Radio Preppers

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: lankford on October 21, 2013, 01:10:40 AM

Title: Hello and New Practice Site
Post by: lankford on October 21, 2013, 01:10:40 AM
Hi all,

My name is Matt ( KV4QR Extra ). I have read hundreds of articles / responses on this board and finally joined. I am interested in keeping in touch with my brother who is in Annapolis MD and I am in the Atlanta area among other things like :

NVIS for when the repeaters are not there
CW for low power / backpack ( I don't know CW very well but created www.myhamstuff.com to help me learn )
Low power rigs

As for prepping in general, I think knowledge is more important than gadgets and have spent quite a long time acquiring skills that help in many different situations.

I am sure to get more involved here over time but will just say hi for now and thanks to you all for being a pretty cool / level headed community.

matt
Title: Re: Hello and New Practice Site
Post by: gil on October 21, 2013, 01:26:35 AM
Welcome aboard Matt. Nice site. The feeds work great, nothing else seems to work on Safari, or I am not using the site properly. It is a bit confusing without explanations.. Most of those abbreviations I have never heard, and would confuse me in a QSO. I like to spell things out and only use the most common abbreviations. They are useful, but too many have a negative effect on comprehension. As to your choice of CW, of course I applaud with both hands  ;)

Gil.
Title: Re: Hello and New Practice Site
Post by: KK0G on October 21, 2013, 08:42:38 AM
Welcome to Radio Preppers Matt, I too applaud your efforts to learn code. Hang in there, you'll probably learn it faster than you think and then one day it just clicks.


I wouldn't spend a lot of time trying to memorize abbreviations, if it's obscure enough that it requires you to learn it's meaning, chances are very likely the other guy won't know what it means either. Most all of them you'll encounter on the air will be pretty obvious (shud, cud, sum, tnx, fer) especially when used in context; "BN HAM FER 14 YRS".


Good luck.
Title: Re: Hello and New Practice Site
Post by: White Tiger on October 21, 2013, 10:33:08 AM
Welcome aboard!
Title: Re: Hello and New Practice Site
Post by: Joe on October 21, 2013, 11:08:34 AM
Welcome Matt !!!
Title: Re: Hello and New Practice Site
Post by: RadioRay on October 21, 2013, 07:08:17 PM
Hey Matt,


Welcome aboard.  As for learning Morse, it's going to be ery enjoyable and useful.  Most of the radio skeds going on here are in Morse so far. HF voice would be fine as well.  Experience has shown so far though, that the reliability of low power Morse is quite high, while to maintain that same reliability in voice would require much more signal strength.  The 'math' matches the actual experiences. 

Some HF voice alternative nets you might enjoy are via  www.taprn.com   and    www.radiofreeredoubt.com  .  This is not 'affiliated' with this site, but they're preppers who are 'actually doing it' as far as HF voice and data are concerned.

BTW - Georgia to Annapolis should be an easy shot on HF.



de RadioRay ..._ ._
Title: Re: Hello and New Practice Site
Post by: Archangel320420 on October 21, 2013, 09:06:21 PM
Welcome aboard, Matt. Dit Dit
Title: Re: Hello and New Practice Site
Post by: lankford on October 21, 2013, 10:43:54 PM
Thanks for the warm welcome...

As for the site, there is not really much more to the site... I just created it kinda for myself to have fresh stuff to de-code on a regular basis... I am sure at some point I will try to make it more useful....

As for the abbreviations... I got them out of the ARRL handbook... I think they would confuse me as well... I also like to spell things out Gil... even on 2 meter... I just say "have a great night... it was great talking with you" instead of 73... I just ain't that cool... ;)

Personally I think the Koch method looks to be a little more to my liking... but I still wanted something to de-code... and kinda thought other people might want to use it too...

matt
Title: Re: Hello and New Practice Site
Post by: gil on October 21, 2013, 10:48:07 PM
QuoteI just say "have a great night... it was great talking with you" instead of 73... I just ain't that cool...

What I find very weird is when people say "hi hi" instead of laughing..  ::) In Morse code, sure, it's only dots and real fast.. No other way to laugh in Morse code... But on FM  :o

I don't use any codes on VHF, or SSB for that matter, but of course I use those modes very rarely..

Gil.
Title: Re: Hello and New Practice Site
Post by: KK0G on October 21, 2013, 11:06:33 PM
Quote from: gil on October 21, 2013, 10:48:07 PM
What I find very weird is when people say "hi hi" instead of laughing..
If people only realized how ridiculous it sounds when the do that. They would never do that speaking with someone right in front of them yet they somehow think it's appropriate over the air............ weird.
Title: Re: Hello and New Practice Site
Post by: cockpitbob on October 22, 2013, 08:49:13 AM
Welcome aboard Matt!

I like your site.  It's nice to have something different to decode and current news is a pleasing change.  I expect I'll be visiting it regularly.