Been going nuts with training classes at work in such mundane things as Fiber Optics, Electrical Bonding and Ground, and Aircraft Tubing and Hose Installation.
BLECH!
But so far I've scored 100% on all the written and practical exams.
Anyway....here's one of my favorites.
Enjoy!
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<i>The Fisher Saga</i> Continues - Act III -
Been working on this post since right after Thanksgiving. I'm making very good progress on the Fisher, and will most likely power it up...
Oh boy, somebody ELSE with homework... LOL
ReplyDeleteNo "homework" to speak of. I've had all the training before, several times, but have to take the classes again to get recertified. We might be building the payload fairing next year, so everybody needs to have the certs to work on it.
DeleteI feel the same way about Peter Gabriel as a lot of musicians -- like the music, hate the politics.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, I passed the tech test Saturday. Making the effort to not check ULS every night; I know it takes about a week.
Is that battlewagon reachable via IRLP?
It depends on how your VE group files with the FCC. My group does it electronically, and we've had people show up in the ULS database within a couple of days.
DeleteNo VHF/UHF antennas are available at this time. When they removed the "mast" for mothballing they TORCHED the cables, so it's going to take us a while to get them reconnected. We need certified climbers who know radio stuff to reterminate and connect the cables back together. I'm too old to climb, although my company certifies me for all the fall protection equipment, and I've had all the training. I just don't like climbing any more, and will only do it in an emergency.
As of this AM, I'm in ULS. Cool. Somewhere out there is a HT with my name on it.
DeleteWhat's your budget, and do you plan to upgrade to General?
ReplyDeleteMy budget is in the range of Baofeng UV-5R to Kenwood TH-F6A. I haven't yet decided where in that range, but I'm heading to the local hamradio.com store in a bit. They don't carry Baofeng, so I'll probably walk out with either Kenwood or Alinco. Or, I'll get cold feet. In general, I'm on a low budget, but I'll free up some money if I decide it's a worthwhile reason. At the moment, my priority is getting on the air, so I can jump on the nets, keep an ear on the for sale net, and learn by doing. And to that end, the price of a good HT is something I'll go for, particularly since I expect it to last me until I die. That Kenwood is very tempting, because I can listen to HF with it -- from what I've read, I'll want a good external antenna for that to be really useful.
DeleteI do expect to upgrade to General at some point, but it isn't something I'm chomping at the bit for. But by the time that happens, I expect to be pretty well plugged in to the local community. We have a QRP club here, and that matches up pretty well for me, budget-wise, since I expect that to be lower cost. I'll be looking at DIY and kits.
In the immediate future, though, I plan to just get on the air, join one or two clubs, and let things percolate for a bit. I've been reading so much stuff about radio over the past couple months, that it's a bit blurry, and I need to do some hands on so that all this data in my head can latch on to something tangible. We have plenty of repeater coverage here at DM79MO, and in the unlikely event I have trouble hitting them, the landlord (amateur extra) is enthusiastic about an outside antenna. He just handed me the Jan/14 QST, and I'm getting quite the chuckle over the cover.
Ended up with a FT-60R
DeleteGood little radio.
DeleteThe WIRES function can be very annoying, so to disable it do the following:
FT-60 – See manual page 49
1. Press the F/M key then immediately press the 0 key to enter the menu
mode.
2. Rotate the Dial knob to menu 23 – INT MR.
3. Press the F/M key then rotate the Dial knob to select a memory (d1
through d9) that is empty, i.e. it contains ······ (six dots) = no tone.
4. Press the F/M key to store the setting.
5. Rotate the Dial knob to menu 21 – I NET.
6. Press the F/M key then rotate the Dial knob to select INT.MEM.
7. Press the F/M key to store the setting.
8. Press the PTT button to exit the menu mode.
To re-enable the WIRES mode, select INT.COD in menu 21.
Yeah, I remember reading about that. I don't think I read one review where the writer liked that feature. I will do that as soon as it comes off the charger.
DeleteThanks for the step-by-step.
Just an FYI, that fix didn't work. Not sure why -- maybe newer firmware? Anyways, I'll have to dig into that more at some point. It seemed to work, but it would revert, and then I can go to menu 21 and select INT.OFF to turn WIRES off. Anyways, I'll figure it out eventually.
DeleteOne thing I always get is a programming cable. You don't have to buy one from Yaesu, but whatever one you get, make sure it has an FTDI chip, and NOT a Prolific.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many counterfeit Prolific chipsets made, that Prolific changed some of the code in their driver to check if the chip is legit or not. If it detects a fake chip, it won't load the driver, and whatever software you use (I like "chirp") will fail to run. You can get around this by loading an older driver, but the first time Windows does an update, it overwrites the "old" driver with a newer one, and your cable stops working.