The 2008 Jamboree on the Air will take place October 18th and 19th. It will take place on 80, 40, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10 and 6 meters. Calling frequencies for JOTA can be found at http://www.arrl.org/scouts/jota/ and also at http://www.scout.org/jota/ which is the international scouting website. For those attending the Greater Ozarks Ham Picnic, we hope to see some HF stations up and going and maybe making contacts with the Scouts there. http://www.nixahams.net/2008/10/2008-greater-ozarks-ham-picnic.html has more info on the Greater Ozarks Ham Picnic!! Should be fun for all.
73 all
James
KC0TQD
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Fun on 6 meters
Well, as anyone who was around for the net on Monday Night knows, it is always fun and interesting when the band plays in our favor! We would like to acknowledge Kevin, KA0I, who checked in with us from Holts Summit, MO just north of Jefferson City. Quite a jump in to the repeater!
73
James
KC0TQD
73
James
KC0TQD
Monday, August 4, 2008
Uses for that older computer...
As some have said, you don't own technology, you just rent it. Time marches on and as it does, we tend to collect items that have outlived their usefulness. I have several older computers that I have collected. I have gone though all of them and they are all in good working order, but are not well-suited to run current versions of Windows. Even the popular desktop versions of Linux are a bit of a stretch on these older machines. However, there are several things that can be done with your older hardware. These are projects not much different from anything you'd do with ham radio only these are computer-centered. I've been doing computer projects much much longer than I have been doing ham projects, so I thought I'd share a couple of them.
Use #1: Build a router/firewall.
Why do this when most everyone with broadband has a small, inexpensive little box that serves that function. Well... much like in ham radio, why take the time to do it yourself when you can buy it ready made? We do it to learn and to get the thrill of using something we made. This is the same thing. You can purhcase routers for cheap, but building one out of an old computer is fun and you will learn a bit in the process.
Use #2: Build a home NAS server
First, what is NAS. NAS = Network Attached Storage. Disk space that is attached directly to a network without the overhead of Windows running. Another benefit of using an OS other than Windows is you can get away from some of Windows limitations. For instance. The computer I am using does not fully recogize larger (larger than 80GB) hard drives. I have a 160GB drive and FreeBSD is able to use the full drive where Windows would not be able to without help. I have it setup to hold the data and downloads I have collected over the years.
Something worth mentioning about both of these solutions is that once they are setup and running there is no need to have a keyboard or monitor connected to them. (a mouse is not needed for either one as they are both configured from a non-graphical interface). I have both of these in a closet under a table and they just sit there an run pretty much out of sight. I can finally get some use out of my older hardware that was just sitting around.
If time permits, I'll try to post more detail on what I did to set these up and get them going.
The firewall / router distribution is called IPCop and can be found here:
http://www.ipcop.org
The NAS distribution is called FreeNAS and can be found here:
http://www.freenas.org
-Jeff / KCØVGC
Use #1: Build a router/firewall.
Why do this when most everyone with broadband has a small, inexpensive little box that serves that function. Well... much like in ham radio, why take the time to do it yourself when you can buy it ready made? We do it to learn and to get the thrill of using something we made. This is the same thing. You can purhcase routers for cheap, but building one out of an old computer is fun and you will learn a bit in the process.
Use #2: Build a home NAS server
First, what is NAS. NAS = Network Attached Storage. Disk space that is attached directly to a network without the overhead of Windows running. Another benefit of using an OS other than Windows is you can get away from some of Windows limitations. For instance. The computer I am using does not fully recogize larger (larger than 80GB) hard drives. I have a 160GB drive and FreeBSD is able to use the full drive where Windows would not be able to without help. I have it setup to hold the data and downloads I have collected over the years.
Something worth mentioning about both of these solutions is that once they are setup and running there is no need to have a keyboard or monitor connected to them. (a mouse is not needed for either one as they are both configured from a non-graphical interface). I have both of these in a closet under a table and they just sit there an run pretty much out of sight. I can finally get some use out of my older hardware that was just sitting around.
If time permits, I'll try to post more detail on what I did to set these up and get them going.
