I THINK .... I KNOW

Scott,


I think it is a.....






No. They have been gone for years.

Balloon Chase Hobby

Here is a very good site and quite an interesting story about a Ham Radio guy and a balloon
launch.


http://vpizza.org/~jmeehan/balloon/

1. It talks about Video


2. LINUX Computer on a board.


3. Balloon Launch, Chase and Recovery


4. Shows Photos

This is a great story. Maybe one of you would like to recreate this adventure.

Stan

Microphone Cable Information

http://www.qsl.net/g4wpw/date.html

Here is a very good site that Earl(WB5UUW) talked about on the YAH Net on Friday.
I hope you find it useful.

Stan

Food For Thought

http://www.mental-health-today.com/Healing/cog.htm


Here is a link to a list of tools for checking your thoughts.
One of the things that we do on Ham Radio is to compare ideas that might make the load a little lighter for others. This is for discussion only...no guaranteed results...no proof of outcomes is included. I have used the list as a listening tool.

If you like it, let me know.

Dog Gone!

Fourteen years ago my dog "Ollie" ran away from home. After about 12 years I had begin to give up hope that he would return anytime soon. Now it has been 16 years. He would be about 127 in dog years. I suspect that he is a slow mover and might be easier to catch.

If you find Ollie please call KE5Lep on 146.910 PL 88.5 for your $2.50 reward.

I would give more but ... he really wasn't a great dog. If he has gone on to his reward I don't expect that it was much of a reward.

Shirley(KE5PAQ) had some luck getting him back home by walking around the block with a piece of balogna.

Oh My!

I have a Police Photo of Ollie that might help in this last ditch effort. If this doesn't work then "Fine Business",Ollie. How's that working for you, Ollie?

Stan's Birthday

click to enlarge

What's Up with this?

Well, I seems that the stations on 146.910 will celebrate events from time to time.

Sometimes it is a Brahms Ice cream run, sometimes it is a Fox Hunt Victory, and this time it was a birthday party at the Hide Away pizza place on Lynn Lane and 71st street.

Keep your radio on and your shoes beside the door. See you next time.

Thanks to one and all for attending ...If you missed it - we owe you one.

Stan(KE5LEP)

A Story From World War II - Bob Mitchell

My good friend Bob Mitchell served as Radio Officer of a ship during World War II.

I have had the honor of spending some time with him recently.

Here is a story that he told me. I found it recently on the internet. It matches exactly the way he told it to me.


Here is history.



Click to enlarge

View Blog in other languages

To view the blog in another language

http://translate.google.com/

then type: ke5lep.blogspot.com

... we support English as our language ...this is for "DX QSO's"

Report From Mars - Storm

Thanks to Paul(AE5PB) for this look at storm tracking - from inside the storm...isn't that not one of our goals. Never mind that. The inside guy was Brad(KE5EMF).


Wade Norris
Okla Army Mars
Voice of the Army
AAA6OK/K5WPN
Grid Bandit #82


I managed to avoid any hail damage (that I can tell at this writing). But the pea size quickly graduated to near quarter size hail just this side of the Wilson turn off. I hit the middle and made a quick u-turn and raced out of the cell. I stopped just inside the Lone Grove city limits and told two officers there that a severe hail cell was not far behind me. They advised they knew, because they were listening. I decided to make it back to Ardmore. As I was enroute, further traffic indicated the tornado to cross Hwy 70 between Lone Grove and Ardmore. I decided to stand-by at the intersection of Hwy 70 and Brock Road at the Talliferros. Reception was terrible under their awning, but the rain mixed with hail became severe (0 visibility). AND, some other officer or fireman became hysterical on the Lone Grove frequency regarding the position of the tornado. Dispatchers tried to calm the fellow to get an accurate report, when I heard him quite clearly say "It's crossing Hwy 70!"

