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==Current Events==<big>'''UPDATE:''' 19:54 Sunday, January 08, 2017</big>KE5HSA was asking me about mounting a dual band antenna to a Jeep Wrangler. What I used I purchased from eBay. See Links:*[http://www.ebay.com/itm/CB-Antenna-MOUNTING-BRACKET-Drivers-Windshield-for-2007-2017-Jeep-JK-Wrangler-/271913047117?fits=Make%3AJeep&hash=item3f4f47d44d:g:peMAAOSw~gRVjRjC CB Antenna MOUNTING BRACKET Drivers Windshield ~ for 2007-2017 Jeep JK Wrangler]This seller offers both a drivers side and passenger side mount. I prefer the drivers side so that the ham antenna is not in close proximity to the broadcast radio antenna. However, the seller does offer a [http://www.ebay.com/itm/CB-Antenna-MOUNTING-BRACKET-Passenger-Windshield-for-2007-2017-Jeep-JK-Wrangler-/271913047453?fits=Make%3AJeep&hash=item3f4f47d59d:g:ne8AAOSwMmBVjRjp passenger side mount] as an option. You could go all hard core ham and stick one on both sides!<big>'''UPDATE:''' 12:37 AM Wednesday, January 04, 2017</big>Happy New Year! Today I updated the landing page for the web site at http://www.w0dbw.com/ and also the email system is now functional including the ability to send messages to gmail users.<big>'''UPDATE:''' 6:59 AM Friday, September 02, 2016</big>I've owned a D-Star radio for nearly a year now and never taken the time to try out the D-Star digital mode. The first step is registration of my ham callsign which gives me access to the D-Star network. *https://n7arr.dstargateway.org/Register.doThis is similar to the DMR DMARC registration with the exception that D-Star does not use the unique ID number, it is based entirely on the callsign, which makes sense since it too had to be unique. I am not a big fan on the digital modes, there are too many of them and none are completely open, as they should be. <big>'''UPDATE:''' 11:18 PM Saturday, August 27, 2016</big>The Hawaii QSO Party was taking place today, and there was much ado about a female operator on 14.228MHz. Conversations on a couple local repeaters involved who was able to get though the pileup on 20-meter to make contact with "Ann." I had to give it a go. Using my humble NVIS fence antenna which I made primarily for 80-meter I tuned it to 20 and starting putting out my call sign. It took about 20 minutes of trying and waiting my turn to achieve a successful QSO with kh6w in Hawaii. She was using a club / contest call which I may not have copied correctly: kh6lhn. I asked for her own call sign which I can now add to my log. kh6w Ann hawaii 10:51 PM Saturday, August 27, 2016 14.228<big>'''UPDATE:''' Thursday, August 11, 2016</big>My 220 promote the band activity includes the creation of 3 new wiki pages...* [[1.25 Meter Ham Radio Band]]* [[1.25 Meter Ham Radio Transceivers]]* [[1.25 Meter Ham Radio Antennas]]<big>'''UPDATE:''' Saturday, July 23, 2016</big>I have been very patient with NPPD (Nebraska Public Power District) on trying to get them to correct the high levels of RFI coming from the power lines in the alleyway behind my residence. The poles are not properly grounded, and their own contracted engineer advised them to correct the problem. Instead of going to work on the problem, the area supervisor "Mick" insists that grounding the poles is too expensive and that all the RFI is coming from the US Post Office 5 blocks away. He even denied what their own engineer had determined to be the problem. Do you think maybe it is time to contact the FCC?<big><big>NPPD - Noise Pollution & Powerful Discharges</big></big><big>Updates to the Plattsmouth ARC Web Site!</big> - Visit http://www.kb0smx.org and see whats new on our club web site.<big>'''UPDATE:''' Wednesday, June 29, 2016</big>You can see our Plattsmouth Amateur Radio Club Field Day results:* www.kb0smx.org - Plattsmouth Amateur Radio Club web site.'''UPDATE:''' Archived and Compressed older posts... '''UPDATE:''' Saturday, June 18, 2016Rich WA0ZQG announced 2m Simplex Freq cleared for field day use.* http://www.arrl.org/news/use-of-146-52-mhz-fm-simplex-frequency-cleared-for-arrl-contests'''UPDATE:''' Monday, June 13, 2016[[File:arfieldday.png]]<big>'''Field Day is June 25 - 26''', and the Plattsmouth Amateur...'''UPDATE:''' Tuesday, May 31, 2016Have you been listening to the PL tone debate on the 146.820 repeater? Don't be confused by what you are hearing. Read my memo on how a simple PL tone can benefit SWIARC repeater users without denying those without a tone board access to the repeater.<big>SHORT MEMO: [[W0DBW- Disambiguation on Repeater Tone Encoded Squelch and How PL Can Benefit SWIARC]]</big>If you understand CTCSS, then you will see the benefit in what I am suggesting.