SUMMER IS HERE! Lots of projects completed and ongoing!
SO I have written a lot lately about the BIG JET FLI! I am now voice tracking the 7p-12 midnight (Eastern Time) Top 40 of the 60’s and 70’s show on Monday and Tuesday nights, filling in other time slots when needed! It feels AMAZING to be on the radio again having fun and playin’ the hits! You can check it out at
https://tunein.com/radio/WFLI-1070AM-The-Legend-s28777/ or the WFLI App on the phones.
SO when you can tune in and check it out! Jack Rockin’Roland! (Works well huh?)
As of this writing, this past weekend myself, Jim Langsted KCØRPS and Skyler Fennell KDØWHB just climbed Torreys Peak, one of the 53 mountains out here over 14,000 feet, topping out at 14,275 feet above sea level. https://www.14ers.com/route.php?route=torr5&peak=Grays+Peak+and+Torreys+Peak
We all brought HT’s, and so worked Rich W9BNO, Cris W5WCA, and Robert KC8GPD on simplex and thru the 449.450 Rocky Mountain Radio League repeater. GREAT WEATHER, an early start, and a great round trip hike of 8 miles and a total elevation gain (and down) of 3040 feet from the trailhead in Stevens Gulch near the “ghost town” of Bakerville on I-70 west of Denver.
Hams on the SUMMIT!
Getting started at the trailhead about 5:15am
An hour or so later! Torreys on the right.
KCØRPS on the trail about 11,500 feet!
KDØWHB heading over the snow trail to the saddle at 13,500 feet
Above the snowfield to the SUMMIT at the saddle between Grays and Torreys
ALMOST THERE!
View back down the mountain from the summit to the I-70 Exit leading to the trailhead
View off to the WSW of Mount of the Holy Cross, which I hope to SUMMIT this summer! You can almost make out the “cross” snowfield in this picture
KCØRPS and the EOSS group (www.EOSS.org, Edge of Space Sciences) launched a 2 mylar balloon set carrying a micro solar powered 20 meter APRS transmitter this past June that had quite the adventure and actually really became lost in a circular eddy of winds the the Bermuda Triangle. NO KIDDING! It circled for about 3 days in a pattern of wind and finally the signal was lost as it traveled no more. It was tracked by WSPR stations on the frequency of 14.097 mhz. It generally remained above an altitude of 30,000 feet until its last day when it dropped to around 21,000 feet and then was finally not heard from again. The transmitter was a super micro 20 meter unit, flea weight, and was suspended by half of a 20 meter thin wire antenna with the other half of the dipole suspended from the transmitter. Check the prep and launch of the system here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RVhlBpa1k0
KCØRPS should have a full article up soon about the flight and I will report on that here as soon as possible.
Another activity I am involved with and very happy to have become a member of is the Christian Motorcycle Association, the “Riders In The Light” Lakewood Chapter. I am looking forward to a very long association with this fine group of folks who love the Lord and motorcycles. Look them up sometime!
President Todd, KEØVH Jack, VP Tony giving me my RTL patch
Here is the new “remote base” AllStar Node in my shack. We are using it to connect the AllStar Network to the 449.450 K1DUN repeater in Denver.
The 449.450 repeater covers from Cheyenne Wyoming down to Monument hill and HUGE area’s of eastern Colorado from 11,440 feet on Squaw Mountain 35 miles west of Denver. Think almost a “clear channel” frequency repeater and it is a BLOWTORCH coverage wise. We can control the AllStar link radio seen here with a GUI interface and are developing its use on the Rocky Mountain Radio Leagues (http://www.rmrl.org/) repeater. More to come on this exciting development, and we hope you will join us on the Monday Night Society of Broadcast Engineers “Chapter 73’ of the Air” net at 7pm Mountain time, 9pm Eastern. Details on how to join us are below in the newsletter article. Thanks to Skyler again, KDØWHB for the setting up and administration of the link radio AllStar system.
And speaking of KDØWHB, here is his well setup APRS system using an old Motorola Radio and Raspberry Pi3 being fed by an inexpensive GPS antenna.
And the ham of the month! Amanda KDØCIC in her neat hamshack here in CO
And FINALLY THIS MONTH, trying to learn OHMS LAW!
Don’t forget the SBE Chapter 73’ Of the Air
AllStar (and Echolink) Hamnet, every MONDAY EVENING
At 7pm Mountain time (9pm Eastern) for radio discussions, both
Broadcast engineering and amateur radio.
Details on how to join us are at
http://www.ke0vh.com/net/net.html.
I hope
You will be able to join us and share your engineering and
Ham exploits!
73’ from “the Shack” & God Be With You!