Good... afternoon y'll!! Out and about today. Got up at 0730 and decided I was not going to spend the entire day doing chores and such.
Drove out to a local state park (Gifford Pinchot State Park) to play radio. Since I developed my radio go kit, I decided to test everything out, HF and VHf. Started with packet radio, trying to make contact with my home BBS over VHF frequencies; no connection. Went through digital repeaters with minimal trouble, but then the BBS went wonky. One VPN and SSH connection later, I reset the BBS and made connections on multiple frequencies. Woo Hoo!
Next up was the HF radio and FT8, a weak signal communications mode. I've made a few contacts at 25 watts on the portable vertical antenna. Decided not to stretch out the NVIS dipole as there are too many kids running around and I don't want one of them running into the wires. Next time I'll find a spot a little less populated.
So far so good. I got out of the apartment, it's not hot or humid out, and I've only gotten rained on a little bit. Keeping an eye on the weather, because it takes about a half hour to get the stuff back in the car.
Trying not to engage with all of the CA crap going on right now. As soon as I heard the deployment of NG troops, my mind immediately went to the move "The Siege." Not good.
Stay safe and LET'S BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!!
#amateurradio #hamradio #ft8 #packetradio
@firefly @BakerRL75 @@czarbucks @@amyedge @ai6yr @Jennifer @AE4WX @technodad