That's a good read, I downloaded it to my Kindle a while back. You can tell it's a self published book that hasn't been past an editor which makes it difficult to follow along at times but it has some excellent info.

Quote from: KC9TNH on May 05, 2013, 09:15:22 PM

Will be trackin' here when you set up the skeds; have my bearing to you, but any idea where you plan to do the backpack trip? Always like to listen-in, or join if asked - 3-ways & more can get not-fun unless someone is as adroit as Ray or unless in a formal net. Even just listening in provides data about the antenna in practice vice theory.

Well I'd love to head back out to New Mexico and backpack the Sangre de Christo mountains again but alas my time constraints won't allow that so it'll be right here in boring old Iowa  8). All kidding aside I have some beautiful country right here in my backyard but it still doesn't compare to the desert southwest in my opinion. There's actually an 1115 acre park less than 5 miles from my house consisting of rolling hills covered by old growth timber. There are only two campsites in the whole park both of which are primitive and not accessible by vehicle, the main problem is there's not much 'backpacking' involved - I can reach either site on foot in less than 20 minutes, that and the fact I know the whole area like the back of my hand. In other words; I don't know where I'm going.  ;D

You and I are close to 250 miles away from each other, 40 meters would probably be a piece of cake.

Quote from: RadioRay on May 05, 2013, 07:42:32 PM
That KX-1 is an AWESOME rig!  When it came out, it was the only thing like it on the market, including the shortwave/general coverage receiver built in. I finally set mine aside to refurbish it: worn-out switches and it's getting a little worn and dirty.  I think a partial tear-down and realignment is in the future, but not right now.  I'm building up the homebrew home station - with QRO amplifier and that's taking some time to stabilize that amp, that is only operational on 20m right now.


>>>  When you are ready to go, let us know and we'll run some prop analysis to see what times/freq works best for you and your trip.  I like morning shots on lower freqs or noon on higher freqs, to avoid the afternoon/evening T-storms and their attendant noise, but your mileage may vary.



>de RadioRay ..._ ._

I love your homebrew watertight KX1 enclosure Ray, looks damn near factory built, great job. I may look into doing something similar one of these days. The only major disadvantage I see is the added bulk compared to the stock rig, of course by the time I store mine in its watertight container it's even bulkier than your setup. Six of one half dozen of the other I suppose.

Sounds good on the skeds, I'll try to give quite a bit of heads up time before hand. I have plenty of vacation time built up at work but with Mothers day right around the corner, my son graduating high school the weekend after that, and.......... well you get the idea.

I'm a true CW convert. The rare times I'm on the local 2M repeaters these days everyone asks me where I went, they assume I gave up on ham radio. Quite the contrary, I think I'm having more fun since I started using CW than all my previous years as a ham combined.

On a side note, I'm planning a backpacking trip sometime in the near future. It'll more than likely be a short 2-3 day affair but rest assured my KX1 will be accompanying me. When the time gets nearer I'll put out a call looking for skeds.

Quote from: Joe on May 05, 2013, 05:12:13 PM
For the first time builders out there this is what tools I used to build the board.

60/40 Solder .032
Desolder Braid
Small Diagnal Cutters
Small Needle Nose Pliers
Sharp Knife
Large Tweezers
Tooth Brush
Helping Hand with LED lights
Soldering Iron

Joe has a good point, don't let lack of tools keep you from building, these are all pretty basic tools and if you're a real bargain hunter you could probably get all the above for about $20.

One more basic tool that can be invaluable is a basic DMM (Digital Multi Meter). A few months ago Harbor Freight had a sidewalk sale that included DMM's for $2!! Although I already own several nice meters including a Fluke, at 2 bucks a pop I bought 10 of them. I sold half of them at a hamfest which paid for the other half.

So get off your butt, get a kit, get a few tools, learn code and have a blast. Most QRP kits are freaking dirt cheap in comparison to commercial rigs from Yacomwood but don't let their low price and simplicity fool you, they're capable of serious communications.

That is a cool site, thanks Ray.

Here's a little story of how I saw the light in regards to CW.

I've been a ham for 13 years now, the last 5 as an Extra. For most of that time I was a phone and digital operator with little interest in those weird sounding dits and dahs. While technically I passed the 5WPM code test to get my General ticket, I only barely learned it for the sole purpose of passing the test which I just eked by hair of my chin combined with a little luck. Oh there were a few times when I thought  it might be neat to learn code but it never went beyond that. Then I read an article on another site titled 'The Case for Code' which was the motivation for me to finally learn code. I started studying everyday and within about 3 weeks I made my first CW QSO. From there my main practice was on the air and my code proficiency skyrocketed. That was almost a year and a half ago and I now have hundreds of CW QSO's in the log, a Weber Dual Band rig, a KX1 and I've even homebrewed a couple of rigs from scratch, suffice it to say CW is now by far my all time favorite mode............I almost contemplated selling my microphones LOL. I'm now very comfortable at 12WPM and can often keep up at 15WPM depending on the other ops fist, 17-18WPM gets to be a real challenge for me but I know with time I'll get there.

