PDA

View Full Version : CQ CQ any other WB hams de KD3ST. QRZ?



Buzz_Lightfoot
07-26-2009, 15:05
Any other WB members who are also amateur radio operators? Ever make any HF contacts from the trail? I tried it this weekend but got chased off the air by a major thunderstorm.

Equipment: Yaesu FT817, mini MFJ antenna tuner, random wire antenna, old straight key.

If not for the storm I am sure I would have scared up someone. I made contacts from my back yard with the same equipment.

QRZ rare DX de OM Al, KD3ST.

rlharris
07-26-2009, 16:54
K9UDX here. Don't carry HF stuff when hiking, but do carry my HT. A number of hikers in and around the Whites are also hams and we monitor the area repeaters for hikers that check in as they trek through (and for each other when one of us are on the trails).

Occasionally hear "mountain toppers" trying their DX skills after lugging gear up the trails.

During field day, a handful of hams operate from the summits of a nearby 4000 footer.

73

Cool AT Breeze
07-26-2009, 17:57
I'm not into radios but this weekend a group of hamers sent a mesage up the trail from Springer to Katahdin with all relay points on the AT.

MintakaCat
07-26-2009, 20:19
Most of my radios are of the vacuum tube type, so no I don't operate HF on the trail.

Back many years ago in the early 80s a Ham in Franklin NC by the name of Jack, would hike most of the trails around the area with his handheld 2 meter rig. He would check in on the local repeater from time to time and update us on his current location.

Jack was retired and had all the time in the world to hike and he sure took advantage of that. He must have hiked every trail around there many times.

In the late 90s I got an tube transmitter from a Franklin ham and I noticed inside the manual was Jack's call sign. I emailed him and told him the I ended up with his rig and I was going to fix it up. He was very pleased because he bought it new many years ago and it did cost a great deal of money in the early 60s. (Central Electronics 100V)

Last year I heard that Jack had become a silent key some time back. I often think about him when hiking around the Franklin area. The Franklin Amateur Radio Club's repeater has his call sign on it, K2BHQ.

Jack was a ham and a hiker all in one, no doubt.

Snowleopard
07-26-2009, 20:44
Years ago a friend and I carried a 2 meter Gonset Communicator (tube AM transceiver) and a car battery to the top of Bear Mt. in CT, on the AT. I don't remember if we made any contacts. I also tried a VHF contest from the top of Bearpen Mt. in the Catskills, but the equipment (tube) didn't survive the trip to the top and I got no contacts.

My radios now are not real portable (though more portable than the Gonset) and I don't operate portable much. I carry a little 144/432 FM portable on some hikes (Yaesu VX2).

One of the strongest 2 meter signals here in VHF contests is W2SZ on top of Mt. Greylock, MA, on the AT, and I suspect some of the portable contest stations in the south are on mountains on the AT.

--Walter, K1CMF

vamelungeon
07-26-2009, 22:17
N4AUD here. Don't carry any radios hiking as of now, but was looking at some of the new tri or quad band HT's that are out now. They have pretty broad receive capability, don't know how well they would actually receive, but they are light and there are a lot of repeaters along the AT.
There is an organization of ham hikers whose name escapes me right now. They are mostly HF QRP ops.

ki0eh
07-26-2009, 22:31
I once had a couple of Gonsets from back when I was doing a lot of hamfests. I think the only contact I made on one was across my living room. I think one of the other threads on WB had a link to those HF QRP folks.

Alas I've had a lot more bag nights than contacts the last 10 years. Could use more of both. ;)

ShakeyLeggs
07-26-2009, 23:45
KB3SYZ here I carry my Icom IC-T90A HT with me. I can do 2m, 6m, 70cm with it.

Buzz_Lightfoot
07-27-2009, 06:57
The Ft-817 and all the rest of the gear only weighed around 3-4 pounds. It's not like the old days for certain! It runs 2.5 watts on internal battery and 5 watts if I use an external 12v source.

I had all the gear set up inside my Hennessy hammock with the random wire just going out over tree branches in a random direction and a "ground wire" out in sort of the opposite direction lying on the ground.

I was amazed when one other fellow staying at the shelter said he was a ham also. He was WA3W?? Bad memory strikes again.

