... the wish list
I missed the Jouvert Jam on 26th but have no regrets as my time was better spent on the computer doing what I enjoy. At this time of year most persons, hams included, indulge themselves, with making a new year wish list. Why this is done at this season is anyone's guess, because one should be continuously reevaluating priorities and updating wishes and needs. It may or may not be critical for persons living in recessional times and I cannot pronounce on this because I am still awaiting the recession, here. Some recessional attributes exist on the planet as a matter of course, but some people may find it convenient to disregard them. Anyway here it is about ham radio, not economics or politics.
I expect that the typical V4 ham will have everything on their wish list from a rig right down to solder. So many thing are that much more difficult to get these days. Living on an island in the Atlantic ocean adds another dimension to that, and provides the ultimate test for ones resourcefulness as we have to fabricate from and with materials that calls for creativity, ingenuity and skill that some of us never knew we had till now. Luckily for us our education system and local knowledge has enabled us to marshal our talents and skills to make these things work best for us.
Making do with what we have is rather a difficulty for some hams. I don't know if it is a lack of knowledge or lack of experience, or just a plain old unwillingness to try something different, especially since we live in an environment with certain minimal and non existent international standards to think about, for now. The biggest hindrance to most personal ham radio operations here seem to be the lack of coax cable. There is no shortage of coax cable on the island. There are miles of new coax cable in some warehouses here. Yards and yards of slightly used coax cable are annually dumped. The question is whether or not the coax cable can be used for ham radio, and it may boil down to personal preference.
I have enough coax cable for my needs, and when the puppy chews it up, like two weeks ago, I just splice and tape it up, rather than replace the 92-feet with a new length. My cable is RG-59 and I use it for everything. I mean everything, even 2-meters. Do I take on the 75 ohm impedance? nah. The velocity is more important because it matters for the correct lengths for matching, stubs, baluns, etc. But some of my ham associates will not touch the RG-59 because it is inferior to RG-213, but I am still on the air getting R5 and S9+ reports every day from the USA, and they are not. I am not knocking them because maybe they know something that I do not, but I do hope to find out shortly.
Also non existent here is antenna aluminum tubing. The closest thing to this is the aluminum tubing used for window curtain support. It is rather nice to have a free standing aluminum antenna, but it is difficult to import the tubing from the US because the company I dealt with was not ready to do business off the mainland, even though they only had to ship across state to my warehouse at 33147. Maybe in the new year we will find s supplier who can fill our need. For now I am safe with antenna tubing, with enough for my immediate need and I have a recycling and sustainability plan that is working great. However, I feel it for the other hams who wish to erect aluminum antennas but cannot because of the shortage of antenna tubing on the island.
I am yet to investigate using the galvanized fence post directly and indirectly deployed as an antenna. The fence posts are 20-foot long, costing about 2 EC dollar per foot. Lumber is readily available, 2x2, 2x3, 2x4, but usually cost more per foot than the fence post. Those slightly deformed lumber could represent a saving.
Electrical wire abound but that is too soft for use as antenna wire, but may be good enough for an open wire feed line if you are supporting it every 5 feet or so. I am fresh out of antenna wire myself, and have to order another 1000-foot roll of # 502 or #504 from my favored supplier, the wireman at http://www.thewireman.com This wire works great for me and is shipped by USPS. I also pick up my UHF connectors and adapters here. Silver and gold with foam are not my favorites either.
This is all that is really needed for building the antennas to get on the air to make plenty of noise from V4. I hope that in the new year we may be able to cooperate with the local hams and collaborate with hams on the mainland who could assist with the delivery of the hard to get and ship stuff needed to put the radio stations here on the air.
On my wish list is also a commercial marine radio with ham capability. I had a Harris 3200 in my sights once, and let it get away, but not again. I am a rather lucky dude, so maybe I will get one for real. In the mean time I am surfing eBay to see what gives.
