What I've been up to......
 

It's been a while since I've posted, and I apologize for that. Life's been really busy and a lot of changes have come about...among them a guest bedroom remodel, working on the house, and setting up my ham station.

In the interim, I have restored about 90% of the gear in these pictures. It's become by and large too easy :) so I plopped a CTC-15 chassis on the bench the other day and finished her up after starting the process just before ETF.

So, suffice it to say, I'm back! :D

Impressive! I never knew you'd left.

Nice shack! Reminds me that I oughta get back to building mine soon.

Very cool, Tim!

Well, I'm in Love.. Would you believe "all Torn Up?!?

I rebuilt a single bander including testing tubes in a half hour. Not much of a challenge in the resto, but still very fun to use!!

Ham gear is way different than TVs in one regard.....by and large the old stuff isn't as used and abused as we're used to finding, therefore the process of getting it back on the air is pretty easy.

For the most part. I have a Heathkit HW-101 here that someone OVER restored.....all brand new disc caps, every resistor is new, etc. Won't tune up. Found and replaced one dead oscillator coil, but it's not there yet....me thinks that the previous owner screwed the pooch on something during the process and gave up.

Nice shack Timmy :)

Welcome back!

Of course TVs are less prone undocumented to user modification. I've got a minty looking HW-100 and it's power supply waiting my attention. The supply I got first, and it looks like it is not the stock circuit anymore. I'm going to have to trace it out as I rebuild it.

Pretty easy to rebuild. Only thing that you need to watch for is the voltage if it doesn't have a switch for low and high. You can wire it internally one of two ways....low power and high power. The multi-banders take the higher voltage, and the single banders take the lower voltage.

That brings back memories. A friend of mine had a neighbor with a room like yours. We went to see it as a Cub Scout field trip when I was seven. He also demonstrated being on air.

That is quite an arrangement Tim, what are your antennas like?

My brother has a all the dual band goodies in his car, since the community he is in has some rules about long wires, external arrays and such.

On the left are two Hamstick dipoles in an "X"....one for 20 meters and one for 40. On the right is a Tram 1480 for 2 meters, and my unidirectional HDTV antenna just below that. For mast, I used top fence rail for chain link fence....cheap, and it interlocks. All I had to do was use a bolt between each section :)

I have them sunk about a foot and a half down into concrete, and 6" standoffs bolting them to the house.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...7&d=1506007169

Pretty shweeet! ;)

Surely you meant just the opposite, didn't you? OMNIdirectional?

.

The one for 2 meters (On the right) looks like my Imax 2000 for 11 Meters :) (But I dont have the ground planes on it)

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. :sigh: 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.........

Have you tried to contact the ham in the next block: Frank W8INH at 538 high st. ?

jr

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

:)

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

KB8FKM, Mark, is the one who will not speak to me :scratch2: 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. :scratch2: I never heard of the other two hams you mention.

:sigh: 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.

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,

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. :yes: 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.

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:

Holy crap, you've got it bad!!! :D

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 :D

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...

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.

Cool!

As much as I love my vintage tube gear, and I really do, this Icom IC-7300 is the most stunning radio I've ever used in my entire life. Full direct sampling SDR radio, DSP, filters, etc., etc..

And the waterfall display is unbelievable. I keep hearing hams complaining that "the bands are sure dead tonight", while I'm looking at 10 different signals within +/- 20 kHz.

I've been considering just spending the coin for a new radio, but I'd like to get something that has a built in digital modem for HF. Is there such a rig? What are you running antenna wise?

I'm running a MyAntennas 80-10 EFHW. It's not the best setup, I'm only at about 20' in the middle, and it's not a straight inverted v, it's in an L shape. But, I've managed to work Hawaii, Japan, Brazil, and Australia. Haven't worked anybody in Europe, can't ever manage to get through the pileups of 1.5 kw flamethrowers.

I haven't gotten into digital yet, but I'm really interested. I'm not sure what you mean by a "digital modem". You have to use a pc to run whatever software you need, and if your radio doesn't have a built in sound card, then you use the sound card in the pc or else an outboard one. Lots of good vids on youtube.

Not true. I use a TNC modem for digital currently....a Kantronics KAM Plus. About the least expensive PACTOR modem you can get that actually still works on modern digital traffic systems.

