“When All Else Fails” - Put to Task this Week

“When All Else Fails”


That’s quite a statement., isn’t it?


Yet, it is true. Hams are eager… yes, eager to step in and fill communication voids when needed.


In addition to helping in disaster situations communicating food and supply needs, we also engage pass along health and welfare information into and out of affected areas.


We hams are stationed all over the nation. When hurricane Irene moved up the eastern seaboard, I was monitoring 14.325mhz listening to the hurricane service net which was relaying weather information from the affected areas to the national weather service hurricane prediction center in Miami, Florida.


Many, many hams were transmitting form the affected area. And, when their power went out, they switched to emergency power and kept supplying information.

If needed, hundreds of hams were monitoring that frequency to help with relays and take any emergency communications that may have surfaced.


We hams want to help. We don’t get paid, we don’t get special favors, but a little recognition never hurt. We use our personal equipment, our time and energy, and we do our best to be available for ’when all else fails’.

How Long till the Next Hurricane?

As of Sunday August 28, 2011 these are the predictions from the National Hurricane Prediction Center:  <--Link to Detailed Information on their website.

Ham - Amateur Radio - Frequencies can be used for Hurricane Situation Emergency

Hurricane Frequencies


On frequency 14.325 is The Hurricane Watch net.  It is now Saturday morning and I'm streaming this net live over the internet.  Visit my 'Live ke5utn channel' link located (in the links section) on the sidebar of this page. 

On the frequency of 14.280 there will be nets at 12 noon, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm for folks trying to get in contact with others form around the hurricane affected area. I think these will be eastern times.


I’m not sure how effective these nets will be, but I picked this info up on the maritime mobile net this afternoon.


For mobile stations needing to get health and welfare, emergency or priority traffic passed along, you can try 14.300 USB - the MMN (maritime mobile net) from about 8:00 am to about 10:00pm Eastern time.


There are formal traffic nets that will be glad to take your traffic. Two I know of are Monday through Saturday at 10:30am Central time and 1:30Pm on Sunday- central time - on 7.280 MHZ


Also, on 7.243 every day. At 3:30 pm.


Usually, there will be a SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Net) on multiple bands. You can try 7.265 14.265 and in the evenings try 3.977.7.


There are nets on 3.925 at 6:30pm daily central time, and I think I heard of a hurricane net on 3.935 at 8:00pm. Central (not sure about the purpose of this one.)


If you know of other frequencies, please leave the info in a comment. Thanks.

Thoughts on Ham Radio Nets

Nets are fun aren’t they?


Where else can you find so many folks eager to be counted?


Its kind of funny that some people spend thousands of dollars for radios and antennas only to check in on nets saying, “I’m just in for the numbers.


On nightly round table nets, its kind of funny that some hams say the exact same thing, night after night, without fail.


I’m not complaining, mind you, but after a while those folks could come on saying, “remember what I said last night? … then we’re good, 73’s”.


On traffic nets, it is amusing to hear inexperienced hams trying their hand at the net control position. Don’t get me wrong, I applaud anyone who gives this important function a try but it’s sometimes painful to hear new net controls as they get hammered with an unusually high number of check-ins, comming at once. I’ve been in this position before and let me tell you, even though my chair is directly in front of the air-conditioned vent, I was perspiring profusely (sweating).


Nets are fun because of all the different personalities that check in.
Personalities range from reserved and friendly or funny to loud and obnoxious. That said, I wouldn’t have it any other way.


It’s interesting that some people in nets have an uncanny knack of doubling. Well meaning hams often advise these doublers on how to avoid the situation, and only serve to increase its manifestation.


I scratched my head when I heard one ‘net preamble’ suggestions to avoid doubling: it instructed stations to “wait before transmitting to try to avoid doubling”. I thought, If everyone waits, then transmits, won’t there still be a lot of doubling?


Ham radio wouldn’t be as fun for me if there weren’t any nets to participate in. Until my next post, 73s.

This Week's Ham Operator Highlight: Herman, KN5GRK

This week's Ham Highlight is for KN5GRK, Herman.  He's a ham who does a fine job as net control for the Louisiana Traffic Net and the Gulf Coast Single Sideband net.  I look up to him because of his ability to handle the nets, and he always conducts himself with dignity and respect on the air.  My hat is off to KN5GRK.

Here is his interview:

1. What is your qth & when did you become a ham?My QTH is Lafayette, Louisiana and was first licensed in 1956 as a Novice.

 

2. What or who inspired you to get involved in the hobby?I became interested in electronics while in junior high school, then when I went to high school, joined their ham radio club which was W5RFS in Little Rock, AR.

 

3. Did you have an Elmer? If so, who was he and what do you remember most about him?My major Elmer was Weldon Bryant W5FCM who lived down the street from me in Little Rock.  Weldon had his radio shack in his
Ford station wagon.  He did TV work during the day and in the evenings, he would hook up his dipole to his mobile station and work
until the wee hours in the morning.  He played the harmonica and was very, very, good - so good he had auditioned for Jerry Adler.

 

4. What equipment do you run?Transceiver is a Icom 706 MKIIG, Yaesu FL 2100B Amp,  MFJ 989C Versa Tuner II for HF and a Icom 2100H for 2 meters.  Antennas are 75 meter inverted "V" at 30 feet.  Hi-Gain TH3 tri-bander at 30 feet on Rhon 25 tower with Hazer and Ham IV rotator.  Ringo Ranger for 2 meter.   More information can be found on qrz.com.

 

5. What part(s) of the hobby gives you the most satisfaction?Just meeting people on the air.  Contacting Special Event stations.  Doing some Public Information via my e-mail reflector.

