Patience Grasshopper...
 

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
I've been working on the Halman trailer for the past couple of days
and while doing so, have been working out how I can single hand the
mast and what materials I would use to build the gin pole and A-frame.

I went to a local metal shop this morning and checked different types
of steel, but to make what I want would be too heavy for me to handle
by myself.

So, I came home and spent some time in the wood shop working with
different lengths of PT fir and such along with some left over PVC
tubing from a drainage project - not enough strength.

As I walked around the back of the barn, I found my solution - a 24'
length aluminum sailboat mast from a project that was abandoned years
ago. I got it form a local place that some of you may have heard of
over the years - Metal Mast Marine. I bought it as scrap and when the
project went south, I just put the mast in back of the barn and forgot
about it.

Thus, solution found - it's just engineering from here.

Sounds like you might have the parts for a complete boat behind that garage,
if you just clear the weeds.

Patience Grasshopper...
 

Damn, you've got me beat by a country mile. I used to be able to hide
a lot of, errr, "stuff" in the woods behind our old house but nothing
like your collection. Sounds like you could easily build a 1/4 wave
vert for "top band" if you really put your mind to it.

Patience Grasshopper...
 

On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 21:39:36 +0000, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:


for the Beverage antenna I have running through my woods,

I had to look that one up. I had never even heard of one. I have a
question for you. A couple of months back, there was talk of dropping the
requirement for Morse Code capability to get a General license. I haven't
heard anything since. Was it approved? What's the time frame?

I know there was some controversy about the issue with already licensed
hams. Just curious, your thoughts?

Personally, I was thinking it would be a good time to get licensed.

Patience Grasshopper...
 

On Fri, 07 Oct 2005 01:25:38 +0000, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:


The real issue is removing the gate from the system that used to keep the
riff raff out. Not that you or others are automatically riff raff - there
are plenty of competent ops who learned the code, got their licenses and
never used the code again - I don't have issue with that.

Actually, I think I can understand your feelings. Ham has always seemed
like a pretty tight knit, more than a little geeky, community. Pretty
interesting hobby. I've never gotten the bug, but I think I can
understand the attraction.

But here's where I'm coming from, it's my understanding that to have a SSB
on a boat, legally, I would need a general license. Correct me if I'm
wrong. I'm not really interested in ham as a hobby, but as a tool. It's
an important safety issue. I would expect to be listening, not talking,
and with off the shelf equipment. From my perspective, CW and electronic
knowledge is extraneous. I just want to be legal. What say you?

Patience Grasshopper...
 

There is no ham license requirement for having a **marine** SSB
onboard, only if you want to use it on the ham bands in a
non-emergency situation. In a true emergency, anything goes. A marine
SSB does require a license but it is a paper work formality requiring
no technical skills.

PS, a Beverage antenna has nothing to do with liquid refreshment :-)

Patience Grasshopper...
 

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 19:37:39 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..
I've been working on the Halman trailer for the past couple of days
and while doing so, have been working out how I can single hand the
mast and what materials I would use to build the gin pole and A-frame.

I went to a local metal shop this morning and checked different types
of steel, but to make what I want would be too heavy for me to handle
by myself.

So, I came home and spent some time in the wood shop working with
different lengths of PT fir and such along with some left over PVC
tubing from a drainage project - not enough strength.

As I walked around the back of the barn, I found my solution - a 24'
length aluminum sailboat mast from a project that was abandoned years
ago. I got it form a local place that some of you may have heard of
over the years - Metal Mast Marine. I bought it as scrap and when the
project went south, I just put the mast in back of the barn and forgot
about it.

Thus, solution found - it's just engineering from here.

Sounds like you might have the parts for a complete boat behind that
garage,
if you just clear the weeds.

I've got about 200 feet of Rohn 25 radio tower back there, some 3 inch
aluminum rotator mast, several supports for Rhombic antennas, the lead
in for the Beverage antenna I have running through my woods, 100 or so
feet of PVC drain pipe, several hundred feet of tower guy wire, stuff
like that.

Oh, and four different vertical antennas for 10, 20, 30 and 40 meters.

