I awoke at about 2:30 AM, like many men of my age do, with the necessity to make a trip to the bathroom. I made my way downstairs and when I got to the kitchen I heard a tiny voice saying something. The voice was so low and tiny, I couldn't make out what was being said. I was able to discern that whatever it was, it was coming from the rec room, and it was repeating every 15 seconds or so.
We have a Warner Brothers clock hanging on the wall in there. Each hour, a different Looney Tunes character announces the time. My first inclination was that the clock was broken and that I'd have to remove the batteries and all would be well. But that was not it. Except for the "tick-tock", there were no sounds coming from the clock.
The voice reappeared again, and this time it sounded like it was coming from behind me. I turned my attention to the bookcase. That's where the cordless phone resides as well as where all my HT's live.. I put all my drop-in chargers on one shelf and I have them all plugged into a power strip, this way everything is centralized. The power strip was off as all my batteries were up to charge. Or so I thought.
Again, at first I thought the cordless phone went bonkers and perhaps it was announcing that I had voice mail? No, it turned out that the tiny voice was coming from my Baofeng UV-5R. When I returned it to the shelf the other day, I must have forgotten to turn it off. About every 15 seconds or so, the HT was announcing "Low Voltage! Low Voltage!"
I didn't even know it could do that!
So if some day you wake up in the middle of the night, and you hear a tiny voice calling out to you from seemingly nowhere, it's not a demon, ghost or hob-goblin. It just might be your handheld radio telling you that it needs more juice!
05/04/2024 | NJ Knights of Columbus 128th State Convention
May 4-May 18, 0000Z-2359Z, K0C, Brick, NJ. NJKCARC (N2AJO). 7.225 14.240 21.350 28.340. Certificate & QSL. Art Olson, 339 18th Ave, Brick, NJ 08724. For domestic contacts: QSL card, send SASE; for QSL card and certificate, send two dollars. For DX contacts: QSL card, send two dollars; for QSL card and certificate, send five dollars. For more information, visit K0C on QRZ.com or Email: olson339@comcast.net www.qrz.com/db/K0C
05/12/2024 | National Police Week - To Honor Our Fallen Heros
May 12-May 18, 0001Z-2359Z, K3FBI/0-9, Fredericksburg, VA. FBI Amateur Radio Association. 14.275 7.060. Certificate. Jay Chamberlain - NS4J, 27 Fox Run Ln, Fredericksburg, VA 22405-3303. To honor all Law Enforcement members who have died in the line of duty. All bands and all modes. Multiple stations from around the U.S. Downloadable PDF certificate by the end of June at QRZ, https://www.qrz.com/db/K3FBI k3fbi@arrl.net
05/12/2024 | Police Services Week
May 12-May 18, 0000Z-0000Z, N4P, Gainesville, FL. W. Travis Loften High School Amateur Radio Club - K4WTL. 14.335. Certificate. Robert Lightner, 3435 NW 34th Terrace, Gainesville, FL 32605. www.qrz.com/db/k4wtl
05/18/2024 | National Maritime Day
May 18, 1300Z-2100Z, K3S, Baltimore, MD. Nuclear Ship Savannah ARC. 7.1 14.1 21.1 28.1. QSL. K3LU, 980 PATUXENT ROAD, Odenton, MD 21113. Single transmitter SSB and CW aboard N/S Savannah. Please check spotting networks for frequencies. Info on QRZ.com www.qrz.com/db/k3s
05/18/2024 | South Orange Amateur Radio Assoc., 50th Anniversary
May 18-May 19, 1700Z-0100Z, K6SOA, Mission Viejo, CA. South Orange Amateur Radio Assoc.-SOARA. 28.375 21.350 14.250 7.200. QSL. SOARA Special Event, P.O. Box 2545, Mission Viejo, CA 92690. To receive the QSL, send a SASE, or accept eQSL. soara.org
05/18/2024 | W6SFM Bug Roundup
May 18-May 20, 0000Z-0000Z, W6SFM, Fair Oaks, CA. Samuel F. Morse Amateur Radio Club. 3.533 7.033 14.033 28.033. QSL. Samuel F. Morse Amateur Radio Club, 4901 Minnesota Avenue, Fair Oaks, CA 95628. https://w6sfm.org/bug-roundup
05/19/2024 | National EMS Week
May 19-May 25, 0000Z-0000Z, N4E, Gainesville, FL. W.T. Loften High School Amateur Radio Club. 14.335. QSL. W.T. Loften High School ARC, 3000 East University Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32641. www.qrz.com/db/k4wtl
On a humorous note - I came across this video during one of my meanderings across the vast prairies of YouTube:
For a humorous parody type of video - I think it was produced quite well. And make sure to watch it to the very end! And while this video is meant to be taken as humorous satire, I personally know of two instances where this happened in real life. These persons got interested in Amateur Radio, got licensed and got into DX hunting quite heavily. They had the means to be able to afford deluxe stations and very credible antenna farms. Once they earned DXCC Honor Roll, they both basically said "What's left?" and sold all their equipment and allowed their licenses to lapse. What a shame!
