Hearth Ham Radio!

[Dustin]

Anyone else? Short time wood burner, long time ham radio nut.

Let's see some stations!

 

[webbie]

Many moons ago......
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=883375

Here is a pic in front of my Yaesu and other crap....lots of homemade antennas strung about the property at the time....

 

[fossil]

I wish. Growing up in the 1950's & 1960's, I spent lots of time poring over HeathKit catalogs...wishing I could think of some way to afford to start building a system. Never found a way, and my interests drifted elsewhere, so it never happened. I did build a couple of HeathKits before they completely disappeared off the earth, but never any HAM gear. I can certainly understand how it could be fascinating and addicting. Rick

ETA: Your rig looks like something out of a NASA control room...except for the refreshments.

 

[Treacherous]

This is something I always wanted to get into. The closest I ever got to HAM as a kid was with this Viking Johnson Messenger CB unit and a 15-20 feet antenna.

 

[webbie]

This is something I always wanted to get into. The closest I ever got to HAM as a kid was with this Viking Johnson Messenger CB unit and a 15-20 feet antenna.

We bought 6 channel Lafayette CB's - and if you switched some of the crystals, they became "pirate" channels, slightly below the regular CB band. Our range was extended to about 20+ miles and we developed a whole network of friends "online"...we all had fake names, of course...like "agent 99", etc.

I think I was handyman (I was a carpenter). It was somewhat like an internet forum!

After a year or two we even had a in-person meetup. That was a big mistake. All of sudden we got to meet "glamor girl" and "muscle man" and see that they were all....well, I don't like denigrating folks, but they were not our type!

 

[Treacherous]

After a year or two we even had a in-person meetup. That was a big mistake. All of sudden we got to meet "glamor girl" and "muscle man" and see that they were all....well, I don't like denigrating folks, but they were not our type!

Oh.. that's too funny It reminds me of my first BBS picnic in '89/'90.

 

[pen]

Awesome looking setup @Dustin Do you do any weather spotting or similar? I see the NWS advertisting for SKYWARN spotters.

My father in law's equipment still sits as it did when he died in '98. I've always been interested but have no place for it in our small home. Been tempted to get a buddy who is active with ham down to see if the equipment is still operable / needs any special care from sitting to try and keep it up.

 

[fbelec]

nice setup you have there. i too was a ham want to be. but could not come up with the money. we did have a set up in our high school. it was a drake set up with a 3 element beam on the roof. teacher was a long time ham. i had trouble with receiving morse code but could send no prob.

i had to settle for cb. had plenty of weekend meet ups (eyeballs) i used to build antennas for the units i had. craig i use to do the same with the crystals until i had this guy saying that we were there and not suppose to be he said he was part of the civil air patrol. looked up the freqs and he was right. we still used it on drives.

radios are lots of fun. if i had the setup that you have dustin i would never get out off the chair and my wife would probably divorce me

 

[webbie]

The roof of my ranch house in NJ looked like a space station for awhile......I built Quads with rotors. They were quite large and heavy, but they did the job. I built those for CB, I think...

The money aspect of Ham turned me off a bit. I remember sitting in my dentists chair and him bragging about the 10K (that would be about 30K+ today) he put into a 115 foot tall tower and amplifiers, etc.......I though it was "not fair", what with me stringing up wires all over my property and pushing 60 watts (he had 2000).

 

[Retired Guy]

Former WA2PSZ here

 

[begreen]

Next door neighbor was a high power ham. It kept on interfering with tv shows at the worst times.

 

[simple.serf]

KC2TOO here. Before we had the farm, I spent alot of time on 2 meter on my hr commute, and quite a bit of time with some contests. My main rig is a Ten Tec Triton IV (analog), with a Icom 735 as a backup, a Yaesu 857 as a digital rig/base 2 meter, and an icom 817 to play around with low power.

I was given the Triton, sent it in to Ten Tec for realignment (I didn't have a scope at the time), and it has been the best radio I have ever used.

I used to be quite involved with our local club, but now there are three clubs, and i don't feel like dealing with politics in my hobby.

73
KC2TOO

edit: Webbie, don't forget that it's the first 100 watts that count. A contact from Europe on my 817 (5w max) is more satisfying than on my Ten Tec (100w).

 

[homebrewz]

I was involved in the hobby all through high school and part of college, obtaining the extra class license (back when you needed to know morse code at 20 WPM). I used to do a lot of HF work, and did some VHF/UHF/microwave contesting with W2SZ/1 on Mt Greylock, which was always a very impressive contest effort. I keep my license up, but am not active.

If I were to get back into it now, I'd be interested in QRP work (low power).. maybe build a little Altoids tin radio and do CW on 80 and 40 meters, see how far I can get on 1 to 5 watts.

 

[Dustin]

Awesome looking setup @Dustin Do you do any weather spotting or similar? I see the NWS advertisting for SKYWARN spotters.

My father in law's equipment still sits as it did when he died in '98. I've always been interested but have no place for it in our small home. Been tempted to get a buddy who is active with ham down to see if the equipment is still operable / needs any special care from sitting to try and keep it up.

Nice to see so many hams!

I used to do ARES work, but, with a full time job in law enforcement, I'll be called into work for any major disaster anyway, so I backed out of that.

I used to play on VHF, but, I was bitten by the HF bug. I love making contacts all over the world with just 100 watts.

My antenna is a 5 band rotatable hex beam on a push-up mast. It was already there when I met my now wife, so, she's learned to love it as a part of the homes decor

 

[simple.serf]

Had to do some digging for a pic, but his was my station in 2009 at our previous place:

 

[fbelec]

i feel out classed. only because i wanted to be a ham but could only afford cb. i used to do the same as you guys with my cb. i took my cb plus a base antenna with a 5 db gain 1/2 wave vert. up to mount greylock and talk around the world with it on early morning skip. made france germany russia and all of usa without a amp. i had fun making antennas for my 1.5 watt walkie talkie to see how far i could get. full wave cb dipole is long

thanks for this thread. it took me back to the good ol days.

 

[TomB]

K9CVR here.
nice photo of station.
check qrz.com for mine. 73 stay warm!