So YOU'RE the guy who interfered with my CB and (might not be legal) linear
amplifier as I drove back & forth on route 90 many years ago!

Patience Grasshopper...
 

wrote in message
ups.com...

Just curious Wayne ... are guys underway again or are you waiting for the
tropical weather to clear?

Eisboch

Patience Grasshopper...
 

wrote in message
ups.com...


Also - do you plan to use much of the ICW? The last I heard it had some
shallow spots.

My interest is due to a still undecided debate in my head on taking the
Navigator south this year. If I do, it will be later this month or early
November.

Eisboch

Patience Grasshopper...
 

Shortwave Sportfishing wrote in message
...
On Fri, 07 Oct 2005 09:53:00 GMT, "Eisboch"
wrote:


wrote in message
oups.com...


Also - do you plan to use much of the ICW? The last I heard it had some
shallow spots.

My interest is due to a still undecided debate in my head on taking the
Navigator south this year. If I do, it will be later this month or early
November.

Need a highly over qualified deck hand?

No, but I wouldn't mind having qualified help, like yourself, that can run
the boat and navigate some of the time. Last trip I did it all and didn't
get much of a chance to relax and enjoy the view.

There's one other NG participant (and good friend) who expressed interest at
one time of doing at least part of the trip. He's a mechanic as well, so he
would be a welcome crewmember.

I don't know yet - if I go it will be towards the end of October or early
November. (can't be south of NJ until after Nov. 1 and be legally insured).
I'll give you a yell if I decide to book it out of here. Also, be advised,
I have no interest in setting any records in terms of how soon we get to
Jupiter. Probably will be about a 10-12 day trip.

Eisboch

Patience Grasshopper...
 

Harry Krause wrote in message
...



Twelve days to Jupiter? That's a lot better than NASA does!

It's those turbocharged Volvos.



LOL That *is* funny. Only you .....

Eisboch

Patience Grasshopper...
 

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On 6 Oct 2005 20:15:42 -0700, wrote:

There is no ham license requirement for having a **marine** SSB
onboard, only if you want to use it on the ham bands in a
non-emergency situation. In a true emergency, anything goes. A marine
SSB does require a license but it is a paper work formality requiring
no technical skills.

And there is that.

PS, a Beverage antenna has nothing to do with liquid refreshment :-)

LOL!!!

Yep.

Might take some beverage to climb an 800' mast.

Patience Grasshopper...
 

Shortwave Sportfishing wrote in message
...

And I have climbed a 1,300' TV tower - that is an experience.

Yes it is. While in the Navy at a transmitter site in Annapolis, I climbed
a 1,200 ft ELF antenna. Metal ladder, all the way up. I did it because we
were horsing around with the civilian antenna maintenance people and the
subject came up about replacing the aircraft warning light. The civilians
were betting that none of us "swabbies" could climb the antenna and one
thing led to another and I got official permission to attempt it.

I found the problem was not so much going up - it was climbing back down
because you are supporting your weight more with your arms than your legs.

I made the top but halfway down I was not sure I could make it the rest of
the way. I did, but the arms were sore for a week.

Eisboch

Patience Grasshopper...
 

Harry Krause wrote in message
...



Was this one of those ELF antennae that also went deep into the ground?


I am not sure how deep into the ground they were, but there was an array of
wires buried from the base outward from the tower, like the spokes of a
wheel. As I recall, there were also smaller, 800 ft towers in a rough circle
surrounding the 1200 footer that supported radial antenna wires from the
1200 footer. For the ham enthusiast, the 1200 foot tower was the inductive
component and the parallel arrays where the capacitive component of the
antenna. The transmitter was a million watts and coupling from it to the
antenna was accomplished in a "helix" house with a huge, tunable coil. It
was used to communicate to submerged subs.

It has all been torn down now, but for many years the ELF transmitter site
at Annapolis and another one in Cutler, Maine were the only means of world
communications with deployed subs.

Eisboch (full of useless information)

Patience Grasshopper...
 

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 22:17:19 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 18:07:51 -0400, Harry Krause
wrote:

Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 19:34:01 GMT, "Eisboch"
wrote:

Harry Krause wrote in message
...

