My first HF rig

[ChiefStealth]

Got to listen in to the hurricane net 14325kHz today. First time I've tuned that in. Real time reports from people in the path of the storm.

 

[The Heretic]

My problem with discussing firearms on amateur radio bands is that you put your offcial call sign out there multiple times. It is very easy to look up your residential address with that call sign. It equates to advertising to the world that your address has firearms for anybody to come and steal.

 

[AMProducts]

My problem with discussing firearms on amateur radio bands is that you put your offcial call sign out there multiple times. It is very easy to look up your residential address with that call sign. It equates to advertising to the world that your address has firearms for anybody to come and steal.

All it has is your mailing address... My license material ends up at a PO Box I share with family.

There are some local guys who hang out on MURS3 in my area (murs is an unlicensed service, but they're running 50W ham rigs on the band) who as one friend put it "really like bullets". I talk to them fairly frequently, and we've gone out shooting a few times.

 

[The Heretic]

I do have a PO box I could use - I suppose I could change my address to that.

I seem to recall something in the paperwork about the address having to be where you primarily operate from - i.e., no PO Box outlet type addresses.

 

[HuckleberryFun]

I do have a PO box I could use - I suppose I could change my address to that.

I seem to recall something in the paperwork about the address having to be where you primarily operate from - i.e., no PO Box outlet type addresses.

I'm a ham, too, Heretic (Amateur Extra). Nope, your address does NOT have to be your physical address. PO box is fine. Go on QRZ.com and see how many licensees you look up have only a PO box listed. It's a lot of them!

 

[Sodbuster]

Good points about the address. And with the new on-line system of the FCC changing the address is pretty easy these days.

 

[AMProducts]

Ok, so I talked to Hoss earlier... apparently he's had some stuff come up and is unavailable Sunday for the net. I'll do my best to make contact with you all.

Lets do a few different freqs and see what we can make contact with on this schedule:

9pm 14.270mhz AM
9:15pm 14.270mhz USB

9:30pm 7.215mhz USB
9:45pm 7.075mhz USB PSK31

This isn't really a rag-chew, it's a "make contact" drill.

Here's our SOP Script:

(if the channel is clear...)
Net Control: This is <Callsign> calling for the November Whiskey Foxtrot Alpha net held Sunday Night at 9PM West Coast time. Is there any priority traffic, if so come now.
<pause>
Net Control: Hearing none, any stations this channel who wish to check in, please give your callsign and wait to be called.
<wait for callsigns, write them down>
Net Control: Callsign <callsign from list> please give your first name and location
(Other station will give callsign and nearest city)
Caller: This is <callsign> first name is <first name> calling from <city, airport code, etc>
Net Control: (Good/Rough/No) Copy <Callsign> thanks for calling.

After everyone has been checked in. close the net with:

Net Control: This is <Callsign> concluding the Novermber Whiskey Foxtrot Alpha net held Sunday night starting at 9PM west coast time. Thank you for participating, talk to you next week.

For the moment, I other than for net-control's edification, I don't see any reasons to publish the check in list, or even tie it to NWFA other than using the tag.

Again, this is strictly about making and maintaining contact. I'm sure we can polish this as time goes by. Since this was at least in part my dumb idea, I'll take net control duties for the first week (tomorrow) if no one has heard me within 5 minutes, feel free to take control of the net, I may hear you even if you don't hear me.

We can do an AAR on this thread afterwards. Please don't post callsigns.

 

[ChiefStealth]

I'll be listening in.

BTW, had a nice QSO with a guy in the Maple Valley area, today. He's a new ham and he had questions. I answered his CQ on a Fed Way 2m repeater. We talked more than a half hour. First time I gabbed like that with someone I'd never heard before.

 

[Modeler]

Shouldn't it be "November Whiskey Foxtrot Alpha"?

 

[AMProducts]

I'll be listening in.

BTW, had a nice QSO with a guy in the Maple Valley area, today. He's a new ham and he had questions. I answered his CQ on a Fed Way 2m repeater. We talked more than a half hour. First time I gabbed like that with someone I'd never heard before.

I've been stuck in socal for a while dealing with some family stuff. So you might hear me, you might not. I was talking to a guy over in West Virginia earlier today on 20m.

Shouldn't it be "November Whiskey Foxtrot Alpha"?

Hurp, I can count to potato!

 

[AMProducts]

Ok, I'm getting my gear set up. If you want to sound off on whether you're going to participate or not that would be great. It will at least let me know if I should wait around for callers.

 

[ChiefStealth]

I listened from 9:00 until 9:40. Nothing heard on the frequencies listed. All of 20m was pretty quiet. 40m was active. Heard stations from local to New Zealand.

 

[HuckleberryFun]

I'm interested in such a net. I'm on 2m/440 FM, 2m SSB, and most all the HF bands (10-80, no 160 yet). I have been thinking of some kind of "Off Grid Net" for preppers and firearms enthusiasts in which participants are encouraged (or required?) to check in using battery or generator power. I have both, so I'm good to go. It sounds like you guys want to go in a similar direction. I'm in.

