Unofficial TSP Hams Net.

[Odin's Son]

So are yall doing a net on 40m anymore?  If so when and where??

[Smurf Hunter]

So are yall doing a net on 40m anymore?  If so when and where??

What's your general QTH?  I'm in CN87

What modes are you setup to work?

[Odin's Son]

What's your general QTH?  I'm in CN87

What modes are you setup to work?

I'm new to the whole ham thing.  I haven't started studying or tested yet.  My team does however have a coms guy attached to us.  I was going to have him get on there so i could listen in.  He is not on the forum yet, but im working on him. Our teams primarily operate on digital 800's.  There is a team dedicated to backing up those radios in case of some type of outage.  We call them the bacon team because they are all hams now but they mostly use UHF and VHF.  General public service stuff, he assures me.  So to finally answer your question, i have no idea.  I know that he said he got on and couldn't find yall but that's the extent of my coms knowledge. 

[Smurf Hunter]

I'm new to the whole ham thing.  I haven't started studying or tested yet.  My team does however have a coms guy attached to us.  I was going to have him get on there so i could listen in.  He is not on the forum yet, but im working on him. Our teams primarily operate on digital 800's.  There is a team dedicated to backing up those radios in case of some type of outage.  We call them the bacon team because they are all hams now but they mostly use UHF and VHF.  General public service stuff, he assures me.  So to finally answer your question, i have no idea.  I know that he said he got on and couldn't find yall but that's the extent of my coms knowledge.

QTH is hamspeak for location.

CN87 is a grid square in western WA.
When hams exchange, it's customary to indicate their respective grids, so each can assess how their station is performing (look mom, I'm taking to Ireland!).
Make sure anyone monitoring understands this:  https://www.qrz.com/gridmapper

If there's a major calamity, understanding WHERE operators are physically located could be valuable intel.

So if your comms people are located someplace in propagation range from me, we can work out a band that's playing well.
e.g. HF is like surfing.  Not all bands are always behaving nicely.  Some of it's seasonal, some prefer day or night.

Suppose you were in Colorado or Arizona, I'd suggest 20 meter band during day time, and 40 meters after dark.  If you are further east, I may need to improve my station setup.

Currently the sunspot cycle is approaching a decades long LOW, which is working against us.  All things equal, the lower frequencies will work better than the higher ones.  And you're radio geeks probably know that local frequencies require BIGGER antennas, which is logistically complex in many cases.

[Carl]

good info SMURF

[Odin's Son]

We don't use the location grid since we really only work in our service area.  Thanks for the map! That is great and i will be passing it along to the team.  We cover most of central Arkansas.  I know my guys only have the first level (or lowest i know know the terminology yet) for the ham stuff.  Like i said, im wanting to start into ham stuff but because the company will just attach a coms guy (or gal) to me, it's hard for me to get them to pay for all the equipment for me.  I'm working on it though. 

[Alan Georges]

Thanks for that link Smurf.  I hadn't noticed it on the qrz site until you pointed it out.  Darned useful.  Just used it to scope out other hams near the BOL.

[Smurf Hunter]

We don't use the location grid since we really only work in our service area.  Thanks for the map! That is great and i will be passing it along to the team.  We cover most of central Arkansas.  I know my guys only have the first level (or lowest i know know the terminology yet) for the ham stuff.  Like i said, im wanting to start into ham stuff but because the company will just attach a coms guy (or gal) to me, it's hard for me to get them to pay for all the equipment for me.  I'm working on it though.

Today there are only 3 amateur radio license classes (I've oversimplified the abilties below):

technician - VHF/UHF local line of sight.  A few small portions+modes of HF
general - tech + most of the HF
extra - bragging rights + a few extra parts of HF bands

Technician class gear *can* be dirt cheap.  I'm sure you've run into these chinese handi-talkies that run $25 or so.


I won't debate the merits of gear here, but anyone can get started at least.  Like guns or any other gear, there are benefits to investing a bit more if you have the means.

One last comment about the ham community - of all the hobbies and social circles I've participated in, none has had as much generosity as ham radio.  I have had experienced operators GIFT me radios and other gear.  I've in turn started doing the same as I am able.  There's a very strong sense of empowering the next generation and paying it forward.

