HEY ARRL - IS THIS A JOKE ?

Just got my Jan. copy of QST on the front cover I see ( GET ON THE AIR WITH A STEALTH ANTENNA) This excites me as you all know I live in the CC&R world and I am always looking for STEALTH antenna ideas.
So I turn to the article...UH...stealth ? This is a 17m antenna mounted in the yard with a hazer type device to raise it and lower it...Stealth? I CAN SEE IT ! Please tell me how a 17m antenna in the back yard mounted  AGL made from shiny metal is in any way a stealth antenna...Burt says he can not have ground radials according to his CC&R restrictions this makes no sense to me at all...I can have this thing in my yard but no out of sight ground radials....give me a break!

So if had this thing in my yard at least 6 neighbors would be looking at it and know it was an antenna...so maybe a very good antenna but not stealth boys....Once again the ARRL and QST missed the mark....if you want to see stealth antennas come to my house.....oh never mind YOU CAN'T SEE THEM........73

CQ WW DX 160m (2012)

From the son of KI7KF

Jim I wanted to say thank you for the tribute to the passing of my father.  For those who read this I am not a HAM enthusiast and did not always understand my fathers passion for the hobby.  It was not until I joined the Army and was working with microwave line of sight rigs that I began to have somewhat of an understanding for what HAM meant to my Dad.  For forever my youth will be WB7QYU (Jim) and N7NUJ (Dad) two handles from days long gone but will never be forgotten.  I hold no memories so dear other than the birth of my son, than my time spent with the Nolands.  As you know my childhood after my parents divorce was not the most optimal of transmission conditions.  I have to say though the times that I spent with you and Fred and Dad "everything was right with the world". I will miss him forever.  73's

KI7KF

Some times it seems that all is right with the world, lets say the 1980's ham radio is good, solar cycle is heading for the top, ham friends going on off road trips to the wilds of Owyhee County in there Jeeps and all is good....One of those friends is now gone...to soon.

I lost a friend today, Dale Long KI7KF a one of a kind guy that I will have with me the rest of my life. Dale and I became friends in the 70's and remained so until his passing some 40 years later. Dale was not a ham at the time but had a keen interest in the hobby. He spent much time in my shack and got his license in the 80's......But this is not only a ham radio thing we were friends, co-workers and neighbors. Our children grew up together, we saw each other through bad times and had some wonderful adventures in the great outdoors of Idaho.....I will Cherish every moment....Field Day with Dale and his Dad, and others who have passed will forever be special to me, his son Chris and my son Fred...Field Day was radio, camping, dirt bikes and just a hell of a good time.

So 73 my old friend, I will miss you, remember you and each contest and field day from now on will be dedicated to you......Jim N7OKG left, Dale KI7KF (SK) center, his Dad Gene KB7SQH (SK) right. On one of our many Field Days.....

Cycle 24...hummmm

Well a little fall is in the air after a scorching summer....so much so I have put my wire in the tree for the fall/winter operating season. The wire in the tree represents a hope for some 40-160 operating in the weeks and months to come....However : (
Read a good article today about what a bust cycle 24 has been...wow, band conditions have been so bad for being a year out from solar max just a bummer....today the solar number was 44...it was 13 on field day this year...remember we are one year out from max....

Old friend K7BUY and I were talking one day about working JA (Japan) stations on 6m daily in the 80's
well with some research the solar numbers back then, I think it was cycle 22 at the max was near 200...
wow... Well with all that I feel bad for many new hams that wanted so bad to work a pile of DX on 10m and it just has been thin at best...many days have been poor 20m, no 15-10m...just not good...

Well with that a solar cycle being 11 years so if all forecasts are true next max will be 2024...just hope to be around for another one...So I hope winter propagation is good and will make the best of it....good luck and remember 2013 solar max lets keep our fingers crossed that it will be a good year....73

OLD GUY OLD STUFF

A couple of weeks ago my trusty Kenwood TS 940s from the 80's took a digger....powered on then flickered and died...OMG it was the end of the ham world. Not only a good old radio but a great old radio and is a major part of my station. Well to keep a long story short figured it out ordered parts and it came to life....was happy did not want to make that dog decision....do we pay the dock or just put him down !

I will put some dates out there....1977, 1979,1985, 1988, 2005,2007 that represents the age of the six radios that make up my station so you can see four of six are real old...like me. But it is nice to have two newer rigs in the shack those one box does it all types, you know everyone has them now 430- 160....but all menu driven, not enough knobs for me...I don't want to go into the menu find the function make the change and then resume operating.....I want to turn a knob and flip a switch, I love my old radios !

And the fact that I have made many great memories with this old stuff....I will keep it around until it quits and can't be repaired and sadly move on. Radios were a bunch of money in the 70's and 80's and now for $1000 you can get four radios in one box....but they just don't have the class...73

Summer Ops....

