amateur radio

[JDub]

I've got several different coms systems which operate on different bands but GMRS and CB are what I take on the road. I have a little Uniden CB unit but - am I the only one to notice- there's just not much chatter on CB anymore. I mostly use it to monitor Channel 9.

Cheers!

 

[Louis Wu]

Name is Ken. Call sign is wb8vyn. I grew up before CB radio. Years of work, study and practice, then a test before the FCC to make a transmitter and receiver from a box of random parts including the ability to send and receive Morse code. 5 words per minute up to 20 words per minute for the various license classes were required to become a ham. Then more work to stay current in both skill and knowledge, including public service.
It was a very prideful thing to a ham. You were an asset to your community, your country.
Over the years the requirements slipped. No longer was Morse code required, No longer was testing of skill and knowledge required, only a paper test by volunteers which could be fudged from a ready book of answers. Roger Beeps soon appeared, and vulgar language was popping up on local net works.
No longer was real work required to become a ham, thus the value of being a ham was diminished. No longer was being a ham an asset to neighbors and community's valuable.
Now for a few bucks anyone can use the spectrum which was so hard earned over generations.
The need is still there. Ordinary people still Need some one to be ready to provide communication during times of stress, disaster and emergency. That requires a knowledgeable sender and receiver who is ready, willing and able.
Known by those near by and distant. Reliable in times of need.
Be one of those.
wb8vyn k

Ken,
I hear you and agree with much of it. I've been licensed for more than 50 years, so we both remember how it was.
It's no longer difficult to get a license and it shows in the quality of people we are getting. It shows when you read some of the online forums or Facebook devoted to aspects of Ham Radio. The questions that come up (over and over daily. Does no one know how to read previous answers?) show that even the most basic things are not understood. Things that should be required to pass the exam. And most of them are some form of "what should I do or buy" where the answer really is "what you want." It's their hobby, what I or someone else thinks they should do doesn't matter. It's like they don't even know why they got into it.

Another facet is the new Hams preoccupation with Emergency Communications and how they are going to save the world. Like they are all some kind of preppers. Coupled with the low level of understanding of the technical parts, their inexperience and the current state of other communications - Sat phones, cell nodes on a trailer, etc. the value they actually provide is not what they think.

Ham Radio is a hobby and there's nothing wrong with that. That being said, I see a lot of new hams getting involved in things like SOTA/POTA/IOTA/ARLHS and so many other activities that are doing great and carrying on the traditions, even learning CW and enjoying it!

You've got to learn how to use radio to communicate first. It's not about a piece of equipment you buy. It's about the skills you learn along the way that might be valuable in an emergency.

I would never advise someone to get involved in Ham Radio - not here or elsewhere - unless they have an existing interest in it in the first place. Yes, you might be able to use it in an emergency, if you have it and if you are capable - but that's not it's purpose. It's a hobby. A hobby that could help when the SHTF. But it's the hobby and the skills learned that count, not how much money you can spend on equipment that sits in a box in case you need it.

So, it's a great hobby you can enjoy. One you can enjoy immensely while living a nomadic life too. It's great for staying in touch with the world, not being totally isolated, keeping connected with society. But only if it's something you'd already like to be doing. Anyone who wants to get into Ham Radio, I'll gladly help, if it's what you want. But if you think it's buying some gear and stowing it away just in case, you're missing the point and it won't help you. It's a hobby, not a replacement for a Sat phone or EPIRB.

 

[wb8vyn]

Ken,
I hear you and agree with much of it. I've been licensed for more than 50 years, so we both remember how it was.
It's no longer difficult to get a license and it shows in the quality of people we are getting. It shows when you read some of the online forums or Facebook devoted to aspects of Ham Radio. The questions that come up (over and over daily. Does no one know how to read previous answers?) show that even the most basic things are not understood. Things that should be required to pass the exam. And most of them are some form of "what should I do or buy" where the answer really is "what you want." It's their hobby, what I or someone else thinks they should do doesn't matter. It's like they don't even know why they got into it.

