We look forward to working you in the June 2021 VHF contest. Our new strategy for Saturday contest start is to engage as many fixed stations as possible at the start of the contest. We will set up with one rover each in the four grid corners of EL09 … [Read more]
January 2021 VHF Contest: The TX/OK Rover Convergence
We look forward to working you in the January 2021 VHF contest. This time, we’ll have EIGHT rovers in a pack meeting in Hico, TX on Saturday morning. Five of them are from Texas: KA5D/R, KD5IKG/R, and W5TN/R from Austin area, K2EZ/R from Brenham, and … [Read more]
UT:KA5D-7 Packet Node Information
There is a BPQ packet node at The University of Texas at Austin. The means to reach this packet station is kept updated at https://ka5d.com/repeaters. This article describes the station purpose and how it was built. The heart of the packet … [Read more]
June 2020 VHF Contest: Enter the Rover Pack
We look forward to working you in the June 2020 VHF contest. This time, we'll have four rovers in a pack moving from Falls City, TX in the south to Austin on Saturday, then Austin to Hico, TX on Sunday. We'll cover two grid corners each day. This … [Read more]
KA5D/R Rover info: September 2019 VHF contest
We look forward to working you in the September 2019 VHF contest. KA5D/R will be operating Limited Rover class — 6M, 2M, 1.25M & 70cm — and roving six grids starting at the grid corner of EL08/EL18/EL09/EL19 at 13:00CDT Saturday and working … [Read more]
KA5D/R VHF Contest Route: Jan 2019 Edition
We look forward to the fun of contacting VHF contesters this January. We appreciate your participation and hope you have fun! This weekend KA5D/R will be operating Limited Rover class -- 6M through 70cm -- and roving eight Maidenhead grids … [Read more]
Gratuitous Shack Photo
Here's the KA5D shack, circa 2017: … [Read more]
Cheap Yagi example
Here is an example of an effective antenna built on a budget. It is a horizontally polarized 6 element beam for 222.1 Mhz single sideband. We are going to use it for our limited rover. Credit goes to WA5VJB for his "cheap yagi" (do that exact … [Read more]
Six meter ham radio dipole for the VHF contests
Get on the 6m magic band during the second weekend of every June for the North American VHF contest, and listen for our contest rover KA5D/R. Here is an example of a rigid dipole you can build on short order, with nothing made of unobtainium, that … [Read more]
Motorcycle mobile ham radio installation examples
This video describes the two motorcycle mobile installations I'm running: - 2013 Zero S electric motorcycle with Yaesu FTM-10R radio and Comet SBB-5 antenna; - 2003 Honda VFR800 with Yaesu FT-60R radio and Comet HP-32FHN antenna. Both … [Read more]