VE6BLD

Welcome to the CAARC web site. I have been a Ham since 1978 and I am active on most modes from HF to UHF Satellite communications.


Posts by VE6BLD

Got this today!!! Skip VE6BGT

Got this today!!!  Skip

 

VE6BLD’s first try on an Electric Unicycle! TOO MUCH FUN!

A few weeks ago I was at my son’s place in Okotoks and he helped me try his new Electric Unicycle. It was a very cold and windy day but after 3 tries I managed to go a few hundred feet! What a blast! 

Click these links for my 3 best tries…

This was the first time I tried riding Michael’s new Electric Unicycle. What a blast. It was very windy and cold. Safety first!!!

Dad’s 2nd Good Ride on Michael’s EUC  This would be easier on a flat lawn with no wind!!

Dad’s 3rd Good Ride Ya HOO

I may have to get one of these..

 

 

A short video to start your day with a good laugh!

What a great driver these Germans are!!

Grounding information for everyone

Jim VE6JHK passed this information video on to me after we had a discussion on the air with a few hams the other day. Thanks Jim.

Click this link for the video

VE6BLD 144 MHZ SSB horizontal Antenna install

VE6BLD 144 MHZ SSB horizontal Antenna install. We had a beautiful March plus 15 degree day to get my SSB Quagi antenna up the tower. Many thanks to VE6CIA Garry, VA6MPM Paul and VE6MIM Mike for helping with this rather difficult install. I have quite a few other antenna that could have posed a problem but we found a hole to pull up the 14 foot long Quagi and get it installed above the HF beam, 2 m Quagis, 70 CM Quag-v antennas. Garry climbed to stand on the top plate of the tower and then stood on the HF antenna boom to be able to reach above the 440 MHZ Quagi. He was able to install the new quagi on the verticlal mast of the 14 foot long vertical folded dipole I used for my commercial antenna for my business. He would have been reaching up to about the 63 foot height! The antenna checked out with a great SWR. Thanks all three of you for all the great help!! I should now be able to work Calgary and Edmonton easily on SSB simplex with the other weak signal hams. I an barely remember when VE6BGT Skip and I with Sarina’s and some other hams help built the whole tower and antenna 32 years ago! Check out the great pictures Sarina took in this Gallery.

After you close the picture browser you will have to refresh your page to go back( New problem I have to figure out now !!)

 

 

 

RAC Canada Day Contest

I just received this in my in box today!

VE6BLD RAC Canada Day Contest 2020

Winter Field Day Fun VE6BLD

I spent about 6 hours Sat and Sunday working the Winter Field Day. The bands were good until after 9 Saturday night. I slept in Sunday till 9:30 but managed a lot more contacts till noon.

Here are my results.

51 Sections,  38 States,   222 contacts,  1320 points,

80m, 40m, 20m, 15m,  6m, 2m.

I hope to see some more results from others here.

Bob VE6BLD

 

 

 

 

Earthlings and astronauts chat away, via ham radio

Earthlings and astronauts chat away, via ham radio

astronaut
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The International Space Station cost more than $100 billion. A ham radio set can be had for a few hundred bucks.

Perhaps that explains, in part, the appeal of having one of humankind’s greatest scientific inventions communicate with Earth via technology that’s more than 100 years old. But perhaps there’s a simpler explanation for why astronauts and  operators have been talking, and talking, for years.

NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock was just a few weeks into his six-month mission at the  station when feelings of isolation began to set in.

Wheelock would be separated from loved ones, save for communication via an internet phone, email or social media. At times, the stress and tension of serving as the station’s commander could be intense.

One night, as he looked out a window at the Earth below, he remembered the space station’s ham radio. He figured he’d turn it on—see if anyone was listening.

“Any station, any station, this is the International Space Station,” Wheelock said.

A flood of voices jumbled out of the airwaves.

Astronauts aboard the space station often speak to students via ham radio, which can also

More >

VE6BLD’s solar pop can heater to warm your shack from the sun.

In 2014 I found a video on you tube of a man in Newfoundland who had built a solar pop can heater. I decided I would build one for my big shop in the back of my large town lot. There is a south facing wall to install it on a foot away from the wall for safety reasons as it can produce 80 -90 degree C!  I had an old double pane window in the shop that was about 3 by 7 feet. So the project began. I also had the aluminum frame from a score clock which had been removed from a school gym which turned out to be the perfect depth to fill with rows of pop cans after being insulated with 2 inch styrofoam. The metal frame also had a perfect indentation on the front to install the double pane window. See the pictures in the link below for how I  built  this pop can heater. I used a small squirrel cage fan on the inlet in the garage and another one on the outlet in the garage. There is a temperature sensor at the top of the outlet pipe connected to an adjustable digital temperature control ($8.00 on ebay). I can set any temperature to turn on the fans and I can also adjust the differential to turn off. As soon as the sun comes up and shines on the heater  it  will quickly come to the set temperature I programed of 32 C. The heater was tested to  produce up to +180 degrees F  (+80 degrees C) before I installed the fans. This is a good reason to have 2 fans so it will not melt the heater if one fan quits! Today Nov 11, 2020 the sun was very low (temperature – 12 degrees all day) but the heater quickly rose to +32 C and the thermostat turned the fans on. The heater produced a steady +18 C temp into the garage all day until there was no more sun shining on it. ! Darn nice free solar heat. 

Click the pictures in the gallery 

 

Click this link to see the picture gallery of this project 

 

 

 

VE6BLD multi-coax junction box on my tower

I have just completed building and installing a multi-coax junction box on my tower. I have 9 coaxes coming down the tower and feeding through a 4 inch pvc conduit to the basement. Every time a thunderstorm approached I would have to go behind my operating desk in the shack and disconnect them all. Two of the lines are 7/8 inch hardline with 1/4 inch solid core center conductor. Any lightning strike would have a direct path to the shack- not great!! I had an old aluminum weather proof  box which was used for a chart recorder in a town pump house. Please see the pictures for the construction and finished product. There is also another WP box three feet away to connect the coaxes from the house to a grounding bar during bad weather. The red banana plugs ground the disconnected  coax coming down the tower after they are disconnected. This way there is no path for the lightning to enter the house through the coaxes.