Another facet is the new Hams preoccupation with Emergency Communications and how they are going to save the world. Like they are all some kind of preppers. Coupled with the low level of understanding of the technical parts, their inexperience and the current state of other communications - Sat phones, cell nodes on a trailer, etc. the value they actually provide is not what they think.

Ham Radio is a hobby and there's nothing wrong with that. That being said, I see a lot of new hams getting involved in things like SOTA/POTA/IOTA/ARLHS and so many other activities that are doing great and carrying on the traditions, even learning CW and enjoying it!

You've got to learn how to use radio to communicate first. It's not about a piece of equipment you buy. It's about the skills you learn along the way that might be valuable in an emergency.

I would never advise someone to get involved in Ham Radio - not here or elsewhere - unless they have an existing interest in it in the first place. Yes, you might be able to use it in an emergency, if you have it and if you are capable - but that's not it's purpose. It's a hobby. A hobby that could help when the SHTF. But it's the hobby and the skills learned that count, not how much money you can spend on equipment that sits in a box in case you need it.

So, it's a great hobby you can enjoy. One you can enjoy immensely while living a nomadic life too. It's great for staying in touch with the world, not being totally isolated, keeping connected with society. But only if it's something you'd already like to be doing. Anyone who wants to get into Ham Radio, I'll gladly help, if it's what you want. But if you think it's buying some gear and stowing it away just in case, you're missing the point and it won't help you. It's a hobby, not a replacement for a Sat phone or EPIRB.

louis:
Ham radio has been good to me over the years.
As a young man, I was curious about everything. Where I grew up there was no electricity. Broadcast receivers were battery powered and only dad could turn them on.
The library was where all the knowledge was stored.
Anyway, school was reading, writing and arithmetic. Only had school till the 6th grade.
Our town had a low power, sun up till sun down station. I'd ride my bike to town and park near the tower with a crystal set and listen. The fellow who turned it on and off, also did the maintenance.
One day of many, he saw me there and asked me if I wanted to see how radio was made. Inside were tubes and transformers and wires and such and a smell.
Anyway I asked a million questions. I wanted to know he learned all that stuff. He told me that he was in the army and learned a lot there and more from books. He told me that he had a lot of books at home. He also told me that he made of lot of parts from scrape, used and worn out stuff.
One day he invited me to have a look at his stuff in his garage that he had built himself.
Long story short, he took time to show me how tubes worked and how you could make your own transformers, and how meters worked . I was hooked! He showed me "feed lines" and how the math that I'd learned in school could be used. He showed me CW, (He was a ham) That's where I learned Algebra. Great stuff algebra. (E over I equals R). (E over R equal I) (I time R equals E)....
Anyway, I learned that the kind of radio he did was volunteer (A hobby) unless you got a job at a commercial place. He did both.
He used to send and receive messages from army guys who were far away to family, wives and so on for fun.
More long story short, I leaned enough he thought that I could pass the ham radio test. He drove to Portland, Oregon (300 miles) to take the test. I PASSED THE TEST.
Had to build a super regen receiver that worked from a box of parts and pass a 5 word per minute cw test.. I was on cloud 12.
I was off and running.
What I learned was I liked building stuff. Didn't have to be radios, anything having to do with electricity. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know.
I'm in my 80s now and still want to know and try out more idea's. Sure it's a hobby and I no longer do messages from young military guys to families, but I'm still curious.
I still build open wire feed lines and chokes and traps and use long wire antennas and home made verticals in a jar in the garden.
My neighbors bring me stuff to fix. I wire and replace, and fix old toasters and mix masters, fix tail lights. It's fun and of value.
Yup, It's a hobby but a useful hobby

 

[WILD@HEART]

Ive heard morse code has been removed from the requirements of the test.

What are your thoughts
regarding:

Morse Code ?


World Band Radio?


Phasing out of AM Radio?

