Radio Time

 

"Amateur radio knows no boundaries except those set by the frequency"

~Unknown 

                This morning I woke up to the news of a couple of hams I knew passing away, this made two in one week and it made me think of some of the others that I have met either in person or on the air. It made me think about when you first get your license and talk to the ham that comes back to you and how sometimes it maybe the last time you talk to someone, such as the case as my friend Rick who was killed in a car accident two summers ago. Rick was a big supporter of  the rail net I ran and the Western Maryland 1309 project. the other two were great radio friends and almost always provided a great rag chew on the local 2 meter repeaters. I sadly only had met one out of the 3 in person and that was very briefly when I first got my license back in 2018. 

         With this I just want to climb up on my soap box for a minute. Most of us get into the hobby to learn about radio and how it works but we never take the time to learn other things from hams about life experience's. Sure that older ham can't teach you how to work the latest software defined radio or maybe can't help you put up and antenna but they can teach you about a whole lot of other things. Things like how some of the hams had to stay at the national guard base here locally to help with the blizzard of 76 or the storm spotter who first hand witnessed the Xenia tornado outbreak in the 70's . Sometime we hear an older ham talking about a old tube radio and we just brush it off as a guy who won't let go of the past, or the guy who loves CW and is willing to teach it but we are interested in our SDR radios and digital contacts and we feel that this is boring. 

    

            As I climb back down off my soap box I  just want to say take the time out to learn things from older hams, as it was put to me the richest place in the world is not the bank vault but the cemetery, where there is knowledge, wisdom, and experience that never was shared or appreciated is permanently locked away and can never be recovered. So if you are a younger ham I ask that you consider listening to the older ham that was trying to tell the story of his first shack or one of his experiences. If you are a older ham keep sharing the stories and Information because someone is always listening whether or not they come back and ask questions. Which brings me to my final thing, some of our seasoned operators may not have a family nearby and who do not have the means to do anything much other than sit and talk on a radio. If you have the means invite them over to your shack, a family cookout, a holiday dinner or even take them groceries if they can't make it out and just mention it casually on the radio that they struggle. As my friend Cary  say practice a random act of kindness,          

With this I want to close with dedicating this blog to the  friends who have become silent keys those are Richard (W8DBW) Jimmy (N8SGP) Howard (W8SV) And Rick (WA8TSI) who have helped shape me into the radio operator that I am today. Until next time take care, remember God is still in control ~73 

Building the shack, Part 1: (The Design)

 

                

"People who follow the crowd usually get no further than the crowd" ~unknown 

          

            I often joke that I at one point had the smallest radio station setup ever know to ham radio, it was a  borrowed Yeasu VX-170 that I could hit about 3 repeaters within the area. It served me well for a few months until I was able to obtain my FT-8800 and the equipment list began to grow from there. I wanted a shack but with limited funds, time, and competing space with family (both sound and Physical boundaries) designing it would be a challenge to say the least.  One of the major things I had to consider was the available space I had to dedicate to building a radio room.  As I soon figured out I didn't have much room for a massive radio shack but I did have room for two smaller radio rooms/ studios. The main radio room has to currently share space with my woodworking shop and special design had to go into my desk design to limit dust getting on the equipment, it sets in a 6 foot by 12 foot  corner and at the end of the 12' section is where my coax comes into and it provides a isolated area away from my family to work late night/ early morning DX. However having it located in an outbuilding has it drawbacks and one of the major ones is heating it in the winter months. This is Why I am designing  what I call my snowbird station. Basically it is nothing more than my 2 meter go-box and a small dual band base antenna clipped to the side of the house providing me a  warm space to work local nets during the colder months.      

                The shack above would be my dream shack, it is 12' x 18' has a great bay window, dust free area and plenty of loft storage but would set me back about 8,000 bucks not including wiring and finishing. Not having the budget to get it my second alternative was to  come up with a design for my two shacks, however both of my shacks need to be intermodal so that if I acquired my dream space or ever had to move I would not wind up starting from square one and possibly not having a station for months or even years on end. As you may know from my Go-box posts I was designing something I could pack up and roll with on a whim. If you want to read more about my Go-Box you can find it here. 

