PastorGary
-
Posts
1049 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
180
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Classifieds
Posts posted by PastorGary
-
-
About 7 years ago, there was one on the air for a few months locally on a ham frequency, but for some reason it was replaced by a conventional analog two frequency repeater on the same frequency with input 600khz up from the output. Don't know why it didn't work out, but since that system is used for weather spotting and reporting, it may not have been 'fast' enough for emergencies....??? (I'm not a ham, so that's just a guess.)
-
Thanks John - just a little news taking place this morning. Our southern states responder team equipment custodian was able to secure a slightly used KSC-24 this morning for $ 15.00. It was tested and is now staged with the rest of our go-gear in Baldwin County, Alabama.
Looks as if we have enough of these for the moment and thank you for contacting me about it last week. Very much appreciated.
-
Put the word out locally and within 4 hours we had a KSC-24 desktop charger. We already had a 120 VAC to 15 VDC 1000 mah rapid charger power supply from a KSC-20, so we only needed the KSC-24 cradle.
John - if you happen to locate something, please PM me - we still may need a spare for our south Alabama equipment custodian's location. Thanks.
-
I do have a question regarding a glitch when I posted the info on the repeater. Owl's Head properly has the apostrophe in the name. When I entered it on the page with the map, it comes out on the graphic on the page as Owl/'s Head with a slash before the apostrophe. Any way of getting rid of that without dropping the apostrophe?
Steve WQQB941/KB1TCE
Steve - Since there are no Moderators at the main directory site, the only person who can change text errors is Rich D.
Use the "Contact" button in the top navigation bar to send RIch a note about it. Please understand, however, that Rich is very busy with work and it may take awhile to get that accomplished.
Thanks for your understanding... but don't worry about the text - it's fully understandable as-is and can stay that way until Rich gets to it.
P-G
==========
-
Thanks, John... Received your PM and will contact you either Sunday or Monday.
P-G
==========
-
After playing the Ni-Cad game with several TK-280, TK-380 and TK-370 HT's, I am starting to replace the Ni-Cad's with the Ni-MH variety.
It looks like the only multi-chemical rapid charger that I have out of 5 chargers total is a KSC-24, which does both Ni-Cad and Ni-MH.
Has anyone tried NON-KENWOOD rapid chargers for the battery packs - KNB-15 and KNB-17 ?
Looking for one more rapid charger for these new Ni-MH packs. OR if anyone has a used Kenwood KSC-24 charger available, please let me know. (I don't do ebay).
Thanks.
P-G
=======
-
Just a reminder - GMRS was not affected by the band-plan and narrowbanding because it is a Part 95 service - not Part 90.
There are TONS of UHF radios out there that are programmable using available software, that were phased out from Part 90 service before January 01. Some are type accepted for Part 95 and some are not, but if you can find the proper equipment at a good price - keep it wideband until mandated to do otherwise because range will be greater and audio clarity will be a touch better in wideband mode. [20K0F3E]
-
As an example of possibilities for the Tuscaloosa repeater...
If you had something like a Kenwood TK-863G 25 watt mobile unit attached to a 5.6 db gain type mobile antenna in your vehicle, you could hit the repeater from your residence most of the time. If you had the same type of radio inside your residence attached to a base station antenna roughly 15 feet above your residence, your family could chat with you in your vehicle from your place near Union, all the way to Bessemer just west of Birmingham.
This is the style of radio that I am referring to below and software/program cables are available:
http://www.used-radios.com/p-861-tk863g-uhf-450-490-25w-256ch.aspx
-
Hello, Don - Welcome to the Forum.
Jeremy's advice is solid. The area that you are mentioning is a bit hilly, has vast expanses of southern yellow pines, mineral deposits, and high humidity most of the year... I go through there frequently as well as on I-65 from Tennessee line to Mobile and even simplex mobile to moble with a 50 watt ERP only gets us 6 to 9 miles most of the time.
The rated 'mileage' on bubble pack radios is an advertising ploy to sell radios. The mileage rating is statistically from the top of one mountain to another mountain with nothing in the way, so solar flares, no sun spots, no ambient static white noise and low humidity. Realistic mileages for most bubble pack radios unit to unit at street level is about a mile or two on a good day. If you are hitting the repeater from around I-59 mile markers 69-70, that's about all that you can expect without going to a 25 to 50 watt moble unit and a 5.6 db gain mobile antenna.
