Just a reminder about safety, brought to us by a man, his wife and their 15-year-old son, who were electrocuted in Florida when the ham tower they were raising touched a 13KV power line.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,564949,00.html?test=latestnews

Looking at the info, it seems that the two main weaknesses of the VX-7R have been carried forward to the VX-8R -- lack of a squelch knob and that crummy, itty-bitty SMA connector.

Dunno about anyone else, but on everything but the VX-7R, I use the squelch knob as much as the volume knob (hey, wait, now you have a volume BUTTON???).

Also, the SMA is fragile and not made for a lot of connect/disconnect cycles.  The BNC is more robust and useful, and doesn't take any more space on the HT than the SMA and the antenna, so what's the advantage?

Both of those "features" make the radio seem to be designed for "Set it up then set it down" operation.  Hook up the antenna, find the squelch setting that works, then don't change them.

I don't see anything in the VX-8R to make me want to replace the VX-7Rs that I'm using.

His place is one of the non-metal homes, so he was able to run his wire right up against the building.

I guess I'm just stuck waiting until I can find an Isoloop or MFJ at a decent price.

BTW, for the other guy, the reason that I don't want my neighbors to know that I'm a ham is because the local cable already stinks (Comcast), and I don't want them all blaming ME for it.

" . . .a 6' diameter magloop hung vertically from the roof peak could really get out."

Assuming that there were room for a 6' vertical Hula Hoop (there isn't), I think that it would be masked by the adjacent mobile homes.  Perhaps horizontally-mounted would work better, and I've got room for that.

"If these guys are really trying to dig deep to find the hidden radio transmitters in your development there, they might just look at your "UHF antenna" with binoculars and google "Isoloop" and then you're sunk."

If it's painted on, I can paint it out.  If it's in raised letters, I can flip it over or tape over them.  That's just cosmetics.    

Not trying to argue, just fine-tuning the situation.

It's not that they had any problem with the car, but by explaining the antennas away, I've kept people from knowing that I'm a ham.  This means that I'm not the first one they blame for TVI, flickering lights or the Heartbreak of Psoriasis.

That also means that if I put up an antenna that looks like it might be for TV, they will assume that it IS for TV.

Money IS an object, but the problem with the Isoloop is FINDING ONE!

MFJ has a loop also (or they had one, it's on their site but not in the HRO book).

Building a mag loop isn't an option -- if it looks storebought, they will assume it's just a TV antenna, but one that I build would be questioned.  I have gone a long way here to NOT let them know I'm a ham (the antennas on my car are explained away as being there because I do disaster response).

I'm even thinking of running out to Pacificon (1500 mile round trip) in hopes that the ham swap will provide a solution (okay, okay, Pacificon wouldn't be the ONLY reason for going to California, but you get the idea).  I've never been there, though, and the last ham swap I hit was disappointingly small, so I dunno . . .

I say again, they go through everybody's yard, and they are looking for a reason to annoy.  I may give the tree vertical a try, but I'm hoping for a better solution.  The tree belongs to the park (though, somehow, all the leaves that fall of it are mine . . .).

No poles of any kind.  There is a tree on the lot, but once the leaves leave, a wire would be spotted.

I'm thinking that I cat run a wire from a top corner of the air conditioner (about 4 feet above the roof) to a mini sat dish on a corner (about 2 - 3 above the roof) or to my wooden shed roof.  That's why I need to know how close to the roof the wire can be and still work.

The question is how high it has to be off the metal roof to work well?

I am in a real challenging situation.  The park manager is looking for any excuse to annoy residents not on his Buddy List.  He and the guy who works for him routinely troop through everyone's yard to read water meters and make sure that nobody has stuff outside (even in the back).  Worse, the lackey is a former employee of mine and lives across the street, so he has a constant view of my place.

To give you an idea about this guy, I have a service dog and he has been trying to run us out of the park because she doesn't fit the "park standards" for pets (service animals are exempt, he knows it, but still . . .).  This added attention compounds the problem of running HF.

