An Amateur Amateur Radio Operator Wannabe
Lonnie J. Potter
My name is Lonnie J. Potter and I am a retired and disabled veteran of the
Air Force and Marine Corps.
While in the military (18 yrs.), I was a radio operator with assignments
ranging from Okinawa to the Philippines to Texas to Belgium to Andrews AFB,
DC (VIP/Presidential Radio Operator for Air Force One and Two and "Delta
Victor" code 6 and above (meaning Senators, Congressman, Cabinet members,
and other high ranking members of the military), Germany, and many other
exciting locations.
I am interested in becoming a ham radio operator preferably using a mobile
"ham shack" as I live in an apartment building.
I attended Morse Code training at Keesler AFB, Mississippi back in 1989
where I could TX at 12 gpm and RX at 14 gpm. I am a bit rusty, but I think
I could pick it back up fairly quickly.
Anyone who knows where I can buy a good rig for my 2003 Ford Ranger and can
become a "more than amateur hambone," please feel free to contact me at:
colt45m...@hotmail.com, colt45m...@yahoo.com,
colt45m...@netscape.net, or cudd...@bellsouth.net .
Thanks and Happy DXing.
Lonnie J. Potter, Staff Sergeant
US Air Force (Retired)
http://home.bellsouth.net/Groups-USAirForceRetirees
Bob Miller
One, check the www.arrl.org web site. They have a lot of introductory
info. Also check the books available in the "catalog & store" section
of their web site. They have a plenty of books that will help you with
licensing and ham radio in general.
Also, do a web search for amateur radio clubs in and around your
particular city. Many of them hold licensing classes, are eager to
welcome newcomers, and can be a handy way to find good, used gear to
start out with.
Bob
k5qwg
Tony
http://swap.qth.com/ For Ham Gear
http://www.n2sf.com/kochcw.html Free PC CW Program Check Koch CW
hope this helps
73
Tony
On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 22:18:37 -0500, "Lonnie J. Potter"
<cudd...@NOSPAM.bellsouth.net> wrote:
Steve Silverwood
@NOSPAM.bellsouth.net says...
Welcome, Lonnie! I was at Keesler AFB back in 1975, too. Interesting
place, but a little wet for my tastes.
Measuring in "gpm" for Morse? I presume that means "[character] groups
per minute" like "words per minute" as we measure it in ham-dom?
For rigs, there are a number of options. I presume you're talking about
HF, so correct me if I'm wrong. There are several options available to
you for mobile operation, depending on your requirements. Most HF rigs
will go mobile, in that they run off of 12v, but some are more suitable
than others. I would personally not recommend Kenwood to anyone, but
that's because I've had bad experiences with the company. ICOM and
Yaesu make some great rigs. I use a Yaesu FT-817, which is a five-watt
rig, but they also make the FT-857 and FT-897, both of which are
portable but work well as mobiles as well. Alinco makes (or made) a DX-
70 which was very popular as a mobile rig. This is as far as my memory
goes WRT model numbers -- especially at the hour of the morning as I
write this, without benefit of enough caffeine -- so others should chime
in with their recommendations and recollections.
There are some hard-core folks who actually operate CW mobile, WHILE IN
MOTION. I don't know how they do this, especially since my Morse is
rusty, but I guess it's just a talent that some have and some don't.
If you want to go VHF or UHF for local communications, the list of
suitable radios is virtually endless. You can find just about anything
your heart desires out there on the new and used market. The radios I
mentioned in the HF list above also have varying degrees of VHF and UHF
capabilities, so you may want to consider a single radio that suits all
of your requirements.
Be careful about having a huge antenna farm on the roof of your car,
though. It's an invitation to the bad guys that there's valuable
electronics to be had in the vehicle. Best to have a radio that can
easily be set up in the car and then removed when you park. My FT-817
is great for that, as are the other two Yaesu rigs I mentioned.
Apartment operation is also possible, again depending on what you want
to accomplish. For VHF and UHF operation, you could easily get by with
a hand-held radio and a decent whip antenna. "Stealthy" HF wire
antennas are also possible, depending on your location and options.
With low power, you can use very small-gauge wire and make your antenna
virtually invisible. I remember a story of a guy in college who strung
a wire out between his upper-story dorm room and a nearby tree. People
were amazed at the birds who were perched in mid-air, seemingly defying
gravity -- because the birds could see the wire but the folks on the
ground couldn't, it was that thin. ;-)
Hope that gets you started thinking about your options. My preferred
source for Ham equipment is Ham Radio Outlet, mainly because they have a
store in Anaheim CA which is just up the road from my house. There are
other good vendors. Check any issue of QST Magazine, published by the
American Radio Relay League (ARRL), for good sources. And be sure to
join the ARRL -- for one thing, that's the only way to subscribe to QST,
but it's also as much a benefit to ham radio operators -- perhaps even
more so -- as the AARP is to retirees or the Air Force Sergeant's
Association is to retired AF. Visit www.arrl.org for details.
