Pandemic hobbies

[dominikos]

finished private (after 8 year break), bought mooney, started (and soon finish IFR)… covid is not over… more to do…

[Raptor05121]

I have too many hobbies

Metal Detecting
Mountain Biking
Kayaking
Camping
HAM Radio
Model Airplanes/Ship building
Video Games/Flight Simulators
Flying
Getting yelled at by the missus
Grilling/Smoking
Cars/Racing
 

Edited August 10, 2021 by Raptor05121

[yvesg]

After over 20 years of a break (due to several reasons of which aviation is) I resumed the hobby I had while I was a teen: amateur radio. This hobby is not only about chit chatting on the air in my case… I like doing projects like designing and building antennas. So I erected a 60 foot delhi tower, constructed a 2m antenna (and aviation) ground plane, bought a radio and came back onto the air. Here is a picture of me climbing the tower… neibours say I am crazy going that high!

[Raptor05121]

4 hours ago, yvesg said:

After over 20 years of a break (due to several reasons of which aviation is) I resumed the hobby I had while I was a teen: amateur radio. This hobby is not only about chit chatting on the air in my case… I like doing projects like designing and building antennas. So I erected a 60 foot delhi tower, constructed a 2m antenna (and aviation) ground plane, bought a radio and came back onto the air. Here is a picture of me climbing the tower… neibours say I am crazy going that high!

 

de KK4EYX

Are you on 20m at all? I need to install my Hustler 4BTV vertical when I get home

[yvesg]

8 minutes ago, Raptor05121 said:

de KK4EYX

Are you on 20m at all? I need to install my Hustler 4BTV vertical when I get home

Not currently. I have an old TS-520 Kenwood collecting the dust that might still work but I do not have an antenna for it installed. It might not work between us on 20 meters since you are too close. 80m band would probably work.

Yves (VE2GBK)

Edited August 17, 2021 by yvesg

[Stetson20]

10 hours ago, yvesg said:

After over 20 years of a break (due to several reasons of which aviation is) I resumed the hobby I had while I was a teen: amateur radio. This hobby is not only about chit chatting on the air in my case… I like doing projects like designing and building antennas. So I erected a 60 foot delhi tower, constructed a 2m antenna (and aviation) ground plane, bought a radio and came back onto the air. Here is a picture of me climbing the tower… neibours say I am crazy going that high!

Your neighbor is right!

[carusoam]

Having such a tall tower…

Will make it easier for 201er to spot your house on the way by!

Best regards,

-a-

[Raptor05121]

On 8/17/2021 at 12:28 PM, yvesg said:

Not currently. I have an old TS-520 Kenwood collecting the dust that might still work but I do not have an antenna for it installed. It might not work between us on 20 meters since you are too close. 80m band would probably work.

Yves (VE2GBK)

I've got an old Kenwood TS-940 myself handed down from my grandfather who was also a HAM and Mooney pilot. I'm hoping to make the upgrade to Extra so I can take his callsign since he passed last year. I'm hoping 10m opens up again. I got my ticket back in 2014 when the sunspot cycle was great for 10m. Now, not so much...

 

[ilovecornfields]

Latest project in anticipation of going back to school tomorrow. We decided on this one instead of the #2 choice which was “I spent 10 days in quarantine and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.”

He made a shirt for everyone who had to stay home.

[BDPetersen]

Good time for a puppy. Hoover flew back from NC July last year. Unfortunately, hasn’t been up since.

[aviatoreb]

Strava.

[ilovecornfields]

We’re doing dog pics? Fine. Here is Snoopy a.k.a. Snoopasaurus Rex

 

[Gagarin]

On 8/17/2021 at 7:39 AM, yvesg said:

After over 20 years of a break (due to several reasons of which aviation is) I resumed the hobby I had while I was a teen: amateur radio. This hobby is not only about chit chatting on the air in my case… I like doing projects like designing and building antennas. So I erected a 60 foot delhi tower, constructed a 2m antenna (and aviation) ground plane, bought a radio and came back onto the air. Here is a picture of me climbing the tower… neibours say I am crazy going that high!

Same story here but I switched to the internet with my cell phone. No noise no QRM and works everywhere. No towers needed.

KP4DAC

[yvesg]

On 9/7/2021 at 5:52 PM, Gagarin said:

Same story here but I switched to the internet with my cell phone. No noise no QRM and works everywhere. No towers needed.

