buy local
It is coming up on that time of year when we can have our ham radio emergency operations tested by some of the elements. We always expect to past this test with flying colours. I am not privy to the postmortem results but the conclusions that we are told to draw afterwards always seem to indicate that we were at the head of the class, again. That is commendable since we know that our works and documentation is what was used to form the backbone of the regional system, pertinent to disaster and emergency, bringing some light into the darkness of the communications that existed back then. Over the years nothing has really changed, except the people, and nothing needs be said, because what we may now have is a result from the progression of people and place, and it is not anything short of what was to be expected. I see this from my elder ham perspective. Many new hams may tend to disagree, because they do not believe in what I believe in, and they refuse to see the reality of the times like I do. No apology is necessary for anyone.
The hurricane season will come and it will go. Life will continue, complicated for some, and not for others. It is important how we respond to anything and everything within the first few hours after the storm or hurricane. The adverse weather leaves some us so discombobulated, that we are useless to ourselves and family, until we can catch ourselves the next day. Yet, some of us volunteer to be on the front line response team. This is not a pride thing, not a man or woman thing, and it calls for a serious commitment, that go beyond just the call of duty. To make tasks even more difficult and unbearable can be when the prerequisites are just not in place. It calls for a great degree of self control for someone not to get upset and just abandon the 'station' and all the people relying on them for support. This scenario will always come to pass because we as a people do not invest the time and effort to ensure that these situation never occur. To be ahead of the game we have to think heavy duty, and titanic, with an open mind.
Once upon a time ham radio equipment was built on a 'titanic' platform. That was probable a USA and UK creation. It seems to me that we now live in the age of the 'disposable' platform, and many people are not catching on, and some of those who do catch on, may be 'vex like hell'. I think they now expected us to treat Ham Radio gear like certain food, the ultimate disposable 'item' on the planet. This concept is not new, but it may now apply to 'units' just as easily as their internal components. Maybe it boils down to cost, and being easier to factor in the cost of a second unit as a replacement, than to have an operational repair station. It make sense, and it also make sense to me that I should not be caught in that disposable trap either.
I am talking about ham radio gear. I have a radio made in China, and I suspect that it is of the typical disposable platform. For about 200 bucks EC, it is not worth my while to try and get that repaired in China, if and when it does not work as expected. The shipping cost to China may be almost 200 bucks EC, and the export documentation, red tape etc, that is another story. The radio could be misplaced once it leaves V4. It is far simpler and stress free, to buy two radios, and toss the first one that fail into the garbage pan. That is just like how some people use cell phones. Use once and toss away. On the other hand the radios with names that can be pronounced, like Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu, which are not made in China, do not seem to be built with any disposable platform in mind.
I did detect that my IC-745 was considered disposable by Icom Japan, when they told me to throw it away and buy an IC-736, years ago. However, they did explain that the IC-745 was no longer in production at that time. So I went out and bought Kenwood instead. I recognized that Kenwood Communications interacted more with ham operators, to the extent that Kenwood published a list of circuit modifications for all their ham radio equipment, whether they were on or off the production line. This also allowed many hams to modify their equipment to better performance, and I am pretty sure this impacted sales.
A few months ago I decided to forgo the equipment disposability issues I had with ham gear made in China, and sought out an HF ham radio that I could live with and use. The designs and specs of all radios are close whether they are made across the border or not, so my search began. HF Radios were seen, online, in catalogs, all over, prices and mails exchanged, but the HF radios made in China were not coming out of China. Maybe it is the language barrier, but then US dollars in any language is US dollars. The bottom line is that, I will never know how good the HF ham radios made in China are, because they are not sending their radios my way. Any amount of VHF radios I can get, but no HF radios at all. There are marine radios made in china, so maybe I check that water later.
So I am back were I started having to choose from HF radios made in the USA or Japan. I am after a performance radio so I am leaning on the USA made. The radios made in Japan look extremely impressive, especially under soft lights and in the dark, but I live in kilowatt alley, and I wish to operate my radio all hours of the day or night, without spatter and interference from my neighbours as close as 400 meters away. The Sherwood Engineering Receiver Tests Data table still holds good when looking for guidelines on the best receivers on the market today. All ham radio operators have their preference. I love Kenwood and my choice would invariably be the TS-990S. I like the look and the technology, but in specs it is dropping below much cheaper equipment, which seem better suited to my kilowatt alley.
I am also looking seriously at the possible rig failure and how soon I can be back on the air. I am still leaning on the USA rigs, because as I have said before I can jump on an American Airlines flight any morning with my radio in my hand, and be on the rig maker's doorstep in a few hours, rig in one hand and a baseball bat in the other. It is possible that I can then catch the AA evening flight back to St Kitts Nevis, but I would not push that, and so taking the next morning flight back home to V4 would be quite okay with me. Now, you have to admit that this is workable. Icom told me once to go 'buy a new radio', and I don't think I want to be told that again. I am a quick learner. I still like Icom, but I ain't buying one again.