 

6. What is your proudest amateur radio related accomplishment, if any?
Being the "LA Section Ham Radio Operator of the Year for 2010" is my greatest accomplishment, working all states on phone and digital are a couple of other feats I am proud of doing.

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Do you have any suggestions for a ham highlight?  If so,  leave a comment or sign my guestbook.  Indicate who you want to highlight and why. 

You can either give me the person's e-mail address, or send these questions to the person yourself.  After they are answered, e-mail them to me at ke5utn@yahoo.com. 

KE5UTN - Station Update (Home Video)

Here's my latest video.  I talk about what I hope to accomplish and some equipment additions in my shack.

MFJ Delux Versa Tuner II Giving me Fits

Well, I’ve been trying to use a new antenna tuner. No, its not ‘actually’ new, but it is new to me.


It’s a MFJ Deluxe Versa Tuner II and it has the 2 crisscrossing needles. One is transmitter power, the other is SWR.


I traded out a Dentron Jr. tuner for the MFJ, and the jury is still out on my opinion.


I have not been able to quickly determine upon which letter the inductor should be placed for a given band. The directions say not to select inductor settings while being keyed up, so I can’t watch my radio power meter now the way I could with my dentron.


The result is much longeer tune-up times… If I can get it tuned up at all.


I do manage to get it tuned quickly on 20 meters, but none of the rest of the bands; 10, 12, 15 or 17 seem to want to cooperate.


I guess there’s a learning curve on this new-to-me tuner, so I’ll exercise more patients and record my successful inductor letters/band settings.


Have you ever had this problem?

Ameritron's New Amp: The ALS-1300 Info

In the market for a fine little Amplifier?  The ALS-1300 may be right for you.

Ameritron 1200W Output Solid State Amplifier 1200 Watts PEP Output, Instant bandswitching, no tuning, no warm-up, SWR protected, 1.5-22 MHz . . . Quiet Variable-Speed Cooling System . . . PEP Forward/Reflected Metering . . . PA Balance /ALC Metering and LED Indicator . . . Front Panel Band and Error LEDs . . .


AMERITRON ALS-1200 is a solid state near legal limitTM FET no-tune Amplifier. Get instant bandswitching, no tuning, no warm-up, no tubes to baby and no fuss!


Reliability of the ALS-1300 is insured by using eight rugged MRF-150 power FETs. Ameritron’s eight FETs are mounted on the dual heavy duty heat sink. They are properly arranged to spread out the heat over a large surface, something that other amplifiers using a single power device cannot do. Some FETs actually are a package of several transistors in one large case. This concentrates all of the heat in one small package. They not only are more difficult to cool, if one transistor fails they all have to be replaced.

The ALS-1300 RF deck operates from 50 Volts for efficient, low distortion linear RF power service. It’s cooled by a whisper quiet cooling fan. Fan speed is regulated by temperature sensors, assuring minimum noise for adequate cooling.


This sounds like the Amplifier that would be on any ham’s wish list. 1200 Watts is nothing to sneeze at. I’d be happy to know I was putting out 500 Watts, but if I had a choice? 1200 would win out.

Click here to go to Ameritron's website to get pricing information.

This Week's Ham Operator Highlight - Mack, KA5JNL

-This is a profile of a Fine ham-

I met Mack in 2008. He was one of the VE testers at my exam. Not only was he there to test me, after I passed,  he was there with  equipment that I needed to get on the air.


He is always encouraging and complementing my progress as a ham, and if it weren't for his generosity, I probably wouldn't be writing this post right now. 

When I was extreemely sick, he even came to visit me in the a hospital 2 hours away.  I respect and admire this man whose heart is as big as they come.

Here are  his questions & answers:

1. What is your qth & when did you become a ham?
Rocky Branch, Louisiana....30 plus years ago.
2. What or who inspired you to get involved in the hobby?
During a drive put on by the city of Monroe to pick up kids to get the
new polio shot who were not able to get there, I watched Mr. Zimmerman call hams on his radio and told them where to go to pick up individual kids...  This was in the mid-fifties...

3. Did you have an Elmer? If so, who was he and what do you remember most about him?
Goerge Zimmerman in 1954....Darn nice guy and fascinating to liten to...

4. What equipment do you run?
Mostly an Icom 756 Pro 3 for HF and an Icom 208H for VHF'UHF...

 5. What part(s) of the hobby gives you the most satisfaction?
EASY: Emergency Communication and Traffic Handling...


6. What is your proudest amateur radio related accomplishment, if any?
When I gave a General Class Test to my surrogate Dad in Farmerville, La. He was 85 years old...Been a "boot legger" for probably 40 years before he got his Tech...Set him up and he could get on HF other than just 10 meters... He's a SK now...

CRACKLE

Thumbs up to my Score in the IARU HF Championship 2010: 1st Place Award came in Today

I participated in the IARU HF Worldwide Championship last year, and finally received an award today.


This is great because I wasn’t expecting to win any thing.


The certificate I received was first place in the Low power, single operator, phone only - classification for Louisiana Section, zone 7.


I thought I was something special as I bragged on myself at this evening’s club meeting, so you can imagine how I felt when two other guys at our club meeting had similar awards.


K5ER, Received first place, Louisiana section, zone 7 for medium power mixed mode (If I remember right), and another Ham got the award for Louisiana, high power either phone or mixed mode. I can’t remember those details either.


I’m just kidding about thinking I was special, but I was really happy that I could claim an award alongside those fine hams… and in the same contest.


This is the first contest I ever participated in that I actually submitted the log.


Will I compete again? Yes. I really did have a lot of fun on this contest. Maybe too much.


Getting involved in this contest was like reading a good book… I didn’t want it to end, and my XYL couldn’t drag me away from it.


If you never participated in a contest, I suggest you give it a try before you pass judgment on contesters.