Space weather woman [011]
Greetings from the shack...
HERE
In the shed working on other things. Or at least I was. It’s very easy to get distracted.
I have so much prep work to get done before catching a flight next week and I can already hear deadlines woosh-ing past my ears.
Interestingly I can see that the levels of C02 in the shack correlate with the amount of stress I’m feeling. I arrived in the shack relatively chilled, but pretty soon felt the stress creep in.
Opening a window not only ventilates the space and wakes me up. It also relaxes me a bit.
Just a bit.
But even though I have two presentations to prepare I can’t help but send you something radio related.
Please share this post in your channels. Looking at the stats it’s never been shared onwards.
You must know someone out there who might like a radio related email. Let me add a button to make it easy. ;-)
THERE
I’ve not been very far this week and only left the house a limited number of times. The furthest I have ventured is about 5 miles. I chatted on local repeaters in the car and managed little but a couple of nets in the shack.
I’ll make up for this next week of course when i’ll be landing in LA. I’m hiring a motorbike to ride out with the Hells Nerds and traveling so light i’ll only be able to pack a handheld.
I still need to try and get a code plug for California. Any ideas? Also what do I prefix my callsign with? Please hit reply to this email if you have any insight.
GEAR
Picked up a very reasonably priced second hand radio this week. The Motorola DM 3400.
Richard M0OFF kindly programmed it with a bunch of DMR talk groups and the local 70cm repeater so it now just sits on my desk looking well built and ready for anything.
These are not my ten must have items for portable amateur radio but they are ‘Radio Prepper’s’
Till I get to make my list, here is his.
I love the little Mountain Topper QRP HF radio he shows. Every time I think about learning morse code I wish Joe 90 was real.
I tried to find the most expensive (non antique) morse key for sale and found this listed for £1,291 on Ali Express.
I thought it must be a mistake and when I clicked on it I was right. It’s still not cheap but priced at a much more respectable £102.13.
Radio World’s Bengali Stealth paddle is priced at £590. Probably because it has the word ‘stealth’ in.
And this tidy little flatpack morse kit only costs £7 on eBay.
Costing about £123 from Kent Engineers this is my key and I WILL learn to use it.
I bought it from HARS. They have a shop for the members and sometimes club members sell off their unneeded gear. Other times equipment from silent keys is sold to raise money for the club. My key used to belong to SK Joe Wells G0IWB.
ONAIR
I was asked by M0OFF if I could run the 4M net in his absence this week. It happens Tuesdays between Huntingdon and St Neots on 70.4 at 8pm.
[This GIF makes me a little uncomfortable. I was asking if the frequency was in use and cropped it down. Not keying up repeatedly.]
It was me G4PPW, 2E0OZX, G4UXV, 2E1IGI and G6CTP. It’s always fun. 4M might be my favourite band.
I also dropped onto the C.R.O.W.S Fusion net.
Me, 2E0HFW, M7APO and the ham who set it all up M1NER.
Even on low power the battery in the FT5D runs low faster than I’d expect. Certainly faster then the FT3D. Lee M7APO thinks it’s the extra LED. I’m starting to dislike that extra LED. It does seem brighter than a 60 watt bulb.
ELSEWHERE
C.W.McCall died at the beginning of the month aged 93. You might remember him as performing the song Convoy in 1975.
So some amateur radio operators can use encryption.
This was a good read. Why you should get your ham radio licence now.
Learn morse code in 15 mins‽ Let me know if this works for you.
The DX code of conduct.
WS6SWW is the Space Weather Woman.
FINALS
Thanks for reading and I hope subscribing.
As i said above, please share this wherever you think it might resonate.
Next week I will be in America. Posts might be sporadic and some just for supporting subscribers. It depends just how experimental with the format I get. ;-)
See you on the other side.
Over
73 de Christian G5DOC
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