Today marks the last "in house production day" at MFJ - interesting that they chose the first day of Hamvention for that. And speaking of Hamvention, I along with the rest of you, wonder what new goodies will be introduced this year - not that I'll be able to afford any of them!
I looked at the QMX order list yesterday. I am # 670 in line. If QRP Labs continues to manufacture around 200 pieces a month, I figure I should see mine maybe in August or September. I can live with that.
For my birthday, Joseph and Marianne asked me what I wanted. My no name cheapie bargain basement mobile VHF/UHF antenna just isn't doing the job. I was coming home from a club meeting a few weeks ago and tried hooking up with Marv K2VHW on the way home. He was in and out and I was in and out and neither of us should have been. I had to chalk it up to poor performance from my off brand bargain basement purchase. I sent Joseph a link for a Hustler MX-270 antenna from GigaParts. It arrived last Sunday? Who delivers on Sunday besides Amazon? Anyway, it arrived late last Sunday and I'll put it on my car this weekend, if weather permits.
This means that I'll have to park in the parking lot at work, going forward, as the 36" radiator is just too tall for the parking deck. I bought the smaller antenna that's on the Jeep now, specifically because it doesn't hit the ceiling of the parking deck. However, it doesn't perform nearly as well as I had hoped ..... so I'll deal with the inconvenience of parking outside in order to get better antenna performance.
First World problem, right? But it's nice not having to get into a car that's been baking in the sun all day during the summer; or brushing off snow in the winter.
Other than that, not much new radio-wise. We're having typical May weather here, where it's sizzling one day and chilly the next - which of course makes the possibilities of thunderstorms a daily event. The antennas have been disconnected since the weekend. I'm at the point in life where replacing expensive Ham Radio gear is not an option, so I have to be super careful with what I have.
I've always marveled at guys who change rigs like they change underwear. I've never been fortunate enough to be able to do that. And I guess that helps me to appreciate what I have maybe a bit more than most.
Today's "Blondie" comic strip kind of sums up my situation:
I had to turn off HamAlert until I got home from work yesterday. It was going off so frequently that it was driving me nuts! I also got a few stares from people who heard Morse Code originating from my pocket! But in the back of my mind, that gave me hope, as I was pretty sure I'd work them sometime yesterday.
I arrived home and had dinner and then turned HamAlert back on and my phone started chirping immediately! They were spotted on two frequencies 24.896 MHz on 12 Meters and 14.025 MHz on 20 Meters. I decided to try 12 Meters first and was rewarded with a loud signal. I mean like sitting-across-the-room-from-me-with-a-code-practice-oscillator loud! The op announced he was listening up, so I set up the KX3 for split operation and set the transmit frequency up 1 kHz, and decided to try with the W3EDP.
Got him on the first try! And that's when it happened! That's when I noticed, to my horror of horrors, that I hadn't turned down the KXPA100 from 85 Watts after the St. Max Net was over on Sunday evening. I had just worked Easter Island with 85 Watts!
What's a QRPer to do? I decided to try going over to 20 Meters and give a listen and the signal coming from the DXpedition was nowhere near as loud on 20 Meters as it was on 12 Meters. That was when I decided to go back to 12 Meters and give it another shot, this time at 5 Watts. I called again and they came back to me again fairly quickly. This time however, I sent a "599 NJ QRP TU" as my part of the exchange. I don't know if that matters or not, but when they see my callsign on the same band twice, maybe a note will have been made that the second QSO was a QRP contact. That's the one I'm going to reference for a QSL card.
