Picked up my fourth Xiegu G 90 HF radio...160 through 10 meters.

[Tugaloo]

Wow Tugaloo....!!

You are correct about this one....

[quote The shelves that used to be filled with cans of cat food are almost empty.

I have cats here which seem to constantly keep adopting me once they find the company and menu to their liking. But I too noticed that when going to the store to stock up..on both dried and canned cat food....that the cupboards are going empty of canned cat food. I don't like my stocks of anything to get low and try to keep track of it to a level maintained which I call...."Bank." And hence when I detect the Bank getting low I tend to stock up...and of course cat food canned was among those items and hence I too noticed this trend line...


I'v e not bought any auto parts of late so have not notice inflation in that arena but soon enough.....mostly riding my scooters about town.

Have some time off and have pretty much been staying close to my lazy boy and refrigerator....with a week off from this shipyard....oh...and my radio room/man cave!!



Thanks,
Orangetom
Not an Ishmaelite.[/QUOTE]

Get used to it as Petula Clark sang in 1966; it is the sign of the times.

In today's world, everything is increasing in price or is not available. I read that this is the highest inflation this nation has recorded for around 4 decades ago.

I'm slowly building my radio room. I installed a 240 VAC line into the shack. I'm considering a Zero-Five 43' 10 to 160 meter vertical. I emailed the maker and for decent 160 meter, he suggested adding additional wire to convert it to an inverted L configuration.
As the solar cycle returns, it will be a 5 band Quad at 56'.

Having time off is a good thing. OTOH, we are retired and life is good, very good.

[orangetom1999]

With the windy snowy weather of a few days ago ...one section of my long wire HF antenna came down. I had a spring on it but as it wore out I removed it and never replaced. In these high winds of the other day the rope frayed and broke depositing my pulley and wire onto the ground on that section.

I tried to find another spring at the orange place...home depot but no joy. I made do for this repair with a couple of pieces of bungee cord. I will purchase two more later and put them back.

That section of the wire is now back up in the air and has those two pieces of bungee cord to ease some of the strain on the wire.

Glad to have it back on line but have not tried it out as of yet. Will try to get ahold of my friend out in Tennessee again this weekend....but expect no real problems or issues.

I do not like to have this long wire loop down for repairs....but instead ..back up in the air and on line...ready to go. I can tune this long wire antenna from the Am Broadcasting band to some 50 MHZ if needed.

If not I have spare G5RV dipoles and two rolls of wire 12 gauge 500 foot from Lowes. .Spare ladder line too..I can make do if needed.

Orangetom
Not an Ishmaelite.

[Tugaloo]

As you noticed snow or ice can wreck havoc on antenna systems.. Same as you, I've used springs to protect LW antennas from ice loading.
A bud lives up North on one of the Great Lakes where ice loading is a major problem; he swears by copper weld wire and these:

http://antennatensioner.com/drupal/wire-antenna-tensioner-models

He justifies the expense saying he doesn't have to climb up the towers to replace the LW.

Another method is using egg insulators and a marine grade pulley with a swivel. At one end the rope passes through the pulley with a counter weight. When weight is added to the antenna, the counterweight is lifted. Here's a link:
http://www.radioworks.com/ninstallant.html

Back in the good old days when prices were a lot less expensive, I purchased a few 500' rolls of 16ga lamp wire.
One is not a real Ham unless they have a well stocked "junk" box. ROFL.

Here, power company surges and lighting are additional risks to antennas and whatever is attached to them.
To keep lightning outside the shack, I use these from Alpha Delta Communications

https://www.alphadeltaradio.com

I also added power line surge protection in the panel.

Speaking of shortages... I found this site with up to date information.
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ne...ic-traffic-jam. IMO, the biggest shortage is the lack of media coverage on it.

[orangetom1999]

I'm going to try to get ahold of my friend in Tennessee tonight on 75 meters at 3.610 MHZ LSB. About 830 pm.

If you can jump in.

We can go anywhere in the band...and also plan to try 160 meters at night to see if we can make it. But our favorite band is 75 meters.

Orangetom
Not an Ishmaelite.

