I didn't say don't stockpile ammo. After what happened during the Great Ammo Shortage you'd be foolish not to load up. But emergency food, emergency ammo, emergency anything by definition means that you have more than you need. Unless you're in combat you will not shoot more than a couple of hundred zombies during armageddon. Isn't there like a personal rapture that occurs after you've killed the 50th zombie?

Is anyone planning anything for Field Day this year? The NJ clubs are limited to at-home operating. I'm thinking of going up to Stokes or High Point. Anyone is welcome to join me but be forwarned: I will NOT be social distancing or wearing a mask. I'd also be interested in joining a club that is holding a normal FD without the infection fetish. I hung out with some hams at the Matamoras gun range a few years back, I think it was FD 2016, and it was enjoyable.

 

 

4 hours ago, Newtonian said:

Is anyone planning anything for Field Day this year? The NJ clubs are limited to at-home operating. I'm thinking of going up to Stokes or High Point. Anyone is welcome to join me but be forwarned: I will NOT be social distancing or wearing a mask. I'd also be interested in joining a club that is holding a normal FD without the infection fetish. I hung out with some hams at the Matamoras gun range a few years back, I think it was FD 2016, and it was enjoyable.

 

 

Operating from home, sadly, as the wuhan flu bugaboo has struck.  Currently using FD ops as an incentive to get a Gap Titan up here at home.

I hope and pray you do not have to convince anybody lacking a Y chromosome that you need to put that thing up. My wife gets anxiety attacks when I show her pictures of antennas.

She is fine with it. 

And the HOA 'rulz' say "Accessory Structures - Antennas - No restrictions for antennas attached to home."

Will look like this when complete:

3 hours ago, W2MC said:

She is fine with it. 

And the HOA 'rulz' say "Accessory Structures - Antennas - No restrictions for antennas attached to home."

With that loophole in place, see if you can get Verizon or ATT to put up a cell tower attached to your home.   You can pull down a fair bit of rent from a cell tower on your property.  Pissing off the HOA is a nice bonus.

Oh baby that's nice. What kind of coverage does it give you in terms of bands?

3 hours ago, W2MC said:

She is fine with it. 

And the HOA 'rulz' say "Accessory Structures - Antennas - No restrictions for antennas attached to home."

Will look like this when complete:

That is VERY nice. How difficult will it be to hoist it into position?

24 minutes ago, dilbert1967 said:

That is VERY nice. How difficult will it be to hoist it into position?

some sort of tilt base on the pipe holding it up

Is anyone aware of any pro-american pro-2A , militia type shortwave radio programs,   25-30 Years ago WWCR had some good shows.   I haven't listened on those parts of HF for a while.

 

  Thanks     

On 10/4/2020 at 10:51 AM, revenger said:

Is anyone aware of any pro-american pro-2A , militia type shortwave radio programs,   25-30 Years ago WWCR had some good shows.   I haven't listened on those parts of HF for a while.

 

  Thanks     

Its all end of days kinda repent stuff now

Is anyone here learning or just learned morse code? I have started making CW QSOs and it's a blast. If anybody would like to practice on the air let me know.

Angelo

KD2HPQ

6 hours ago, Newtonian said:

Is anyone here learning or just learned morse code? 

- .   - - -

6 hours ago, Newtonian said:

Is anyone here learning or just learned morse code? I have started making CW QSOs and it's a blast. If anybody would like to practice on the air let me know.

Angelo

KD2HPQ

Back in the 80's I had to receive 20 wpm to get my Extra, and I did. My biggest mistake was first seeing the code in print, then trying to memorize dash-dot-dashes, and then relating those visuals to the sounds.

If I did it over again I would never look at the code. Just take one of those courses where you only hear a letter and then the sound.

And the code letters should run at least at a 20 wpm rate from the get go. You start slow by spacing the dead air between letters, not slowing down the letters themselves. Then, as your recognition gets better, the dead air gap just gets smaller and smaller as you get faster and faster. Much, much better in the long run.

