Charleston Update

[Terry Fox]

Hello all from down south.  Thought I would give everyone an update on the progress here.

Sammy the alligator still shows up from time to time, he was sitting on our grassy knoll last Tuesday.  We also see him swimming past the house in the lake.

I have two "temporary" 20 meter dipoles up, one generally north-south, the other vaguely east-west.  The attic above the main part of the house is just too hot to string up the 40 meter dipoles.  I have made a few contacts on 20 meters SSB (Texas, Montenegro(sp), etc).  Unfortunately, my signal gets into the doorbell - of all things.  It is an electronic doorbell, with a remote speaker close to the shack.  I temporarily disconnected the remote speaker, and the RFI went away.  I tried to stick a couple .01uf caps across the speaker leads at both ends, but that did little.  Somewhere I have some RF chokes, when I find them I will try to hook the speaker back up.

I am looking at strining up a wire antenna along the whole house, under the eaves, and using an antenna tuner.  The house is about 60ft square, plus the garage.  If I run a wire around the whole house, and use an antenna tuner, I could probably use that on all bands.  More work to do.

We continue to unpack the rest of the house as time permints.  Last week, we visited my mother on Oak Island, NC, which took a few days.  Today is more unpacking - we are focusing on the dining room.

I put together my Imsai CP/M system, and it all appears to work, but it will not completely boot.  As I get time, I may try to replace the eight-inch drive.  CP/M is a high priority here (hi hi).  If I can get the Imsai running, I can start working on packet.  (time warp).

Haven't had a chance to go flying yet, even though the main airport is just across the river.  Yes, we can sometimes hear the planes taking off or landing, but it's not bad.

Regarding doing HF tests, I remember seeing an email from Hal talking about using 20 and 17 meters, I have something up for 20 meters, but had not planned to use 17 meters.  Guess I'll have to go back to the antenna drawing board.... temporarily, I could use a long-wire antenna/tuner and a receiver.

Has there been any progress on creating a "standard" computer to use for these experiments?  I could put a PC together (or purchase one) that matches what others are using.  In addition to the IC-720 tranceiver, I have the Icom PCR-1000 and the Ten-Tec RX-320 receivers that could be set up in a semi-automated mode.

I might be back in the DC area sooner than originally thought.  We are talking about coming back around September 20-27, to visit Judy's parents.  I will make at least one Tacos during that period.

Hope everyone is surviving the heat back there.
All for now.
Terry



 
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