18 wheel trucks are really big, right? Nope, their just kids toys compared to this monster that is hauling a 1.9 million pound generator and they do it with only 576 wheels. There are four big rig cabs, two pulling and two pushing, each with 10 tires themselves. NOW you've seen a big truck!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0663asT5xY
Harbor Freight Fire Starters - blog has a link to YouTube videos showing the correct method of using the Harbor Freight magnesium fire starters. They work just fine! [June 12, 2013 posting]
COSTCO has a set of THREE LED HeadLamps, each with 10 LEDs and a set of three is only $9.99 with batteries.
Some features of our radios are going to see more use during emergencies than they ever will see during normal day to day operations. During an emergency, the SCAN feature will probably get a real workout as some are assigned to monitor for other emergency traffic. You may need the scan feature just to find working repeaters after a disaster or to find the frequency of the temporary repeater set up for the emergency. A crib sheet showing how to get into and out of various scan modes is something that every emergency communicator is going to need.
1. Radio Scans
Entire Band
Entire Band based on frequency currently in the VFO.
Portion of band based on frequencies in two memory channels
Portion of band based on two VFO frequencies
All Memory Channels
Only Memory Channels in the currently selected band.
ONE Memory Group
Very useful for scanning FRS/GMRS frequencies to detect people calling for help.
A selected set of Memory Groups
3 scan modes
Carrier (Hang Time [pause before scan resume] is programmable on some radios)
SOME FRS/GMRS radios can do this scan mode. VERY HANDY in an emergency.
Time (For example, 10 seconds - radio starts scanning again in 10 seconds even if a qso is still going on)
Seek and Hold - radio stops on a busy frequency and exits scan mode - requires operator intervention to start scanning again.
CTCSS Scan
Radios with this feature can scan an active repeater to determine the correct CTCSS code and program it into the VFO or current memory channel.
2. Everybody who does emergency prep needs a better antenna than the one that came with your HT. Look for antennas that are optimized for the two or three main ham bands of your radio and that have some GAIN!
3. Emergency Prep communications REQUIRE an alternate power source for your radio. You will not last very long just running on the battery that came with your radio. During an emergency you will probably NEVER have a time when you are not hearing other traffic or transmitting traffic. The battery drains quickly under this type of load. Think about it, just to be NCS on a typical ham radio net you need external power. Your HT battery will not even get you through the net if you are NCS. Emergency situations result in a LOT more ham radio activity than any net.
Summer Heat and Outdoor Antennas
Extreme heat can soften SOME cable dialectric to the point that the center conductor "sags". No longer a 50 ohm impedance.
In the most extreme cases, the center conductor comes into contact with the shield braid and shorts the cable.
You can compensate for minor center conductor drift with an antenna tuner.
Yes, they make antenna tuners for 2 meters and 70 centimeters (1.25 meters also). MFJ and others manufacture them.
Until next time - 73 from N7OZH.
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