I do a lot of reading, mainlly about emergency communications, disaster preparedness, etc. Having been a deployable member of the Gwinnett County ARES group for about 5 years, I have noticed a few things that give me pause to reflect on my own EmComm preparedness.
Something interesting surfaced while doing an inventory of the majority of the ARES group's volunteers. I find that most of the members do not have a "real" Go-Bag. Looking through the various member's bags I find lots of radio related stuff, connectors, power cords, antennas, coaxial cables, headsets, speaker-mics, etc. Very few, if any, have food items, water, shelter options,etc. Having the necessary radio gear and associated cabling, mics, etc, is fine BUT you NEED to have the other major areas of a 72 hour "survival Go-Bag" covered in order to be really autonomous. This means you need to take a critical look at your radio gear, pare it down to bare essentials, and add items designed to make you independent for a minimum of 72 hours.
As discussed in an earlier post your emphasis must include (in order of importance), water, security, shelter and food items if you are to be truly able to survive in a disaster scenario for the minimum 72 hours. This doesn't mean that you need to scrap your entire Go-Bag and get a huge backpack. It does mean that you have to take a serious look at your present bag with an eye toward autonomy and not just comm gear.
For several years my go-to radio set was the Yaesu FT-817. True it had only a 5 watt output on HF through 70cms, but with the addition of a very small Mirage dual band V/UHF amplifier I now had a station capable of 30+ watts! The antenna that I settled on was a Diamond dual band base station antenna and 35 ft of RG-58 coaxial cable. The DC power source was a trade off. Originally I had a 7.5 A/hr gel-cell but I later changed that to a 20 A/hr battery. It was a lot bigger and much heavier, but it gave me more power budget to play with while deployed. Of course, you could opt for one of the new Lithium-ion batteries with their special charger. This would drastically reduce the size and weight of your power supply. However, many of these exotic batteries are extremely expensive. The choice is yours. I also had an Arrow V/UHF beam that could be placed on a fiber glass collapsible mast set that was carried in it's own bag. That way I could have either an omni directional vertical antenna or a directional beam, depending upon the need. I had also experimented with RG-174 mini-coax....this stuff is great for video lines and short runs on HF, but for serious V/UHF work it has too much loss at the higher frequencies.
As of a couple of years ago, I have dispensed with the FT-817 (no real need for HF EmComm in this area at this time) and went to a Yaesu FT-90 dual band HT with 5 W output. It is much smaller than the 817, and provides me with the necessary RF coverage I need. Power budget is now governed by the size and type of batteries I use with the FT-90. I no longer need to drag a heavy gel-cell which is a real blessing.
Some ARES folks take a notebook computer or I-pad type tablet. I have a General Dynamics Go-Book (their answer to the ruggedized Panasonic Tough Book computers) laptop for those times I need to go digital (FL-Digi, etc). I rely on a 300 watt inverter to furnish 120V AC from a 12 V DC source to power the laptop. I find the GD Go-Book, although heavy, to be a great laptop and I am not afraid of taking it into the bush.
As you can see my Go-Bag is not just one bag. It is a collection of several bags, each one dedicated to a specific task for EmComm. My radio gear fits into the top section of a small backpack. The GD Go-Book fits into it's own carrying bag with strap, and my food, water, shelter, security items fit into another portion of the backpack. Finally, the 40 ft collapsible mast with guy ropes, fits into it's own carry bag.
Obviously it is advantageous to make up an inventory of your entire Go-Bag to insure that what ever goes on deployment comes back from deployment. My inventory list is on my computer hard drive (HDD) and I can add/subtract/change it quickly and print out an updated listing of my gear. All my gear is labeled with my call sign for ID purposes. I also have TOPO USA installed on my Go-Book along with a small GPS receiver that I can plug in to get a real idea of the terrain and routes into and out of the affected area. This takes the place of a stack of maps, giving me more room of other items.
Well, that is about it for now. We have pretty well beaten this Go-Bag thing to death. If you have any ideas, send them along in comments and I will include them in an update sometime in the future. While you may agree or disagree with my individual plans and assessments that is fine. Each deployment will be different and circumstances will change, sometimes quite quickly in a disaster scenario. While it is impossible to cover everything, "all bases" if you will, the more flexible you are with your Go-Bag and your preps, the better off you will be to meet your EmComm obligations.
Vy 73
Rich K7SZ
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Birmingham (AL) Hamfest 2014
This was the second year in a row that I attended the Birmingham (B'Ham) Ham Fest on March 1 & 2, 2014. Last year Pat and I, along with Ken Evans, W4DU, motored the three hours to B'Ham where we set up a QRP ARCI table where we waved the QRP flag and sold a bunch of my "stuff".
This year, Dave Kuechenmeister, N4KD, made the trek with me. We took my "new" (old) truck, a recently procured 2001 Chevy Silverado 1/4 ton pickup with a full cap and a full length pull-out bed tray. This time I managed to install an Icom 2100 H 2m FM rig so we had mobile VHF comms.
Dave and I arrived in time for the B'Ham DX Club's dinner. The food was great but the companionship was even better. My good friend, Don Keith, N4KD, was there with his wife, Charlene. Dave Cisco, W4AXL, was sitting next to me during dinner. Dave is one heck of a DXer and lover of all radios that glow in the dark!
The hamfest was good. It is a two day affair, and is housed in the Zamora Shrine Temple just outside B'Ham. The flea market was always interesting. However, I was under orders from Peppermint Patti to off-load a bunch of my "stuff", which I did. Sort of....more on that later.
We got the last table available and were positioned directly across from the Alabama Historical Radio Society (AHRS) display. I met these folks last year and joined their club on the spot. Their reflector is full of good info and the membership is absolutely fabulous when it comes to helping out a fellow collector/restorer. I had brought along two boxes of Sam's Photofacts on CB radios....almost a complete set from #1 to #111. I had arranged to give these to the AHRS prior to the hamfest to add to their unbelievable library of technical books and information. In addition, I had packed up my father's old Arvin Silver Prince AM/SW console radio (sans console) for them to work on, and ultimately I will donate this radio to the AHRS collection. Dave (W4AXL) is fairly sure they can find a console that will fit the chassis.
At 12 noon on Saturday Dave and I attended an AHRS power point presentation given by Dave, W4AXL. This was an overview of the 100th anniversary of the ARRL combined with the history of the Birmingham ARC and AHRS., complete with a vintage radio program at the end. There were about 40-45 people in attendance and Dave's briefing was terrific.
After the AHRS presentation Dave took Dave K and myself to their "club house" in down town B'Ham. To say this place was astounding is an understatement. Literally hundreds of radios of all makes and models. Vintage televisions by National and Hallicrafters. There is also a complete AM radio station control console complete with cart tapes, 16 inch reel-to-reel tape decks, a Gates audio board, dual turn tables, etc. Right out of 1964!!!! That brought me back to KCLX (Colfax, WA) where I started as a Dee-Jay in August of 1964!!!
As I stated before the AHRS technical library is nothing short of fantastic. All copies of QST from 1915 to present in hard copy, only 4 or 5 magazines short of a full set of CQ Magazine from inception to present, along with all sorts of books, service manuals, service bulletins, etc. Amazing, truly amazing.
The AHRS repair facility was also a treat to view. They do restorations for almost any antique radio or piece of amateur radio gear. They even wind their own voice coils and transformers! What a great place!
Back at the hamfest I proceeded to slowly off-load my stuff. I had purchased a Heathkit MT-1/RT-1 transmitter/receiver along with the power supply, speaker and cables from a local ham. This set was an AM/CW station from the 1960s. I had wanted to put an AM station on 80/40 meters just for grins. I tried this set out prior to plunking down my money. The radios sat for about a year while Pat and I discussed whether or not I would move my ham shack from the back of the house (with no air conditioning and/or heating) into the spare bedroom. When I went to fire this rig up about a year later, I noticed that the transmitter bandswitch was binding. It turned out that it was something I could not fix without major surgery so I packed it up with the rest of my stuff to take to B'Ham.
There I met a fellow ham who had a number of boatanchor receivers for sale. He seemed interested in my Heath twins, so we made a deal...sort of...We traded gear. His SX-122 Hallicrafters general coverage receiver for my Heath twins. For me it was an outstanding trade since I had been looking for a SX-122 for quite a few years. The styling on the 122 is the same as the SX-117/HT-44 receiver/transmitter by Hallicrafters, which is the station I used in college. The SX-122s would turn up on e-bay once in a while, but the auction prices were in the high $200s, sometimes climbing to over $300, which was way out of my price range.