A bit later, my friend Marv K2VHW, sent me a message that 3G0YA had gotten louder on 20 Meters. I went back to 14.025 MHz and the pileup was much more fierce than on 12 Meters. Heck, there basically was no pileup on 12 Meters! At times they would call CQ and they remained listening at 1 kHz up. On 20 Meters, the op was running a race track pattern, moving up a bit after each QSO until he got to about 4 kHz up and then he would work his way down again. I had to pump up the KXPA100 and when he finally heard me, I got "W2L??" three times before he finally copied my call correctly.
12 Meters was like shooting fish in a barrel. 20 Meters was more like being in the middle of the pack during a fishing derby.
Anyway, I got them in the log and now I have to figure out what their QSL procedure is. (I went to ClubLog - found my QSOs and paid the proper $$$ for the QSL cards.)
Lebanon, NJ, which was the epicenter, is just a mile or two down the road from work. New Jersey has experienced Earthquakes before, but they were mild. When I lived in East Brunswick, I lived on a road what saw a lot of truck traffic, so when we had Earthquakes, I thought it was just another 18 Wheeler going down our street.
This definitely got my attention!
Quite an experience! The room started shaking at about 10:22 AM. I could actually hear the rumble - and I NEVER hear any outside noise in this storage room that they call my office. Some small lightweight objects on my desk fell over, but that was about it. The shaking lasted probably about 20 - 30 seconds or so. I highly doubt there was any major damage inside or to the building itself.
It sure gave everyone here at work a good scare!
But now I can say "I survived the great New Jersey Earthquake of 2024!" (Meanwhile folks in California are probably saying "Hold my beer!") And Monday has in store a near total solar eclipse?
This was posted by Craig Buck on Facebook. Sounds great for the newbie or neophyte Ham:
FREE ON-LINE AMATEUR RADIO OPERATING CLASS
A free, weekly, 3-hour Amateur Radio Operating Class on Zoom will begin on Thursday April 4 and run through June 20 at 6:30 PM Eastern time. The presenters will be various experienced folks in the various subjects.
A detailed syllabus will be published before the classes begin. Attend them all, or any that you like, but you must register for the classes. To receive registration information, contact Rol Anders, K3RA, at roland.anders@comcast.net.
Subjects will include:
All About Operating--A general Introduction
Amateur Radio Organizations—Local to International
Ham Radio Awards
DXing-History and Tips from the Experts
QSLing-How to get that needed card for DXCC or WAS
VHF/UHF Weak Signal Work and “Roving”
Image Operating—Slow Scan and Fast Scan TV
Remote Station control over internet
Learning CW in the no-code era
Digital Modes—From RTTY to FT8 and beyond
Contesting—How to get started, tips for the beginner and intermediate contester
Logging Software—What’s available, how to use
Propagation—A general intro to HF Propagation
Amateur Satellites—How to get started
Portable (backpacking) operation—Tips from an expert
Discover how to build a portable power station using Harbor Freight items in this detailed DIY tutorial. Learn step-by-step assembly and key tips for creating a versatile solar generator for camping, emergencies, and more.
Which is not to say that I’m about to write something that will make you think, or touch you emotionally.
Rather, it’s more like I’m getting rid of a bunch of stuff I ain’t got room for in the next place, we’re sellin’ the house, and moving out to the rural-burbs. Truth be told, we kinda did that IRL, in 2016 or so.
What this is really about is that I’m closing down this blog and have already set up a different WordPress blog elsewhere.
See, I needed the ability to connect my blog to the Fediverse, most pertinently Mastodon. There’s free plug-ins for doing that. But there’s no free plug-ins at the free level at WordPress.com.
There’s no plug-ins at the $4/mo nor at the $8/mo levels at WordPress.com.
$300 bucks a year to get the lowest level that allows adding a “free” plug-in.
Yeah, fuck that. I went to BlueHost.com and at their cheapest level, I can add plug-ins. So that’s what I’ve done.
If you follow me here, firstly, what the hell is wrong with you? But secondly, here’s the new address: n0mql.com
Thirdly, if you’re a Fediverse sort of person, find me at… @kelvin0mql@mastodon.hams.social or @kelvin0mql@mastodon.social
The Right and the Left both think someone would have to be SO STUPID to think the way the other side thinks. OK, let’s set that thought aside for a moment. We’ll come back to this.
There’s this guy I was following and often interacting with on Twitter. Seems like a really nice dude, posted about woodworking, retweeted funny memes about the Former Criminal In Chief, etc. We were aligned in a lot of ways. If he lived within 3 houses of me, he’d probably be the one neighbor I’d actually spend some time chatting with. Maybe even help him with a woodworking project, or vice-versa. Possibly even go fishing together.
