My 1st and almost last HF (not uhf or vhf) radio.

 Above is my Baofeng ht.  I am glade I bought low cost radios to start this adventure with since by November 2019 I was ready to call it quits.  Meter analog has been Pretty dead for the past year only a few contacts in my travels.

 Here is my 10 meter on the bottom with my 2 meter liexen 898 on top.  I have a 7 amp SLA battery running them.  This past year 10 has also been very dead (bottom of solar cycle) so I was very disappointed.  I remembered my dad on his radios with alot of traffic.  So in November 2019 I had to make a decision stop with the ham radio as a lost cause or go for my General class and give it one more try.  I passed my General 7 December 2019 had a xiegu g 90 shortly thereafter.  While 2, 10, 12,  15 and 17 were dead 20, 40 and 80 where alive and semi well (as solar cycle starts to improve all will get better for about five to six years then start the decline around 2026).  Until around 2028 we will have all bands open most of the time.  As we approach the bottom of this new solar cycle we will once again start lose bands 10 - 17 till the next (11 year solar cycle starts up in around 2030).

So I am glad I stayed with it 10 through 160 are only going to improve.  Two meters will be around but I am glad I did not put much money there.  Pleas note 2 meter digital is doing well just few use analog anymore.  Some day I my buy a digital 2 meter ht but for now I will focus on 10 through 160.
I enjoy making contacts, building wire antenna’s and trying to figure out digital modes such as JS8 Call and PSK31.  I may try learning Morse code as well. 😎

President Lincoln 2+ on 10 & 12 meters

Pulled my first HF 10 meter radio.   Bought as soon as I got my Technician License so I could work the world in February 2019 “of course the band was dead”.  Here it is April 16 2020 and 10 meters is starting to wake up.

 Not able to make a contact yet with my thirty watt radio but I hear at least one side of each conversation so it is only a matter of time and some luck🤓

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all worked twenty and forty this morning had a good time🤓
Tried two meters and it is quite, to bad.  Several local hams said nearly everyone here uses d star or dmr.  I am saving for a 6-160 HF with built in tuner, then I may try err on two meters.

I am going to start working on Morse code now.  I also built a two meter antenna for the local nets on the weekends in the evenings.

Inverted V in the campground

With the virus we are not going to Kathy’s moms house any time soon so I put a 12 foot paint tree pole on top of a five foot pvc pipe so the V could be 17 feet high.  This gives a swr below 1.5.  I hope to reach Texas and part of Europe in the next few days in these poor band days.  This antenna is not as high as at Kathy’s mon but still should be better then the hamsticks for range and noise reduction😎

Below is a first attempt at a video.  Giving a very quick overview with no editing of course.

Trying digital

Still having issues setting up my radio to my net book.  Now that we are in social spacing it will take a while for me to figure it out.  But that is a big part of learning🧐
I am learning a lot about PSK Reporter. JS8 and PSK31

Below are two snapshots of psk reporter one for psk 31 and js8.  Also the map shows the day and night line around the world.  In this case it is early morning.

Another Florida Update

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 No one around to take our photo together so here is Kathy and I will be below.

 Did a meet up with Judi and Chris as well as our cousin John Walsh and his wife Kris, great afternoon visit.

 This photo of Kathy should of been with the March Florida Update.  Below is me on the bench I will edit us together in the future🤓