While at the AHRS club house I was presented with an Eico RF generator and B&K 3 inch oscilloscope, both of which I sorely needed. These two items were surplus to requirements at the club, so with a donation to the club I ended up with two very handy pieces of test gear for my workbench. My sincere thanks to the AHRS folks for those two items.
Dave and I drove back on Sunday, after packing what was left of my stuff into the Chevy. One-way mileage was just under 200 miles and I used slightly under 10 gallons of gas in the truck so the mileage is great compared to our Jeep Commander with the 5.7L Hemi!!!!
After dropping Dave off at his place, I continued on home where I hooked the SX-122 to an antenna and fired it up. Everything worked as it should and the calibration was spot-on all the way across each of the four AM/SW bands. I verified this by using a calibrated signal generator coupled to a digital freq counter which was plugged into the receiver's antenna socket. This SX-122 was in excellent cosmetic shape with only a small blemish on the front panel. The chassis was clean above and below. In short, I got a great deal on the #1 item on my "Equipment to be Acquired List". It's great to enter the shack, catch the smell of warm vacuum tube electronics and listen to the SW bands while I work at getting the place straightened up and on the air. My new SX-122 sits atop the ops bench above my cherry Drake TR-4 station!
Next year I plan on another trip to B'Ham to attend their fest. It is a great venue and the people involved were extremely friendly and full of southern hospitality. My only regret about this year's event was that we were unable to spend more time with Don, N4KC and his wife. However, Don and I have made plans to hook up at the Huntsville hamfest in August.
So if you want to have a great time at a ham radio flea market/hamfest give the Birmingham hamfest a try. Hope to see you next year.
Vy 73
Rich K7SZ
This year, Dave Kuechenmeister, N4KD, made the trek with me. We took my "new" (old) truck, a recently procured 2001 Chevy Silverado 1/4 ton pickup with a full cap and a full length pull-out bed tray. This time I managed to install an Icom 2100 H 2m FM rig so we had mobile VHF comms.
Dave and I arrived in time for the B'Ham DX Club's dinner. The food was great but the companionship was even better. My good friend, Don Keith, N4KD, was there with his wife, Charlene. Dave Cisco, W4AXL, was sitting next to me during dinner. Dave is one heck of a DXer and lover of all radios that glow in the dark!
The hamfest was good. It is a two day affair, and is housed in the Zamora Shrine Temple just outside B'Ham. The flea market was always interesting. However, I was under orders from Peppermint Patti to off-load a bunch of my "stuff", which I did. Sort of....more on that later.
We got the last table available and were positioned directly across from the Alabama Historical Radio Society (AHRS) display. I met these folks last year and joined their club on the spot. Their reflector is full of good info and the membership is absolutely fabulous when it comes to helping out a fellow collector/restorer. I had brought along two boxes of Sam's Photofacts on CB radios....almost a complete set from #1 to #111. I had arranged to give these to the AHRS prior to the hamfest to add to their unbelievable library of technical books and information. In addition, I had packed up my father's old Arvin Silver Prince AM/SW console radio (sans console) for them to work on, and ultimately I will donate this radio to the AHRS collection. Dave (W4AXL) is fairly sure they can find a console that will fit the chassis.
At 12 noon on Saturday Dave and I attended an AHRS power point presentation given by Dave, W4AXL. This was an overview of the 100th anniversary of the ARRL combined with the history of the Birmingham ARC and AHRS., complete with a vintage radio program at the end. There were about 40-45 people in attendance and Dave's briefing was terrific.
After the AHRS presentation Dave took Dave K and myself to their "club house" in down town B'Ham. To say this place was astounding is an understatement. Literally hundreds of radios of all makes and models. Vintage televisions by National and Hallicrafters. There is also a complete AM radio station control console complete with cart tapes, 16 inch reel-to-reel tape decks, a Gates audio board, dual turn tables, etc. Right out of 1964!!!! That brought me back to KCLX (Colfax, WA) where I started as a Dee-Jay in August of 1964!!!
As I stated before the AHRS technical library is nothing short of fantastic. All copies of QST from 1915 to present in hard copy, only 4 or 5 magazines short of a full set of CQ Magazine from inception to present, along with all sorts of books, service manuals, service bulletins, etc. Amazing, truly amazing.
The AHRS repair facility was also a treat to view. They do restorations for almost any antique radio or piece of amateur radio gear. They even wind their own voice coils and transformers! What a great place!
Back at the hamfest I proceeded to slowly off-load my stuff. I had purchased a Heathkit MT-1/RT-1 transmitter/receiver along with the power supply, speaker and cables from a local ham. This set was an AM/CW station from the 1960s. I had wanted to put an AM station on 80/40 meters just for grins. I tried this set out prior to plunking down my money. The radios sat for about a year while Pat and I discussed whether or not I would move my ham shack from the back of the house (with no air conditioning and/or heating) into the spare bedroom. When I went to fire this rig up about a year later, I noticed that the transmitter bandswitch was binding. It turned out that it was something I could not fix without major surgery so I packed it up with the rest of my stuff to take to B'Ham.
There I met a fellow ham who had a number of boatanchor receivers for sale. He seemed interested in my Heath twins, so we made a deal...sort of...We traded gear. His SX-122 Hallicrafters general coverage receiver for my Heath twins. For me it was an outstanding trade since I had been looking for a SX-122 for quite a few years. The styling on the 122 is the same as the SX-117/HT-44 receiver/transmitter by Hallicrafters, which is the station I used in college. The SX-122s would turn up on e-bay once in a while, but the auction prices were in the high $200s, sometimes climbing to over $300, which was way out of my price range.
While at the AHRS club house I was presented with an Eico RF generator and B&K 3 inch oscilloscope, both of which I sorely needed. These two items were surplus to requirements at the club, so with a donation to the club I ended up with two very handy pieces of test gear for my workbench. My sincere thanks to the AHRS folks for those two items.
Dave and I drove back on Sunday, after packing what was left of my stuff into the Chevy. One-way mileage was just under 200 miles and I used slightly under 10 gallons of gas in the truck so the mileage is great compared to our Jeep Commander with the 5.7L Hemi!!!!
After dropping Dave off at his place, I continued on home where I hooked the SX-122 to an antenna and fired it up. Everything worked as it should and the calibration was spot-on all the way across each of the four AM/SW bands. I verified this by using a calibrated signal generator coupled to a digital freq counter which was plugged into the receiver's antenna socket. This SX-122 was in excellent cosmetic shape with only a small blemish on the front panel. The chassis was clean above and below. In short, I got a great deal on the #1 item on my "Equipment to be Acquired List". It's great to enter the shack, catch the smell of warm vacuum tube electronics and listen to the SW bands while I work at getting the place straightened up and on the air. My new SX-122 sits atop the ops bench above my cherry Drake TR-4 station!
Next year I plan on another trip to B'Ham to attend their fest. It is a great venue and the people involved were extremely friendly and full of southern hospitality. My only regret about this year's event was that we were unable to spend more time with Don, N4KC and his wife. However, Don and I have made plans to hook up at the Huntsville hamfest in August.
So if you want to have a great time at a ham radio flea market/hamfest give the Birmingham hamfest a try. Hope to see you next year.
Vy 73
Rich K7SZ
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Some Realities of EmComm
Well, Peppermint Patti (KB3MCT) and I made it through the New Years Eve celebration unscathed. As a matter of fact we were engrossed in a movie at home and almost missed the countdown to 2014!!! We are such "party animals!!"
Pat and I both take our commitment to emergency communications (EmComm) via our involvement with the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) very seriously. Unfortunately, our ability to participate in drills and simulated emergency tests (SETs) in 2013 were drastically curtailed due to family obligations and Pat's work schedule. It is our desire to interact with the local Gwinnett and Barrow county ARES groups in the upcoming year. A major part of the commitment involves being ready to deploy without tearing the entire house and shack apart to find the necessary radio gear and other things we will need for the magic 72 hours after we are deployed.
One of the realities of EmComm is the onus placed on the volunteer to have, at the ready, a "Go-Bag" (also commonly called a Bug-Out-Bag, Get-Out-Of-Dodge-Bag, etc). This one piece of ARES hardware is a key element within the EmComm community and many, many words have been written about the "Ultimate Bug-Out-Bag". Now it's my turn.
As one gains experience in EmComm and subsequently endures numerous deployments and activations the reality of the "ULTIMATE" go-bag rapidly becomes a myth. Right up there with the Holy Grail and five cent cigars. To the uninitiated it is advantageous to have "everything" in your bag. Reality quickly sets in and it becomes painfully apparent (italics mine) that you can't take it all with you.
You (along with the rest of us) need help. I have read and reviewed quite a few bug-out-bag how-to books over the last couple of years. The best of the lot, by far is "Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit" by Creek Stewart (available through Amazon.com for under $10).