QRN that night was increadible. I failed to check weather before going out because all week the weather didnt sound bad. The noise level was so high I quickly gave up and packed away all the gear. Just after I did the rain started. Really close lightning strikes and very heavy rain for 5 hours! Apparently the NWS had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for my location.

Oh well, it was all fun anyway. hihi

BL

JaxHiker
07-27-2009, 10:06
I usually have my HT with me. I'm thinking of building a PSK-20 and taking a netbook with me over Labor Day to try digital from the trail. To be honest, though, I don't think I'll have the time. It would be a nice way to unwind, though.

kythruhiker
07-27-2009, 10:38
KG4VCS - on most trips I carry a Yaesu VX-5 HT with me.

Slo-go'en
07-27-2009, 12:01
I designed this rig specifically for use while hiking the AT - its called the AT sprint (ATS-3B) and is a tiny, ultra light 6 band HF CW rig. http://kd1jv.qrpradio.com/ATS3B/ats3b.HTM

At least 2 thru-hiker hams have carried this rig on the trail. Personally, I've given up taking a rig on the trail with me, even if it only adds a pound to the load. Just too tired at the end of the day to throw a wire into the trees and try to work CW!

Buzz_Lightfoot
07-27-2009, 17:07
I designed this rig specifically for use while hiking the AT - its called the AT sprint (ATS-3B) and is a tiny, ultra light 6 band HF CW rig. http://kd1jv.qrpradio.com/ATS3B/ats3b.HTM

At least 2 thru-hiker hams have carried this rig on the trail. Personally, I've given up taking a rig on the trail with me, even if it only adds a pound to the load. Just too tired at the end of the day to throw a wire into the trees and try to work CW!

haha.. I almost didn't take the rig with me.. I sat around for a hour thinking about it hten decided I really DID want to take it along so I did. Then mother nature had her fun with me. Oh well, ti was fun so that's the bottom line.

I've kinda given up on 2M FM. All the repeaters are all PL. Gone are the fun old days where you could climb a mtn and try all freqs to locate a good repeater. ):

73 de Al, KD3ST ex KD2XL ex WA2GZN ex WN2GZN.

rlharris
07-27-2009, 18:05
I don't want to start a PL war (they wage enough on QRZ), but with the proliferation of repeaters, PLs have become an evil necessity. Canon Mt and Melrose, MA, often interfere with each other. As does the one on Mount Ascutney and one in RI. I have had to program my base stations to decode PL to eliminate the interference.

A small crib sheet with the frequencies and PL tones for repeaters within a 100 mile radius of my mountain tops fits on a creditcard-sized piece of paper.

I wish repeater operators didn't turn off the courtesy tone. That is a valuable way to know if one is getting into a repeater when no one comes back to the caller.




I've kinda given up on 2M FM. All the repeaters are all PL. Gone are the fun old days where you could climb a mtn and try all freqs to locate a good repeater. ):

73 de Al, KD3ST ex KD2XL ex WA2GZN ex WN2GZN.

Buzz_Lightfoot
07-27-2009, 21:15
I don't want to start a PL war (they wage enough on QRZ), but with the proliferation of repeaters, PLs have become an evil necessity. Canon Mt and Melrose, MA, often interfere with each other. As does the one on Mount Ascutney and one in RI. I have had to program my base stations to decode PL to eliminate the interference.

A small crib sheet with the frequencies and PL tones for repeaters within a 100 mile radius of my mountain tops fits on a creditcard-sized piece of paper.

I wish repeater operators didn't turn off the courtesy tone. That is a valuable way to know if one is getting into a repeater when no one comes back to the caller.

Yes, PL is a necessary evil but an unfortunate side effect is that you may be in range of a strong system you are unfamiliar with and not know it because it doesnt respond. I lived thru the heyday and birth of repeater systems. Back when repeaters needed a sepeate license and often ran old, converted Motorola tube-type public service gear. There were much less systems on the air then and interference between systems was rare. One could climb a mountain, and just try frequencies and reach impressive distances. I miss those days. Where I live from my home I could probably reach a system on all standard (and many non-standard) frequecy pairs and you know what, on nearly all of them get no response. Even on .52 these days you are lucky to get a response from a mountain top. I remember working all afternoon pileups from even minor hills on .52 and only quitting because I ran the batteries down. Where did everyone go?

