Fly Fishing

Fly Fishing is one of my passions in life. If I have the opportunity to go fly fishing anywhere, Ill take it. I like both stream and lake fishing. My favorite place of all to go fishing is Lake of the Woods. That is my favorite place to go in general. Besides that, locally my favorite fishing spot is the Scioto river right at 270 to about 1/2 mile north. The depth of the river is great for wading and there are fish to catch. The fish aren't very big, but there are fish - small mouth bass, crappie, and sun fish. I enjoy being there, listening to the water flowing, watching the wildlife, and casting my rod more than catching the fish so the small size of the fish doesn't bother me much.

This picture is looking north. On the left is Dublin road, on the right River Side drive. You can see the bottom of the stream - crystal clear and relatively shallow. Its just perfect.


This picture is looking back south at the same spot. The two bridges are Emerald Parkway (the close, stone-clad bridge) and I-270 (the far, taller one - the outer belt around the city of Columbus).

Giant Scale Seaplane

I already have a build thread going on RC Canada so I figured I would just post a link to the build thread. This airplane is a work in progress, it is in the condition it is in these pictures - not done. Don't let the pink foam fool you - it will be fiberglass'ed and painted when its done.

To introduce the idea of this airplane Ill start off by saying this one is a MONSTER. I have a 2 cycle leaf blower engine that I converted to an RC airplane engine. So that's the basis for the airplane size.

The wing span is 10', that's 120". Yep. Big.

The title of the build thread is "Giant Trainer". Don't let that fool you. It is designed to be a docile, easy flying airplane, yes. However, the construction and the size of the airplane are anything but a trainer.

Check out this link for more information: http://www.rccanada.ca/bb/viewtopic.php?t=23284&highlight=giant+trainer

3D Foamie Fun-Fly Airplane

I have a build thread going on RC Groups, so I figured I would just send a link to that since I already have so much written.

First, an introduction to this airplane. This is a 3D airplane. 3D is a category of aerobatics in RC flying. There is no such thing as 3D in real airplanes, that I am aware of. If you attempt to do high-G 3D aerobatics in a real airplane you will die, and likely snap the wings off. Some maneuvers are the most extreme, stressful, high-G aerobatics you can imagine. On the other hand, 3D can be the slowest "flying" (technically, you are no longer flying - the fixed wing is no longer generating lift - the airplane stays in the air from the power of the engine/prop) in an airplane - down to not moving at all. Loops, rolls, 90+deg turns, hovering (on the prop like a helicopter) are all part of the package - some of those may seem elementary, but if you add in the power and 3D variations of those it gets pretty crazy. One of the neatest ones I like to do is a "harrier". You can't do this with a "normal" airplane. If you do it with a "normal" airplane what makes it "abnormal" is the wing loading - it must be very light, the airplane must be correctly balanced (tail heavy - which poses a snapping problem), flight characteristics of the wing design (back to the snapping problem - some wing designs are more forgiving than others) and you need to have a LOT of power - 1.5x, or more, power than a similar size sport/aerobatic airplane. Normal sport/aerobatic airplanes are built for efficiency and control while moving - little drag and good size control surfaces. Most airplanes don't have a lot of power to utilize. 3D airplanes typically have 1.5 times the power on the same size airframe as a regular sport airplane. The reason "normal" airplanes can't do 3D is you are letting the airplane fall in a controlled stall - nose up at about 30deg (the angle of decent determines how much forward movement you have - the greater the angle the less forward movement). The big fat wing of my airplane has extremely gentle stall characteristics. Combined with the LARGE control surfaces and short fuselage I can maintain a stall and descend in a controlled environment. A "harrier" is also the general entrance maneuver to hovering on the prop - the airplane's forward airspeed is already near 0 and there is no lift

Mine is made of foam insulation. Why? Because its inexpensive, easy to repair, and is easy to build with. To make a wing you use a Hotwire cutter (exactly what the name says - you pass electricity through a wire under tension and it cuts the foam like a hot knife through butter).

Check out the thread for more information: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=551484

Edit: 10/22/07

I just re-built the front end and got the airplane back together for the most part. There are a few details that need to be attended to but is mostly ready to go. The engine started right up. I flipped the prop a few times getting new fuel through the engine and it fired up on 3 flips. Not bad for an engine that's been sitting for a year.

Ill update this again when I get a chance to fly it. Hopefully I can fly it somewhere where I won't hit anything landing (check my build thread in the RCGroups link for info on the last flight).

My Work Truck

I shouldn't say this is "my" work truck. This is the company truck. Another guy has been driving this more than I have in the past several months. However, I make/have made money with it so I can write about it.

It is a 2005 Ford F-350 with a diesel engine. Its only 2 wheel drive, unfortunately.
It really needs to be 4 wheel drive, even though its only purpose in life is to pull a trailer. When you get on slippery roads in the winter time, 4 wheel drive can make the difference between keeping the truck on the road and sliding in to the ditch. With 10,000lbs of steel pushing you down the road from behind the front wheels don't like to steer to well sometimes.

The car on the back is a GS450 hybrid, one of the first ones in the country. This one was the boss's car, and it was my first haul working here. What a welcome to the position - I got to haul my BOSS'S car... If I screwed anything up I would have been toast. I hit construction traffic, narrow lanes, and thunderstorms right at dusk on the way back with the car. The car was picked up in Chicago, IL, and the crap I hit was on I-70 around I-75 (one of the larges intersections of major highways in the country). I guess you could say I passed my initiation.

This was a memorable trip. The car I hauled here is an SC430. It just so happened to be the only one like it in the country at the time that was that color and with the features the customer wanted. We had it here in Columbus. Originally, the guy that bought the car went through his regular dealership (I forget where it was) to get this car. The dealership called us up wanting to trade us something for it. However, since this was the only car in the country like it, the managers were not in any way going to get rid of it for someone else to get the sale on it. So, the customer had to come to us if he still wanted the car. So he did. The only issue is, he lives in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. He wasn't in any way going to come to Columbus, Ohio to get his car. So we delivered it to him. Or, more specifically, I delivered it to him.

The guy that bought the car was trading in a Cadillac. So I had to bring that car back with me. That was pretty cool.

This was the first "delivery" I had ever done. I had to have him sign all the documents and everything. That took a while. There were LOTS of papers, so I tried to remember everything and not screw things up. The hard part was remembering everything. I forgot to have him give me one document, and it had something to do with registering the car, that's all I remember.


This is a trip I took to Mentor, Ohio. It is North East of Cleveland. Yep, NORTH EAST of Cleveland. What is Cleveland known for in the winter? LAKE EFFECT SNOW! Mentor is even further north and east. That sounds like a lot of fun to drive through, and hauling valuable cargo at that.

This is as far in to the snow as I dared to snap a picture. After this, the weather went to shit. I'm not kidding. I wouldn't have been very worried if I was driving my truck, but I was driving the work truck (2 wheel drive, remember?) and I had expensive, heavy merchandise on the back. Can you say "WHITE KNUCKLES"?


