AT OLW Ongoing Travel Log [Pic Heavy]

[92shawman]

That's great! And do you have an antenna for 30m, too? What all did you end up going with?

I just got back from my trip earlier today, so no. Just checked into my first net tonight on my ht, though, so that was fun. About a 30 mile reach into the repeater. Not bad for an ht in the hole that is my backyard!

 

[at_olw]

I've ordered a custom (black) wolf river silver bullet mini, that is promised to be in the mail tomorrow. I haven't decided what length whip I am going to run yet, but it seemed like a very interesting way to go, for not a lot of money. I figured I'd get my feet wet before dropping upwards of $400 on a screwdriver, that is potentially less durable (more moving parts). Time will tell whether this was a good call or not. Theoretically it should perform better than a hamstick, and for not much more money (and be able to use multiple bands). I intend to make a 30m monoband at somepoint, but until then... I have a lot of bonding to do.

Nice man! Hope your trip up north went well. Glad to hear the HT is working for you. Just wait until you get your proper mobile rig installed! HT still have a place though... and will be what I will be using for trail comms in the near future (hooked up to roof antenna), while the HF rig is doing APRS.

 

[92shawman]

Nice, well I can't wait to see pictures of it! What did you get for the radio itself?

It did! We ate a lot of good food with a lot of good friends.
Yeah, I need to swing by hro to get the antenna and nmo coax. Hopefully I can get it in before leaving on the 5th! Still working on the "wheel bearing" issue which turned out to be a steering knuckle bushing issue. I'm hoping I just have to stuff grease in there because it was extremely dry. The seals were failing, too, so those should be here tomorrow and I'll be able to test it with just adding grease and new seals.

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

Absolutely tremendous.

 

[at_olw]

Nice, well I can't wait to see pictures of it! What did you get for the radio itself?

It did! We ate a lot of good food with a lot of good friends.
Yeah, I need to swing by hro to get the antenna and nmo coax. Hopefully I can get it in before leaving on the 5th! Still working on the "wheel bearing" issue which turned out to be a steering knuckle bushing issue. I'm hoping I just have to stuff grease in there because it was extremely dry. The seals were failing, too, so those should be here tomorrow and I'll be able to test it with just adding grease and new seals.

The transceiver is a yaesu 857d. It's not as fancy as some of the other mobile HF rigs, is fairly menu driven, and been around for a while, but it's a hell of a radio for the small package and cost, which is what I wanted. With the tablet setup I can use software to control it, and don't really anticipate HF voice while driving, so that obviates some of the drawbacks, although I haven't found the menu's too cumbersome. The coil is supposed to come way quicker than I anticipated - shipped friday and supposed to come Monday! Looks like I should have already ordered that whip.

I hope you can get it setup too! Let me know when you do and I'll key in down there. Alternatively - get your upgrade and we can talk on 10m with your inherited gear

Good luck on the maintenance stuff. It's always something!

Absolutely tremendous.

Thank you!

 

[92shawman]

Nice, man, can't wait to see/hear it in action!

Yeah, definitely! I should look into echolink, as well. Haha, yeah that'll be after September, but you'll be the first to know!

Ain't that the truth...

 

[at_olw]

Yes read up on echolink! That v71a has some neat features built into it, to make the whole process a whole lot easier, especially given that you can store the nodes to memory. After bonding the truck, that's my next project to get up and running with the new radio, while I wait for the HF stuff. So many cool things you can do with ham radio! And what's life, without more money-pit hobbies