KM1NDY
A Secret Little Adventure Ham Radio Blog
In the Parks-On-The-AIr program, you get awards for everything. Don’t believe me? Check out the “Warthog” award on AA1F’s qrz page. Summits-On-The-Air is a different ballgame. Us hikers-stroke-radio operators all want the “Mountain Goat” award. This means we need to acquire 1000 points as activators of summits. And nearly every peak in Massachusetts is a …
I am a huge fan of the compromised antenna. I like to bring the power on my transceiver down from 100 watts to virtually none simply by using a highly wasteful, inefficient antenna system. And its all because my need to operate out in the wild with the simplest, easiest deployment method far exceeds my …
…well, why yes, yes it was. And thank goodness you didn’t answer because I have *no idea* what I would have done?!?
Look, it didn’t stop me from buying one, but I resent the IC-705 for not having an internal antenna tuner. The KX2 has one. The Xiegu has one. Heck, the 7300 has one. Its not like its some weird foreign concept to Icom. Three compatible “small” external tuners are – or will be – available: …
My posting inviting criticism of this blog entry into the “Antennas, Feedlines, Towers & Rotors” section of the QRZ.com forums led to the following very interesting discussion from WA7ARK (box below). If you click on his call sign, it will take you to his QRZ biography page where he has attached a presentation on the …
I am never satisfied anymore. I remember not long ago when simply walking up a hill was enough for me. “To get to the top!” blah, blah, blah… Then I discovered amateur radio and SOTA, and then it was “to get the top, BUT! Just with 15 extra pounds of radio gear, the pressure to …
The best I can tell, Purgatory Chasm State Reserve and Sutton State Forest are the same place. Or, maybe it would be better to say that Purgatory Chasm is a subsection of Sutton State Forest in Sutton Massachusetts. As many portable ham radio operators bemoan though, sometimes half of a Parks-On-The-Air challenge is figuring out …
A dozen or so hams went to play radio at the Dennison Lake Recreation Area of Otter River State Forest in Winchendon, MA. We took advantage of a Parks-On-The-Air activation (POTA K-4745) as well as the CQ Worldwide WPX contest to make some QSOs. The perfectly spring weather could almost make one forget the existence …
I love Powerpoles. I powerpole everything and anything I can. But each time I do it, well, it feels like the first time. So here are the steps to help keep somewhat you, but mostly me, in order. First off, a Powerpole is a DC power connector that consists of a metal wire crimp contact …