Have you ever been to a truck stop that was covered in ice? This was a trip. I have to admit, it was a lot of fun. The other drivers there were having a heck of a time trying to get out of the fuel island as there was a little bit of an incline. It usually took a second truck behind them to get out. I got stuck a few times trying to maneuver myself. I got out of the fuel island fine, I spun the wheels a bit but I made it up. I got stuck about 200 feet in front of the fuel island in this picture:
I couldn't turn left to get out because of the other trucks having trouble. So I had to drive straight through and around the parking lot. On ice that's easier said than done.

My Personal Truck

My personal vehicle is a truck. It is a 2003 Chevy Silverado Z71 (its a 1500, but they don't label the Z71 as a 1500 any more.. not sure why).

Why do I drive a truck? Well, I couldn't do a LOT of things if I didn't have a truck. Trucks are cool. Trucks can do more than any other vehicle. Trucks are meant to be used. Trucks are powerful. 4 wheel drive trucks, when set up properly, can go through just about anything. Trucks are big (safe on the road).





OK, so trucks are cool and they can do more than any other vehicle. Right. Do I actually use my truck?

Yes, I do use my truck.

If you are going to get a truck and baby it then fine, have at it. However, you are not using and appreciating the vehicle in the manner in which it was designed.

Construction on my Dad's house



Loaded up for Canada trip summer 07' No, its not full yet.


Set up and operating in the 07' ARRL September VHF contest. If you haven't seen my posts about operating my radios in Canada and my Portable Rotatable Mast, then check those out. This is an extension on the mast idea - only, its mounted in the back of my truck. The upper mast is 3 sections, telescoping, so it is collapsed going down the road - but all the antennas are installed. This makes set up a matter of a couple minutes and I'm on the air. Everything is as hooked up and ready as it can be to minimize set up time.


My truck isn't just a tool and transportation. I value it more than a lot of things. It is my freedom to go where I want and to do what I want to do. I work on my truck myself. I take it to the dealer for routine maintenance (oil changes, break service, ect). However, all the extras I do myself - lifting, suspension adjustment, exterior accessories, electronics (radio equipment, wiring, lights).

As soon as I got this truck I was making plans for it. I have always wanted a truck with a lift and big tires. So, that's what I'm working on. It is a SIGNIFICANT expense to do so, however. I am doing what I can when I can and it makes sense.

The first thing I ever did was put the body lift on. It is a 3" Performance Accessories kit. Basically, what the kit does is it lifts everything mounted to the frame except the engine, gas tank, transmission, drive train, etc, off the frame. That leaves the bumpers and body pieces. Piece of cake, right? Nope.

I knew what I was getting in to when I got the lift. I had researched it before hand and made sure it was something that I could handle with the help of a few grease-monkey friends. It was an ALL day project.

The bumpers were lifted with brackets and the body pieces (cab, bed) were lifted with blocks. Ground straps had extensions added to them, the steering shaft had an extension put in, the bumpers had to be modified (cut) to accept the lifting brackets, and the fuel fill tube had to be extended.

My friends and I did everything in front first, then worked our way back. Lifting the body off the frame was an interesting feat. We used two floor jacks and lifted up one side, put the blocks and bolts in, then lifted the other side and did the same thing.

The hardest part about the lift was the time and effort it took. We forgot to hook up one ground strap on the back of the engine (towards the firewall) and the engine didn't start when it was all done. We checked all the grounds and connections and found the unconnected strap, put it back on, and the truck has been fine since.

The body lift really adds to the stance of the truck. It has the right proportions now. The stock truck sits too low, in my view. The other issue with stock trucks is the front end is always riding on the ground. New trucks don't have this problem, but as the truck ages the front sags. This is due to the torsion bar suspension in front. To fix this, you crank down on the torsion bar adjustment screws. Where the torsion bars connect to the frame (under the center of the cab) there is a piece called a "key". This is basically like a giant wrench for the torsion bar. There is a set-screw on the bottom of the bracket that this all mounts to that pushes up against the key. The further this is cranked the tighter it makes the bars, thus the higher the front sits.

Note: don't tighten bars too much or the front will sit higher than the back. That's not cool. The bigger issue, though, is the shock absorbers. You can NOT use this method to "lift" the truck, it is merely to level out the front and rear. The shock absorbers can only take so much travel. If you crank the bars too much the normal ride height may be right at the lower limit of the travel. That means the weight of the truck is twisting the torsion bars just enough to keep the pressure off the shock absorbers. When the weight is taken off of the torsion bars (IE, when lifted with a jack, off-roading) the strength of the torsion bars can RIP the shocks apart. The two halves will literally be yanked apart. That's not good. So, why not change the shocks out with longer ones? This brings up another issue - the angle of the CV's. Too steep of an angle and you put a lot of stress on the bearings and drive train as a whole. That's also not good. It is better to get a lift and drop the whole drive train than increase your angles. Its more expensive, but it is the RIGHT way to do it.

I do just enough to balance the front and rear. This, however, causes the front to be real high when I load the truck down - either weight in the bed or pulling a trailer. I think its a small price to pay for a cool, balanced looking daily ride.

The tires on the truck are Bridgestone Dueller Revo's, 285/75-R16 (33"). Stock tires are 265/75-R16 (30"). I got the bigger tire because I want a bigger tire! The only issue is the wheels are a tad narrow for them, but it really isn't a problem. I have never noticed any ill-affects from that.

I had a heck of a time picking out tires. For one, I wanted an aggressive tread. I wanted something that was going to be really good in the mud and snow. I was originally looking at the BFG Mud Terrains. A buddy of mine had these on his Jeep Cherokee and they wore down too fast and were loud going down the road. So, I decided against these. The reviews on Bridgestone's duellers were great online so I looked in to them further. I was also looking at some Firestones. I had Firestone wilderness AT's on the truck and they were crap. They were quiet, rode real nice on the highway, and gas mileage was great. However, that's all on dry pavement. Get them wet and they spin like no other. Get them on ice and snow and you do donuts in intersections. The first winter I went through with the truck I had to run in AutoTRAC or 4 wheel drive so I could keep the back end on the road. 2 wheel drive was hairy. That is why I got new tires! So, I figured I would go with Bridgestone and try them instead.

The Dueller Revo's are excellent tires. I would recommend them to anyone with a 4 wheel drive. They are quiet on the road (amazingly), they are good in mud (Ive never been stuck in mud with them), and they wear really nice on the road. I have at least 40,000 miles on mine and they have PLENTY of tread on them. They are rated for 50,000 miles, but I bet I can get double that on them. One great design aspect of these tires is the pointy tread design. If you look them up online you'll see that the blocks aren't square rectangular. The blocks taper around the tire. These points cut through water on the road to prevent hydroplaning (an issue I had with the Firestone Wilderness AT's, really bad too). They also keep the hammering of the blocks on the road down - this makes them quiet. The blocks hit the pavement gradually due to the taper. Now, they are still noisier than a street tire.. but compared to any other all-terrain tire, they ROCK!

Other additions for the future:

I want a Cognito 7-9" kit. From what I have found it is the best engineered kit available. I will keep it at the 7" level as I don't want to put too much of an angle on my drive shaft (too much of an angle and you wear out the bearing in the transfer case and put lots of resistance on the drive line). Plus, the 3" body lift is 3" I already have. The majority of the "ground clearance" comes from the size of the tires, not the suspension lift.