--
-- //Steve//
Steve Silverwood, KB6OJS
Fountain Valley, CA
Email: kb6...@arrl.net
Dixon Barthel
I got my first license way back in 1962 but it had lapsed several times in
between. Just retested about 3 months ago and got back on the air. All my
radio gear had been sold many years ago so I had to collect a new batch. I
got all my current gear on e-Bay. I know that's anathema to many ham
operators but, what can I say, it's what I did. I'm making this suggestion
because, first, I found some excellent deals on older equipment. Second, I
have yet to be ripped off. I know there are some horror stories out there
but I've been very lucky. I've made over 70 purchases over eBay and not
been disappointed.
As for rigs, if you are going to use CW primarily, make sure your rig has a
CW filter. It's a narrow bandwidth filter that cuts through much of the
interference you'll find otherwise. Used solid state rigs by Kenwood, Icom
and Yaesu can be found out there for between $150 to $300. A new mobile
radio will cost you about $700 minimum. Don't be put off by buying a very
old radio. I'm using an old Kenwood TS-520s that uses some tubes and was
built way back in 1977 but still works great today. For mobile use, though,
I wouldn't recommend a radio like this. My personal older favorite is an
ICOM 730.
As for newer radios, many folks are using the ICOM 706. It's quite nice
from what I hear. If you're thinking about really getting into radio and
would like to try your hand at radio kit building, I'd recommend buying and
building one of the radios made by elecraft. The K2 is quite popular. Nice
thing about this radio is that it is designed primarily as a CW radio. I
have a friend who also uses it as his base station radio. A great learning
experience to build. The K2 is quite a daunting experience to build,
though, so you might prefer to build the K1 or the KX1. All three of these
radios will accept a built in antenna tuner. In your case that's important
because I understand that you live in an apartment building. I live in a
house with a yard but my wife won't let me put up a visible antenna.
Because of that, I strung a wire off the back of the house up into a tree
and tune it with a tuner. It works great!
So, what I'm suggesting is for you to get a radio that is designed for CW if
that's what you intend to use. (The K2, by the way, will also accept a
modification that will enable it to work SSB). Also, make sure it has a
narrow band pass filter for CW. I actually had to purchase one for my
Kenwood TS-520s but it was relatively easy to get (again, on the internet).
You'll also need an antenna tuner if you're going to use a wire for an
antenna. You might also need on in your vehicle.
Good luck and all the best. Let me know if there is anything I can do to
help. I understand radios reasonably well (though I don't have any
experience with DSP) so I might be able to answer basic questions you might
have. Ham radio can be lots of fun and also very rewarding. There are some
great folks out there - especially on CW. CW is also great because it
doesn't take much power or a very fancy antenna to communicate with the
world.
All the best,
Dixon Barthel (AI4CH)
Augusta, Georgia
"Lonnie J. Potter" <cudd...@NOSPAM.bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:SBnNb.56138$qC.1...@bignews3.bellsouth.net...
Drink
IC-730 that I'm still using. I run it through an MFJ manual tuner. A
tuner's almost a must have for a lot of us who can't use a nice antenna on a
tower for whatever reason. I can't speak about internal tuners, though,
since I've never owned one. I've HEARD that they usually don't have the
capacity to tune as well as externals, though, and I'm skeptical when you
need to tune random length long wires or dipoles, etc. I like the idea of
spreading my options out in the shack vice having everything in a single
point of failure.
In mobile, I use the IC-706MkIIG with the AT-180 tuner. I'm pleased with
the radio. I've never made a moving contact via HF; certainly not a CW
contact. I think that would be outright dangerous for any other than the
most expert and seasoned CW operators. (Just my opinion.) I tend to
recommend that folks begin with a fixed station first and branch out from
there. Before going mobile, I'd consider 1) the local VHF/UHF environment
2) what you really want to do and 3) how much time you actually spend in the
vehicle and at when your driving takes place, i.e. if you spend 5 minutes to
drive across a small town mid-day, an HF CW contact might be out of reach.
If there's lots of acty on several local repeaters in a large metropolitan
city, all you might want there is a VHF radio in the truck.
I'm not saying that anybody's decision or setup is right or wrong since
it's a personal decision/desire. I'm just serving up food for thought, that
you may dine as you like from the smorgasbord that is: Amateur Radio.
P.S. Don't be thrown by the word "amateur". With a degree in technical
communications and 14 years practical experience in the Air Force myself, I
still find that, by far, some of the most knowledgeable folks I know are
amateurs who do it because for love of RF vice money.
o_o_o_o
Best Regards, /| ,[_____],
Jim, WP3JQ |ŻŻŻL --O|||||||O-
()_)Ż()_) ŻŻŻŻŻ )_)
EM60qk 30.447439N 086.628959W
"Dixon Barthel" <dbar...@mail.mcg.edu> wrote in message
news:1017njs...@corp.supernews.com...
safemale
most hamfests
have ve testing
and as a tech i didnt need cw
butt i can only use 50 mhz and higher
lots on two meters most places
and with code speed at 5 words a minet know
you should make it no sweat
www.eham.com has tests to play with and see how far away you are
after 25-30 times taking tham my land lady that cant even wore a
cb power line was geting 60-70%
kb9yku
look at www.arrl.org site to find lists of ham fests local too you
dloyd...@hotmail.com
<cudd...@NOSPAM.bellsouth.net> wrote: