I'd suggest either a FORD Explorer.  in my opinion it's the best all around vehicle for a ham type. you can put a lot in, and on it. plus it's good for weekend outings as it'll haul quite a bit of antenna supplies to your campsite. All in all it's my favorite.

if your using it for only yourself a ranger or F150 would be as good for commuting.

Ohk so here is a bunch of questions rolled up into one.

I live in the mountains where it snows a lot. infact earlier I was annoyed by a post talking about field day. the ham said "field day was the wrong time of year, it's 100 degrees etc..."  Well I don't know where he was, but is he crazy enough to think it's 100 degrees everywhere on FD? round these parts we are lucky any summer month it doesn't snow. of course it does reach 100 once or twice a year but I've seen it be 95 at noon and snow by midnight.  anyways back to my point

I do alot of snowmobiling, skiing, snowshoeing etc...  up until now I've always been on 2m or 70cm. But soon to upgrade, and be qrp CW on 40m I was wondering how several feet of snow will affect HF antennas.  I am building several types of protable and semi protable HF antennas and will testing them on shorter trips to the hills. I will be using both dipoles, verticles, inverted V's and other popular portables.

some of these are ground independant some suggest a small ground rod and radials. So exactly how conductive is snow and how much effect will it have on antennas.   Namely I'm wondering about a semi-portable 1/4 wave 40m vertical antenna. usually several 1/4 radials would be strung out but what's needed with snow?    do I need to raise it up off the snow like a "simple killer antenna"  in june 99 QST.

Just wanting some general info on how say 4 feet of snow will effect a setup.

thanks

zeb
kd7evs

Yah I think I had tried to download DXlab once but the site was down.   your post reminded me of it and I'm testing it out. seems to meet the majority of my picky needs.  thanks for reminding me of that software.

I know there is alot of info on loggers floating around. But I have a few issues with some of the programs and I'm looking for help finding the software that is best suited for me.

I want something that actually runs in windows and something that I can use for everyday logging as well as contests. And something that if I travel I can easily comeback and enter in contacts after the fact.
Also being able to print logs for paper backup would be great. Also coverage of ALL the bands.

Now that's my only requests.  I'm tired of seeing a site claiming that their software does all this then downloading it and it wanting to run in a dos window, with no mouse support and just not everything it said it'd be.

At this point I'd even love source code of something close that I could modify. Right now I don't have the time to write a program from scratch.  but If I don't find anything I guess I'll have to when spring gets here.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions. freeware would be nice, but I may be to picky for freeware. Thanks for reading!

73
kd7evs

hmm.   an interesting project....  yes please publish the time/freq.

Thanks.    I kinda assumed the Vs had something to do with what you said but wanted to know for sure.  


As per the qrp rig I believe you've sealed the deal and convinced me to go with 40m. I've been looking through reviews and comments about several qrp kits and I (at least for the present ten minutes) think I'll be getting the Wilderness SST kit.    haven't heard more than one or two bad comments about it and I've read countless pages and reviews.  it looks a bit more rugged than some of the other kits and I've seen a couple modifications that I'd want to do that aren't as easy with other rigs.

thanks for the info and advice
Zeb     KD7EVS

Greetings all.

I've decided once again to take up code and baring any major life inturuptions like last time (two years ago) I will finish!   So not needing to be said I'm a newbie when it comes to morse code.   I've been in radio since deconstructing and rebuilding (improving) a remote controlled toy when I was nine or so. introduced to ham when a friend talked my family into buying me a HT. had to get a licence to use it so I did.

I just moved and don't really know any hams in the area (yet!).   so I'm voicing my questions here.  one by one... maybe a couple at a time.

First question I keep seeing the Q sign QSV.  now it says: Shall I send a series of Vs on this frequency? or, Send a series of Vs on this frequency.

Now I uderstand it at face value, but why would you want someone to send Vs or want to recieve Vs.  I see often on CW pages VVV. What's the point?

That's my main question right now. I need to get back to MorseCat. Oh, I'm also looking for homebrew plans for a frequency agile QRP rig. for either 80 or 40 meters. (haven't decided don't know that I care). looking for max of 2 watts but needs to be able to run off of a small solar charger/battery setup. I've seen the pixe 2 and tuna tin etc... there is alot of info and plans on the net but alot of the kits or schematics links are broken or incomplete info.

Thanks for any and all replies. please reply here or e-mail kd7evs@hangarz.com

ohk, so several people have replied to my post. but a few have failed to see the fact that I CAN NOT PUT IT ON THE ROOF OF MY TRUCK. I HAVE STUFF UP THERE. ANTENNAS AND FLASHING LIGHTS. SO I NEED TO BUILD OR BUY (CHEAP) AN ANTENNA THAT I COULD MOUNT AT THE REAR OF MY TRUCK (also to get it far away from electrical interference of flashing lights)  

BUT thanks for all the post and e-mails that have suggested that I put it in the center of the cab of my truck. I thought of that.... with all my other antennas.

so as stated I need an antenna to go at the back of my pickup.  

the most intriguing post has been the suggestion to mount a Hustler CG144.    I'm trying to figure out how to mount it, and find one somewhere for fairly cheap.

however someone suggested a coaxial verical... and I hadn't thought of that, I may actually have one laying around somewhere in my garage.   but still I would like to keep thinking (outloud) about this project.

73
zeb

I'm looking for a summer project for my pick-up.  I want to build a 2m antenna.

I would like to build either a 1/2 or 5/8 wave vertical with ground radials. I plan to mount it (somehow) in one of the post holes in the walls of the pick-up's bed.

It's a ford ranger by the way..

I want something that'll get the ground plane about as high as the cab, but I'll be mounting it back at one of the farthest back post holes at the tailgate.  (got too much stuff on the cab to mount there, flashing lights etc...)

I'm up for just about any degree of dificulty, as I've got three months.   any online sites? or any personal projects you could tell me about?   also I could use some parts bought, like the vertical and build everything else or some combination like that.  But also I'm a college kid so cheap is good.

Zeb Palmer
KD7EVS
http://www.zebthepilot.com

to answer your question I'm not trying to protect myself from anything.   I mentioned the book solar flare because in that book they create a RF proof room that allows them to use equipment to moniter the sun, which couldn't be done while the solar radiation was hiting earth.   that was just a book and just the idea for me. has nothing to do with my ideas.

also I believe I said in my first post that nuclear EMP was more than I was wanting to deal with. for those same reasons.

I'm not a paranoid person like a few e-mails I've gotten would seem to paint me. and I questioned myself posting this for that reason.

however. now that I have one of the more popular and active threads on this site I'll restate my intent.

"I have no intent"     as of now it's just an idea and a project that I would like to do in a coming summer. I'm just trying to research it right now figure out what works and doesn't and draw up some plans.  and to eventually post them on my website. www.hangarz.com and or www.zebthepilot.com     I know that no matter what I do I won't get a professionaly rf quite room.  it just sounds fun, and if it protects me from an idiot that found one of the plans for a directed RF gun on the net, then cool.  but that's not really what I'm aiming for.                it just seems to me that on an amateur radio level this hasn't been researched all that much. and if this world comes to the point where RF is used as a weapon (which our own military is looking at and has been) then this might be something that those of us who thrive on the emergency service aspect of this "hobby" might want to know how to do this. who knows one of these days there might be contest points for being in an RF quiet environment?  hey you never know.

I'm just playing with plans.

73
KD7EVS

lol.  no unfortuanatly I don't have a yard bomb shelter.   and I don't have plans on digging one.   I do have this future 'dream shack' in which I combine a tornado shelter (you've probably seen plans of a concrete safe room) and my radio shack emp sheilded ofcourse.     yah...  I have all these plans and believe it or not my fiancee is still gonna marry me.    ok so back to the quite room...    if you were going to tackle this project (which it'll be a LONG time till I have the money and time to do this) but what kinda of material would be best to put on the walls?   ok. forget I said best, I don't have the money for whatever synthectic alloy that cost 50,000 dollars to work "best."   so rephrase the question. what will work? can the old copper screen mateterial still be found? what gauge of wire screen?   etc...

