another hurricane season
I missed another month, but it is not like anything ham radio did not happen, for there is always ham activity at this QTH. Every day 7.195 MHz, the Talk Shop Network, is monitored from sunrise, and most days after 7.30 am, it is 7.188 MHz for the friendly net. I don't think I have ever checked into that net but will do so when the time is appropriate. This is our friendly Caribbean home to ham radio fragmentation in the face of cooperation and unity, but that is a different story for another time.
The last month saw many decisions and changes. I did in depth analysis on the rigs which can possibly make it onto my ham radio station's operating table shortly, and after all the agonizing with emails, queries and downloading, I have to conclude that my operating table could be graced with the presence of a commercial [marine] radio with ham radio capability. It is a hard decision to make but one that is logical to me, considering the cost, efficiency and other factors. Ham radio and commercial [marine] radio equipment that operate on the same frequency are not built alike. One is built to last forever and should almost never fail in operation, and the other ... well, let us just say that it does not come with a lifetime guarantee.
In these tight economic times, allegedly tight, it makes sense to invest in a top of the line radio that is practically trouble free. That radio may be a bit more costly than the popular model which one would normally select to run with the typical online crowd. These days one have to consider quality and value, and worse case scenario, resale. When all is done, I conclude that the logical choice for me is top of the line. It was always my logical choice, but one has to go through these changes and convince oneself to the truth again.
The top of the line rigs always find themselves at the top of the Sherwood Engineering's receiver test data table. In a recent chat with a local ham operator, I recognized that my rig selection is based on performance, but mostly other hams seem to go for visibility, looks and appeal, which the JA's are famous for engineering. Maybe because I have been into telecommunications all my life, and only look at face plates on racks and bays of equipment, I am not taken in by the front panel appeal of the latest ham gear. All I want is the reliability and effectiveness of the communications device to work for me, all the time and every time. Those new rigs by Yaesu, Ten-Tec, Flex radio, Kenwood and Icom are hot, but I want something a little more, something that can seamlessly interface with any commercial and military system, just in case it ever becomes necessary.
I am not making any case or trying to sell this idea, but sharing my particular outlook on radio station equipment, and given the times we now live in it makes sense to me. The antenna may be the most important component of a ham radio station. Any snotty no name radio could receive everything, but only the right antenna determine how we are heard on the far side of our planet. I have not invested in a ready made antenna or parts in over thirty [30] years, but I am looking over the DX engineering's line of vertical antennas, mounting hardware, antenna tubing, etc, and when I get the smile and nod my antenna update is on. One of the difficulties of being DX on a remote island is the access to antenna building materials, quite unlike the hams in the metro with a retail DIY store on almost every corner. This helps in keeping us rare.
Band activity was reported on HF, 20 to 10 meters, but not having any active antenna for those frequencies only weak signals were heard on the 40-meter antenna. I am recycling my aluminum tubing to build an antenna for 20 meters, and for 17 meters. For 15 meters the 155CA beam is still under repair and for a clean job I may have to order some parts from MFJ. My activity on the high bands are so non existent that I do not believe an investment in a new antenna is necessary, and if I did consider that band activity, I would probably go for a log periodic antenna to cover 20 to 10 meters. My research indicate that none of the present ham made log periodic antenna models on the market are adequate and I will have to build my own log periodic. This would make for a good ham radio club project, and I must keep this in mind for when that time comes upon us.
The plans to build the half wave over half wave collinear antenna for 40-meters has been all but scrapped in the light of new vertical antenna information, which will be applied to upgrading the present vertical antenna installations. Also into the mix is the DX engineering aluminum tubing products, which could introduce a new wave of vertical antenna experimenting for both 80 and 40 meters, and with a strong possibility for 160-meters too. This is the time and season for antenna experiments, given the sunspot cycle. It also happens to be the season for hurricanes in the Caribbean, and that bring rigs out of closets, from under beds, from garbage bags, trunks, suitcases, and all sorts of places, known and unknown to man. keeping track of the weather is important, irrespective of what the weather channel may say. They have proven not to be spot on with storm positions in the past, but we still love them for the service.
So we are all setup and ready, have everything we need in place and waiting for the start pistol, from vertical dipole antenna for DX contacts, NVIS antenna for local contacts, coaxial cables, the solenoid balun which all vertical antennas require, maybe a spare transceiver just in case one goes down from wind, water or moisture and above all a spare power supplies or two, and battery too. This could be the most important of components for this season. Standby power, a battery. Historically, the electricity will be shut off if we get into any severe weather, and some of us will be out of communications for quite a while. This year I have decided to enable my standby battery power, even if I use the battery from my automobile. I am not going anywhere in any severe weather, and if I must to go on the street, I will be walking. The City center is only half mile down the road, so no point in driving.
It is good to have a radio hooked up off a battery for continuous ham communications. The radio can handle the connection to the battery, but the power supply if it is hooked up like a charger at the same time, unless it is designed to work with a battery in this configuration, will blow up and stop working when the mains input power is shut off. I see that some Astron power supplies have this battery back up and battery charger combination built in. So that is the way to go. But I have other brand name power supplies that I wish to use in this battery backup and battery charger configuration, but they do not have this circuit built in to facilitate these backup and charging features, so what are my options.
[a] I could build a gizmo similar to the circuit in the Astron power supply models, or,
[b] I could acquire from Astron the ready made gizmo, catalog model number BB-30M battery backup module that should work with my power supply.
