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  #16  
Old 12-09-2017, 01:33 PM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
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Your setup reminds me of what I had before I moved. HF, 2 meters and packet, with a 70-foot loaded all-band dipole in my back yard (which was contantly coming down every time there was a good wind) and a CushCraft Ringo Ranger ARX-2 for 2m. Then came November 1999, and I had to give it all up when I moved to the apartment I live in today. I still have my license, but next to no equipment; all I have now is an Icom 2m handheld, which brings up just one repeater in this area. I also have Echolink on my computer, but I don't use it much these days (no provision to use CW, which I miss very much). I miss the old days when I could work stations left and right with 5-10w on 30m CW.

If I could, believe me I would move to a house so I could put up an antenna again, but very unfortunately, due to circumstances, I am stuck here in this apartment indefinitely (been here 18 years so far). To make matters even worse (!), I don't drive, which means I cannot get to the meetings of the radio club (Lake County, Ohio ARA) I belong to. I used to be able to get to those meetings quite regularly after I moved here, but since the transit system here cut back their hours severely a few years ago, I can no longer get to the club meeting site, and there is no one near me who would take me there.

Oh well. It was loads of fun while it lasted (I worked 49 states and a bunch of foreign countries, almost all on 80-40-20m CW), but as I said, due to circumstances that forced me to move to where I live now, it is all just a memory. If Echolink supported CW operations I'd feel better about using it, but since it only supports voice operation (FM only), I am forced to use a mode (FM voice) I am not now and have never been comfortable with (I operated almost exclusively CW when I lived in a Cleveland suburb, using voice only to occasionally check in to two traffic nets).

If there were anyone in my area who could help me get my HF station back on the air, I'd feel better too, but because no one around here wants to have much to do with me (a ham who lives just a couple blocks from me will not so much as speak to me, and I have no idea why), I guess my Icom IC-725 will stay in its box in a corner of my bedroom, unused, as it has since I moved here. The power supply (Astron RS-35) is still on a small desk in my bedroom, but I am afraid to plug it in for fear it might short out or the filter capacitors might explode from 18 years of disuse.


Life is just so darned unfair.........
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Last edited by Jeffhs; 12-09-2017 at 01:46 PM.
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  #17  
Old 12-09-2017, 04:18 PM
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Have you tried to contact the ham in the next block: Frank W8INH at 538 high st. ?

jr
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  #18  
Old 12-09-2017, 07:37 PM
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Kamakiri Kamakiri is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WISCOJIM View Post
Surely you meant just the opposite, didn't you? OMNIdirectional?

.
Well......yeah....that

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  #19  
Old 12-10-2017, 02:05 PM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jr_tech View Post
Have you tried to contact the ham in the next block: Frank W8INH at 538 high st. ?

jr
No. I'm not even sure he's alive anymore, or even if he is still living at the address you mentioned.

Edit: I just looked up W8INH on HamCall.net (http://www.hamcall.net) and found the license has expired, so the person this call was licensed to has either left the hobby or else has become a Silent Key. I don't know when you looked up the callsign, but apparently the license expired fairly recently.
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Last edited by Jeffhs; 12-10-2017 at 02:18 PM.
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  #20  
Old 12-10-2017, 03:00 PM
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Originally Posted by Jeffhs View Post
No. I'm not even sure he's alive anymore, or even if he is still living at the address you mentioned.

Edit: I just looked up W8INH on HamCall.net (http://www.hamcall.net) and found the license has expired, so the person this call was licensed to has either left the hobby or else has become a Silent Key. I don't know when you looked up the callsign, but apparently the license expired fairly recently.
I looked it up on QRZ.com. yesterday.... sounds as if the database you used is more up to date... how about: KE8AT, Douglas ; KB8FKM, Mark ; N8JCV, Susan or WA8COG, Julius.... these should be within a few blocks of your residence, according to the grid square map on QRZ.com.

73,
jr
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  #21  
Old 12-10-2017, 10:00 PM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jr_tech View Post
I looked it up on QRZ.com. yesterday.... sounds as if the database you used is more up to date... how about: KE8AT, Douglas ; KB8FKM, Mark ; N8JCV, Susan or WA8COG, Julius.... these should be within a few blocks of your residence, according to the grid square map on QRZ.com.

73,
jr
KB8FKM, Mark, is the one who will not speak to me so I don't bother with him any longer. N8JCV, Sue, is his wife, and she may not want to have anything to do with me either. I never heard of the other two hams you mention.

