Re: [BVARC] KK5NU, John Wright Moore

I am sad to hear this. John was the first person who congratulated me after passing my Technician exam. I remember running into him at the Texas City Hamfest over the years; he was always encouraging. I distinctly remember one enjoyable conversation in which we talked about the challenges of

Re: [BVARC] My most memorable Field Day

My most memorable Field Day was my first as it hooked me on the excitement of amateur radio. I had studied for my Technician and General licenses primarily as a way to better understand wireless networking. After passing both tests within two weeks of one another in mid-May 2012, I actually had

[BVARC] IARU World Amateur Day and Me

Well, today is the IARU's World Amateur Day and this day has somewhat special meaning for me. It was today, five years ago, that I was sitting in my office working on a frustrating wireless networking problem. My problem was a wall. I was trying to get a robust enough wireless signal into the

[BVARC] Why H.R. 555 Could End Ham Radio for Me

Hi all, I have grave concerns over the current wording of H.R. 555, also known as the Amateur Radio Parity Act. (The bill is currently identical to the H.R. 1301, which was defeated in the Senate last year. The text of H.R. 555 is not yet available online, but H.R. 1301 is:

[BVARC] Transferring plates to new vehicle

Hi all, I am certain someone can help me with this. After 175,000 miles, my CR-V has become untenable to drive. I've enjoyed having my amateur radio license plates on it since I was licensed. My Google-fu is failing me today and I am unclear of the proper process in Texas to transfer amateur

Re: [BVARC] Need help adjusting my Bencher Paddle

Hi all, Thanks for the cleaning-the-contacts suggestions; they were indeed tarnished and had some deposits. This paddle seems to be a bit on the old side. I bought it on a whim on eBay when I was first licensed four years ago. It actually is one of the old combination units from MFJ that had

Re: [BVARC] build a bandpass filter

Hi JP, MSWE is Museum Ships Weekend held in early June. It's a yearly even in which various ham radio groups activate current or past Museum Ships (such as the USS Texas) all over the country by running special event stations on them. TARS is the Tidelands Amateur Radio Society based in Texas

Re: [BVARC] The Future of Ham Radio in 75 minutes

Agreed it was excellent. Ward's talk is perhaps the most rational, insightful, and informed discussion of the evolving nature of ham radio -- Ham Radio 1.90 beta, as Ward called it -- that I have ever heard. Well worth one's time. 73, -- /*/-=[Michael / KT5MR]-=/*/

[BVARC] Just worked 3XY1T

OMG OMG OMG I just worked them! 15 meters RTTY! (he was listening 1.05 kHz up from his transmit freq) If someone as inexperienced as I am can work them, with an 20 ft high dipole in high-noise League City, you can too! Looks like 8-9 am seems t to be the prime time for us. (Anyone know how I

[BVARC] RTTY WPX KT5MR SOAB LP

CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest Call: KT5MR Operator(s): KT5MR Station: KT5MR Class: SOAB LP QTH: STX Operating Time (hrs): 16 Summary: Band QSOs 80: 43 40: 114 20: 108 15: 74 10:4 Total: 343 Prefixes = 188 Total Score = 131,036 Wow that was a

[BVARC] Yay, I won :)

Hi all, I don't know how many watch Bob Heil's (K9EID) HamNation show, but each week they have a weekly contest. I won for this week by being the one chosen out of the hundreds who correctly answered the question, "what does VSWR stand for?" :) I won an MFJ volt/amp meter and 50 ft of DX

[BVARC] My Six Meter Alerting "Reverse Beacon"

Hi all, I enjoy operating six meters, primarily as the antennas are relatively small and easy to work with in my HOA/Stealth environment. (My main six meter antenna is in my attic.) I also love the randomness of Sporadic E. However, as much as I enjoy six meters and ham radio, I don't enjoy

Re: [BVARC] Why is my dipole quieter than my vertical?

Thanks, Rick, Bill, and Gary. That explains a lot. So many variables here. What is fascinating to me is that my dipole seems to be outperforming my vertical for DX (or at least certain DX). After all, I worked Reunion Island off the dipole, which is in an area on the planet I had given up

[BVARC] Why is my dipole quieter than my vertical?

Hey all, Now that I have multiple antennas up, it is interesting to compare them. For nearly four years now, my wire vertical (30 radials) has been my workhorse antenna. This past July I also put up an inverted-V multi-band dipole, cut for 80 meters and fed with 450 ohm line. The apex is about

[BVARC] KT5MR's RTTY RU Effort

ARRL RTTY Roundup Call: KT5MR Operator(s): KT5MR Station: KT5MR Class: Single Op LP QTH: Dickinson, TX Operating Time (hrs): 15 Summary: Band QSOs 80: 54 40: 0 20: 183 15: 114 10: 18 Total: 369 State/Prov = 51 Countries =

[BVARC] This hobby is magical!

Hi all, My giddiness cannot be expressed in words. :) I just worked Reunion Island, which is just off the coast of Madagascar, 10,000 miles away. This is part of the world I had long given up hope of ever reaching! I mean, we're on the downward slope of the solar cycle, I live in an RF-noisy

Re: [BVARC] Coiling ends of a dipole?

Hi all, Thanks Josh, Rick, and Gary for the suggestions. It never occurred to me to try to adjust the length of my ladder line. I can't do too much heremy antenna mast is affixed to my house and my shack is on the second floor. The ladder line comes off the feedpoint and makes a nice arc

[BVARC] Coiling ends of a dipole?

Hi all, My last antenna experiment was a center-fed zepp cut for 80 meters. (Dipole fed in the center with 450 ohm feed line, requiring a tuner.) I found this antenna to be a decent multi-band antenna, with one exception: I never could get my MFJ manual tuner to find a match on 40 meters. For

Re: [BVARC] Who is this

Paul Berlin I remember listening to him in the car on KQUE when my dad would take us to (or from, can't remember which) from school in the 1980s. 73, -- /*/-=[Michael / KT5MR]-=/*/ ___ BVARC mailing list BVARC@bvarc.org

[BVARC] 10-10 Recap, sorta

Well, I was all ready to help out in the 10-10 contest this weekend. I knew the conditions probably weren't going to be all that great, so I resolved to at least every hour or so tune around and see if anyone was calling CQ. So, I sit down at the radio and no sooner had I adjusted my antenna

Re: [BVARC] Remote ops demo

I plan to be out there. Seems like fun. :) --KT5MR / Michael On Wednesday, July 22, 2015, Bob Hawkins via BVARC bvarc@bvarc.org wrote: I will be at Kitty Hollow Park Thursday evening for a demonstration of remote operations for our newer operators. This will be a very good opportunity

[BVARC] Isn't the antenna supposed to be up in the air?

Hi all, From the it-doesn't-have-to-be-perfect-to-work department So, yesterday evening I did my third check-in to the BVARC Ragchew net on 3910. I don't expect much from my signal -- it's an 80 meter inverted-V dipole only 20 feet high. John, K5LKJ, seemed to hear me as well as he heard