Yes, it definitely is.  but at least the tumor isn't cancerous yet as far as
they can tell but they say that there is a 95% chance of it becoming so and
it is very large.

I live near San Bernardino California Which is at the foot of the mountains
and the edge of the desert.  The 8,000 foot high mountain is like a
porcupine of repeater antennas which is good for UHF and VHF but not for HF.
The amount of traffic is beginning to pick up on 2 meters, 440, and 220 now
that the FBI and the FCC finally jailed that nut who spent all of his time
jamming repeaters;ham, business, and even police.  This is earth quake
country and when the big one comes, and it surely will, I think HF is going
to be the only way to communicate with the rest of the world.  cell phone
repeaters other repeaters and power lines will surely go.  I'll have lots of
large storage batteries at my disposal and by running the minimum power
required to get help I should be able to do just fine if I can get out at
all.

Echo link should work just fine for me. I am registered, have the right
computer equipment, and all of the necessary licenses but apparently the
fire wall is messing me up or my ISP.  Sooner or later I'll find someone who
is willing to come here and spend an hour or so with me to get me started.

I didn't get an answer to one of my questions though.  Why won't the copper
water pipe under my slap foundation serve as a ground plane and is it true
that a  vertical  antenna mounted right at ground level will work well.
That would be the best solution because it would be the strongest and least
likely to go down when the big one comes.  Thanks again

Bob KG6YAA


----- Original Message -----
From: "Howard Kaufman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2005 6:55 AM
Subject: Re: why not


> Good luck sounds like a nasty surgery.  No idea about where you live,
> but antenna supports come in many forms.  Telephone poles, trees,
> buildings, poles tied along side fence posts, clothes line poles,
> etc.  Different parts of the country cause different problems.  You
> might try skype, since that is not radio license dependant.