Saturday, 19 October 2013.
This was originally slated to be held out at Camp Gardner. We were hoping to get in a few additional activities (like their obstacle course), but the location got moved.
Our 2 local HAM operators Tom Oba and John Sobkowitz stepped up and setup a set of antenna at a home backing out onto Carburn park. They has strung a 40 ft one and added a regular 20 and 10 ft antenna. So we were prepared to hit all the bands.
John and Tom also provided some You-Tube videos on how fields work and getting the waves into them so you can encode a signal that can be decoded at the other end. It was easy then to see how the simple Morse Code was applied and then how the whole thing evolved into encoding sound and then video.
We were told the reception improves as we get closer to supper time. Seems the just as the sun goes down and then again when it comes up, provide the best times for reception and transmission.
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Karl Burndorfer, John Sobkowitz - Scout Leaders |
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Ethan Conrad. RJ Laigo, Michael Laigo, Issac Gagnon, Hale Aquino - Scouts |
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Tom Oba, John Sobkowitz - Ham Operator |
Settling in and checking out all the equipment |
Listening in of conversations but still challenged to connect with some
one |
Tom switching to another band. |
John showing Ethan the 10 and the 40 ft antenna. The 40 ft one is the
white one where the anchor lines are actually the antenna. |
Doing the fancy Radio operator talk. Got the set words for letters
etc. Foxtrot, Bravo guys |
Getting into the hobby gets you into a lot of cool electronics. |
And even computers provide help with lots of sites and apps to help out
the ham radio enthusiast. |
Thanks a ton Tom and John for setting all this up and showing us how it all works. |