More Radio Stuff & Friday Music on Tuesday??

So once again – if something can be screwed up – it will be . . .

Busy times, so I scheduled several posting to drop – don’t know for sure how I screwed up – but I managed to do it – OOPS . . .

Now onto some radio stuff . . .

The loop antenna and the wire antenna both perform beyond my expectations – but – They are both all done doing what they do when you get above 30mhz – so I picked this up from Nevada Radio . . .

I had to pay about 50 bucks for shipping – worth every penny – ordered zero dark thirty on a Monday morning – it was sitting on my porch Thursday afternoon ( not Tuesday afternoon – LOL! ) Incredible service from Nevada Radio!

One of the negatives mentioned in reviews – the radials come loose after time – most radio geeks are not mechanics per se – people say use lock nuts and or thread lock – how about tighten the damn things down!

The only fidgety part is getting the first “down” radial started – the threads are very well done – you have to have just the right angle – don’t cross thread as that would not end well – unlike a lot of the others Scanking uses solid radials – not foam filled hollow tubes held in with set screws – this is a precision built antenna – good stuff!

Ready to go outside and get install-ated – YAY!

Really straight forward – flat board to clamp to – a little concrete pad for the weight to settle on – pretty much done!

I just thought I got some strange looks from folks with just the loop! – LOL!

A couple of pieces of chain link fence top rail – about 4 hours of labor total – ran a #6 ground from the top of the mast to the ground rod – no real provision to ground the “negative” side of the antenna – bundled the coax with the rest and into the entry box – in-line coaxial lightning Arrester/Supressor and into the radio room . . .

Add any more antennas gonna have to put another entry box up – <VBFG> – LOL!

And it works!

And a quick video of Foss field ATC – prior to adding this antenna the only way to hear it – and poorly I might add – was outside with a portable . . .

I get like 6 or 7 NOAA weather broadcast stations – from Huron SD to halfway across Minnesota – my available listening time slots and weather satellite pass times have not overlapped as yet – so I don’t know about that yet . . .

500khz to 30mhz? A lot of the comments about it states that the discone is a little deaf in that frequency range – for the most part I’m finding it performs right in line with the wire antenna – of course neither performs quite as good as the loop with the LNA . . .

One advantage the discone has is vertical receive orientation on lower frequencies – the white fiberglass part sticking out the top – signal strength may be a little less – but the noise floor is reduced significantly – you end up with a better signal to noise ratio (SNR) overall – which is a good thing.

Remember folks – everything you are doing with all this radio “stuff” is a compromise – either physical space limitations – money limitations – or both. Without those limits? Things “can” get a little out of hand – here is one of the best examples of no concerns over money/space conundrum I know of <<Click Here>> – glorious isn’t it? And <<Click Here>> to get an idea of the scale of the discone at the Titan 2 site . . .

The tiny white dot is a balloon at about 65 thousand feet seen through the discone early one morning . . .

So we’re heading straight into the bottom line of this post – two things for you . . .

#1 – The Scanking discone 500khz to 2000mhz is overall a good to very good antenna – very well made – not a lot of space needed to put it up – a lot of folks just don’t have a “spot” to put up a random wire antenna and they sure don’t want to spend the money for a loop– easy to assemble – once you get the first downward radial in place just match the angle on the others – if you want the lower frequency coverage – down to 500khz – like I wanted – it’s a really good choice . . .

#2 – I still don’t understand all I don’t know about WordPress – LMAO!

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

Friday Music ( sorta ) – Christmas in July

Depending on your BSA council – Christmas in July was celebrated either the 1st or 2nd week after the week of the 4th. It was a fun week for all – decorating campsites – of course that was a contest – “Santa” showing up in shorts and a t-shirt at the Friday night campfire – real and gag gifts – “Good Times” were had by all!

Is Christmas in July even a thing anymore or is it now politically incorrect?

Here’s Gene Autry – a “Silver Screen” cowboy for you – and if you haven’t seen this movie – what rock have you been living under?

So . . . is THIS politically correct – or politically incorrect?

And here’s Doris Day – Walking in women’s underwear ( we hope! ) – LOL!

And it’s really hard to find a cover of this that was not a success by whomsoever . . .

And of course – the author himself – The Velvet Fog – Mel Torme . . .

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

Posting “Stuff” . . .

A lot of you folks just check in every once in a while – and that’s cool. Some of you are impatient to say the least – more T&A pics – more memes – more political memes – Well you get what you get when you get it – and if I haven’t offended YOU yet – never fear – I will more than likely get to YOU at some point. I was getting some SDR stuff together for a post and that really went in the ditch – HARD into the ditch. Had a thunderstorm move through about 5am last Saturday morning – at about 6 or so one big – close – ka-boom of a strike – the Rocket Fish surge suppressor from Best Buy did its job for the TV stuff – we were watching it and it didn’t even blink. The radio(s) setup? It was all powered down – however – both window boxes and the RSPdx-R2 and the Airspy HF+ Discovery – POOF – gone – most interesting neither raspberry pi or the sdr dongles on them were bothered at all . . .

Both replacement SDR’s and the replacement window boxes are on the way and a Rocket Fish suppressor has been put in place in the radio room. Live and learn . . .

One of the techs with Ham Radio Outlet said – Well just open it up – if you see something burnt you may be able to repair it . . .

That’s a AAA battery sitting there to give you an idea – I’m still chuckling . . .

Week 3 underway on the Jalapenos and tomatoes and I’m already getting texts about salsa – LOL!

Curtis came up with an un-chomped chew stick – no idea where he had it stashed – He chomped on it for awhile then left it -Oliver got it and teased him unmercifully with it – Oliver could not care less about any given “toy” unless his brother wants it – then it’s game on – LMAO!

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

PS – Wow – talk about service and fast shipping – I was just going to publish this when UPS showed up – I ordered this Monday morning – them guys at HRO are good!

What The Actual Frack! / Congress Doesn’t Give A “Frack” About YOU! . . .

A little “Battlestar Galactica” lingo for you, LOL!

Quite a crisis – ( manufactured ) – but a crisis none the less – 3.1 million men, woman, and children ( must put that heart tug in there of course! ) homeless – living in a shit box – rv’s – cars – vans etc. . . .

For less than congress has spent on Ukraine ( just on Ukraine!! ) you can build $55,000 dollar houses for EVERY man / woman / child currently living in a shit box. And it won’t be that many since you don’t need to build a separate house for every child in a family – just for the family itself – but – the money would be able to be better accounted for at a local level – less skimming, kickbacks, and outright fraud and theft – so it won’t happen – period – full stop.

Quite a system congress has put in place for themselves – isn’t it?

Present the problem to Elon Musk – we need 40 to 50 thousand identical houses – or 2 or 3 different models – how little CAN they be large scale mass produced for once production is geared up??

Even with the small scale – inefficient production techniques Box-abl homes are available @ $49,500 . . . DON’T BUY THE LIE that there is no room for them!! Every person on planet earth can have a house with a lot and the lot is big enough for a garden – streets – parks – all the good stuff – and will fit in Texas and a sliver of Oklahoma – EVERYONE!!

EVERY homeless veteran should be taken care of – but they are not.

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!