Mail just went out.

Kits are for experienced builders only. Go get them boys.

Quote from: cockpitbob on July 16, 2015, 10:47:35 AM
BTW, my 15 year old son did a 4 day "summer camp" on 3D printing.  Now I have to keep my promise to him.  This weekend I'm ordering a 3D printer.  I bring this up because I see the case for the mcHF is 3D printed.  For the cost of the plastic and mailing, I'll be more than happy to print a case for anyone on this board that builds a mcHF (excluding someone that obviously joins just for this offer).

Excellent NEWS! Especially since i live 5 miles away from you!!

Quote from: cockpitbob on June 29, 2015, 08:58:06 AM
Difficult Field Day here in MA.  Rain started Saturday night and went all day Sunday.  It got pretty windy at times.  We packed up some stations before the rain but left 2 in a big 4 walled car port tent that was buttoned up pretty tight.  Still, the winds were bad enough that 2 rigs got wet.  They're being dried right now and we'll know tomorrow if there was any damage.  I spent most of my time setting up and tearing down and didn't do much operating.  The most contacts I made were after the rain started at about 9:00 when I retreated to my car and operated CW from the front seat.

But, Field Day did its job.  We set up, made contacts, dealt with problems and learned.  If it was an easy, fun FD we wouldn't have learned much.

Bob,
I was on my way out there Saturday night but i turned around after talking to Hank on the repeater and he told me they were stopping operations.

Quote from: cockpitbob on June 24, 2015, 09:43:46 AM
Matt,
Probably.  I'm working all day Friday and plan to spend a lot of time there Saturday but don't have a fixed schedule.  I'll try to be sure I'm there in the evening.

Not going to make it now. Wife has an event with friends.

Bob,
I plan to head over to the location Saturday night. Are you going to be around?

I've used NVIS with success is I my area for field day and some emcomm exercises. I have some buddies who in the first skip zone I'm pushing to get set up

Quote from: K7JLJ on May 26, 2015, 01:55:59 AM
Agreed on all, except having two code talkers in one group is probably as rare as hens teeth. :) 

When I say prepper group I'm talking about family / neighborhood sized groups.

Your scenario and historical application of the QRP CW could find its place in a resistance movement, but those are militia groups not preppers IMO. 

For a local group, 2M HTs is the backbone of comms but having he ability to reach a community 170miles away where my Mother-In-Law lives is a good reason for an HF.

We all see our scenarios the way we want to though, best to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

For a group called "radio preppers" I seem to only see CW topics most of the time.

Not complaining because that's what I'm into learning on the comms end of prepparing but I did expect something different when I joined.

Doesn't help being the only guy in the room that doesn't speak the language, I just KNOW you all are talking about me! :)

- Jim

Members here drive the content so if your not seeing something feel free to start it up. No one will criticize you for a non CW thread. I'm not a CW guy (yet) so i like to see info about all the modes.

As with anything you got trade offs. You can have a 2m HT that can only go few miles or you can have a CW rig, antenna, batteries and a solar panel to charge for the same weight but a lot more comms features. Of course you also need the skill.

I'm trying to build a group that can work 2m and SSB and have some key CW operators that relay info but this takes time, skill and dedication to learn and understand a new piece of equipment.

When i get my code up to snuff i plan to get the SOTA tuner or the SWR indicator to go with my MTR.

Quote from: cockpitbob on May 20, 2015, 09:11:10 AM
I've told this a few times here, but I'll tell it again.  I was playing with my first QRP rig, a Ten-Tec R4020 (40/20meters) using my EFHW antenna and heard a Russian station calling CQ.  I replied and we just did the usual wham, bam, 599, thankyou Mam.  I went to look him up and he was at Russia's Mirny science station in Antarctica 10,700 miles away.  I was transmitting 3W.  Yeah, QRP CW is awesome.

I can't wait!

finished the first book last week and it's really good.

Dam it!

I missed this post when it first aired. Looks interesting to say the least.

No worries about pics just dont make them huge. We would all love to see your progress. You can upload the pics to flickr and just paste the link between  that will automatically pull them in.

Quote from: cockpitbob on April 21, 2015, 08:49:43 AM

Quote from: madball13 on April 21, 2015, 08:44:31 AM
Got my MTR last Thursday delivered to work and havent been able to open it until today. I am blown away by how small this thing is. It is truly amazing.

I just read on the MTR Yahoo group that the MTRs from LNR Precision do have all the newest and best.  I jut got all the parts to do the Rx sensitivity mod but don't see any spare time for a couple weeks :-(

That's too bad. Least you be on the air with yours before i'm on the air in an actual QSO with mine.

Got my MTR last Thursday delivered to work and havent been able to open it until today. I am blown away by how small this thing is. It is truly amazing.

get it and shoot some .45 while you are still allowed to.