I don't personally care for that hokey microphone connection for digital, so I bought a SignaLink USB that will hook into the data port on my TS-450. Yeah, it's kind of the same thing in a way, but it's not. I just wanted to upgrade my system to 21st century tech for digital as the KAM modems are old enough to drink alcohol. It just came in the mail Friday, and I've had a busy weekend so I plan to play with that over the next couple days.

I just put up an HF vertical, a Hy-Gain AV-18AVQII and the jury's still out on that one. I have to pull it down this afternoon to make a couple repairs to the guying that got damaged in a recent windstorm.

You can see pics on my antenna on my QRZ page, N2LCJ. The pics are 6 months old....I really have to get in there and update them.

My antenna pics are there as well. I've worked the world with these. Awesome setup and the easiest install ever, in any sort of conditions:

https://www.k1cra.com/ProductDetails...de=HAMINATORJR

A friend of mine uses a SignaLink. He loves it. He said it's so much simpler to connect than trying to use the sound card.

I'm really just getting started with antennas. The EFHW is a good start for me, because I'm dealing with CC&R's plus WAF. ;) Luckily I have a two story house with a steep pitch roof, and a wood framed chimney that's on the back side of the house. I'm thinking I can put up a 40-10 vertical and you won't even be able to see anything but the tip from the street. Plus, I'm going to get my friend over to hold the bottom of the ladder, and I think I can get the middle of the EFHW up to almost 30'. Every little bit helps!

I like vintage ham gear as well; I recently restored a Heathkit SB-104A transceiver, and have all of the accessories, including the station console, tuner, keyer, VFO, and monitor scope. There are some boatanchors, too; a National NCX-1000, a R-390A, and a HW-101. I just need to put the antenna up.

After years of being off the air (couldn't put up any kind of decent antenna outside my apartment), I finally got back on with Echolink and an interface program called Qtel. The latter is a version of Echolink that is specifically tailored to the Ubuntu operating system. I find this system works much better (for me, anyway) than the standalone Echolink software (I cannot seem to make it work with Ubuntu, even with the Wine emulator), which suits me to a T since I can now get back into ham radio, even if it isn't the standard OTA version.

Echolink works with traditional amateur stations, using them as links, gateways and such, so this program can be considered as one that brings amateur radio into the 21st century. It is not, as the FAQ page states, a "chat room", but is in fact a program which literally connects computers to amateur stations world wide, using streaming audio and the power of the Internet.

I am glad I discovered Echolink (and later Qtel when I switched from Windows to the Ubuntu OS) when I did. I am now checking into a weekly roundtable discussion net run by a local radio club I belong to; in fact, it is on the air as I write this, retransmitting the nightly ARRL news. Half the time, like tonight (!), I forget it is on.

Oh well. I'll just have to write myself a note with the net's schedule and post it above my desk where I cannot possiby ignore it (!), so I can get on it again as I used to. I don't, indeed cannot, get to the club's meetings these days (the meetings often break up after 10 p.m. EST; the local transportation service doesn't run that late anymore, to say nothing of the fact that the one ham who is very local to me (he lives in the next block) will not speak to me, for some reason, so I figure by checking into the weekly roundtable I can make up for that.

The URL for Echolink is http://www.echolink.org. The program was developed by a New England ham, Jonathan Taylor, K1RFD, and is available free of charge to all licensed amateurs. (Qtel is an extension, if you will, of EL that allows the program to be used with computers running under Ubuntu). I recommend this software to any amateur who, like myself, is in a situation where any kind of outdoor amateur radio antennas are forbidden by lease restrictions (very unfortunately, recent changes in FCC rules which now allow outdoor television antennas in apartment buildings do not apply to ham radio antenna systems).

73,

I'm back!

Seriously, I need to drop in here more often. Well, I finally got lucky in the vanity lottery: NF7X. I'm amazed at how often I'm working somebody and I'll hear: "What a cool call!" I think I'll keep it. ;)

Hey, Tim, if you've got a Hammarlund transmitter somewhere in that pile, I'm interested!

Oh, btw, this has been taking up a lot of my time recently:

If you're on Facebook, subscribe to ARRL WNY Section News. I'm now the Public Information Officer for the Western NY district, and I've been doing a series of (what I think are) really good videos about everything ham related, new and old.

Meanwhile, I'm playing with this bad-assery :D

Will do!

A man can never have too many toys! ;)