NorthWoodsMaine

Let's tap on the Ice Storm of '98, 9/11/01, AT&T's crash, cell sites going down, broadcast radio going off the air, communication towers crashing to the ground and the delicacy of some of our public safety systems shall we?

Used gear, home made antennas.

The "experts" like to make their opinions known and think that everyone should function their way and that there is no other way. If they don't approve of something, then it's not acceptable. Just discount those clowns. Ham Radio is your hobby, have fun with it as you like, not how someone else tries to dictate.

Today I found a jar that I made quite awhile ago. I decided it would be good for lunch. How old was it?

You know the saying... "Close enough for government work". No matter...when you screw things up constantly there will always be people trying to clean it up for you.

Here's the 40M dipole up and what the SWR looks like. It needed a little bit of tuning. Check it out!

A previous video shows the math on figuring out antenna lengths for frequencies.

Hamfests can be a fun time. You'll never know what kind of neat stuff, junk...or real junk you'll find. You'll see everything from tower sections to antennas, to parts n' pieces, to rats nests of wires in boxes to nice equipment. Like Marden's..."I should have bought it when I saw it".

This shows how a tuner allows one antenna to work on multiple HF radio bands. Sure there is some power lost in a tuner, BUT it is convenient and cheaper/easier than a million antennas. Yes you can buy or make some antennas that are resonant on multiple HF bands, but often times if you look at the specs, they claim a 2.1:1 SWR. I've always used a tuner and have had contacts all over. To each their own though!

This is some HF in action. Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Canada, Barbados, Slovenia, New York. There isn't any marketing BS here. This is what works in real life, not what a company wants you to believe will work. Today was the great Instragram/Facebook outage. I made a comment that I 100% guarantee that my Ham gear will not have an outage and was asked what brand I have. Brand means nothing, it's the capability of the radio and knowledge of how to use it.

Some good eatin'.

There's nothing wrong with having shallow pockets. Cheap n' simple antennas, as long as they are built correctly will work! A follow up video will be building one.

We all know about the AT&T issue yesterday, now cyber attacks on pharmacies...after recording this I learned of another balloon drifting over the US that's "intentions are unknown", but it's not a threat...ok...how much more of the BS will people believe???? Don't think that a satellite phone will always work. If you wanna be able to communicate and are not a Ham Operator or working on becoming so....if you're not getting the picture by now, I don't know what to tell you. Ham can't be shut off, hacked and we don't care if every bit of infrastructure crashes. We still communicate.

Some people are intimidated by canning their own food. Why? It's not hard! Start with something simple and easy, get comfortable with that and then try something a bit more complex. You didn't learn to ride a bicycle by starting at the top of a big hill and expecting to make it to the bottom right? Here's how easy it is to can up meat. Wait...that seems hard because it's meat...NOPE! It's extremely easy.

Yep...here we go again. BTW...I am a certified armorer for AR-15's and M-16's. I am trained and certified by a manufacturer. That certification means that I can testify as an expert in court.....yeah...I probably don't know anything..... More gun "control" *ahem*..."control" crap and check out the gun we can't have!

How you position your antenna, what's around it and what's not around it...can affect it. You can cause your antenna to not work simply by improper placement and improper installation.

Yep, I let the F bombs fly in this one and I don't care if I piss people off including the drunk club.... I mean masons. I'm an American and a Veteran...not a mason. Obviously some (not all) free masons don't mind desecrating the American Flag with their trash. If I was a mason, this in itself would be plenty to make me walk out.

This expands on the VHF/UHF Ham Radio off grid comms video. Here is how to program an analog repeater, a DMR repeater, make a scan list and make zones for organization. I'll follow up to this one with making buttons work, setting a scan list in a zone and other incidentals.

This video discusses simple analog FM radio. I also touch on simple DMR (digital radio) direct communications and show how that works. Yes, you can send text messages with a radio. More videos to come about programming and practical use.

CB radio is a viable means to communicate. It is cheap, no license is required and can be reliable if you know the limitations of it for your area. NOW is the time to have your plan and equipment in order. This video is intended to discuss a bit about CB, some basic principles, antennas, transmission line and the importance of some often overlooked details.

This company is on the net and marketing radios by making people think that they will have solid communications with family & friends locally and globally when the "Grid goes down". That is false. Don't drink the Kool-Aid man!

This is a real life comparison between SSB on the CB band and SSB on a Ham Radio band. Sure...you can reach out and touch someone on CB SSB, but conditions have to be right. Yes, the 10 meter ham band right next to the 11 meter CB band also closed up, but...we aren't limited to 10M. As a ham guy, I don't get all excited to make contact 50 or 500 miles away. That's normal every day life. It's also normal to make contact around the world.

Today I concocted up a deer roast in the crock pot. The meat came from a deer that I harvested.

Review of the Bridgecom repeater and comparison with a Yaesu repeater. For the price points and capabilities....I'd go with Yaesu.

That's a big dream. If you want to be off grid with high electric loads, then 12 volts is not how to do it.