 

[wb8vyn]

Ive heard morse code has been removed from the requirements of the test.

What are your thoughts
regarding:

Morse Code ?


World Band Radio?


Phasing out of AM Radio?

About Morse code
The code requirement was WORK and took practice over time.
When one had to work at anything, what ever it was gave value to the endeavor. FREE things have no value. So the removal of the code requirement demished the the value of the ham radio license.
In addition, Other aspects of the licensing requirements were relegated to "volunteers", rather than the FCC it's self. Unpaid volunteers had no incentive to require excellence, only numbers of licenses granted. Work ethic was not required. Free was advertised with friends and neighbors. Free equals no value.
Amplitude Modulation has been proven over time to be poor use of spectrum available, Single Side Band was found to be better use of spectrum but still AM at half the band width. Double side band amplitude modulation resulted in better fidelity but again used more spectrum.
Frequency modulation allowed for better fidelity but still used more spectrum.
Am transmitters are cheaper to build as are receivers but require more wattage.
All of the above are old technology. Newer digital equipment and solid state encoders and decoders allow for one on one communication without the need for modulation at all.
Bringing us back to Morse code which was a two bit code.
Just carrier on and off pulses. Instead of short and long bits, 5 bit code was introduced which allowed for teletype and mechanical sending and receiving of text messages, still later 8 bit code was introduced and further 16 bit and onward to 32, 64 and 128 bit code and so on. Still code but far beyond the ability of the human ear and brain to decode.
So- the bottom line is this, Lets keep all of the older knowledge and skills. When a solar flare renders our sat coms un-usable The old stuff will still work. In the mean time, back yard tinkers with find "the hobby" fulfilling and a source of personal pride and in a pinch, an asset to our whole nation and the world. It may never come and maybe tonight.

 

[JDub]

I remember the "Ditty Bops" training at Keesler AFB in Morse back in the 70's when I joined. They were all headed for ESC (Electronic Security Command - bet Bullfrog remembers that bunch). My roommate actually used to sleep with his hand twitching to Morse... As for me, we trained in HF SSB/USB mostly, MARS, AM, FM, and Victor. Our MRC (Jeep mounted) systems could do FSK but we weren't trained in it.

Long Time Ago...

 

[bullfrog]

I always chuckled every time I heard the story of a new crew member “launched” a hardened antenna. Seems originally 120’ antennas were ordered with the controls but someone replaced the antennas with 90’ ones without changing the controllers. Lol!! Learned Morse code around age ten but really liked the Hanoi Hilton tap code developed by captured Viet Nam soldiers for it’s simplicity. As you get older you begin to wonder how you were able to do so many things that required so much practice. Most people wouldn’t recognize an SOS if you pounded it on their head! Lol!!!

 

[WILD@HEART]

About Morse code
The code requirement was WORK and took practice over time.
When one had to work at anything, what ever it was gave value to the endeavor. FREE things have no value. So the removal of the code requirement demished the the value of the ham radio license.
In addition, Other aspects of the licensing requirements were relegated to "volunteers", rather than the FCC it's self. Unpaid volunteers had no incentive to require excellence, only numbers of licenses granted. Work ethic was not required. Free was advertised with friends and neighbors. Free equals no value.
Amplitude Modulation has been proven over time to be poor use of spectrum available, Single Side Band was found to be better use of spectrum but still AM at half the band width. Double side band amplitude modulation resulted in better fidelity but again used more spectrum.
Frequency modulation allowed for better fidelity but still used more spectrum.
Am transmitters are cheaper to build as are receivers but require more wattage.
All of the above are old technology. Newer digital equipment and solid state encoders and decoders allow for one on one communication without the need for modulation at all.
Bringing us back to Morse code which was a two bit code.
Just carrier on and off pulses. Instead of short and long bits, 5 bit code was introduced which allowed for teletype and mechanical sending and receiving of text messages, still later 8 bit code was introduced and further 16 bit and onward to 32, 64 and 128 bit code and so on. Still code but far beyond the ability of the human ear and brain to decode.
So- the bottom line is this, Lets keep all of the older knowledge and skills. When a solar flare renders our sat coms un-usable The old stuff will still work. In the mean time, back yard tinkers with find "the hobby" fulfilling and a source of personal pride and in a pinch, an asset to our whole nation and the world. It may never come and maybe tonight.

