March 2014
The Amateur Amateur: Ode to Spring
By Gary Ross Hoffman, KB0H
Are you as sick of winter as I am? I suspect that most of you are. Here
in St. Louis it has been snow, more snow, yet another layer of snow,
ad nauseam. When I was a youth in Savannah, Georgia I always thought that
snow was light and fluffy stuff. What I didn't realize was that all that
cotton-like substance I saw in pictures wasn't really so nice. In reality,
it's cold. And moreover, it doesn't stay fluffy. It rapidly turns into ice.
You can't make snowmen out of ice. You can't walk on ice. You can't
shovel ice off of your driveway. And you can't get out and do anything while
it's still in its snow phase if it's coming at you sideways in a gale force
wind. All you can do is stay indoors and pray that the power doesn't fail.
Not so much fun after all.
Oh spring. I long for spring. I can hardly wait until spring sprongs and
we can get out and do all those springy things we are dreaming of doing.
“Now, wait a minute,” you are thinking. “You're a ham radio
operator. Can't that keep you occupied during the shut-in months of
winter?”
The replacement HF gear. All I really need now is tha agility
of a monkey.
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You might think so, but this year so many of my Amateur Radio activities
are tied to spring.
Let's start with HF. Basically, I'm out of luck. Admittedly I've done very
little with HF in the past, but I did have a transceiver and a wire antenna
on my roof. All that, and most of the rest of my antennas, came crashing down
during a storm last May. So of course, now that I
can't operate on HF,
I really
want to. Virtually every day some interesting HF station or
event is making its presence known. Also, the ARRL Centennial seems like an
opportunity that simply cannot be missed. There's HF activity
everywhere and I'm dying to be part of it. Oh yes, I'm itching to
fire up my transceiver, dial through the static, and land on some
amazing discovery.
If only I had an HF antenna.
Okay, reality check. As much as I'd love to put up some fabulous vertical
HF antenna, I can't. The high winds that took down everything last May,
plus the howling winds that we've had this winter have convinced me that I
absolutely must keep a low profile antenna-wise.
I've already put up more modest
VHF and UHF antennas. What prevented me from doing the same with a HF
wire was that I had used a SG-230 antenna coupler. Unfortunately that
SGC box got flipped upside down during the storm and became
waterlogged. I sent it back to the company for evaluation and they
reported that, sadly, it could not be rehabilitated. I ordered a
SG-237 to replace it, but it took a very long time to arrive, and by
the time it did the weather had already turned. There was no
opportunity to get it up onto the roof.
So now I'm waiting for spring. I have the new antenna coupler. I have the
wire. I have the coax. All I need is decent weather (and, ah, to lose a few
pounds before I try to crawl around in the attic space).
St. Louis County provided this banner, so I guess that makes the
merger official.
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When I do finally get back onto the roof I'll also need to check the antennas
that are already up there. I hear some buzzing and such on the VHF nets that
I monitor, and when I attempt to transmit on the 6 meter band using my discone
antenna I get a high SWR. Looks like I'm going to have to take down some
masts so I can examine the antennas, connections, and coax.
I really don't remember anybody mentioning this stuff all those years ago
when they were telling me what a great hobby Amateur Radio was.
And while I'm up on the roof, I
have two weather station that should also be inspected. The
whirlygigs (anemometers) have been spinning madly for almost two
months straight, so I'd better make sure that they're not about to
launch themselves into space. Both stations are solar powered, but
one of them also has backup batteries, so I'd better look at those as
well.
When spring finally arrives it seems that I'm going to be spending a lot
of quality time on the roof.
Spring also means
other kinds of severe weather, especially here in
the Midwest. And if you're an Amateur Radio operator, there's a reasonable
chance that you've taken weather spotter classes and know all about
SKYWARN nets.
Yes, my wife Nancy and I are weather spotters. Not storm chasers, mind you.
No need to go running around looking for them. If you live in this area,
the storms will always manage to find
you.
Until spring arrives, I'm hibernating.
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This year, however, there is a new element to it all. Our Amateur Radio
Emergency Service (ARES) group is merging with the St. Louis County Radio
Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) and SKYWARN groups. The policies,
manuals, net scripts and everything else need to be examined and rewritten,
and.. Oh! We just happen to have a writer in the group!
Okay, I'll be honest. I did volunteer. The works needs to be done and I want
to be part of it. The pressure to get it all done quickly, however, is
intense, so in this case I'm
not all that anxious for spring to
arrive. (Keep an eye out for
www.stlskywarn.org,
which is one aspect of the project on which I'm working.)
Actually, our ARES group is scrambling on several fronts. Besides the
changes the mergers will bring about, we also need to work out the details for
the exercises we want to hold this year. We've gotten a little behind, in
no small part because it's hard to schedule meetings when there's a blizzard
every weekend. We'll need to rush to catch up... if the parking lot
glaciers ever melt, that is.
One last note about ARES. Having virtually no funds, publicity has always
been a problem for us. We do set up displays at hamfests and on Field Day,
but the people who see us at those events already know about us. This year,
however, there are indications that we may be able to set up displays at
much more visible spots, including
the most prominent spot in the
entire region (fingers crossed). If any of this pans out, we'll need to have
a
lot of brochures, business cards, and (sigh) buttons to hand out.
I make the buttons, of course. (Alright, alright. I did volunteer...)
Today, however, it's only eleven degrees outside. Sleet is making ticky-tick
sounds against the window panes, and the furnace is laboring to keep the
cold at bay. So just call me when spring has finally sprung with a resounding
“sproing!”. Until then, I'll just crawl back under the
covers and continue to hibernate.
