AmateurRadio.com

A week ago I had another MRI scan to see how my brain bleed is repairing.  Today I had to go back to get the results. I was extremely relieved to hear all is repaired, my boys will not inherit the problem and all is well.

My relief was visible. This had been a real worry to my wife and I.  I dreaded further brain surgery, fearing some long-term damage might be done.   I have now been “signed off” by the neurosurgeons and should not need to see them in their clinic again.

My main problems remaining are swallow of some liquids, giddiness when walking, some stomach discomfort and profound fatigue: most days the least physical exertion totally exhausts me. I find it hard to describe just how tired I feel most of my waking day.  All these remaining issues should improve, but this could be a long time. Apparently the neurosurgeon told the DLVA in June that I am fit to drive, although their OK could take months to reach me.  A few months ago there was no way I could have driven, but now I feel ready to do so. It will be good to drive the car again.

Today has been an emotional day. I am profoundly grateful it is drawing to a close.

I finally picked up a Hughes PRC-104 military manpack radio in excellent working condition with a bunch of extras. I have searched for a military unit for a long time now. Having been with the Naval Reserves and 736th Communication Squadron in Thunder Bay, and being a communicator in both, along with my passion for old gear and portable operations I could not pass this one up.

I have searched for a long time for a rig like this. There are many in the UK being sold but the exchange rate and shipping, plus all the extras needed to buy to get portable just made it not worth it for me. As you have read in past posts portable operation for me are a pleasure. With all my travels up North I find I am always taking my YouKits HB1B MKII with me now and setting up at my locations.

The PRC-104 came with battery pack and charger for the LiPo batteries, loud speaker, speaker/microphone combination, handset, PRC-271 antenna and full Alice Pack with frame and belts. It also came with extra mounting hardware for the pack frame if you wish to take the pack off. I ordered an empty battery case ($16.00) and will make a second 28v pack for the radio. I have also ordered a spare U-229 pigtail connector which will work for my cw/digital connector.

This radio goes back to 1976 and runs about 20 watts on a fresh new battery pack. The receiver is quite good as I was hearing things on the whip antenna outside that I could hear inside on the windom in terrible band conditions this past weekend. I was able to check into our local 80 meter Northwestern Ontario ARES Net on 3.750 Sunday night with my NVIS antenna and got a great audio report and was told I was over the noise level as well. The tuner in this radio seems to tune quite well and is very quick.

I have collected numerous amounts of military gear in the past and old shortwave gear, but portable rigs for me are still what I enjoy, I like being outside in operating conditions versus sitting in the shack. I am awaiting the arrival of the X108 and the TJ5A as well to test these units out for portability. I do not think they come close to the  HB1B MKII for a self contained unit. The battery pack in that rig last a very long time when I am up North on my trips and makes contacts quite well on the cw bands. CW is my niche, and the mode I enjoy operating, so once I get the cable I will operate the PRC-104 on cw and hopefully shoot a small video of it in action.

Cheers

Fred

VE3FAL/P

I was in the pileup to work W1AW/0 in South Dakota today. I already have them in the log, but I can’t seem to resist a good pileup these days. Anyway, after I worked them, instead of the normal “TU 73”, I got “W2LJ QRP?”

I answered “YES QRP 73 DE W2LJ” and I got a dit dit in reply.

I guess it was somebody who knows of me. The only other time that  happened was when I worked W1AW/1 in New Hampshire, but I knew going in that Dave N1IX was the operator. Dave is a superb op and fellow Fox hunter.

It would be interesting to know who was behind the key. It sure makes you do a double take when you work a station and the operator is familiar with you, but yet you have no idea as to whom you may have worked.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least.

This is a photo of the kit currently used. The top FT817ND is used mainly for 2m and 70cms (local FM net, SSB and CW, beacon hunting) and the lower FT817 for WSPR, JT65 and JT9-1 mainly on 6m and 10m. The lower rig is set at 2.5W, but the cable run to the V2000 vertical is lossy on 6m. I use a SignaLink USB audio interface to the PC.  This works well. For all digital modes I use the FT817 on DIG setting via the rear connector.   Sometimes I use the Z817 ATU, which I find very good. With this, I can get onto 5MHz and some other bands.