Thank you so much for your insight, detailed and
timely response.

I agree,
I like old school, common sense and tried and true thinking and solid ways.
I happen to like morse code, although not popular anymore. I think its an important skill, as is foreign languages. You never know when you'll need it.

Why reinvent the wheel, right?

And sooner or later there will be a "rainy day"
and human behavior and history will repeat itself, again.

preparedness in every aspect of life, is a personal responsibility. Dependency
Is a recipe for disaster and becomes a burden, that can be reduced or even avoided for the most part.

Communications is an
extremely important part of any emergency situation. To send and recieve vital information is critical, instead of flying blind. Why guess-timate your decisions, when you can call a spade-a-spade, and make better decisions.

I purchased a new small midland cb, and a tiny handheld NOA weather radio, that works like a charm. Also have an older Realistic Navaho base station and a couple older, but new in box, Lake Brand dash mount cb's someone gave me. Also have a Grundig World Band radio, which is also fun to listen to.


Ive had a series of books and study guides, i had to parr with a while back, but to to replace thwm and I've been researching Ham radio equipment, for a long time, Base and Handheld and would like to have both. A Radio Club would be good too, shared knowledge and passion.


The newer inexpensive Baefong Handheld, seems very popular by many.But there are many others to choose from.

This is an interesting topic and I appreciate the information and the views
shared here. Thank You

 

[tx2sturgis]

Those who would like to 'eavesdrop' on some ham activity, here is a link:

http://dodropin.net/index.php/listenlive
This is a conference server on Echolink, a form of ham radio that takes place in a hybrid fashion, linking actual RF comms via the internet.

On this conference server, DoDropIn, you will hear mostly 'net' audio, where a group of hams get together at scheduled times and visit about the weather, local events, and other topics of interest.

If you click the play button and don't hear anything, try again later...they run a lot of 'nets', so you may have clicked-in between nets.

Just FYI: Echolink uses a very small amount of bandwidth...typically 5 to 10 mb per hour, which is much less than a short YouTube video. It is a small amount if you have multiple gigs of data per month. But if your data plan is very limited, like 1 or 2 gigs per month, you might have to limit your 'listening time'.

 

[wb8vyn]

Thank you so much for your insight, detailed and
timely response.

I agree,
I like old school, common sense and tried and true thinking and solid ways.
I happen to like morse code, although not popular anymore. I think its an important skill, as is foreign languages. You never know when you'll need it.

Why reinvent the wheel, right?

And sooner or later there will be a "rainy day"
and human behavior and history will repeat itself, again.

preparedness in every aspect of life, is a personal responsibility. Dependency
Is a recipe for disaster and becomes a burden, that can be reduced or even avoided for the most part.

Communications is an
extremely important part of any emergency situation. To send and recieve vital information is critical, instead of flying blind. Why guess-timate your decisions, when you can call a spade-a-spade, and make better decisions.

I purchased a new small midland cb, and a tiny handheld NOA weather radio, that works like a charm. Also have an older Realistic Navaho base station and a couple older, but new in box, Lake Brand dash mount cb's someone gave me. Also have a Grundig World Band radio, which is also fun to listen to.


Ive had a series of books and study guides, i had to parr with a while back, but to to replace thwm and I've been researching Ham radio equipment, for a long time, Base and Handheld and would like to have both. A Radio Club would be good too, shared knowledge and passion.


The newer inexpensive Baefong Handheld, seems very popular by many.But there are many others to choose from.

