Thread: Gun owners and Ham Radio operators

Im a DX Chaser. I dont care to chat much as it can be a pian when your on the key. I do phone communicatiins too but not as much. Im not a gun nut so not part of the nra. CW will get you farther. Plus folks that use a key are much more friendly if you do strike up a conversation. HF is the only bands i use really. I can do vhf and uhf but unless you want to use repeaters, your not going to get very far.

Get your Extra Class Lic. In those special parts of the bands for Extra's they are more friendly and have got to the point that they dont feel they need to run more power than needed.

Aloha!

I'm on the opposite end. I've been an avid QRP operator for decades. I have built about 20 QRP Transmitters/Receivers/Transceivers over the years and have even operated CW/QRP/M. Amazing what you can do with 5 watts or under. But I'm not opposed to QRO operation. Do what you like. It's a wide-spectrum hobby.

I've also been into digital modes. RTTY, G-Tor, AMTOR, Packet and the QRP digital modes like PSK-31.

If it's not Digital, I'm 100 percent CW. I really do not enjoy phone (except for special event stations), but that's me.

Did not know about this SPECIAL EVENT STATION, OP, so THANKS for posting. I'll be sure to check it out. It would be great to work him.

73
Zip

That’s what is great about Ham Radio, there’s a niche for everyone. From building antennas to qrp to rag chewing to special event stations, dx chasers it’s a wide ranging hobby.

I was watching an old rerun of Last Man Standing during the summer and caught a different call sign than the one Tim Allen uses (he’s a ham in real life too) so I looked it up and emailed the guy. Turns out it was one controlled by someone else. After emailing back and forth it turns out it was an executive producer for the show. I inquired about the process to acquire a Last Man Standing QSL and he told me to send him one (not for email lol) and he will send me a Last Man Standing QSL.

That is cool. I've been collecting QSL cards. One from each entity and state. Got all the states easy enough, but as far as the entity's go, I'm at 221 cards. ARRL keeps bothering me with donations as with the conditions, I bet they are having a hard time keeping the Rag alive.

I know this is going out of the range of the NRA, but what logging program do you all use? I use Logger32.

I mainly use the old fashioned pen & paper logbook lol. I do have one program that was donated several years ago, but I forget what the name is. It was some guy that wrote his own program and was distributing it himself. I’ll look and see what it is. I’ve not been on the air since it was donated.

What antennas do you fellows use? I’m looking at going to a ground mounted vertical, more than likely a Hustler 5BTV. My old system was a home brew tri-band dipole (20-40-80 meters) that a friend made out of solid 12 gauge copper wire.

I'm ashamed to say what antenna I'm using, HA.

When I set up my shack I wanted the best setup I could afford plus a grand or two! Made a bedroom into a Radio Room. Feed-thru of all control and feedlines come thru the wall with quick disconnects, a dedicated power source to the room, Grounding system and Lightning protection from tower to shack, plus every 10ft and including the house, RF Filtering on everything to keep the wife and neighbors happy, custom Oak table top from wall to wall, ETC... You get the picture.

My antenna is a 3 element SteppIR so I'm resonant without a tuner anywhere from 6M to 40M. It is up 45ft. You can look me up on QRZ (K1ING) and see a couple pics. I haven't updated them in a while so I'm not really sure what's there but you can see my station.

So, if conditions are working as they should, there are not many places I can't reach out and touch with the help of a restored Drake L-4B.

So what is this Vertical thing I keep hearing people talk about?

We all do the best we can with what we can, I just couldn't settle for less when I got to understand what a shack could be.

I've always done a computer log plus my radio system is attached to the computer. Rotator and SteppIR control included. I see a spot on the web that someone worked and posted, then I mouse click on it and everything changes bands, modes, directions, and the antenna adjusts for the freq. Spoiled I know. I know HAM's that have an old Icom and a wire in the attic. Its all fun no matter what you set up!

My Elmer used to use a slinky antenna in his attic, until he had a metal roof put on his house. Now he doesn’t get our so good.

Originally Posted by Gasman

That is cool. I've been collecting QSL cards. One from each entity and state. Got all the states easy enough, but as far as the entity's go, I'm at 221 cards. ARRL keeps bothering me with donations as with the conditions, I bet they are having a hard time keeping the Rag alive.

I know this is going out of the range of the NRA, but what logging program do you all use? I use Logger32.

The Last Man Standing QSL card, signed by the Executive Producer, arrived today. Would like for it to have been signed by Tim Allen, but this may be rarer. I know a lot of hams sent for Tim’s signature.

I've been an operator for 25 years, mostly DX, and have operated CW exclusively and mostly on the WARC bands or on 10 meters. I've never even owned a microphone. Now, with the solar flux being what it is, or isn't, I just listen a tad.

Aloha!

This has been a good thread for me and hopefully will get me re-interested in putting my Ham Shack back together. It's bare bones as you will read.

When I lived exclusively on the mainland, I had a very large Ham Shack. About 8 QRO Rigs, about 20 QRP Rigs, a Linear Amp, all the accessories, and about 10 CW Keys. I also had a large collection of digital gear. One day about 15 years ago, I suddenly decided to liquidate. I did a shack clearing and I sold all of it except my QRP Rigs and 3 keys. I kept my original Vibroplex Bug, Iambic and basic straight key. My shack these days consists of QRP only (as posted above) but I sometimes wish I'd not sold ALL of my QRO rigs. I should have kept one. When I fully retire and get back into Ham operating with gusto, I'll likely want to buy another QRO rig and it would have been cheaper to simply keep one that I bought in the 90s at 90s prices.

My antenna farm was fairly extensive. I had two HF Verticals, two Windom HF antennas, a Zepp and a plethora of VHF and UHF antennas for Packet. I ran a popular HF to VHF Packet Gateway back in the early 90s that was widely used for traffic. All went except for the Fritzel 500 watt Windom.

It's interesting how suddenly I decided to get rid of everything that I had accumulated over about a 30 year period, but we all go through changes in moods and interests. At the time I remember thinking if I had one 4 band (10-20-30-40 meter) QRP rig, I'd be happy forever. I remember an electrical engineer I visited back in the 80s when I was a new General Ham and he was an Amateur Extra. He had ONE rig and ONE antenna. A Kenwood TS-520 with a Dipole up about 30' that he worked the world with. That was it. He said he was happy with that. He's the reason I pursued my Advanced and Extra Class Tickets, so I owe him a debt of gratitude. Chasing Rare CW DX on the bottom 25 as an Extra Class caught my attention. And I'll probably follow his lead with one-rig when I retire. One QRP Rig, but perhaps one QRO rig as well and two simple antennas. After Running all QRP since the 90s, 100 watts is going to seem like legal limit to me.

73