KP4DAC

Hi José, long time no talk. I am actually coming back (labor day weekend) from the biggest Canadian airplane get together (250+ airplanes). This happened at the Casey airstrip (abandoned runway) and guess what? No cell coverage there. One pilot came to my friend Vincent who is also a ham operator and does the coms for the event saying he could not close his flight plan from the air. We were actually testing a solution to allow the ability to contact the flight service to allow such flight plan closing. We had installed a 5 elements yagi directed towards a fairly local repeater that had a phone patch. When the pilot came to us I told him no problem come with me we’ll fix you up. I was able to make the call and close his flight plan. There were probably among the pilots some with satellite phones but ham radio did allow this kind of communication and could also have been used for any emergency call required.

Yves

C-FQKM

 VE2GBK

[Gagarin]

On 9/9/2021 at 8:17 AM, yvesg said:

Hi José, long time no talk. I am actually coming back (labor day weekend) from the biggest Canadian airplane get together (250+ airplanes). This happened at the Casey airstrip (abandoned runway) and guess what? No cell coverage there. One pilot came to my friend Vincent who is also a ham operator and does the coms for the event saying he could not close his flight plan from the air. We were actually testing a solution to allow the ability to contact the flight service to allow such flight plan closing. We had installed a 5 elements yagi directed towards a fairly local repeater that had a phone patch. When the pilot came to us I told him no problem come with me we’ll fix you up. I was able to make the call and close his flight plan. There were probably among the pilots some with satellite phones but ham radio did allow this kind of communication and could also have been used for any emergency call required.

Yves

C-FQKM

 VE2GBK

Hi Yves next time try your cell from the air at 1,000 feet.

KP4DAC

[carusoam]

@Gagarin José,

How far from the nearest cell tower can a good phone pick up a strong enough signal under ideal conditions…?

 

Yves’ location for their fly in… is pretty deep woodsy… 

Best regards,

-a-

[yvesg]

On 9/10/2021 at 10:38 PM, Gagarin said:

Hi Yves next time try your cell from the air at 1,000 feet.

KP4DAC

José, here is the cell coverage map of one of the national providers. The other national provider map is similar. I circled the location in red. There is no cell coverage at any altitude. We have tried.

[Gagarin]

The map that you show is that of Quebec, Canada I was mostly referring to the US. But when I am VHF (aeronautical) out of coverage I resort to HF on my trusty Icom 706. KP4DAC

Edited September 15, 2021 by Gagarin

[KLRDMD]

I have been studying Parliamentary Law. I joined both the American Institute of Parliamentarians (AIP) and the National Association of Parliamentarians (NAP). I started working my way through the credentials, starting with NAP. In June 2020 I earned my Registered Parliamentarian (RP) credential through the NAP. That took hundereds of hours of study, a number of formal courses and passing six separate written examinations. I have now put in over 1,000 hours of study. Tomorrow I complete day three of three of five hour oral examinations (a total of 15 hours of oral exams) to earn the Professional Registered Parliamentarian (PRP) designation through the NAP. If I pass . . .

Within AIP I have completed three of four possible correspondence courses so far and *may* take the examinations for Certified Parliamentarian (CP). If so I'll probably go on to get the Certified Parliamentarian - Teacher (CP-T) credential too. But that is yet to be determined.

https://aipparl.org

https://www.parliamentarians.org

Edited September 14, 2021 by KLRDMD

[Shadrach]

On 8/17/2021 at 7:39 AM, yvesg said:

After over 20 years of a break (due to several reasons of which aviation is) I resumed the hobby I had while I was a teen: amateur radio. This hobby is not only about chit chatting on the air in my case… I like doing projects like designing and building antennas. So I erected a 60 foot delhi tower, constructed a 2m antenna (and aviation) ground plane, bought a radio and came back onto the air. Here is a picture of me climbing the tower… neibours say I am crazy going that high!

I used to change the beacon bulbs at the airport where I learned to fly. It was only 45 feet. It was uncomfortable back in 1997. Don’t think I’d do it now.

[hubcap]

I am going to start working on my “Commercial” this week.

[carusoam]

Hubcap,

We have a few M20K pilots that did their commercial in their Ks not so long ago…

You might find them, and collect some data from their experience….

Best regards,

-a-