This is an interesting topic and I appreciate the information and the views
shared here. Thank You

you spoke of various 11 meter equipment. The input wattage of those units were about 4 or 5 watts. generally speaking that mean a loss of about 35 to 40 percent. The actual output power in usable wattage would generally be 3.5 watts with further feed line loss depending on length and type of feed line used. (rg8 to rg58 or open wire feed. (open wire feed being the most efficient).
Then launch angle being about 45 degrees, depending on the conductivity of the earth beneath the radiating element. (assuming a vertical mount).
Since the ground wave traveling in the earth is slower than the sky wave, total canceling of the skywave will take place at a distance of about 30 miles, give or take earth conductivity.
In the real world, usable signal would be around 2 to 5 miles.
The skywave portion of the transmitted wave would continue to the ionosphere where a part of the signal would be reflected downward at about a 45 degree angle. some of the power would continue through the ionosphere into outer space with little or no loss at the speed of light.
The reflected signal would then reach earth level again at a distance of about 750 miles from the origin. (full wave length around 36 feet) (quarter wave about 9 feet).
The ionosphere is not a flat surface in most cases, just like ocean waves some times have high waves and other times can be calm and flat. So the usable signal will move across the earth surface like a moving search light some times usable for a short time, other times only fleeting in duration. It's called "skip". Fun at times but most often unreliable.
Other equipment you mentioned are vhf (very high frequency)
and vlf (very low frequency). vhf is useful for short range communication, most often line of sight, FLF can be useful for much longer distances but is limited to daylight and dark periods depending on the availability of the ionosphere, which is created by solar radiation or lack there of.
It's all covered by a term called "propagation". Each aspect is worthy of curiosity and experiment which can take several life times and may never be fully understood. Who knows?

 

[WILD@HEART]

Can I say... AMAZING!
No matter how many lifetimes...through trial and error, curiosity abounds, like a kid in a candy store : )
I follow. Yes the ionosphere can be touch and go, with the solar cycle of the sun too.
I agree, low power, line of sight...no legs.
An old under cutter for sure.
Still interesting in the pond. And Fun.
For now, I'll dream of more power, study my tucas off, and take the test.
And maybe in another lifetime or two, not even come close to where you are at.. lol : )
Thank you : )

 

[wb8vyn]

Can I say... AMAZING!
No matter how many lifetimes...through trial and error, curiosity abounds, like a kid in a candy store : )
I follow. Yes the ionosphere can be touch and go, with the solar cycle of the sun too.
I agree, low power, line of sight...no legs.
An old under cutter for sure.
Still interesting in the pond. And Fun.
For now, I'll dream of more power, study my tucas off, and take the test.
And maybe in another lifetime or two, not even come close to where you are at.. lol : )
Thank you : )

Yes study your head off: along with study, experiment. The ability to understand what you read about will become more understandable but will also uncover more questions.
take a straight piece of wire, a high value resister in series with a low voltage battery and a compass. The wire will become a linear magnet indicated by the compass needle. then reverse the connections on the battery and see what the compass needle does. As you will see, the polarity of the magnetic field surrounding the wire will reverse. That brings forward the question about how fast the electrons move along the wire to create the field surrounding the wire. That brings forward another question how long does it take for the magnetic field to be established from the time it took to make the electrical connection and then how long does it take for the magnetic field to disappear and where did it come from and where did it go? Then another question: how far from the source does the magnetic field extend. Then, if the connection is made quickly, does the field have enough time to dissipate before the next is generated. The answer if of course, no, there is a remaining magnetic field at some distance from the wire.
Then the question is what happens to this remaining field when the new one appears from the source.
It is easy to visualize smoke rings inside of smoke rings pushing the original smoke ring further away again and again until the original smoke ring is no longer discernable to the nekkid eye. Then it would take a smoke detector to sense the smoke. (could be called a smoke receiver)
That is how radio works, magnetic fields produced from a source and expanded just like smoke rings and detected by a magnetic field detector much the same as a smoke detector detects smoke too tiny to be seen.
Your goal is the create the magnetic field quick enough that the field will be created quicker than it can collapse. That then becomes a magnetic field generator (transmitter).
The next project will be to find out how to detect those passing magnetic smoke rings. In the past were called detectors, now called receivers inside of which you will find a detector.
There is much more to explore, keep you eye out for trashed microwaves tossed to the curb. Inside will be many things you will need to fabricate a high power transmitter and some of what you will need to build a receiver. BEWARE dangerous high voltages can be present.
Old tyme equipment used voltage amplifiers, modern equipment uses current amplifiers, either one can be deadly at radio frequencies.