I think I can figure out something to work for the doors and windows. and the entrance panels.    

so which would be best coming in AC or DC? which is easier to protect?

what about the metal (aluminum/tin) roof? is there any thing I should take into consideration with that?

the one thing I'm wondering about the most is this: I'm gonna have AC running from the house to the shack out back through an underground metal conduit.   how can I have the same ground point if the AC comes to the house from the line. and then from the circut box I have an AC circut to the shack through the conduit. there's no way my shack could have the same ground as the ac line into the house.      so could I just isolate the shack from the ground that is for the house and run just the positive and neutral to my shack and then supply my own ground for the AC circutry at the shack?     I would think that I should put MOVs from the ground at the shack to the incoming AC lines and across the lines.   right?

hmm. this is getting fun. and I'm not even doing the project...  yet.     more research definatly needed.

73
KD7EVS

how would one go about creating a room inside that is totally (or mostly) shielded from outside RF and EMF. I'm not planning to do this. but considering it for fun (and protecting from the occasional EMP) . I've often wondered exactly how this could be done after reading Larry Burkett's novel Solar Flare.    I think it would be a neat project.     so assuming some type of metal sheeting or screen would need to plaster each wall of the shack each connected well. you could just screen over windows, the door would be interesting as well as any air conditioning and venting ducts.    you'd have to have a really good connection to a really good ground.   also the entrance panels for electricity and antenna cables would be interesting. hmm, would it be easier to convert the AC to DC 13.8 before entering the shack making it easier to keep unwanted rf out?     that part I have no idea about.  also would there be a threat of a lightning strike somehow bypassing all the grounds and the skin effect making it want to go into the metal sheets on the walls?

hmm tons of ideas, no real direction for them.  
looking for any ideas, web pages, thoughts etc..    I may take some ideas and draw them up on a website. (just in case terrorist start using RF guns. I'm not really worried about nuclear pulse cause if there is a nuclear pulse then I've got bigger problems than no electronics.      really I'm not questioning about this cause I'm worried about it but it just interest me and I'd love to make a stockpile of info and thoughts and work on this project just to say I did it.  

73s
KD7EVS

that sounds pretty interesting.   where did you see that?


73
kd7evs

I have a ranger and it's got an extra outlet. the cigarette lighter on my ranger is straight from the fuse box whereas the extra outlet (marked 12vdc) is regulated to 12vdc.   now the question for accesory outlets are this.   are they the implied 13.8 vdc that most radios are designed to run at and most car systems supply?  or are they specificly regulated at 12vdc? if they are at 12 volts that would under power a radio designed for 13.8vdc.  my mobile won't run full power through my extra outlet. however it will run through my cigarette outlet.   (I do have it wired in right but tested both outlets when I first got the truck). by the way both outlets each have a 20 amp fuse on them.

zeb

That is one thing about the ranger: there isn't much room to mount radios. I mounted my main mobile on flexible pedestal on the hump in between passenger and and driver's sides. on my 2001 there's really no where you can mount under the dash except on the passenger side but my fiancee wouldn't like me taking up any of "her" space. the next radio I buy for it will have to have a remote mounted face and I can tuck the box in the back (supercab).    I am looking for a mounting post that would fit into one of the post holes on the side of the bed. I want to put a mount for a vertical whip and a flashing light (I use my truck for public service and usually have amber flashing light).    I'm also trying to figure out how I can rig a mini tower in the bed of it. that would attatch guys to each tie down in the bed and have some sort of attachment in the center of the bed and when stopped and working I could crank it up or telescope it or whatever to where ground radials were several feet above the cab and could actually get a good omni-directional signal any ideas on that?

as for the fuel pump ...  wasn't there at one point a kit that could be installed to contain the hf noise or to replace the pump with a clean one? I can't remember but it seems as though there was some kit to fix it.

73
kd7evs