HAM Radio

Off subject here. I trained guy that claimed he was a ham, went on and on and on about how he would talk to guys in Texas, Florida and what not back in the 80s. He tried telling me the strong south wind in the summer would carry the signals to the northern plains. So I asked him what his callsign was, and where he got his license. He replied his callsign was "polar bear" and he got his license at radio shack.......SMH. I don't think I've ever felt so uncomfortable before.

 

I’m a new OTR driver. My second month.
Also a past ham. KC0QXU. I allowed the license to expire. When I obtained the license. I had started dying from diabetes. Causing weight loss. No treatment. Either stops, or doesn’t and you die. Since then things have been tough. Trucking has changed a lot for me. Loving the life. Thinking of renewing my license. I had gotten it back when morse code was more required. I’m one of the few people you’ll meet who walked into a licensing session with no license at all. Walked out with General Class. Morse code included. I liked all the highly portable,low wattage stuff, using a key.

 

One of my buddies is a big QRP guy. He's going to try checking into the ND evening net on 3845 one of these days on his FT817. He should be able to do it as band conditions during the day have been quite favorable for NVIS on 75.

 

I checked. I’m still listed as a Flying Pig.
I imagine, now, I’m too busy. So if i do. It will probably be something like an ft817 in my truck. Gotta have that 2 meter included. For decent local talk.

 

There are a bunch of cheap chinese qrp radios on ebay.

 

I'm still trying to figure out the fascination myself.

 

I don’t think anyone even monitors the flatulence on cb.

 

was hoping you would have shared you Antenna setup thanks

 

Stacks here is an updated view of my HF set up. Switched from the lil Tarheel to the 75A Stubby 75-10 meters. Changed the mount and mounting location as vibration was wreaking havoc on the antena. 1.1-1.3 across all bands. Using the CH-1 Cap Hat to give me the coverage usually seen with the provided 6' whip.
I have also installed a 40 amp MPPT Solar Charge controller, currently using a portable 120 watt solar panel to keep my batteries fresh while parked. Will need to up grade the panel and mount at least one in a permanent fixed position. I wanted to take it step by step to make sure I wasnt going to be introducing noise to my receiver.

 

Top of headache rack would probably quadruple performance as opposed to hanging off the side.