AmateurRadio.com

A few months back I posted a story about getting a bicycle and looking up way to attach a radio to it to do some mobile work. While the summer has been busy and that project is on the side for the winter, I came across this video from KH1JH, of his Motorcycle mobile. Justin shows us how he mounted an HTX-202 from Radio Shack and is able to use it while on the road on his bike. A nice little setup if I do say so. Wish I could have a nice big hog to ride while doing 2 meters. That would be fun I bet! But I digress, here is Justin’s video. Enjoy!

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne.

Southgate Amatuer Radio has a great article about iHAB-7, which is a high altitude balloon that carried Amateur Radio as well as record HD video of the flight. It went up to a little over 85,000 feet and took some stunning images.

YouTube Screen Shot

It all carried a 40 Meter beacon and a 70cm simplex repeater up with it. The video was posted on YouTube and I am re-posting it here for you as well. Here’s the description from the YouTube video giving a little more detail on the flight:

First, we are thankful for everyone who participated in the iHAB-7 launch. What a GREAT way to spend a beautiful Iowa fall day! iHAB-7 was a picture perfect flight! The propulsion team did a fantastic job getting the balloon filled to specifications, which gave iHAB-7 a perfect 5.5m/sec ascent rate.

The balloon stayed aloft for 1 Hour – 51min, reaching a burst altitude of 85,290ft and traveling 33 miles down range. COLD temperature at altitude, lowest temperature recorded inside the payload reached -8 °C or 17.6 °F. The recovery team had the rare opportunity to get a visual on the payload at 8,000 feet on its decent, and witnessed it land in a freshly harvested cornfield SE of Morning Sun, Iowa.

Signal reports are still coming in on the 40 Meter beacon. UHF Simplex repeater worked as well as it could. Being a “Parrot” it is a little more challenging to work, but some folks were able to make QSOs.

A special thank you to the Washington Area Amateur Radio Club for their sponsorship of the iHAB-7 Launch! Also, thank you to Mark Joseph (KC9DUU) – Jesse Risley (K9JLR) – Jeremy Lamb (KC9KGJ) – and Pete Lilja (KC0GPB) for chasing with us!

Looking at a still image from the video, the view reminds me of Courasant from Star Wars. There I go being geek again. Anyways, here is your Amateur Radio moment of “Zen”.

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne.

I haven’t heard about this too much in the last few years, but back when I first got my license, I helped out with this. So I figured I would mention the Pumpkin Patrol since it’s now October and Halloween will be here before we know it!

Screen Shot of YNN Video

When I was helping out, I was stationed on one of 2 bridges near where I lived. One was in the village of Fultonville, just off Exit 28 on the NY Thruway, and the other was in Amsterdam off of Exit 27 of the Thruway. Both bridges, went over the Thruway and were accessible because they were State routes that went over the bridges. Now I had heard on the news about kids throwing stuff off of the bridges down on to roads and cars. And after a particularity bad incident, the NY State Police decided to stop the problem right off. That’s where volunteer Ham Radio operators like myself came in.

I had heard on the local repeater they were looking for a few people to help cover bridges and that they needed someone to cover one of those 2 bridges by me. So I called the man in charge at the time, Jack, WA2YBM, and ask if I could help. Long story short, I got all the info and a plaque for the car so the police knew who I was, and went out and sat on the bridge till midnight and did my check ins. I did it a few more times. Then I didn’t hear anything about it for a while, so I never really did it again.

Although, given the chance, I might be willing to still do it, if the need arose. It was fun, but to be honest, it was also a little boring. But I kept myself occupied and still enjoyed the experience overall. If there is a Pumpkin Patrol in your area, I would encourage you to sign up and be a part of it. Especially if you’re looking for something for the first time out. This would be a good way to break the ice.

Here’s a link to a quick story from a couple years ago. Just a blurb on the news…

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Someone from the Short Mountain Repeater Club, made a nice video from the Huntsville hamfest. It shows Ten Tec‘s booth all setup and looking sharp. It’s a short video but by all means it still is nice to get a look at hamfests from other parts of the country.There’s not much to tell about this. It’s just a look at the booth and all the great radios TenTec makes. Short and sweet. Enjoy.

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne.

After a lightning strike near his house took out a good portion of his shack, John, W5CYF, has posted a video bringing his viewers up to speed to on how his shack is coming along after he has started to get some new equipment to get back on the air. He seems to have a nice collection of radios. Shown in the video is a TenTec Century 21, and a Kenwood TS-520, along with some filters and an MFJ Tuner. In previous videos he described what happened with the strike. While you can never predict when a lightning strike is going to happen, you should still plan for it. Ground your station. I was the victim of a near strike myself. It luckily only fried a few switches in my old FT-901DM. After that, I started grounding the station. While it was unfortunate, we can all learn from this. Here’s the update from John.

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne.

George visits the Twit.tv studios and interviews Randy Hall, K7AGE. Tommy visits the Huntsville Hamfest. Jim builds an Audio Isolation Interface. Peter shows us the DATV QSO Party.

I didn’t post anything yesterday because I wasn’t feeling well, so to make up for it I give you this. Southgate ARC has a story posted about the USS Pampanito, a World War II Balao class Fleet submarine, that is docked at pier 45 at Fisher Man’s Wharf in San Fransisco. They have an Amateur Radio station on board and it’s on the air.The Pampanito has been converted into a museum and memorial back in 2007, that is open daily. During WWII, the vessel made six patrols of the Pacific ocean and sunk six Japanese ships and damaged four others. One of the stops on the tour of the Pampantio is the radio room, where the Amateur Radio station is setup. Rem, K6BBQ, has made a video of the radio room showing some Hams making contacts from the submarine. Rem says about the video, “..I’ve added some special effects to go along with the Pampanito’s WWII history.”

This kind of reminds me of the USS Slater, that is docked here in Albany, NY. Here is Rem’s video. Enjoy.

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, The Rock of Albany’s website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne.