Subj : Handheld Tranceivers 1/2 To : Andy Ball From : Daryl Stout Date : Wed Dec 06 2000 09:44 am AB>Hello Daryl! Hello, Andy... AB>I've heard two local repeaters, on 2m and 70cm. Neither seems to have very AB>much traffic. It depends on the time of day, and whether or not nets are run on it. On one of the repeaters in the Little Rock area, it has the capability of being linked up to several repeaters across the state. AB>Do you still have that one? It might be something as simple as a dry joint. AB>I suppose it could also be down to the battery (assuming TX power requiremen AB>is higher than RX). What happened when you tried to transmit? The transmit light would light up, but it wouldn't key the repeater. And yet, I knew the repeater did NOT have a sub-audible PL tone on it...plus, I WAS able to key the repeater with another HT. AB>I don't know anything about SKYWARN, what can you tell me about it? SKYWARN is an organization in the United States, that is composed of "storm spotters"...individuals trained by the National Weather Service, to provide "ground truth" to what the Doppler weather radar is showing. Most of the spotters are ham radio operators, and many communites have "weather nets"...activated by the National Weather Service...when there is a threat of severe weather. Spotters usually report: 1) Tornadoes -- a violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground. Sometimes the tornado will not be "direct" from the ground to the sky...but it'll appear "separated". However, if there is a "debris cloud" on the ground, it is a tornado...even though the entire circulation isn't visible. 2) Funnel Clouds -- same as above but NOT in contact with the ground. Some funnel clouds will stay "aloft", but others will become tornadoes. While Doppler Radar may show a tornadic circulation, the spotter will usually relay the report whether the circulation is aloft, or on the ground. 3) Wall Clouds -- a lowered, rain free cloud base, usually at the southwest corner of a severe thunderstorm, where the updrafts and downdrafts meet. This is usually the area where the tornado will form, especially if it begins to rotate. Next to the wall cloud is usually an area of large hail. 4) Hail -- chunks of ice, produced by intense updrafts of thunderstorms. Hail size can range from pea sized to as large as tennis balls, or grapefruits. Some hailstones have been reported to be as big as 5 inches in diameter. While Doppler Radar can detect hail shafts within the severe thunderstorm, and possible size of the hail, spotter reports provide information on the size of the hail. 5) Flash Flooding -- Doppler Radar can estimate rainfall totals, that can lead to flash flooding...but spotters can report incidents of flooding. 6) Wind Damage -- Doppler Radar can indicate high winds with the storm...such as microbursts (downdrafts), as straight line winds. Wind speeds can approach 100 mph. 7) Nets can also be deployed during winter storms, with freezing drizzle, freezing rain, sleet, and snow...which usually causes a myriad of travel problems. AB>Are ANSI and colour commonly used in packet radio? It depends on what program you use. On my Pentium computer that I run my BBS (and a packet door) on, I use a simple DOS program called "EZ PACKET". On my Radio Shack Model 102 laptop, I use a program called XMDPW5, which like the EZ PACKET program, allows for Xmodem or ASCII file transfers. The TNC basically doesn't care about the date, unless you're using a fancy packet program. For the most part, if you're just going after messages via a packet bulletin board system, all you need is black and white ASCII text. AB>I've been using NiMH AA rechargeables lately, which are supposed to be free AB>that problem. I deep cycle them every now and again though. Agreed...the NiMH batteries are much better...and I think they last much longer. AB>We get a lot of storms, especially during the summer. We don't have a lot o AB>room, and I don't have a lot of cash, so I will probably have to think quite AB>hard about suitable antennae. I have magmounts in the shack for 2 meters, 6 meters, and 440. I saw an ad in the Amateur Electronic Supply (AES) catalog for an HF antenna that you can mount on a window or a table, thereby not needing an "outside antenna". The only drawback was that it didn't cover 160, 80, or 75 meters...but, it covered the rest of the HF bands, and up to the 440 UHF frequencies. I think it runs around $100, but I'm not sure. AES is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin...but other United States locations include Cleveland, Ohio...Las Vegas, Nevada...and Orlando, Florida. (Continued to next message) --- GTMail 1.26 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS, Little Rock, Arkansas (1:19/33.0) .