PS--sounds like a regional net where 40 or 80 meter NVIS setups would be ideal if you want to avoid repeaters.

 

[AMProducts]

I listened from 9:00 until 9:40. Nothing heard on the frequencies listed. All of 20m was pretty quiet. 40m was active. Heard stations from local to New Zealand.

My wattmeter said I was putting RF but my noise floor was super high for some reason on 20M, it was lower at 40m, however I think something was wrong with my PSK setup. I should have specified exactly which PSK mode we were going to use, FLDIGI lists half a dozen or more.

If someone else wants to take net control (who is more centrally located) I would appreciate it. I didn't hear anyone, and so far it seems I was unheard.

My antenna was also a royal pain in the A to assemble. 30+ feet of wobbly aluminum (I used my dad's HF stick, attached to a fiberglass ladder) despite the base loading, it was really hard to tell what was coming out of the antenna. Wattmeter said I was getting about 80W out at peak, and about 3W reflected, so all the power was going somewhere, just not sure it was into RF energy.

I'm interested in such a net. I'm on 2m/440 FM, 2m SSB, and most all the HF bands (10-80, no 160 yet). I have been thinking of some kind of "Off Grid Net" for preppers and firearms enthusiasts in which participants are encouraged (or required?) to check in using battery or generator power. I have both, so I'm good to go. It sounds like you guys want to go in a similar direction. I'm in.

PS--sounds like a regional net where 40 or 80 meter NVIS setups would be ideal if you want to avoid repeaters.

I'm pretty far down the coast at the moment (LA area), 20 and 40m bands have pretty good throw and don't require gigantic antennas. (Last time I setup a 160m rig, the antenna was 100+M long! for a 1/4 wave dipole!)

The big thing here is that weekly we drag out our gear and get used to setting it up. I had to make a bunch of new power cables before I could get things working here. I ended up running off a 30Ah battery.

Like I said, main goal here is to make contact, if we can get that figured out, we can start getting fancy with it.

 

[Hayshaker]

I listened here in E OR, but didn't hear a thing. I think 75/80 meters would really cover most of the west coast better then 20/40. WE do have several hams here that are into firearms / reloading and etc.

 

[AMProducts]

I listened here in E OR, but didn't hear a thing. I think 75/80 meters would really cover most of the west coast better then 20/40. WE do have several hams here that are into firearms / reloading and etc.

I tend to agree... lower frequency is always easier to throw further. The problem at least for me, and probably for others is that not all of us have unlimited space for amateur radio antennas, and at least for me personally, I'm operating out of a backpack because I'm traveling at this point.

So I'm curious, of those who listened and heard nothing, how many tried transmitting?

 

[ChiefStealth]

So I'm curious, of those who listened and heard nothing, how many tried transmitting?

I did not transmit. I have no TX capability in HF. And, I heard nobody else transmitting on the listed freqs.

 

[Modeler]

Wait, PSK? Is this a PSK net or a voice net? I thought it was a voice net, which might be better since everyone has that equipment.

 

[Hayshaker]

I didn't try to tx anything. However I think That you'll need hf capabilities to get this off the ground and going. I had a some interest in this during check in last night.

 

[OutlawHoss]

I was able to listen via websdr and didn't hear anything (from a San Fran station). One reason we chose the 20m band is AmProducts capabilities at the moment, as well as the MUF floating around 17-18 mhz.Near-Real-Time MUF Map <--- It's not an absolute authority on what bands will work, but a strong indicator as we were trying to reach So. Cal., and the DX propagation conditions are more crucial.

In the original vein of a regional net, keeping in the Pac Nor West, we can work within a smaller area usually. The CQ time for the net was also past grey line, so we didn't have that advantage.

I think we should strive for SSB phone (voice) as the digital modes require more tech (although a computer and CAT cable is really all that's needed for any contemporarily made HF rig, the learning curve for the software make it more complicated than most care for I think).

If there is still interest, we should try again this Sunday, an hour earlier, and start at phone CQ frequencies. We can make another frequency decision tree based on what most people have available. Incidentally people who have NVIS type antenna might benefit more with short hop DX; I think 80m-20m are our best starting places. Even 10m might be a possibility.

Maybe interested folks can post their band abilities (who haven't yet). 2m is a possibility, and there are repeaters that get around the whole west coast, but it would take a lot permissions and time slots scheduling to make happen on a heavily used system. Again, I think an HF freq is best for a regional net.

One thing we might do, is ask Joe if we can use the NWFA chat to let people who are just listening to check in, like AmRRON and others do; that might appeal to some who want to support the idea and listen in, but don't have tx capabilities.

Anyway, if people still want to pursue this, please contribute your thoughts and ideas so we can make this as accessible as possible.

I can set up a beacon function on my rig, voice or cw, which I would turn on an hour or so before net time, which could give people an opportunity to adjust their gear ahead of time. Also, checking the beacons is a good way to see where the waves are going International Beacon Project Introduction
If someone has this capability, or want to schedule a time to attempt contact before Sunday, let me know. I'm in So. Oregon, for basic directional orientation.

Thanks to AMProducts for seeing the idea through as my chit went sideways last weekend.