Ideally your B-O-B should contain the bare necessities to enable the EmComm volunteer to be self-sufficient for a minimum of 72 hours. I've often wondered why 72 hours was the "magic number"? Personally I'd shoot for the at least a week, possibly two if possible. Unfortunately expanding the B-O-B to include life support for a week or more leads to a very large (and heavy) container. Therefore, lets concentrate on the standard 72 hours of self-sufficiency for starters. We can always expand our kit at a later date.
So, exactly what does one put in a B-O-B? Let's look at the basics for life support: water, security, shelter, and food in that order.
Water: Water is the staff of life! Period! You can survive for roughly 6-7 days without water. After that you are dead! Period! Unfortunately no one has managed to invent/manufacture dehydrated or instant water! Water is heavy; 8 pounds per gallon. You should consume at least one gallon of water per person per day. Three days worth of pre-packaged/bottled water equates to 24 pounds. That's heavy. Therefore, the logical conclusion would be to keep one or two bottles of water in our B-O-B kit and plan on using a water filter and/or water purification tablets to provide us with potable water after our initial water is consumed. Water filters, good ones, are not cheap. Plan on spending between $50-$125 on a good quality portable water filtration device.
Security: This one subject could take up an entire book! Often we do not know where we are going to be deployed, so the idea that you might find yourself in a hotel room or living in a lean-to in a forest are distinct possibilities. In any case you need to be aware of your surroundings and have your personal security set accordingly. What I am about to say may cause some of you to recoil in horror at the idea of including a fire arm in your B-O-B. However, that is exactly what I am going to do. Your personal security is YOUR responsibility. Not the cops, not the military, but Y-O-U! Obviously, if you are going to do this you need training. One of my personal pet peeves is that people are allowed to buy a fire arm, get a concealed carry permit (CCW) and then boldly go on about their lives carrying a deadly weapon without the proper training. This is just plain stupid. IF you are going to include a fire arm in your B-O-B, then you NEED to get some combat arms training from professionals. Watching DVDs or reading a book or two is not a substitute for time on the range with a qualified combat arms instructor. Personally, I prefer either a small J-frame Smith & Wesson 5 shot revolver in .38 caliber, or one of the many sub-compact semi-autos in 9mm Luger. Don't forget a good quality knife. Knives are one tool that is indispensable in the B-O-B. I carry at least three in addition to a large folder in my cargo pants pocket. Lastly, in the discussion of personal security, learn and follow the Jeff Cooper condition colors: White, Yellow, Orange and lastly Red. Just Google "Jeff Cooper or these code colors and you'll find a great method of staying on top of your personal security.
Shelter: For several global engagements the US military has relied upon a "shelter half" or "poncho" to keep her troops dry and relatively warm. Today we not only have military surplus shelter halves and ponchos but we have a plethora of "survival blankets" in various configurations that can be adapted to work as personal shelters, sleeping bags (believe me this is a very loose terminology), and shelter/tent/lean-to. Weight of these modern plastic (Mylar, actually) survival blankets is negligible so packing several in the bag is not a big deal. Obviously you can find single one-person tents (the good ones are really expensive but can be used on the North Face of Mt. Everest!) can be purchased and included but, again, you are adding weight. Remember: ounces equal pounds and pounds equal pain. Of course, you can opt for foraging tree limbs and make a lean-to if you are in an area where trees are plentiful and abundant.
Food: The survival manuals all say you can exist just fine for two weeks without food. Beyond that time frame you will loose the ability to think clearly, your body will start devouring muscle tissue to "feed" itself in the absence of any sustenance and in about 30 days sans food you are dead! Resist the idea of packing a few MREs (Meals Ready To Eat) from the military surplus outlets. They are NOT packaged conveniently for use in a ruck sack (bug-out-bag), and they taste like crap after a couple of days. There are a number of freeze dried food outlets, many of which find their way to the shelves of Wal-Mart, REI Sports, etc. They are very light, extremely packable but the are NOT cheap. You can pack three to five days worth of freeze dried meals and add only one or two pounds of total weight to your ruck. Don't forget "power" bars and protein bars, especially the latter. You NEED protein to keep muscle tone. They all taste like cardboard drizzled with caramel and chocolate but they will keep you functional in the absence of a five star restaurant. I pack some "trail mix" that I put together myself (Google it) and some power/protein bars, along with some hard candy (carbs) and some form of jerky. Some authorities may dismiss the jerky as being too high in salt content, but in an environment where you want to retain water and not become dehydrated, jerky is the answer. It is also very high in protein per ounce. I prefer the brand carried by Costco not the "Bigfoot" brands you will find in Wal-Mart and the gas station convenience stores. The latter I have had bad experiences with all centering on mold. E-mails and phone calls to the manufacturer have gone unanswered. So I say "screw Bigfoot jerky". Stick with the Costco brand (No I do not have any commercial interest or ties with Costco) I just like the taste and the fact that when I open the bag it's not all green/blue and fuzzy! (My aircrew survival school instructor told me many years ago "Arland, their ain't no such thing as eatable navy blue food"!)
OK, that is about all for now on the subject of bug-out-bags. Do your homework and get on the net and find out things for yourself. Remember, these are MY ideas and your situation may or may not be similar to mine, so there is work to do to be ready to deploy with a ruck that is not only useful but easy to carry. Remember, ARES does not employ any baggage porters, so if you bring it you "hump" it, Pard.
Vy 73 and get involved with ARES/RACES EmComm.
Rich K7SZ
Pat and I both take our commitment to emergency communications (EmComm) via our involvement with the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) very seriously. Unfortunately, our ability to participate in drills and simulated emergency tests (SETs) in 2013 were drastically curtailed due to family obligations and Pat's work schedule. It is our desire to interact with the local Gwinnett and Barrow county ARES groups in the upcoming year. A major part of the commitment involves being ready to deploy without tearing the entire house and shack apart to find the necessary radio gear and other things we will need for the magic 72 hours after we are deployed.
One of the realities of EmComm is the onus placed on the volunteer to have, at the ready, a "Go-Bag" (also commonly called a Bug-Out-Bag, Get-Out-Of-Dodge-Bag, etc). This one piece of ARES hardware is a key element within the EmComm community and many, many words have been written about the "Ultimate Bug-Out-Bag". Now it's my turn.
As one gains experience in EmComm and subsequently endures numerous deployments and activations the reality of the "ULTIMATE" go-bag rapidly becomes a myth. Right up there with the Holy Grail and five cent cigars. To the uninitiated it is advantageous to have "everything" in your bag. Reality quickly sets in and it becomes painfully apparent (italics mine) that you can't take it all with you.
You (along with the rest of us) need help. I have read and reviewed quite a few bug-out-bag how-to books over the last couple of years. The best of the lot, by far is "Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit" by Creek Stewart (available through Amazon.com for under $10).
Ideally your B-O-B should contain the bare necessities to enable the EmComm volunteer to be self-sufficient for a minimum of 72 hours. I've often wondered why 72 hours was the "magic number"? Personally I'd shoot for the at least a week, possibly two if possible. Unfortunately expanding the B-O-B to include life support for a week or more leads to a very large (and heavy) container. Therefore, lets concentrate on the standard 72 hours of self-sufficiency for starters. We can always expand our kit at a later date.
So, exactly what does one put in a B-O-B? Let's look at the basics for life support: water, security, shelter, and food in that order.
Water: Water is the staff of life! Period! You can survive for roughly 6-7 days without water. After that you are dead! Period! Unfortunately no one has managed to invent/manufacture dehydrated or instant water! Water is heavy; 8 pounds per gallon. You should consume at least one gallon of water per person per day. Three days worth of pre-packaged/bottled water equates to 24 pounds. That's heavy. Therefore, the logical conclusion would be to keep one or two bottles of water in our B-O-B kit and plan on using a water filter and/or water purification tablets to provide us with potable water after our initial water is consumed. Water filters, good ones, are not cheap. Plan on spending between $50-$125 on a good quality portable water filtration device.