Then, yesterday, he posted an obvious-tongue-in-cheek admonition about people who choose to back into parking spots. Had to wait a moment for someone to back into a spot. Made a funny little dig. It’s fine. This is fine. But then the replies… oh my god, the replies.
ALL THE IDIOTS noticed that someone had popped the bung out of the bunghole, and came gushing out of the barrel to pile on. Not with anything clever or amusing – no – just to say how much they hate “backer-inners“.
None of these people also complain about waiting for someone to back OUT of a parking spot. No, of course not. They probably stop, wave the backer-outer out, possibly even flash their headlights to let the person know “I see you, come on out.”
Look, ya twits, it’s approximately the same amount of waiting whether the other person is backing IN, or backing OUT. Either way, you’ve sometimes had to wait. But because someone does it not in your preferred way, you’re pissed off, and making moral judgements?!
Well let me clue you in on a little something. IT IS DEMONSTRABLY SAFER to back into a parking spot than it is to back out. Here’s why: Your vehicle (and your head) isn’t designed for greatest visibility backing up. You’ve got blind spots anyway, but they’re much worse behind. So, when is it that you can see the MOST things around the vehicle, MORE about the situation, and BEST determine that it’s safe to proceed backing up?
a. While you’re out in the parking lot aisle, with no vehicles within a few feet of your side windows? or b. While you’re in a parking spot, with enormous black-tinted-windowed SUVs on either side of you?
Basically, what you’ve come right out and admitted publicly is that you hate people because they’re smarter than you, wiser than you, more skilled/experienced than you, or some combination of those three. Now – take a step back – isn’t this exactly how we wound up with #IQ45 and a horribly RWNJ-stacked SCOTUS? Because all the stupidest people came pouring out the ol’ bunghole, all excited for their long-awaited chance to be part of a mob of people shouting gleefully about how fucking stupid they are? Finally, someone appreciates them for their ignorance – they could vote for someone who is stupid “just like me are”?
So yeah… I blocked a bunch of those folks who replied negatively about backer-inners. After a while, I also blocked the nice guy who posted the original tweet.
Yeah, I despise all and block most on the Right. I reluctantly tolerate and endure dumb people from anywhere on the socio-political spectrum. Half of the people are of below-average intelligence, after all, and it should be noted that “wise” and “smart” do not always correlate. But HOLY SHIT, I will not tolerate for a minute those who are stubbornly ignorant, proud of it, and hate anyone smarter than them. Whence come all the most wretched ills of the modern age.
Back in my TCRC heyday, when I was in my 30s and within the first several years of being a radio amateur, Field Day was always a club event. TCRC did 3A, plus a VHF bonus station, plus a GOTA bonus station. Now in the Days Of Covid, I am loathe to hang around in close proximity to others. Especially other hams, given how the right wing is a bit over-represented in our hobby, just like whites are over-represented, and old guys with waaaaaaay too much disposable income are over-represented. So, yeah, no thanks, I’ll keep my distance, and be acutely ashamed of who and what I am in a field by myself.
But anyway, I went out to a field for Field Day this year, instead of running 1-Delta – the Lazy Loser Class. I noticed that @smittyhalibut had posted about a Field Day related challenge, and asked “How’s your Field Day going?”
Uff-da, Mark. That sorta thing will deflate a fella’s enthusiasm, eh?
Never the sort to pass up a pun opportunity, I dashed outside to take a quick Pano-Selfie to prove I was really REALLY in a Field for Field Day.
Proving I was in an actual Field for Field Day to @smittyhalibut
Friday afternoon about 4pm, got up to the AirBnB camper & started unloading the truck.
OK, this looks absolutely IDEAL. There’s trees at the right height for getting an antenna 1/2 wavelength AGL, and an open, mowed area for guying a mast if I decide to cobble together a vertical. Plus, operating (and sleeping) in Air Conditioned comfort!
It was about 6pm by the time I was done situating myself in the camper, and started into actual ham radio station setup. Compliant with The Rules, in case I were inclined to actually compete. But I’m not so inclined. Still, it feels right to comply with the spirit of the event.
