We should be making plans

Also, if you get your license now, it's still free...eventually the feces (FCC) will be charging $35 for a license (New or renewed). I don't know when the fee is scheduled to go into effect but probably not that far off in the future.
 
Has anyone built an interface between a device with a keyboard and display (could be tablet, smartphone, raspberry pi) and a cheap Chinese QRP transceiver? It seems that could be used for long distance (greater than line of sight) with a tech license.
 
-For VHF SHTF, we are stuck with repeaters. Setting up one is not trivial, but there are a shitton around. search for 'new england repeater directory' and see if there is something around you on that resource.
Hmmm. The last I heard, in the densely populated parts of New England,
all of the channels in the 2m repeater subbands have been assigned by
the spectrum management council, yet the vast majority of repeaters
get very little active use.

If a surge of new operators start comparing "toilet paper" (i.e., ammo) caches
on the really inactive repeaters, the owners won't
know whether to sh¡t or go blind.

I'd pick a frequency above or below the ham band edges and operate there.
Like the ignoramus who was broadcasting Bible verses for "code practice" on 6MHz?
I actually heard him before he caught the Wouff Hong upside the head.

... I've been licensed in multiple radio services for over 30 years. I've worked in the radio service, installation and repair business for 20 or more years. ...
Do any Public Safety radio services occupy the spectrum
"above and below the ham band edges"?

Are any of them Military allocations?
 
My antenna will only get me to 40. I am looking at the Palomar Engineers OCF Dipole antenna 80-6. Anyone have experience with this antenna? Might be able to give me some advice? Thanks.
 
My antenna will only get me to 40. I am looking at the Palomar Engineers OCF Dipole antenna 80-6. Anyone have experience with this antenna? Might be able to give me some advice? Thanks.
I'm using one here for the time being as I'm living with my son and his family until such time as we move out west this fall. It works OK...I still really liked my open wire fed 264' doublet that was up about 60' at the house we sold this past September but my daughter in law doesn't want wires everywhere in the air over her house so I am using this OCFD. The apex is about 35' up and the ends are about 8-10' off the ground. Not the best of situations but it gets me on the air.

If it was in the clear and a few feet higher, it would probably be much better. The apex is about 5 feet from the back upstairs window, really too close to the house and the ends are too close to the ground so the feed point impedance isn't anything near what it's designed for. It is what it is though and with the propagation getting better, it's working ok. I'm taking it with me when we move and hope to get it up higher out there. It will definitely be in the clear.
 
Do any Public Safety radio services occupy the spectrum
"above and below the ham band edges"?

Are any of them Military allocations?
There are quite a few frequencies close to the ham frequencies that are MARS frequencies (Military Auxiliary Radio System - Wikipedia) and actually quite a few freqs not too far from the ham freqs that are part of the USAF HF Global Comms System. One probably doesn't want to be screwing with those freqs.
 
First time I heard it was by a friend of mine who is also a ham and has very little regard for that alphabet organization.
  1. The only thing that annoys hams more than attention from the FCC is inattention from the FCC.
  2. The only thing that annoys hams more than inattention from the FCC is attention from the FCC.
 
  1. The only thing that annoys hams more than attention from the FCC is inattention from the FCC.
  2. The only thing that annoys hams more than inattention from the FCC is attention from the FCC.
His issues with the FCC weren't ham related as such, he is a broadcast engineer too.
 
This thread is motivating me to get my antennas up. I finally unpacked my radio gear from when I moved 2.5 years ago!!! Time flies when life gets in the way. One holdup is the need to drill through the house brick exterior and foundation to get the feed lines to my man cave.
I didn't want to go thru the side of my house either. My solution was to go thru the floor and out the basement window by replacing one pane of glass with plexiglas with plates on either side and thru-connectors thru the plates/plexiglas.
 
My solution was to go thru the floor and out the basement window by replacing one pane of glass with plexiglas with plates on either side and thru-connectors thru the plates/plexiglas.
Glad you found a solution. I'd forgotten you'd had the issue,
but it would be unfortunate to be stymied.
 
Then he probably never wanted any attention from the FCC.

(None of which removes a jot or a tittle from what I wrote).
The FCC gave him attention unlooked for to the point of harassment. He was instrumental in engineering and installing several high powered "Bible Beater" (his words) shortwave stations in the US and because most of their programming was religious and right wing (God forbid), he ran into roadblocks at every turn. He told me if they had been left wing owned stations there would have been none of the issues he dealt with. Pretty sure he thinks of the FCC as we do the BATFE.
 
The FCC gave him attention unlooked for to the point of harassment. He was instrumental in engineering and installing several high powered "Bible Beater" (his words) shortwave stations in the US and because most of their programming was religious and right wing (God forbid), he ran into roadblocks at every turn. He told me if they had been left wing owned stations there would have been none of the issues he dealt with. Pretty sure he thinks of the FCC as we do the BATFE.
Wonder if they hassle these guys?

It's such a hoot to drive to the Dayton/Xenia Hamvention
and pass a gen-u-wine shortwave broadcaster.
 
OTGF net.
Tonight.
3588 USB Olivia 8-250.
10pm Eastern.
Check in if you can. We have 3 confirmed stations in NH, PA, and WI.
Others may show up as far as the west coast.
 
This thread is motivating me to get my antennas up. I finally unpacked my radio gear from when I moved 2.5 years ago!!! Time flies when life gets in the way. One holdup is the need to drill through the house brick exterior and foundation to get the feed lines to my man cave.
The drilling would be the best part!!!
 
OTGF net.
Tonight.
3588 USB Olivia 8-250.
10pm Eastern.
Check in if you can. We have 3 confirmed stations in NH, PA, and WI.
Others may show up as far as the west coast.
I'll try to stay up late enough for this. I've never used Olivia but it can't be that much different than rtty. Is Olivia USB or LSB?
 
To Confirm;

The 80 meter band at ~3.6 Mhz worked real well tonight as close as about 50 miles on the OLIVIA digital mode. Very strong.
My transmit power was reasonable at ~40 watts in to the Open Wire Line -fed Zepp antenna hanging flat between 2 pine trees up about 50'.

For a personal first; a brand-new mode, OLIVIA, attempt worked out well tonight.
There is no end to what you can choose to do, or learn in this hobby.

Another modern 'conversational', weak signal digital mode to consider is 'js8call'. I haven't looked in a while, but it was pretty active a few years ago.
It is based on the ft8 mode (which is not conversational) and works amazingly well for weak signals.
 
Sorry that I didn't make it last night...except on weekends, 10pm is pretty late for me. I tried but fell asleep before the appointed hour. Maybe we can try this again this weekend again?
 
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