[Carl]

Pay it forward goes full circle.

[Smurf Hunter]

Pay it forward goes full circle.

May all our blessings collect interest

[K7JLJ]

So I'm guessing that the net failed?  If anyone has other prepper nets they know of I'd like to check them out.

Too bad, would have been cool.

[Carl]

  Pick a day of the week and time of day and maybe we can organize it again.
The last one was mostly for Alan and myself to test 40 meters reliability from N louisiana to gulf coast of Mississippi and it worked 90% of the time.

[Alan Georges]

So I'm guessing that the net failed?  If anyone has other prepper nets they know of I'd like to check them out.

Yeah, pretty much.  We hashed around the reasons for this on this same thread last September (flip back a page, to here).  Easy to talk to Carl from here on the Gulf on 40m, easy to talk to SCW up in SC on 20m, etc., but hard to get everyone in all at once.  Almost like you'd need multiple radios doing different bands at several sites to make it work.

[K7JLJ]

Why not setup a 20m/40m net or are they so few hams on here to make it worth it? Say checkins for 30_min on both?

I guess we would need a roster and QTH to make it worth the effort first.  I've yet to catch an AMRRON net though so I guess organizing is the hardest part.

I'm in if anyone wants to do the work

[Carl]

  The problem that many appear to not understand is that unless you operate NVIS (Near Vertical Incidence Skywave) that you are
pretty much just tossing your signal  to the wind and by chance it will land somewhere as the reflective properties of the ionosphere
are only partially predictable as to DAYTIME USE 40 meters through 6 meters with higher frequencies reflective on rare occasion and
40 through 17 meters reasonably reliable to somewhere and 160-80-60-40 meters often open at night to someplace .

  HF or shortwave Ham bands do indeed enable one to talk a long ways ,at times,but you really are not in control of where
you can be heard and generally only NVIS allows HF to work in the 50 to 600 mile doughnut around you with the zone from 400
to 12,000 miles being the 'normal' propagation.

  So to be successful, an HF net need participation of a large number of Hams and multiple regional net control stations to take
check ins and info to relay back to the primary net control station. The original net was just ALAN and myself doing antenna tests
on 40 and 20 meters for short (40 meters) and Long (20 meters) testing and we had any who wanted to check is as HAMS
as the only indicator of our affiliation was the check in call of CQ TSP followed by station ID callsign and only discussion was
of signal strength and antenna/radio etc...no real prep was discussed on air ,only typical Ham talk.

  With small numbers of check ins we would have to have EACH STATION give the CQ TSP call and record the Ham call of each station he heard
then report to primary control those station he heard ...on air or by email etc with total results to be posted on TSP FORUM once combined
and this way each participant gets an idea of his stations capability.

So,who wants to try? 

[K7JLJ]

Sounds like a plan.  I'm CN83 and have 160M-10M but only 5W at the moment.

Wed-Fri would be optimal.  I'll monitor the thread for further developments.

[Carl]

I will wait to see any other interest though can soon make attempts even for just a few listening...it could grow.
From EM32 North West Louisiana...probably 20 meters in afternoon would be best for you.

[LodeRunner]

So,who wants to try?

I'd definitely be interested in a Net.  Either 40M or 75M early evening (2230Z or 2300Z) would probably be best.  As the solar output goes down, the lower HF bands are 'going long' earlier in the evening, which makes NVIS on 40 and 75 more difficult.

I'm on one [regional] net that has already decided to go to 160M because 80M is losing NVIS reliability too early to support the net at our usual time (choice was to run the net earlier or change bands -  no one wanted the net to be an hour earlier).

Cheers

[Odin's Son]

Today there are only 3 amateur radio license classes (I've oversimplified the abilties below):

Thanks for the info!  I've been gone for a bit but im back.  aslo i tossed you a karma but the great post.

[SCWolverine]

Thanks for the info!  I've been gone for a bit but im back.  aslo i tossed you a karma but the great post.

Here's the Start Here page from my HR podcast...let us know how we can help!

http://hamradio360.com/index.php/start-here/