AmateurRadio.com

I can’t believe I missed this. I’ve written about Summits on The Air before, but Andrew, K2FR hiked up Hunter mountain in the Catskills for S.O.T.A., Summits on The Air and made some contacts when he reached the top. While hiking up, he made a video. This is of course that video. Andrew talks about what he has in his pack and how he slimmed it down considerably, for this hike to save on weight. On the way up, Andrew stops stops and, we get a view of the valley below. Sadly, it’s past peak for the leafs so no bright autumn colors. And because of fog at the summit, no view of the mountains and area. Andrew also has a bunch more videos on his YouTube channel. Some are S.O.T.A. videos. The description from this video says..

Cool weather, turned into cold weather at the top. A completely fogged in summit made for no views or any cool photos. My new battery pack worked great, Im quite happy I dropped over 10 pounds of weight from my pack by using that instead of the SLA ones, well worth the investment.

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Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne.

From the “Oh, How Cool is That?!” department, is a video to round out a week’s worth of Ham Radio videos, showing an iOS device, (iPhone,iPod Touch,iPad) decoding an SSTV signal. I have seen a bunch of Ham Radio apps on the iTunes App store, but I seemed to miss this one. According to the link in the video’s description, the SSTV Decoder app is made by Black Cat Systems, who also make a few other Ham Radio programs for Macs. The webpage says “.. Just connect it to an HF radio (or even set it next to the radio’s speaker), tune in an SSTV frequency, and watch the pictures.” From the video I didn’t see a directly connected cable from the iPod Touch, so I’m guessing that they are using a 4th Generation iPod Touch with a built in microphone and have it sitting close to the radio to hear the SSTV tones. Still, it looks like it received a nice picture. But they could also have been replaying pre-recorded picture on the device too. Either way, it’s cool!

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne.

So I was trolling YouTube again, (I know, it’s getting to be a habit..) and came across a nice video of a 20 something woman named Angelica, in Springfield, M.A. making her first Amateur Radio contact. Remember the first time you cracked a mic? Were you nervous or scared or excited? All three, or calm or just business as usual? Watch this video and you can see how she did on her first go of it. I think she did pretty well myself. And hopefully she enjoyed it enough that she’ll be getting a license of her own some day. I’m still trying to get the YL a little interested, but it’s a no go so far. The daughter though, she just likes to talk. Hope the duty cycle on my radios will be able to keep up with her. And without further ado, the lovely YL making her first contact.

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne.

With Heathkit‘s recent announcement of them getting back into the kit building business, and Amateur Radio is one of those category of kits coming back, I thought that this little video look at Heathkit’s first Amateur Radio kit would be a good way to celebrate that.I know they announced it some time ago, but better late then never right? Well, this video wasn’t uploaded till about a month ago and I just found it. But You’re the first ones I’m sharing it with. My only complaint about this video, is the presenter is very mono tone. He doesn’t sound enthused with anything. But all in all, it’s still a nice video. Hope you enjoy!

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne.

A few months back I posted a story about getting a bicycle and looking up way to attach a radio to it to do some mobile work. While the summer has been busy and that project is on the side for the winter, I came across this video from KH1JH, of his Motorcycle mobile. Justin shows us how he mounted an HTX-202 from Radio Shack and is able to use it while on the road on his bike. A nice little setup if I do say so. Wish I could have a nice big hog to ride while doing 2 meters. That would be fun I bet! But I digress, here is Justin’s video. Enjoy!

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne.

Southgate Amatuer Radio has a great article about iHAB-7, which is a high altitude balloon that carried Amateur Radio as well as record HD video of the flight. It went up to a little over 85,000 feet and took some stunning images.

YouTube Screen Shot

It all carried a 40 Meter beacon and a 70cm simplex repeater up with it. The video was posted on YouTube and I am re-posting it here for you as well. Here’s the description from the YouTube video giving a little more detail on the flight:

First, we are thankful for everyone who participated in the iHAB-7 launch. What a GREAT way to spend a beautiful Iowa fall day! iHAB-7 was a picture perfect flight! The propulsion team did a fantastic job getting the balloon filled to specifications, which gave iHAB-7 a perfect 5.5m/sec ascent rate.

The balloon stayed aloft for 1 Hour – 51min, reaching a burst altitude of 85,290ft and traveling 33 miles down range. COLD temperature at altitude, lowest temperature recorded inside the payload reached -8 °C or 17.6 °F. The recovery team had the rare opportunity to get a visual on the payload at 8,000 feet on its decent, and witnessed it land in a freshly harvested cornfield SE of Morning Sun, Iowa.

Signal reports are still coming in on the 40 Meter beacon. UHF Simplex repeater worked as well as it could. Being a “Parrot” it is a little more challenging to work, but some folks were able to make QSOs.

A special thank you to the Washington Area Amateur Radio Club for their sponsorship of the iHAB-7 Launch! Also, thank you to Mark Joseph (KC9DUU) – Jesse Risley (K9JLR) – Jeremy Lamb (KC9KGJ) – and Pete Lilja (KC0GPB) for chasing with us!

Looking at a still image from the video, the view reminds me of Courasant from Star Wars. There I go being geek again. Anyways, here is your Amateur Radio moment of “Zen”.

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne.

I haven’t heard about this too much in the last few years, but back when I first got my license, I helped out with this. So I figured I would mention the Pumpkin Patrol since it’s now October and Halloween will be here before we know it!

Screen Shot of YNN Video

When I was helping out, I was stationed on one of 2 bridges near where I lived. One was in the village of Fultonville, just off Exit 28 on the NY Thruway, and the other was in Amsterdam off of Exit 27 of the Thruway. Both bridges, went over the Thruway and were accessible because they were State routes that went over the bridges. Now I had heard on the news about kids throwing stuff off of the bridges down on to roads and cars. And after a particularity bad incident, the NY State Police decided to stop the problem right off. That’s where volunteer Ham Radio operators like myself came in.

I had heard on the local repeater they were looking for a few people to help cover bridges and that they needed someone to cover one of those 2 bridges by me. So I called the man in charge at the time, Jack, WA2YBM, and ask if I could help. Long story short, I got all the info and a plaque for the car so the police knew who I was, and went out and sat on the bridge till midnight and did my check ins. I did it a few more times. Then I didn’t hear anything about it for a while, so I never really did it again.

Although, given the chance, I might be willing to still do it, if the need arose. It was fun, but to be honest, it was also a little boring. But I kept myself occupied and still enjoyed the experience overall. If there is a Pumpkin Patrol in your area, I would encourage you to sign up and be a part of it. Especially if you’re looking for something for the first time out. This would be a good way to break the ice.

Here’s a link to a quick story from a couple years ago. Just a blurb on the news…

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