What tickles your pickle

Going for a long fast moto ride in the twisties and not getting a ticket, G forces in hard corners, motorcycles in general.

Eating an epic spaghetti dinner after a 100 mile bicycle ride and then just digesting.

This chicks voice is relaxing as hell:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ee2...g7eJ8VuXDCZ_vg

Fresh sheets that are all cool and clean feeling when you get in.

Reef Aquariums. I could stare at mine for hours.

Waking up in the middle of the night, warm and turning the pillow to the cool side.

I'm a ham radio operator. Tonight I was able to work the research station RI1ANC in Anartica. Finally worked all 7 continents, Anartica obvliously being the most difficult.

So how is Alex?

I think that's an old QSL card. They have a special station call sign and rotate operators who have a license. When I logged the contact their page lsited who was actally using their station in what year/season and it changed all the time.

Not being familiar at all with the HAM radio thing (the only thing I know- or think I know - is that you can reach very long distance when the waves bounce on the clouds or something), when you said you were able to 'work' it, I thought you were able to chat with someone there. But are they like running a tape that constantly emits and you caught that? Also what 'work' does it entail. From a layman's perspective, it seems you would set your radio on the right frequency and wait until the weather between you and them allows you to receive their signal. I supose it's more involved than that?

Szlia_sl said:

Not being familiar at all with the HAM radio thing (the only thing I know- or think I know - is that you can reach very long distance when the waves bounce on the clouds or something), when you said you were able to 'work' it, I thought you were able to chat with someone there. But are they like running a tape that constantly emits and you caught that? Also what 'work' does it entail. From a layman's perspective, it seems you would set your radio on the right frequency and wait until the weather between you and them allows you to receive their signal. I supose it's more involved than that?

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Sorry, you work a station you simply make contact with that station. There are a few stations that everyone wants to "work" simply because they are rare like Anartica. The pics come from their bio page. Nowdays when you log a contact there's an almost worldwide database of call signs you can look up and many people post a little bio about who they are or what equipment they run. That's where I got the picture. The card is called a QSL card. Back in the day that used to be the only way to confirm a contact. People still send them and you return a similar one if you feel like it. You normally get ones with a pic of their area, a funny pic, or sometimes nudie women or whatever.

I can't like it directly for whatever reason. Go here and put RI1ANC in the upper blank spot by search and hit search.

QRZ Callsign Database Search by QRZ.COM

No the person running the station there is just a ham radio hobbiest. When he has time he simply turns on the radio and calls CQ over the radio which just means he's looking for someone to talk to. I was just turning the dial on the 20m band when I heard him call CQ and I looked up his callsign. There are multiple bands and they behave differently. You can get radio propagation reports based on the sunspot number etc...

If conditions are just right you can contact someone "long path" which means really all the way around the world. When it happens you'll hear yourself echo because it takes the short path which is direct and the long path which is all the way around. Just a few weeks ago they had a special station in Scotland for the commonwealth games. He was pointing his direction antenna toward mainland Europe in an attempt to pick up stations and according to his log he was got Poland and Sweden right before me. I couldn't hear them at all. I could hear the guy in Scotland. When he head me, he told me which direction his antenna was pointing and we agreed it was long path. The radio waves kept going in the same direction till they went 3/4 around the world and I got them in the US. He could hear me short path off the back of his antenna.

Sorry for the confusion. I was just happy because now I have worked "contacted" someone on all 7 continents with Anartica obviously being the rarest. I average 30-40 different countires a month. The middle east being the most difficult for me. But a few weeks ago in an hour time span I contacted Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.

It's a lot different than it used to be. Now there are digital modes, slow scan TV, voice and the old morse code all sent by radio waves.

You meet lots of different people in lots of places who share a common interest. This week I got a 300m freight off the coast of Florida that was in the Bermuda Triangle at the time.

During the 45th annual anniversary of the Apollo mission I worked Buzz Aldrin because they had a special station set up in Huntsville, AL at the space camp deal.

I have worked Joe Walsh, yes that Joe Walsh several times. He is a huge Ham radio nut and has had his license since 1959. In fact he co-host a web cast ham radio show once a week. The other fill in host is Leo Laporte the computer guy.

Joe Walsh is so hardcore he straps a morse code key to his leg and sends/receives morse code while he drives using his mobile station (lots of peole have them in their car). At his ham radio station (it's huge) he has a toilet right there because he says he hates to miss an important contact, literally. He gave a tour once on his show. His call sign is WB6ACU. The first time I worked himI had no idea who he was because his callsign search just said "Joseph Walsh" it wasn't till later that I figured it out.

You can also work the Interntional Space station but I haven't had any luck. They are only workable for a short period and you can imagine 10,000 people are trying to do it at once. It creates what we call a pile up. I can hear them but then 10,000 people give their call sign at once.

Nowdays there are website that help. Like right now I can pick a band, like 20m. And people "spot" who they have made contact with. I can see right now 20 or countries that are up and working and on what frequency. Sometimes I do that, sometimes I just spin the dial.