[orangetom1999]

Met my friend on 3.610 MHZ last night LSB for some 30-45 minutes before turning it loose. Hope to do so again tonight...about the same time.

I ran my Xiegu G90 rig with a max output of 20 watts and on this higher elevated wire loop...the copy was good.

I have the factory built cooling fan on this rig and it works well. I have this cooling rig on some 4 Xiegu G90 rigs I own.



He used to live here in the Hampton Rhodes area...and we used to hook up often on 2 meter single sideband...we tend to like sideband mode....simplex.


Orangetom
NOt an Ishmaelite.

[Tugaloo]

Having a QSO on 3.610 MHz LSB with 20 watts is seriously impressive. 80 meters is super crowded and almost everyone is QRO.

I'm seriously considering a Zero Five 43' 10 to 160 meter vertical.

https://zerofive-antennas.com/product/43-foot-10-160-meter-multiband-foldover-vertical-antenna-with-unun/

It takes me a while to go from "seriously considering" to open my wallet and spending $$$

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=34.575500000000034&lon=-83.32742999999994

With the weather coming our way, I exercised the generator today.
I only had to reset 2 clocks, the stove and the microwave.

[orangetom1999]

I should tell you Tugaloo that we are down at the end of the 75 meter band in the Extra Class portion of the band and it is a bit quieter down there.....which is why we like it. We are not into bumping heads or running alot of power if we can help it...though we have power when needed.

We have also learned that Antenna efficiency is very important...as well as one's total system working together as one effecient unit.


Don' know what class license you have but we can go anywhere in the band and work it....and would be happy to accommodate you and your needs when you are set up.


Have work to get done around here today...best get to it...before more cold snap moves in.


Orangetom
Not an Ishmaelite.

[Tugaloo]

I'm an Extra Class from back when 20 WPM was required.
I was licensed by an Elmer" before the VEs existed. As he is a silent key, his call sign was W3DXA or DX America. As a Novice, my first QSO was to Chile using a Windom.
After I passed my General and IMO, I had everything I wanted. Most DX expeditions used to TX in the Extra sub band and RX in 5 to 10.
One day my Elmer told me that he put 18 Hams on the air, but never an Extra.. Then, he said only you had
the code speed.. Bill taught a gearhead a lot and I owed him.
A couple of weeks later, I took my Advanced in Frederick, MD. The next week, in Cumberland, MD, passed my Extra.
Back in the day, an Elmer had a meaning as there was a relationship. Under the VE system, the VEs are meaningless.

I know about the 80 (75) meter phone band and its obscene use of power for short E layer propagation.

Latest weather from weather.gov:
https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=34.579620000000034&lon=-83.33313999999996
Toccoa is the nearest town and about 17 road miles from where I live and I'm a few hundred feet higher.
Instead of the usual yellow high lighting, it is red. It's the first time, I've seen red for where I live.
It's a very good feeling to have a generator outside. I exercised the generator today and yesterday to be certain the battery is charged. It is pretty seamless as the only clocks that were blinking was the stove, microwave and the Bose alarm clock in the bedroom.

[orangetom1999]

by Tugaloo...

I'm an Extra Class from back when 20 WPM was required.

Same here Tugaloo...I wanted to know if I could do it though many were just waiting for them to do away with the Morse Code.

I often wondered if I had the right stuff to pass 20 WPM...and so I stuck with it...though code did not come naturally to me....as with some hams.


I remember my Elmer ...Bonner Johnson...WA4YOB... telling me that I and one other fellow would be making Extra class....

Also he stated so and so and some others would not be making Extra class..

And by golly...that is exactly how it turned out.

I often kid around that Bonner had radar working for him...he could see around corners and in the dark on radio stuff..

Bonner was even helping me with advice on making my own antennas back when I was only on the 11 meter band.

Again...with making antennas..in like manner to Morse Code...I wanted to know if I had the right stuff...to make an antenna from scratch and have it work.



I am ever grateful to Bonner and some others for helping me along in ham radio...and in like manner...I help others as needed.

A very 73 to you and your house,
Orangetom
Not an Ishmaelite.

