Active monitor [015]
Greetings from my shack...
HERE
I’m at my desk in my shack attempting to listen to all the local repeaters, four meters and a bit of HF simultaneously. Trying and failing to not to get too distracted by any conversations that pop up. Just noticed that my four meter radio still has the plastic on screen. I must have missed that one.
GB3XX has been busy these last few days. G0WTZ Chris Taylor (Of Moonraker fame) was a regular on there and I’ve been listening out for any improvement in his condition. He had a brain bleed and although stable, has been unconscious since it happened.
I put a shout out on GB3XX and Phil G8BVV responded. He used to chat to Chris every day but has the same news as me. Chris is now breathing for himself but that’s all we know.
Chris is a lovely guy that does so much for the amateur radio community and as a passionate communicator if he were well enough he would be on the radio or emailing.
Nothing heard. Yet.
THERE
I spent a few days at the Thinking Digital conference in the North East of England. I had little time for radio but while in my room I’d flick around three local repeaters I could get into.
Although specifically asking for the fifth floor of the hotel I was still lower than the surrounding hills. There was little going on. With all the geeks at this conference, next time I attend I might take a few PMR handhelds to dish out. Just for a laugh. People forget how much fun radio is until they have a play. Then it all comes flooding back.
GEAR
These clip on PMR walkie-talkies look like fun.
There is something really cool about portable satellite operations kit.
ONAIR
The other night my Icom ic705 was scanning the repeaters (all of them) and I heard a familiar voice on GB3TU. It was Gordon with his new callsign 2E0HVQ chatting with Andy M1NER. Even under normal conditions I think I’ve underestimated the reach of the Tring repeater as it’s a good 42 miles south of me and Andy was another 31 miles beyond that sat in his hotel carpark.
It got me thinking about what repeaters subscribers to this email can hit. If we add our names to the repeaters on a map we might find new operators to chat with. I’ve started the ball rolling by adding some of the repeaters I can hit.
Click the image or this link to get to the map.
Find the repeaters you know you can hit, click on the pin and tap the pencil to add your callsign to the bottom field. If you are the first, the repeater will still be blue. Tap the paint pot and turn it red to let others know there is a callsign listed there.
It might be you can connect with other readers of this email by adding a new repeater to your scan list.
If you don’t feel confident editing your local repeater on this map. Email me or leave a comment with the repeaters you can hit and your callsign and I will add them for you.
Last night I had a play with FT8. Conditions looked pretty good.
I was half asleep and for a split second I thought I saw a special event station. Then I realised it was someone trying to spell Ukraine. And then some other stations appeared.
Interesting times. I did manage to find some actual stations and managed to get Chile and Kenya in the log for the first time.
This morning things still looked good on 20m.
I’m tempted to start getting up early.
ELSEWHERE
I saw a few weird little antennas dotted around the US and now think they might belong to people Helium mining (i.e mining crypto with radio). A part of me wishes I got involved in this lat year but another part still wonders if it’s all worth it. I don’t live in the most populated area but having checked the map there are a few miners around me. What are your thoughts? Are you mining crypto with radio?
Have you checked out Pylon of the month?
Satellite dishes have a lifespan of around 10 years. The first backyard dish circa 1976 was 5m in diameter. In 1979 if you wanted to buy a dish for home use it would cost you £29,000. It doesn’t look like they sold any. Today You can get them as cheap as £40.
I found this podcast drama called Dead Hand Code. It’s pretty graphic and features a serial killer using a CB radio to transmit a number station containing a code leading to [redacted so as not to spoil it]. I can’t help but think they should have triangulated the signal as it couldn’t have got far on 4W. Although being a serial killer he probably had a burner.
FINALS
Thanks for reading and I hope subscribing.
Please share this wherever you think it might resonate.
Next week I hope visit EMFCamp.org
See you there?
Over
73 de Christian G5DOC
_._
As promised to those new subscribers…
