Playing Catch Up

I know it's been a while since my last entry so let me play a little catch up. January has been a busy month and to be honest I haven't done a whole lot of radioing. What radioing I have done has been on 2 meters, checking into the different nets and the occasional QSO here and there. We attended the Morristown hamfest a couple of weeks ago where we bought all the wire we needed to build our own Windom antenna to put in the backyard. We bought a 100' of RG-8, 25' of RG-213, 140' or so of some 13 awg copper wire, some PL-259 connectors, and a couple of dog bones insulators. While at the hamfest, Robin (AJ4IJ) won a major award... a 2008-2009 ARRL repeater directory. That's the first time any of us has won a prize at a hamfest. We all thought that was pretty neat.

Since the hamfest, we've purchased a 4:1 balun from The Wireman, some thimbles, and we are still waiting on an I.C.E. lightning arrestor to arrive. Once that gets here, we will have everything we need to build and raise our antenna, and bring our HF radio home. Yes we finally purchased an HF rig. What did we purchase you ask? Well, we got a great deal on an ICOM IC-756 Pro. Gotta love the fish finder on that rig. It's been over at Dads(KU4ME) ever since. It works quite well and has great audio. I can't wait to get it over here and get on the air to see how we do with the Windom.

What else has been happening, well last weekend Robin and I went to take our EmComm level 1 and 2 tests. We passed with flying colors and are now EmComm 1 & 2 certified. We await our certificates. With me passing the EmComm tests, I have officially been appointed as EC for Union County ARES here in Tennessee. Up until now, Claiborne County has been taking care of our counties needs when it comes to emergency communications. We have quite a bit of work to do to get the ball rolling but look forward to get an Amateur Radio presence going on in our county. There are several hams in our county so we have a good base to recruit from.
Anyway, that's all I have for the time being, until next time...

Good DX and Happy Contesting
73 de AJ4JD
Tim

Happy New Year to all HAMs

Seeings how this is a new year now, I thought I would wish ever one a Happy New Year and hope that it brings much fortune, as well as many hopes and blessings. 2008 was a good year for me and my family personally. I got involved in Ham Radio this past year, having earned my ticket in May and worked up to Extra by July. Since then I became a member of the Claiborne/Union County ARES and look to be appointed EC of Union County sometime this month. I became a certified storm spotter along with the rest of the family (Robin - AJ4IJ, Ashby - KJ4EGJ, Mom - KF4SSI and Dad - KU4ME). We attended a few hamfests (Knoxville, Waynesville, and TenTec). We worked several special events (The Smithsonian Institute, The FBI, Collins Radio 50th anniversary of their S-Line radios, just to name a few, and we even called CQ for the 470 ARG 1st anniversary special event as W4H). We participated in a few contests (IARU HF Championship, NAQP, TNQP, and the PSK31/63 Deathmatch, speaking of which I placed 26th in the Medium Power Category). Finally, to cap off the year we finally purchased our very own HF rig (an ICOM 756 Pro). Those were the highlights of 2008 not to mention all the great HAMs we have had the pleasure of getting to know and meet at different times and occasions like the All Hams picnics held by Jack and Teresa (KD4TNY and KI4ZQO), and we are looking for many more highlights in 2009.

To start the year off right in 2009 we plan on attending the Morristown Hamfest tomorrow. We are hoping to find some deals on parts to put up a Windom so we can bring our HF rig home and get on the air. The rig is currently over at Dads as he has a couple of HF antennas up already and we needed a place to test the radio out before we bought it. This weekend is Kids Day, a chance for youngsters (HAM or not) to get on the HF bands and make contact with other HAMs (young and old) and get to know what HAM radio is all about. I think we will try and get Ashby over to dad's to make a few contacts. The weekend after next is the 1st North American QSO Party of the year. If everything works out okay I'm hoping to work the contest so if you hear me calling CQ, call back.

Yes 2009 definitely brings promise on it's wings and hope for many great things. Maybe this year I will earn the WAS, and WAC awards. I should also obtain EmComm levels I & II along with several ISO certifications in preparation of becoming EC for Union County ARES. There will also be several contests to participate in and hopefully, with any luck, any of us may have a great showing. So to all the HAMs out there, Happy New Year and may 2009 bring you the best DX, best contesting and many achieved milestones.

Best of 73 and good DX to all
de AJ4JD
Tim

TenTec Hamfest

This past weekend was the mother of all Tennessee Hamfests. Well I might be exaggerating a bit but being as new to HAM radio as I am, it might as well be. That's right, the TenTec Hamfest was this past weekend and we had a really good time. We got to put faces with names/calls that we hadn't yet. We also got to visit with those we had met previously. We walked the bone yard and the only thing we really found that we were looking for was some rope.

We also got to take a tour of the TenTec facility. That was really neat to see where the TenTec radios are made. We got to touch an Omni and got pictures to prove it. Aside from the rope, we also bought an EmComm I book, a TenTec coffee mug, and a couple of TenTec 40th anniversary t-shirts.

