Jack Roland KEØVH@q.com

Happy November all.

Man I have been having some ham radio fun in the past month both mobile and at home.  It has also been a very busy month with the  work for KLove/Air 1 traveling and going around to our various sites in the state.  During one trip thru Steamboat Springs and on out to Craig and Meeker the IC-706MK2G was really put to work.  I drove thru quite a few of the counties from the middle of the state north then west then south, and was able to contact my friend Kenny, K4KR thru Summit, Routt, Moffatt, and Rio Blanco counties, all on 20 meters.

Then driving south from Craig to Meeker I put the 40 meter hamstick on the truck and talked back into Denver to Chris, WX0PIX, and Cris, W5WCA back in the Denver metro area.

In this picture I am talking to K4KR on 20 meters above Steamboat Springs on Storm Peak

Sunday October 28th K6H, the special event station running live from the set of the ABC sitcom “Last Man Standing” was run from the set of the TV show which features a real ham station and has been featured on several of the episodes.  I got to work the station on 20 meters.  Lots of fun, and I for sure will be getting the special K6H QSL card.  Check out their website at http://www.papasys.com/index.php?pageid=Events.

The same weekend was another big DX contest.  It was really great to work stations in Japan and New Zealand on 10 meters.  10 has been open quite a bit lately so if you have the opportunity to get on you will have a great time.

My co-worker Patrick hopefully will be joining us on the local repeaters in Denver here soon as he is taking the technician class test by the time this gets online.  I will report on his new callsign next issue.

One of our EMF/KLove projects as of late has been the installation of the Airsis Iridium antenna’s and units we use for monitoring our Satellators/Translators around the state.  At this time we have almost all new units installed and operating.  This system utililizes the Iridium LEO satellite constellation and really works much better than the old VHF system.  In this picture I am installing the GPS/RX/TX antenna about 10 feet above the ground in Buena Vista at the site on the foot of Mount Princeton at 10,800 Feet.  Beautiful view from up there on this day.

 

All GREEN for the Colorado EMF Translator map, my area also includes Scottsbluff at this time!  With the Iridium system to the controls respond without too much delay as in the old system and I have already saved a 400 plus mile trip turning one translator back on thru the new system.  This is really cool and efficient compared to the older VHF system.

And here is a shot of the Iridium Sat constellation as tracked by my “SatScape” software.  The ISS is also tracked in this shot with the ground visibility of the station shown by the orange circle about it.

Being as I am a HUGE Apollo Lunar Landing history fan, this was sent in an email to our EMF engineering group: http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/10/apollo-flight-controller-101-every-console-explained/ .  I have heard from those who have visited the MOCR that it is like entering a hallowed ground to go in and get a tour in Houston.  A dream for me for sure, including meeting Gene Kranz!

And as always don’t forget the SBE IRLP (and Echolink) Hamnet, the first Saturday of the month.  Details on how to join are at  http://www.qsl.net/ke0vh/sbehamnet .  Thanks to WB7AHO, W5WCA, KDØCIC, W7MSL, N0PQV, KTØS, and others locally.  I hope you will be able to join us and share your engineering and ham exploits!

73’, God be with you, & see you next time!  KEØVH