Studying for General exam….

Been quiet around here for a while. Just been trying to get a decent radio within budget, and having a tough time finding anything. Besides, the real fun is in HF, and I’ve been studying to pass the general exam for the last couple months. Hopefully going to take the test some time in the next 2 weeks!

Open Stub J-Pole….

So, I’ve been thinking about getting this for quite some time, to really improve my range here at home on the 2m and 70cm bands. There’s a few repeaters that I can hear, but just can’t key up.

I was thinking of maybe just building one, but I don’t actually have all of the tools to do that, so it’ll just become some huge project.

They’re only $50 from Arrow Antenna, so maybe it’ll be an early Christmas present.

http://www.arrowantennas.com/osj/j-pole.html

HF Fun?

Having delved far enough into the depths of VHF/UHF around here, and sadly found not much other than old men in their shacks that don’t want to respond…. I feel it’s time to pick up an HF rig and build an antenna. I’ll be posting here soon with my antenna plans, and I’ll probably just be using my HackRF One to transmit and receive on those frequencies. That’s a whole other post!

KK6OOT on the air….

Hello Everyone,

I recently took my Ham radio Technician exam at the Defcon 22 Hacker conference in Las Vegas, NV hosted by ConHam.org . There we had nearly 30 VEs grading tests in shifts for over 3 hours. At last count, I believe nearly 190 individuals received new licenses, or upgraded their current licenses. This was indeed an epic event!

On August 20th, 2014, I was assigned the epic Double Double callsign, KK6OOT!

That said, I’ve always been interested in RF, and Hams in general… I just wish I had gotten into it years ago.

I live in grid DM13mb in Escondido, CA on the side of Starvation Mountain. Elevation is about 1600ft, and I have a clear view of the west to northeast.

If you want to reach me, I’m usually on the following local repeaters:

Ramona: 145.300

Escondido: 146.880

Rancho Bernardo: 146.790

Mike — KK6OOT