That evening, verified that all 3 modes I’d intended to operate were working. I didn’t have my normal Win10 big desktop with me, with its easily-integrated-to-everything N1MM setup and RTS keying. Oh no. I was doing this with a Linux laptop that is able to see the USB audio in/out devices when plugged into the radio, but it can’t see the COM port(s). If it’s going to send through the radio, it has to be VOX. And all tuning is manual. This is like the OLD days, when I first was doing RTTY and PSK-31 with an old tube rig.
Programmed the FTdx3000’s FH-2 remote for 3 CW messages. I would make all my CW contacts using just 3 macros. Nothing else.
Now – I had verified during the June VHF contest that I could send CW from Fldigi, but the fastest I could get the VOX to work would turn a leading Dah into a Dit. Not good. So all my macros started with “e (space)”. It’s a kludge. Don’t like it.
But it’s OK. I don’t like calling CQ anyway, I generally run entirely Search & Pounce style. So I listen to a station work 2, 3, maybe even 4 stations (depending on how bad the fading is), to make sure that I already have ALL the other guy’s information before I throw my call out. So I only need to be able to hear a few things:
Did they get my call right? If not, just send it again.
Did they ask for anything again? If so, just send it again.
Did they say either “TU” or “GL” or “73”? Good. Done. Log it and move on.
That first night was a hot, sticky night after a very hot, sticky day. My host’s generator was laboring like a pack-mule to keep the A/C going. The A/C compressor was doing at least a 90% duty cycle. It never completely shut off. The compressor would stop, and the fan would keep going to defrost the coils, but the temp never stayed below the set point of the thermostat long enough for the unit to completely stop. So even though I’d topped off the gas tank just before bed (about 10pm), it nonetheless stopped running at 12:35am. A power outage is a panic-inducing thing when you sleep with a CPAP. It’s like waking up to someone trying to smother you. Instant adrenaline.
Went out to fill and restart it.
It shut itself off after 10 minutes.
Go start it again. Shuts itself down in 30 seconds. Start it again… 10 seconds, shutdown.
OK, time to fire up my Honda generator (which is probably 1/3 as loud as his Coleman), so I can at least keep my CPAP going, and a fan. But that’s a LOT of exercise in the middle of the night, plus the aforementioned adrenaline from the murder attempt, plus all the heat and sweat just from how hot it is. Point being, it was a couple hours before I could get back to sleep. Saturday morning was ROUGH. Felt exhausted & lightly nauseated for half the day. Uff-da.
First thing that made me say “Oh dang, I forgot…” was microphone. Though I intended to use the Heil headset, I also knew it was going to be hot, and that I MIGHT not be operating in A/C. That might get too hot. I might want to switch to the hand mic. But I forgot to pack the hand mic. Derp.
The 2nd “Oh dang, I forgot…” thing was deez big ol’ nuts, which I tie to the end of a guy line, and throw over a branch, to hoist up the end of an antenna. Works on the first try every time. The heavy nut always comes sliding down to the round. I never lose one up in the tree because it gets tangled (like hell I don’t), so I really only need one. But I always bring 2 or 3 (no, I brought zero).
Anyway, I managed to figure out a way to get the antenna up even without deez nuts.
Forgot to bring heavy nuts. So instead of tossing a line, I just fished it. Wish I’d vid-recorded myself doing it. It’d make a lot more sense.
Very windy on Saturday night. Come Sunday morning, the EFHW was not as high, not as taught, and needed some adjustment.
When in doubt, try Duct Tape.
Also, on Saturday night, the storm brought a cold front with it. I’d be able to open windows and vents, not use the host’s generator (for the A/C) at all, but instead just run mine. After running TEN HOURS at idle, which is all that’s necessary for the CPAP, or the power supplies for laptop and HF radio, the Honda generator had sipped a mere 1/3 of a tank of gas. It also doesn’t give me any significant noisy birdies on the HF bands. This spot out in the woods an hour North of home is the quietest noise floor I’ve ever seen on the HF bands. 160m (where I’ve yet to ever operate) was still dreadfully noisy, but that looks like it could’ve been from there being any household electrical power within the county. LOL! But 80m on up was all far better than at home in the outer-burbs.
Only 1/3 tank used all night to keep CPAP running.
Sunday morning, I enjoyed coffee while watching the deer graze. It was time to put together a 6m Inverted Vee, cut from what had been a Windom OCF for 40m.
One eats. The other keeps an eye out for trouble. (There was no trouble today.)