Wish that we had better news for y'all.
-
-
Thanks, Steve... Now we know that it will also be operational on "IG" in an emergency (only) under - 47CFR90.407 and on "Ham" frequencies as needed.
No type acceptance necessary, as I understand it, in Part 97 operations, so that should be good to go. I had just wondered if the frequencies in that radio could be programmed by the software or if the software menu didn't give you that option. You answered that and I just may have to invest in one of those for a 'spare' during our post-natural disaster responses.
DO YOU KNOW - if the battery packs are the same as the KG-UVD1P ?? Thanks ahead of time.
-
Not that I am recommending this, but as a tech experiment, it might be interesting to see if it is broadband enough to program into the ham 440 frequency range. Depending upon how the software program is configured, the actual frequencies that are set at the factory may not be able to be changed... only the PL's...???? Not much info out in net land about this yet.
Steve - do you have any feedback on these possibilities?
-
cool !!
-
Glad that I remembered the insurance company input on things like that... nearly forgot about their requirements.
Sounds like y'all are in good shape, now.
When you get the mobile (base) that you were thinking of, let us know what kind of simplex range you are getting to an on-foot or bicycle 4 watt portable or another vehicle mounted mobile with a center loaded 5.4 db gain mobile antenna. I'd imagine about 3 miles to a portable and perhaps 9 to 11 for a mobile (25 watt with a 52 watt ERP).
Keep us posted and thanks.
P-G
=======
-
Most flexible and semi-flexible transmission line is only rated for a maximum internal voltage breakdowm (arc-through center to shield) averaging 5 to 7 KVDC. Lightning strikes are thousands of times more intense than that rating. The feedline in it's entirety becomes a path to the closest ground and once the cable is compromised, the lightning strike will follow the original path to ground through the ionized air, even though parts of the coax have been vaporized. This all happens in microseconds.
Having a coaxial switch with a no-connection position selected during storms is ineffective and will not prevent a strike from reaching the closest ground in a room - electrical wiring in walls, boiler or copper plumbing, etc.
Many persons who have been in the industry for years and years have chosen not to ground antenna structures, other than full blown commercial broadcast facilities, because of the statistical probabilities that elevating "ground" up into the sky creates a lightning rod and is ATTRACTING a strike. If your antenna is the highest thing in the neighborhood and is GROUNDED, it's eventually going to get hit. If your antenna is the highest thing in the neighborhood and is NOT grounded, the lightning won't "see" that structure very well because it is electrically neutral as compared to everything else around it. But, you have to do your part in disconnecting the indoor connector from a radio in order to prevent "splash" from a close or indirect hit that produces voltages inside and outside the coax by induction. That's why some older 'hams' disconnect the coax and place it inside a glass mason jar - to keep the end of the coax from touching or being close to anything metal that could tell the waiting lightning strike that there is a path to a ground.
What you may wish to do is see if your homeowner's insurance company has REQUIREMENTS regarding this topic and follow their guidelines, whether you agree with them or not. Forum participants can not tell anyone what to do regarding this overall situation - it has to be your own decision based upon all available info and statistics...............
-
As many of you know, the server hosting this forum and the main info site went down unexpectedly very early Wednesday morning. We have tried to contact Rich D., to see what went bad, but at least it's back up now.
Hopefully it will stay on...
-
Just an add-on....
If you have a GROUNDED antenna and support structure and take a direct hit, your repeater and/or radio equipment will take damage nearly 100 percent of the time. Even with an arrestor "protecting" the center conductor of a feed line, the line itself is being subjected to millions of volts and exceptionally high relative current in microseconds. That energy has to go someplace and even a grounded support structure and feedline arrestor will not prevent stray voltages and currents from entering the radio room. The type of device that was mentioned is OK for indirect hits, but will physically melt internally in a direct hit, spraying the room with lots of nasties.
I realize that this won't make your decision any easier, but weigh everything before you start construction and the very best of luck to you in whatever you decide.
-
Underground would be fine for a relatively short distance and you can do a large radius bend where necessary to change directions. Before you dig, contact your equivilent to "Diggers Hotline" to have current underground utilities marked. Then, when you are finished with the digging and routing of the ground cable, take the little color coded flags that they usually stick in the ground to mark gas, water, electric, phone and cable lines, and mark the location of your ground rod with one of the flags. Spray the flag danger orange with no printing visible and it instantly becomes a warning for the lawn mower. You CAN actually bury the ground rod completely if the flag idea won't fly, but make a detailed measurement map with landmarks as to where it is burried and place that map with your critical household papers for future reference.
