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Author Topic: Howdy from South Alabama  (Read 538 times)

Offline ChristWarrior

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Howdy from South Alabama
« on: September 03, 2024, 08:41:43 PM »
Hello all,
I served in the USN for 20yrs and had a blast. Started off being a Helo/Jet depot level mechanic, got bored so I volunteered to go to Iraq in 91' to be part of a Lite FAST team, I was good with guns.  Highlight of that gig was being on General Schwarzkopf's security detail in Bahrain.  What an incredible person and leader, truly would have made a great president. RIP brother. Got bored with that eventually and decided to become a Flight Engineer, now that was fun!  Love flying!  Being the adrenaline junky that I am, I chose to get into Special Ops as a Flight Engineer and loved every minute of it.  Worked with a lot of Special Fores folks and was another highlight of my career.  That path got me out of Reg-Navy stuff and made my years in very interesting.

Unfortunately I was grounded in my 19th year due to injuries, since I couldn't fly I retired a year later.  Only to go into Afghanistan as a contractor working FOB's as an IT/Sat-Comm guy.  Did that for a year and made the mistake of jumping out of the Huey to soon with a full kit and my Satellite gear.  Pretty much blew out an already damaged disk.  Three days on Oxy and laying on the floor, soon after that my contract had been for-filled.  Went home to work in Cyber Security with OGA's.  Had a front row seat with the stupidity of what I was seeing from certain anti-american political so called leadership and what they were doing to our country.  All within critical infrastructures, never mind how vulnerable they were making us regarding cyber security policies.  Stress got to me and was forced into retirement early or suffer a stroke or two.  Thanks to Trump, he rocked the VA boat enough that my eleven year battle with the VA came to a positive end. 

So now here I am at 62 trying to stay relative!  LOL
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Offline Nemo

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Re: Howdy from South Alabama
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2024, 09:41:51 PM »
Greetings and Salutations Good Sir, Hail and Well Met!

What is your general location, Me, Virginia.  Sharptop and Flattop are visible out my back windows.

Nemo
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If you need a second magazine, its time to call in air support.

God created Man, Col. Sam Colt made him equal, John Moses Browning turned equality to perfection, Gaston Glock turned perfection into plastic fantastic junk.

Offline pkveazey

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Re: Howdy from South Alabama
« Reply #2 on: September 04, 2024, 04:00:03 PM »
Hello, from another Virginian. Welcome to the flock. We have a lot of really good preppers here. Even when we disagree, we are very civil and that's why I stay here. As best I recall, JohnyMac is into drones, so you two might have a lot to talk about. As for Nemo, he likes to name the 2 mountains that he can see (Sharptop and Flattop) because it sounds cooler than saying The Peaks Of Otter. Ok, OK, I'm jealous that I can't see them from my house. They're about 100 miles West of me. You didn't mention if you are a Ham Radio Operator. I think about 1/3 of us are Hams. I've never been to Alabama but I've actually seen it from a mountaintop next to Chattanooga.
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Offline Nemo

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Re: Howdy from South Alabama
« Reply #3 on: September 04, 2024, 08:13:07 PM »
PK, you have been to Lookout Mountain?  If so you surely saw all 7 states. 

Get down into the cave to Ruby Falls?  If not, go back.  Its worth the trip. That is a great place to visit, top and bottom of a mountain in one day.

Forgot to mention above, I did Huntsville AL for grades 1-5, starting near 60 years ago.  Dayum, thats been a while.

Dad worked for IBM building the black stripe section around all the Saturn V rockets.  That black stripe is the computer equipment, all made by IBM and painted the stripe for basic advertising.  Now, your general Android phone is a more capable computer than all on that rocket.

And yes, those are cool mountain names, and cooler mountain shapes.

Nemo
« Last Edit: September 04, 2024, 08:22:17 PM by Nemo »
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If you need a second magazine, its time to call in air support.

God created Man, Col. Sam Colt made him equal, John Moses Browning turned equality to perfection, Gaston Glock turned perfection into plastic fantastic junk.

Offline ChristWarrior

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Re: Howdy from South Alabama
« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2024, 02:59:33 PM »
Thanks for the warm welcome, I live in Spanish Fort Alabama. I spent most of my life in Hawaii so I can't deviate too much from the beach.  Spanish Fort seems to have a good balance and far enough away from potential hurricanes.   

I am a Extra Ham Operator.  I have been in the Ham world for many years but didn't really touched it much due to my jobs over the years.  Lots of travel and long working hours.  However now that I'm fully retired, I am really enjoying getting in deeper to the hobby.  Trying to get more involved with duties of being a ANCS during the Nets but need to read up on the process.  Florida and Texas nets are very helpful for the NIB's and AIB's that I can't get a full copy on from the Northern States. 

Drones are a hidden gem in home security, I just need to get a drone more affordable and has thermal. DJI makes it hard to beat with their advances in tech and prices that are just out of reach for what I'm after.  The LiDAR drones are nice but unless you're making money with it, I cannot justify it for my needs. My wife thinks I'm over the top with security camera's, drones, and NVG's, but given my life experiences.....