I pulled back into the blinding rain with the intention to block any further vehicular traffic west bound into the Lone Grove area. As I stopped traffic, the rain began to cease and a stormtracker pulled up window to window with me, trying to ascertain the tornados position. I advised I wasn't sure but we sure should find out. It was at this point that he pulled into the lot at Taliferros. I observed a very brilliant lightning flash. I noticed that it strangely lit up the southern sky, and the northern sky...but the western sky which I was facing at the moment, remained unchanged. I leaned in and took a closer evaluation when I realised the unchanged black mass was actually moving across the highway not more than 500 feet to my west. At this very moment, a tranformer exploded very near to me, and the sparks looked close enough to reach out and grab with your fingers...and they went straight up instead of falling to the ground. The sparks were sucked into the votex many feet above me. I dove back into my vehicle just before the tornado completely crossed, and the rear flank slammed into my truck and spun me in a 360 degree spin in the middle of Highway 70. Now granted, the pavement was extremely water logged. But this did not lessen the sensationalism for me. This is the point I was advising "I'm in it! I'm in it!" Now I pride myself on my calm in an emergency situation. And for the life of me, I can not recall if I was managing to pull it off, or not. But I can tell you this, I was freaking out completely on the inside. I watched the black monster move off towards the northeast down Brock Road and I gathered my wits, turned my vehicle about ( it took me a 3 point turn) , and hit the Highway eastbound and followed the tornado as I turned north up Plainview Rd. Reaching Prairie valley, I again turned eastbound and I could see the tornado moving across I-35 heading towards Springer. I attempted to follow up I-35, but I ran into a vehicle debaucle (I found out later there was a deceased motorist in the ditch) and blinding rain once again. I aborted the attempt and tried catching it by heading north on Hwy 77. With the wall of blinding rain (0 visibility) again slowing my progress, and the bridge that I knew was nolonger there, I decided it was best to abort the northbound pursuit, and I returned to Lone Grove to assist anyway I could. I worked traffic, (blocking and redirecting) at Brock and Hwy 70 for a couple of hours. Then I was sent to Brock Road and Prairie Valley Rd by the IC, right through the disaster scene. The landscape was all to familiar, and I knew tomorrow would bring some grave news for many friends and loved ones in the area. I worked this intersection until I was advised I could stand down once the blockades were in place. They arrived shortly, and I returned to Ardmore.

Now, I have been intercepting severe cells since the 70's. And I have engaged a few tornados after dark as well. But I have NEVER turned around and been close enough to kiss the ass of an obvious EF-2 or 3. So if I sounded a bit excited and keyed up, it's because...I was.

I thought everyone did a great job. I was sad to hear the 97 had crashed, as I thought its far reaching capabilities would have lended an entirely new scope of potentiality to our efforts. But I thought the entire interception was a success, as we all went home safe, and the community was well informed. I was relaying traffic to Lone Grove Fire, Ardmore PD, the 150, EOC, the 580, and a battery of phone messages. I was impressed how our guys pursued the tornado into the hands of more trackers to pursuit it farther. Then we donned another hat and accepted first responder and aid responsibilities. A shelter was set up. And we freed up emergency personnel trapped in routine duties to manage more important issues. So, it is merely my humble opinion, but I was impressed with everyones efforts, and proud to be associated with the HAMs on the ground, and behind the base radios. It was a difficult and extremely intense emergency deployment, and it was handled as well as any expert response could be.
Brad Patrick
KE5EMF/EOC257
Ardmore Emergency
Operations Center~
Southern Oklahoma
SKYWARN
Group

Don Gregory(KE5MXH) - Sea Rescue Update

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/sisiutl/ Check these links for map of voyage etc.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sisiutl/

This post was reported by The BAARC Hamgram , November 2008

The original report is copied below in blue. Our Thanks to Ron Lancaster(KB5VDB) for his work to fully document this historic ham radio event. You will find Ron's updated article imediately following the reprint from the BAARC Published Document.

Distress call from Seas Answered
The following is a brief synopsis of a local ham
assist on a rescue at sea.


