Ray

What a Joke..

Even after more than 20 years of development, fuel cell vehicles still cost more than a million dollars each and don’t last very long or go very far.
Finally, it takes about four times more renewable energy to drive a fuel cell vehicle than it does to charge the batteries in an electric vehicle to go the same distance.
This is like the difference in fuel economy between a Hummer and a Prius.
If you are wondering why hydrogen fuel cell vehicles continue to receive billions of dollars in funding given all these barriers, the fact that 96 percent of all hydrogen is currently extracted from fossil fuels may have something to do with it. There are powerful vested interests controlling our energy policy.

UHF 07

Once again, the CVVHF group operated from the W0AIH/W0UC antenna farm near Fall Creek, WI.

The K9CVC crew spent several weeks prior to the contest getting rotatorsworking, networking computers, figuring out SWR issues, and hanging uwave antennae. Despite our best efforts, equipment was still not working properlyonce the contest started. The 432 stack developed a high SWR, and the 2304 Mhz,10 GHz, and 902 Mhz systems were deaf. We switched out the 902 Mhz heliax run onSaturday night and actually made a few QSO's on that band. 2304 Mhz was neverrevived while on 10 Ghz we busted out our portable set-ups and worked themother ship for a few extra points. Overall, the contest was slow, with poor propagation. Besides W9FZ/R, rovers were hard to find and once found, hard toget their attention.

Equipment consisted of:
222: 450w and 2X18 element yagis
432: 150w and 28 element yagi
902: 7w and 33 element looper
1296: 12w and 55 element looper
2304: Dead :(
10G: 2w and a dish... almost Dead

Summary:
Band QSOs Mults-------------------
222:   45 26
432: 63 22
903: 12   10
1.2: 35   19
2.3:     0    0
10G:    3    1

         158 78 Total Score = 50,076

HPSDR

I have been neglecting my radio stuff, and this webpage...
Not much has been hapenning lately, that involves radio anyway...
Have been trying to do some fishing and going out listning to some rock-n-roll on the weekends.. still doing the door thing at MM for Menards...

I received the board sets from TAPR, for the HPSDR project..

The HPSDR is an open source hardware and software project intended as a "next generation" Software Defined Radio (SDR) for use by Radio Amateurs ("hams") and Short Wave Listeners (SWLs). It is being designed and developed by a group of SDR enthusiasts with representation from interested experimenters worldwide. The discussion list membership currently stands at over 600 peoples..

right now the only boards avalable are the ATLAS (Backplane) , JANUS (ADC/DAC Board), and OZY (HPSDR Interface & Control)..

This will be enough to be a very high performance ($$$) sound card replacement that will run with/control my SDR-1000..

W9RAY/AG

This is now W9RAY/AG signing on...
It was almost W9RAY/AE, but I missed it by 3 questions.. pretty good for not studdying very much at all... just took the online test a few times... failed them miserably...

Update 03/15/2007 Ok now Just W9RAY .. general class

It's Official! Morse Code Requirement Ends Friday, February 23!!

NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 24, 2007 -- Circle Friday, February 23, on your calendar. That's when the current 5 WPM Morse code requirement will officially disappear from the Amateur Radio Service Part 97 rules in accordance with the FCC's Report and Order (R&O) in the "Morse code proceeding," WT Docket 05-235. Beginning on that date, applicants for a General or Amateur Extra class Amateur Radio license no longer will have to demonstrate proficiency in Morse code.

I'm very happy about this... I have tried several times to learn the code but have always got discouraged and quit...

I am happy I can now use my SDR-1000 and my icom 746 to near its potential.. Instead of having $2500 worth of seldom used vhf/microwave IF rigs...

I had my slip saying i past my general test... to bad that was 4 years ago.... Oh well.. i pass the general test about 4 out of 5 time on the net now... might just start studying the extra test..... I cant wait to piss off all the cantankerous old hf lids... they thought the slow coders were bad shit... hahahaha fukers....

Total Shack redo

We moved the main operating position of the shack from the basement up to our newly redone office/computer room up on the main floor of the house..

.. as you can see its already a mess..

SDR-1000

The new toy...

The computer runs the SRD-1000 hardware and software, which provides ALL of the signal processing and controls for the SDR-1000.

The receiver is an advanced direct-conversion design using direct digital synthesis. It converts RF directly to audio. Separate in-phase and quadrature signals are then fed to the computer soundcard for digital signal processing using an innovative I and Q image-reject approach..

the filtering is very impressive to say the least..

and the visable pandadapter is awsome for finding signals... on 6 meters when sitting on 50.125 is can view the spectrum in real time from 50.080-50.160

the plans are to use it as the 6 meter rig and the IF radio for the transverter bands (222, 903, 1296 and 2304)

I have not had too much of a chance to play with it as of yet.
I did make some contacts when 6 meters. output on 50 mhz is only 500mW

I operated the january contest for a few hous and the system worked ok..I have to get the PowerSDR software to automatically key the correct transverter and then it will be really cool...

First ''real'' 2304 qso

made a qso with noakc over a about a 5 mile path running a 2' dish with can feed on my tripod at obout 20 feet off ground.. running about 20 mW through 40 feet of 1/2 inch superflex... yeah.. its in a boat in the garage

M-Squared Sponsors ARRL VHF Contesting Awards

M2 Antenna Systems has generously agreed to be Principal Awards Sponsor for the 2006 ARRL June VHF QSO Party. For many years, the Fresno, California, company has been a popular source of high-performance antennas for VHF/UHF/microwave contesters and DXers and especially customized array systems--although M2 also makes antennas for HF work.

M2 Antenna Systems will be Principal Awards Sponsor for all unsponsored plaques for the June event. As Principal Awards Sponsor, M2's name will appear on all plaques it sponsors, and its name and logo on all certificates that go out to top scorers in the various event categories.

Will Your Safety Harness Kill You?

wow....
Will Your Safety Harness Kill You?