I did that – I put up a 6m. Twice. First time, up in the trees. It was cut too long (on purpose). Was seeing only a few local stations. Got one or two to come back to me. Alright, let’s go fold back the ends further, and move it out to the mowed area, on the fiberglass mast, so as to orient it best IN CASE there’s a Sporadic-E opening to Florida, as has sometimes happened in the past few weeks.
Did that. Got the SWR dip to land spot-on 53.3MHz! Only dipped to 2:1, but the dip was a the right freq, and the match was dead-on 50 ohms. As perfect as it’s going to be. Easy enough for the FTdx3000’s internal tuner to manage. Alright. Bring it on.
And? And? Nope. That was it. 6m was not coming alive. Did not manage to work even one more station.
It was now 8:30am Sunday. I’d tried everything I’d intended to try. I’d proven 100% of the things I’d set out to prove. I can get it to work. Single handed. I can get CW to work 2 different ways, even without remembering to pack my Bencher paddle. I could’ve worked any of the other Fldigi modes (but didn’t bother). I could do FT8. I could do SSB. And I could do at least 2 different antennas out there, that weren’t there before I started.
The final somewhat-annual opportunity that Field Day provided is what’s going to happen today. I’m going to wipe the dust off the desk that’s usually hiding under my gear. I’m going to tidy up the cables. My station, once re-assembled, will be neater and cleaner than it was a couple weeks ago when I started taking it apart to move it out to the shed for the June VHF contest… which was my pre-Field-Day trial run.
The story told happened somewhere in here, probably on County 18.
There have been times when my vehicle has been the fastest one on a given stretch of road. e.g. Late for something urgent, someone in the vehicle badly needs the bathroom, just in an aggressive mood, etc.
There have been times when my vehicle has been the slowest one on a given stretch of road. e.g. There’s something somewhat fragile in the back, & it’s not netted down. I’m towing a trailer with tiny wheels. I’m someplace unfamiliar and trying to read street signs. Just in an enjoy-the-drive mood, etc.
I took Friday and Monday off… definitely a mental health break thing, so I was very intentionally arm-twisting myself into an enjoy-the-drive mood. Some tricks to this:
Head out after rush hour.
Don’t go the same direction most people go.
Take County Highways (i.e. get off the Interstate as much as reasonable).
Use the cruise control (i.e. math and technology) to maintain your speed… not your emotions and your right foot.
An old friend – a guy I worked with way back in the ’90s – wrote a great article about Scenic State Park, and within it mentioned the Lost 40 Scientific and Natural Area. Once I learned that this spot existed, and in light of the drought and forest fires we’ve had up north, I figured I’d acutely regret it if I didn’t go see these majestic, towering beauties before they burned down. It was wonderful. If you factor in the difference in climate between Northern MN and Mill Valley, CA, I think the Lost 40 is as impressive as Muir Woods.
So – you can imagine my general travel attitude when I chose to leave the hotel at 6am on Sunday, and furthermore decided to take a route that avoided the most popular Highways. I wasn’t in a hurry. For much of this drive, I only saw other vehicles traveling the same direction as I was about 3% of the time. Otherwise I could see nobody ahead of me, and nobody behind. It was reasonably safe to stop, turn around, get out and take a photo, like this one…
Sunday Morning Fog
Ergo, it wasn’t a problem to set the cruise within 2mph of the posted speed limit, like it usually is. No, I’m serious… you can literally get shot at, run off the road, or involved in some other form of road rage incident if you have the audacity to drive slower than 9mph over the speed limit here in MN. But I digress – as this story isn’t about rush hour.
The driver I’m about to describe is just one particular guy, but he shares several characteristics with many other non-commute drivers I’ve seen in the past few years. I was somewhere between MN 65 and I-35. I got on I-35 at Hinckley, so I was crossing Eastward somewhere probably on or near the map shown at the top of this page. I had the cruise set at approximately 54mph in a big, lumbering Chevy Tahoe, when someone in a little 2-door car come up behind me going 5-10mph faster than I was.
Then he hangs 2 car lengths behind me. I can see him gesturing. Nothing vulgar, but he clearly thinks I must be stupid.
We’re in a long passing zone. There are no other vehicles in sight ahead or behind. So I tap the “-Decel” on the Cruise a few times to slow down even further. If this guy has any clue at all, he should interpret this as “Please be my guest – pass me – I’ll make it as easy as possible for you. But no, I am not interested in going faster because you’re tailgating.”