Irrespective of the final option I will now be more prepared for the hurricane season than I have even been. I hope that all the other ham radio operators in V4 and the other neighbouring islands are ready for the season too. Given the global predictions, this year could see a different approach to storms, hurricanes and generally severe weather, quite unlike anything we have ever seen before, so we need to be prepared for the unusual, and just how we do that ... without stepping into the twilight zone, is anyones guess
[to be continued]
The last month saw many decisions and changes. I did in depth analysis on the rigs which can possibly make it onto my ham radio station's operating table shortly, and after all the agonizing with emails, queries and downloading, I have to conclude that my operating table could be graced with the presence of a commercial [marine] radio with ham radio capability. It is a hard decision to make but one that is logical to me, considering the cost, efficiency and other factors. Ham radio and commercial [marine] radio equipment that operate on the same frequency are not built alike. One is built to last forever and should almost never fail in operation, and the other ... well, let us just say that it does not come with a lifetime guarantee.
In these tight economic times, allegedly tight, it makes sense to invest in a top of the line radio that is practically trouble free. That radio may be a bit more costly than the popular model which one would normally select to run with the typical online crowd. These days one have to consider quality and value, and worse case scenario, resale. When all is done, I conclude that the logical choice for me is top of the line. It was always my logical choice, but one has to go through these changes and convince oneself to the truth again.
The top of the line rigs always find themselves at the top of the Sherwood Engineering's receiver test data table. In a recent chat with a local ham operator, I recognized that my rig selection is based on performance, but mostly other hams seem to go for visibility, looks and appeal, which the JA's are famous for engineering. Maybe because I have been into telecommunications all my life, and only look at face plates on racks and bays of equipment, I am not taken in by the front panel appeal of the latest ham gear. All I want is the reliability and effectiveness of the communications device to work for me, all the time and every time. Those new rigs by Yaesu, Ten-Tec, Flex radio, Kenwood and Icom are hot, but I want something a little more, something that can seamlessly interface with any commercial and military system, just in case it ever becomes necessary.
I am not making any case or trying to sell this idea, but sharing my particular outlook on radio station equipment, and given the times we now live in it makes sense to me. The antenna may be the most important component of a ham radio station. Any snotty no name radio could receive everything, but only the right antenna determine how we are heard on the far side of our planet. I have not invested in a ready made antenna or parts in over thirty [30] years, but I am looking over the DX engineering's line of vertical antennas, mounting hardware, antenna tubing, etc, and when I get the smile and nod my antenna update is on. One of the difficulties of being DX on a remote island is the access to antenna building materials, quite unlike the hams in the metro with a retail DIY store on almost every corner. This helps in keeping us rare.
Band activity was reported on HF, 20 to 10 meters, but not having any active antenna for those frequencies only weak signals were heard on the 40-meter antenna. I am recycling my aluminum tubing to build an antenna for 20 meters, and for 17 meters. For 15 meters the 155CA beam is still under repair and for a clean job I may have to order some parts from MFJ. My activity on the high bands are so non existent that I do not believe an investment in a new antenna is necessary, and if I did consider that band activity, I would probably go for a log periodic antenna to cover 20 to 10 meters. My research indicate that none of the present ham made log periodic antenna models on the market are adequate and I will have to build my own log periodic. This would make for a good ham radio club project, and I must keep this in mind for when that time comes upon us.
The plans to build the half wave over half wave collinear antenna for 40-meters has been all but scrapped in the light of new vertical antenna information, which will be applied to upgrading the present vertical antenna installations. Also into the mix is the DX engineering aluminum tubing products, which could introduce a new wave of vertical antenna experimenting for both 80 and 40 meters, and with a strong possibility for 160-meters too. This is the time and season for antenna experiments, given the sunspot cycle. It also happens to be the season for hurricanes in the Caribbean, and that bring rigs out of closets, from under beds, from garbage bags, trunks, suitcases, and all sorts of places, known and unknown to man. keeping track of the weather is important, irrespective of what the weather channel may say. They have proven not to be spot on with storm positions in the past, but we still love them for the service.
So we are all setup and ready, have everything we need in place and waiting for the start pistol, from vertical dipole antenna for DX contacts, NVIS antenna for local contacts, coaxial cables, the solenoid balun which all vertical antennas require, maybe a spare transceiver just in case one goes down from wind, water or moisture and above all a spare power supplies or two, and battery too. This could be the most important of components for this season. Standby power, a battery. Historically, the electricity will be shut off if we get into any severe weather, and some of us will be out of communications for quite a while. This year I have decided to enable my standby battery power, even if I use the battery from my automobile. I am not going anywhere in any severe weather, and if I must to go on the street, I will be walking. The City center is only half mile down the road, so no point in driving.
It is good to have a radio hooked up off a battery for continuous ham communications. The radio can handle the connection to the battery, but the power supply if it is hooked up like a charger at the same time, unless it is designed to work with a battery in this configuration, will blow up and stop working when the mains input power is shut off. I see that some Astron power supplies have this battery back up and battery charger combination built in. So that is the way to go. But I have other brand name power supplies that I wish to use in this battery backup and battery charger configuration, but they do not have this circuit built in to facilitate these backup and charging features, so what are my options.
[a] I could build a gizmo similar to the circuit in the Astron power supply models, or,
[b] I could acquire from Astron the ready made gizmo, catalog model number BB-30M battery backup module that should work with my power supply.
Irrespective of the final option I will now be more prepared for the hurricane season than I have even been. I hope that all the other ham radio operators in V4 and the other neighbouring islands are ready for the season too. Given the global predictions, this year could see a different approach to storms, hurricanes and generally severe weather, quite unlike anything we have ever seen before, so we need to be prepared for the unusual, and just how we do that ... without stepping into the twilight zone, is anyones guess
[to be continued]
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