The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Rastus on June 10, 2024, 09:14:41 AM
-
Starting Sept. 7th and ending Sept. 15th the 25th Anniversary of the Route 66 Special Ham Radio event occurs. If you have a shortwave radio you can listen in.
https://w6jbt.org/ (https://w6jbt.org/)
For those of you who do faceybookey https://www.facebook.com/w6jbt (https://www.facebook.com/w6jbt)
I've participated in this Mother Road ham radio event in the past. Since I missed Museum Ships Weekend AGAIN (this year due to a family wedding) I'm going to have to rescue my ham radio year with the Route 66 event.
This event stretches from the start of the old Route 66 in Illinois to the end at the Pacific Ocean and points in between. There are generally about 18 fixed locations along the route along with a couple of rovers in vehicles to contact.
Here is a link to last year's operating frequency guidance (shortwave guidance). https://w6jbt.org/?page_id=25 (https://w6jbt.org/?page_id=25)
-
Bump this post on 9/1 to remind us, please.
-
Alf a good thing about this one is that from your location that a directional antenna should catch everything from about Oklahoma City to the Pacific Ocean dead on. You should be able to catch that entire portion differentially as the muf moves from east to west which is something I never considered before...provided someone is operating at those times.
I'm looking to put up a bobtail curtain antenna to look "down the road" on the Route 66 route. That route also puts the backside of the curtain (bi-directional) looking a little north of Atlanta. I have a 20 meter 5 element bobtail somewhere if I can find it...but will probably end up building a new one of 3 or 4 elements because...I probably won't be able to find the 5 element.
-
I keep following you two and saying, "my next hobby to look at," but next hasn't arrived.
Would be fun, since we live just off the Mother Road. I drive a stretch to and from work every day and to church.
-
Mike do you have a shortwave radio? I recommend the Tecsun PL-880 ($170) or the XHdata D808 ($110). Both have sideband modes which is what you'll need to catch most ham communications and won't disappoint on performance. My first choice would be the Tecsun but the $60 difference won't make a lot of difference to the casual user.
-
All I have is the CB (Cobra 29 LTD) I ran in my truck, and it is in a drawer in my office desk.
This week is a little quieter, at this point. Will do a little look into this.
Thanks
-
I'm getting ready to put a CB in my truck. I haven't had one in a vehicle for...well, a lot of years. Decades. After this foot heals up I plan on installing one in the truck.
Along with my 857d ham radio...if I can find it.
-
Alf, I'm also looking into a half square antenna (directional wire antenna) if I can't find the old Bobtail. I have all I need for one. You get good gain close to the ground. More gain if you put a reflector behind it and you get some insane rejection that way...also close to the ground.
The half square is just 1 wavelength of wire. https://w6af.com/makerspace/build-your-own-ham-antennas/half-square-antenna-easy-wire-dx-antenna/ (https://w6af.com/makerspace/build-your-own-ham-antennas/half-square-antenna-easy-wire-dx-antenna/)
A neat online design program....
https://www.sota-antennas.com/halfsqr.php (https://www.sota-antennas.com/halfsqr.php)
Then...there always is the Moxon. Lots of gain there for not a lot of expense or effort. But the primary takeoff angle is around 30 degrees with a Moxon...15 degrees with the half square.
-
All I have is the CB (Cobra 29 LTD) I ran in my truck, and it is in a drawer in my office desk.
This week is a little quieter, at this point. Will do a little look into this.
Thanks
The Truck Driver's #1 Choice! I remember the CB craze back in the '70s when there were only 23 channels instead of 40, and Cobra was really popular way back then.
I might like to listen to shortwave radio some time, just to hear it, the same way I sometimes listen to worldwide radio online. Just something different.
I wonder if running an antenna up my 40' TV mast would be any good for that kind of radio?
