APRS.fi Screen Shot of Return Trip from California

Took a vacation to see family in the California Bay Area.  Even included a stop at Ham Radio Outlet Sunnyvale to look at all the new radios that have come out.  After returning home I pulled up the aprs.fi map of my track and have included a screen shot of it below.  Click on it to see the journey and thanks for everyone who maintains digipeaters and igates along the way that I used!

VHF/UHF Antenna Project Completed

Another project is now done on the summer list of ham radio to-do's.  The Cushcraft A50-5S was remounted on a longer mast section along with the Cushcraft A270-10S and the Ventenna VT-27.  This now gives me my multi-band VHF/UHF antenna array just in time for the ARRL September VHF Contest next weekend!

VHF/UHF Antenna Array includes (from bottom to top):

• Cushcraft A50-5S, 6 meter 5-element beam
• Cushcraft A270-10S, 2 meter and 70 centimeter beam, with 5 elements for each band
• Ventenna VT-27, 2 meter and 70 centimeter vertical for FM voice and packet

Ham Shack Update

The move of the ham shack from one room to another has been completed!  A new station ground system is now in place.  The Ventenna has been moved from the roof to the mast above the 6 meter beam.  I have hooked up now my old G5RV for now.  Phase two of this project is to get the full wave loop built and installed this summer as time permits.  Now to get on the air and have some fun!

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!