Central Coast Hams

HF Contacts

Guy Murray — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:33:44 +0000

I had my first two HF contacts this evening on the KB6Q remote, located here in Nipomo, CA. I spoke with Earl, N6ECE in Culver City, and also Moody, WQ6I in Claremont. Both were very friendly, and helpful. They came in quite clear–and they were apparently able to make out my transmissions as they both copied my name, call sign, and locaiton. They both also knew Oje, KB6Q. It’s a small, world out there on HF. Pretty cool making the contacts. It’s a whole different communication than on quite 2 meter and 440 frequencies–but certainly understandable. Looking forward to making further HF contacts as time goes along. Looking forward to getting my own equipment as well.

The contact was approximately 10:10 p.m. on 80 meters, 3908.000 frequency. I listened in for several minutes more after our QSO’s just to hear them jawbone about life–pretty interesting.

Santa Maria Radio Swapfest

Guy Murray — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:01:19 +0000

There is a radio swapfest in Santa Maria on Saturday, 6/14/08 at the Elks Club parking lot. Satellite Amateur Radio Club (SARC) is sponsoring the swapfest. According to their pdf flyer which you can read in detail here the details are:

Date: Saturday June 14, 2008

Time: 8:00 a.m.

Location: The Santa Maria Elks Lodge parking lot, 1309 North Bradley Road, Santa Maria, CA

There will be swap tables, contests, games, including drawings and prizes. They will include transceivers and antennas power supplies and surge protectors tools and test equipment and gift certificates. I’ve never been to this, since I was never a ham before last October. But, I think I will swing by this swapfest as it looks pretty cool.

Admission and parking are free; however, if you are going to swap or trade there is a $15.00 charge for a table or tail gate.

IRLP Contacts

Guy Murray — Wed, 28 May 2008 05:07:22 +0000

This post will be a list of Hams throughout the world with whom I have made a contact and had a conversation. It will the the comprehensive list of all contacts I make.

KD7ZRC, Len Matson, Lakeside Montana, 2/28/08

KH6ITY, Larry Mc Cartin, Brownsville, TX 2/28/08

KE5NJD, Gardner Fugate, Carlsbad, NM 5/27/08

New Contacts

Guy Murray — Wed, 28 May 2008 04:50:44 +0000

I met up again with Len KD7ZRC, from Lakeside Montana. Once we got talking I recognized his voice and looked him up as one of my prior contacts back in early March of this year.

He was on the Western Reflector, number 9250. He reminded me of the North America Handshaker’s Net on Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. Mountain Time. They also have a yahoo group which you can join here. They have a trivia question each week, and its essentially a trivia net, not necessarily amature radio related–but fun nonetheless. I’m going to try to check in next Tuesday and see how it goes. For all you IRLP savy hams out there, you hook up into the Western Reflector, 9250. If yo u don’t have access to an IRLP node, you can try and listen in next Tuesday evening via the KB6Q repeater, as I plan to have that one hooked into the Western Reflector for that.

Len also pointed out a pretty cool website for the Western Reflector here, which shows via a google type map all the repeaters throughout the country which are hooked into the reflector (follow the link to see the website).

I also met a new contact tonight on the Western Reflector, Gardner KE5NJD from Carlsbad, New Mexico. Nice evening tonight on the air.

Six Meter Frequency

Guy Murray — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:49:32 +0000

I haven’t keep up on my ham radio blog in awhile–pressing matters at work. I was listening to the net last night, W6ND was net control. He mentioned a 6 meter frequency at 50.125, that I haven’t yet tried out. I will have to do that and see how it works out. I got the impression from W6ND Ernie that it was a meeting frequency, much like a repeater might be for a 2 meter or 440 frequency. I’ll give it a try next time I get some time to do some HF contacts

New Contacts

Guy Murray — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:01:48 +0000

I’ve just started a Ham Radio Blog for the Central Coast area. I want to use if for several reasons, including, but not limited to my own education about Ham Radio. I also want to begin logging contacts I’ve made with people around the world. Last week I made a couple of new contacts with some hams . One was Thursday, 2/28/08, sometime in the evening when I spoke with Len Matson, KD7ZRC from Lakeside Montana through IRLP node 7430. I believe we were listening to the Alaska reflector 9070 which might have also been connected to the Western Reflector. I gave him our local Nipomo node number of 3139, and I will contact him again in the future, node to node with out all the reflector traffic.

The other contact I made this last week was Larry Mc Cartin, KH6ITY from Brownsville Texas. He was connecting to the Nipomo node via Echolink and I heard him on the radio, and talked with him. In fact both Ryan and I both spoke with him, and found out he has local roots here on the Central Coast. He graduated from Mission College Preparatory High School back in 1965, and is now a teacher in Montana. he also knows the Hemerick family here in Nipomo. It was interesting to chat with Len. He also knows someone Ryan knows from MCP, who apparently was a student back in the 1960′s when Larry attended.

I’ve made several other contacts since becoming a ham, but haven’t kept track of them. One of the things I will do on this blog is to record and keep a record of my contacts so I can re-contact them again in the future.

HF Operation and Frequencies

Guy Murray — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:54:05 +0000

160 Meters–Difficult to use. Must really work this band. LSB.

80 Meters– 3850 to 3990, better at night, LSB. WARFA net 3980. 6:30 p.m. CA traffic net at 3990. 3985 1st Wednesday of month, 8:00 to 8:30 p.m., LDS net.

40 Meters–7150 to 7300, better at night, LSB. LDS net 7295

20 Meters–14200 to 14350 voice frequencies. OK during day, USB. Better for around the world contacts, but should have a beam antenna for better communication.

15 Meters USB, also good during day time.

160, 80 and 40 meters should be LSB. The rest are USB