Al

MintakaCat
07-27-2009, 21:44
Where did everyone go?

Cell phones. You know that a lot of folks in those days only got a ham ticket so that they could talk on the phone patch on their club's repeater.

Get a ham ticket, pay the clubs dues, get a second hand 2 meter rig and you had a mobile phone.

Buzz_Lightfoot
07-28-2009, 06:39
Cell phones. You know that a lot of folks in those days only got a ham ticket so that they could talk on the phone patch on their club's repeater.

Get a ham ticket, pay the clubs dues, get a second hand 2 meter rig and you had a mobile phone.

I don't know. I never thought of a phone patch as much more than a gimmick. It may be just that the thrill of 2m fm is gone. It just is not magic like it was in the early days. Folks take it for granted and that is a shame.

JaxHiker
07-28-2009, 10:17
Phone patches come in handy. I've used them when I left the cell phone at home and needed to get in touch with the YL.

ShakeyLeggs
07-28-2009, 12:01
Not meaning to ruffle any feathers here. From my perception 2m has become the cb of the ham crowd. The vast majority of the entry level gear marketed has 2m as the main band. HT's and mobiles. And with the vast majority of repeaters on 2m that only adds to the problem. Don't get me wrong I use 2m allot and like it. For the most part the first band that the public becomes aware of is 2m. So it only goes that when a ham gets their first ticket they start out on 2m. YMMV

bpitt
07-28-2009, 20:51
KD5RJF here. Haven't toted mine with me yet. Back in June I was at Clingman's Dome and a kid from Georgia was talking simplex to someone back in Georgia on 2 meters. Thought that was cool. I might take an HT with me in September.

JaxHiker
07-28-2009, 23:12
Not meaning to ruffle any feathers here. From my perception 2m has become the cb of the ham crowd.
How so? Can you elaborate?

Buzz_Lightfoot
07-29-2009, 06:38
KD5RJF here. Haven't toted mine with me yet. Back in June I was at Clingman's Dome and a kid from Georgia was talking simplex to someone back in Georgia on 2 meters. Thought that was cool. I might take an HT with me in September.

That's always a hoot. On a good hill it is just amazing how far 1.5 watts will go.

I don't know if I will be taking my QRP HF setup with me very often. It is just too heavy.. then again, it was a lot of fun once I got to camp. (:

bishopj
07-30-2009, 12:53
N3EAO here i still have my RadioShack HTX202 the last real Fm made as far as i know
i take ever where i backpack pick a lotof nice folks out on the trail. When i on top of a mountain woul not belive how far i get on 1.5 watts. Gone to due a 2010 Thur-Hike
will bring te 2 meter with me.

ki0eh
07-30-2009, 13:19
N3EAO here i still have my RadioShack HTX202 the last real tent stake pounding radio made as far as i know


Here, I corrected your quote. ;)

Buzz_Lightfoot
07-30-2009, 15:17
We should start a 40m phone net. Say 7.2MHz at 09:00 eastern on saturdays.

ki0eh
07-30-2009, 15:28
We should start a 40m phone net. Say 7.2MHz at 09:00 eastern on saturdays.

Good idea but that might cut into hiking time. :) Should we try a week night?

rlharris
07-30-2009, 17:54
We should start a 40m phone net. Say 7.2MHz at 09:00 eastern on saturdays.

I'm game. Except this Saturday when I will be out of town. The only problem with 09:00 ET (0100 UTC) is it conflicts with the OMISS 40m SSB net :p

vamelungeon
07-30-2009, 21:00
An AT net or just a general hiking net sounds great to me. I work rotating shifts so I won't be able to participate on a regular basis, but I would check in as often as my work schedule permits.

Buzz_Lightfoot
07-31-2009, 06:40
I'm game. Except this Saturday when I will be out of town. The only problem with 09:00 ET (0100 UTC) is it conflicts with the OMISS 40m SSB net :p

Darn, I did a google search for 40m nets and 7.200 did not show up. I thought that odd. Anyone have any suggestions?

rlharris
07-31-2009, 10:59
Sorry if I confused or mislead you. The frequency you picked is probably clear of nets. The OMISS net to which I referred is on 7.185 at the same time and I still need eight states for my 40M WAS.

