In Ep 74 I mentioned the new DX Commander antenna that I purchased from England. Well, I finally got a chance to start putting it all together. Last week I cut the radiating element wires for the 40, 30, 20, 17, 12, and 10 meter bands and all of the ground radial wire sets, but I could not locate my wire strippers and crimpers to complete them to I had to put the build on hold. One thing that I would like to mention. In the instructions it mentions that there is an option to adding the 80meter band onto the antenna by having that element take the place of the 30meter element on the antenna. It gives you the length that you need to cut the element wire to create the 80meter element and how to
I recently became the Hawaii Regional Liaison for Radio Relay International (RRI) and am responsible for the efficient, and timely relay and delivery of message traffic being sent to and from Hawaii over HF radio. These messages are sent by amateur radio operators across the country and around the world to both other amateur radio operators and ordinary people. Message traffic handling is an extremely useful service after disasters and in situations when normal modes of communication are no longer available. Message handling is a skill that takes lots of practice sending many, many messages over and over again so that copying and sending the messages becomes "second nature" and almost automa
I decided to make a few upgrades to my equipment and my communications capabilities. First I will start with the updates to my antenna system here at the hamshack as well as for portable use and emcomm situations. I have added a DX Commander vertical antenna which uses a 33 foot tall fiberglass mast surrounded by six wire elements for the 40, 30, 20, 17, 12, and 10-meter bands, but the 40-meter wire also works on the 15-meter band. It also has the ability to add an 80-meter wire in place of the 30-meter wire if desired. Because this antenna uses multiple resonant wires as the antennas for the various frequency bands it acts similar to the way a fan dipole would excelt that it is turned on it
Since becoming involved with Radio Relay International (RRI), along with handling message traffic to and from Hawaii to the Continental US (CONUS), we have been making plans to utilize my station as a digital message hub for the entire Pacific Region. This way amateur radio operators on other Pacific Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Asia have an easier route for their messages to and from the CONUS. Their messages would be downloaded from the CONUS to my station which would be easier for them to reach now that radio propagation is so dreadful, then they would retrieve their messages from my station and deposit any for me to forward back to the CONUS. A lofty goal since I don't know
There has been a lot of talk lately about Network Radios, but just what is a Network Radio anyway? Network Radios are a newer form of communications device that is becoming quite popular both within the amateur radio community and outside of it. At first I thought this was merely a fad and did not see the interest that everyone had been giving these "toys". I decided to try out a Network Radio and see what the fuss was all about. I decided on two different versions, both made by Inrico. The TM-7 looks very much like any other mobile radio that you would have in your vehicle, in fact it reminds me quite a bit of a Motorola mobile radio with the "P" buttons across the front of it under the tou
It has been awhile since I did an update on my CW code progress, and that is because I had to stop taking the CW class and step completely away from CW in April. Unfortunately I suffer from frequent debilitating migraines which hit me several times each week on average. When one of them decides to pay me a visit I am down for at least a day, or more. Such was the case during the CW class that I was attending. I ended up missing two classes in a row and with the pace that the class keeps, I just could not catch back up with what I had missed so I had to drop out of the class and hang up my keyer for awhile. I have decided this week to give it another try, on my own this time, insead of partic
