Winter Field Day + POTA: Activation at Huckleberry Ridge Conservation Reserve (US-7659) This year’s Winter Field Day was one to remember! I decided to combine the excitement of Winter Field Day with a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation — something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. The chosen spot? Huckleberry Ridge Conservation Reserve, park number US-7659. Despite the cold, the setup went smoothly. I ran with an ICOM 7300 as my transceiver Read More …
Back on VHF After a Long Break: Winter Contesting and First 6m Contacts It’s been a while — a long while — since I’ve participated in a VHF contest. In fact, the last time I hit the bands for a VHF event was back in September VHF 2018. After such a long break, it felt great to jump back in and give it another go. This time around, I decided to step things up a Read More …
A Quiet Work Week, POTA Activation, and Hidden Beauty in Wyoming This past week, we turned a quiet corner of Wyoming into our work-week hideaway. Tucked away from the world, this spot offered the kind of seclusion that’s hard to come by—we saw just one vehicle pass the entire week. It was exactly what we needed. While Gayla was busy giving her video presentation, I took the opportunity to set up my HF radio station Read More …
Thanksgiving portable in the backyard of the daughters house in Aurora, Colorado. I had the ICOM IC-706 with the MFJ 904H manual tuner with a wire going to the gutters. I had never tried loading up gutters before, so I figured why not. Using my MFJ antenna analyzer I tuned them up on 40m and made a few contacts. Then I loaded the gutters up on 20m and checked in to the Maritime Mobile Net. Read More …
We camped a few days around Granite, Colorado. During our stay there we explored the Stone Cabin that was near by. Furthermore the Arkansas River was within walking distance. I did some HF radio and made a few contacts including one to my brother W0EGT back in Missouri on 40m. I used my ICOM 706 and my MFJ 17 foot vertical attached to my homebrew induction coil. Our campsite the 2nd night. Beautiful area!!!
Subsequently it has been a while since I’ve been on mobile HF radio. I was really missing it recently and decided to install it in our new vehicle. However I still have some more grounding to work on but the radio is happy, the antenna is happy and there is no crazy things happening in the vehicle. Meanwhile I am still using my homebrew loading coil that I made several years ago. On top of Read More …
I have been wanting to try FT8 on my ICOM IC-706 for quite some time. Recently my brother finally got his ticket and is a General Class. He also purchased a Yeasu FT-450 as his first HF rig. In the past I have done a few digital modes such as PSK31, SSTV, and some RTTY! But for the life of me I could not get FT8 to work with my ICOM IC-706. My brother did Read More …
Here is a visual look at the 2019 Joplin, Missouri Hamfest! There was a ton of neat stuff for sale and on display here. Furthermore, if you are in the area you might as well stop by the Joplin hamfest.
For several years I have been using my HM-103 microphone on my ICOM IC-706 with no tab to lock the RJ45 microphone tab in place to the transceiver. In addition, I recently ordered a cable crimper from Amazon for about $19.00 that also came with a cable tester and 100 pieces of RJ45 connectors/plugs. After a little bit of some research on Youtube. I found some videos on how to replace network cables. I had Read More …
Well not exactly! I thought I let the magic smoke out of my ICOM IC-706. Furthermore, I was messing around the back of the radio with it turned on I bumped something and POOF! Radio shut down and would not turn back on. I checked the fuses on the power cord and they were fine. I opened up the chassis and peeked inside and found nothing out of the ordinary. Then I spotted a fuse Read More …