Oh well. I guess I'm stuck with Echolink, and being able to use only one 2m repeater, from now on; it's better than nothing, I suppose. Outdoor television antennas are allowed in my building (several tenants here have satellite dishes), but I'm not sure about amateur radio antennas. My first landlord told me the story of a man who tried to erect a CB antenna on the building; the TVI was such a problem the man was evicted. This landlord has since passed away. However, I don't know if or whether the man who now owns the building would allow me to erect any kind of outdoor amateur antenna; I will have to ask him about it.
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Last edited by Jeffhs; 12-10-2017 at 10:12 PM.
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  #22  
Old 12-11-2017, 11:00 AM
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Kamakiri Kamakiri is offline
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Echolink is okay......I check out *DODROPIN* or *SOUTHCARS* once in a while when the bands are dead. I just Elmer'd a guy in Maryland who passed his Tech yesterday, so I'm gonna use Echolink to dial into his local repeater so we can talk
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  #23  
Old 12-11-2017, 12:03 PM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamakiri View Post
Echolink is okay......I check out *DODROPIN* or *SOUTHCARS* once in a while when the bands are dead. I just Elmer'd a guy in Maryland who passed his Tech yesterday, so I'm gonna use Echolink to dial into his local repeater so we can talk

One thing I didn't mention in my post: I am using Qtel, a software program for Linux (I am running Ubuntu version 17.10 on my computer) which allows access to the Echolink system, and is available for download in Ubuntu's "Software" section. Qtel seems to work well enough through the Echolink test server, and I have also been able to connect to at least two stations, so it must be working as intended. My hat is off to the developer of Qtel and also EL itself, as these programs allow access to Echolink even if one is unable to download the EL client itself and does not have HF equipment. I have been unable to install the EL client itself on my computer due to compatibility issues; it seems, since EL was developed for Windows, the program absolutely will not run on any other operating system unless an external compatibility layer (I can't think of the name offhand) is installed on the user's computer before, not after, Echolink is installed.

73,
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  #24  
Old 12-11-2017, 01:33 PM
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jr_tech jr_tech is offline
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Jeff, have you ever tried Echolink on your tablet? I have the application installed on my iPad, and believe that there is also an application that will work well on an Android biased tablet.

73, jr
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  #25  
Old 12-11-2017, 09:26 PM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jr_tech View Post
Jeff, have you ever tried Echolink on your tablet? I have the application installed on my iPad, and believe that there is also an application that will work well on an Android biased tablet.

73, jr
Yes, I have EL on my tablet, and also on my smartphone. The program loaded on both without a hitch, and works every bit as well as the Windows version. No compatibility issues, either, and no need for any kind of external software. The only external software I installed was a proxy server so the system will receive incoming connections; however, Qtel (Echolink for Ubuntu and other Linux-based operating systems) does not seem to need such software, as it has an "incoming connections" window within the GUI.
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  #26  
Old 04-06-2018, 06:03 PM
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Fisherdude Fisherdude is offline
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Location: Lewiston, ID
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Well, well, well. I drop in here at VK for the first time in years, and here you are!

And, in an even bigger coincidence, after procrastinating for just over half a century, I decided to finally get my ticket. Got my Tech on 1/24, and the lead VE pushed me to take my General at the same time. Passed! So he told me to take the Extra. I told him I had done zero study for it, and he said: "No problem! We need to have a few fails now and then just to make sure we look legit!" Well, then why not! No surprise, the Extra was a hell of a lot harder, but I only missed passing it by three questions, and that got me all motivated.

Passed my Extra last Saturday, 3/31. Woohooo! Now I'm in the hunt for a cool vanity sign!

Damn, dude, that's a hell of a collection of gear you've got there! I am seriously impressed!

I may have to drop in here a little more often. Take care, old friend!

My shack, and my garage:
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File Type: jpg 20171230_121604.jpg (78.5 KB, 20 views)
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Last edited by Fisherdude; 04-06-2018 at 06:25 PM.
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  #27  
Old 04-07-2018, 05:10 PM
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Holy crap, you've got it bad!!!

We need to catch up sometime. There's been quite a bit that I'm up to both on the ham bands and with TV stuff. This has been my little hiding spot for years
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  #28  
Old 04-07-2018, 06:06 PM
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Fisherdude Fisherdude is offline
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Here's the scary part...that's barely half of what I had before we moved to Idaho. I put a bunch of it on the local Craigslist, and sold a lot. Some of it was pretty heartbreaking, but it really had to go.

Had a mintmintmint SX-100. Oh well. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Still have all my Fisher stuff, though...
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  #29  
Old 04-07-2018, 06:41 PM
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Kamakiri Kamakiri is offline
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I trimmed my collection back a bit, and I now run a Kenwood TS-450 and a Yaesu FT-990 primarily.

The old stuff was great to play with, but now having joined Army MARS and being a digital traffic station for Radio Relay International, I needed something with a much tighter VFO than tube gear could do.
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  #30  
Old 04-07-2018, 06:49 PM
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Cool!
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