Security: This one subject could take up an entire book! Often we do not know where we are going to be deployed, so the idea that you might find yourself in a hotel room or living in a lean-to in a forest are distinct possibilities. In any case you need to be aware of your surroundings and have your personal security set accordingly. What I am about to say may cause some of you to recoil in horror at the idea of including a fire arm in your B-O-B. However, that is exactly what I am going to do. Your personal security is YOUR responsibility. Not the cops, not the military, but Y-O-U! Obviously, if you are going to do this you need training. One of my personal pet peeves is that people are allowed to buy a fire arm, get a concealed carry permit (CCW) and then boldly go on about their lives carrying a deadly weapon without the proper training. This is just plain stupid. IF you are going to include a fire arm in your B-O-B, then you NEED to get some combat arms training from professionals. Watching DVDs or reading a book or two is not a substitute for time on the range with a qualified combat arms instructor. Personally, I prefer either a small J-frame Smith & Wesson 5 shot revolver in .38 caliber, or one of the many sub-compact semi-autos in 9mm Luger. Don't forget a good quality knife. Knives are one tool that is indispensable in the B-O-B. I carry at least three in addition to a large folder in my cargo pants pocket. Lastly, in the discussion of personal security, learn and follow the Jeff Cooper condition colors: White, Yellow, Orange and lastly Red. Just Google "Jeff Cooper or these code colors and you'll find a great method of staying on top of your personal security.
Shelter: For several global engagements the US military has relied upon a "shelter half" or "poncho" to keep her troops dry and relatively warm. Today we not only have military surplus shelter halves and ponchos but we have a plethora of "survival blankets" in various configurations that can be adapted to work as personal shelters, sleeping bags (believe me this is a very loose terminology), and shelter/tent/lean-to. Weight of these modern plastic (Mylar, actually) survival blankets is negligible so packing several in the bag is not a big deal. Obviously you can find single one-person tents (the good ones are really expensive but can be used on the North Face of Mt. Everest!) can be purchased and included but, again, you are adding weight. Remember: ounces equal pounds and pounds equal pain. Of course, you can opt for foraging tree limbs and make a lean-to if you are in an area where trees are plentiful and abundant.
Food: The survival manuals all say you can exist just fine for two weeks without food. Beyond that time frame you will loose the ability to think clearly, your body will start devouring muscle tissue to "feed" itself in the absence of any sustenance and in about 30 days sans food you are dead! Resist the idea of packing a few MREs (Meals Ready To Eat) from the military surplus outlets. They are NOT packaged conveniently for use in a ruck sack (bug-out-bag), and they taste like crap after a couple of days. There are a number of freeze dried food outlets, many of which find their way to the shelves of Wal-Mart, REI Sports, etc. They are very light, extremely packable but the are NOT cheap. You can pack three to five days worth of freeze dried meals and add only one or two pounds of total weight to your ruck. Don't forget "power" bars and protein bars, especially the latter. You NEED protein to keep muscle tone. They all taste like cardboard drizzled with caramel and chocolate but they will keep you functional in the absence of a five star restaurant. I pack some "trail mix" that I put together myself (Google it) and some power/protein bars, along with some hard candy (carbs) and some form of jerky. Some authorities may dismiss the jerky as being too high in salt content, but in an environment where you want to retain water and not become dehydrated, jerky is the answer. It is also very high in protein per ounce. I prefer the brand carried by Costco not the "Bigfoot" brands you will find in Wal-Mart and the gas station convenience stores. The latter I have had bad experiences with all centering on mold. E-mails and phone calls to the manufacturer have gone unanswered. So I say "screw Bigfoot jerky". Stick with the Costco brand (No I do not have any commercial interest or ties with Costco) I just like the taste and the fact that when I open the bag it's not all green/blue and fuzzy! (My aircrew survival school instructor told me many years ago "Arland, their ain't no such thing as eatable navy blue food"!)
OK, that is about all for now on the subject of bug-out-bags. Do your homework and get on the net and find out things for yourself. Remember, these are MY ideas and your situation may or may not be similar to mine, so there is work to do to be ready to deploy with a ruck that is not only useful but easy to carry. Remember, ARES does not employ any baggage porters, so if you bring it you "hump" it, Pard.
Vy 73 and get involved with ARES/RACES EmComm.
Rich K7SZ
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
2013 Year's End Synopsis.....And other "Stuff"!
I wanted to get this up on the blog prior to the start of the New Year. 2013 has had some ups and downs for all of us here at the Bent Dipole Ranch. Among them the loss of our little Bunny Dog.....our little female mini dachshund died this fall leaving a BIG hole in our hearts. She was 15 and had given us two great litters of puppies with her mate, Buddy, whom we lost two years earlier, also at the age of 15.
I had steeled myself as I figured Bunny had cancer. She had some very large growths on her belly that the vet said were cancer and would eventually spread to her bones, amounting to a very painful last couple of months. Pat and I decided to have the vet put her down on a trip to the UGA veterinarian school in Athens.
On the way home we both agreed that we didn't need to find another dog since we had Oki Kuma, our 150 pound Alaskan Malamute and our two cats, Cocoa & Carab. So, two days later found us at the animal shelter picking up our new 4 month old "mutt"! Lucy, a Lab mix, is giving Oki a real run for the money, getting him some much needed exercise.
The antenna project is still on hold, awaiting some help from the Barrow County ARC gang to complete the tower installation and mounting the antennas. The Drake 2B needs some work in the audio section. The K2 is getting farmed out to a local ham who will complete soldering the high density PCBs, which I can no longer do. I have some restoral to do on the Drake TR4 station but that is nothing that directly affects the operation of the rig. The K3 continues to putt-putt along constantly spoiling me. I just don't deserve that great of a rig!
I am Elmering a couple of guys that I shoot with. One of them just got his license a couple of days ago and is happy as a clam getting on the air on 2M FM. Unfortunately there is a growing trend (or possibly pressure) among ham clubs to run a "Ham Cram" program on a weekend. This is where one or two members of the local club take an afternoon on a weekend to teach the test, so to speak to anyone wanting/needing a Technician Class ham ticket. It seems that a large number of "preppers" (or survivalists) are getting their ham tickets for the day the SHTF!
I really don't like this type of "instruction". Over the last 20 years between the ARRL and the FCC the license tests have been "dumbed down" to the point that if a person can properly spell his/her name they can get a license! That's not what Ham Radio is all about. At least not in my opinion. Of course the ARRL did this (with the blessing of the FCC) to swell the ranks of amateurs and stimulate the hobby. I can't help but think that there is a connection in there somewhere between the ARRL and the various Evil Offshore Empire equipment manufacturers, too. After all, it takes a LOT of money to buy several full pages of advertising in QST!
In reality what has happened is that there are a lot of new hams who will never go beyond a technician class license and in turn stay on the V/UHF frequencies with their shack-on-the-belt hand-held. Not that this is a bad thing, but there sure as hell is more to ham radio than repeaters and packet radio.
This brings me to another point of irritation: clubs. I belong to three here in the Atlanta area. I rarely go to meetings due to Pat's work schedule and some other family obligations that occur on meeting nights. However, I have noticed that the active clubs, the ones with large memberships, are a diverse bunch. This is great. It's the smaller clubs that lack a large member pool that suffer stagnation while trying to scare up hams to present presentations at meetings. Therefore, my New Years wish for all of you out there in Radio Land: become active with one or two local clubs and stir up some interest in areas of ham radio not directly related to 2M FM operation. In other words, train your replacement in the hobby.
I love guns. I have been a long-time target and pistol competitor. This year I finally conceded that I could no longer shoot accurately with the 1911A1 in .45 ACP. At the urging of several other shooters (Herb, from Alaska, among them) I unloaded the two .45s I had and procured three Glocks in 9mm (G-19, G-26, & G-34). One thing about all Glocks.......the sights suck! Big time! No, really, they SUCK!!! I took some drastic measures and replaced the stock sights on two out of the three Glocks with Trijicon sights (http://www.trijicon.com/na_en/index.php). MAN! What a difference!!! I can actually pick up the front sight now with almost no effort at all! They are low light/night sights and you can really lock onto the front and rear sights with very little effort. If you have a problem with the sights on your weapon, go to Trijicon. You won't be sorry. They are a little expensive but it is well worth the cost to be able to boost your accuracy. Additionally, if you carry concealed on a regular basis, it goes without saying that you need to insure that you have the proper sights on your weapon.Check out "In the Gravest Extreme" by Mass Ayoob. Amazon.com has them in stock.
Speaking of shooting, and I do a LOT of it now, I am converting over to lead reloads, since I have two reloading presses and a whole bunch of dies and brass in various calibers. Acme Bullet Company ( http://www.acmebullet.com/index.php?route=common/home) offers a great price on their lead alloy bullets for all popular pistol and rifle calibers. They do a land office business with the Cowboy Action Shooting crowd. They offer some really nice prices and they modified their mailing boxes to fit inside Priority Mail boxes, thereby cutting the shipping costs over half! They have a great customer service department, and are just plain good folks to deal with.
