W8JKC

Well I went the Massilon Hamfest, and failed with a 24, but went to Akron today, and passed with a 29. I also attempted element 4 today, but failed with a 22. Oh Well, not too shabby for very little element 4 study time.

73
KD8GPL / AG
Justin

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Some people are \”elmered\” into the hobby, not just discover it on their own. I have always worked with electronics, whether it be the kits that my parents bought at the local radio shack, or something more like fixing a radio or cd player… I even fixed my VCR a couple of times. My first real expirience was beleive it or not on a CB radio… back when I was 6 yrs old or so, my family was traveling on the PA turnpike, and my dad let me use the radio to talk to a trucker. I beleive this was back when you had to have a license for CB. I know sounds goofy. I have deep roots in electronics and technology, my 5th great Uncle or Grandfather is Benjamin Franklin. Cool eh? Well, my dad also explained to me that he had to pass a morse code test to get a CB license.

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Well, I received a free 30 foot tower from one of my neighbors. He was going to get rid of it, so I stopped by and asked if I could take it. He had someone else in line, so we went over and asked. He already has a tower just needs a UHF TV Yagi Antenna. I finally got the tower and drug it home with my lawn tractor and trailer. I dissambled the towers three sections, went to Lowes in Massilon and purchased 4 80 pound bags of Quickrete concrete. After digging the hole, I put the bottom section in and poured 240 pounds of cement in. I let it dry overnight, then me and a friend put the second section on. Right now the tower is at about 25 feet tall. I still need to install the top seciton, and am waiting to see if I can borrow a bucket/crane truck to install the last one and the antennas. I am thinking about putting a 160m dipole on it stretching across my field with the center on the tower. (to keep cables in one place and out of the way) I need to run three or four Coax runs to the control box at the bottom of the tower, about 125 feet each. I am thinking about putting a remote control antenna selector inside the box, or making one myself. I installed the two 860-940 Mhz MiniFlector Directional Antennas in the North and South Directions, which will be T-Split and hooked up to a Uniden Bearcat BCD996T TrunkTracker 4 with APCO 25 at a later date. Once this is complete I will be able to receive any signal, encrypted or not that passes through my lots airspace. This includes the local fire departments, sherriffs office, police department, etc. Since most of these are trunked in the 860-870 Mhz range the antennas are perfect for this use. The top of the tower will sport the 160m dipole center, a three element HF yagi, a 2m/70cm Vertical, and others. I installed a temporary floodlight just above the miniflector antennas, to be switched out with motion lights and a security camera at a later date.

(to be continued)

73

KD8GPL

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