-
I think I've milked all I can out of my Hustler vertical on 20m, 15m and 10m. Especially 20m where I haven't heard a single Alaskan station. And on 10m the antenna seems to deaf to AR, TN, NC & SC. I've assemble a rigid dipole for 10m which I haven't put up yet. If it works and I get the last 4 states, then I'll extend it for 20m to work AK.
80m and 40m are just a matter working them at the right times. Most of hamming is done 11am to 2pm when I'm in my office. Not good for those two bands.
If anyone is just getting an HF receiver and you want to move beyond voice (SSB) or CW (code) then you can hook the audio to your computer and download some of the free digital programs like WSJTX. The most popular mode seems to be FT8. Trouble is all the contacts consists of is callsign, location and signal strength which can get boring. There evidently is still a body of RTTY (teletype) users and they still have social conversations if you want to monitor them.
-
I figure those states are too close to you considering the takeoff angle on the vertical...but I could be wrong. You may do better on those with a NVIS for those bands during the day. Having a ground wave would be dang near impossible for you to contact those states. HOWEVER, I did once make a hop of 100 miles to Joplin during a Route 66 Event when the late Bob Heil was working the station. It was late in the afternoon so I figure it was a gray line thing. I did a ground wave contact to Muskogee once at 55-60 miles on night...conditions were really quiet though.
For the Route 66 thing I think I'm going to be deaf to work from St. Louis to Elk City, OK, during the day on 20, 15 and 10 meters because it's too close. Amarillo (and points west) should not have that issue. Nor should Chicago and up to half way to St. Louis. It'll have to be 40M and maybe 80M to work those guys during the day.
I have not yet hopped over to the digital thing. I want to but I can't seem to find the time. I think it's important to be able to work on digital. I see it more for transferring files during SHTF or TEOTWAWKI then for normal ham use...but I have couple of buddies who use digital almost exclusively. Some find day....
-
I've never been on Route 66 but I have been down Interstate 69 hundreds of times. It's only a mile away.
Something that always seemed odd to me is that Dixie Hwy, is near hear, and I'm a LONG way from the Land of Dixie. The race track formerly known a Dixie Motor Speed way is 20 miles from my house, and Dixie Hwy is M-54 where it goes through Flint, less than 4 miles away from here. Originally, Saginaw Road in the Flint area was a part of the Saginaw Trail, a Native American footpath in the area. Now Saginaw Street is the oldest red brick paved highway in the whole country.
M-54 is a north–south state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan that bypasses the city of Flint. It is named Dort Highway for much of its length, in honor of Flint carriage and automobile pioneer Josiah Dallas Dort. The portion from the north end of Dort Highway to Clio Road is part of the historic Saginaw Trail, and was also part of the old Dixie Highway. The modern highway runs for 30 miles through Genesee and Saginaw counties from connections with Interstate 75 (I-75) near Grand Blanc on the south to Birch Run on the north. The highway serves mostly suburban and urban sections of the Flint area. Outside of the city, it also passes through agricultural areas in northern Genesee County and southeastern Saginaw County. It also shares a short east–west section with M-83 near Birch Run.
M-54 starts at exit 109 along I-75 and follows Dort Highway northward through suburban Grand Blanc Township. The area near the southern end is mostly residential, but north of Reid Road, there is the Grand Blanc Metal Center plant for General Motors to the east of the highway. M-54 intersects Hill and Saginaw roads in the unincorporated community of Whigville as the trunkline passes out of the industrial area surrounding the plant. North of the Maple Road intersection, Dort Highway crosses into Burton, and the suburban residential neighborhoods give way to commercial properties along the roadway. There is a rail line leased by Lake State Railway that runs parallel to the highway about a half mile to the east. North of Atherton Road, M-54 crosses into Flint and runs through the city's east side. The trunkline intersects I-69 near the Amtrak station in the city, and a viaduct with a line of the Canadian National Railway. Between Robert T. Longway Boulevard and Davison Road, Dort Highway passes another industrial area. North of Leith Street, east the former Buick City industrial complex, and north of AC spark Plug where most of the M2 .50 BMG machine guns were made, the highway turns to the northwest, and the parallel railroad, still part of the Lake State line, follows suit.
