April Showers bring May Antennas!

Finally got my LoTW account setup.  I'm going through old logs and will be adding them over the next few months as time permits.

The ham shack is moving to a different room at my place and will force me to finally finish my HF loop antenna project.  I'm currently finishing up gathering all of the antennas to build the 160M full-wave loop antenna.  This is because the G5RV will be on the far side of the house from the new ham shack location.  This project will most likely mean that my ham shack will be off the air for a short time during the month of April.  This move/project includes all of the following:

• Moving ham desk to a different room
• Upgrading ham desk/station ground system
• Rerouting existing 6M, 2M and 70CM antenna coaxes
• Building and hanging the 160M full wave horizontal loop antenna

Eventually the G5RV will come down and go back in the antenna box in the garage.  As long as this project goes smoothly I will then be working on my VHF/UHF antenna array for weak signal work.

Igate Update

After seeing the APRSIS32 software on Ham Nation I decided to give it a try.  I currently have it loaded and running as my Igate.  It seems to be working very well at this point.  If it continues to run without any problems I will switch to it permanently and not use AGWTracker or AGWUIDigi anymore.

73s.com

Check out www.73s.com.  It's a social media site just for ham radio operators.  I set my profile up today and have had a blast so far!

Come check my 73s profile page out by clicking here.

November Update

October was a busy month.  I haven't been on the air much but working on projects around the ham shack non-the-less.

Fall/Winter Projects I'm Working On:

• Plan and purchase coax for VHF/UHF antenna projects
• Move Ventenna VT-27 from vent to pipe mount above 6 meter beam
• Put Cushcraft AR270-10S up above 6 meter beam
• Move G5RV farther away from the house to reduce noise

Future Projects (No Timeline Yet)

• Loop antenna for HF
• Permanent APRS Igate station with Icom IC-2100H & a Microsat - WX3in1 interface
• HF mobile antenna mount

As I get projects done I will post photos on the site!

73 for now and I hope to catch you down the dial!

Hoodoo Repeater Back In Service

The Oregon Connection Hoodoo Butte repeater (441.625) is back online.  K7UND made the trip up to put the refurbished controller in the rack.  Tested it with him this evening and it sounds great!  The HIDARG net on Tuesdays will now have access to the Oregon Connection.

Thanks K7UND!

Igate Online

The Igate station is back online.  My general plan is to shut down the station during thunderstorms to reduce the chance of lightning damage.

Igate Offline

There is an active thunderstorm moving through the area. The APRS Igate has been taken offline and disconnected from the antenna system.