Things like flagpoles won't work.  I wish that I could find one of the later AEA Isoloops, I could convince them that it's an outdoor UHF TV antenna.

I have some ideas:

1)  put a wire above the aluminum roof where it can't be seen from the ground.  How low can I mount, say, a 20M dipole?

2)  I have an 8 x 12 wooden shed that I could hide a loop in the roof of, but what kind of performance would I see?

3)  Shoot a dart into a nearby utility pole and run a single small-diameter wire to it from a corner of the mobile.

4)  Run a wire to a corner of the carport from the top of the air conditioner (about 40 ft), but again, there is the proximity of the metal carport roof to consider.

The really annoying part of this is that I have another place where I can run anything I like, including a Beverage, but my work has me based here for at least the next couple of years.

Instead of kludging, military tape whips from PRC-25 / -77 VHF radios are all over the surplus market.

I've replaced the whip on my MP-1 Superantenna with a whip and flex joint from a PRC-77, for whichever of my HFPack rigs (an FT-897 and FT-817) I'm using for a particular session.

Keith K1LDS

Okay, now . . .

When a bogus report comes in of bad wx, doesn't ANYONE at NWS think "Gee, we've got all those millions of dollars tied up in Doppler radar and weather stations all over the country . . .I wonder why none of it shows the storm we're activating EAS about . . ?"

Keith K1LDS

ZN, don't be a cynic.  Stack it up to his proximity to Foggy Bottom -- bureaucracy is contagious.

If Baltimore has all of the resources that they need, without us, then we should stay out of their way.  For that matter, we should stay out of the way until invited anyhow.

Unfortunately, the whole country is not like Baltimore.  When you get a state or two away from DC, you find wide areas with sparse resources, thus more need of volunteers (and less interest in the bureaucratic worldview).

I have no objection to criminal background checks.  I will not give blanket permission to anyone to use my financial information.  I guess that means I can't volunteer in Baltimore, but I will try to live with the pain that this causes me.

The issue is NOT what they HAVE done with that permission, the issue is that they WANT that permission.  For that matter, that it is the RED CROSS that wants that info (this is as ironic as hearing Hillary condemn presidential pardons)!

Keith K1LDS

Yo.

But then, a lot of disasters out here in the West involve conditions which cause wild animals to flee in panic (fires and floods, mostly), and a lot of our communicators operate in the path of said critters (some of which are on two legs).

It would sure be nice to live in New Jersey, where there are no animals, criminals or panic, where the disasters are all gentlemanly and there are enough LEOs to provide an escort for every ham sent into the field.

BTW, when I'm responding ANYWHERE (including drills) with my 4-legged partner, I carry my pistol, with a snake load in the chamber.  Only once have I had anyone tell me that I leave it in the car, this was the cop in charge of a drill.  He freaked out when I loaded my partner in the car and got ready to leave.  I explained to him that she doesn't go into the field without me being able to protect her, or being able to provide a mercy release if necessary.  This was backed up by the K-9 cop in charge of search dogs.  End of problem.

Keith K1LDS

NO was a clusterflop from the beginning.  It makes absolutely no sense to invest billions and billions of dollars in a city which must be protected by a levee, then not putting the necessary money into levee maintenance.  This was not done.

Once you have done that, and discovered that there is a likelihood of levee failure, it makes no sense not to use available assets to evacuate those who are at risk.  This was not done.

Once you have a failure -- and a disaster -- it makes no sense to sit and wait for the Federal Government to come save you.  Your life is YOUR responsibility, but the majority of the people who were directly harmed have been trained, generation after generation, to wait for the handouts to arrive.  

Finally, when the time comes to start cleanup and rebuilding, you don't call Merry Maids, you get someone with the skill and resources necessary to get the job done.  There are very few companies which can do that, and -- SURPRISE! -- they are all "major corporations."