Just now, 45Doll said:

Back in the 80's I had to receive 20 wpm to get my Extra, and I did. My biggest mistake was first seeing the code in print, then trying to memorize dash-dot-dashes, and then relating those visuals to the sounds.

If I did it over again I would never look at the code. Just take one of those courses where you only hear a letter and then the sound.

And the code letters should run at least at a 20 wpm rate from the get go. You start slow by spacing the dead air between letters, not slowing down the letters themselves. Then, as your recognition gets better, the dead air gap just gets smaller and smaller as you get faster and faster. Much, much better in the long run.

I agree but it's very hard to learn morse without real practice, which is why I posted on this topic.

I have three copy speeds: 20-25 wpm if the words are spaced, 13-15 wpm with a keyboard, and 7-8 wpm in my head. How do I lose the crutch of having the keyboard? It's like, when I hear "dih dih dah" I first think "middle finger on my left hand" and about 100 msecs later I think "d". 

I'm working on my extra as well. Any suggestions for actually LEARNING the material vs. memorizing the answers?

Just now, Newtonian said:

I agree but it's very hard to learn morse without real practice, which is why I posted on this topic.

I have three copy speeds: 20-25 wpm if the words are spaced, 13-15 wpm with a keyboard, and 7-8 wpm in my head. How do I lose the crutch of having the keyboard? It's like, when I hear "dih dih dah" I first think "middle finger on my left hand" and about 100 msecs later I think "d". 

I'm working on my extra as well. Any suggestions for actually LEARNING the material vs. memorizing the answers?

Haha DIH DIH DAH = D indeed. I meant "index finger right hand, up" and then "u"

21 minutes ago, YankeeSC said:

- .   - - -

F u Cn rd ths U cn gt a GD jb

14 minutes ago, Newtonian said:

I'm working on my extra as well. Any suggestions for actually LEARNING the material vs. memorizing the answers?

My story is too long to blab out here. When I wanted to learn electronics in 1975 for commercial and $$$ purposes I used these guys (for basic electronics of course; no computers then). They made me good enough with home study to eventually be a commercial broadcast 'engineer' and then microwave tech for Hewlett Packard when they were still an instrument company. I assure you I put in a lot of study time. I wanted to really understand it, not just memorize any answers. But boy did it pay off.

Learning the Extra technical portion isn't that intense. But I'm sure there's plenty of equivalent material out there covering the necessary basic principles of electricity and radio transmitters and receivers. Checked the ARRL site?

I occasionally call myself one of the last "fast code" (20 WPM) Extras; having passed that element just prior to the FCC rule change reducing the Extra code speed to 5 WPM.  I could have simply waited (the date of the change had already been announced), but since I had spent more than a year working up my code speed; I wasn't about to see all that effort go to waste.    

While I did get my CW speed up to make it to Extra; I have zero interest in the mode, and almost never use it.  I am VERY rusty, but I can still run at around 12 or so WPM, once I shake some of the rust off.  Kinda like riding a bicycle; you never really forget it.

de W2MC

 

Here you go. Online, no downloads, and it starts out at with the 'method' I suggested. You can try it out with user/password test/test. If you like it you create an account and customize it as you wish.

LCWO.net - Learn CW Online

 

12 hours ago, 45Doll said:

Here you go. Online, no downloads, and it starts out at with the 'method' I suggested. You can try it out with user/password test/test. If you like it you create an account and customize it as you wish.

LCWO.net - Learn CW Online

 

I have been using LCWO for about a year. It's a great service but has its limitations. Because LCWO is keyboard based I pretty much need to have the keyboard for any kind of speed (see my post on my "three speeds."). CW ops use a lot of abbreviations, which LCWO doesn't seem to cover. Abbreviations are a huge obstacle, as great to me as the letters themselves. One school of thought says to learn to hear the words in your head. So I've practiced the "500 most common English words" and I can copy those at 15-20 wpm, but the problem is CW QSOs use abbreviations, and the ARRL tests use an ungodly number of acronyms, numbers, and technical jargon (J10QrS or some such) which are not words. LCWO's plain text mode uses very familiar expressions so it's pretty much useless ("A stitch in time saves nine"). I also joined the Long Island CW club but I have never been able to figure out how to use that service. Unfortunately,  like everything in this hobby "cw education" is haphazard. We pretty much must find our own way. Sink or swim.