I checked with the author and he was more than happy to allow me to post a link to his article. Many of you may already know him, some of you may have already read the article. Hopefully it inspires some of you to get off the fence and learn code, I know it did for me.

73 de KK0G
Chris

The Case for Code - Part 1 http://theoriginalpreppernetworks.com/APRN/APRN_blog/?p=4530

The Case for Code - Part 2 http://theoriginalpreppernetworks.com/APRN/APRN_blog/?p=4533

Cool project. A Rockmite is on my list of projects to do.

Agreed 100%. I have zero interest in EMCOMM, in fact I feel in most cases it's unnecessary and sometimes even counterproductive but that's a whole different subject  8)

My concern, and most of us I assume, is being able to gather information and communicating with family members, friends, group members etc, on a local, regional and nationwide status. Having current information and the ability to relay messages can be a huge advantage. If nothing else simply eliminating the fear of the unknown can be a morale boost, although many people today believe ignorance is bliss I definitely don't fall into that camp.

Your last point is a very important one. We have discussions on the best rig for this, the best mode for that and what antenna will work better for that etc, etc, and the number one thing that we absolutely must be able to do for any of that to work is to make tiny electrons flow through a conductive material................ in other words we have to be able to make and store electric power. If we can't do that then everyone of our high tech whiz bang rigs is completely useless. Which reminds me, I need to improve my solar system.

Quote from: cockpitbob on May 01, 2013, 11:30:20 PM

Quote from: KK0G on May 01, 2013, 09:15:48 PM
Thanks for hanging in there Bob. I hated having to fire up TS-2000 with it's power sucking 100 watts but unfortunately it just wasn't gonna happen with QRP. My multiple mistakes were from quickly throwing a different keyer in line once I gave up on the KX1, it kept trying to add extra dahs where I didn't want them, sorry bout that.
Let's do it again soon, hopefully QRP next time. In the meantime I'm still in the shack if anyone wants to try another one this evening.

Chris,
When you were using the KX1 I could occasionally hear the faintest tones in my S7 noise.  Not copyable, but I could tell someone was sending and figured that was you.  Thanks for wimping out and firing up the big gun!  Don't appologize for the keying mistakes.  At least you had a reason.  My situation (problem) is that I've spent all my time learning to copy and very little time getting on the air.  My shack is in the basement and it was just wasn't a fun place to be this winter, but it's warmed up now.  Thanks for putting up with my inexperienced fist, and yes, let's do that again!

I've got a few road trips planned for the summer, so after I signed off and got the kids in bed I spent almost 2 hours running wires from the back of my SUV to the front seat center console (gawd, I hate how modern cars are built).  I'm mounting my FT-857 on the wall in the back and using the remote mount kit to put the head on a gooseneck at the center console.  And yes, in addition to running the speaker and mic cables I'm running a cable for the key up there 8) .  I would never try to send code while moving, but I'm not above pulling over for a QSO. ;D

It's interesting to see how conditions change.  A while ago Gil was talking 800 miles on 4W and tonight we had trouble going 1,200 miles on 100W.  All part of the fun.

Yeah, I could tell you were sometimes thinking of the correct character to send by the pause. No worries though, you're fist was perfectly copyable and with regular practice it'll become second nature. The best thing I ever did for my code comprehension when I started learning was to get on the air everyday and making QSO's.

Lets do it again soon.

Quote from: gil on May 01, 2013, 10:25:13 PM
Yep, I have S5 noise here. Thunderstorms all around today... Thanks for trying  :)
I'm going to park myself on 7030 for a while, see if I hear anyone...
I was using 12W.

Gil.

Well we gave it our best shot but if the propagation's not there it's just not there, thank you as well. I'm in the shack most evenings so just post in this thread whenever you want try again.

I barely copied part of my call but other than that I had no copy Gil, I have about an S5-S7 noise floor and you're just below it.

OK

Sorry Gil, if you were in there I never heard a single dit. At 0205 I did send my call about about 6 or 7 times at 100 watts in hopes you might at least hear me.

Quote from: gil on May 01, 2013, 09:19:03 PM
I just got home, sorry guys. 22:00 EST?

Gil.

7.0675?