The components and parts to upgrade the Drake L4B amplifier are not on this wish list because a 150 watts rig provides enough power to excite the vertical dipole antenna and will guarantee that I can be heard on the other side of the planet as long as the propagation path exist.
Have you make your wish list yet, remember be careful what you wish for, you may just get it.
I expect that the typical V4 ham will have everything on their wish list from a rig right down to solder. So many thing are that much more difficult to get these days. Living on an island in the Atlantic ocean adds another dimension to that, and provides the ultimate test for ones resourcefulness as we have to fabricate from and with materials that calls for creativity, ingenuity and skill that some of us never knew we had till now. Luckily for us our education system and local knowledge has enabled us to marshal our talents and skills to make these things work best for us.
Making do with what we have is rather a difficulty for some hams. I don't know if it is a lack of knowledge or lack of experience, or just a plain old unwillingness to try something different, especially since we live in an environment with certain minimal and non existent international standards to think about, for now. The biggest hindrance to most personal ham radio operations here seem to be the lack of coax cable. There is no shortage of coax cable on the island. There are miles of new coax cable in some warehouses here. Yards and yards of slightly used coax cable are annually dumped. The question is whether or not the coax cable can be used for ham radio, and it may boil down to personal preference.
I have enough coax cable for my needs, and when the puppy chews it up, like two weeks ago, I just splice and tape it up, rather than replace the 92-feet with a new length. My cable is RG-59 and I use it for everything. I mean everything, even 2-meters. Do I take on the 75 ohm impedance? nah. The velocity is more important because it matters for the correct lengths for matching, stubs, baluns, etc. But some of my ham associates will not touch the RG-59 because it is inferior to RG-213, but I am still on the air getting R5 and S9+ reports every day from the USA, and they are not. I am not knocking them because maybe they know something that I do not, but I do hope to find out shortly.
Also non existent here is antenna aluminum tubing. The closest thing to this is the aluminum tubing used for window curtain support. It is rather nice to have a free standing aluminum antenna, but it is difficult to import the tubing from the US because the company I dealt with was not ready to do business off the mainland, even though they only had to ship across state to my warehouse at 33147. Maybe in the new year we will find s supplier who can fill our need. For now I am safe with antenna tubing, with enough for my immediate need and I have a recycling and sustainability plan that is working great. However, I feel it for the other hams who wish to erect aluminum antennas but cannot because of the shortage of antenna tubing on the island.
I am yet to investigate using the galvanized fence post directly and indirectly deployed as an antenna. The fence posts are 20-foot long, costing about 2 EC dollar per foot. Lumber is readily available, 2x2, 2x3, 2x4, but usually cost more per foot than the fence post. Those slightly deformed lumber could represent a saving.
Electrical wire abound but that is too soft for use as antenna wire, but may be good enough for an open wire feed line if you are supporting it every 5 feet or so. I am fresh out of antenna wire myself, and have to order another 1000-foot roll of # 502 or #504 from my favored supplier, the wireman at http://www.thewireman.com This wire works great for me and is shipped by USPS. I also pick up my UHF connectors and adapters here. Silver and gold with foam are not my favorites either.
This is all that is really needed for building the antennas to get on the air to make plenty of noise from V4. I hope that in the new year we may be able to cooperate with the local hams and collaborate with hams on the mainland who could assist with the delivery of the hard to get and ship stuff needed to put the radio stations here on the air.
On my wish list is also a commercial marine radio with ham capability. I had a Harris 3200 in my sights once, and let it get away, but not again. I am a rather lucky dude, so maybe I will get one for real. In the mean time I am surfing eBay to see what gives.
The components and parts to upgrade the Drake L4B amplifier are not on this wish list because a 150 watts rig provides enough power to excite the vertical dipole antenna and will guarantee that I can be heard on the other side of the planet as long as the propagation path exist.
Have you make your wish list yet, remember be careful what you wish for, you may just get it.
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