IARU Region 2 and Radio Club de Chile Request Amateurs to Keep Emergency Frequencies Clear

“We would appreciate if amateurs would leave free the frequencies used by RECNA, as well as the usual IARU Region 2 frequencies on in 20, 40, and 80 meters.”

3.738
3.750
7.050
7.100
14.200
14.350
21.200
21.350
28.300
28.500




Other Frequencies of interest may be:

14.300
18.160
21.360 

Getting back on the air...finally!

I have the FT-767GX up and running.  At first I only had an NVIS on 40m, but today I got the 75m/160m dipole repaired and some feedline ran to the operating position.  I have half wave dipoles for those bands. 

My brother-in-law, KB9TZU, just upgraded to general and put a bazooka on the air for 75m.  He has a 170kHz 1.5/1 bandwidth.  I think I need to build one or two of these.

Finally, a rig in the house again!

I finally have an HF rig back in the house.  I purchased an FT-767GX at the Collinsville, IL hamfest.  It seems to be a good rig, I am only on 40m at the moment, but will likely get more bands as the weather gets warmer and I can get out and work on things.  I have been getting very good audio reports and the receiver seems good, very quite.

I am using a NVIS antenna that is 7' above the ground with a reflector at ground level.  The antenna is 66', about a foot long, and flat topped on pvc pipe.  Look me up on MIDCARS at 7.258 LSB.

Icom 9100 HF/50/144/440

Icom finally working on a rig that has dual receive with HF/50/144/440.  I hope it will have a cross band repeat function as well.  It reminds me of my old IC746.

Rigpix.com - IC9100

This is definetely an option for my next purchase.

Calling Area HAM's for Field Day 2010

I am looking for a few HAM's to put together a field day station for the 2010 Field Day.  I am located in Ramsey, IL and would like to have another event at the local state park or one of the parks in the town.

I have helped organize field day operations in the past and have had a wonderful time.  Usually with good food, good friends and hopefully good band conditions.

Anyone interested please leave a comment and it will be forwarded to me.

The event will be June 26 & 27, 2010.

Photos from past events:

Special Event Contact, W4M

I have not been real active on the air lately, but yesterday I had an interesting contact. I was running errands and stopped by my brother-in-law's place. He is also a HAM. He is working on some HF antennas in preparation for passing his general class. He had called and asked about some problems he was having so I told him I would stop by and help him out.

Anyway the point of all this rambling is, on the way home I thought I would tune around 20m. I happened across a station using the call W4M. I listened awhile and learned it was a special event station celebrating the 234th anniversary of the U.S. Marines. I made several attempts with no luck. And then, I threw my call out, "whiskey nine delta sierra charlie-mobile nine....", and back came, "the mobile nine only please...". We exchanged reports of 59 both ways. That made me think maybe too many people were running way more power than they needed.

Excellent, the Hustler mobile was working! 100w from an Icom 706MkIIG into a Hustler coil on the back corner of the truck bed worked a station about 50mi. S of the space center in Florida from central Illinois.

I thought it was a cool contact, my father was a Marine after all.
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First Post

Thought I should have a place to post interesting things about my HAM radio stuff.