The 2009 SKYWARN training class schedule is out, thanks to several NWS offices throughout the state. This listing is by no means complete and will be updated as often as possible. You can take a look at the early schedule at http://www.wr1tx.net/ and click the 2009 SKYWARN Training Schedule link on the left under Vital Pages.
I plan to be at the Meridian session as well as the Waco advanced class session, and I just might show up at one or two others as well but my personal schedule will determine that.
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Plans are slowly coming together as far as my ham radio activity is concerned. I hope to be set up mobile before too much longer at least on VHF/UHF; HF is a bit down the road. Antennas are being planned, and I am looking at getting into a few contests in 2009 if all goes well. Jenny wants me to get on the air and be active and I plan to do just that!
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There will be a new net coming to Central Texas, more like a resurrection really. The Roundtable Net will be held beginning Tuesday nights at around 7 pm on 147.180 MHz in Clifton with a PL tone of 123.0. This repeater has good coverage and should be accessible fairly easily. The first net should be this coming Tuesday night (11/25) . I will act as net control with help from Tracy, KD5IMM, and maybe others. Check in and join in the fun!
Stay tuned...
WR1TX
Friday, November 21, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Planning for My Operating Future
Well, as I had stated just recently I am no longer a resident of Bell County, Texas. I now belong to Bosque County and the city of Valley Mills, Texas...and I have begun to realize that I have made the right decision in making such a move. The people here are very warm and friendly and are very consistent in that; I cannot remember a time when I was ever made more welcome. Now I can be myself and do what I have always wanted to do, and Jenny definitely supports me in all of it (within reason, of course).
Here's what I will eventually do:
(1) Expand my equipment. I plan to add antennas and radios that will allow me to explore the VHF/UHF bands from 6 meters up through 70 cm. I plan to use Yagis and quads as the antennas of choice. Topography may limit some possibilities since I do live in a river valley but I can still even take advantage of that. Tropospheric ducting and other conditions that can occur in areas where valleys are located can allow for some interesting contacts. I plan to see what could be in store!
(2) Expand the number of operating modes I use. Right now it's just SSB and CW, but as I have said that I always wanted to do I plan to move into the digital modes for all bands that I will have operating capabilities for.
(3) Portable operating. All that I have mentioned in (1) and (2) I will also attempt to do in a portable setting. Of course there will be limitations but you never know what they are unless you try.
(4) Mobile operating. Right now the immediate plan is to get on 2 m and 70 cm in the car; all I really need is an antenna mount for the trunk of the car or a magnet mount for the roof of it. I should then be just fine. HF may not come until another vehicle is acquired; this may be a truck for which I will install whatever I want and however I want to install it.
(5) Backup power. This is something I have always wanted to do: keep my station off the power grid. This could become more important for me now since in Bosque County there is more of a tendency for the area to lose power for any number of reasons. Of course I could always hook up to a car battery and run that but I would rather have my own set of batteries running my station in the house or portable and not have to worry about anything. This will take some more research but I plan to seriously move forward on this.
Got any ideas as to how I handle the above topics? Drop me a line and let's discuss them...I will be all ears.
Stay tuned; there's more to come!
WR1TX
Here's what I will eventually do:
(1) Expand my equipment. I plan to add antennas and radios that will allow me to explore the VHF/UHF bands from 6 meters up through 70 cm. I plan to use Yagis and quads as the antennas of choice. Topography may limit some possibilities since I do live in a river valley but I can still even take advantage of that. Tropospheric ducting and other conditions that can occur in areas where valleys are located can allow for some interesting contacts. I plan to see what could be in store!
(2) Expand the number of operating modes I use. Right now it's just SSB and CW, but as I have said that I always wanted to do I plan to move into the digital modes for all bands that I will have operating capabilities for.
(3) Portable operating. All that I have mentioned in (1) and (2) I will also attempt to do in a portable setting. Of course there will be limitations but you never know what they are unless you try.
(4) Mobile operating. Right now the immediate plan is to get on 2 m and 70 cm in the car; all I really need is an antenna mount for the trunk of the car or a magnet mount for the roof of it. I should then be just fine. HF may not come until another vehicle is acquired; this may be a truck for which I will install whatever I want and however I want to install it.
(5) Backup power. This is something I have always wanted to do: keep my station off the power grid. This could become more important for me now since in Bosque County there is more of a tendency for the area to lose power for any number of reasons. Of course I could always hook up to a car battery and run that but I would rather have my own set of batteries running my station in the house or portable and not have to worry about anything. This will take some more research but I plan to seriously move forward on this.