The gesturing intensifies. A couple times, I see him swerve slightly left, as if to get a better view of the opposing lane, and judge whether or not he can pass. The latter of these times, it was just at the beginning of a No Passing Zone.
Pro Tip: Following extremely close to a larger vehicle makes it harder – not easier – to see if it’s safe to pass. It also makes it harder to perform the pass. Do please feel free to contact me if you’d like a lesson on passing on a 2-lane highway. I can help you.
I figured this guy must be about as dumb as can be, though I should point out that in this area there are still many big blue flags and signs for an election which was lost over 9 months ago by someone stupid enough to own a casino and go bankrupt. So yeah – a lot of stupid around here. But again, I digress.
To get this guy to finally pass me, I picked a farm driveway ahead on the right, turned on my right blinker, and started slowing as if I was headed there. He finally zoomed around me.
But really – what an absolute chicken shit – and one of many. Why am I so often finding that people will not pass on a 2-lane county highway? They’ll tailgate, yell, gesture, and turn red in the face, but they won’t simply pass. It’s like they don’t even know that’s an option. This was never a problem in the 1970s to 1990s. Hell, I would regularly see people towing a boat trailer and still passing on a 2-lane. Not anymore.
It seems that our society started to lose the knowledge of the safe and legal 2-lane pass around the same time we started losing the knowledge of how to take a left turn at a semaphore when it doesn’t have a turn arrow.
Over-Mod Boys – a sub-category of mic-eaters. Their voice peaks are badly clipped, and the magic of the CODEC preserves the full splendor of their horrid audio signal.
Nose-Puffers – as they exhale vigorously at the end of each transmission. Often also mic-eaters, these are surely morbidly obese dudes who are out of breath simply from the effort of holding in the PTT button, such that the last bit of air they have left after talking for 20 seconds is blasted directly into the mic just before they un-key and gasp desperately for their next gulp of air.
General Mic-Eaters – every “P” (or other plosive) blasts distortion. Every “S” (or other sibilant) scratches like dragging a Red Solo cup across 65-grit sandpaper. Heaven forbid these lids ever get on HF SSB – what a mess of harmonics they’d emit.
Good Buddies – folks who can’t let go of the CB lingo, e.g.
“handle here is Dick” – just say “my name is Dick”
“personal over here is Dick” – just say “my name is Dick”, and you can’t be anywhere but where you are, so the “over here” bit is just dumb
“got your ears on?” – just sell your radio
“10-4” – just drive over your radio with your lifted pickup truck.
Jargon Junkies – which affects all manner of voice ops (bands, sub-modes), but is especially amusinoying on Digital Fusion wherein, if the voice going into the mic is crystal clear, the voice decoded at the other end is crystal clear. These fellas like to say “Yeah, QSL, QSL” and such. Dude, just converse like a person. Like you’d talk to a neighbor or co-worker. I mean, you never say “ACK, ACK” just because you also use computer networking, do you?
There is absolutely a situation where QSL is the correct thing to ask or respond: on CW (i.e. Morse Code) when the signal is difficult to read, in order to confirm the message was understood – because there is good reason for doubt. It’s commonly also used during difficult SSB conversations, but I’d suggest that “Roger! Roger!” is more clearly understood via voice, particularly over static on sideband.
Log Fetishist – I hear two guys on ––––AMERICA–LINK who have both explained that their equipment is connected directly by WiRES-X, such that neither is making a radio transmission at all. Near the end of the conversation, one will make a big point to say “I’m going to log this QSO on QRZ.com, if you don’t mind confirming that.” Logging it in any way only makes sense to me if you also keep a log of phone calls. But really, who in their right mind would log a telephone call, and also expect the other person to somehow confirm?
Dude – just talk to people, possibly make friends. Relax. There was no radio operating skill, antenna building skill, nor long distance propagation luck involved. The point of logging and confirming is to prove something difficult or unlikely was – against significant odds – nevertheless achieved. If I dial your phone number from, oh I don’t know, any telephone anywhere, and you answer it and say “Hello?”, it is not impressive.
Radio Check Bait-&-Switchers – It goes about like this…
RCB&S: “KD1CK Radio Check?”
Me: (waits several seconds, ‘cuz I’m actually working, don’t have time to get pulled into a long QSO, & I’m hoping someone else will confirm Dick’s gear is actually working and can be heard, then) “Loud and clear, n0mql.”
