Early Field Day Update

Well everyone, sorry I haven't updated in a few days. However, I promise to have something good this weekend. Right now we are just having our normal night owl QSO on the 145.470 repeater. It's about a nightly ritual now that lasts well until 2:30 am or more. If your ever in the area tune in a drop in.
Tomorrow we are going up to the field to have our early field day. We had to postpone last weekend due to weather and the fact that the field hadn't been cut. However, tomorrow we are going to take our home brewed ZS6BKV multi-band HF antenna. We will definitely be taking plenty of pictures so be sure to check back soon. We will be operating on Dad's (KU4ME) ICom 756 Pro HF Rig.
Well I don't have much more to say at the moment. I will let this rest for the moment and I will update after our adventures tomorrow.

73 de KJ4DLD
Tim

Early Field Day Update

Well, we had planned on doing our field day this weekend however the threat of storms and the lack of preparation has led us to postpone until next weekend. With that being said, we started to make a pole to raise our dipole and will continue to make plans for next weekend. We just hope that the weather will hold up for us.
To further clarify, as I didn't mention it in the last post, the dipole we built is a ZS6BKV multi-band HF antenna. Of course as was mentioned in the last post we used an ugly choke on this to balance the twin lead to the coax.
Anyway, I don't have much more to add other than we've been keeping late hours on the local 145.470 repeater just outside of Knoxville, TN with various subjects of interesting conversation. Anyway, if your in the area, join us anytime.

73 de KJ4DLD

Tim

Field Day Antenna Building

So today we decided we would build a portable dipole to take to our Aunt Betty's field for an early field day next week since we were going to be on vacation during field day. We decided to build an Ugly Balun using two pieces of PVC fitting pipe in which we super glued together, then wound with our RG-8 coaxial cable which connects to the radio. The coax is connected to twin lead line that is 32 ft. in length. The dipole spans a total of 92'2". When we were completed with the antenna, we hooked it up to dad's HF rig, an ICOM IC-756 Pro. We were able to here some stations on a few bands which was a good thing as we built it to be a multi-band antenna. We made a couple test transmissions on 70, 20, and 10 meters without any issue.

Once we were done we wrapped everything up and stored it neatly so we can use come this next weekend. Anyway, that's all I have for now.

We will say 73.

Oh yeah, I forgot, I made my first HF contact on 10 meters this afternoon. I talked to K2WS, Alan in Long Island, NY. Anyway, Alan if you happen to read my blog, it was a pleasure talking to you this afternoon.

Tim
KJ4DLD

Radio Repair and Antenna Lifting

Hello everyone. I hope you all have been having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We have been having a wonderful weekend ourselves. I took a half day off of work on Friday, and I don't have to go back to work until Tuesday. So we've done a few projects so far this weekend. Yesterday, we worked on the little Yaesu FT-90R in mom's car. The receive was really broken so we took it out the car and hooked it up in dad's shack. Upon doing that we found that the radio was fine. So then we started looking at the antenna. We found the problem was in the small coax extender from the feed point was disconnected from big coax. So we pulled out the soldering iron and made the patch. The radio is now in good working order and in time for our trip down to Panama City.
Our other project for the day was to raise dad's 2 meter vertical antenna another 7-9 feet and guy it. His mast for that antenna is a three section mast and the middle section has not been raised in some time. Anyway, we sat around and did the math for how long to make the ropes for guying the mast. Once we had the measurements made we cut the ropes and prepared to raise the mast. Once it was all said and done, we raised the antenna another 7 feet or so and he was able to hit Mount Mitchell with no problem.
Today we have just been sitting around cooking out steaks and burgers, having a good ol' time listening and talking on the radio, and celebrating the start of my 33rd year in life. At this moment we are on the 147.360 repeater having a wonderfully odd QSO with Rick (KG4BGF), Cathy (KI4YPO), Dennis (KI4ZVU), Karen aka Mom (KF4SSI), Robin aka Wife (AJ4IJ) and myself aka Computer Monkey aka Tim aka Me (KJ4DLD).
Anyways, I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Memorial Day.

73 to all.

Tim

Time to study for my Extra Ticket

Hello everyone. I thought I would just write a few lines and let everyone know that I'm starting to study for my Extra. I've got a lot of work cut out for me but lucky for me my wife Robin (AJ4IJ) just upgraded to Extra and she is going to help me study.
Anyway, not much has been going on, we've been enjoying our new station setup. Robin has been actively participating in the lady's round table on 145.470MHz. We've been consistently checking in on the Rat Pack net on the same frequency, the Rocky Top Swap Shop on the 145.230 repeater, and conversing with several HAMs: KU4ME, KF4SSI, N4JTQ, KI4YPO, KJ4CRU. KG4LGL, N4CQW, N4PXL, and many more than I can think of at the moment.
I would like to take a moment to thank KJ4CRU again for the QSL cards we received from him yesterday. We were all as excited as a bunch of kids on Christmas morning. I would also like to thank N4JTQ and KI4YPO for the QSL card they sent to Ashby (KJ4EGJ). She really enjoyed that too. She's got one more QSL card than me and 2 more than her momma.
Well, it's getting late and I'm listening to a very funny QSO at the moment. So, I'll wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day and tell everyone 73.