The firewall / router distribution is called IPCop and can be found here:
http://www.ipcop.org
The NAS distribution is called FreeNAS and can be found here:
http://www.freenas.org
-Jeff / KCØVGC
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
More from KBØNHX: Grounded
Well, had some time tonight. One benefit of living in north MO is the soil. I drove both of my 8' ground rods first off tonight. Drove them both by hand with the exception of the last 2 feet! Couldn't do that in Springfield. Thanks to Bryon, K0BSJ, for showing me the ropes on hand driving ground rods :-0After that, I installed all the grounding kits on the 6 feedlines. Combined them together to one wire and ran it to the ground rod at the pole. Now, it's just a matter of installing the center-conductor Polyphasers in the basement, running the wire out to the rod and sealing it up. Well, as promised, here's the pic of the ground kit install (real exciting, I know!).
Later,
-- James Adkins, KB0NHX
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
KBØNHX Antennas - Part 2
From James Adkins, KBØNHX
Okay, so Jeff gave me a little ribbing about not having a 6-meter antenna up. Well, 6-meters is in the plan, it just wasn't up yet. Right now, I only plan on working some FM on the local Missouri City repeater & on FM Simplex. If I get away with what I have without any complaints, I'll probably put up another pole with my 3-element Cushcraft 6-meter beam or the Par OA-50's stacked.
For the time being, I have installed my discone on the roof. It's primary purpose is for scanner monitoring, but will also double as my 6-meter FM and 220 FM antennas. I painted it to match up with the roof and even painted the coax. It's not an exact match, but from a distance it blends in really well and doesn't stick out nearly as badly as the chrom would have.
See attached pics with the homeade "vent" mount adapted from use from our house in Nixa. I also took a couple of close ups of the feed throughs in the side of the house.
Next on the list ..... grounding! I've got all the connectors on for the Polyphasers in the house at the ground bus, and put connectors on the jumpers that will run from the Polyphasers to the panel in the wall. Still have to drive the ground rods, run the ground wire from the bus to the rod, and attach ground kits to the coax cable. That's coming soon, though!
Okay, so Jeff gave me a little ribbing about not having a 6-meter antenna up. Well, 6-meters is in the plan, it just wasn't up yet. Right now, I only plan on working some FM on the local Missouri City repeater & on FM Simplex. If I get away with what I have without any complaints, I'll probably put up another pole with my 3-element Cushcraft 6-meter beam or the Par OA-50's stacked.
For the time being, I have installed my discone on the roof. It's primary purpose is for scanner monitoring, but will also double as my 6-meter FM and 220 FM antennas. I painted it to match up with the roof and even painted the coax. It's not an exact match, but from a distance it blends in really well and doesn't stick out nearly as badly as the chrom would have.
See attached pics with the homeade "vent" mount adapted from use from our house in Nixa. I also took a couple of close ups of the feed throughs in the side of the house.
Next on the list ..... grounding! I've got all the connectors on for the Polyphasers in the house at the ground bus, and put connectors on the jumpers that will run from the Polyphasers to the panel in the wall. Still have to drive the ground rods, run the ground wire from the bus to the rod, and attach ground kits to the coax cable. That's coming soon, though!
--
James Adkins, KB0NHX
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
KBØNHX Antenna installation
James Adkins, KBØNHX recently installed what he likes to call the "Adkins Monopole". A 20 foot piece of thick-walled gas pipe. The "goal post" configuration allows him to put two vertials on top.The antennas consist of: Comet GP-21 (1.2GHz), Comet GP-9 (2m/440), Par OmniAngle (220 SSB), M2 5-element 902Mhz yagi, and a B&W folded dipole for 1.8-30Mhz.
Now James has a place to plug in the FT-920, FT-736, and the 'ol Henry 2K HF amplifier. Something he's not had for a while, but I'm sure is looking forward to. He can now operate 1.2GHz to 160m on one mast!
Good view from the back yard. Looks like from here it would be about a 30 yard field goal.
The feed though looks very professional. James says the parts to do this came from Tessco and cost about $40.
Below is another view that shows the B&W and the Par 220 Omnis.
Hard to be critical, but one thing is missing.... six meters! Oh, well, you can't be perfect I guess.
Feel free to post your comments. If you have any questions, I'm sure James would be glad to answer them.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Taking it E-asy....
Well, we are still enjoying the Es as the weather has finally begun to turn hot. The Monday Night Net is currently back on the 6 Meter 53.27 Repeater (51.570 input, with a 162.2 PL tone). Bands are open and I even heard a distant station from North Carolina last week on FM simplex! Anyway, feel free to comment on your recent 6 meter and below experiences!
Thanks
James
KCØTQD
Thanks
James
KCØTQD
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