The latest trend in concealed holsters are the "plastic" holsters offered by a number of shooting accessory companies. I prefer Fobus holsters as they are inexpensive (around $20-25) and they come in a large variety of models to cover the most popular hand guns currently in use by police, military and civilians. Fobus products are made in Israel (http://www.fobusholster.com/). The IDF uses them almost exclusively. In reality they are a carbon fiber holster sometimes called by the trade name of "Kydex". I use one on my G-26 and it keeps the pistol in close to the body and can resist attempts by individuals that wish to snatch your firearm out of your holster. Speaking of my Glock 26, it is now my favorite carry piece. It has double the firepower of the Smith model 442 that I use to carry, and with the Fobus holster it stays put and I hardly know its there!
All for now. Have a Happy New Year.
Vy 73
Rich K7SZ
I had steeled myself as I figured Bunny had cancer. She had some very large growths on her belly that the vet said were cancer and would eventually spread to her bones, amounting to a very painful last couple of months. Pat and I decided to have the vet put her down on a trip to the UGA veterinarian school in Athens.
On the way home we both agreed that we didn't need to find another dog since we had Oki Kuma, our 150 pound Alaskan Malamute and our two cats, Cocoa & Carab. So, two days later found us at the animal shelter picking up our new 4 month old "mutt"! Lucy, a Lab mix, is giving Oki a real run for the money, getting him some much needed exercise.
On the radio front:
The antenna project is still on hold, awaiting some help from the Barrow County ARC gang to complete the tower installation and mounting the antennas. The Drake 2B needs some work in the audio section. The K2 is getting farmed out to a local ham who will complete soldering the high density PCBs, which I can no longer do. I have some restoral to do on the Drake TR4 station but that is nothing that directly affects the operation of the rig. The K3 continues to putt-putt along constantly spoiling me. I just don't deserve that great of a rig!
I am Elmering a couple of guys that I shoot with. One of them just got his license a couple of days ago and is happy as a clam getting on the air on 2M FM. Unfortunately there is a growing trend (or possibly pressure) among ham clubs to run a "Ham Cram" program on a weekend. This is where one or two members of the local club take an afternoon on a weekend to teach the test, so to speak to anyone wanting/needing a Technician Class ham ticket. It seems that a large number of "preppers" (or survivalists) are getting their ham tickets for the day the SHTF!
I really don't like this type of "instruction". Over the last 20 years between the ARRL and the FCC the license tests have been "dumbed down" to the point that if a person can properly spell his/her name they can get a license! That's not what Ham Radio is all about. At least not in my opinion. Of course the ARRL did this (with the blessing of the FCC) to swell the ranks of amateurs and stimulate the hobby. I can't help but think that there is a connection in there somewhere between the ARRL and the various Evil Offshore Empire equipment manufacturers, too. After all, it takes a LOT of money to buy several full pages of advertising in QST!
In reality what has happened is that there are a lot of new hams who will never go beyond a technician class license and in turn stay on the V/UHF frequencies with their shack-on-the-belt hand-held. Not that this is a bad thing, but there sure as hell is more to ham radio than repeaters and packet radio.
This brings me to another point of irritation: clubs. I belong to three here in the Atlanta area. I rarely go to meetings due to Pat's work schedule and some other family obligations that occur on meeting nights. However, I have noticed that the active clubs, the ones with large memberships, are a diverse bunch. This is great. It's the smaller clubs that lack a large member pool that suffer stagnation while trying to scare up hams to present presentations at meetings. Therefore, my New Years wish for all of you out there in Radio Land: become active with one or two local clubs and stir up some interest in areas of ham radio not directly related to 2M FM operation. In other words, train your replacement in the hobby.
In other news:
I love guns. I have been a long-time target and pistol competitor. This year I finally conceded that I could no longer shoot accurately with the 1911A1 in .45 ACP. At the urging of several other shooters (Herb, from Alaska, among them) I unloaded the two .45s I had and procured three Glocks in 9mm (G-19, G-26, & G-34). One thing about all Glocks.......the sights suck! Big time! No, really, they SUCK!!! I took some drastic measures and replaced the stock sights on two out of the three Glocks with Trijicon sights (http://www.trijicon.com/na_en/index.php). MAN! What a difference!!! I can actually pick up the front sight now with almost no effort at all! They are low light/night sights and you can really lock onto the front and rear sights with very little effort. If you have a problem with the sights on your weapon, go to Trijicon. You won't be sorry. They are a little expensive but it is well worth the cost to be able to boost your accuracy. Additionally, if you carry concealed on a regular basis, it goes without saying that you need to insure that you have the proper sights on your weapon.Check out "In the Gravest Extreme" by Mass Ayoob. Amazon.com has them in stock.
Speaking of shooting, and I do a LOT of it now, I am converting over to lead reloads, since I have two reloading presses and a whole bunch of dies and brass in various calibers. Acme Bullet Company ( http://www.acmebullet.com/index.php?route=common/home) offers a great price on their lead alloy bullets for all popular pistol and rifle calibers. They do a land office business with the Cowboy Action Shooting crowd. They offer some really nice prices and they modified their mailing boxes to fit inside Priority Mail boxes, thereby cutting the shipping costs over half! They have a great customer service department, and are just plain good folks to deal with.
The latest trend in concealed holsters are the "plastic" holsters offered by a number of shooting accessory companies. I prefer Fobus holsters as they are inexpensive (around $20-25) and they come in a large variety of models to cover the most popular hand guns currently in use by police, military and civilians. Fobus products are made in Israel (http://www.fobusholster.com/). The IDF uses them almost exclusively. In reality they are a carbon fiber holster sometimes called by the trade name of "Kydex". I use one on my G-26 and it keeps the pistol in close to the body and can resist attempts by individuals that wish to snatch your firearm out of your holster. Speaking of my Glock 26, it is now my favorite carry piece. It has double the firepower of the Smith model 442 that I use to carry, and with the Fobus holster it stays put and I hardly know its there!
All for now. Have a Happy New Year.
Vy 73
Rich K7SZ
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Antennas, Towers and "Stuff"
Well, here we are four days before Christmas and the weather has been "WONDERFUL"! Today's temperature was in the high 60s with virtually no wind. Ditto for yesterday. Perfect for antenna/tower work. Unfortunately, Bill, KJ4EX, my tower guy, has one of those erratic work schedules and couldn't get time off to come over and finish the tower installation.
HOWEVER, Dave, N4KD, is in the midst of erecting a small tower and beam at his place. Since he has been one of my "go to guys" for my installation, I assured him that if he needed assistance or coolie labor, I was available. He completed his hole earlier last week using a rented auger from one of the big box stores. Bill, KJ4EX, had access to a similar auger which he used to dig my tower hole next to the house earlier in the year.
Using an auger greatly speeds and simplifies the hard work of digging out the hole that holds the concrete and the base of the tower. Once several holes are dug using the auger it is simple work to remove the excess dirt and square up the overall dimensions of the hole to make a square (or rectangle) approximately one cubic yard which will hold about 800 pounds (ten 80 pound bags) of concrete mix and the tower base. This type of installation is good enough to support a tower installation up to 80 or 90 feet, provided guy wires (or Dacron rope) is use to prevent lateral movement of the tower. In my tower installation I will be using one set of three guy ropes set at just under the 60 foot level on the tower. These will be attached to guy anchors (augers, actually) set out into the yard in three locations approximately 120 degrees apart. In addition, I am attaching the tower to the side of my house, just under the roof gable, at the 25 foot level for additional support.
While Dave didn't seem to need me for anything like "work" he did mention that since I had a cement mixer (actually a birthday present to Patricia, KB3MCT, a few years back) he would be tapping me and my mixer when he was ready to plant the base of the tower into the hole and add the concrete. Of course, I said "yes" so right now I am awaiting his phone call.
On to other antenna projects here at the Bent Dipole Ranch.....I procured two Newtronics (Hustler) 4BTV verticals, one just prior to Dayton from a local ham who had it stored in his shop, and the other one I procured new, from DX Engineering, at the Dayton Hamvention. The used antenna was in pretty sad shape, and I will be restoring it over the winter for use as a portable emergency HF vertical to support EmComm. The new one will be affixed to the roof tower that use to hold the Cushcraft A3S HF Yagi and the Skycraft 6 meter beam, which are being moved to the new tower after completion of the tower installation.
The 4BTV is a rather interesting antenna. Originally designed as a quarter wave length trapped vertical to cover 40/20/15/10 meters, this antenna has enjoyed a dedicated following over the years. I used one when I was active in the Azores (CT2BH) in the early 1970s with outstanding results. Over the years the engineers have modified the design to include adding the 80 and 30 meter bands, using additional traps and resonator coils. 80 meter operation is quite restricted due to the limited bandwidth of this vertical's design. Although I have never had one modified for 30 meters; I may add that trap (available from DX Engineering) before erecting it on the roof tower.
