900 Mhz

Posted by on July 11, 2009 No comments

900 Mhz is a very exciting band. But you do have to have some know-how, or someone who does.  I do have a 900 Mhz repeater on Sacaton Peak, and it is really fun. I have it hooked up to Echolink and it is frequently on the 902 HUB.

K5TRA’s Presentation

A friend of mine Tom K5TRA, put together a great Presentation on 900 Mhz. It goes into detail about good choices in radios, and some pictures of his repeaters. Tom’s repeaters are up in Oregon, and I got to know him through the 902-HUB, which is all 900 mhz repeaters and simplex nodes tied together with echolink.

Motorola Gear

Typically 900 Mhz Motorola Gear takes a RIB (Device that allows your computer to program the radio) and RSS (Programming Software). Some of the RSS needs to be Hexed to allow the radio to operate in the Ham band, and some most of the RSS will on work in DOS. You can pick up RIBs at Wiscomm.com

GTX
Both the Mobile and Portable are great “Starter” radios for getting on 900 Mhz. They are limited to only 12 watts, and 10 channels. The power isn’t a constant 12 watts either. It might be 12 watts TX on 902, but only 3 watts TX on 927. There is a mod for this, but I haven’t tried it. There also is a software mod to get 15 channels in it. I have tried it and the results weren’t very good. The display starts messing up by only displaying parts of the channel. Also some repeater pairs came up as simplex, so I put it back to 10 channel.

MTX “Jedi Series”
Very nice radios. Again, takes a little software mod to make work. But it is well worth it. I have two of them, a full Keypad model III, and model I with no display or keypad.

Kenwood Gear

Kenwood gear is more forgiving. You can get the software a lot easier, and one kpg-4 programming cable will work on most mobiles. Portables are similar, but use a different cable. That is why I and a couple of others have made the switch to Kenwoods.  Alex KD6VPH has put together a really good site with much more info, it is http://www.kw902.com/

TK-931(HD)
I have a couple of TK-931HDs that I got from my friend Alex KD6VPH. He sells them from time to time on ebay, so be sure to keep and eye out, they are great units. It has a huge heat sink, and 30 watts. With a good 5db antenna, you should have no problem.

TK-981
The TK-981 works out of the box with no modification. Only a little programming hurdle.

Blu-UP-ick A.K.A. The Chick Mobile & Bluick

Posted by on July 11, 2009 No comments

Fellow Troop Members, Lend me Your Ears! That wretched engine that made the Bluick into Blu-up-ick has been conquered! Fear not for the beast had been wounded prior to the engagement, therefore conquering was inevitable. But I cannot take all the glory of this battle, for if it was not for mine constant companion, with its shining luster and unbreakable steel. The beast was a formidable foe, for it hath put off its great day of reckoning to gather as much corrosion as possible. Still the beast was no match for this warrior with his wrench and composite impact. The beast struggled at first, not allowing me to remove one of the its vital organs, the torque converter. Being the brilliant warrior that I am, I diverted my efforts to the heads of the beast, first cutting off its air supply, then one of the heads. Alas the second head was most furious. With last effort the beast spat in my face, being wounded as he was, I quickly removed the last head. Serenity! Opened the underbelly of the beast and found massive internally damage to 1/6th of the beast. Its internal clock obliterated, along with 1/6th of lung capacity. Alas this warrior can hang up his armor forever… Or for a bout two years.

Explanation:
Removed motor and tranny
Separated motor and tranny
Engine wouldn’t spin to remove torque converter
Tore engine apart to free up stuck motor
Found cam shaft in four pieces (Internal Clock)
Bearings on No. 1 piston went out cause of lack of oil
No. 1 rod let go and hit both sides of the block cracking both out completely
The rod even took out the camshaft,
The pieces of the camshaft were keeping the assembly from rotating
In removing those pieces, the crank and other 5 piston spun freely

Food Map

Posted by on July 11, 2009 No comments

Here’s a map I put together of some pretty dang good places to eat in the Valley. And I  even put some of my favorites on each place.

View Place to Eat in a larger map
I do update, so please check back in!