Some of the hams operators here have put up a resistance to the latest USA made rigs, specifically the Flex radio. So I have decide to get a Flex radio so that I can show them that there is nothing in the Flex radio to fear. I think they just need to twirl that dial, press some buttons, and watch their electricity bill going upwards. I like dials and buttons to, but they are not hard wired into my thinking. Most of the hams say they can live with the Elecraft, also made in the USA. I rather like the Elecraft KX3, and I am praying to win the lotto so that I can buy them all, K3 and KX3 ... in addition to the Flex radio. I once has a thing for the TenTec radios, and may still include their name in the hat for that final draw, but I really have to see how they are faring these days against the other two. Those three USA rig makers are consistently ahead of the big ones from Japan and the East, and available at a price that most of us can afford.
The ham station radio is the piece of equipment most agonized over, but I am of the view that there are more important pieces of ham radio gear that takes priority. The antenna, its placement and installation can be critical to the capability of the ham radio station. Many hams still believe that a piece of wire can "just work", and do get some kind of results which they are willing to live for a long time. It is not that they do not know, just that they may not have been exposed to the reality of a true antenna installation, so as to get the maximum capability from the antenna. It is imperative that the antenna, irrespective, be installed as best it can be given the resources and skill of the ham operator. Given the basic information and knowledge of antennas it is incumbent upon the radio operator to use all their skill to install the antenna correctly. Ready made antenna come with instructions, which should be adhered to. Any serious ham radio operator can set up their own antenna correctly if they want to, using the station antenna tools and tuning device.
I like the low bands of 40 meters and now 80 meters. I am now looking at a ready made antenna as a base for my final antenna. I am a favorite of the top and bottom loaded vertical antennas, because I can cut the vertical antenna element in half and only loose 0.5 db in gain. This opens many possibilities for experiments on lower frequencies, and more importantly the antennas can fit into my very limited backyard space. The greatest problem faced by hams on V4 is the non-availability of aluminum tubing. Over the years hams have talked of a consolidated order but that has never came off. My source for all that I need is DXengineering, providing the quality and craftsmanship that I need for all my antenna installations. I suspect that there are other ham radio places that can also supply these materials so I will be looking around for a better price for the "same" materials and with cheaper shipping, but for now it is DXengineering for these antenna materials.
If you are not familiar with the top and bottom loaded vertical antenna and wish to give it a try, find helpful information on this website.
Following the close of the present Atlantic Hurricane season I expect to re-install my verticals [not taking a year like last season] and catch up on some DX activity before the next hurricane season in 2014.
Ham radio in V4 needs a booster and we hope that we can find and administer one before ham radio goes down on us. V4 Ham radio has been here for over a half century. Ham radio radio has been here before and survived, so no doubt it will stand and stay standing even after many of us may have gone on.
Long live V4 ham radio.
The hurricane season will come and it will go. Life will continue, complicated for some, and not for others. It is important how we respond to anything and everything within the first few hours after the storm or hurricane. The adverse weather leaves some us so discombobulated, that we are useless to ourselves and family, until we can catch ourselves the next day. Yet, some of us volunteer to be on the front line response team. This is not a pride thing, not a man or woman thing, and it calls for a serious commitment, that go beyond just the call of duty. To make tasks even more difficult and unbearable can be when the prerequisites are just not in place. It calls for a great degree of self control for someone not to get upset and just abandon the 'station' and all the people relying on them for support. This scenario will always come to pass because we as a people do not invest the time and effort to ensure that these situation never occur. To be ahead of the game we have to think heavy duty, and titanic, with an open mind.
Once upon a time ham radio equipment was built on a 'titanic' platform. That was probable a USA and UK creation. It seems to me that we now live in the age of the 'disposable' platform, and many people are not catching on, and some of those who do catch on, may be 'vex like hell'. I think they now expected us to treat Ham Radio gear like certain food, the ultimate disposable 'item' on the planet. This concept is not new, but it may now apply to 'units' just as easily as their internal components. Maybe it boils down to cost, and being easier to factor in the cost of a second unit as a replacement, than to have an operational repair station. It make sense, and it also make sense to me that I should not be caught in that disposable trap either.
I am talking about ham radio gear. I have a radio made in China, and I suspect that it is of the typical disposable platform. For about 200 bucks EC, it is not worth my while to try and get that repaired in China, if and when it does not work as expected. The shipping cost to China may be almost 200 bucks EC, and the export documentation, red tape etc, that is another story. The radio could be misplaced once it leaves V4. It is far simpler and stress free, to buy two radios, and toss the first one that fail into the garbage pan. That is just like how some people use cell phones. Use once and toss away. On the other hand the radios with names that can be pronounced, like Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu, which are not made in China, do not seem to be built with any disposable platform in mind.