Borzak_sl said:

But a few weeks ago in an hour time span I contacted Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.

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Can the NSA know about that or is it one of the advantage of the system?

Anyway, that's a strange and deliciously vintage hobby (even if the tech evolved), it feels like a pre-internet global village; Chatroulette with a high barrier of entry and without the literal and figurative dicks.

The biggest growth of the hobby is the people who are prepared for shit the fan SHTF types of deals now that all you need to do is pass a test, the requirement to learn morse code was dropped about 8 years ago.

I never put much into that. The one time I had the SHTF was Katrina and I have a sat phone and it worked 100% of the time. When I go out west backpacking solo I carry a sat phone as well. I think there are 300k licensed in the US, it's VERY popular in Europe and people who live on islands from what I have seen.

Maybe every 1 in 10 contacts I have to google to figure out where that is located WTF it is in general. There are only 4k in my state with the top license, they sent me a notice when I got my vanity call sign to make it shorter.

Lots of aspects to the hobby. Lots of guys get into the really small and low output radios, like 10w max and do a lot of portable work or while camping etc..

One guy I contacted in Crete lives like a billionaire looking at his bio page. He had more people and equipment in a video while putting up his tower for his antenna than I have seen on the jobsite at the Exxon refinery where we put in a cracker unit that required a crane to be put together on site, made the lift, and then taken apart to be shipped elsewhere.

But as far as going "under the radar" maybe if the SHTF bad. Otherwise you are required to have a license (it last 10 years). Anyone in the US that has a license is listed on the FCC database that is searchable by anyone and list your name and adress, but you can use a PO Box or whatever. To remain legal you must give your call sign every 10 minutes maximum. Of course if things go bad that goes out the door.

Lots of people make fun of morse code. I watched a deal on Leno once where he got the guy that was awarded some deal for worlds fastest texter. He was showing how fast it was. Then Leno brought out two guys who knew morse code. Morse code was much faster. There are still entire portions of bands dedicated to morse code and it's very popular. It's fast and bandwidth effecient unlike voice communications.

Because it takes a license it's not much like the internet. In the US there are 3 licenses. The lowest can be passed with a couple of days of study. The next takes a little longer. The last is more involved, unless you memorize the quetions (possible) there's a good bit of math involved that i hadn't seen in decades and theory etc...

You can get the lowest license and a $45 handheld ham radio off amazon as a low entry point, it's good for local communications off of a repeater.

The next step up in license and you can buy a used $300ish high frequency radio, an antenna made out of a sinle length of 14gauge wire and literally talk around the world on it. Next up just gives you acess to parts of the band you couldn't use before and you really see the serious guys on there. Ocassionaly I ever contact women believe it or not, but it's a male dominated sport. It's still a hobby and a lot of home made stuff, lots of home made radios and gear. Most radios nowdays can be controlled via a PC thru a USB port and you can watch the "waterfall" display on the computer of all frequencies and traffic etc...

You do talk to intersting people in intersting places. Maybe once a week give or take I talk to someone in Ukraine. I get a couple of guys in Cuba at least every few weeks. A few weeks ago I was talking to someone in Israel during the cease fire when the sirens went off. You can send radiograms, which honestly is odd but you can send one to someone in BFE. I got one last week just because someone heard my call sign and missed me. They sent it thru the net and it took about 3-4 days to get here. Local guy picked up the message and drove over and gave it to me. Odd but still a backup plan if you need it.

Sorry I went on so long. I'm doing steroid infusion again and it makes you ramble. Both my parents and my girlfriend of 19 years said I had talked more in a week than the last 20 years combined. Literally.

Guy I mentioned in Crete with his antenna, that building at the bottom just his radio shack.

More tickle my picke. In under 24 hours I was able to work Anartica and Svalbard island.

So that makes the top and bottom of the world. I had to look it up, betwewen the bering sea and greenland sea.

How often do you tune into those numbers stations?

Not sure if I get the question. Ham radio isn't channelized.

Take 20meters which is a popular band for DX (contact at a distance, like talking from country to country.

It starts at 14mhz and goes to 14.350mhz. The voice portion goes from 14.150 mhz to 14.350mhz and that is further broken up license class.

So let's say from 14.150 to 14.350 just to talk. You can basically have someone talking 3khz apart so 14.150 then 14.153, 14.156 or 14.155 if someone isn't on 14.153 which would bleed over into your frequency.

So to find someone you basically start wherever and spin the dial listening, you might hear 2 people talking, one person calling CQ which means he is looking to talk to someone (they might say CQ DX which means I want to talk to someone from outside my country) or CQ Pacifc, CQ North America etc.) or someone calling QRZ which means they are just taking as many contacts as possible as fast as possible.