Dort Highway crosses the Flint River on the northeast side of the city near the interchange that connects the highway to I-475. This interchange uses the connection with Stewart Avenue on the western side of the river to provide all of the possible traffic movements between the freeway and the highway. M-54 turns due northerly past the interchange and crosses under the rail line as it heads out of Flint. The area north of the city line on Carpenter Road is dominated by industrial properties as far north as Coldwater Road. Running northward through a more rural area, M-54 passes to the east of Mount Morris. Turning northwesterly, the trunkline is dotted with commercial businesses as it continues to the Clio area. The highway runs parallel to east of the railroad. It passes the Flint Memorial Park cemetery and the Auto City Speedway, a motorsports race track in an area that is otherwise agricultural in nature away from the main highway. The Dort Highway name ends at the intersection with Saginaw Road, and the highway takes on the latter name. East of Clio, M-54 intersects M-57 (Vienna Road) in the unincorporated community of Pine Run. Wrong-way concurrency looking eastward along Birch Run Road.
Past the town, M-54 turns due north on Clio Road before crossing into southern Saginaw County. Over the county line, the name changes to Gera Road, and the trunkline runs through farm fields to an intersection with Birch Run Road. At that intersection, M-54 northbound turns westward and joins M-83 to run concurrently to Birch Run while M-83 continues north to Frankenmuth on Gera Road. Birch Run Road carries opposing directions of the two highways, a phenomenon called a wrong-way concurrency. Running westward, the road is signed as both M-54 northbound or M-83 southbound. About two miles west of the intersection between Gera and Birch Run roads, the two highways meet a common terminus at exit 136 on I-75/US 23 in a commercial district that includes a large outlet mall bordering that freeway. And that's where it becomes Dixie Hwy again.
M-54 is maintained by MDOT like other state highways in Michigan. As a part of these maintenance responsibilities, the department tracks the volume of traffic that uses the roadways under its jurisdiction. These volumes are expressed using a metric called annual average daily traffic, which is a statistical calculation of the average daily number of vehicles on a segment of roadway. MDOT's surveys in 2010 showed that the highest traffic levels along M-54 were the 30,145 vehicles daily north of the I-69 interchange in Flint; the lowest counts were the 2,880 vehicles per day along the M-83 concurrency. M-54 between I-75 in Grand Blanc Township and M-57 near Clio has been listed on the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility. It's not as historic as highway M-1 in Detroit, Woodward Ave, site of the first mile of paved highway on the continent, but there's still a lot of history around it.
-
<snip>
I wonder if running an antenna up my 40' TV mast would be any good for that kind of radio?
Absolutely. If you were in an open field having it at 33' may be better than 40'. In town you have to deal with power lines you ideally need to get above (without the chance of your antenna somehow falling on them).
Eric has a bunch of reviews of various CB items. Here are the base antennaes he recommends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeHS7QDUzJ4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeHS7QDUzJ4)
I would put a Starduster on the list as well. It has a lower takeoff angle and does better at distance.
-
My TV antenna is well above the power lines. I had it unhooked and switched to cable before the big change to digital TV, but back in analog days it used to get signals from 50 miles away in Lansing, and that's with a church across the street in the way. All the Detroit stations, and channel 9 in Windsor, Ontario 60 miles away used to come in good too. Channel Master says there are Up to 61 Available Channels For my ZIP code. If I got that many channels before, I probably wouldn't have switched to cable after I retired.
https://www.channelmaster.com/pages/free-tv-channels-flint-mi-48503#address=48503
I watched that video but through the whole thing, I couldn't stop thinking about how much that guy looked like Negan on The Walking Dead. The only thing missing was his bat, Lucille.