I did detect that my IC-745 was considered disposable by Icom Japan, when they told me to throw it away and buy an IC-736, years ago. However, they did explain that the IC-745 was no longer in production at that time. So I went out and bought Kenwood instead. I recognized that Kenwood Communications interacted more with ham operators, to the extent that Kenwood published a list of circuit modifications for all their ham radio equipment, whether they were on or off the production line. This also allowed many hams to modify their equipment to better performance, and I am pretty sure this impacted sales.
A few months ago I decided to forgo the equipment disposability issues I had with ham gear made in China, and sought out an HF ham radio that I could live with and use. The designs and specs of all radios are close whether they are made across the border or not, so my search began. HF Radios were seen, online, in catalogs, all over, prices and mails exchanged, but the HF radios made in China were not coming out of China. Maybe it is the language barrier, but then US dollars in any language is US dollars. The bottom line is that, I will never know how good the HF ham radios made in China are, because they are not sending their radios my way. Any amount of VHF radios I can get, but no HF radios at all. There are marine radios made in china, so maybe I check that water later.
So I am back were I started having to choose from HF radios made in the USA or Japan. I am after a performance radio so I am leaning on the USA made. The radios made in Japan look extremely impressive, especially under soft lights and in the dark, but I live in kilowatt alley, and I wish to operate my radio all hours of the day or night, without spatter and interference from my neighbours as close as 400 meters away. The Sherwood Engineering Receiver Tests Data table still holds good when looking for guidelines on the best receivers on the market today. All ham radio operators have their preference. I love Kenwood and my choice would invariably be the TS-990S. I like the look and the technology, but in specs it is dropping below much cheaper equipment, which seem better suited to my kilowatt alley.
I am also looking seriously at the possible rig failure and how soon I can be back on the air. I am still leaning on the USA rigs, because as I have said before I can jump on an American Airlines flight any morning with my radio in my hand, and be on the rig maker's doorstep in a few hours, rig in one hand and a baseball bat in the other. It is possible that I can then catch the AA evening flight back to St Kitts Nevis, but I would not push that, and so taking the next morning flight back home to V4 would be quite okay with me. Now, you have to admit that this is workable. Icom told me once to go 'buy a new radio', and I don't think I want to be told that again. I am a quick learner. I still like Icom, but I ain't buying one again.
Some of the hams operators here have put up a resistance to the latest USA made rigs, specifically the Flex radio. So I have decide to get a Flex radio so that I can show them that there is nothing in the Flex radio to fear. I think they just need to twirl that dial, press some buttons, and watch their electricity bill going upwards. I like dials and buttons to, but they are not hard wired into my thinking. Most of the hams say they can live with the Elecraft, also made in the USA. I rather like the Elecraft KX3, and I am praying to win the lotto so that I can buy them all, K3 and KX3 ... in addition to the Flex radio. I once has a thing for the TenTec radios, and may still include their name in the hat for that final draw, but I really have to see how they are faring these days against the other two. Those three USA rig makers are consistently ahead of the big ones from Japan and the East, and available at a price that most of us can afford.
The ham station radio is the piece of equipment most agonized over, but I am of the view that there are more important pieces of ham radio gear that takes priority. The antenna, its placement and installation can be critical to the capability of the ham radio station. Many hams still believe that a piece of wire can "just work", and do get some kind of results which they are willing to live for a long time. It is not that they do not know, just that they may not have been exposed to the reality of a true antenna installation, so as to get the maximum capability from the antenna. It is imperative that the antenna, irrespective, be installed as best it can be given the resources and skill of the ham operator. Given the basic information and knowledge of antennas it is incumbent upon the radio operator to use all their skill to install the antenna correctly. Ready made antenna come with instructions, which should be adhered to. Any serious ham radio operator can set up their own antenna correctly if they want to, using the station antenna tools and tuning device.
I like the low bands of 40 meters and now 80 meters. I am now looking at a ready made antenna as a base for my final antenna. I am a favorite of the top and bottom loaded vertical antennas, because I can cut the vertical antenna element in half and only loose 0.5 db in gain. This opens many possibilities for experiments on lower frequencies, and more importantly the antennas can fit into my very limited backyard space. The greatest problem faced by hams on V4 is the non-availability of aluminum tubing. Over the years hams have talked of a consolidated order but that has never came off. My source for all that I need is DXengineering, providing the quality and craftsmanship that I need for all my antenna installations. I suspect that there are other ham radio places that can also supply these materials so I will be looking around for a better price for the "same" materials and with cheaper shipping, but for now it is DXengineering for these antenna materials.
If you are not familiar with the top and bottom loaded vertical antenna and wish to give it a try, find helpful information on this website.
Following the close of the present Atlantic Hurricane season I expect to re-install my verticals [not taking a year like last season] and catch up on some DX activity before the next hurricane season in 2014.
Ham radio in V4 needs a booster and we hope that we can find and administer one before ham radio goes down on us. V4 Ham radio has been here for over a half century. Ham radio radio has been here before and survived, so no doubt it will stand and stay standing even after many of us may have gone on.
Long live V4 ham radio.
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