Who else out here is also into Ham Radio

[tpctech]

After taking a break from working on and planning for more blinky lights I crossed over to my other hobby of Ham radio and built a new computer for my IRLP repeater node.  About 1 more weekend and new box should be ready to go live on my node here in Niles, MI. a top my 180ft tower!

So I was wondering who else does the Ham radio thing out here.  I have had a license since I was about 10...wow that was a long time ago!  I currently have a "tech plus"  which means I did the code!  I am about 30 questions or so from getting my General!.....I just got to study and take the test!  So easy to procrastinate!

WB9WYR

tpctech

KEN 

[RJ]

Man that is some tower!

I am K4ROB advanced class, but I have not been active in about 7 years.


RJ

[Aussiephil]

Ken

180ft Tower = 180ft Mega tree

That's some thick coax/heliax running up that tower.

Never got an amatuer license as morse was required in Oz for what i wanted but i just couldn't learn it so ended up in the good buddy 27mhz band working skip to the US and Europe with a Yaesu 707 and 5 element yagi in the upper half of 27mhz.
The 400w linear helped at times

Phil

[n1ist]

As you can guess, I'm also a ham.  Not quite as active as I used to be, but I just spent this weekend replacing the Boston 145.23 repeater and other work at the site.
/mike

[tpctech]

Ken

180ft Tower = 180ft Mega tree

That's some thick coax/heliax running up that tower.

Never got an amatuer license as morse was required in Oz for what i wanted but i just couldn't learn it so ended up in the good buddy 27mhz band working skip to the US and Europe with a Yaesu 707 and 5 element yagi in the upper half of 27mhz.
The 400w linear helped at times

Phil

That would be a semi truck of lights!  I think they would have to crank up another reactor at the local nuke plant.

Now,..... I have thought about a animated star at 180ft

KEN

[abell]

Do it! Do the star! =)

[Greg]

That would be a semi truck of lights!  I think they would have to crank up another reactor at the local nuke plant.

Now,..... I have thought about a animated star at 180ft

KEN

And can you imagine how much that truck load of lights would weigh?  Not to mention changing burned out strings 160' up on a -10 degree night. 

Years ago I changed out beacon lights and installed antennas on a 2,000 foot tower at 4:00am but never in the dead of winter (shiver-r-r-r).

A star would be cool, but it would have to be pretty big to look proper from the ground.

Greg

[cmorda]

I'm KD6JIB. Got my ticket when I was 13. I tried when I was 9 but the code was too frustrating for me at that age. Also by the time I was 13 the exams had been updated and didn't have any more vacuum tube questions (or at least a lot less).

I haven't been very active lately. But I do have a couple of APRS trackers that I built from kits.

One of my all time favorite ham radio events has always been Field Day. I really like the challenge it presents.

Chris

[Greg]

Hey Ken,

So, awhile back I was stuck in traffic and what do Christmas hobbiests do at such times? Think about Christmas stuff of course... Hmmmm, 180ft megatree... Truck load of lights... Hmmmm... 

So I started thinking through what that truckload of lights might look like and I jotted some numbers down on a couple post-it notes which I promptly misplaced. Found the post-its this afternoon and here is what was on it:

180ft tree, assume 1.6:1 height:width ratio, 112.5' base diameter, 56.25' radius.
Base circumference 353.4' , string spacing at base 6" apart, 707 stringers.
mini 100 strings @ 23.5'/string so 8 strings per run base to top.
707 x 8 = 5,656 strings.   est 4,248 lbs.

Much more scratchings resulting in est wind load of 5,408 sq ft.

Wandering minds eh?

Standard disclaimers for someone without a calculator.  And after all that, traffic still wasn't moving. 
 
Greg

[tpctech]

Hey Ken,

So, awhile back I was stuck in traffic and what do Christmas hobbiests do at such times? Think about Christmas stuff of course... Hmmmm, 180ft megatree... Truck load of lights... Hmmmm... 

So I started thinking through what that truckload of lights might look like and I jotted some numbers down on a couple post-it notes which I promptly misplaced. Found the post-its this afternoon and here is what was on it:

180ft tree, assume 1.6:1 height:width ratio, 112.5' base diameter, 56.25' radius.
Base circumference 353.4' , string spacing at base 6" apart, 707 stringers.
mini 100 strings @ 23.5'/string so 8 strings per run base to top.
707 x 8 = 5,656 strings.   est 4,248 lbs.

Much more scratchings resulting in est wind load of 5,408 sq ft.

Wandering minds eh?

Standard disclaimers for someone without a calculator.  And after all that, traffic still wasn't moving. 
 
Greg

That's alot of math for 11pm!  Thanks for the calculations!  I am guessing the tower although it is sturdy it would come down with all that!  Maybe I should stick to animated 8 circuit star!

KEN