The above picture shows the first setup of my desk with my go box installed, I decided to build my own desk as it gives me the flexibility of putting the radios where it works best for me. One of the elements I put into designing the shack was that I wanted a happy space where I could de-compress after a long day or just relax and enjoy my hobby. To achieve this I chose Sherwin William's #6788 Capri for the walls and Ice cube white #6252  for the ceiling The desk is painted in Cyberspace grey #7076 and trimmed with golden oak oak trim. The ultimate goal is to Move the woodshop to a better building more suited for woodworking and turning this into my radio room/man shed, however once again if things don't work out or if I get my dream space I still am able to box up the shack in a few hours and be back on the air in a day or two. 

For the snow shack I still am having trouble coming up with a design for it that allows me to enjoy the hobby without disturbing the rest of the family and I will post about it in a later blog. As of this writing I am planning on going to the Dayton hamfest and cleaning up and prepping the space for use. There is plenty to do and I hope with this blog I inspired you to design or re-design your radio room. Until next time take care and remember God is still in control. ~73 

Emergency preparedness Series (Go-Bottle)

 

"The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty".

~Proverbs 27:12 NIV 

             Since I first got into ham radio, Skywarn, and ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) one topic has always come up on one end of the spectrum or the other and that is the Go-Bag and emergency preparedness. Whether  you are a railfan heading out on a local trip or a 5 hour cross state drive, a ham radio operator that is a storm spotter or that does disaster response or just a average everyday person who works, you need a Go-Bag.. Why do you need one? The answers simple, to sustain yourself for the day,  until help arrives or you can make it back home to safety. In the next article I will cover my EDC (Everyday Carry Bag) But in this article I want to cover a simple solution I found that can be put together for less than $200 bucks, can go anywhere you go whether it be work, a day railfanning, field day, or a trip out to the park. 

    Many years ago I just went out railfanning and didn't give much thought to what to eat drink or even if something happened how would I get home. To put it lightly I was young and dumb, sometimes I would pay attention to the weather and with the abundance of restaurants and vending machine around I was pretty set for a day of watching trains. Fast forward 20 something years and the food scene and area has changed drastically  along with my  daily needs and budget. For the most part I don't like lugging around my Go-Bag everywhere I go and some places are not bag friendly. I needed something that I could break away from my bag and if needed keep a low profile with  should the need for me to get home arise and I have to face possible dangerous encounters on my way home. This setup below also allows me a quick throw in the car and  go solution to my everyday carry bag for places close to home. 

The Go-Bottle 

                Let me introduce you to the Battle Bottle from Iron Infidel it is a 2 liter stainless steel bottle that comes with a neat camo carrier or if your savvy like me you buy the 2 cover version to switch up. Pictured above is it in the black camo pattern. As a ham radio operator most events I have done are marathons and if you have done any then you know that they only last a few hours, way too little to use your 72 hour bag. The bottle above filled with the water and gear weighs about 10 pounds, fits in between the seats of your car and provides you with a few hours of  operating without breaking out your 72 hour go bag.  Let's unload our bottle and  see what has worked well for me. 

The Contents 

 

        From top left here are the contents: 

1. Compass map reader* 

2. Water key  (to refill the bottle) 

3. Sharpie Marker 

4. Snack 

5. Snap lights (Green)* 

6. Flashlight (Mini Goose Neck)  

7. Ferro Rod 

8. Knife 

9.  Magnifying glass 

10. Bottle with cover 

* ( comes in a multi pack that will be broke into Additional  Go- Kits) 

For the most part I have everything I need should  any emergency arise or if I decide I don't want to drive I have a quick solution that I can just through into a car and go without tasking the driver with a bulky bag or taking up precious room in their car. Almost all of this stuff can be found on amazon but I have included a link to the battle bottle. How you put it together is for you to decide, I just wanted to show you what has worked well for me. If you have any questions just write in the comments below and I will cover them in another blog post. 

Link to the bottle: (and no I am not affiliated with them just a really happy customer) 

This is for the 2 cover 1 bottle set. https://ironinfidel.com/collections/battle-bottles/products/battle-bottle-ocp-and-ocp-black

Storm Spotter, an inside look Part1

 

Freedom is not constituted of privileges but of responsibilities 

~Albert Camus 

          Good Afternoon friends, today I want to start off a three to four part series on being a storm spotter and what it takes to be one beyond just the Skywarn training. In this blog we are going to cover the mobile end of it and some of the special set-ups and modification's made to my vehicle in order to do it safely and efficiently. Let's take a look at what has worked well for me and some of the equipment I use. 