[Tugaloo]

My Elmer was Bill Myers W3DXA. He was an OSS code operator in WWII. As he said, on CW the path to speed is hearing words and not writing them. All that matters for the log book is frequency, call sign, signal report, and time.
Definitely old school as he used a Vibroplex bug.

http://vibroplex.com/contents/en-us/d12_SEMI-AUTOMATIC__BUG__keys.html

The dits are formed by a spring effect and the dashes are manual. It is a little tricky to to keep the manual dashes at the same speed as the dits.
I have one; however, it limited my speed to ~25 WPM. I switched to a Curtis chip and an iambic keyer.

Most of the OTs I knew used LW antennas. Most used a 3 position blade lever switch. The ham left it open and his wife called saying when she walked in his shack, her hair stood on end. Two Hams pushed the switch to ground with a 2x4 with a big blue flash from precipitation static.
I enjoyed experimenting with antennas and still do.

We lost power last night about 0100 and back on at 1700. The generator performed great!! Except at night, it was a lot louder than either of us remembered. In addition, the bull dogs (southern name for Pitt Bulls) went to a loud alarm mode.

[Armyjimbo]

Wow, I've plinked the 3000+ to get comfortable with my G22, Done about 1000 through my Beretta 1951, now I have to start in on my 225

[Tugaloo]

Wow, I've plinked the 3000+ to get comfortable with my G22, Done about 1000 through my Beretta 1951, now I have to start in on my 225

My wife was employed as a design engineer at FN Manufacturing in Columbia, SC.

https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/photos-fns-south-carolina-manufacturing-facility/

FN manufactures the M4, M16, M240, M249 and more there.

Perhaps out of loyalty, insider knowledge, or whatever, she bought a FNS-9C. She learned she has a major dislike for its heavy trigger pull weight.
Personally, when cocked and locked, I prefer hammer fire over striker fire. No offense, but my money means my opinion counts. LOL
I bought a G-sight laser (https://g-sight.com) training system which proved to be a lot less expensive than lots of ammo.

[Armyjimbo]

To each, their own. After just a few years in service, I prefer live fire. It allows a permanent record of my failings.

[Tugaloo]

To each, their own. After just a few years in service, I prefer live fire. It allows a permanent record of my failings.

Definitely, to each their own. As both of served in the Military, our initial training was paid for by the taxpayer. LOL

Same here, I spent over a couple of years in Vietnam. First as an 11B*P. Later, I was a door gunner on a Huey gunship. To me, it was an easy sale, they had a mess hall enough the food sucked; it was better than cans. The best was, they had hot showers where one could take as many as they pleased. Add the PX, Class 6, no monsoon season to soak mail and laundry instead of direct combat exchange for uniforms. To me, it was almost heaven.. ;)

We still shoot in the backyard and often. There is nothing as good as live fire, period.
The app on the phone stores where each shot hit and if record keeping is important, transfer it to a PC or laptop.
It is a way cheap practice to develop sight picture, muscle memory etc. Fortunately with her, recoil is not an issue. She had beginner issues with pistols and now she doesn't.

What the G-sight does not to is record the time it takes to acquire the target and shoot. I'll stand behind her and throw something over her head. Not something most ranges will tolerate and even less tolerate of throwing two targets.

Although competitive shooters face the targets so they can swivel to hit all the targets/plates; I did the same when I shot competitively. OTOH, at the two way range, that offers a large torso target unless one is wearing armor with plates..
At the OK Corral

Morgan Earp took a bullet that went across his back and hit both shoulder blades.

https://lflank.wordpress.com/2016/11/30/the-gunfight-at-the-ok-corral/

Because he turned to present a smaller target.

[Armyjimbo]

I hear you. I hope never to require that my hand gun gets used actively, my live fire 2 way was definitely tilted in my favor. I was an infanteer (all infantry no sub sets) but as infantry you are eventually required to pick up the various skills of MG both C6 & M2, radio communications, driver wheel, track AVGP/LAV. Then if you show skills Recce, then maybe sniper. As I was in a light battalion (motorized not mech) I didn't get track qual, had an opportunity for para but was medicaled off after a concussion.. Bosnia and Afghanistan