That was hurricane Gilbert. I went with a team from the college I was attending with other students and a general contractor. I took a backpack with an hf rig, mike and key. They built a 3 element vee beam for me out of bamboo and wire and I used it to pass traffic for our team back to San Diego from Buff Bay Jamaica.
73 all,
Ron Miller
-----Original Message-----
From: For blind amateur radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jim Shaffer
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2014 2:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: What CW Isn't
I actually had an instance once where I was able to use CW to get a piece of emergency traffic out. It was during that hurricane that hit Jamaica back in 1989, or whenever it was. I was taking traffic on 20 meter SSB, and the Jamaican's battery was about dead, and he needed to switch to CW to finish getting the message out.
--
Jim, KE5AL
-----Original Message-----
From: COLLEEN ROTH
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2014 12:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: What CW Isn't
Hi Lou and All,
Maybe when people see that Cell Phones and Internet do not work in some Emergency Situations they will see the Value of Ham Radio.
At least we can still communicate and help those in need if we have the tools we need to operate in an emergency.
Of course it helps if we have training in Traffic Handling and practice to keep the NTS System working.
Colleen Roth, N8TNV;
----- Original Message -----
From: Lou Kolb <[log in to unmask]>
,to3 [log in to unmask]
Date: Tuesday, April 29, 2014 11:25 am
Subject: Re: What CW Isn't
>
>
> CW is my preferred operating mode and, while I hate to be a pessimist,
> I'm forced to agree with what Jim says here. I'm 61 and the vast
> majority of folks I work on CW are older than I am. Of the relatively
> few younger folks getting interested in ham radio these days, not many
> are attracted to CW.
> So
> it's inevitable that CW, if not ham radio itself will die eventually.
> Simple
> attrition will see to that as good ops die and No one is there to take
> their place. One thing that might prolong ham radio's existence is
> guys and gals coming back to the hobby as they have more time in later
> life. That's what I did in 02 and it's been a constant source of
> enjoyment since then. So if ham radio in general and CW in particular
> must die, let's hope and pray that it's a long, slow decline. 73 and
> see you on the bands. Lou Lou Kolb Voice-over Artist:
> Radio/TV Ads, Video narrations
> Messages On-hold:
> www.loukolb.com
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Shaffer" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2014 9:52 AM
> Subject: Re: What CW Isn't
>
>
> > I'm sure many of us have noticed that if you get on CW these days
> > and rag chew, you'll be hard put to find an operator under 60 years
> > old. It's probably a good thing we have so many contests, otherwise
> > the CW bands would have little activity. I actually notice less
> > activity on HF in general, all modes. I'm sure most of the new hams
> > are spending time using digital modes on VHF/UHF. VHF/UHF is, in
> > addition, being essentially promoted by the home owners association
> > restrictions. Like many on this list, I can't have a tower and beam
> > where I live now.
> >
> > By the way, I'd mentioned on this list some time ago that I was
> > getting a
> > 29
> > foot Zerofive vertical. Well I got it up back in mid February, and
> > it's been working great. I can tune it on 6 through 80 meters
> > including 60 meters. I've worked a lot of dx with it. It out
> > performs my dipole, especially when transmitting. There are
> > situations when the dipole is a better receiving antenna than the
> > vertical, while the vertical out performs it on transmit. This has
> > a lot to do with signal/noise of course, the vertical being noisy by
> > nature.
> > —
> > Jim, KE5AL
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Howard, W A 9 Y B W
> > Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2014 5:07 AM
@> @> ,to3 [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: What CW Isn't
> >
> > Currently, there are approximately three quarters of a million
> > licensed Hams in the United States
> >
> > 73
> >
> > Howard #3
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Monday, April 28, 2014 11:34 PM
> > Subject: What CW Isn't
> >
> >
> >>I never figure the code made somebody a better operator but when I
> >>was a novice in 1966, I read somewhere there were about 150,000
> >>licensed hams.
> >> What are there now? I read sometime back there were 450,000 hams
> >>in the U S alone and something like 2 million in Japan or
> >>something like that. Of course, we didn't have satellite
> >>communications back then and CW was a requirement for emergency
> >>communications nationally. With sats and cell phones, that's not
> >>so important any longer but look at those places after tornadoes,
> >>earthquakes, and hurricanes. Cell phones are worthless then but
> >>battery and generator powered ham stations still work pretty good.
> >>I used to love to listen to the CW operators aboard ship talking
> >>to each other or to land based operators but that's long gone,
> >>too. 75 meters, and to some degree 20 meters, have always had
> >>operators of bad behavior. The side band wars on 75 back in the
> >>early and mid sixties between SSB and A M operators who never
> >>wanted to change were amazing. I hear groups even on 20 side band
> >>today with 5 to 10 guys in the group, all friends apparently, who
> >>won't acknowledge a new comer or if they do, they make fun of
> >>whatever it is he wants; usually just to join their conversation.
> >>That's one thing you don't often hear on the CW bands, haha. Too
> >>much work to yell at somebody who can filter you right out. One
> >>night, when I had my 40 meter 2 element beam, two Mexicans SSB
> >>guys were sitting right on 7002 and they both were really loud and
> >>taking up all the 5 KHz of the bottom of the band. A guy, who is
> >>probably passed away now, had a 5 element beam in California so he
> >>was a big gun on 40 meters. These X E stations, at least one of
> >>them anyhow, were about 40 over S9 here in Colorado. I heard this
> >>W6, I forget the rest of his call, but his name was Sam I think,
> >>try, using CW of course, to get those guys to move out of the
> >>bottom of the band. Of course, they paid no attention to him so I
> >>called CQ on top of them and this W6 answered me and we talked for
> >>about 10 minutes on CW, our beams pointed right at them, before
> >>they finally moved. Did you know that many countries haven't ever
> >>required a CW test at all? The Mexico signals are loud even on 75
> >>side band here in Denver and through the southwest so sometimes
> >>that amp and big antenna comes in handy.
> >>
> >> Phil.
> >> K0NX
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > ---
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> > protection is active.
> > http://www.avast.com
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