            For the most part I drive a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan and I decided not to post any exterior pics just because of the aesthetics  of the car would not let me show it in a good light, so we will focus on the inside equipment for the most part. Now if you are fairly new to storm spotting or are looking into it I hope this advice helps. You don't want to buy a new car or to go chasing in a 50K Dodge ram pickup truck right off the bat. The reason is, things happen, the reason I say this is you can easily turn that nice truck into a 2 ton tuna can in a hurry so start off with a older less expensive option like I did. 

Passenger side 

      

      In the picture above you are looking at the passenger side of the vehicle and where my partner sets while we are operating. This is the radar/ spotter seat this allows me or the driver to focus on the road condition ahead and affords the team the ability to keep out of the path of the storm. From this perspective you can see the laptop mount, laptop for radar positioning via cell and satellite, fire extinguisher and the weather tech mats. Out of sight in this view is the cell/ satellite booster used to keep the mobile data coming in. 

Drivers Side 

           Looking in from the drivers side we see the amateur radio used to call in reports, the handheld radio mount for the DMR (digital Radio) and the scanner used for Weather/CB Monitoring. One of the things I lack is a CB radio but that is on the list to be put in. By having the laptop mount in place allows for us (me and my partner) to keep eyes out the window while making sure we are in a safe location. Mobile spotting has it's dangers and if we are going out in the city I usually don't drive through traffic instead we find a spot and sit to watch the storm from a  safe distance. 

The back hatch 

        Moving to the Rear of the vehicle here we see more additional equipment. In my blog the incident command I explained how I built this for my vehicle and for short the short explanation it enables me to help establish emergency communications if need be, The orange case is more radio gear and the drawer contain usually a anometer for wind speed and other needed items. Other items that go behind the box are listed below.

  72 hour go-bag with IFAK med kit:  Out storm spotting this is a must especially if you come upon a town damaged by a tornado. It enables you to help out and save lives after the storm passes without the need to become a victim yourself and enables you to be self sufficent

CERT Bag: Some communities such as Copley (an adjacent town) have a Community Emergency Response Team and this allows us to function in a roll other than just another storm spotter trying to help. (I would suggest highly into getting into one it is a lot of fun) 

 Food and Supply crates:  This allows us to maintain extended operations as we may not be able to leave the damaged town for a few days, This contains non-perishable easy to cook food, gear and supplies  and the other containers contain teddy bears to comfort scared or hurt children. 

 EDC Bag and Lunch Boxes:  These usually sit up between the  rear passenger seats and provide food and other personal to our team members as we can be out on the road for a while on a very active day. 

Tools And other items: I carry a gas chainsaw (to remove downed trees)  and a few cans of fuel along with tools for the repair of the car and other spare parts to make needed field repairs . 

 Camera bag and media gear:  This should be self explanatory but it enables us to document and live stream video of the storm   

        For the most part we spot in teams of 2-4 people and those consist of  myself, my love, and whichever Skywarn trained friends want to ride along I hope you enjoyed my short blog and tour of my storm spotting vehicle. In the next blog we will cover the basics of information gathering, why I became a spotter and how we know when to load up the van. If you liked the blog click subscribe, leave a comment, if you have a suggestion for the vehicle let me know too. Remember God is still in control and let's keep those affected by the tornadoes in your thoughts and prayers. Until next time my friends 73 

Of Hams and Hoggers 2.0 (an introduction )

 The most important thing is to enjoy your life — to be happy. It's all that matters. 

~Audrey Hepburn~

Good evening friends, family and visitors, I want to welcome you to my blog and give you a little insight about myself and what my blog is all about. For many of you who know me know besides being an extra class amateur radio operator I am into trains, weather and other fun outdoor activities. For those of you who do not know my story here it is. 

CSX 911 first responders unit 

My love of trains: For many years since I was young I always have loved trains. Whether the full size steel wheels on steel rails, or the Tabletop models I always have loved trains and still do. Most of my passion is sitting next to the railroad tracks and travelling to railfan destinations in Ohio my other part of this passion is to model the Youngstown steel industry in HO Scale on my freelance model railroad. For the most part some way shape or form you will find me trackside at one point or another.  

Ham Radio: The one thing that lead me to becoming a ham radio was the trains. For many years I helped a associate run a small hobby shop in Akron here and he was a veteran radio operator. I followed him to a ham fest to help sell items and wound up getting hooked into this hobby. In August of 2017 I became KE8HNK and in February of 2018 I passed my extra class and the rest is history. One more thing I would like top clear up is yes my real name is Elmer and yes I know the history LOL if you don't know then just look up what an Elmer in ham radio is. 