Aloha and 73's
« Last Edit: September 06, 2024, 10:45:41 AM by ChristWarrior »
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Offline pkveazey

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Re: Howdy from South Alabama
« Reply #5 on: September 05, 2024, 04:22:12 PM »
Hot dog..... We've got another Ham in the group. Now that you are retired and settled in, you might want to try a 160 meter horizontal dipole. I've got about 10 antennas on my 40 foot tower and when I can't quite make it on the single band antennas, I just flip to the 160 meter dipole. I use an ICOM IC-7300 with an LDG 250 watt auto-tuner. OK, OK, I know the IC-7300 has a built in auto-tuner but it won't tune a high VSWR at or above 3:1. The LDG will tune a wet noodle. I installed my 160 meter dipole in an L shape so it would lower the 75 Ohm impedance and also be more omnidirectional. Years ago, I built all sorts of HF wire antennas and ended up liking the 160 meter dipole the best. Yep, I was even stupid enough to actually make a 125 foot long wire. It sort of, kind of, worked OK.
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Offline Romeo Gulf

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Re: Howdy from South Alabama
« Reply #6 on: September 05, 2024, 05:02:19 PM »
Greetings from SE Alabama.
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Offline Jackalope

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Re: Howdy from South Alabama
« Reply #7 on: September 05, 2024, 10:41:49 PM »
Welcome to the forum, from middle Tennessee!
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Offline Nemo

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Re: Howdy from South Alabama
« Reply #8 on: September 06, 2024, 02:46:52 PM »
And Central Virginia.

Nemo
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If you need a second magazine, its time to call in air support.

God created Man, Col. Sam Colt made him equal, John Moses Browning turned equality to perfection, Gaston Glock turned perfection into plastic fantastic junk.

Offline JohnyMac

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Re: Howdy from South Alabama
« Reply #9 on: September 06, 2024, 03:33:08 PM »
Welcome ChristWarrior to Unchainedpreppers.

A great eclectic group of gals and guys. Some great stuff in the achieves also.

Glad to read that you are a ham too. As you probably know UP runs a digital and phone net Tuesday nights. Here is Septembers SOI,

https://unchainedpreppers.com/forum/radio/september-2024-erin-soi/

Welcome,  :cheers:
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Offline ChristWarrior

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Re: Howdy from South Alabama
« Reply #10 on: September 07, 2024, 05:38:41 PM »
Quote from: pkveazey on September 05, 2024, 04:22:12 PM
Hot dog..... We've got another Ham in the group. Now that you are retired and settled in, you might want to try a 160 meter horizontal dipole. I've got about 10 antennas on my 40 foot tower and when I can't quite make it on the single band antennas, I just flip to the 160 meter dipole. I use an ICOM IC-7300 with an LDG 250 watt auto-tuner. OK, OK, I know the IC-7300 has a built in auto-tuner but it won't tune a high VSWR at or above 3:1. The LDG will tune a wet noodle. I installed my 160 meter dipole in an L shape so it would lower the 75 Ohm impedance and also be more omnidirectional. Years ago, I built all sorts of HF wire antennas and ended up liking the 160 meter dipole the best. Yep, I was even stupid enough to actually make a 125 foot long wire. It sort of, kind of, worked OK.

LOL.....I am also running an iCom 7300 and 160 Dipole inverted V (Live in a HOA) off of a 65' Magnolia tree.  I have the IT-100 LDG and agree with your comment about having the external tuner especially LDG. I don't build any antennas, no time to do so.  I have a daughter about to be in VMD graduate school (Auburn) and another 16yr old pushing in the same direction or at least medical field. 

I am building a Manpack now, FT-891 with an Evolve III Maestro with both Linux and Win 10. I haven't decided which boot sequence I like better yet. 

Also just received my QMX QRP box and I'm learning the nuances of it, my plan for the QMX is 24/7/365 ops with JS8 Call for emergency flash messages.  Since I can no longer be in the "fight" physically, I might as well do my part on open wire intel I guess.  Helps me to feel relevant.

Totally jelly about the LDG 250 auto-tuner you have. I should have waited and got it.  But I was in a rush to get these build outs done given current world situations.  I don't like leaving my 7300 plugged into anything when not using.  I learned the hard way that even the USB cable plugged in only can fry two of the three internal boards of an iCom 7300.  Ouch $$$

Cheers, Chris
« Last Edit: September 07, 2024, 05:40:28 PM by ChristWarrior »
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Offline pkveazey

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Re: Howdy from South Alabama
« Reply #11 on: September 08, 2024, 08:07:08 AM »
Christ, we seem to think along the same lines when it comes to Radios. I have two IC-7300's. Ahhh, but alas, I tried to remove the diode that opens the transmit up and the components are so tiny that I let the soldering iron hit something and now the radio won't turn on. I was quoted a price of $700 to fix it. Well, screw that. I just got on the phone and just bought another one. Now I have a brand new parts radio if I need it. My Radio Bug Out Backpack has my old IC-718 and the LDG 100 tuner mounted on top as if it is part of the radio. The transmit has been opened up. It's OK, I'm legal because I've got my commercial license and can transmit on any frequency for test purposes. My Radio Bug Out Backpack is also loaded with test equipment and lots of spools of wire for making quickie antennas in the field.
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