Don, KE5MXH had an opportunity recently to assist
with a rescue in the Pacific Ocean. A ship in distress was
sailing vessel out of California on a returning trip from
Hawaii. The ship (boat)...insert proper term here...ran
into a storm and used all but 5 gallons of fuel for its
engine. The only person on board was AC7ID
Don, KE5MXH, from Bristow was on 14.300
frequency and had a better copy than the Maritime Net
Control Operator. The contact with the vessel, the
SISIUTIL, was made by a third ham located in
California, whose call is not available.
The net control operator was reported to me as KI4OR
or possibly KR4OR from looking at the Maritime Net
Web page.
I think the GPS of the sailboat was 35.98775 -95.81074
at the time of the problem.Thanks Stan, KE5LEP for relaying the information.

This item has been reported before, but all of the pertinent information wasn’t available at that time.

Being “Land Locked” in Oklahoma might lead some people to believe that you might never be in a situation where you can help a ship in distress, but not Don Gregory, KE5MXH, of Bristow, Oklahoma, an Amateur (or Ham) Radio Operator, who regularly listens to the Maritime Mobile net on 14.300 Mhz on the twenty meter Amateur Radio band.

On or about 10:45 AM (Local Time) on 14 October 2008, he was listening, when he heard a small Sailboat, “THE SISIUTL“ manned by Robert E Bechler, whose Ham Radio call sign is AC7ID, give a distress call off the coast of California. The boat had left Hawaii bound for California, but it ran into some bad weather, and had used all but five gallons of fuel for its engine, (The 44 foot Gulfstream catamaran “SISIUIL” ) and was still about one hundred, and fifty miles away from the shore.

The Maritime Mobile Net Control operator,

Dale M. Botwin(KR4OR) of Miami, Florida, was having trouble pulling Bechler’s signal out, and Don offered his help, stating that he had an excellent copy on both operators. Botwin tried for several minutes to help, and even though Gregory was able to relay information to, and from Bechler, Botwin decided to turn control of the net over to an operator in California, whose is Ron Anderson(W9RMA), and lives in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.

Ron was able to make much better contact with Bechler, get his GPS position, which was 35.98775 north latitude, and 95.81074 west longitude, and contact the US Coast Guard, who arrived in about an hour, and rescued Bechler.
Ham radio operators routinely help with situations like this, as well as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other events that affect large numbers of people. Hams are allowed to operate on several bands of frequencies, using several different modes such as voice, Morse Code, radio-teletype, several digital modes, and Amateur Television, just to name a few. Hams are always willing to help, and many times are the only means of communications to remote parts of the world, or even just a few miles away.

Since leaving Seattle in 2002, Bechler, of Who Kent Washington, and Sisiutl have logged over 50,000 miles in the Pacific. 2008 was one of the longest passages covering 7,500 miles from New Zealand to California.

After arriving in New Zealand in 2007, Bob's 3rd Puddle Jump, Bob met and married Caryl St Clair in Wellington, New Zealand. She had never sailed before but loves the South Pacific islands. Her heavy involvement in animal welfare led to her establishing a foundation on Majuro, in the Marshal Islands for spaying/neutering street animals to help control their population and improves their life. She received a grant to purchase necessary equipment for veterinarians to use in surgery on remote islands. In 2008 we sailed from New Zealand to California to pick up the equipment and join the 2008 Baja Ha-Ha fleet leaving San Diego in November. Along the way we stopped in Tonga, Samoa, Tokelau, Palmyra Island, and Hawaii. In Hawaii Caryl flew to Seattle while Bob began a solo passage to California. It was during this time that he experienced his emergency, his second time to be rescued by the Coast Guard, with the other being in 2006.

Ron Lancaster (KB5VDB)

.

A discussion on SWR

Hi Guys,

Butch had a book at Breakfast today about transmission lines. It was a nice hardcover from the ARRL.

So when I got home, I tried to look for something useful on the Internet with Google and found a good page that talked about forward power, reverse power and SWR.