</big>'''UPDATE:''' Saturday, May 28, 2016According to the FCC [...] approval of my new vanity callsign which I will now be using, w0dbw. The vanity callsign uses my initials ...'''UPDATE:''' Wednesday, May 25, 2016Recently I purchased a second [[TYT TH-9800]] not because [...] However, the radio was not as described. See my youtube video: https://youtu.be/aZbn8fq5UBU Caveat Emptor! ''May 15, 2016'' - The TH-9000D is an FM 65W 1.25-Meter radio. WB0YLA is a repeater in Omaha on the band. 224.760 Mhz, -1600 offset, 146.2 PL. Open repeater located at 156th & Maple.''April 18, 2016'' - Installed Ringo antenna on top of the tower. [[Image:Onthetower416sm.jpg]]<BR><small>''Yeah, that's me wearing my ANSI Z359.1-2007, OSHA 1926.502 compliant safety gear'' </small>''March 18, 2016'' - I put the 70cm Yaga beam up on the tower today. Now it is much easier to hit the Omaha UHF repeaters. SWIARC is testing digital mode on their .82 repeater [...] Signal strength for me when from a 6+ down to 2 on the S-meter. It will be interesting [...]When I was transmitting on my old Kenwood TR-7400A today, using an omi on the roof several feet from the UHF yagi which is up on the tower, the Kenwood on full power wiped out the front-end on the UHF rig I was using, causing it to go nutty and shut itself off. It seemed to come out of it after being reset. I was a bit worried that it was toast. Reflected signal is low coming in the cable on the Kenwood, however, there is a lot of RF in the shack on full power transmit. The radio itself is a strong emitter of RF coming out of the case, more so than the newer radios. I am going to start setting my coffee cup on the Kenwood when I use it, so the stray RF keeps the coffee warm.I have been studying and experimenting more with cross-band repeat[...]. Updates to how it works and what is permissible by the FCC can be read on the wiki page about [[Ham Radio Cross Band Repeater]]. Maybe I will discuss [...].<big>In my area our local ham group, the Plattsmouth Amateur Radio Club, we have been experimenting with DMR and SDR. The club president, KB0OGO, did a demonstration of SDR with his new SDRplay receiver. KI0PY has demonstrated [[MotoTRBO]] with a Motorola branded HT while I have recently obtained the [[Tytera MD-380]].I've been building antennas, with my most recent endeavor to build a 6-meter "squalo" horizontally polarized antenna. There is a local 6-meter [...].</big>Renewed my interest in radio after over two decades in absentia, I worked my first DX contact in 1988. I currently hold a General class license and will pursue obtaining the Extra as time permits, which I plan to achieve eventually. I have been working with Part 90 radios as part of my business for several years, which was another motivating factor in my decision to go "full ham." I would like to get a vanity so that my callsign is shorter and less cumbersome for others to remember. Renewed my interest in radio after over two decades in absentia, I worked my first DX contact in 1988. I currently hold a General class license and will pursue obtaining the Extra as time permits, which I plan to achieve eventually. I have been working with Part 90 radios as part of my business for several years, which was another motivating factor in my decision to go "full ham." My wife will be taking the Tech exam this summer so that she can enter into the hobby. If she is going to be exposed to RF radiation here at the house she might as well have a license too. I have two children, the oldest boy is 9 and he shows a lot of interest in radio. He wants to be a ham operator, however, he also wants to be Iron Man Tony Stark. My daughter likes to sit next to me when I DX. Her favorite is the Australian broadcast on 9.58. That's my favorite too, reminds me of when I lived in Brisbane. ==Memo: Proposal (Please Read)==This memo is something I plan to present to the leadership of local amateur radio clubs in my area. Please read and if you agree, consider printing it and presenting it your own local ARC.Proposal to Create an Amateur Net for New LicenseesIn the early 2000s I was involved in the first implementation of wireless Internet in the City of Lincoln Nebraska, which later created a job opportunity as a wireless engineer for an Internet company called Microlnk. Although I ran the data center, I did spend time in the field and venture up the occasional tower.