yup. no contact on 28.365 but heard someone asking if freq in use but didn't hear call sign.

n7bhp

Just saw you were up John. What freq?

I just discovered that my 80 meter dipole will tune up on 10 meters :D. If this is to be done as SSB phone then 28.3-28.5 is about the only place techs can participate. I don't know if there is anybody with a tech license here wanting to join in or not. About an hour ago the conditions on 10m were pretty good but they are probably deteriorating rapidly.

14.242 then? How about the time?

I don't know if anybody else saw this but this thread reminded me of this article. This might get more people thinking about life without the grid.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/03/19/massive-solar-blast-that-almost-wreaked-havoc-on-earth/?intcmp=features

I'll try and tune in. My 80 meter dipole won't let me transmit on any freq. higher than about 21 MHz.

22 days after I sent in the application and after 14 years of disuse my grandfather's callsign is back on the air.

QuoteI'm fortunate to still have my grandparents and am very close to them. Realistically I know my time with them is limited as they near the twilight of their lives so I try to spend as much time with them as I can.

Right on! I normally get home about every two years to see my family but this year my wife and I are going to make a quick trip home after one year just to see my grandmother. Next year might be too late.

QuoteI enjoyed reading that, and I do hope you do get his call sign.

Thanks!

QuoteCongratulations on the birth of your son and learning Morse code. Just keep at it, it will eventually sink in. Read the numerous posts here about learning the code...

Thanks Gil. This forum has been a big inspiration and help in learning morse.

QuoteDipping the plate current and loading the finals is a lost art I think. You can read up on it. Here is a video of tuning up an old Drake xcvr but the KWM2 is similar ...

Thanks. I'll definitely take a look at that video when I get home from the hospital. I downloaded part of the user manual for it and tried to follow the instruction on how to do it but it seems like they take for granted you already know something about what you're doing. It makes for unspecific instructions like "and finally adjust the loading with the load lever" and I'm left scratching my head saying to myself "well, I found the load lever but what am I adjusting it to?" So I just adjusted it for maximum power indicated on the wattmeter/dummy load.

My son was born today; John Logan. He's not really named after me. He and I are both named after my grandfather who has been SK since 2001. When I think of a ham I think of him. He started out building radios from kits when he was a boy in the early '30s. His love of electronics and his desire to use his knowledge and skill to help others stayed with him all his life. When he went to war he did so as the radio operator on a B-24 Liberator in Europe. After the war he got work as an electrician for a lumber mill. He started raising a family but still had time to get his ham license and study for an engineering degree by means of correspondence classes. After getting his degree he got hired by Martin Marietta at the hight of the space age. He worked alongside my other grandfather there. Grandfather Roger drew up the plans for the rocket components and grandfather John used the plans to build them. He always stayed abreast of technological developments.

He wasn't a good teacher though. When I was very young I remember riding with him in his car. He was holding a conversation in CW while driving. I remember him driving along and listening to the dits and daws as if he was listening to the oldies station on the radio. I must have shown how impressed I was because he later decided to help me learn CW. He lent me a solidly built key and oscillator and told me to go practice. He didn't give me anything to listen to to learn to copy and it was before a guy could get online and find training aids. Needless to say, I never learned CW that way.

He taught everything that way. Learn by doing. I guess it's how he did it and it worked for him. Grandma about had a heart attach when grandpa taught my brother to drive the snowmobile. The lesson consisted of these words, "squeeze this lever with your thumb and she'll go." So he squeezed. My grandmother saw my brother shoot past the kitchen window, barely dodge two parked cars and a large tree before my frightened ten year old brother thought to release his death grip on the lever. My grandfather thought it was  a hoot.

He was the handiest guy in town. Everyone said he could fix anything. The school, ferry boat, and lumber yard would all call him up on a regular basis long after he had retired when they couldn't get something working. That is how he died. He was backed over by a log mover while he was troubleshooting another machine. He lived on an Indian reservation and even though he was not a member of the tribe, or even an Indian for that matter, they gave him a plot in the tribal cemetery and a tribal burial.

I inherited his ham shack, the heart of which was his Collins KMW-2. I'm just now dusting it off and firing it up. I'm a bit scarred of blowing something up in it. It's been sitting for so long and I know nothing of old tube radios.  It still seems to grab the signals though and I've measured 80 watts out of it. Now I'm learning CW and am anxious to start CW QSOs with my grandfather's old rig just like he did. I've had my ham license for ten years now and it's come time for renewal. I decided that grandpa's old call sign should be what comes out of his rig and so I've applied for his call sign. I hope they give it to me. I'm looking forward to the day I can teach little John how to operate CW on his namesake's radio.

QuoteUntil you get really fast and someone calls you at 7wpm

Touche!

Well, I did it ;D
I answered someone's CQ on 20 meters. He copied me fine but I made a couple of mistakes and my ability to copy went down by at least 3wpm under the stress of it. I didn't catch everything he said but I got most of his call and skcc number. It was good that I copied his skcc number right. I looked him up there to fill in the missing call letter. Hey raybiker73, it was good that I had registered with skcc myself. I don't know why he assumed I was registered with them, perhaps because I answered his CQ but he wanted me to transmit my skcc number. I told him I'd have to look it up as I didn't know it and asked him to stand by. After I came back with it he thanked me and signed off. I must have been trying his patience or taxing his brain to much trying to copy my loose fist. He didn't seem to want to rag chew.
But in the end, he was courteous and I am stoked.
Thanks to all for all of your encouragement.

So from what I understand then, a decent argument could be made for the double paddle in that; if it is not much more money than the single paddle, and if non-iambic keying is not any harder with it than with it's single paddle counterpart, than why not go double and have the option of trying out iambic keying?

Hey Gil, I looked at those websites with the paddles. Do y'all recommend that I look for a single paddle or double?

QuoteAnother great kit is the Weber Tri-Bander from qrpkits.com, $200 I think..

That one looks very enticing. It wouldn't replace the Kenwood as it doesn't have SSB Phone but for a portable CW rig it looks great.