Got any ideas as to how I handle the above topics? Drop me a line and let's discuss them...I will be all ears.
Stay tuned; there's more to come!
WR1TX
Saturday, November 8, 2008
No Longer in Bell County
Here's the first of several announcements that I had promised to throw out there for all who read this. As of today I do not reside in Bell County any longer. I am now a resident of Valley Mills, Texas, which is located in Bosque County and very close to the McLennan County line.
I had finished my move just this morning. Special thanks to Jenny Ross (my girlfriend) and Lynn Tharp, KB5TDZ for helping me out with the move. I'm still in the process of updating all my information, but the updates should show up on QRZ and elsewhere soon and the ARRL has been informed as well.
My XYL Mary and I have decided to call our marriage quits and move on with our separate lives. It's the best for both of us and I admit it is bittersweet for me personally. But the people I have met in Bosque County and western McLennan County have been very friendly and hospitable, and have accepted me with open arms...especially many members of Jenny's family. So now, I have a whole new frontier for me to explore personally and I am really looking forward to it!
Now that I have made this move I plan to get back into ham radio the way I want to, and that includes regular operating and storm spotting. There may be another announcement as to how I will do this in the near future; more discussions will be occurring with a group or two that I have been involved with in the past, especially one major group that I founded back in 2003. I will tell more when I have future information.
I will be traveling the main and back roads of Bosque and McLennan counties to get to know them better, and I plan to do the same with Coryell, Hamilton, Hill, Somervell, Johnson, Erath and Limestone counties also. My goal is to be able to know where I am at at any given time in the areas I have just mentioned; this will be extremely important when I get out to do a little storm spotting from time to time.
This will be a different atmosphere than I am used to, but will be well worth it when it's all said and done. Wish me luck on this new adventure!
Stay tuned...
WR1TX
I had finished my move just this morning. Special thanks to Jenny Ross (my girlfriend) and Lynn Tharp, KB5TDZ for helping me out with the move. I'm still in the process of updating all my information, but the updates should show up on QRZ and elsewhere soon and the ARRL has been informed as well.
My XYL Mary and I have decided to call our marriage quits and move on with our separate lives. It's the best for both of us and I admit it is bittersweet for me personally. But the people I have met in Bosque County and western McLennan County have been very friendly and hospitable, and have accepted me with open arms...especially many members of Jenny's family. So now, I have a whole new frontier for me to explore personally and I am really looking forward to it!
Now that I have made this move I plan to get back into ham radio the way I want to, and that includes regular operating and storm spotting. There may be another announcement as to how I will do this in the near future; more discussions will be occurring with a group or two that I have been involved with in the past, especially one major group that I founded back in 2003. I will tell more when I have future information.
I will be traveling the main and back roads of Bosque and McLennan counties to get to know them better, and I plan to do the same with Coryell, Hamilton, Hill, Somervell, Johnson, Erath and Limestone counties also. My goal is to be able to know where I am at at any given time in the areas I have just mentioned; this will be extremely important when I get out to do a little storm spotting from time to time.
This will be a different atmosphere than I am used to, but will be well worth it when it's all said and done. Wish me luck on this new adventure!
Stay tuned...
WR1TX
Thursday, October 30, 2008
I'm Back...Sorry!
God, it took so long to get back into my website and stuff! Work blocks everything and I can't get into another computer while mine is still down. Too many things have happened lately and I can't get it all together it seems. Oh, well...
I do plan to make some major announcements in the near future. I can't even drop a hint as to what these will be right now, but I will benefit greatly from them as a person and my life will be a whole lot better for it. When I'm ready to spill it all I will let everyone know.
But for now I'm here and I'm going to try to get caught up where I can, here on the blog as well as my website which has suffered from my absence. I like to keep everything updated, so it's been hard on me that I haven't been able to do that. Please be patient, for once certain things happen it will all be a lot better.
Stay tuned (patiently, please)...
WR1TX
I do plan to make some major announcements in the near future. I can't even drop a hint as to what these will be right now, but I will benefit greatly from them as a person and my life will be a whole lot better for it. When I'm ready to spill it all I will let everyone know.
But for now I'm here and I'm going to try to get caught up where I can, here on the blog as well as my website which has suffered from my absence. I like to keep everything updated, so it's been hard on me that I haven't been able to do that. Please be patient, for once certain things happen it will all be a lot better.
Stay tuned (patiently, please)...
WR1TX
Thursday, October 2, 2008
A Little HF This Weekend, Maybe?