* Download: [[File:PtCaANfNL.pdf]]Update: There is interest in the concept. Discussion is taking place to locate volunteers and select a time and repeater frequency.I still climb towers when necessary! About the Novice Net and details and the progress of implementation please see: [[SW Iowa and Eastern Nebraska Go Net]][[Image:Onthetower416sm.jpg]]The name "Tech Net" has been abandoned for the purpose of disambiguation. It is not a technical discussion net. It is a net for those newly licensed to receive an inviting and warm introduction to the hobby.In 1992 I earned a technical degree at a trade school in Iowa, and although that was in electronics, I made a career as a computer programmer. It has been more recently that I have become interested in electronics once again, and thus established a service center in my home where I restore antique radios as well as other electronic related interests. There's things I know how to do well, and there's plenty I am still learning. I think back to when I was in high school in the 80's working on CB radios for extra money and my part time job at Radio Shack -- it feels to me like my hobby has come full circle because today I am back at it again.[[File:hamshack201610.jpg]][[Image:equip2017.jpg]]Since I am allocated limited space in my home for amateur radio, I have to use it to the fullest. One way to accomplish this is to utilize vertical space. My area is packed from floor to ceiling so that I can fit in as much as possible in order to accomplish my radio goals. My next home should offer more space, but for now I make do with what I have. The third picture is my service bench in the basement. It is a work in progress.[[File:Ke0etz_icom2820h-640b.jpg]][[File:ke0etz_icom2820h-640.jpg]]The Icom in my van is a mobile transceiver that I am impressed with. For the most part I tend to favor the Icom radios over the other manufacturer radios in both mobile application as well as in the shack. Yaesu has a number of annoyances that has inclined me away from the products over time. Kenwood systems have an impressively rich sound, however, they seem to be trailing in innovation just now and their price-point is not consistent with available features. Vintage Kenwood is of more interest to me as opposed to contemporary Kenwood.===[[Icom IC-7600]]===* [[Icom IC-7600]] 160 to 6 meter.[[File:showIcom7600.jpg]]My current primary HF rig. I use this with the Signalink for digital modes.Icom's are less of a pain to service. [[File:fixIcom7600.jpg]]===Yaesu FT-817===Haven't had it long, but will get some write'ins up here about it soon enough!I've managed to pick up another three units, so I guess I have a collection of them now. Listen when I talk on one, they sound good!===Can You Hear Me Now?===[[File:canyouhearmenow.jpg]]<nowiki>************************************************************************************************************************************</nowiki><nowiki>************************************************************************************************************************************</nowiki>==SPACER CATEGORY==<nowiki>Character space.</nowiki><big>Character space.</big><code>Character space.</code><ins>Character space.</ins><del>Character space.</del><blockquote>Character space.</blockquote><pre>Character space.</pre><tt>Character space.</tt>Character space.== Opinion Section ==[[File:winlinkisnothamradio.png]]<BR>[[Winlink]] should be banned from amateur radio. It is the bull in the china shop in the digital portion of the HF band. It belongs in the Part 90 world. It is not experimental, open source, nor compliant with the requirements to be used on amateur radio frequencies.== hamfest, 2017, glenwood ====HUMOR SECTION: HAVE A GOOD LAUGH==If you cant laugh at yourself, then who can you laugh at? Sometimes it's also fun to laugh at hams... [[File:pploveham.png]] [[File:teletubbies-net.jpg]] [[File:qcwa-w-att.png]] [[File:mynewamp.jpg]] [[File:boommic.png]] [[File:hamoldtimer.png]] [[Image:forthisiretired.jpg]] [[File:bobsbreakcomp.gif]][[File:hamfest-2017-glenwood.gif]]== club discussion ==# building a base out of galvanized pipe to be buried in concrete leaving three posts sticking up to be later attached to a tower, however, unknown what tower will be used, what is the ideal spacing to accommodate the most common towers 70ft or higher.# best PL259 type jumper for HF use that is ultra flexible and tolerant of being moved, connected, and disconnected frequently, obviously with threaded core also at least 95% shielded and being flexible.<small>''Facebook links are NOT included here. A facebook page is not a web site.''</small><small>''Facebook links are NOT included here. A facebook page is not a web site, and I confess to despising facebook''</small>* [http://heartlandhams.org/ Heartland Hams Amateur radio Club] - ''including Glenwood Ia.''* [http://www.swiarc.org/ Southwest Iowa Amateur Radio Club] - ''including Council Bluffs Ia.''* [http://swiradio.org/ Southwest Iowa Amateur Radio Club] - ''including Council Bluffs Ia.''* [http://dmraa.com/ Des Moines Radio Amateurs Association] ''and surrounding areas''Please do not contact me about wiki entries created by other users<big>Please do not contact me about wiki entries created by other users.</big>