How to travel with your high dollar ham gear - K6UDA Radio Episode 34

Guys have asked me what I pack and how I pack it when I travel. So heres a peek at how my KX3 gear safely gets to where I'm going. Plus I reveal a deep dark secret thats pretty embarrassing.

Guy's if you like my videos please like & subscribe. Its almost to my goal of 5,000 subscribers and how cool would it be to hit the goal before Thanksgiving and get the KX2 giveaway in full swing. Have a happy Turkey Day & 73,
Bob K6UDA

 

Bob, I used a Pelican 1490 Case to haul my FT 897 that had a built in power supply.. The set up was too heavy carrying it through the airports. I should of got a case with wheels. I have since downsized to the FT 857... As far as CW, I learned by sending on that MFJ key you have. I would commute to work and send ( to myself) the names of cars or signs or what ever I saw. So basically I learned by sending first then listening latter.

 

I hope one of the baggage handlers isn't a Ham when they see that big "ELECRAFT" sticker on your box, LOL. I'd probably put something on mine that said "Live virus, do not open"

 

Practice... Practice... Practice

 

Thats my carry on. I put the sticker on for Field Day. Lots of equipment loaded in pickups.

 

Join CW Ops, and enroll in CW academy. They will get you going on CW.

 

Awesome. You need some wheels.

 

Ramp rats throw stuff. 00:40



What's inside?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/n3ykf/7657225460/in/dateposted/

The radios still work.

Pelican 1440+gear has been oa4 (6 times, south from Lima to Nazca and north to Lambayaque), pz5, 9z, c6, ve, 8r1, all over the US.

Currently smallifying an Ettus B210 and things to make it much smaller.

 

CW OPS for sure!

 

Hey, I know that guy!

Great video.... as always!

73,

Pat

 

CW Ops are GREAT - So GREAT there is a waiting list - last time I checked it was about 6 months...
I learned CW when I was young (12). I think I caught on to it because I was also a musician (school band) and it IS a language of rhythms.. You must train your brain to instantly recognize the rhythms without consciously thinking about it so it becomes autonomous - which requires a lot of practice / repetition until it becomes ingrained in your brain... I think it was easier to ingrain things in my younger brain than it seems to be now LOL.. The ARRL practice files are good, but I wish they would send the characters faster with more space between them instead of slowing down the characters themselves... I feel it really Helps to learn the characters at a fast rate (15+wpm) with larger spacing between them to lower the wpm. They sound more like distinct rhythmic patterns then, which is what you want to train your brain to recognize... Nice video and looks like you have a few $$ in the contents of that case, more than I could afford for sure...

 

a ham 20 later now i like cw but not good at it send or copy around 8 or 10 wpm, the KX2 helps don,t stop now copy and get on the air go slow but do not stop now. that the key never give up, copy w1aw too when you can, and let the radio on cw when not on the air so you can copy just little is you do some thing and have cw on in the back ground. de n3reb DALE

 

Great job as always, I love you presentations.
It shows that you care and enjoy what you're doing as well.
The Ham community appreciates
73s
K0UO Steve

 

Exactly how I learned CW 40 yearc ago. A Ham co-worker told me if I could send 15 wpm, by osmosis I could probably easily receive 5. It worked. When I took the 5 wpm test at the FCC office, I'd never copied CW before. I passed with flying colors.

 

Stop using the straight key, it will makes you concentrate on form rather than sending. And you will get fatigued easily.
Get yourself a paddle (Kent, Bencher or other Iambic), you'll get one anyway once your speed increases.
Send the text from your favorite magazine as you read the text. Great practice for letter/word recognition exercises.

Get on the air, we CW ops don't bite and will QRS.