Spinning & GrinningMy Field Day adventure started on Tuesday, 23 June. I finished the final touched to the eARSIB and then through every possible item I thought I might need (minus a 25 pin to 9 pin cable for a Kantronics KPC-3+ which I will talk about later) in a total of 3 footlockers. I packed up [...]
I am getting ready to head out for my road trip west. I recently got an opportunity to visit the Pony Express National Museum and am going to tailor my route west to follow (for the most part) the Pony Express route. The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the North American continent [...]
I am linking up with my dad, KD6EUG, for this year’s Field Day. He has a cabin up in the California Sierra’s in Mi-Wuk Village, located just above Sonora. Our planning for this event has been ongoing for some time. There are really own a few days left and I am trying to lay out [...]
The clock is ticking and the time is now to get ready for Field Day. My station will consist of the eARSIB: Enhanced Amateur Radio Station In a Box. The entire station fits in an airtight, waterproof box that can be carried with one hand. An FT-817nd makes up the core of the station. To [...]
It has been a cold, rainy Sunday. We are on short final for the delivery of child number two… about 12 more days. Spent part of the day finishing the fixes to the nursery. Despite the rain, I BBQ’d two excellent steaks for dinner. I spent a good amount of time at Fort Lewis, WA [...]
I have my HF mobile up and operational again. The setup I had last summer was with a stake pocket mount with my Tarheel Stubby 75 towards the rear of my Toyota Tundra’s bed. The problem with the stake pocket mount is that the Stubby 75 kept coming loose. I ordered the MT-1(S) mount from [...]
I have devoted a significant amount of time to plow through QSL cards for my YI9MI operation in Iraq last year. The highlight was getting a few cards with actual valid CW contacts. The hard part was sending QSL cards back to folks who had contacts with the CW pirate station. I know this isn’t [...]
When I learned Morse Code, I learned just enough to pass the 5wpm exam. My approach back then has not set me up for success with CW now. I can function at the 5wpm level, but I really want to do better. I am trying to shed myself of some bad habits… counting dits and [...]
It’s time to dust off the Amateur Radio Station In a Box (ARSIB) and get it ready for field day. Back in 2006 I was inspired by other hams who had put together portable stations that were built inside waterproof containers, capable of multimode (phone, CW, digital) HF, VHF, or UHF operation, easily powered by [...]
I had a good time. Putting together the Amateur Radio Station In a Box (ARSIB) was a good learning experience. I now have a functional, portable system that I can take anywhere to operate. The actual operation and contacts during field day was very enjoyable. Other than the lighthouse activations and the W4M special event [...]