Another idea I should address is the difference between "ride height" and "ground clearance". A body lift does not increase "ground clearance". It makes you sit up higher. The purpose of a body lift is extra clearance for larger tires. The tires are what add to the ground clearance. With the 3" body lift and the 33" tires over the 30" stock I get a total of 4-1/2" more "ride height", yet only an inch and a half of "ground clearance". See how that works?

Now.. a suspension lift is a little different. You can argue that it increases the ground clearance. It does to a certain extent, but not entirely. There are items that hang down from the frame that you must consider - the drive shaft being one and the front torsion bars (unless you go to a straight axle conversion). As the distance of the rear axle increases from the frame the steeper the angle of the drive shaft. It is always going to be there. The torsion bars are the same way, only the angle of these has to remain relatively the same. The torsion bars need to be perpendicular to the swing direction of the A-arms. Therefore, they must be dropped when lifting. They will always be hanging down. If you are in to off-roading and want the most capability out of your vehicle, watch out. Everything that hangs down is something that will hang up on the terrain.

So if lifting doesn't increase the ground clearance properly, what's the point? The purpose of lift kits is to increase suspension travel and increase clearance for larger tires. The larger the tire the more distance between the outside of the tire and the axle, or radius. Take the radius of the tire you want to put on and subtract the radius of the tire you currently have (in my case the diameter is 33" now, 30" before with the stock tires. That's 16.5" radius minus a 15" radius, and you have the increase in ride height and ground clearance. In my case an inch and a half.

The tires I want are 38" Super Swamper TSL's or 37" Parnelli Jones Dirt Grips. I haven't decided which. Maybe I'll have a couple sets. The PJ's will be great on the road and the Swampers will be good for the mud. These tires will require a 10" wide rim, however. Another set of items Ill need.

When putting bigger tires on a vehicle you have to consider the drive train. It is an absolute must. The standard gear ratio is too high for the 38" tires. It would be like starting a manual car in second gear instead of first. So, I need to change the gear ratio.

When changing the gear ratio you are putting more power to the wheels. As the tire size increases so does the torq needed to rotate it. When off-roading you put yourself in situations where the wheels need a lot more torq to get the vehicle moving. The tires grip the terrain and pull the weight of the vehicle along. Think of climbing a rock wall compared to walking down the side walk. What is harder to do?

Because of the torq issue, the stock axle isn't strong enough to take the load. Going down the road it would be fine. It would be under more stress than a non-lifted, non-big tire truck but it wouldn't be a big problem - the stock truck is rated at 7800lbs towing capacity with 3.73's, 8800lbs with 4.10's. I think the axle can take a few more inches of tire. The problem starts when you stop the tire. If you are crawling up a hill over rocks or logs then you are going to stop the tire. It takes a lot of force to get the tire to climb up over an object, rather than just rolling.

So, to help on the strength, the axle should be swapped out for a GM 14 bolt. The stock axle is a 10 bolt. This will give me more strength for more assurance against breakage. The axle swap won't be a direct bolt-in replacement. The spring mounts will need to be re-done on the 14 bolt to get it to mate with the spring locations on the 1500 frame. Not a big deal, just a little more work. Also, Ill need to get some 6-lug axle shafts. I forget if you can get 6-lugs on a 14 bolt. I know they come in 8-lugs though, the 14 bolt is used on GM's heavier trucks - 2500's and there is another version of the 14 bolt used on the 2500HD's and 3500's.

Along with the rear axle I'll need a locker. What a locker does is lock the two axle halves together. If you watch a vehicle make a tight turn you'll notice the outer wheel spins faster than the inner wheel. That is because the outer wheel has more distance to cover in the same amount of time. The "differential" in the axle allows this to happen. It is a gear system that has one large ring gear attached to a housing that holds smaller gears (one on the ends of the axle shafts and a set on opposite ends connecting the two shafts). If you jack the vehicle off the ground and spin one wheel with your hand, the other wheel spins in the OPPOSITE direction. This is because of the smaller gears. A locker takes the place of the differential. Actually, a locker is a type of differential. The difference is it is designed to either manually or automatically (my stock axle has an automatic locker) lock the small gears in place. So, the same vehicle that is jacked up off the ground would have both wheels spin in the same direction when you spin one. Only, you would be turning the drive train as well. This is a must when off-roading. If you don't have a locker then when one wheel is in the mud spinning it takes all the power out of the drive system. The power takes the path of least resistance. When you lock the axle shafts together they act as one. Therefore, if one wheel has no traction it takes NO power. All the power goes to the wheel WITH traction and you are able to move.

The front end needs to be protected more. The truck has skid plates on it (part of the stock Z71 off road package). However, the skid plates are only on the underneath side of the frame. When transferring from flat ground to climbing hills (or the other way around) the front end can touch the ground. Therefore a heavy duty bumper and skid plate should be used to help lift the truck up any tough spots.

Getting stuck in the mud isn't fun. I have gone on rescue missions to extract some of my friends who were not so smart. Having a way out is really nice to have. If your buddies are already a mile down the trail then having a means of getting yourself out is handy. Or, if you really screw up and put yourself in such a bad position that no one can get NEAR you (I saw this once, we couldn't even walk within 50' of the blazer).. a way to get out yourself is a good thing. Electric winches to the rescue! The one I am looking at is the Ramsey Patriot 9500 or 12000. I want something strong enough to pull the truck, and whatever gear is in it, through the toughest spots.

Driving - State Count

I like to travel. I like to drive. I like to fly, however I will avoid the airlines at all costs.

If I am going to get anywhere Ill jump in my buggy and roll my way wherever I need to/want to go.

I have family spread out over the country and in to Canada, so that is the basis of the majority of my travels. My Grandfather lives in south western Ontario, Canada, in the summer. We have a small island on Lake of the Woods. Since as long as I can remember I have been going there with my family. It is a 2 day trip any way you cut it. The drive time is roughly 20 hours.

You can make the argument that 20 hours is less than a day, but I invite whoever reads this to drive that in one day. If you can do it and have proof of doing it then please, by all means, write to me and tell me you did it. If you have never been on the road that much you have no idea what is coming your way. I can assure you - if you do drive that much you are putting yourself in serious danger, and EVERYONE ELSE on the road. I can take about 12-15 hours of straight driving before I'm done for.

By the way, the legal limit for drive time for a commercial driver (I know this because I drive a transport truck for Lexus too) is 10 hours. After that 10 hours you need 10 hours of CONSECUTIVE time off. You can have 14 hours in a work day (14+10=24) because you are aloud 4 hours of on-duty time, not driving (loading/unloading/paperwork/load check). You can push your time to 11 and 12 hours, but if you do it several times and have your logs checked and are caught by the DOT you get a hefty fine. Not fun.

The sates I have traveled through on the trip to Canada alone are: Ohio (I live in Ohio, so I need to drive THROUGH it, right?), Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. If I take the northern route you can take out Indiana and Illinois and add in Michigan (which I hate, I did it once and never again - U.P. is REMOTE!). So, just with this trip I have Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota under my belt. That's 6 states.

I have an aunt, uncle, and cousins that live in Virginia. I have been out there several times by myself. To get to Virginia you go through West Virginia and, again, Ohio. So I can add Virginia and West Virginia to my count. That brings me up to 8.