Ok, gang...I know I've said this before and I'm saying it again, but I'm actually going to try playing on HF this weekend using my MFJ portable antenna. Believe it or not I'm not going anywhere, just staying home and play a little CW and possibly a little phone if the opportunity is there. I hope that I can come through this time around!
I didn't get to do the Texas QSO Party this year but will certainly try to do it next year for sure. I was out of town for almost a week on a last-minute occurrance and couldn't help it. I need to cut that back if I can.
Here's something I'm looking at trying to do: try to enter a few state QSO parties using CW only. I may not score that much but if I can possibly get a win or two in my category in one of those contests I would be really happy. Of course my slower speed would hamper me a bit but who knows? You gotta try in order to have a shot at winning.
I received bad news concerning my computer. A virus hit me real hard and the best fix is to simply get another OS for the darn thing. Since I was considering moving up to Windows XP anyway, I guess I'll have to spend the cash and move up to that OS. It will be worth it in the long run anyway, and once I have it installed things should be fine. I can then make that computer do some really cool things. It will likely take a month for me to get the software (likely on eBay) but it will be worth the wait.
Stay tuned...
WR1TX
I didn't get to do the Texas QSO Party this year but will certainly try to do it next year for sure. I was out of town for almost a week on a last-minute occurrance and couldn't help it. I need to cut that back if I can.
Here's something I'm looking at trying to do: try to enter a few state QSO parties using CW only. I may not score that much but if I can possibly get a win or two in my category in one of those contests I would be really happy. Of course my slower speed would hamper me a bit but who knows? You gotta try in order to have a shot at winning.
I received bad news concerning my computer. A virus hit me real hard and the best fix is to simply get another OS for the darn thing. Since I was considering moving up to Windows XP anyway, I guess I'll have to spend the cash and move up to that OS. It will be worth it in the long run anyway, and once I have it installed things should be fine. I can then make that computer do some really cool things. It will likely take a month for me to get the software (likely on eBay) but it will be worth the wait.
Stay tuned...
WR1TX
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Ready For the Weekend
It's only been 3 days since I got back from vacation and I'm already looking forward to the weekend. I got slammed with work while I was gone and I got absolutely no help whatsoever. And my co-workers want me to help with a chili cookoff on Friday??? Sorry, no dice; I have way too much work to do. I swear, I can't wait until Friday gets here; I'm playing ham radio this weekend and no one is going to change my mind. I need a breather from all of this...I guess I can't take a vacation the way I want to anymore. But that's OK.
I'm looking at a few additions to my ham gear, and these will all fall under the accessories column. But more importantly, I need to find a new OS for my computer; a virus got hold of it and crashed everything. At least I have backups on flash drives and I have Open Office, an open source version of Office that works very well. You can get it for free on the Internet or you can buy a copy on CD for under $20. Either way you can't lose at all. In the meantime I have to go to eBay and find an unopened original version of Windows XP, NOT an OES of it. Here goes $100...
Stay tuned...
WR1TX
I'm looking at a few additions to my ham gear, and these will all fall under the accessories column. But more importantly, I need to find a new OS for my computer; a virus got hold of it and crashed everything. At least I have backups on flash drives and I have Open Office, an open source version of Office that works very well. You can get it for free on the Internet or you can buy a copy on CD for under $20. Either way you can't lose at all. In the meantime I have to go to eBay and find an unopened original version of Windows XP, NOT an OES of it. Here goes $100...
Stay tuned...
WR1TX
Monday, September 29, 2008
Vacation Is Over...
Well everyone, the vacation is finally over and I am back at work. As expected, I had a large workload sitting there waiting for me as well as what will likely be a normal Monday setup.
In other words, I'm screwed for a couple of weeks at least.
But I had a decent time off. I wish I had been able to do a couple of things I had originally wanted to do but I did get to realize where I stand on some other issues. Meanwhile, my computer is still down but it has been getting worked on. I plan to check on it today and see if it's ready to come home so I can play on line again. Other than that I plan to play a little ham radio as I had originally planned.
But for now I had better get to work and see what's in store for me...stay tuned.
WR1TX
In other words, I'm screwed for a couple of weeks at least.
But I had a decent time off. I wish I had been able to do a couple of things I had originally wanted to do but I did get to realize where I stand on some other issues. Meanwhile, my computer is still down but it has been getting worked on. I plan to check on it today and see if it's ready to come home so I can play on line again. Other than that I plan to play a little ham radio as I had originally planned.
But for now I had better get to work and see what's in store for me...stay tuned.
WR1TX
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