staylor33322

Tethered Balloon QSO Party?!

Comet GP9 w/IC-91AD

Tuesday, February 19, 2008 5:13:40 AM

Well I wasn't really able to reliably reach the W4BUG repeater with the hand held, and that makes sense. I'm in Plantation, FL and the repeater is in Pompano/Imperial Point. I was able to get to it with a little R2-D2 going on from a certain position in the back deck. (R2D2 seems to be the commonly accepted d-star slang for non-understandable digital communication -- sounds robotic).

This either speaks volumes about the 91AD or the repeater, or both. (I mean to say, I didn't expect to hit it at all -- that's a long way for an HT of any type).

Anyway, I finally re-feeded my Comet GP-9 (The neighbor's yard guys cut my Belden 9913 a few months ago and attempt to patch the feed break resulted in poor performance).

So with new feedline, and armed with a new Comet HS-10 cable assembly (SMA to PL239), I can pump my 5 watts of IC-91AD digital power into the Comet GP-9 up about 40 feet. (Mike's Electronics was out of stock on this; ordered from GigaParts for under $20).

Now I can reach W4BUG on 0.5W and 5.0W, but have not found a human at the other end yet.

Will keep trying.

(Update Tue Feb 19 21:02:07 CST 2008)
Made contact with Joe K4OVK via W4BUG tonight using 5W power DSTAR. A test of 0.5W resulted in him knowing I was there and transmitting but no understandable comms. 5/9 @ 5.0W though through the GP9, so that's pretty good. I'll call this a good DSTAR success!

-Scott

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DSTAR/KLGA Empire State

Tuesday, February 19, 2008 3:05:36 AM

I just got back from a couple of days of "Shuttle" flying between Washington, DC and New York's La Guardia Airport.

While on the ground in New York, I tried the published DSTAR repeater which I think is stationed on top of the Empire State Building [I'll confirm or deny that later].

I wasn't able to reach it from within the airplane while on the ground. Though it would have been nearly line of sight, there was a lot of metal around and the aircraft's heated windows are notorious for blocking RF.

So, no luck there. But, I'll keep trying and keep updating.

Thanks for reading!

K4RZR/Scott

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DSTAR/KDCA Crystal City

Sunday, February 17, 2008 5:08:00 AM

DSTAR contact attempts from Washington...

There appear to be several radio clubs in the vicinity of Washington Reagan National Airport. My crashpad is in the Crystal House II in Crystal city. From the 12th floor roof sundeck, I was able to contact repeater W4HFH on 2M 145.38- and 70cm 442.06+. Sadly, no one responded to my call, so I didn't make any contacts after repeated attempts this weekend.

Update.

From on top of the Crystal House II building sun deck roof, about 13 floors up, I was able to reach the W4HFH repeater. Alas, there was no one there to talk to the few times I tried it.

I'll keep on trying.

Scott

Update March 01 ..
I'll be at DCA (Crystal City) all day on 01MAR2008. I'll try the local DSTARS fom the roof, weather permitting and report back.
-Scott

Hi from K4RZR Scott

Sunday, February 17, 2008 2:06:51 AM

Hi,

I'm Scott, Amateur Radio (HAM) Radio callsign K4RZR. I live in sunny South Florida but work out of Washington's Reagan National Airport as an Airbus A320 pilot for a major airline.

My job enables me to try neat things with ham radio, such as HF Aeronautical Mobile contacts, local VHF contacts around the country, and now I'll be trying DSTAR around the country with a new IC-91AD.

If any of this stuff interests you, then please stop by often for updates.

Welcome to my blog!

-Scott

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