Best DX (on WSPR) is Australia at 1W out on 40, 20 and 10m and Israel on 6m WSPR (1W ERP).

Not shown (on shelf above) is the 472kHz homebrew transverter, the 15m MFJ Cub and the Mizuho 200mW 2m SSB rig. Also out of sight are a 136kHz beacon, the 2m Fredbox, the 6m Sixbox, the VLF 8-9kHz beacon, and optical rigs. I am waiting for better health to be able to use these again. Currently my operating is all from home and mainly modes not requiring me to talk, although I have ventured onto our Monday night FM net and the odd 2m and 70cm contest.

I totally screwed up big time in the QRP Fox hunt tonight. After corresponding with Don NK6A, I agreed to be the lower Fox. So what did I do? I set up in the upper half.

And I didn’t realize it even when someone notified me that we were both in the same half – I went up even higher!

Rookie mistake – totally my fault. My apologies to anyone I messed up.

I am going to go find a hole to crawl into, I feel like a moron.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Here are the featured stories from our August, 2014 issue:

The Military Auxiliary Radio System: A Partner in the Nation’s Emergency Preparedness
by David J. Trachtenberg N4WWL, AFA3TR, AFN3PL (National Planning Coordinator), AFN3NE (Northeast Division MARS Director)

In an age where anyone with a cell phone can contact anyone else halfway around the world instantaneously, we seldom think of how we would communicate if traditional means were not available. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) understands this reality. For 89 years it has authorized and sponsored a group of volunteer amateur radio operators to provide a backup communications capability for the U.S. military and other agencies in the event of a natural or man-made disaster. But, with the military relying on satellites and digital Web-based communications, is MARS still useful today?

BBG and Technology Today: The Struggle for Global Relevance
by Ken Reitz KS4ZR

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is a top-heavy, sprawling, federal bureaucracy, with an annual budget in excess of $700 million. It oversees the Voice of America, Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB). But, times have changed and more listeners are tuning in via smartphone than shortwave radio. With an ever-decreasing budget, can BBG deliver its message and stay globally relevant?

Returning to the Carrier: The YE-ZB Radio System
by Rich Post KB8TAD

It was July 30, 1935. Navy Lieutenant Frank Akers had been given a unique and hazardous assignment. As the Flight Test and Project Officer for Instrument Flying Development at the Naval Air Station in San Diego, he had been told that the Navy’s first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley, was somewhere at sea about 150 miles from San Diego. He was to find the carrier and attempt to land on it while completely covered by a hood. This would be the ultimate test for an experimental, radio-based instrument landing system. With directional radio beacons, locating the carrier to the point of visual sighting was one thing, but a blind landing on that relatively small moving flat-top was another matter.

Putting the “Radio” in Radio Shack
by Mark Haverstock K8MSH

Radio Shack started in 1921 as a one-store retail and mail-order operation in downtown Boston run by brothers. Theodore and Milton Deutschmann. They chose the name Radio Shack, a term used to describe small wooden shelters that housed a ship’s radio equipment. By 1968 they were the “McDonalds of electronics,” the “Walmart of high tech.” When they moved into Mark Haverstock’s corner of the world—the north suburbs of Pittsburgh—opening what was to become one of more than 7,300 company and franchise stores worldwide, it didn’t matter that there was an already established Lafayette Radio store less than a mile away, or an Olson’s on the other side of town. There couldn’t be enough radio stores for him and his ham/hobbyist friends.

The Spectrum Monitor is available in PDF format which can be read on any desktop, laptop, iPad®, Kindle® Fire, or other device capable of opening a PDF file.  Annual subscription (12 issues, beginning with the January 2014 issue) is $24. Individual monthly issues are available for $3 each.

Tonight is my turn to serve as one of the two Foxes in the 20 Meter QRP Fox hunt.  If you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about – they say a picture is worth a thousand words: