Diving into Ham Radio... uh oh!

k0ua · Oct 25, 2020

dragoneggs said:
I decided to string the antenna to the NW to the left most fir tree in the pic. This is the view looking NW from our deck. I am guessing the tree is about 70ft tall and maybe about 140ft from the house with the top about eye level. Second pic is zoomed in view of the top of the tree and the target area for the antenna end.

View attachment 674326 View attachment 674328

While I was looking for a suitable rock or old baseball to attach some fishing line with the thought of throwing it over a tree branch, my wife came up with the brilliant suggestion. "Why don't you use your drone?". I did just that... I taped the fishing line to the bottom of the drone and flew it just above and just to the right of the top of the tree, circled around the back and flew it 'home'. My SIL let the fishing reel free wheel with a bit of thumb drag to keep it taut. I was pretty nervous as I feared the line might get caught up in a prop! Lots of things could have gone wrong.

Too bad I didn't think to video the event. I feel very lucky it was uneventful and successful on the first try. I was able to navigate the drone and place the line exactly where I wanted! :cloud9:

Now I am just waiting for the antenna to arrive.

That is great!

Industrial Toys · Oct 25, 2020

Us canadians used to pay an annual license fee. They waived that and probably our future say in certain RF spectrum struggles.

Makes me wonder if I would have kept paying my personal license and repeater license fee (both unused for decades) . I am guessing probably not.

dragoneggs · Oct 26, 2020

Monday night update...

Radio and Antenna both arrived today coincidently. Now I'm excited. Have some work to do to get the antenna up and grounded. The weather looks to be fairly dry through Thursday so I hope I will get some time during the day to string the antenna.

Until then, I still hope to get some familiarization time with the radio. There is a lot to learn! Oh boy! :confused3: :confused2: :ashamed:

k0ua · Oct 27, 2020

dragoneggs said:
Monday night update...

Radio and Antenna both arrived today coincidently. Now I'm excited. Have some work to do to get the antenna up and grounded. The weather looks to be fairly dry through Thursday so I hope I will get some time during the day to string the antenna.

Until then, I still hope to get some familiarization time with the radio. There is a lot to learn! Oh boy! :confused3: :confused2: :ashamed:

Pictures or it didn't happen

dragoneggs · Oct 27, 2020

k0ua said:
Pictures or it didn't happen

Baby steps... radio and power supply hooked up. Antenna is temporarily laying across my rooftop. Need to properly ground the radio and the antenna hopefully today. Started going through the 'knobs' last night. Got my HF, VHF, and UHF charts on the wall behind. Can't read them with the glare and small print. Gonna have to come up with something better for 'wallpaper'.

Industrial Toys · Oct 27, 2020

You NEED a Lollypop mic! D104 or something equally substantial. Sure 55sw? Can't be talking into no plastic mic!

dragoneggs · Oct 27, 2020

Industrial Toys said:
You NEED a Lollypop mic! D104 or something equally substantial. Sure 55sw? Can't be talking into no plastic mic!

I need a license first! But I like your thinking. :thumbsup:

Industrial Toys · Oct 27, 2020

So many youube videos/talk shows with rather elaborate mics. In suspension cradles and on booms. But it sure adds to the credibility of the content! I have always loved commercial mics.

k0ua · Oct 27, 2020

Industrial Toys said:
You NEED a Lollypop mic! D104 or something equally substantial. Sure 55sw? Can't be talking into no plastic mic!

Actually the stock microphone supplied is the best one Icom has supplied in many years. Its transmit audio quality is excellent. Good enough to get unsolicited comments on the air for sure.