I'm not sure if this is being posted in the Ham Radio thread but here goes.

I did my first Parks-on-the-Air (POTA) outing on Sunday morning. It's a shame I only just discovered this.

Working with just 10W and an end fed antenna in Swartzwood State Park, approximately 30 stations answered my CQ in about 90 minutes. 

Let that sink in. My entire ham career (since 2014) I don't think more than 10 stations COMBINED have answered my cq, whether at 100w or 10w, SSB or CW (I operate mostly 5-10 w). I got 25+ calls in less than 2 hours!!

If you're a ham who has lost interest you should definitely try POTA. I'd be happy to show you how I do it, or meet up in one of the designated POTA parks. 

On 5/24/2022 at 12:50 PM, Newtonian said:

I'm not sure if this is being posted in the Ham Radio thread but here goes.

I did my first Parks-on-the-Air (POTA) outing on Sunday morning. It's a shame I only just discovered this.

Working with just 10W and an end fed antenna in Swartzwood State Park, approximately 30 stations answered my CQ in about 90 minutes. 

Let that sink in. My entire ham career (since 2014) I don't think more than 10 stations COMBINED have answered my cq, whether at 100w or 10w, SSB or CW (I operate mostly 5-10 w). I got 25+ calls in less than 2 hours!!

If you're a ham who has lost interest you should definitely try POTA. I'd be happy to show you how I do it, or meet up in one of the designated POTA parks. 

Newonian ... you exist!  Haven't seen your by-line in quite awhile.

Yes; I've been playing with POTA for several months now - lots of fun.  Once things get a bit less hectic, I'll be out doing a few park activations of my own.  Plenty of places here in the Poconos

For those wondering what we're talking about, go to https://parksontheair.com/

 

73 de W2MC

 

Just saw this a few weeks ago - looks like just the thing for park activation - a lightweight, resonant 20 and 40 meter dipole.  I've got one; I just have to put it together.

https://www.qrpkits.com/dualbanddipole.html

 

I'm holding out for the pork roll radio...

Hey W2MC.

That's the exact antenna I use, but I believe the brand is Par. It does not need a tuner on 40 or 20, and it tunes on ALL OTHER BANDS with the little qrp tuner I use.

I'm off to either Kitatinny or Swartzwood in about half an hour. I should have a spot listed on the site in about an hour.

Look for KD2HPQ on the list!

 

On 6/9/2020 at 6:33 PM, W2MC said:

  On 6/9/2020 at 6:23 PM, eesee said:

I've got a Baofeng UV-5R, I'm working through manually and with CHIRP but don't know what channels to look for or program for central Jersey/NYC Metro/.

***look up/google ‘ham repeaters’ in your area.  Most of them are run by clubs.  You’d do well to find a local club.  The ARRL (arrl.org) has a list and a search engine.

I'm looking up the local volunteer rescue squads, emergency broadcasts, weather... 

 

https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/map/map.php?maptype=standard&state_id=34|New Jersey&band=14

https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/index.php?country_code=US&state_id=34

 

To license, or not to license. That is the question.

Should you get a Ham Radio License or Hide from the Government? If SHTF, The First Place They Would go Would be The Ham Operators And Take Them Offline – Site Title (family.blog)

I first got my license in 1978 as a Novice.  When I renew, I'll follow the authors advice and use a P.O. Box in a nearby town.  Foolproof? No, but better than looking up my call sign in the database and getting my physical address.

I got my Novice around 1974, then around 1983 went all the way to Extra. WITH the Morse code requirement. 

However in the 90's forgot all about renewing it and lost it. Then in 2016 found out about the 'get your Extra back with no code' option, took the Technician's exam, got back my Extra class, and a vanity call that made sense for me to boot. Boo Yah.

I'll consider a P.O. Box at renewal time too.

73's.

I prefer pork roll radio myself.