Supercell over Akron 

Storm Spotting and Skywarn: What better thing to get into than storm spotting. It was a natural, plus the Skywarn logo in my opinion is one of the coolest logos out there. Add this in with my love of outdoors, ham Radio, Trains and  my travels it was seamless addition to my two great hobbies I already enjoy plus I get to help save lives by getting weather warnings out quicker using a hobby I already enjoy. 

Outdoor Activities and Preparedness: For the most part through the channels of ham radio I have found other great activities to get into such as archery, and disaster prep. For the most part I volunteer on several groups and try my best to help others know the importance of preparedness whether you are trackside or outside at home storms and disasters can strike and I want others to know how to survive and get home safe or help keep some sense of normalcy in their life. 

What to expect from this blog: For the most part you will find my stories and journey into new things and if I can teach something and share knowledge then I have accomplished my mission here. I hope you will come back and enjoy my blog and if you do don't be afraid to drop a comment below. I look forward to bringing you what I feel to be great content and hope you hang around and subscribe. Also follow us on social media  (links posted below) Remember God is in control, He loves you and so do I until next time friends 73

 Follow me of Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/radioactiverailfan

Alliance Ohio (Go Ohio Series part 1)

 

"I never regret the thing I did, but I do regret the things 

I didn't take the opportunity to do" ~ET 

 An NS Train Rolls past the Amtrak Station in Alliance  

      Overview:    If your looking for a good one day trip to watch trains and enjoy ham radio then look no further than Alliance Ohio. Alliance is situated approximately 18 miles NE of Canton Ohio and about 30 Miles SE of Akron. The history of the city of Alliance, begins in 1850 when two major railroad lines, the Ohio & Pennsylvania and Cleveland & Wellsville Railroads intersected in Liberty, once known as “The Crossing”. Three small communities, Williamsport (founded 1827), Freedom (founded 1830), and Liberty (founded 1850) merged at this time. Four years later in 1854, the village incorporated as Alliance. In 1889, the village of Mount Union (founded 1833) was annexed into the city Alliance.

     Through the years the railroads merged became the Pennsylvania railroad, then Penn Central, Conrail and now Norfolk Southern. There are two major lines  that interconnect and that is the Pittsburgh line and the Cleveland line that provide most of the traffic along with the two smaller secondary's the Bayard line and the Fort Wayne Line. One can expect to see about a train an hour or so on the Cleveland- Pittsburgh line and possibly a few on the other secondary lines however, don't be disappointed  if there is no trains on these as they have been downgraded in the past few years. 

    

    There is a picnic table that is there to provide a place to sit if you so desire however a lot of rail fans choose to bring their own lawn chairs, just make sure they are back far enough not to get in anybody's way. In rainy or cold weather some take the 1500 ft trip down to the Amshack or the Amtrak station shelter however this also could warrant a visit from Alliance Police depending on ones behavior or a pissed off train crew. Another point to remember is this is an active Amtrak station and the trains usually  come early in the morning  so overnight or late night stays can also arouse suspicion along with drawing attention from the night club across the street from the station.

Ham Radio:

There is plenty of ham radio opportunities Alliance, One of the staples is the Alliance Amateur Radio club (W8LKY) and they maintain a 2 meter and 70cm repeater that from the Amtrak station can be reached easily with a good handheld and antenna set up using less than 5 watts

On Tuesday evening at 7 pm they host a Homeland Security net on simplex frequency of 147.510 Mhz

They also host on Thursday evening a 10 meter net at 8 PM Eastern, on 28.420 Mhz.

They sometimes shift frequency due to QRM, but are never far off of 420.

Also on Thursday might at 9 pm they host the 2 meter net on the club repeater (Frequencies listed below) so there is plenty of weekday QSO opportunities. However if you are accused of causing interference just be courteous and stop.

Food and dining:

There a ton of food places in Alliance up on State street however it is best to bring a lunch, and snacks with you, otherwise it is circle K and a few other Gas stations. However if you want one of the best trackside greasy spoons check out the Burger hut located a few blocks away form the Amtrak station. They are located right next to the Cleveland line so you won't have to miss out on the action. This place has been threatened by closing so give it a try before they are gone. 