One of my friends from elementary, middle, and high school moved out to Omaha, Nebraska, a few years ago. I have made two trips out there, combined with my Canada trip, to visit him. To get to Omaha, Nebraska, I need to go through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska. So, I can add Iowa and Nebraska to the state count. That makes 10.

However, going from Omaha, NE, to Canada, or the other way around (Ive done it both ways) I need to drive on I-29. That takes me up through North Dakota and South Dakota. So, that's another 2 states I can add to the count. That's 12 states.

My brother went to the University of Kentucky. Since I have a truck I helped move him in and out of various places he lived while there. So I have made several trips to Kentucky. That makes 13 total states now.

I mentioned I drive a transport truck for Lexus. Its not what you think - its an F-350 with a 2 car goose-neck open car hauler trailer (see "My Work Truck" post). I do dealer trading between the dealerships in Columbus, OH, and anywhere they send me to.

Since I am driving solo on these trips I can include them in my state count, although not in my personal truck.

I have made several trips to Pennsylvania and Kentucky. I have been through Tennessee to Atlanta, Georgia. I have driven to Chantilly, Virginia. To get there I had to drive through West Virginia, Pennsylvania, more West Virginia, Maryland, and then Virginia.

So.. if I have done my math correctly, that's another 4 states - Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Georgia, and Maryland. That brings me up to 17 states. That is all solo driving.

If I add in a few family trips to the Outer Banks, North Carolina, I can add NC. I can also add New Jersey and New York as my step dad's family is from that area. That makes 19 states I have traveled to. The bigger achievement for me, personally, is the 17 I have been to/through alone.

If I had to guess at how many miles I have driven...... Boy, that's a hard question. I have driven at least 30,000 for Lexus. I have over 71,000 miles on my personal truck, minus 9,000 it had when I got it.. so that's 62,000. I went to Virginia about 3 times in the two other vehicles I had before so add in another 2,400 (800 round trip) miles. That right there is 94,400 as a rough estimate. I got my drivers license about 3 days before I turned 17, so I have been driving a little over 5 years. That's quite a bit in 5 years, almost 19,000 miles a year on average.

W8LT - The Amateur Radio Club at The Ohio State University

The Ohio State University has an Amateur radio club. The club was founded in 1926, so it has been around a LONG time. There is a lot of heritage in the club. I am a Ham radio operator (obviously), so it makes sense that I am a member of the OSU Amateur Radio Club.

I would have ended up with W8LT no matter what, but I have a neat connection to the club. Here's a quick story about it:

I came to OSU fall quarter 2006. I had already known about the club before I came here. W8LT is one of the most well-known university call signs for the reason of past contests. Many well-known contesters were cultivated at W8LT. Back about 20-30 years ago, W8LT was one of the biggest signals on the bands. The club members were knowledgeable and dedicated to the understanding of radio systems. They got on the air and made the W8LT signal heard. They placed high scores in dozens of contests.

Enough of the history. Before school started up at OSU, that summer I was in Columbus as my mom and step dad live here. I was on the local 146.760 repeater and was talking to someone, I believe it was Tony KC8PZU (now KC8PZ). AB8VE broke in and Tony told him he was talking to "Steve, KC8QVO. Hes from your hometown, Dayton". I didn't know this at the time, but Dan, AB8VE, had changed his call sign. Talking to him, I didn't recognize who he was. I had AB8VE talking back to me. It just didn't register in my head who he was.

Fortunately, I haven't changed my call sign (yet). Dan recognized the call sign and was a bit shocked. He asked to make sure I was the same "qvo" he talked to on the 145.110 repeater in Dayton. He mentioned his previous call sign was KC8UDJ and that's when it hit me who he was! I used to talk to him all the time. He and I were the only younger guys on the repeaters in Dayton, so we had a unique connection. Its not often being in your late teens that you have someone else close to your age to talk to on Ham radio. Granted, there are even younger kids on the bands. Having someone right in your hometown to talk to that is your age is pretty cool.

Long story short, it turned out he was the president of W8LT. They were going to be having their Field Day operation at Matt KD8ANP's house in Delaware and invited me along. So I changed my Field Day plans and headed out there. Boy, what an experience! The people were great. I had a spectacular time!

Now, I am actively involved with the club. I don't hold an official position yet because I wasn't sure if I was going to stay at OSU after last winter or not (read my post on "OSU-School" if you want to get in to that). So I didn't want to run for office.

However, I have a deep interest in W8LT. I talk to people all the time on the radio who remember how W8LT used to be. I wish the club was as great as people say it was. Unfortunately, these days interest in Ham radio is fizzling out. Its not just with our club, its the hobby/service as a whole. Since we don't have many active student members to begin with, the club really has been hit hard. We aren't as active as a whole because of it. We need to generate new interest in W8LT. We need to spark enough interest with people that they become dedicated to helping and preserving the club. To do this, we need to spark interest in Ham radio. We need to get new people together to show them what we do. We need to get them on the air and able to feel the magic of radio. Its one thing to be sitting next to a box with a microphone and talking to someone else, but to share that magic with someone who doesn't know about radio and has never experienced anything like it before is very powerful.

Field Day is one BIG exception to our lack of interest, however. Field Day brings people out of the woodwork you would never know about otherwise. If there is any one event that shows what ham radio is, can do, and how fun it can be - Field Day is it! There just is no other event like it. To bring everyone together and have such an intensely enjoyable event is so great.

I wish we could bring people together like this more often. It can't be done by one person, or a handful of people. It requires the interest and dedication of the club as a whole.

One of my goals being at The Ohio State University is to spark off some interest in Ham radio in others. Because Ham radio can be a technical subject (see some of my posts about Ham radio on here), many people shy away from it. I am a technical person. I dive right in to how it works and why it works. In explaining Ham radio, that flies over a lot of people's heads. For me to spark interest in Ham radio in others I need to come up with a way of explaining Ham radio that is interesting to people. Its not a very easy chore, but I think it can be done.

I made a flyer for the Fall 07' Welcome Week Involvement Fair. I took the initiative to do it because no one else really showed much interest. The day before the event I hit the flyer hard. I got it printed out at the Union about an hour before the event started.

In the flyer I explained Ham radio briefly. I only had so much room and I didn't want it to be over-loaded (back to explaining Ham radio so its not so technical.. its hard for me to do). I put pictures in it and tried to lay it out in an interesting way so that people would want to read it. I am a creative person to a certain extent, but this flyer really wasn't easy for me to make. I got it done and I think it is a decent, informative piece of information on what Ham radio is and what the club does.

I hope the flyer is the beginning of an interesting period in my time at OSU. It still can be improved. With the collaboration of club members I think it will turn in to a wonderful document. I planted the seed, now hopefully it grows!

Edit:
I am now the Treasurer for the club. We sorta had elections at the start of the school year and needed someone to step up to the plate. I figured Ill be here long enough, now, that I can hold an official position. So that's what I'm doing!

OSU - School

This is a long ride I have been on for a while now. Currently I am
in the Technology Education program. How I came to this program is
because I have tried a few different programs and found out they aren't
for me. I was in an engineering program the last two years of high
school. This is what has kept me on this engineering/technology/hands-on path. I learned a lot in that program and I don't want to waste that experience.