Buzz_Lightfoot
07-31-2009, 12:58
Sorry if I confused or mislead you. The frequency you picked is probably clear of nets. The OMISS net to which I referred is on 7.185 at the same time and I still need eight states for my 40M WAS.

Aha! I figured 9am was a good time since anyone planning a weekender may not have left yet. I'll try to be on 7.2 at 9am this saturday if I do not over sleep. (Doubt it, the dog wakes up with the sun and thinks I should be up too. "WAKE UP DAD!") hihi

Al

vamelungeon
07-31-2009, 13:08
I'll try as well. I work till 11pm on Friday, so I can't promise I'll be awake by then either.

JaxHiker
07-31-2009, 14:37
Bummer. I'm teaching a General class on Saturdays. I don't know if I remember how to use the mic, either. I'm Mr. Digital. :cool:

ki0eh
07-31-2009, 16:43
Hell, I get up earlier on weekends to get away and I'm at work by 7:30 on weekdays. :)

I wish I knew someone to Elmer me on PSK31. I might have all the pieces to get it to work but I don't know how. I've tried to contact nearby clubs using the ARRL listed contact, the first one hasn't responded so I guess I'll try another. The local A.T.-maintaining club typically responds faster. ;)

rlharris
07-31-2009, 17:48
Post how it goes and I will try to join everybody next Saturday. I'll be home until late morning.

JaxHiker
07-31-2009, 18:13
Hell, I get up earlier on weekends to get away and I'm at work by 7:30 on weekdays. :)

I wish I knew someone to Elmer me on PSK31. I might have all the pieces to get it to work but I don't know how. I've tried to contact nearby clubs using the ARRL listed contact, the first one hasn't responded so I guess I'll try another. The local A.T.-maintaining club typically responds faster. ;)
PSK is my go-to mode. I love it. I actually just jumped off 20M to check back here. :) What do you want to know?

I'm running Ham Radio Deluxe/DM-780 which absolutely rocks. I dumped my Rigblaster Plug n Pray and wish I'd bought the SignaLink USB from day 1. It's a great interface if you want something more robust than a DIY soundcard interface. This all goes to my IC-7000 and ultimately to a wire antenna.

JaxHiker
07-31-2009, 19:48
w00t! Finally got fldigi working!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v386/fotomonkey/radio/digital/fldigi-640.jpg

JaxHiker
07-31-2009, 21:16
What the heck? I decided to try Digipan out too. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v386/fotomonkey/radio/digital/digipan-640.jpg

Digipan is what they recommend for the PSK-20 so it's nice to see it working before I drop the coin on the radio kit.

ki0eh
07-31-2009, 21:59
PSK is my go-to mode. I love it. I actually just jumped off 20M to check back here. :) What do you want to know?


How to make it work. :D

JaxHiker
07-31-2009, 22:49
Sorry, can't help you there. :D

Ok, let's take my setup for example. The SignaLink USB is a USB-based sound card interface. Why use this instead of making my own which isn't that hard? Well, primarily because it's a completely external sound card. Rather than having to muck with my PC's sound settings every time I want to operate or listen to music again I simply change the dials on the SL and leave my PC alone. Another benefit is that it isolates the audio from the PC so you reduce the risk of picking up stray noise.

So my SL is plugged into my PC and has a cable going from it to the data port of the radio. Depending on your radio you may have a data or accessory port or both. Using the data port on the 7000 allows me to keep the mic plugged in. With the accessory port I'd have to remove it. There are jumpers inside the SL that you configure based on the radio you're using.

While not a necessity I highly recommend using rig control. This means you'll need another control cable as defined by your radio. Mine runs off another USB port. This will allow your radio and software to talk. I can do pretty much everything via the software rather than having to spin dials or run through deep menus.

Once you have the interface setup you simply tell the program you're using (DM-780, Digipan, MixW, etc) which sound card to use. You also have to tell it how to do PTT (or to use VOX). Once you set the sound card to the SL you should start seeing signals appear in the waterfall (assuming you're in that part of the band). I like to play around on 20M so my center freq is at 14.070.15.

In the images above the heavy yellow lines are conversations that are being decoded around the center freq. You simply click (sometimes double-click depending on the software) on the QSO you want and that puts you at the right offset and singles out just that QSO. From there you just start typing and transmitting.

