It's already being done, but I don't have the url.  There is a long conversation somewhere on eHam discussing it.  As I recall, when you sign up, they send you a K3 remote unit to use.

Skype. Of course!  Man, I missed the obvious.  And I can see her while we play.  Thanks.

I dunno...I have a Flex 5000, and that video may have cost me six grand, or whatever the price is. Didn't want one until I watched it.

I'm trying to explain to myself that this radio stuff is just a compulsion. Maybe I will be sated if I cave in and spring for it. I'm sure that if I own this new one, I'll never want another. Isn't that how addiction works?

:-)

Dave

AC5UP:

Very funny!

Dave

Can anyone suggest a simple way for my seven year old granddaughter and I to do morse over the Internet? Simpler the better. She has learned 9 letters, and is quite excited. But, we live 500 miles apart. I bought her a little key/ oscillator (MFG) and she loves it. Any ideas how we can practice together over the net?

N4OI:

You are saying that HRD does exactly what I asked? You see all your prior comments for this callsign, gathered together chronologically on one screen?

Dave

Back on topic:

W5UXH suggested to me offline that Logic 9 may provide this feature. He also gave me a description, and screenshots, of how he created a spreadsheet containing all QSOs. The spreadsheet has a column that links to a Word document unique for each worked call (i.e. W9ZZZ.doc.) At the beginning of a QSO, he does a quick search for the call. Then, he clicks on the Word link for the Word documents which retains all notes of prior QSOs with that OM. Looks good to me.

Thanks, Chuck.

 Well said, Hal. :-)

I entirely disagree.

My whole experience in life is that relationships are built by being interested in the other guy. The thought that by doing so constitutes "interrogation" or wolud be embarrassing to him, is foolish to me. I honestly have only limited interest in the WX. On the other hand, it's fun to know what the OM is running. If I knew his job in a prior QSO, I could follow up on that. Or his family. Or more details about the travels he has made. Or follow up on different rigs or antennas I learned about last time. Or more about other hobbies we may have in common. It would help get away from the RST, name, QTH, 73, routine, don't you think? What we are really talking about is how to make a friend.

Dave

Do you know of any software logbooks that easily track comments? I think subsequent QSOs with the same OM would be more interesting if I could see my sequence of notes, in order, from prior contacts. That way, we could sort of pick up where we left off...., rather than exchanging the same data yet once again. I really don't care about other features.

Thanks guys,

Dave

Hello,

Here's my situation. I am in an HOA controlled environment. There is a wooded area beginning about 30 feet behind the grassy area of my condominium. The woods is about 70 foot deep.

The association has agreed to permit me to put up an 80 meter doublet, fed with ladderline, in the back of that wooded area, in the trees. Their requirements: bury the feedline. When the feedline rises to the feed point of the antenna, run it up a tree located about 20 foot from the center of the antenna, so as to minimize the aesthetic issues. Presently I'm tuning the antenna system with a good quality manual antenna tuner in the shack.

Compliance will require me to bury about 100 foot of transmission line,  from the shack to the bottom of the tree. My understanding is that burying ladderline would be a serious mistake, even if I placed it in nonmetallic drainage pipe. so, it looks like I will need to bury about a 100 feet of high quality, low loss, coax to the point where the ladderline rises up the tree trunk to the antenna. I will use a balun at the joint at the bottom of the tree, where the buried coax joins the rising ladderline.

My question is this: is it worth the cost, expense and trouble to install a remote automatic antenna tuner at the junction of the ladderline and the hundred feet of buried coax? The doublet allows operation from 80 meters through 10 meters, but I mostly focus on 40 m and 30 m.

I know there will be loss in the system, especially without the remote antenna tuner. I'm mostly a CW rag chewer, although occasionally I play with DX. I can always increase the power, if I'm not using an antenna tuner, to make up for the loss. Obviously I can't do that on receive, To make up for any loss when receiving.

What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Dave

Yes, the top is up in a tree, almost against the trunk. The bottom is about 5 foot laterally from the trunk, because of branches pushing it out a bit. So there is a slight slope to it. The wire is insulated.i can't do an inverted vee, because I need to hide the antenna near the tree, and don't really have two places to tie off the ends without being visible. I posed this question because I don't see a lot of discussion on vertical wire half wave antennas. No intention of hijacking the thread here, but thought it would be interesting to compare to comments relating to a vertical with radials and the horizontal dipole.

Would someone care to chime in on the same considerations for a vertical wire half wave 40 meter dipole, essentially a few feet above ground at the lower end?

Why the comment about not running ladder line on the grass? Can you do so do long as there is no metal along the path? I just set this up. No danger; it's thru a thick woods that no one walks. Am I missing something?

I haven't much experience with special event stations. But, today, I visited two Revolutionary War forts. Is there ever a time when these forts are activated simultaneously? Much like the lighthouses are activated once a year?

Dave