After high school I got a 2 year scholarship to Sinclair Community College to continue on in an engineering-related field. So I took advantage of that and
decided to major in Mechanical Engineering. That is what I wanted to do
anyway - I like mechanical things the most, but I also like electronics. I also knew I wanted to go to OSU . That left me one option at Sinclair - a 2 year university parallel program that was laid out to transfer to a 4 year university. That is what I had set in writing, but in practice it worked differently.

I couldn't get in to any of the physics and basic engineering classes until I took calculus. So I had to build up my math courses to get there. I ended up not taking
calculus until the last quarter I was there, spring 06'. I had applied to OSU that winter and had already been accepted. However, once I got in to calculus everything changed. I realized how hard of a ride it was going to be and decided to do something else besides engineering. I dropped calculus half way through. It was either finish it and not have a life other than calculus (which I had other classes I needed to study for also) and MAYBE have a chance at passing, or drop and keep my GPA up. I chose to drop and move on with things.

Since I was already accepted to OSU, and that's where I wanted to be in the first place, I looked around at other options. It appeared the only other option was Industrial Design. However, the entrance process is very competitive. They only accept 18 students a year and you have to submit entrance exam/portfolio for evaluation. So I took some basic courses in design (mainly drawing, perspective, drafting) and took a chance at getting in last winter. Well, it was a LOT of hard work for nothing. They didn't accept me. So, I could either risk everything again the following year and just finish my prerequisite courses (which I have most of them completed already) or I could find another program. Since I have been in college for 3 years I decided to find another program and get going in something.

At OSU the only other program was Technology Education. To be quite honest, I
looked at the curriculum and it just looked like a program for the people who were not so smart. It looked like a way to go to OSU and get an easy degree. That's not exactly what I was after. I wanted something that applied more to engineering. The name of the program is Technology "Education" - so yes, you can get a teaching license with it. Also not what I wanted to do. However, you can get a BS degree and not teach, instead get a job somewhere. So I figured I would at least give it a try.

School has started and I have been to a couple classes. I wasn't thrilled going in
but once I sat through some class material it actually seems pretty interesting. The topics we have covered in class so far have all been ideas I have thought about before and I know about them. Even more, once I picked up the books I flipped through one (energy, power, and transportation) and every chapter of the book was something I am knowledgeable about or at least have some idea of how it works! So, that is a good thing.

The other good thing I realized is there are other people in the program
who didn't want to beat their heads against the wall to get through engineering, like myself . There are also people in here that have made quite a bit of progress in engineering, math, and physics too. So, the people in the program seem like an intelligent, cool batch of folks. I can't wait to get deeper in to the program.

VHF Propagation

This is an area that fascinates me. Most Ham radio operators think of Ionospheric Skip and Skywave propagation as phenomena that happen on the shortwave, or HF, bands. This happens because the Sun's energy charges up particles (ions) in the atmosphere. The specific region is the F layer (and more specifically it is 2 layers F1 and F2 during the day). The area that is charged up is called the Ionosphere. Depending on the intensity of the charge, the frequency that is able to be reflected back to Earth changes. The more the charge the higher the frequency that can be bent back.

So, why am I talking about Ionospheric Skip while I am trying to talk about VHF propagation? Don't all VHF signals break through the atmosphere? Even some HF frequencies break through the atmosphere, so why would there be any reason for VHF, even higher frequencies, to be bent back to Earth?

VHF signals can in fact be bent back to Earth! It doesn't happen nearly as often, or can be predicted nearly as easily, as is done on the HF bands, however.

Some types of propagation that allow VHF signals to come back to Earth are: E-skip, Field Alligned Irregularities (FAI), Aurora, Meteor Scatter, Earth-Moon-Earth (EME), and Transequatorial.

Ill start off with the simple one - E-skip. This is by far the easiest phenomena to take advantage of. This happens most often because of temperature inversions. A temperature inversion is where warm air is above cold air. Its that simple. Typically, as you get higher in altitude the temperature falls. We all know that heat rises, but what creates heat on Earth? The number 1 source is the Sun. The radiation from the sun doesn't heat up the air at all becaus there is nothing for the energy to run in to that will become energized. The Sun's energy must reach the Earth before creating heat. The energy hits the ground and energizes it, creating heat. As this heat rises the Sun's energy, passing right through, still can not heat it up. There is nothing in the air for the energy to hit. Therefore, as heat rises it cools down. The heat looses its energy because there is no energy to keep it going. What creates the temperature inversion, most often, is when a cold front (colder air is more dense and has more power over warm air) is pushing across the land. The higher pressure and higher density of the cold air moving acts like a shovel and scoops up the warmer air near the surface. The warm air gets pushed up above the colder air for it to loose its energy and cool off.

So, what does warm air have to do with radio waves? Warm air carries more water vapor.

Antenna Tuners? Transmitted signal efficiency

This is a topic I just had to start up. I am a purist when it comes to Ham radio. Efficiency is what I worry about. I know I can't get the ideal circumstances all the time and have to deal with poor efficiency some times. However, antenna tuners bother the heck out of me.



What is an "antenna tuner"?
Well, most people take the name literally and think it is something that tunes your antenna. Wrong.

An antenna tuner is not an "antenna tuner". In Ham radio, all (or very close to all) of our radio systems have an impedance of 50 ohms. Antennas must present a 50 ohm load (or very close to that) to properly work. Now, that's not to say a dummy load will work well as an antenna - it doesn't. Hence the name "dummy" load. It presents a 50 ohm impedance to the radio to make it happy so it puts out full power, the "dummy" part means it doesn't radiate (or very little) so it is safe to use as a test device for transmitting and not sending out signals on the airwaves. So, then to get a 50 ohm match at the radio through an antenna system that does NOT show a 50 ohm match we can do a little black magic - IE, use an antenna "tuner". An "Antenna Tuner" changes the impedance of the transmission line or antenna (if a long wire) to 50 ohms before the radio. This makes the radio happy and able to transmit without worry into a good match. HOWEVER... and its a BIG HOWEVER - the match AFTER THE TUNER is STILL BAD!!! You did not change the impedance of the system, you just MADE THE RADIO HAPPY! Keep reading.

So, for an antenna to work well it must present close to a 50 ohm load to the radio. As the impedance changes so does your SWR (or Standing Wave Ratio). The higher the SWR the lower the power your transmitter will put out (in modern, solid state rigs) because the SWR-protection in the rig kicks in and drops the power so you don't blow your finals.

Lots of times, Hams use wire antennas. Long wires, dipoles, doublettes, windoms, G5RV's, etc. Hams in a pinch sometimes use one antenna on all bands. Well, this is where we get in to the efficiency issues. To get the most out of your antenna you need to have the antenna resonant on the frequency of operation and you need it to present a 50 ohm match to the transmission line (coaxial cable from rig to antenna) so the radio is happy. When you load up an antenna on bands it was not designed for you get impedance mismatches.

If you do not present a 50 ohm match, or close to it, to a 50 ohm impedance transmission line you LOOSE power (both RX and TX) out of the transmission line. Coax loss is rated in dB (decibels) per 100' per frequency of operation AT NOMINAL IMPEDANCE (50 ohms). Power, in dB, goes like this - every double in power is 3dB. If you show 50 watts to a 3dB loss system you get 25 watts out, likewise 500 out with 1000 in.