Macros make things a lot quicker and easier. You can also usually right-click things in the Rx window such as the station's call sign, QTH, locator, etc. These are then used to populate macros and can also fill your log entries out for you.

So that's it in a quick nutshell. Hopefully that sheds a little light.

ki0eh
07-31-2009, 22:52
I bought the MFJ sound card to rig interface. Maybe that's my problem. ;)

JaxHiker
07-31-2009, 23:14
Wow! That thing looks complicated! At least if it's the 1279 I'm looking at. I think my head hurts now. Now knowing what issues you've run into it's hard to say. I can tell you that my Rigblaster sucked donkey, well, never mind. Just when I thought I had it working it'd stop for some unknown reason. I haven't had any problems with the SL.

Give me some more info about your rig and all and I'll try to get through the manual to help you out with it. If it's not the 1279 you have let me know the model #.

rlharris
08-01-2009, 07:02
We should start a 40m phone net. Say 7.2MHz at 09:00 eastern on saturdays.

Be sure to put something on qrz.com for any hikers that might not be on whiteblaze but are also hams.

ki0eh
08-01-2009, 07:10
I've got the MFJ-1275M. Rig is Yaesu FT-897. I did just tune up on 7200 but might have to leave before 9 am.

But now I've got a bigger problem - the monitor to the computer in the shack room (aka guest bedroom) won't power up with 2 cords in 3 outlets. :(

vamelungeon
08-01-2009, 08:59
Sounds like someone else is using that frequency.

vamelungeon
08-01-2009, 09:06
N4AUD listening +-7200, lots of activity on 40m this AM.

ki0eh
08-01-2009, 09:08
I just called "QRZ Whiteblaze" a few times without reply. Right on 7.200 seems clear right now, I hear a net on 7.195 and a couple of guys on 7.201

ki0eh
08-01-2009, 09:13
I gotta run, I'm getting glared at by folks who expected to run upstate hours ago. :(

vamelungeon
08-01-2009, 09:14
I've got a broken mower outside that requires my attention. Let's try it again sometime.

JaxHiker
08-01-2009, 16:59
Anybody make contact? We put up a G5RV after class today but weren't able to make contact with anyone.

rlharris
08-07-2009, 07:52
Going to try again tomorrow (Aug 8) at 0900 EDT (1300 UTC) for a whiteblaze net? I'll try to be by the radio and have it tuned to 7.200.

WyomingMedic
08-07-2009, 09:37
KC7YRA here,

I will attempt to hang on frequency, but it is a LONG trip to Wyoming. And that is REALLY early out here :D

40 will be full of nets around this part of the country.

WM

JaxHiker
08-07-2009, 09:53
I've got the MFJ-1275M. Rig is Yaesu FT-897. I did just tune up on 7200 but might have to leave before 9 am.
Wow. That's some manual. I'm thinking you'll need to configure the jumpers like the 817. I need to read it some more to wrap my head around it though.

rlharris
08-08-2009, 09:00
Aug 8, 9:00 am. On frequency. A lot of QRM on 7.200. There might be another QSO already in progress. Will listen for a while.

JaxHiker
08-08-2009, 23:02
Looks like I won't be doing PSK from the trail over Labor Day. I had no idea Small Wonder Labs is so behind. They're just shipping orders from May now. :(

ki0eh
08-10-2009, 08:21
Sorry I missed the second try, we were in MI's Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness sans radio. (Would have been an awful lot of QRN anyway, that was around when the fifth thunderstorm of the night rolled in.)

rlharris
08-14-2009, 19:08
Anyone going to try to start a net tomorrow (the 15th) at 0900 EDT (1300 UTC)? I'll be at the radio. A hiker from Texas said he'd like to join us.

If 7200 is busy (as it was last Saturday), want to pick an alternate or search for an open frequency +/- of 7200?

Slo-go'en
08-14-2009, 19:45
9AM is a bit early for me -- I expect to be up late debugging uP code for a new rig I'm designing. But I'll set the alarm and turn on the SSB rig and see if I hear anyone.

If 7200 is busy, I'll tune up to the first clear spot.

ki0eh
08-16-2009, 21:13
I was way too late on Friday too. Any luck? Try again next week?

JaxHiker
08-18-2009, 15:48
Just wrapped up the General course I was teaching. After this weekend's exam session I'll have my Saturdays free again so I'll try to check in.