-
It is against the electrical code in most jurisdictions to tie anything into the power company grounding system. Don't go there. If a 'meter reader' walks by and sees that tie-in, it could be a bad situation financially with fines, etc.
One accepted method to ground your antenna system is to run a 4 gauge ground cable with lugs on both ends from a U-BOLT where the antenna attaches to the mast, and then down to the standoff gable mount bracket U-Bolt. Tape the 4 gauge cable to the mast. Then continue with another length of 4 gauge cable from the gable mount U-Bolt down to an 8 foot ground rod that is out by at least 1 foot from your foundation. It should also be a minimum of 10 feet away from the power company ground rod. This is necessary to distribute a lightning hit into the power company equipment away from a lightning hit at the same time into your antenna structure. Having ground rods too close together may create a high electrical pressure wave against your foundation or slab during a strike and cause cracking or an actual failure. I have witnessed this personally in Michigan.
There is also an OLD SCHOOL amateur radio idea that may or may not be a good idea, but I'll explain...
Some older hams have refused to ground their antenna systems at all. The thought behind this is that a bolt of lightning is going to seek out the best and easiest path to ground. Grounding an antenna structure makes it into a lightning rod and may actually attract lightning. Some old school hams also remove the antenna connector from the radio and place that connector inside a GLASS Mason jar so it will not contact a metal surface in the room during an electrical storm. There have been countless discussions about this over the years, and it just may continue here now that I have mentioned it.
-
NAH - it's just a little humor on this holiday weekend.
I'm going to check with Rich D. to see if he can add a dedicated posting area for family oriented jokes and humor.
-
I heard a story about a man who went to see the doctor with two severely burned ears. The doctor said, "You have to tell me—how did this happen?"
The man said, "Let me explain. I was ironing a shirt when someone called me on the phone, and I answered the iron instead of the phone."
"That is horrible!" the doctor said. "That explains one of your ears being burned. How did you burn the other?"
"They called back." -
On behalf of Rich, William and myself, we would like to thank everyone who has registered here and is participating in the new format Forum. Your interaction with others and your technical discussions have been noticed by several major international search engines and this forum is now inching it's way up the popularity charts. A big thank you from the staff.
We hope that everyone will have a fun, but safe holiday weekend. We would also ask that everyone please be observant and if you are traveling or out in public and see anything that could be interpreted as a criminal or terrorist scenario, report it immediately to authorities. Bad guys use holidays as an excuse to do their deeds, so please enjoy the days ahead, but don't let your guard down.
Not only as a Moderator, but as a Christian Pastor, let me just say - Blessings to all and Be Safe.
- JDINKELBACH and ke0eyh
-
2
-
Just a thought, but if you know someone that works for the power company, they "sometimes" make utility poles that are being taken out of service, available to the public free or at very little cost. Some still have the metal climbing spikes inserted and those are easy to climb with appropriate safety gear. A ham here locally got one that stands 35 feet above the ground. He attached a triplex standoff bracket with each leg 5 feet out from the top of the pole and one piece of 1-3/4 inch thick wall mast to the top center of the pole. This allows him mounting points for at least 4 antennas. He ran # 2 gauge ground cable from the brackets to a ground rod next to the base of the pole and is quite satisfied with the operation of everything.
Here is just one of several discussions about the subject. Pro's and Con's are discussed -
LINK >>> http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php?topic=61495.0
-
Just an observation, but the external speaker/mic looks to be identical to the one used on the model KG-UVD1P ---- IF that IS the case, then the programming cable for the dual band model might work with this one... However, I'm just going by what I saw in the accessories list on the website - not with actual hands-on testing.
- scott37814 and Logan5
-
2
First FRS area post
in Family Radio Service (FRS)
Posted
Since this FRS area has not seen any posting traffic at all, I just didn't want the area to 'feel' left out, so here is the first FRS posting area post.
Since everyone using this forum, thus far, is licensed for Amateur or GMRS, is there anyone here who actually uses FRS frequencies with all the problems of power limitations, range issues and channel usage saturation in some metro areas, as I understand it.
I don't own any FRS equipment, so I guess my answer is no.