TexasCHLforum.com

I've been licensed for 43 years, 42 as an Extra. I'm a little uneasy of posting my call as well.

I work mostly HF, well almost exclusively for the last 10 years or so. I like the digital modes and, of course, CW. I have been a big QRP fan since about the third year I was licensed. I've worked around 250 countries using less than 5 watts and almost always very limited antenna systems. Great challenge and fun. I also chased tornados beginning in the mid seventies through about 2008 with Skywarn. I also like to restore old radios. I finished my father's old Yaesu FT101ZD early this year and put it back on the air. Since retirement I've had to scale back my equipment a bit. I run 4 small radios (plus the old Yaesu now) a FT450D, Yaesu 857D, Yaesu 817, and an ICOM718. There's not much VHF/UHF activity around here, at least the repeaters I can reach.

73
Pete

Read the old thread. I could tell a lot of stories, but too boring. I worked mostly tornado disasters; Wichita Falls, Lubbock, Saragosa, a little one in North Dallas. Looked at lots of others. I was trained (lots and lots of hours) and worked under Alan Moller while in Dallas. I served as VP of the Dallas Amateur Radio Club for several years. I took all my tests in front of the FCC in downtown Dallas. That was fun!

mojohn wrote:KF5ZMD here. Been licensed a couple years now. Volunteer with a very great group, http://www.wc-ares.org/
Congrats!
John

It's been suggested that I join that group, John -- I attenced a WCARC meeting a couple months ago, but I've been swamped with my two jobs right now :(

Im not sure where the issue is at this moment, but there was a statement from someone at ARRL that they didn't want legal gun owners carrying at any ARES events. I don't have anything to do with ARES, so I don't know what the latest is. Might be worth it to find out for sure.

ShootDontTalk wrote:Im not sure where the issue is at this moment, but there was a statement from someone at ARRL that they didn't want legal gun owners carrying at any ARES events. I don't have anything to do with ARES, so I don't know what the latest is. Might be worth it to find out for sure.

The latest statement from the ARRL clarified their policy:
“Anyone seeking permission to carry weapons during an ARES deployment is to be advised that the ARRL cannot give such permission. Neither does the ARRL prohibit legal weapons, but the ARRL accepts no responsibility or liability for injury or damages to anyone as the result of possession of a weapon by an ARES volunteer. The responsibility or liability for injury or damages to anyone as a result of an individual’s possession of a weapon remains with the individual. ARES volunteers must obey all federal, state, and local laws while on deployment. When supporting a served agency, ARES volunteers must also adhere to the policies of the served agency.

“The ARRL does not expect volunteers to participate in a dangerous activity or to place themselves in what they perceive to be a dangerous or unsafe environment. Volunteers should avoid or cease participating in any ARRL activity or deployment under circumstances which make them uncomfortable.”

It gets complicated with, "When supporting a served agency, ARES volunteers must also adhere to the policies of the served agency," because in really bad situations, if it's a FEMA-supporting event, you can be sure firearms will be banned.

I think there's a lot of situational nuances as well. If I was in a comm shack, I wouldn't want somebody carelessly trumping around with a rifle. I don't think any of this matters if you're concealed carrying anyway.

JALLEN wrote:In my past life, I was a . . . repeater trustee of a very large system in San Diego, . . .

Would that have been the WIN System? Also, congratulations on the upgrade. I got my Advanced in 1977, but 20 WPM was out of the question for me, so I upgraded to Extra about 2 or 3 years ago.

Chas.

I was secretary and trustee of the SANDRA (San Diego Repeater Association) repeater site on Mt. Otay for some years in the '80's. I was "honored" with this duty as a result of an unpleasant situation involving an alcoholic psychopath and his acolytes, and their opponents. I had a couple of death threats. The psycho had his license revoked. Those guys are all dead now.

Morse was not a problem. I just never got around to it. My brother, a big time, true blue DXer, read about incentive licensing when it was announced, hit the books and upgraded immediately, as I should have done. We were at UT then, young and full of ourselves. I was about to be a warrior, get my orders, looking forward to all that excitement, and next thing I knew, I still had not done it. It didn't seem to matter to what I was doing.

Then I was retired, sitting around last summer, getting my station here hooked up, and thought, "this is ridiculous!", so I hit the books for a pleasant few weeks and came out with 49 right. I've been astonished at the DX I was missing in the once forbidden Kilocyc... Err, kilohertz.

You may be interested in a new book, "Patient Procrastination" by yours truly. It will be available through Amazon.com if I ever get around to writing it.

JALLEN wrote:. . . The psycho had his license revoked. Those guys are all dead now.

Nice shooting.

Chas.

DE K5GU. Welcome aboard! You not only will enjoy the communications aspect but also the incentive to learn more as you meet many good hams and get opportunities for public service, etc. My daughter says I'm a "radio collector", not a radio operator. Sometimes she's right. :-)

Charles L. Cotton wrote:

JALLEN wrote:. . . The psycho had his license revoked. Those guys are all dead now.

Nice shooting.

Chas.

Don't think there weren't times when shooting some of them seemed like a Real Good Idea[tm]. Those idiots caused a great deal of trouble, disgraceful and disturbing.

It was ~30 years ago, most of them were old fogies, borderline senile, probably, and died years ago of alcohol abuse and old age, AFAIK.

The alcoholic psycho who threatened me was caught red handed by the FCC transmitting music on the input of another repeater system. His amateur license was revoked after a several day trial before the Chief Administrative Law Judge.

Well a bit of a thread revival but I remember reading this thread a while back so I thought I would check in.....

Just returning from a 20 year reprieve from the hobby. I don't know what got me back into ham radio but I got the bug again and knocked out my tech and general yesterday. I was a tech + back in my younger years. always wanted to upgrade back then and was working my code up but never did take the test before I became sidetrack.

So for those of you in the Houston/Conroe area I look forward to meeting you on 2 meters or 70cm soon. My wife surprised me with a ft 7900 for my birthday. Just installed it. Hopefully I will be on HF sooner than later just depends on how fast I can save up for an HF rig. 73.



Edit:
If anyone has any advice on where most of the local activity is let me know. I'm trying to monitor some different repeaters in the area right now but there are so many listed it's a bit overwhelming. I plan on joining a local club so I'm sure that will be helpful as well. Thanks!

Remember that your call gives away a lot of your private info you may not want released

Ham Roll Call?

"Present"



P.S. I'm not a ham radio person, just a jester

thetexan wrote:Remember that your call gives away a lot of your private info you may not want released

Good point I edited my old one from my post. Thanks

abc

Bennies wrote:. . . Edit:
If anyone has any advice on where most of the local activity is let me know. I'm trying to monitor some different repeaters in the area right now but there are so many listed it's a bit overwhelming. I plan on joining a local club so I'm sure that will be helpful as well. Thanks!

Most repeaters aren't used a great deal, but there are a few with a lot of activity. The Saltgrass link system as a number of repeaters. I monitor 149.920 (-) 103.5 and 443.825 (+) 103.5 often and there's a fair amount of activity. Here's a link to the Saltgrass repeaters. http://saltgrasslink.com/linked-repeaters/

The BVARC repeater on 146.940 (-) 167.9 is active during the morning and evening drive times and the discussions are often on technical aspects of the hobby. Houston Area Mobile Society (HAMS) repeaters are around the area and one in Houston is 145.170 (-) 123.0. It's active periodically during the day.

Here's a great resource for finding Texas repeaters on all of the bands. https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/ ... HXBZm.dpbs There's also a free app for Android, but I don't know about iPhones.

Chas.