Was this one of those ELF antennae that also went deep into the ground?

I am not sure how deep into the ground they were, but there was an array of
wires buried from the base outward from the tower, like the spokes of a
wheel. As I recall, there were also smaller, 800 ft towers in a rough circle
surrounding the 1200 footer that supported radial antenna wires from the
1200 footer. For the ham enthusiast, the 1200 foot tower was the inductive
component and the parallel arrays where the capacitive component of the
antenna. The transmitter was a million watts and coupling from it to the
antenna was accomplished in a "helix" house with a huge, tunable coil. It
was used to communicate to submerged subs.

It has all been torn down now, but for many years the ELF transmitter site
at Annapolis and another one in Cutler, Maine were the only means of world
communications with deployed subs.

They still have one out in Wisconsin and Michigan I think.

The interesting thing about ELF is that it can take up to 2 hours, 53
minutes to receive one letter. The shortest is something on the order
of 15 minutes I think.

Been a while since I read up on it. I don't think they use the ELF
system anymore.

No ELFs? Next, you'll claim there is no Easter bunny.

Of course there are ELFs. They just don't use them anymore.

And there IS an Easter Bunny - he's cute, cuddly and votes Republican.

Hush, Harry will be up all Easter Eve night waiting for the little bugger to
come eat the scraps he put out on the grass!

--
John H

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so."

Ronald Reagan

Patience Grasshopper...
 

Harry,
Even you must see the humor in this statement.


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
For a buttwiper who is always asking whether I am "dogging" you, Herring,
you sure like to bring me into your conversations a lot.

Patience Grasshopper...
 

Krause also follows me around like a little puppy dog.

He is just craving for attention and has never been house broken.


"Starbucker" wrote in message
...
Harry,
Even you must see the humor in this statement.


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
For a buttwiper who is always asking whether I am "dogging" you, Herring,
you sure like to bring me into your conversations a lot.

Patience Grasshopper...
 

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 20:49:08 -0400, "Starbucker"
wrote:

Harry,
Even you must see the humor in this statement.


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
For a buttwiper who is always asking whether I am "dogging" you, Herring,
you sure like to bring me into your conversations a lot.


Poor Harry!

--
John H

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so."

Ronald Reagan

Patience Grasshopper...
 

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 20:45:21 +0000, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:


They still have one out in Wisconsin and Michigan I think.

According to this, they were shut down and disassembled recently (2004).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZEVS


The interesting thing about ELF is that it can take up to 2 hours, 53
minutes to receive one letter. The shortest is something on the order of
15 minutes I think.

I had to do a little reading on this. My thick skull couldn't fathom why
it would take so long, interesting stuff. A general overview:

http://www.elfrad.com/clam.htm

Been a while since I read up on it. I don't think they use the ELF system
anymore.

Patience Grasshopper...
 

thunder wrote in message
...
On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 20:45:21 +0000, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:


They still have one out in Wisconsin and Michigan I think.

According to this, they were shut down and disassembled recently (2004).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZEVS


The interesting thing about ELF is that it can take up to 2 hours, 53
minutes to receive one letter. The shortest is something on the order
of
15 minutes I think.

I had to do a little reading on this. My thick skull couldn't fathom why
it would take so long, interesting stuff. A general overview:

http://www.elfrad.com/clam.htm

Been a while since I read up on it. I don't think they use the ELF
system
anymore.

I think I was in error when I identified the Annapolis site as an ELF
system. (it's been a long time). I believe it was a Very Low Frequency
(VLF) system, used for the same purpose but operated at slightly higher
frequencies. The antenna structure was very different than those described
at the Wisconsin and Michigan sites and basically transmitted a ground wave.

Eisboch

Patience Grasshopper...
 

On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 11:15:00 +0000, Eisboch wrote:


I think I was in error when I identified the Annapolis site as an ELF
system. (it's been a long time). I believe it was a Very Low Frequency
(VLF) system, used for the same purpose but operated at slightly higher
frequencies. The antenna structure was very different than those described
at the Wisconsin and Michigan sites and basically transmitted a ground
wave.

VLF or ELF, it was still a damn high climb. ;-)