One thing to always remember regarding vertical antennas: they need a good radial or counterpoise system to properly radiate an RF signal. Since the vertical antenna element itself is only a quarter wavelength radiator, the radial system provides the other half of the antenna. Since this installation will be above ground on my roof, I will need to provide wire radials cut to approximately a quarter wavelength of the operating frequency on each band. According to the manufacturer I will need at least two, possibly four, of these wire radials per band! This makes for a lot of wire on the roof! In my Azores installation (roof mounted) I used four radials per band and the antenna worked amazingly well. Therefore, I will duplicate that counterpoise system at my current location, in hopes of having an antenna that is a real "DX getter".
The radials don't need to be anything fancy. In the past, on other vertical installations, I have used wire sizes ranging from #26 to #12 with good results. There is also a method of taking five conductor rotator wire and cutting the radials for up to four bands. This greatly simplifies the number of wires you have to deal with and terminate on the roof. I have used this method once before and it worked well. Depending upon my situation here at the Bent Dipole Ranch, I may use that method again just to save space.
One thing about multi-band trapped verticals: adjustment of the antenna and the traps is paramount to obtaining good results on the air. Using my trusty MFJ Model 269 antenna analyzer and taking my time, I will insure that the element measurements are accurate and the radials are properly cut and configured.
Many hams who erect a quarter wavelength trapped vertical and fail to put the necessary work into the counterpoise system see a very low SWR across the bands. This leads them to the erroneous conclusion that their antenna is working just fine. On the contrary, this means that the radiation resistance is so low that the antenna won't radiate properly on the air. You actually want to see a pronounced "dip" in the SWR curve on each band. Remember: the higher bands won't exhibit as much of a drastic "dip" as these bands tend to be much wider in working bandwidth than the lower bands. On the 4BTV the 40 meter band should only be about 75 to 100 kHz wide, from the chosen frequency of operation to where the SWR rises to approximately 2:1. On 80 meters (provided you add the capacity hat and 80 meter resonator) your bandwidth will only be about 25-30 kHz! This means that you will have to re-tune your antenna tuner if your operating excursions exceed the chosen frequency of operation.
One of the major features regarding quarter wavelength verticals is that, when properly configured and adjusted, their angle of radiation (the take off angle of the radiated RF wave) is very low, allowing the RF signal to project further out into space before it encounters a reflective layer of the ionosphere, where it will be refracted (bent) back toward the earth. This is refereed to as "skip zone" and the longer that skip zone, the further out you can successfully work other stations. So basically the lower the angle of radiation (take off angle) the further you can reach with your signals. Therefore, the vertical antenna is often refereed to as a good antenna for DXing. Again, this is provided the antenna is carefully installed and a proper RF counterpoise (radial) system is installed and tuned.
OK, enough for now. I need to get into the shack and do some much needed house cleaning and straightening up. Then, if time permits, I may get on the air and see what DX is available.
Until next time, Vy 73 and good DX.
Rich K7SZ
HOWEVER, Dave, N4KD, is in the midst of erecting a small tower and beam at his place. Since he has been one of my "go to guys" for my installation, I assured him that if he needed assistance or coolie labor, I was available. He completed his hole earlier last week using a rented auger from one of the big box stores. Bill, KJ4EX, had access to a similar auger which he used to dig my tower hole next to the house earlier in the year.
Using an auger greatly speeds and simplifies the hard work of digging out the hole that holds the concrete and the base of the tower. Once several holes are dug using the auger it is simple work to remove the excess dirt and square up the overall dimensions of the hole to make a square (or rectangle) approximately one cubic yard which will hold about 800 pounds (ten 80 pound bags) of concrete mix and the tower base. This type of installation is good enough to support a tower installation up to 80 or 90 feet, provided guy wires (or Dacron rope) is use to prevent lateral movement of the tower. In my tower installation I will be using one set of three guy ropes set at just under the 60 foot level on the tower. These will be attached to guy anchors (augers, actually) set out into the yard in three locations approximately 120 degrees apart. In addition, I am attaching the tower to the side of my house, just under the roof gable, at the 25 foot level for additional support.
While Dave didn't seem to need me for anything like "work" he did mention that since I had a cement mixer (actually a birthday present to Patricia, KB3MCT, a few years back) he would be tapping me and my mixer when he was ready to plant the base of the tower into the hole and add the concrete. Of course, I said "yes" so right now I am awaiting his phone call.
On to other antenna projects here at the Bent Dipole Ranch.....I procured two Newtronics (Hustler) 4BTV verticals, one just prior to Dayton from a local ham who had it stored in his shop, and the other one I procured new, from DX Engineering, at the Dayton Hamvention. The used antenna was in pretty sad shape, and I will be restoring it over the winter for use as a portable emergency HF vertical to support EmComm. The new one will be affixed to the roof tower that use to hold the Cushcraft A3S HF Yagi and the Skycraft 6 meter beam, which are being moved to the new tower after completion of the tower installation.
The 4BTV is a rather interesting antenna. Originally designed as a quarter wave length trapped vertical to cover 40/20/15/10 meters, this antenna has enjoyed a dedicated following over the years. I used one when I was active in the Azores (CT2BH) in the early 1970s with outstanding results. Over the years the engineers have modified the design to include adding the 80 and 30 meter bands, using additional traps and resonator coils. 80 meter operation is quite restricted due to the limited bandwidth of this vertical's design. Although I have never had one modified for 30 meters; I may add that trap (available from DX Engineering) before erecting it on the roof tower.
One thing to always remember regarding vertical antennas: they need a good radial or counterpoise system to properly radiate an RF signal. Since the vertical antenna element itself is only a quarter wavelength radiator, the radial system provides the other half of the antenna. Since this installation will be above ground on my roof, I will need to provide wire radials cut to approximately a quarter wavelength of the operating frequency on each band. According to the manufacturer I will need at least two, possibly four, of these wire radials per band! This makes for a lot of wire on the roof! In my Azores installation (roof mounted) I used four radials per band and the antenna worked amazingly well. Therefore, I will duplicate that counterpoise system at my current location, in hopes of having an antenna that is a real "DX getter".
The radials don't need to be anything fancy. In the past, on other vertical installations, I have used wire sizes ranging from #26 to #12 with good results. There is also a method of taking five conductor rotator wire and cutting the radials for up to four bands. This greatly simplifies the number of wires you have to deal with and terminate on the roof. I have used this method once before and it worked well. Depending upon my situation here at the Bent Dipole Ranch, I may use that method again just to save space.
One thing about multi-band trapped verticals: adjustment of the antenna and the traps is paramount to obtaining good results on the air. Using my trusty MFJ Model 269 antenna analyzer and taking my time, I will insure that the element measurements are accurate and the radials are properly cut and configured.
Many hams who erect a quarter wavelength trapped vertical and fail to put the necessary work into the counterpoise system see a very low SWR across the bands. This leads them to the erroneous conclusion that their antenna is working just fine. On the contrary, this means that the radiation resistance is so low that the antenna won't radiate properly on the air. You actually want to see a pronounced "dip" in the SWR curve on each band. Remember: the higher bands won't exhibit as much of a drastic "dip" as these bands tend to be much wider in working bandwidth than the lower bands. On the 4BTV the 40 meter band should only be about 75 to 100 kHz wide, from the chosen frequency of operation to where the SWR rises to approximately 2:1. On 80 meters (provided you add the capacity hat and 80 meter resonator) your bandwidth will only be about 25-30 kHz! This means that you will have to re-tune your antenna tuner if your operating excursions exceed the chosen frequency of operation.
One of the major features regarding quarter wavelength verticals is that, when properly configured and adjusted, their angle of radiation (the take off angle of the radiated RF wave) is very low, allowing the RF signal to project further out into space before it encounters a reflective layer of the ionosphere, where it will be refracted (bent) back toward the earth. This is refereed to as "skip zone" and the longer that skip zone, the further out you can successfully work other stations. So basically the lower the angle of radiation (take off angle) the further you can reach with your signals. Therefore, the vertical antenna is often refereed to as a good antenna for DXing. Again, this is provided the antenna is carefully installed and a proper RF counterpoise (radial) system is installed and tuned.
OK, enough for now. I need to get into the shack and do some much needed house cleaning and straightening up. Then, if time permits, I may get on the air and see what DX is available.
Until next time, Vy 73 and good DX.
Rich K7SZ
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Merry Christmas!
I must apologize for not being more productive in keeping this blog up to date. There have been lots of developments over the last six months that have kept me preoccupied and not in the blog-publishing mode. I will try to do better in the upcoming year.