As the frequency increases, so does the loss. At HF we really don't need to worry about the loss THAT much. That is.. until we show poor impedance to the line. A poor impedance drastically increases the loss in the line.

SWR, or Standing Wave Ratio, is a measure of reflected power v.s. input power. SWR works like this - any double in impedance is an SWR of 2:1 (2 times nominal). At the same time, any half impedance is ALSO a 2:1 SWR (nominal/2). For example: an impedance, in a 50 ohm nominal impedance coaxial feed line, of 100 ohms gives an SWR of 2:1. An impedance of 25 ohms to the same feed line also gives an SWR of 2:1.

A 2:1 SWR is the maximum that is typically accepted by modern radios. Even then, the SWR protection has already kicked in and dropped your power. Youll be lucky to get 60-70 watts out of your 100 watt radio with a 2:1 SWR.

Back to the cable itself now. Lets say the cable we are using is rated at 1.3dB/100' loss @ 30MHz (LMR-240, a typical cable of the RG-8x size used by the majority of us). Lets also say we are running on 10 meters (30MHz is the high point of 10 meters), it is 100' long, and we are presenting a 2:1 SWR to it. I haven't done the exact calculation here (there are more variables involved with calculating this than just SWR and loss) but lets say that the loss increases to right around 3dB. That doesn't seem too unreasonable, given our initial loss of 1.3dB/100'.

Now, remember - a 3dB loss is equal to 1/2 you input power. If you get 50% of your power through the transmission line then that means, with that 60-70 watts in (after SWR protection in the rig), your antenna is only seeing 30-35 watts out. Now, add in the efficiency of the antenna you have up. If you have a beam antenna or an antenna with some gain, then you can ADD power back in (gain means more of the radiated energy is concentrated in a certain direction). If you're like most of us and running a 1/4w vertical or a dipole, then, unless it is optimized (and at a 2:1 SWR it isnt) you are LOOSING even more. 30-35 watts (most likely less than that) out of your 100 watt radio is probably not what you want, is it?

Now, I am going to bring in a whole other issue. Not only are you loosing efficiency (power, rx signal strength) through a bad match in coax you are ALSO generating interference, or RFI. Your signal loss through the cable when you transmit has to go somewhere. It is dissipated as heat, some of it radiates (IE, your coax is part of the antenna), and SOME of it is distorted and radiates as RFI trash. The higher the voltage at the feed point of the antenna and the worse the impedance match the more RFI you generate.

A dipole for 80 meters is roughly 134'. If you look at a graph of the voltage/current distribution on a dipole at its resonant frequency you have high current and low voltage present at the feed point. Voltage is opposite of current. Now, a dipole is 1/2wl - a "classic" dipole anyway. Lets use this antenna on 40 meters. 40 meters is half of 80 meters, which means the frequency is half as big. That means our 1/2wl antenna on 80 is now 1 full wl on 40, 1/2wl each leg. Now we need to change the graph of our current/voltage distribution. The voltage is still high and current low at the ends. However, the feed point of the antenna ALSO now shows high voltage/low current. In fact, the voltage is as high as it could possibly be at the feed point.

As I said before, the higher the voltage the more RFI generated. Higher voltage can also arc across longer distances. The capacitors in your manual tuner have plates that are close together. The higher the voltage through these capacitors the easier it is to arc across the plates. Arcing causes RFI and also severe damage to the capacitors. Every arc/spark of any voltage emits RF. The higher the voltage the more RF, and the more damage done - the more melting power the arc has. Unless you are building a spark-gap transmitter, arcs are BAD.

Through all of this I am explaining a desk-top, manual, in-shack, type antenna tuner mounted close to the radio with coaxial transmission line. There are ways to get around these poor impedances and losses, however! Keep reading.

Antenna tuners need not be close to the radio. They are convenient to have close to the radio so you can crank the knobs or push the buttons. However, if you can change the impedance of the antenna system to 50 ohms then why not mount the tuner close to the ANTENNA instead? This would give you a PERFECT 50 ohm, flat 1:1 SWR, impedance through the entire length of transmission line. This would minimize losses to the least possible. The only losses you have now are the tuner losses and the antenna losses (given its not optimized).

The only solution that makes sense here is an automatic tuner. SGC makes some good ones. The Icom AH-4 is popular, although poor matching range. Also, LDG makes a remote tuner, or you can modify a Z100 or similar for remote use. If you are operating on the low bands and want a tuner that can be remotely operated to tune the entirety of one band (160 for example) then you can make a loading coil with a lead-screw drive that will compress and expand the coil to adjust the impedance. Its pretty rough, but if you can build one for $30 youll save much more on the cost of an auto tuner.

Using a tuner on an antenna that is not optimized for the frequency of operation is not ALL that bad. In reality, all the power you are capable of sending to the antenna is getting to it. Gooch's paradox: "RF gotta go somewhere". If you get your RF to the antenna it will radiate. Its that simple. The performance of the antenna (gain, pattern, etc) might be an issue... but it will radiate.

Another way of getting around the impedance problem with a tuner is to use balanced transmission line instead of coaxial cable. For this you need a balun. Most manual tuners with a balun have a 4:1 balun. However, it might be beneficial to use a 1:1 instead. If you have a long antenna and tune it up on a high band you have a low impedance. For this example Ill use 40 ohms. If you use a 4:1 ballun at the tuner the impedance the tuner actually sees is now 10 ohms (40/4=10). 10 ohms is harder, MUCH harder, to match than 40 ohms is. In fact, 40 ohms wouldn't even need a tuner.

The problem with balanced line is how you route it. It can not be close to anything conductive, or relatively conductive. That includes tree branches and leaves (the water, sugars, saps all have some conductivity and will throw off the balance of the line). Maintain at least several inches (the more the better) of space between the line and anything else. This causes problems getting the line in to the shack. Going through a window with a spacer to hold the line at a good distance from the frame is a good idea. Going through a wall is OK as long as the line isn't close to anything metal in the wall (nails in studs, wires, ect).

Balanced line, when used properly, is the BEST transmission line to use. 450 ohm is the most common, others include 300 and 600 (true "ladder line"). I'm sure there are other values as well.

Remember, an "antenna tuner" doesn't actually tune your antenna. It merely is an impedance matcher so that your radio sees a 50 ohm impedance. There are many other factors you must consider in order to have an efficient, RFI-free system.

If "antenna tuners" hurt your efficiency and just aren't that great to use, then why do I have one? There are lots of situations when tuners are great to have. They are a must if you want to use a dipole and cover an entire band (edge to edge). Ill use 40 meters for example. You can get a 2:1 SWR width of one section or the other - SSB from 7.150-7.300 and CW/digital from 7.000 to 7.150. but to cover a whole band a tuner is the only way to do it. To minimize losses in both ends you tune the antenna to 7.150, right in the middle, and use the tuner to get the edges. Or, if you operate CW more then tune the antenna for CW and use the tuner for SSB, or the other way around. Longwire antennas need a tuner. A longwire can be used on any band, given it is 1/4wl at the lowest frequency you intend to operate on (the longer the better). Without a tuner, a longwire would be useless. Balanced line antennas (doubletts for example - a random length "T" antenna fed with ladder line - NOT a dipole) need a tuner unless the antenna is optimized for one frequency. Basically, any antenna that is not resonant at any specific frequency needs a tuner.