A lot of us have power meters. You can make the SWR calculation with a pocket calculator if it has a square root button.

I have some antennas I need to tune up for 6 and 10m. So SWR is a good thing to know about.

Here is the link: http://urgentcomm.com/mag/radio_swr_name/

73
KD5NJR
Scott

Wagoner Windtalkers

Jeff Sharrock( AF4CM)

http://www.cq-vhf.com/Spr07Wagoner.html

This is a link to information about the Wagoner Windtalkers.

A recently licensed ham - Josh(KE5Yll) spoke to me yesterday.
I understand that many of the Highschool Students from Wagoner (18, I think) have just completed testing and are now Amateur Radio Operators.

Congratulations Josh and our most respectful thanks to Jeff Sharrock and everyone involved in this outstanding adventure.

Free DTMF computer program

This program http://www.polar-electric.com/DTMF/Index.html

allows your computer to generate the tones necessary to use Autopatch, Echolink and other functions that are found on repeaters in the Tulsa Area.

It can be downloaded for free and makes a nice addition to your tool box.

If you do not have a cable between your computer and radio simply key up your microphone and hold it near the computer speaker. Works fine last a long time.

Now and Then

Clay Fry(W5GNG) is the first of us to drag out a photo of how it was back then.

Silent Key List

Harlan G Kinney( K9GDK )

It seems reasonable and good to begin a list of the Silent Keys. Men who will not be forgotten.
This list is a list of honor and respect. Let's call it:

Harlan's List

Add names of those Silent Key Amateur Radio Operators that you have known and as you add comments about them I will add them to this list. Photos are not required (probably will not be used). If you want a full post about a particular Silent Key, It very possibly could happen. Send an Email .

__________________________________________________

Chet( N5ITV) - from Matt(WX5LIB ) –
Chet was a great guy to talk to and made several of my boring nights working off duty security tolerable. Working off duty security where nothing at all ever happens for years on end is tough. It's tough to stay alert enough to do your job effectively. Several nights Chet would be there on one of the local repeaters or on a 2m simplex frequency to talk to a group of about 5-6 local hams. He passed away in the summer of 2006. More info here:http://www.redforkok.com/N5ITV_SK.html


Russ Johnson(W8TOS) - from Matt(WX5LIB) –
S/Sgt Russ Johnson, 5th USAAF, 61st Service Sqdn, of the PTOA in World War 2.
My grandfather.


John Worthan(N5RWL) - from Stan(Ke5LEP) –
John was my brother in law, more like a brother. He died of pneumonia at 59years old. He was assisting with an Ice Storm in Mustang, Oklahoma when he got sick. My journey into Ham radio began with him.

Scott's Tektronix 7603 Scope

I picked up a 7603 frame and a 7D20 digitizing 'scope module at Green Country Hamfest some years ago. Here is a great narrative about whipping an old piece of test gear back into shape. Anyone fixed up something interesting lately ? Comments welcome.

Hey, the guy that runs this page has a neat radio repair blog too...

Oscilloscope Collection

There are a lot of great vintage machines here !

Am I getting out?

Toys for Tots Bike Run

._
Ray(KC5WSI)


click to enlarge photo


hello every one this is ray kc5wsi, just want to let everyone know that myself and several other hams will be rideing in the toys for tots bike run tomorrow on the 14th-i beleave we will be using the 390 repeter to stay in touch with our hts, i will also be stopping at jimmys egg for breakfest around 9am or so before the run, so if any one would like to join me i would love to meet u and ride in with you all, hope to see all of you and metting everyone.
ill also be taking pictures of the run for the blog. thanks hope to see u there.

December 13, 2008 10:03 AM

sorry i forgot to say wich jimmys egg-its the one at 31 st between mingo and garnett-thanks ray kc5wsi







Dub Cross(N5NXX)



Tom(KD5CNY and Dorthey(KD5CNZ)

Ham Radio - Art

This is from a pencil drawing of a famous ham radio person.

Do you know who it is?

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