To be extremely candid, I have almost completely retired from the Ham Radio hobby....Just no interest. At all. Period. However, things are slowly changing with regard to Ham Radio.
The tower/antenna project at the Bent Dipole Ranch has been slowly progressing over the last 9 months. Since I no longer climb, I must depend upon others to do the climbing and tower work for me. If it had not been for Bill Wilson, KJ4EX, in Winder, GA, I would not have any tower up on the air at all. Bill, along with Dave, N4ND, have done yeoman's work in getting this project as far along as it currently is.
All we have left to do is to put the 9 ft top section of Rohn 25G in place, mount the antennas on a mast, mount the rotator, run the coax and cables and set the permanent guy wires in place. Sounds simple, huh? Well, it ain't! Especially the guy wire (guy rope, actually.....7/16s inch Dacron line) situation. My wife, Patricia, KB3MCT, and I are discussing the placement of two of the in-ground guy anchors, one of which has got to go in the front garden. (I guess a trip to Kay Jewelers might be in order to smooth this over!!!)
On the radio front, I have several major projects: upgrade the Drake AC-4 PSU for the TR-4 station, update the TR-4 transceiver, overhaul and upgrade the Drake 2B receiver (has a bad audio problem), complete the Elecraft K2 kit (this includes upgrading the Rev A board to a Rev B board....lots of stuff to change out on the main PCB), restore KL0SW's National RX he bought at Dayton this year, relocate the 2M FM station to the new shack, upgrade the 2M FM antennas (a Diamond dual bander vertical right at the top of the antenna stack on the new tower!) I am sure I have left one or two things off the list, but that is enough for right now.
While Ham Radio has taken a back seat since mid-year, it has been replaced by my doing some serious firearms training and competition shooting at the local range. For over 50 years I have had a love affair with the 1911A1 .45 ACP pistol. Mr. Browning's gift to the firearms world has held a fascination for me that is hard to explain. Earlier this year I realized that I was not as competent with that weapon as I had been in the past. After several local competitions I compared notes with the owner of the range, a retired USMC Gunnery Sargent, master marksman/armorer, and all around good guy. He suggested that I try using a 9mm (9 x 19mm or 9mm Luger, for you novice shooters out there) and see if my scores improved. After borrowing a Glock G-19 from a friend at the range, I was amazed at how my marksmanship improved by simply changing calibers! Now I am a dyed-in-the-wool Glock shooter. My concealed carry is a G-26 "Baby Glock", my competition weapon is a Glock G-34, and I am trying to get Patricia to become proficient with the G-19 I picked up earlier this summer. This is a hard sell as Patricia is a long time "wheel gun" (revolver) shooter. In addition to our military combat arms training Pat was an armed security guard for the Social Security Administration Data Center in Plains, PA for several years. They used Smith & Wesson Model 19s, in .357 caliber as their duty weapon. She had to qualify twice a year and always did so with high marks, much to the dismay of some of the local law enforcement officers who had to qualify at the range and didn't do so well score wise.
Both Pat and I know the value of on-going firearms training. We strongly believe that if you own firearms it behooves you to become proficient in their use. We both enjoy the shooting sports and have passed this along to our kids.
As for me, my grandfather started me shooting at the tender age of 5. Both he and my dad were outstanding trap (shotgun) shooters. Dad was a regular at the yearly Bing Crosby invitational shoot at Hayden Lake, Idaho for a number of years.
I started shooting pistols when I was 15 under the guidance of a couple of WSU policemen who substituted for our city cop (remember my home town only had a population of 1000 people and therefore we had only one policeman!) when he took his yearly vacation. They taught me how to reload ammunition with the proviso that they would instruct me in the use of the pistol but I had to reload all the ammo we would shoot that week! I fell in love with hand gunning and have been an active pistol shooter ever since. During my teaching career at the prison, I was a member of the pistol team and shot PPC competitively for a number of years.
Well, that is all for now. Here's hoping you have a very Merry Christmas and a Joyful, Happy New Year. See you on the air, AND, as Jim Scoutten, host of Shooting USA says, "Keep 'em in the 10 ring".
VY 73
Rich K7SZ
To be extremely candid, I have almost completely retired from the Ham Radio hobby....Just no interest. At all. Period. However, things are slowly changing with regard to Ham Radio.
The tower/antenna project at the Bent Dipole Ranch has been slowly progressing over the last 9 months. Since I no longer climb, I must depend upon others to do the climbing and tower work for me. If it had not been for Bill Wilson, KJ4EX, in Winder, GA, I would not have any tower up on the air at all. Bill, along with Dave, N4ND, have done yeoman's work in getting this project as far along as it currently is.
All we have left to do is to put the 9 ft top section of Rohn 25G in place, mount the antennas on a mast, mount the rotator, run the coax and cables and set the permanent guy wires in place. Sounds simple, huh? Well, it ain't! Especially the guy wire (guy rope, actually.....7/16s inch Dacron line) situation. My wife, Patricia, KB3MCT, and I are discussing the placement of two of the in-ground guy anchors, one of which has got to go in the front garden. (I guess a trip to Kay Jewelers might be in order to smooth this over!!!)
On the radio front, I have several major projects: upgrade the Drake AC-4 PSU for the TR-4 station, update the TR-4 transceiver, overhaul and upgrade the Drake 2B receiver (has a bad audio problem), complete the Elecraft K2 kit (this includes upgrading the Rev A board to a Rev B board....lots of stuff to change out on the main PCB), restore KL0SW's National RX he bought at Dayton this year, relocate the 2M FM station to the new shack, upgrade the 2M FM antennas (a Diamond dual bander vertical right at the top of the antenna stack on the new tower!) I am sure I have left one or two things off the list, but that is enough for right now.
While Ham Radio has taken a back seat since mid-year, it has been replaced by my doing some serious firearms training and competition shooting at the local range. For over 50 years I have had a love affair with the 1911A1 .45 ACP pistol. Mr. Browning's gift to the firearms world has held a fascination for me that is hard to explain. Earlier this year I realized that I was not as competent with that weapon as I had been in the past. After several local competitions I compared notes with the owner of the range, a retired USMC Gunnery Sargent, master marksman/armorer, and all around good guy. He suggested that I try using a 9mm (9 x 19mm or 9mm Luger, for you novice shooters out there) and see if my scores improved. After borrowing a Glock G-19 from a friend at the range, I was amazed at how my marksmanship improved by simply changing calibers! Now I am a dyed-in-the-wool Glock shooter. My concealed carry is a G-26 "Baby Glock", my competition weapon is a Glock G-34, and I am trying to get Patricia to become proficient with the G-19 I picked up earlier this summer. This is a hard sell as Patricia is a long time "wheel gun" (revolver) shooter. In addition to our military combat arms training Pat was an armed security guard for the Social Security Administration Data Center in Plains, PA for several years. They used Smith & Wesson Model 19s, in .357 caliber as their duty weapon. She had to qualify twice a year and always did so with high marks, much to the dismay of some of the local law enforcement officers who had to qualify at the range and didn't do so well score wise.
Both Pat and I know the value of on-going firearms training. We strongly believe that if you own firearms it behooves you to become proficient in their use. We both enjoy the shooting sports and have passed this along to our kids.
As for me, my grandfather started me shooting at the tender age of 5. Both he and my dad were outstanding trap (shotgun) shooters. Dad was a regular at the yearly Bing Crosby invitational shoot at Hayden Lake, Idaho for a number of years.
I started shooting pistols when I was 15 under the guidance of a couple of WSU policemen who substituted for our city cop (remember my home town only had a population of 1000 people and therefore we had only one policeman!) when he took his yearly vacation. They taught me how to reload ammunition with the proviso that they would instruct me in the use of the pistol but I had to reload all the ammo we would shoot that week! I fell in love with hand gunning and have been an active pistol shooter ever since. During my teaching career at the prison, I was a member of the pistol team and shot PPC competitively for a number of years.
Well, that is all for now. Here's hoping you have a very Merry Christmas and a Joyful, Happy New Year. See you on the air, AND, as Jim Scoutten, host of Shooting USA says, "Keep 'em in the 10 ring".
VY 73
Rich K7SZ
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Confessions of a BAR (Born Again Rocketter)
OK, it's like this: Model rocketry is NOT Off Topic for this list (as of now!) Don't worry....we will work radio in here somewhere!
Let's climb into the "Way Back Machine". The year: 1967. Location: Palouse Hills in eastern Washington (state) about 70 miles south of Spokane. Having just graduated from college I was filling in as an on-air personality (and sometimes engineer) at KCLX in Colfax about 15 miles away while waiting for my date to report for USAF basic training.