Even I use non-resonant antennas. We all have to at some point. If I had my own place with 50 acres to put up radio towers and antennas then maybe I wouldn't need a tuner. Until then, I need to use compromise antennas. I understand how my antenna systems work and I must accept the efficiency I can get. However, I CAN make my systems as efficient as I possibly can (short coax, balanced line instead of coax, close impedance, etc). The name of the game is to minimize losses. That's all.

My Radio Station

This section lists my radio station pieces and is never complete. As with technology - my ham radio station is always upgrading! One thing I would like to stress is you can NEVER have too many radios and related gear!

My main station radio is a Kenwood TS-2000 right now (right of center). I use this on all bands/modes. It works great on just about everything. For being an all-in-one rig you really cant beat it with a stick! The filtering in it is good and the audio just sounds spectacular (its a Kenwood, what do you expect?). Now, the receiver performance overall isn't the greatest. It has trouble in crowded bands and high QRN. Its not a high-performance rig so this is to be expected, however. On VHF/UHF this rig kicks some butt. I have worked a few VHF+ contests with it and I constantly hunt grids on 6m with it. If you had to have just ONE rig this is the one to have. Nothing else like it.

My backup radio is an IC-718 (left of center). I recently fixed it. The power output dropped down to 50w max. Its been doing this for about a year now. I never got around to fixing it because, well.. I don't really use it much. So, after some investigating I found the problem - there was a 4 volt drop at the rig when I keyed up! I tested the power cable and found the drop to be across the stock fuse blocks. I cut them out and directly soldered the two parts back together. My cable is fused at my distribution panel anyway, so I'm still protected. Now it runs fine! The performance of this rig is far less than the TS-2000. I don't have any filters in it, just UT-106 for DSP noise reduction (which helps). However, the rig is DYNAMITE on PSK31 and other digital modes! This was the first ham radio I ever got. I got it partially as a Christmas present in 1999 or 2000. I used it for SWL before I had my license.

Before I got my TS-2000 I got the Ranger RCI-5054DX (25 watter, not the 100 - left side middle shelf) for 6 meters. 6 meters is an interesting band (hence its called the Magic Band) - you can get out famously with 1w to a coat hangar when it opens. So, this little rig actually does pretty well - minus the fact it has no DSP/filtering. This rig is usually on 6m monitor duty when I'm in bed or when I am running HF on another rig and want to/can monitor 6.

The power behind my station is an Astron VS-35m (left side top shelf). This provides 25A continuous, 35a peak. This is more than enough for my needs. If I fire up everything on the table and plug my laptop computer in to it as well I still only draw 25 when I key one of the HF rigs at 100w. Not bad! It does make a nice heater, though. Good in the winter, bad in the summer. I typically run my shack at 14 volts.

My main microphone is a Heil Gold Line GM-4 (on the boom, hovering above the IC-718). I know Bob Heil. I stop by and say hi to him at Hamvention every year. He always recognizes me. I wouldn't say I know him well, though. For anyone who doesn't know who he is - he is a pioneer in pro audio. He's worked with groups such as The Grateful Dead, the Who, Jeff Beck, the Eagles, Peter Frampton, and Joe Walsh, among others. Bob holds the patent for the Talk Box, made famous in Peter Frampton's solo in "Do You Feel Like We Do" (in fact, that was a prototype Bob sent to Peter thinking he could make use of it - and that he did!). Anyway, the GM-4 has the HC-4 element for DXing - it cuts like a knife through the noise, not the most pleasant to listen to but it it packs a punch. It also has the stock full-range element for everyday use. In fact, the full-range element sounds so good I use it for recording acoustic guitar as well. I bought the shock mount for it along with a PL-2 boom. Hey, if you're going to have a nice mic you gotta mount it to a boom. A foot switch on the floor controls PTT for hands-free operation (or DXing/contesting and logging at the same time).

My antenna tuner is new last winter (06). It is a Palstar AT-1500CV (right bottom under cabinet). I bought it for myself as a Christmas present. I have needed a tuner and now I have one, the best one I could get. These are actually made right here in Ohio, over in Piqua. I met Paul, the owner of Palstar, a couple years back. I was researching tuners and found out about Palstar and them being in Piqua. So I e-mailed Paul and asked if I could drive by and take a look at their products in the shop. He agreed, so I went over there on a Saturday and got a personal tour of Palstar! I have to say, I am impressed with their products and quality. I am in no way associated with Palstar, other than Paul is a friend, so I'm not getting paid to advertise for them - my opinion here is my own: After looking at other manufacturers tuners and seeing the parts in them compared with the parts in Palstars.. well, there's just no comparison! Palstar beats the pants off the competition (Ameritron, Vectrionics, MFJ, Ten Tec, Nye Viking, Dentron, you name it). Palstar is an American company, their parts are made in America, their products are assembled in America, and, not surprisingly, they're the best!


My CW (Continuous Wave, otherwise known as Morse code) key collection includes a couple Vibroplexes - an old mechanical Bug (right of center) and a Code Warrior Jr (far left)., an RA P4 iambic paddle (far right), an MFJ economy strait key (left of center), and an MFJ micro-paddle (not shown). My main key is the RA P4. It is made by a good friend of mine, Jerry K8RA. I met Jerry doing a photography project on Ham radio operators and their stations. One of my other friends recommended I go see Jerry. Boy, I must say hes quite a guy - and his shack is ONE OF A KIND! The Vibroplex bug was given to me by Dick, W8JLY, before he passed away. I used to talk to him on the 145.110 repeater in Dayton all the time. I was on there talking to the usual group and we got on the topic of CW. I mentioned I love it and just about all my QSO's on HF are CW. So, when I signed off (it was a school night, I remember that) I left the rig on for a few minutes and I heard Dick tell Shirley, N8LX, who apparently had the bug at the time, that he wanted me to have it. So, that was pretty special. I still like to bang this old thing around occasionally. They take a LOT of force and technique to get the code out right, but they sure have a unique sound - and every operator has his/her own unique "fist". The Code Warrior Jr. was my favorite key to use before the P4. It uses magnets instead of springs so the action is unique. I like the feel of it. However, the weight is a bit of an issue. That's where the P4 is superior. The P4 weighs in at 5 POUNDS! It wont go ANYWHERE while banging out the code.

Other equipment on my list for the future: I have my eye on an FT-857D. I need a small rig I can toss in a back pack for hiking/camping/PM. The 817's RX isn't very good and it only runs 5w max. The 857D doesn't suck down much more current on low power/rx as the 817 and it has a VERY good RX and has the ability to transmit a full 100w. Very nice. Also, I'm looking at getting a high-performance HF rig. So far I am looking at the FT-2000. I like the way it looks, the price is right (the least expensive "high-end" rig out there right now), and it has 6 meters too. However, I have heard some bad reports about it. Since I'm not going to be buying one right now Ill be able to watch it evolve. Maybe Yaesu will make an MP and MK5 version like they did their popular 1000 series. Hopefully in the next year they will fix some of the bugs. Who knows - maybe a software update will be all it needs.

