Adventures in Ham Radio

[alfsauve]

Nothing new to report.  No new 5BWAS contacts.  Did a few Field Day and 13 Colonies but nothing major.  Watch with amusement and amazement the kerfuffle over LoTW being down as the ARRL got hacked.  Hackers got $1million insurance payout.

Oh, and this showed up today.  Time Flies

[alfsauve]

And before someone else brings it up.  My first membership cert was signed by some fellow named Hiram Percy Maxim.   

[Rastus]

U dat old?   

 

60 years is phenomenal.  Quite an accomplishment.

[alfsauve]

Maxim died in ‘39 I think, so of course he didn’t sign my certificate. I did meet a ham in Houston who did have his first membership card signed by Maxim.  It was hanging on the wall at his family business which is how I found him.  Forshey Steinway Company.

[Rastus]

I have an FTDX 3000 that has never been hooked up and an FT-847. I hope to have my hustler up before too long!!! (I hope)

Rather than look through a bunch of posts and because I cannot rely on my memory...have you gotten an antenna up yet?

[Sponsor]

[alfsauve]

A couple or years back (about 3,500 QSOs ago ) I got a Hustler 5Band vertical. It’s not installed correctly because I do not have space for it on the ground.  It’s without radials and on top of a short tower at 20’.  It works good enough though.  Typically I get comparable signal reports to the west coast and Western Europe on 10m. 


To add to its woes the tower has become overly cluttered with “stuff”.  On side arms at about the same height as the vertical is a Diamond discone and a 6m/2m/440 vertical as well as an Ambient weather station. PLUS a 10m rigid dipole!!!!   I think all,of this has given me a null lobe towards Asia and Alaska on 10m.

Changes are happening slowly.  The discone has been removed.  When the batteries of the weather station die it’ll be relocated.  And any day now the 6/2/440 will also be removed. 

I’ll post a picture later today.

[alfsauve]

Current configuration.

[Rastus]

That's a lot going on in a small space.  You very well could have lobes based on the locations of the other antenna.

[Big Frank]

Time for a lobotomy?