Saturday, January 7, 2017

Snow Time Updates

I think I need a mobile rig on my tractor-snowblower so I can spend some time on the air.  It's that kind of winter.  But I can't really complain, as life is good, the farm infrastructure is holding up, we can still get up and down the driveway and into town, and work is busy but satisfying.

New Ham projects: 
     -Rather than hamsticks I've got a 392M HF and VHF mobile antenna from trxcommunications.   I haven't hooked it up yet but am looking forward to moving the Yaesu FT-450 into the Isuzu and giving it a try.
      -I hope to be part of the RPi in Ham Radio discussion at SeaPac this year.  I'm sure the other Elmers will outclass me completely since my Linux skills are entirely self taught but I have used WSJT-X successfully on Raspbian and on Ubuntu-Mate and have done a few other projects.  (If you want to watch your turtles on VLC, I'm your man!)
      -There should be a tower in my future if all is well.  It may take a little while but it will be nice to do HF activities with a good antenna system.  Maybe after that, an amplifier....
      -When the snow dies down a bit I hope to activate a few more SOTA peaks, as yet unactivated.

As I write another winter storm is sweeping through the area, and I will need to get up at 5 to remove snow from my driveway and my son's as well in time for travel into town for church.  Maybe after I can excite some electrons to emit EM waves....

Barn in the snow
The Long and Snowy Driveway (the first 2/3 anyway)
New Mouse Control Assistants