Other stuff shown in the picture: ARRL world map (tape lines are beverage directions for this winter, not for this QTH though - no room), Teaberry T Command CB (left on top of speaker), Astatic D-104 (on top of shelves, the silver chicken-choker, or lollipop if you prefer it called that), old Gateway computer (note the HUGE monitor - I hate that thing, from about 97-00), and the very far left is some of my audio gear - Behringer MXB-1004 mixer (absolute CRAP - Bheringer is the MFJ of pro-audio, maybe a little better, their soldering is actually pretty good but their stuff doesn't last) and a Dynaco 80w kit amp on top of a classic Technics receiver. The deer head is from my grandparent's house in Minnesota. They moved to Arizona and almost threw them out (there is another, not pictured). Those can't be thrown out! They're too cool!

Lake of the Woods, EN39 on the Air

My family has a small island on Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada. It is in Sabaskong Bay, about a mile nearly due west of the southern tip of the Nestor Falls airport runway. I go up there every year. There is just no other place like it, and nothing could ever replace it.
Since I have been a Ham radio operator I have taken my radios with me to operate from there. The Maidenhead Grid Locator on the island is EN39ad. This is a location designator Ham radio operators exchange on the VHF bands and higher. EN39 happens to be a rare place to operate from so I have a blast when I am up there!

This past trip I made all of my contacts on the 50mHz band (6 meters). I had more contacts this trip than all other trips COMBINED (that's the previous 5 years). E-skip was great. I caught band openings from Washington state, down to Texas, and over to New England. It sure is fun to call "CQ 6 meters this is VE3/KC8QVO Echo-November 3-9" and hear dozens and dozens of stations all calling ME! It is a very powerful, exciting feeling. That's what makes all the effort of setting up the gear, and the expense, all worth it.

The equipment list is pretty extensive. I basically brought every radio and accessory I own, minus a few HF antennas and masts. I had both HF rigs - TS-2000 and IC-718. I took my IC-207H out of the truck and used it for weather band RX and monitoring the FM stuff - including the marine band. I even had my Cobra 29nwst CB on the table. There actually was quite a bit of activity on the Chicken Band. Every time I turned it on there were people talking. 2 meters was dead - no one on the band, and no repeaters to hit. My RCI-5054dx was used as a night-time 6m monitor. I didn't want to leave the 2000 on all night. I ended up loosing the LED back lighting on the 5054 from continuous use, but the radio still works. That came in real handy when Es started up at weird times. They don't call 6 meters "the magic band" for nothing. Power came from my Astron VS-35m. The rotator was my trusty G800-SA. The big box there with the two vernier drives is my AT1500CV tuner (read my post about "Antenna Tuners?" if you want to get in to that topic). That was supposed to be used on HF, but I never got around to running much HF. The mic is a GM-4 on a PL-2 boom and shock mount. The big brass thing is an RA P4 key.
I ended up using the TS-2000 the whole time. I had the 718 because I was planning on running a net on 40 meters so people would be able to set up scheduled contacts and know when I was on the air. Unfortunately, 40 meters had a lot of noise and was unusable. Same goes for the computer - that was for digital modes. Even though I could have run WSJT on 6 and 2 I didn't have any way of setting a sked.

The antennas were my regular beam antennas. A50-5S on 6 meters, 13B2 on 2 meters, and A440-21ATV on 70cm (yes, that is M2's ATV antenna but it does run fine at 432 also). Please see my section on the "Portable Rotatable Mast" for more information on how these were actually installed. For HF I had my Tarheel model 200 screwdriver. That also worked on 6 meters. Once I found out about the noise problem I scrapped the idea of a 1/4w vertical for 40. That would have been another 30 some feet of mast that would have had to be erected, and for a band with a lot of noise it just wasn't worth the time and effort.

The trip wasn't all radios, though. My grandfather lives here in the summer. He turned 80 years old when we were there so we had a nice birthday party with a lot of our family friends and locals. It was a good time. Other activities on the island include: gathering fire wood (yes, it is the middle of the summer and it does still get cold at night), maintenance (mother nature does a hell of a job in that climate), as well as other chores.

When the work is done and you need some relaxation there are lots of ways to do that! Being on the 7th largest lake in the world, there are unlimited places to explore and places to fish. Just make sure you have a GPS handy so you can route yourself back home. Its easy to get lost on the lake.

My Grandfather netting a Walleye


How about a trip around the bay in the sail boat?

Here is a beautiful shot of the sun setting on the lake. We were coming home from dinner over at Green's.

Portable Rotatable Mast

I have been trying to make my antenna system as portable-friendly as possible for operating on my family's island. That has been much easier said than done, however. I run fairly large beams on 50, 144, and 432mHz - all rotatable . 5 elements on 50, 13 elements on 144, and 21 elements on 432. These antennas require a significant amount of strength to hold up. We get very strong winds on the island in storms so nothing too light duty would work. However, at the same time everything needs to fit in the back of my pickup truck for the 2 day trip there and back (that's one way, its roughly 20 hours - of driving).

To start with the theory behind my current mast system Ill say this: I am pretty much a one-man-band when it comes to setting up this stuff. That's 3 relatively large beam antennas and a rotator for positioning that need to be raised in a portable setup by one person. Sounds like a lot of work. To add to it I am setting up on a slab of granite that slopes fairly sharply down then drops off in to the lake. It doesn't sound like a very good place to set this up. Its not. Click on the picture to and enlarge it.See where the guy lines go? Right down to the edge of the water. A couple years ago I went for a swim setting up.

The first problem in my mast set up was to figure out how to make my upper mast rotatable and mast mountable. For one antenna this is a piece of cake - you stick about 2' of mast in the top of the rotator, bolt a mast adapter to the bottom of the rotator, and stick it up as high as you want to go on a main support mast. Done. Maybe some guy lines for added support, if needed.

This is all fine and dandy for 1 antenna. However, when you stack antennas you have to consider the distance between those antennas. Every antenna interacts with every other antenna in close proximity. To minimize loss of performance you need to separate these antennas. In portable setups, the general rule of thumb is to separate the antennas by as much as you possibly can. Getting to the edge of interaction is probably impractical. Since there is only one direction to go, up, that means the antennas need to be separated by stacking one on top of the other going up the rotating upper mast.

Back to the 1 antenna on the rotator. The distance between the antenna and rotator is not that much of an issue, however as the frequency goes up the image of the rotator increases thus the distance (in wavelengths) between the antenna and rotator increases. Theoretically, you could mount a 50mHz beam right to the top of the rotator (no spacing) and it would be fine (there would be interaction, but not too much). The image the roator shows to the antenna is small. There would need to be much more space (in wavelengths) at 432mHz between the rotator and antenna because the image of the rotator is MUCH larger to the smaller frequency, it is almost 1/2wl wide. However, this spacing would only be roughly 1/2wl - or a tad over 1'. At this distance the force on the upper mast on the rotator when the wind blows would be very minimal. The rotator would have no trouble holding all of this.

To bring this all back to my setup: I have 3 antenn