After the hamfest, we attended a storm spotter class. This class was pretty interesting. We learned about spotting storms and what to look for in a storm to properly identify it. My thanks go out to Rick(N4JTQ) for arranging this training and to Howard for providing the training. Thanks to the class, Robin (AJ4IJ), Ashby(KJ4EGJ), Dad(KU4ME), and Mom(KF4SSI) are now certified storm spotters along with everyone else who attended the class. Congrats to all.

Well now it's time for what you all have been waiting for...

Ashby (KJ4EJG)
At the control of a TenTec Orion II

John (KU4ME)
At the control of a TenTec Orion II

Tim (AJ4JD)
At the control of a TenTec Orion II

Look at all the pretty Omni VIIs

Skywarn Class after TenTec
Our most recently Certified Storm Spotters.

Wet Waynesville Hamfest Update

So I thought I would get in here and give everyone an update on the hamfest in Waynesville, NC. Robin (AJ4IJ) awoke early Saturday morning to a rainy one. It was around 6:00am as we were heading out the door when mom (KF4SSI) and dad (KU4ME) call. Robin says, "tell them we are on our way." At the same time I hear mom on the phone, "we just got up, can you give us an hour?" To which I reply no we're heading out the door now. I then hear dad in the background mumble, "they can't wait, they'll miss the deals." Mom's reply, "Well, go ahead and go on, don't worry about us."
So out the door Robin and I trot to the car and the out the driveway and off into the rain. We stopped to fuel up and the rain just kept falling. We stopped shortly after the fuel stop to grab nourishment and make a pitstop at a Micky D's. Once we were finished there we continue our drive east in the rain, struggling to stay awake and pondering if the rain would let up once we were through the mountains.
We finally reached our destination and the rain had let up considerably. We paid our entry fee and entered the hamfest. We walked around and looked at the wares that were available. We checked out the bone yard and really didn't find anything. Robin did spot a tower that would have been nice to have. However, we did not have the money, nor the means to transport it home. We really weren't going with the thought of purchasing anything unless we found a deal we couldn't pass up. It was nice to see that there was plenty of HAM gear at the HAM fest though.
We didn't stay very long. It was about 30 - 45 minutes before we decided we seen all we wanted and decided to head back west. On our way we rain back into more rain, but we figured once we were back on our side of the mountains the rain would be finished. With that in mind we decided that we would go home, pick up our trusty side kick b3ene (that's our dog Clover) and head North to Kentucky and take Clover for a sniff/walk at a park. You can read more on that at Robin's and mines outdoor blog.
We didn't get any photos at the hamfest. There really wasn't anything that caught Robin's eye. So we hope for better luck at TenTec's hamfest towards the end of September. There we will get to meet some of the hams we frequently talk to on the radio.

Well that's all I've got for now. Stay tuned for the new toy (lent to us by dad). Also, check out Robin's blog for the latest special event station we've worked (The Smithsonian Institute has gone QRT forever). BTW, thanks Jack (KD4TNY) and Teresa (KI4ZQO) for calling dad who called Robin about it, who called me.

Hamfests Ahoy, Special Events and Severe Weather Oh My!

Well, I thought I would jump in here and share a few more experiences. We've been kickin' it on HF lately and workin' special events. As you know we worked the FBI station and 4 of the Collins stations. I think our next special event we are going to try and work is the Olympics event. There are 5 stations one to represent each of the rings of the Olympic Rings. They are operating from China and the station calls are as follows: BT1OB, BT1OJ, BT1OH, BT1OY, and BT1ON. The QSL cards look pretty neat. I know my daughter would probably like to get one from each station, of course she will need to get her upgrade if she's going to work them on HF, unless 10 meters opens up. Anyway, they also have awards they will be giving depending on how many of the stations you work, what band, and what mode. For more info on it check the following website: http://www.bj2008ses.com.cn/.
So tomorrow is the Waynesville hamfest in Waynesville, NC. We (including AJ4IJ, KU4ME, KF4SSI) are going to be waking up real early and heading out that way to check it out. Maybe we will get lucky and find a great deal on something, or at least win something. Anyway, one can dream right. Stay tuned as I'll be sure to provide updates and pics later. Speaking of pics, I've still got to get some pics of the antenna we put up over at dad's (ku4me).
This past week we had some pretty bad storms roll through. Luckily we fared pretty well other than being without power for 24 hours. I have to commend the Skywarn folks here in the area for running effect weather nets on 145.230. Speaking on this point, I've been giving thought about joining the local ARES club here in Union/Claiborne County. I've checked in on their net on 147.360 repeater over the last two weeks. I've still got some thinking to do on it and I'll let you know what I decide. If anyone has any advice on the topic let me know by leaving some comments.
Well I'm going to say 73 for now. Got to get up early in the morning and head out to the hamfest.

Take care everyone.

73 de AJ4JD
Tim