Since hearing Sputnik on my old S-38 receiver in 1957, I was fascinated by space, space travel, rockets, and the US Space Program. I remember (like it was yesterday) when Al Shepard, aboard Freedom Seven lofted by a Redstone rocket became our first American in Space. Al was later to become the fifth man to ever walk on the moon as the Commander of Apollo 14.
I knew all about the Mercury Seven as well as the Gemini and Apollo astronauts. That fateful day in 1967 when the Apollo One fire claimed the lives of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee, caused all of us who closely followed America's Space Program to wonder if the sacrifice of these three brave individuals was truly worth the price. Later, in the late 1980s I had the pleasure of knowing several of the NASA scientists/engineers who re-created the Apollo One fire and found the cause. The dedication of these men along with thousands of others involved with the space program brought to fruition, in July of 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. I was stationed in Japan at the time and on that day I was taking the train to work at Fuchu Air Station (5th AF HQ) in Fuchu Japan. It was a very good day to be an American as, since I was in uniform, I was literally mobbed by frantic Japanese passengers pounding my back and wanting to shake my hand....oh, and let's not forget the formal bowing. What a thrill. We had done something that no one else in the history of mankind had accomplished: we had visited a world outside our own, set foot upon it, and made history.
Back to the "Way Back Machine" and the Palouse Hills......I had been wanting to build and launch model rockets for several months. There was no organized club in or around Spokane (where I went to college) so I set about finding out as much as possible about building and launching model rockets. Within a couple of weeks I had two rockets built and had a pile of Estes solid fuel motors and support equipment. I pulled my 1956 Ford Crown Vic (complete with four antennas, a VHF police radio, a CB radio along with a 2M rig (a re-purposed RCA two channel taxi radio) into the old cow pens/stockyard north of Palouse (my home). (See, I promised we'd get radio into the mix!!)
I deployed the launch rig, and inserted the igniter into the solid fuel motor, placed the rocket on the rail and hooked up the launch controller. 5....4....3....2....1! Whoosh! off it went into the sky. Man, what a thrill! I had built and flown my own rocket! There was something magical about that. I recovered the bird and had 10 successful launches that day with my two rockets! Life was good!!!
Over the intervening years I built and launched a myriad of rockets, at a myriad of locations including Lajes Field, the Azores, and Japan. After 1975 I put my model rocketry hobby aside in favor of my military career and family.
Flash forward to December of 2012. I decided to rekindle my rocketry "jones" and purchase several Estes kits. Actually, my grand daughter, Kielan, had expressed an interest in model rocketry several years prior and I tried my best to interest her in building rockets and flying same, however, boys became her primary interest.
I had completed an Estes Honest John ("A" motor rocket) and an Estes Stryker ("B and C" motor rocket and was ready to launch. I joined the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) and the local club Southern Amateur Rocketry (SoAR) in preparation for my first launch in about 30+ years! Unfortunately I was unable to make any launch dates until this weekend (July 13th) at a sod farm a few miles north of where I live in Dacula.
A couple of weeks ago my 12 year old grandson, K.C., came to visit the grandparents. On Saturday, 13 of July, I took him to the SoAR launch site to fly his first rocket. We arrived just after 10AM and there was already a crowd of about 200 people at the site. Many of them were Cub and Boy Scouts, along with their den mothers and fathers and parents. It was quite a sight....all those folks getting their "birds" inspected prior to launch, mounting their rockets on the pads and finally "flying" their rockets. It was truly inspiring.
K.C. had a pre-built Estes rocket that he really liked (it was green, his favorite color) so when it flew for the first time he was ecstatic! I got a "high five" from him!!! He was so excited it was almost magical. We quickly swapped to a new engine and igniter and readied for a 2nd flight. All in all he flew his Green Dragon three times that Saturday and had a ball! I, having multiple problems with igniters, only flew my Gronk I twice, losing it into the trees at the edge of the field on the last flight.
So, basically, what does this tell us? Give in to your inner kid. Get your family interested in something besides I-pads, I-phones, smart phones and the Internet. Get them out into the sunlight and ENJOY the day doing something, anything that promotes family fun and togetherness.
Have a Great Day & God Bless.
Vy 73 Rich K7SZ
_
Let's climb into the "Way Back Machine". The year: 1967. Location: Palouse Hills in eastern Washington (state) about 70 miles south of Spokane. Having just graduated from college I was filling in as an on-air personality (and sometimes engineer) at KCLX in Colfax about 15 miles away while waiting for my date to report for USAF basic training.
Since hearing Sputnik on my old S-38 receiver in 1957, I was fascinated by space, space travel, rockets, and the US Space Program. I remember (like it was yesterday) when Al Shepard, aboard Freedom Seven lofted by a Redstone rocket became our first American in Space. Al was later to become the fifth man to ever walk on the moon as the Commander of Apollo 14.
I knew all about the Mercury Seven as well as the Gemini and Apollo astronauts. That fateful day in 1967 when the Apollo One fire claimed the lives of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee, caused all of us who closely followed America's Space Program to wonder if the sacrifice of these three brave individuals was truly worth the price. Later, in the late 1980s I had the pleasure of knowing several of the NASA scientists/engineers who re-created the Apollo One fire and found the cause. The dedication of these men along with thousands of others involved with the space program brought to fruition, in July of 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. I was stationed in Japan at the time and on that day I was taking the train to work at Fuchu Air Station (5th AF HQ) in Fuchu Japan. It was a very good day to be an American as, since I was in uniform, I was literally mobbed by frantic Japanese passengers pounding my back and wanting to shake my hand....oh, and let's not forget the formal bowing. What a thrill. We had done something that no one else in the history of mankind had accomplished: we had visited a world outside our own, set foot upon it, and made history.
Back to the "Way Back Machine" and the Palouse Hills......I had been wanting to build and launch model rockets for several months. There was no organized club in or around Spokane (where I went to college) so I set about finding out as much as possible about building and launching model rockets. Within a couple of weeks I had two rockets built and had a pile of Estes solid fuel motors and support equipment. I pulled my 1956 Ford Crown Vic (complete with four antennas, a VHF police radio, a CB radio along with a 2M rig (a re-purposed RCA two channel taxi radio) into the old cow pens/stockyard north of Palouse (my home). (See, I promised we'd get radio into the mix!!)
I deployed the launch rig, and inserted the igniter into the solid fuel motor, placed the rocket on the rail and hooked up the launch controller. 5....4....3....2....1! Whoosh! off it went into the sky. Man, what a thrill! I had built and flown my own rocket! There was something magical about that. I recovered the bird and had 10 successful launches that day with my two rockets! Life was good!!!
Over the intervening years I built and launched a myriad of rockets, at a myriad of locations including Lajes Field, the Azores, and Japan. After 1975 I put my model rocketry hobby aside in favor of my military career and family.
Flash forward to December of 2012. I decided to rekindle my rocketry "jones" and purchase several Estes kits. Actually, my grand daughter, Kielan, had expressed an interest in model rocketry several years prior and I tried my best to interest her in building rockets and flying same, however, boys became her primary interest.
I had completed an Estes Honest John ("A" motor rocket) and an Estes Stryker ("B and C" motor rocket and was ready to launch. I joined the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) and the local club Southern Amateur Rocketry (SoAR) in preparation for my first launch in about 30+ years! Unfortunately I was unable to make any launch dates until this weekend (July 13th) at a sod farm a few miles north of where I live in Dacula.
A couple of weeks ago my 12 year old grandson, K.C., came to visit the grandparents. On Saturday, 13 of July, I took him to the SoAR launch site to fly his first rocket. We arrived just after 10AM and there was already a crowd of about 200 people at the site. Many of them were Cub and Boy Scouts, along with their den mothers and fathers and parents. It was quite a sight....all those folks getting their "birds" inspected prior to launch, mounting their rockets on the pads and finally "flying" their rockets. It was truly inspiring.
K.C. had a pre-built Estes rocket that he really liked (it was green, his favorite color) so when it flew for the first time he was ecstatic! I got a "high five" from him!!! He was so excited it was almost magical. We quickly swapped to a new engine and igniter and readied for a 2nd flight. All in all he flew his Green Dragon three times that Saturday and had a ball! I, having multiple problems with igniters, only flew my Gronk I twice, losing it into the trees at the edge of the field on the last flight.
So, basically, what does this tell us? Give in to your inner kid. Get your family interested in something besides I-pads, I-phones, smart phones and the Internet. Get them out into the sunlight and ENJOY the day doing something, anything that promotes family fun and togetherness.
Have a Great Day & God Bless.
Vy 73 Rich K7SZ
_
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