Friday Night HAM Radio NET

[Boppa's Travels]

Will be nice to get on a radio again. I was a Special Forces radio operator when I was much much younger. Last time I checked into license before heading to New Mexico for a month they were on the fence about testing with Covid.

 

[Boppa's Travels]

Have Grits N Gravy Echolink open and timer set on my phone.

 

[MTN RNR]

Will be nice to get on a radio again. I was a Special Forces radio operator when I was much much younger. Last time I checked into license before heading to New Mexico for a month they were on the fence about testing with Covid.

There are a lot more options that are open now for on-line testing. Check out the Greater Los Angeles Area Amateur Radio Group. They have been doing extensive on-line testing. Here is the link to their site: Greater Los Angeles Area Amateur Radio Group

 

[12poundtest]

Last weekend during the CQ VHF contest I operated 2 meter SSB and FT8 from Fox Peak in eastern Washington state. Not as many contacts as I hoped but my 6 meter colleague really did well.
Operators were N7PHY, K7BWH, and KJ4ZTP.

 

[MTN RNR]

Last weekend during the CQ VHF contest I operated 2 meter SSB and FT8 from Fox Peak in eastern Washington state. Not as many contacts as I hoped but my 6 meter colleague really did well.
Operators were N7PHY, K7BWH, and KJ4ZTP.
View attachment 164073

Nice set-up Ed! It's always fun - doesn't matter how many contacts. I didn't work the contest but did get 3 SOTA activations in on my Arizona trip. Plus found a great camp spot. Here's a pic I took at sunset from there looking out towards Sedona AZ:



Some great overlanding in AZ that's for sure!

 

[Boppa's Travels]

Last weekend during the CQ VHF contest I operated 2 meter SSB and FT8 from Fox Peak in eastern Washington state. Not as many contacts as I hoped but my 6 meter colleague really did well.
Operators were N7PHY, K7BWH, and KJ4ZTP.
View attachment 164073

And thanks for the link. I feel that I am back on course for my license. Signed up at HamStudy.org

 

[12poundtest]

Great net tonight everyone! Good to hear everyone is doing ok and always nice to chat about antennas.
Here are my crude notes. Please feel to comment here if you'd like to keep the conversation going.

Overland Bound Amateur Radio Net
Date:	7/24/2020	Net Control:	N7PHY	EchoLink: 591550
Open Topic
Check In	Call Sign	Name	Location	Notes
1	KT4OZ	Terry	VA	Camping tonight. May move on before net is over tonight.
2	KM6GWU	Dan	S CA	Suggestions for vertical antenna for 40 to 10 m. Ed - DX Commander. 2nd'd by Jason WE8L.
3	WE8L	Jason	OH	Hunkered down. Planning future trips. 2nds DX commander, good experience.
4	WD6TED	ted	CA	traveling around desert after phoenix trip. Activating sota peaks. Visited turtle back trailers.
5	KD2TQO	Kenny	New Jersey	Quarantined. Did have a weekend out camping in bald eagle state forest.
6	W8ILL	Will	Mi	Wire antenna shock absorbers. Working on truck engine. Be safe!
7	K7USR	Kathryn	WA	Doing more HF than repeater stuff. Suggestions for UHF antenna on a jeep? Looking at dual band antenna.
8	WJ6FOX	Josh	OR	Doing relatively well. Good timing with wire antenna advice from Will. Picked up mfj tuner.
9	VK7VWK	Randall	Hobart Tasmania	Went for a hike last week. Staying safe and healthy. Taught mobile antennas vehicle location doesn't make too much difference with VHF and up.
10	K7XPO	Brien	AZ	Not super warm today (90's?). Working on truck project.
11	VA2EEK	Don	Canada	Preparing for SAR training.

Also, I love the adventure photos. I'll try to do a better job of posting a few photos here as well.
Thanks and 73!
Ed N7PHY

 

[MTN RNR]

Here are a couple other pics from my Arizona trip:

 

[Boppa's Travels]

There are a lot more options that are open now for on-line testing. Check out the Greater Los Angeles Area Amateur Radio Group. They have been doing extensive on-line testing. Here is the link to their site: Greater Los Angeles Area Amateur Radio Group

K well first off I listened Friday night again thanks for the invite. 2nd got off my backside and back to work on my license. Checked out GLAARG site then HamStudy they had 1 test day listed that didn't work for me but I did find 1. Have taken 3 practice tests and done well on them so I found a test time that works for me. Will be taken my test this week.

 

[MTN RNR]

K well first off I listened Friday night again thanks for the invite. 2nd got off my backside and back to work on my license. Checked out GLAARG site then HamStudy they had 1 test day listed that didn't work for me but I did find 1. Have taken 3 practice tests and done well on them so I found a test time that works for me. Will be taken my test this week.

Looking forward to you joining in on the net soon! Good luck!!!

 

[Trad77]

My OpenSpot 3 does not recognize this TG. I wonder if it is DMR Mark rather than Brandmiester?

 

[MTN RNR]

My OpenSpot 3 does not recognize this TG. I wonder if it is DMR Mark rather than Brandmiester?

I believe it's Brandmiester. I get in using my Openspot 2.

 

[MTN RNR]

My OpenSpot 3 does not recognize this TG. I wonder if it is DMR Mark rather than Brandmiester?

What radio are you using Travis?

 

[Trad77]

I believe it's Brandmiester. I get in using my Openspot 2.

It does

I believe it's Brandmiester. I get in using my Openspot 2.

Do you manually enter 1137550? I cant find it in the search. When I manually enter it, it shows up red like the openspot has no idea that it exists. lol

 

[Trad77]

What radio are you using Travis?

I can use a dstar radio, c4fm radio and a dmr radio if I want. The OpenSpot 3 does crossmode. In one mode, out the other. Its a great little hotspot.

 

[MTN RNR]

I can use a dstar radio, c4fm radio and a dmr radio if I want. The OpenSpot 3 does crossmode. In one mode, out the other. Its a great little hotspot.

Yep it's a really nice unit. But not ready to upgrade to the Openspot 3. Just dropped a bunch of money on a new HF amp and tuner.

So, to get to the net through DMR I just go into the Brandmeister Manager in the Openspot webpage. In the Static Talkgroups box I add 1137550 where it says Add static talkgroup ID:
I have a channel in my radio for talking to the Openspot that has TG9 in the receive group list. Time slot and color code don't matter. Works great.

 

[Boppa's Travels]

K need feedback. I am ready to test and have a test date. Why do I feel that I'm ready for the test but at the same thinking I don't know anything about being a Ham radio operator?

 

[J.W.]

K need feedback. I am ready to test and have a test date. Why do I feel that I'm ready for the test but at the same thinking I don't know anything about being a Ham radio operator?

That’s actually pretty normal and a good sign that you recognize it. The test is just your gateway to start really learning. Once you have your license and can get on the air, you’ll start learning and never stop.

 

[Boppa's Travels]

LOL OJT huh...I better be looking for a club then

 

[Boppa's Travels]

Well since I was a radio operator in the army maybe some things will come back to me. I am thankful they eliminated the code part my fist is probably worthless.