top down, and tragically, many folks lose their
    lives from hypothermia by falling through the ice into the frigid waters.
    There is quite a bit of winter weather in the southern Plains this morning (Monday) with winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings across portions of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, among other areas.

    I'd really like to see a good, hard freeze in late December that will
    set us up for a nice ice fishing season this year. I really need it.

    I'd like the cold to kill the insects off...but it has to come in hard
    and fast, so the critters don't have time to burrow into the warm ground.

    12m was open today, briefly, but I'm still having antenna issues, so I haven't been able to get a decent SWR on anything above 20m (nothing tunable).

    In talking to folks yesterday, 20m would be great, then conditions would
    drop like the proverbial rock. I'm hoping with the time change this coming weekend, that might help things.

    ... This tagline's just for you.

    You're so kind. :)

    Daryl

    ... Who needs veggies and nutrition? Give me the luscious fat!!
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
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  • From DaiTengu@VERT/ENSEMBLE to Daryl Stout on Tue Oct 27 11:43:00 2020
    Re: I finally got my license
    By: Daryl Stout to DaiTengu on Mon Oct 26 2020 08:09 am

    Last year was pretty mild here (Wisconsin). It got cold early, but
    then was warm all through the end of November and December. I'm an
    avid ice fisherman, and ice fishing was completely rubbish. Lake
    Winnebago never froze enough to drive on, and many winter events
    were cancelled in February due to the warm temperatures and sketchy
    ice conditions.

    I never tried fishing for ice cubes <G>. Seriously, most folks forget
    that ice freezes from the top down, and tragically, many folks lose their lives from hypothermia by falling through the ice into the frigid waters.

    Yeah, that's part of what made it awful last year. It froze, then melted on top, then started to freeze again. You'd wind up having 4 inches of slush with about 3-4 inches of ice below it. While 3-4 inches of ice is something you can walk on, it's no fun sitting in 4 inches of slush while trying to fish.

    more then a few ATVs and Snowmobiles were sunk last year by people not checking ice conditions.

    I'd like the cold to kill the insects off...but it has to come in hard
    and fast, so the critters don't have time to burrow into the warm ground.

    I watched a video the other day about how insects survive over winter. Some are capable of dehydrating themselves, and increasing the sugar in their .. blood? whatever they have, which effectively turns their innards into a kind of anti-freeze.

    Up here, we'll get at least one or two days every winter where it's -20F with a wind-chill that puts it below -40. But the dang bugs come back every summer.

    12m was open today, briefly, but I'm still having antenna issues, so
    I haven't been able to get a decent SWR on anything above 20m
    (nothing tunable).

    In talking to folks yesterday, 20m would be great, then conditions would drop like the proverbial rock. I'm hoping with the time change this coming weekend, that might help things.

    80m was nice last night, but I need to shorten my antenna a bit, as my SWR is too high on the General phone portion. The CW/Digital portion is great, though.

    DaiTengu

    ... Life is a hereditary disease.

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ War Ensemble BBS - The sport is war, total war - warensemble.com
  • From Daryl Stout@VERT/TBOLT to DaiTengu on Sat Oct 31 10:05:00 2020
    lives from hypothermia by falling through the ice into the frigid waters.

    Yeah, that's part of what made it awful last year. It froze, then
    melted on top, then started to freeze again. You'd wind up having 4 inches of slush with about 3-4 inches of ice below it. While 3-4 inches
    of ice is something you can walk on, it's no fun sitting in 4 inches of slush while trying to fish.

    I'd rather sit in a nice warm Jacuzzi...preferably with a good looking
    female (remember, dirty old Sysops need love, too). <G>

    more then a few ATVs and Snowmobiles were sunk last year by people not checking ice conditions.

    And, I guess they were worthless afterwards....plus, I know those things aren't cheap.

    I watched a video the other day about how insects survive over winter. Some are capable of dehydrating themselves, and increasing the sugar in their .. blood? whatever they have, which effectively turns their
    innards into a kind of anti-freeze.

    Several years ago on Easter weekend, there were intense thunderstorms
    across the state. I had traveled to a church in Lonoke, about 30 miles
    east of Little Rock, for a sunrise service. With all the nearby rice
    fields, I thought the mosquitoes would carry us off!!

    In that regard, it's the female mosquitoes that come after humans, as
    there's something in our blood that they need for their eggs to mature.
    The male mosquitoes, on the other hand, suck fruit juice. I first read
    this in a science class 50 years ago...so, in looking back, I surmised
    "So, the male has to get himself stone drunk, before he finds a woman
    to make love to!!" <G>.

    Up here, we'll get at least one or two days every winter where it's
    -20F with a wind-chill that puts it below -40. But the dang bugs come
    back every summer.

    Not to mention the rodents as well. I think of the QWK Mail Tagline
    "Don't you wish Noah had swatted those 2 mosquitoes??". <G>

    80m was nice last night, but I need to shorten my antenna a bit, as my SWR is too high on the General phone portion. The CW/Digital portion is great, though.

    I have that Solar Data deal on the BBS, showing the band conditions. I was hoping with the time change this weekend that might improve things a bit.

    Daryl

    ... If you hear an Onion Ring, please answer it.
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