RCB&S: “N0MQL, thanks, this is KD1CK. I’m in Podunk, Kentucky, running a (some radio) through a (some hotspot). It’s 65 degrees & breezy here right now. Where are you? What are you running?”
Me: (not transmitting again)
Here’s the thing – if you just want to have a chat with anybody anywhere, there’s an internationally accepted way to do that. It’s called “calling CQ”. It’s not that hard. So here’s what you do:
Dick: “CQ CQ KD1CK, Podunk, KY.”
(wait a bit… if nobody answers, repeat the above at least 3x before assuming your equipment might not be working, and if there’s still no answer…)
Dick: “KD1CK Radio Check?”
Me: “Loud and clear, n0mql.”
Dick: “Thank you. KD1CK, calling CQ, from Podunk, KY.” (notice: leaving me the heck out of it)
CQ-Phobia Sufferers – This one is not a peeve, but just an amusing observation. I literally heard the following in the “room” called ––––AMERICA–LINK yesterday:
Guy 1: “(callsign) monitoring on America Link.”
Guy 2: (seconds later) “(callsign) monitoring.”
Guy 3: (seconds later) “(callsign) listening.”
Guy 1: (seconds later) “(callsign) monitoring.”
Fortunately, before this could go ’round the horn a full second time, some 4th person chimed in and called for a specific other (5th) station, the other station responded, and they talked for a few minutes.
But the 1st 3 guys were the Amateur Radio equivalent of me at any High School dance where I wasn’t running sound and/or lighting (which I usually was). Stand on the periphery & suffer the internal battle of what might be worse – some girl coming up to talk to me… or not (it was always not). This is why I became a floor guard & DJ at the local roller rink. Loved music, loved skating, but didn’t have to skate with a partner (most of the time).
I know I’ve had various flavors of Wire Dipoles over the years. At least one of them was an Inverted Vee configuration.
I’ve never had a tower. I’ve had a metallic mast once before, but what was on it was something where all the working parts of the antenna were above the mast.
A few weekends ago, an old ham friend helped me put this Tune-A-Tenna up.
A week later, I managed to get back up on the roof to finish what I’d started. Then over the next week, I began testing things, and it was going OK for a while. Sometimes. But I have run into some trouble that I bet some of you have spotted already. A metal mast inside the Vee is a problem. Not to scale, and extremely low resolution, here’s kind of the problem I’ve arranged for myself.
…And here’s a rough idea of one way to deal with it. In this sketch, the blue lines indicate non-conductive (e.g. PVC) material.
Someone on the Twitters challenged me that 60m was “hot” for FT8 about a week ago, so I endeavored to try working at least one station on that band – had never worked that band on any mode yet. It was challenging. I have since learned some “tricks” to get it to work.
Notice this is using Memory Slot 5M-03, as opposed to a regular VFO setting controlled via CAT from WSJT-X.
So, when I got this radio, one of the excited exclamations in the manual was that it included the “new” 60-meter band, but they did not re-work the band-select buttons. And I suppose that makes sense, especially given that 60 is not so much a “band” in the traditional sense, but rather is a set of 5 discreet “channels” in which we’re allowed to operate. But, the way WSJT-X works, it expects to have complete control over both VFO-A and VFO-B for split operation.
However, Yaesu published an updated firmware for this radio sometime in 2020, which I had not upgraded. Today, I upgraded it, in part because it now allows switching the VFO to 60 by long-pressing the “14” (MHz) band button. Great, so now I can twirl the big knob through the 60 meter band. But transmitting is still disallowed there in VFO mode. Huh. Weird. But OK.
BUT… this at least makes WSJT-X a little happier because it can adjust the VFO-A… even though it’s not really going to use it. I still have to use the memory channel in order to unlock TX.
Then, because it’s a channel, and not a band, WSJT-X needs a settings tweak:
Have to disable Split on 60 meters.
And then, because changing the mode to USB-DATA in this memory channel is disallowed, I have to re-configure a Menu item in the FTdx3000 so that it gets its SSB “microphone” input not from the actual microphone, but instead from the USB port.
MENU 103 MODE SSB – SSB MIC SEL – USB
This means that the next time I go to some other band and intend to operate regular SSB phone, using the mic, I’ll have to remember to switch this back to saying “FRONT.” What do you think my chances are of remembering to do that every time? Yeah, not good.
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