 

[WILD@HEART]

Yes, very dangerous! As many other things are too!
Be safe. Not Sorry.

Woo Hoo! Like a Salvage Pirate!

Waste not, want not...reuse and repurpose...trash to treasure...a treasure trove...why buy new, when used will do!

I have a background in automotive technology, Industrial electricity and commercial and residential electrician.
And friends in telecommunications and ham radio, that sparked my interest, although i probably would've sought it
out on my own.

Good analogies to illustrate. I will take notes.
I appreciate the lessons, I love to learn.
You sound like a very good teacher, I'll have to find a virtual or digital apple to bring to class : )

Yes, questions lead to answers, then more questions and discoveries and analysis upon analysis.
Now, that's a lot of rocks to turn over and whole lotta smoke rings from the peace pipe... nekkid or not. LOL : )

Study, experiment, sleep, rinse, repeat ; )
Have a great night!

 

[wb8vyn]

Yes, very dangerous! As many other things are too!
Be safe. Not Sorry.

Woo Hoo! Like a Salvage Pirate!

Waste not, want not...reuse and repurpose...trash to treasure...a treasure trove...why buy new, when used will do!

I have a background in automotive technology, Industrial electricity and commercial and residential electrician.
And friends in telecommunications and ham radio, that sparked my interest, although i probably would've sought it
out on my own.

Good analogies to illustrate. I will take notes.
I appreciate the lessons, I love to learn.
You sound like a very good teacher, I'll have to find a virtual or digital apple to bring to class : )

Yes, questions lead to answers, then more questions and discoveries and analysis upon analysis.
Now, that's a lot of rocks to turn over and whole lotta smoke rings from the peace pipe... nekkid or not. LOL : )

Study, experiment, sleep, rinse, repeat ; )
Have a great night!

oh crap. I've been studying about light photons, trying to do experiments to prove that photons take up space. To me it is obvious that light can be influenced by gravity (bent), that those photons must take up space. those photons do travel (move) at a speed (probably the speed of light).
To my mind, light photons have a spectrum, much like radio waves have a spectrum of frequencies from sound to light? and beyond? Light photons do have a spectrum, the evidence is color from ultra violet through infra red that we can detect with proper equipment above and below visible.
Since light can be effected by gravity, then the speed that photons travel could be slowed down by gravity and maybe magnetic fields.
The earth is surrounded by a magnetic field which alters the path of certain photons (light frequencies) The same holds true of radio frequencies. That is how radio frequencies can be guided in a tube called a wave guide used mostly at vhf and uhf.
I'm rambling aren't I. when one's brain gets old, it does wander a lot and some times gets lost. I get lost in my trailer some times, forget why I am standing, looking in a direction.
Well, anyway, A piece of the fender on my old pickup just fell off. Got to do something about that. Better yet i think I'll take a nap. maybe not. where's my hat?

 

[WILD@HEART]

Um... well here's your shiny ...Oversized beyond Grade A... apple!

Well if everything is made of matter and sometimes antimatter
we need to decide who we're cheering for...lol : )

Is this Newton's Laws or or are we going Quantum Bigfoot here? (just kidding) ; )

Its not because of your age. How far down the rabbit hole can you go with analytical thinking? Even day dreaming is the most basic form of self hypnosis. You are conscious, but all other systems are just quietly running in the background.

