Offroad & Overland Amateur Radio Net - Bay Area + IRLP

[camp4x4]

Hey everyone! Net night tonight.

Since last week went so well as a ragchew net, I'm gonna move us into topical discussion this week. Tonight's topic will be a pretty easy one and hopefully one that everyone will have a comment on: what got you going in ham radio, and how might that apply to getting others involved?

Also, I'm adding the Morgan Hill K7DAA repeater info to the first post. If anyone is in the south bay (far south San Jose, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Hollister, etc.) and can't get W6SRR, try that repeater. I'll be connecting it to the IRLP reflector just before the net so there's coverage down that way.

Hope to hear from you all! If you're outside the Bay Area and want to join I strongly encourage you to look into an IRLP repeater in your area!

 

[camp4x4]

Great net tonight! 12 check-ins from all over the Bay Area. Some return folks, some first timers. Had some good chats with some folks from the Mad Hatters 4x4 and Esprit de Four clubs. Answered a few questions and shared some anecdotes about getting into ham radio. Thanks everyone for joining! Hopefully we can get some folks from out of the area soon!

 

[camp4x4]

Hey everyone! Here's your weekly reminder that net night is tonight! If you're just back from King of the Hammers, join us and tell us all about your experience! If you've got a trip coming up join us and share your plans! If you haven't got anything going on, join us and get inspired!

 

[SAC-CA-Runner]

Tried to get on tonight but didn't have my radio set up correctly. Sooooo much to learn. I will try again next week.

KM6HPZ

 

[yurtdweller]

Hey there! I'm interested in joining the Net from Ohio but have to find a repeater that has IRLP first! Repeater book doesn't show any around me is there any other way to use IRLP?


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[camp4x4]

Have you tried hitting the one in Lakewood? I know it's about 40 miles away... https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/details.php?state_id=39&ID=7360

Unfortunately there's no other way to use IRLP besides through a repeater.

 

[unusedusername]

I keep missing this.

I really have got to set an alarm or something.

 

[camp4x4]

We've got an iCal you can subscribe to! Has 30min and 5min notifications!

https://calendar.google.com/calenda...vs@group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

 

[camp4x4]

Running net control at the kitchen table. 7 check-ins this week, which seems to be about par. Had a nice chat with everyone. Few returning, few first times.

Looking forward to next week!

 

[BrianV]

What is all that hardware you have mounted in the rack or console?

 

[camp4x4]

So, I don't really have a "ham shack" to keep my gear in at my house. The box is just a convenient way to have it all in one place that I can move around and set up/take down quickly. The wife has also talked about using it as a base station when we go on trips should she want to stay at camp while I go do something.

As for what's in there, what you see on the front is (clockwise from bottom left corner of the box):
- 12V power supply (converts 110V AC wall power to 12V DC for the gear). Since the radio is a mobile unit it takes 12V. Left output meter is amps, right output meter is volts.
- Fuse box - I kind of splurged on this whole setup. In the past I've used Blue Sea fuse boxes for my truck, but this West Mountain one is setup with Anderson plugs already. http://www.westmountainradio.com/product_info.php?products_id=rr_4005_c
- TYT TH-9800 radio faceplate on a ram mount.
- Old JBL bookshelf speaker I had around
- Lepai 12V amp from Amazon to kick up the volume!

What you don't see is:
- 12V 18aH gel cell battery behind the amp
- TYT radio body behind the speaker
- A West Mountain Super Power Gate that takes the power from the power supply and A) intelligently charges the battery, B) feeds power to the fuse box, C) automatically switches between power supply and battery if the power supply cuts out. It's a pretty slick little box.. http://www.westmountainradio.com/product_info.php?products_id=pg40s

 

[unusedusername]

We've got an iCal you can subscribe to! Has 30min and 5min notifications!

https://calendar.google.com/calenda...vs@group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

Alright. I've imported that. Hopefully I'll remember.

 

[yurtdweller]

Alright, can't hit the repeater from 30 miles away with this little antennae so I found one that should give me better distance. Hopefully I can figure out how to use IRLP and have my new antennae by next week!


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[camp4x4]

Alright, can't hit the repeater from 30 miles away with this little antennae so I found one that should give me better distance. Hopefully I can figure out how to use IRLP and have my new antennae by next week!

If you do end up able to hit it, make sure to read through the club's IRLP guidelines. https://www.leara.org/repeaters/irlp (assuming you're trying to hit the Lakewood one). There's also an IRLP how-to on that page. Hope you get in! You'd be our first non-Bay check-in.

 

[yurtdweller]

Going to try again next week - got some bad weather here today and my new antaneea needs to be hung up in a tree! hope you have a good net!


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