Has been a while so time to post something ! If not for Field Day and six meters there would not be much hamming going on around here this summer. 6 meters has been quite a ride up down in not in you know how it is, as always it seems everyone gets a break but us poor saps in the North West...East coast working Europe West coast working Japan and so on. We just live with the E-skip left overs and hope for the big one.
I had one great day so far this summer on 6 and netted 51 contacts in one day knocked off a couple of needed states for 6m WAS now down to two....come on East coast openings before it is all over for the summer.....
Have enjoyed meeting some now local friends on 6 this year and hope I can meet them soon for an eyeball. Starting to look at the contest calender for the fall with FD and two VHF contests this summer I am am looking foreword to contest time this fall and a little bird hunting.....73

FD 2012

Well we pulled it off, another field day in the field. No down town in the park crap with honking horns and taunting by the town folk.....Well it may not have been that bad but we were taking no chances. K7BUY arrived in the afternoon and we had a great time getting a few last details done, about dinner time KE7RVL and KE7RVI pulled in with all the goods Tents, antennas, masts and the like.

After a great evening and some rest for the road warriors we were to meet son Fred KE7GBD at his house across town and head for the hills....All went to plan daughter in-law Susie and grandson Riley
all packed and ready. Riley decided the open air of the Jeep would be more fun than the back seat of dad's truck so he jumped in and we were off....another hour and a half for our traveling friends from Ore.
It seemed that the Beverly Hillbillies had landed on old Bennett Mountain with six adults, five dogs and each of the four rigs loaded with what appeared to be junk...oh yeah and one fancy pants with a camp trailer in tow.....it was quite a sight..the setup went rather well no broken bones and no stitches about two hours and we were dragging radios, computer, keyers and all the wire that makes it play from the Jeep. Tim and Larry packed a pile of batteries from Ore. and Tim brought solar charger how nice.

Well the evening around the camp fire and A bit of wind we were all ready to go.....Noon the kickoff hour was on us and the operation began....slow start then an afternoon switch to 40m and the flood gates opened CQ CQ FD was starting a pileup in each call what fun we took turns running them....gave us big gun complex for a while.....After 40 slowed down we took a jump to 15m where the signals were few but good.....CQ FD and we were in the pileup again and this went on for a long time....what a good time. We all got the thrill of being DX in this case Idaho...but was fun while it lasted.....

We will submit a score but that is of little importance, family and friends all around the glow of a Coleman lantern hanging in a sheepherders tent and the sound of ham radio....Many hams have CQ FD from our spot and many are no longer with us I hope it was special for them as it sure was for us.

                     Fred KE7GBD after his first run on 15m...as you can see he is shocked !

                 From left, KE7GBD Fred, K7JAN Jim, KE7RVL (working) and K7BUY Larry.

Flagploe

When you live in the HOA world there is not much antenna work to be done, but I have decided to move my 5btv vertical from the side of the house to a flagpole configuration in the front yard. I hope this will work a little better with a bit more wide open space. I have the base set and radials cut but due to rain not much else will happen outside for a day or two.

So will move inside and work on the antenna, I have removed all the hose clamps and replaced with self tapping screws, this will make the antenna more ridged a better support the PVC pipe that will turn it into a flagpole. Well I got all the spacers on the antenna that makes it fit the pipe nice and tight...and low and behold I had a break in the weather this afternoon and it is done......seems to work as well as any trap vertical so here it is....U.S. Navy flag under Old Glory....73

Hidden Antennas

Ok , so I had my say about HOAs CC&Rs so now I will talk a bit about how I have my antennas situated in my restricted world. I run low power here never more than the standard 100w rig will produce. I know many guys that have attic and close proximity antennas run more power, and I know that some struggle with RFI problems. It is my own choice to avoid those problems with the low power option.
Another problem with the city life is the noise generated by any number of RF generating items, in my world that would be plasma TV, washer and dryer, routers, and the list goes on and on. When you install antennas in the house attic you will deal with these issues all the time. Also vertical antennas are good and can be disguised easily but it seems all noise is vertically polarized - it seems that way, so expect some noise issues there as well.
Antennas mounted low to the ground, such as my fence antenna will work well in some cases but the radiation pattern will be more up than out. I find that my 200 foot wire mounted on the fence about six feet off the ground works great for 500 to 1000 miles on 40 and 80 no dx antenna however.

A good antenna tuner or two is a must, so keep that in mind as well. There are many options here and mine may not be the best but they keep me contesting and DXing the things I like to do most...VHF and UHF are easy for local simplex and repeater operations they fit about anywhere.

I have two antennas for 20, 15, 10 and 6m in the attic, they are both multi band dipoles one running North/South and one running East/West and a 6m delta loop also in the attic.
The 200 foot wire on the fence is configured as an end fed wire using a home built balun, it is a large
"U" shape. I also have a 5BTV vertical that is installed way to close to the house but out of sight, it will soon be a flagpole in the front yard. My best antenna is a 100 foot long wire that has to be put up and down so as not to be seen in the daylight hours that runs from the peak of my roof to a tree, it is also end fed with a balun. I use this antenna in the winter for 40, 80, and yes 160.

So with all this rambling I hope you can find some place to hide your antennas and keep on hamming, as with some of us baby boomers moving to more of a retirement community setting we will need to use the old work around to stay on the air...it's not the end of the world.....73