Listening in and other Frequencies :

Railroad operations:

161.070 ARR ch 64 Road and Dispatcher Channel

Berea and Pittsburgh (ex-Conrail/NYC/PRR)

Alliance and Crestline (ex-Conrail/PRR)

Cleveland and Parma (ex-C0nrail/NYC)

Toledo terminal area (ex-Conrail lines)

160.800 ARR Ch 46 Road and Dispatcher Channel

Toledo and Chicago (ex-Conrail/NYC)

Toledo and Detroit (ex-Conrail/NYC)

Youngstown and Ashtabula (ex-Conrail)

Youngstown and Warren Secondary lines

Meadville, Pa., line (ex-Conrail/Erie)

Ham radio:

 2 meter repeater

145.370 (- offset)

W8LKY

Tones

• Transmit: 110.9 hz

• Receive: 110.9 hz

---

70cm Repeater

442.350 (+ offset)

W8LKY

Tones

• Transmit: 131.8 hz

• Receive: 131.8 hz

So if you are looking for a place to watch trains and enjoy ham radio this is one place that wont let you down either way. I hope you enjoyed this segment of my go Ohio series and look for a video later this year, As always remember God is still in control, stay safe and blessed 73 my friends until next time. 

Directions to Alliance

From Canton/Massillon and West:

Follow US 62 East to the first exit for Alliance. US 62 is State Street in Alliance.

From Minerva and South:

Follow SR 183 North. This route is Union Avenue in Alliance.

From Salem and East

Follow US 62 West. This route is State Street in Alliance.

From Interstate 76 and North:

From Akron or Cleveland: Follow I-76 East and take the exit for SR 14 South (Alliance exit). Turn right on SR 183 South and follow this route to Alliance. SR 183 is Union Avenue in Alliance.

From Youngstown: Follow I-76 East and take the exit for SR 225 South (Alliance exit). This route ends at SR 183 which is Union Avenue in Alliance.

Breaking Free

 If you test the waters make sure you know how to swim~ Unknown 

    

                Good Evening fellow railfans and fellow hams, about a week ago I spent several days on quarantine and wound up staying out in my radio room (which I will say was a adventure). After going back to work I wound up having to go to another doctors appointment and wound up leaving work early. After my appointment I decided I needed a break from work, and just wanted to go get out in the open air. On my way back from the doctors appointment I was talking to one of my buddies Jim on the repeater and decided to swing by and grab a shot of the local stone train to get my train fix started. 

                After getting the shot of the stone train I decided to go sit at my old stomping ground. As I pulled up I finished my QSO with Jim and called out that I was trackside mobile listening. A few minutes later another ham came back to me by the name of Gene and we struck up a conversation about being trackside. While we were conversing about trains I found out he was a railfan from and adjacent town and he used to come to Akron to railfan before all of the construction got underway. Of course I had the scanner turned down when the train below rounded the curve.  

Q331  as it rounded the bend 

                I quickly hurried up and hopped off the radio and made a mad dash to get the picture as I knew daylight was fading in the concrete valley of the building surrounding me and the tracks. While I was out another railfan, Fred showed up and I talked with him briefly and he knew Gene and told me to pass along a hello from him. Once back in the van I resumed my conversation with Gene and passed along Fred's message. I was given a heads up that a eastbound was heading up my way so I decided to go sit  down at my usual spot in the field about a half a mile from my previous spot and wait on the K183. 

Q369 with double stacks up front

                While I was waiting on the K183 and talking with Gene I heard the Q369 clearing a few signals West of my location. Could it be that I would possibly get 4 trains in a hour and a half's time? It sure looked that way. Of course the sun would go away and the rain clouds started moving in of course, but I wasn't going to let that discourage me. I stepped out the car when i seen him approach and grabbed this picture as he rolled by. As I got back in the car to finish my QSO with Gene I heard the K183 heading up single main toward me and I decided it was time to sign and wait for the K183 as I was getting hungry and ran out of coffee to drink. 

K183 the final train I would see

    As I sat and listened to Gene and another ham talk about what trackside mobile was and the K183 as it approached I began to relax and savor the last few minutes trackside as I knew It would be a while before I would get a chance to do this again. Shortly after this moment the K183 rolled passed and I decided to stand outside an watch it roll by with the gentle breeze blowing across my face and the sound of a train rolling by it was the perfect ending to a type of day which I don't get to enjoy much with my job and other obligations. One day soon I hope to be able to enjoy more time trackside making QSO's but until then I have to settle for the memories of this day to keep me moving forward.  I thank you for being able to share this story with you and remember God is still in control, take care, stay safe and 73 from trackside