Naps can be refreshing and recharge your batteries.

 

[wb8vyn]

View attachment 30903View attachment 30903View attachment 30903
Um... well here's your shiny ...Oversized beyond Grade A... apple!

Well if everything is made of matter and sometimes antimatter
we need to decide who we're cheering for...lol : )

Is this Newton's Laws or or are we going Quantum Bigfoot here? (just kidding) ; )

Its not because of your age. How far down the rabbit hole can you go with analytical thinking? Even day dreaming is the most basic form of self hypnosis. You are conscious, but all other systems are just quietly running in the background.

Naps can be refreshing and recharge your batteries.

apples are nice to look at but taste better.
News--- I've been building a strong electro magnet in my garage. 24 x 40 feet. fired it up last night for the first time.
Bad idea.
Anything ferrous within several feet was effected. (and further)
All my loose tools snapped to both poles, blew a 100 amp circuit breaker.
I'm going to have to build a very big variable transformer next.
Some years ago a ship builder went belly up near here where I was able to salvage some welding equipment that was used to build on board cranes. WA-LA big tap-able transformer but three phase. I've probably kill myself a couple of times but here goes. I just have to know!

 

[tx2sturgis]

I wondered what that was...the lights here were dimming and my steel shed was humming!

 

[WILD@HEART]

apples are nice to look at but taste better.
News--- I've been building a strong electro magnet in my garage. 24 x 40 feet. fired it up last night for the first time.
Bad idea.
Anything ferrous within several feet was effected. (and further)
All my loose tools snapped to both poles, blew a 100 amp circuit breaker.
I'm going to have to build a very big variable transformer next.
Some years ago a ship builder went belly up near here where I was able to salvage some welding equipment that was used to build on board cranes. WA-LA big tap-able transformer but three phase. I've probably kill myself a couple of times but here goes. I just have to know!

Yup, best to eat those apples, staring is vewy wude

WOW! You be careful with your WA LA's ... Mr. Edison, Houdini, Westinghouse, Copperfield!

Warning : No ferrous implants or shrapnel in your body!

Maybe we could do time travel, save ourselves, and still conduct the experiment either way it turns out.
Ill take your place and be your stunt double...I'm on my way out anyway.

I think your way too curious to hold back, so you'd do it again if you had the chance. : )

 

[wb8vyn]

Yup, best to eat those apples, staring is vewy wude

WOW! You be careful with your WA LA's ... Mr. Edison, Houdini, Westinghouse, Copperfield!

Warning : No ferrous implants or shrapnel in your body!

Maybe we could do time travel, save ourselves, and still conduct the experiment either way it turns out.
Ill take your place and be your stunt double...I'm on my way out anyway.

I think your way too curious to hold back, so you'd do it again if you had the chance. : )

you right. gonna leave that to the big boys. like nasa and universities. Getting too old to be doing heavy lifting anyway.
got some pickle jars from a local bar.
using hot wire to cut the bottom out to make a chimney for a 1000 watt tube (CX 1500) to keep it cool. Still working on the heater transformer.
Can't get US made tubes any more. Pull outs from AM stations are also hard to find. klystons are a dime a dozen for UHF. HF up to 50 MHZ. is more my speed.
Just got back from checking on a local repeater (2 meters). The antenna is at 384 feet. ( i know, i put there myself some 25 years ago) all is well.
Another 2 weeks and I'll begin loading up my camper for my last adventure being a nomad. Was hoping to have these projects done this winter but looks like i got side tracked too many times.
I've decided to route myself due south at first, then west till the weather warms up, then on a slaunch wise angle to the north west in a large arch to the north west and then east again. Probably take a very long time, like months or even years. I intend to do a lot of people watching. I'm in no hurry any more.
I was thinking early on that I'd hit Florida but have changed my mind once again, Too many old people down there.
Coffee is done and calling me.

 

[Termite]

Happy trails my friend! I'll be out to join you sortly.