I'm not sure what you mean by number stations. Nobody has a frequency assigned to their station. If I want to talk to someone I just spin the dial in the appropriate band in the part I am licensed to use and find one someone isn't using. I might call CQ and get someone from a few states away or Eastern Europe or anywhere. Same for them. There are nets which meet on X day at Y time on certain frequencies and they take turns talking and such. Honestly that's where the real old guys hang out but they've known each other for 40 years or more. I guess before the internet it was a great place to find out the weather because when they check in they give their call sign, location and what the weather is where they are. The only net I check into is the martime mobile which gives the gulf update and the hurricane prepardness one which meets one night a week for just a few minutes as long as no storm is active.

It basically comes down to courtesy and common sense. No assigned channels or frequency to a station. A special event station just means they get a special callsign for the event, normally part of it will have to do with their event.

There are webites you can report a "spot" which list the callsign and freq. You can sort by band, special stations, or continent or even country. Only rare or special stations really get a spot. Like in the US North Dakota gets a spot, there are fewer ham radio operators there than any other state and people want them in their log so they can get an "all worked states" award. They also give out awards for 100 countries and multiples after that. There's a service that confirms your contact in your logbook with the ones other submit to keep it on the up and up.

There are all kind of awards. I talked to a guy in the Czech republic that was trying to work all counties in the US. He already had mine. He has an entire ranch that looked to be 100 acres on his site of nothing but antennas. He even floods a portion of it with saltwater because it increases the conductivity of the soil which helps some types of antennas. Those are the hardcore. Some people try to get all grids in a certain country. I think there are like 9000 grid squares in the US alone.

Me I just talk to people and try for odd stuff like Anartica etc...I plan to try for the International Space Station again, they send out QSL cards as well which is cool.

The commonwealth games speecial event station in Scotland was GA14CG. The special event station at the Indy 500, Brickyard 400 and the MotoGP race at Indy was W9IMS. Every weekend there's a ton of them from state fair deals to tonight I heard one from South Cook Island talking about something to do with the 150anniversary of Canada or some meeting to do with it. I had a hard time keeping up.

These are the type of contact cards you get from special stations. Here's the one from Indy Motor Speedway from last year for the Indy 500, Brickyard 400, and the MotoGP race.



This is my temporary card I send. I'm still in recovery mode living with my parents for another month or two. I have a better one from the state I actually live in. The state on this one isn't right either but I got someone on a forum to make it for me then I PM'd him the actual info so my callsign wouldn't be everywhere with my real name and adress.

This is what I was asking about. Just wondered if you ever stumbled upon any.

Numbers station - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sorry didn't put 2 and 2 together. I have heard of them but never really listened. A lot of the shortwave stuff seems to be going away. A lot of the European broadcast have but back and even Voice of America only broadcast part time. But no I've never listened to those stations. Even tho I have a radio that will receive from 1MHZ to 50MHZ I really never listen to anything out of the specific ham bands except for AM stations.

From that wiki page.

nly very large transmitters, perhaps up to 500,000 watts, are guaranteed to get through to nearly any basement-dwelling spy, nearly any place on earth, nearly all of the time. Some governments may not need a numbers station with global coverage if they only send spies to nearby countries.

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That amplifier would be so freaking huge when you turned it on you better be in a VERY industrial part of town or you would cause a giant brown out. Ot put it into perspective my radio is 100 watts as is 80-85% of most ham radio operators and I can reach around the world, literally. The legal limit is 1,500 watts for ham radio operators and even that isn't all that much more impressive but an amp that puts out 1500 watts would cost me from between $4k and $6k. You would have to work hard just to hide that amp.

You can listen to anything you want with or without a license, the big one that's covered a lot is you can't transmit in code AT ALL.

There are certain areas in the US you can't transmit on a ham radio by law. An area in VA that goes into WV that is supposed to be around the national radio telescope and there's a line just south of the Canada/US border and again at the AK/Canada border which extends to both sides of the border that I believe was put in place by some treaty.

Anything broadcasting on 500,000 watts would be so easy to pick up and locate with a directional antenna it wouldn't stay a secret long which makes me think it's a lot smaller than that.

I have a rotater on my antenna. I can tell you to within 1 degree on the globe which direction someone I am talking to is. Imagine a few people coordinate could find any one of those.

500,000 watts at 240 volts would be over 2000amps, or about the maximum of 10 households. It would really have to be on a governmental scale and at that scale it would be easily detectable by a non friendly, but I guess it wouldn't matter as long as you were only transmitting to someone in another country from this country. Not to mention the complexity of running a 500k watt amp would be so huge you would need a full team to get it up and running and maintain it. I can't imagine how many vacuum tubes it would hold.

Even with that much power you couldn't guarantee you could even reach beyond the radio horizon (about 15% further than the line of sight horizon). Even then you would still need favorable propogation and I know people who have had contacts 10k miles away with 5 watts when propogation is just right.

I wouldn't mind having that amp tho. When a special station is on the air and there's a big pile up I could really cut to the front of the line lol, or fry half the people that were between me and them. 500k watts on CW (Continuous wave - IE morse code) would be roughly equivilant to 1 million watts on voice lol.

wiping ass with hotel towels.