KC5CW Ham Radio, SOTA, KX3 blog

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I’m back in the US. Had a great trip

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A few of my viewis

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Count down to RF as FY/KC5CW!

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Arrived in French Guyane

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Stopping to refuel the jet in San Juan

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Headed to French Guiana to get #JWST ready for launch

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[redbobtexas]

Janet Lee Bierman

November 24, 2018

Why Carry a Gun?

My old Grandpa said to me, ‘Son, there comes a time in   every man’s life when he stops bustin’ knuckles and starts   bustin’ caps and usually it’s when he becomes too old to   take a whoopin’.’

I don’t carry a gun to kill people; I carry a gun to keep   from being killed.

 I don’t carry a gun because I’m evil; I carry a gun because   I have lived long enough to see the evil in the World.

 I don’t carry a gun because I hate the government; I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.

 I don’t carry a gun because I’m angry; I carry a gun so that I don’t have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.

 I don’t carry a gun because I want to shoot someone; I   carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.

I don’t carry a gun to make me feel like a man; I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves   and the ones they love.

 I don’t carry a gun because I feel inadequate; I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.

 I don’t carry a gun because I love it; I carry a gun because   I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.

 Police protection is an oxymoron: Free citizens must   protect themselves because police do not protect you   from crime; they just investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess.

 Personally, I carry a gun because I’m too young to die and too old to take a whoopin’! ———————–

 A LITTLE GUN HISTORY

 PLEASE  DON’T  THINK  FOR  A  MOMENT,  THAT  THIS  COULDN’T HAPPEN  IN  OUR  COUNTRY  ALSO !!!!!!

In 1911, Turkey established gun control:

·             From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. ———————–

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control:

·             From 1929 to 1953,  about 20 million dissidents,   unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. ———————–

In 1938 Germany established gun control:

.                From 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were   unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated. ———————–

China established gun control in 1935:

.                   From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. ———————–

Cambodia established gun control in 1956:

.                  From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.   ———————–

Guatemala established gun control in 1964:

·         From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend    themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. ———————–

Uganda  established gun control in 1970:

·             From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. ———————–

56 million defenseless people were rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control.   ———————–

You won’t see this data on the US evening news, or hear politicians disseminating this information.

 *Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws adversely affect ONLY the law-abiding citizens.

With guns, we are ‘citizens’; without them, we are ‘subjects’.

During WW II, the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew most Americans were ARMED!

Gun owners in the USA are the largest armed forces in   the World! If you value your freedom, please spread this anti-gun control message to all of your friends.

The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense.

 The sword is more important than the shield and skill is more important than either.  

 ·          SWITZERLAND  ISSUES A GUN TO EVERY   HOUSEHOLD!   SWITZERLAND’S GOVERNMENT   ISSUES AND TRAINS EVERY ADULT IN THE USE OF A RIFLE.

 ·             SWITZERLAND HAS THE LOWEST GUN RELATED CRIME RATE OF ANY CIVILIZED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!!

·             IT’S A NO BRAINER! DON’T LET OUR GOVERNMENT      WASTE MILLIONS OF OUR TAX DOLLARS IN AN     EFFORT TO MAKE ALL LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS     AN EASY TARGET.

·          I’m a firm believer in the 2nd Amendment! If you are too, please forward this. If you’re not a believer, please reconsider the true facts. This is history; and if we do not want history to repeat itself, we must wake up

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Alpine Plateau SOTA

First, I have a flickr gallery here if you want to see photos of my trip: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmP8Y9jo I was packing up when a massive rainstorm swept into my neighborhood, I went to the garage with my son to video it and a funny thing happened: https://www.flickr.com/photos/98644071@N08/50058984491/in/album-72157714908388058/ It's always good to start a trip off with a good laugh. I left a little later than I wanted to because I worked on a mounting system for my 2m/70cm antenna. Andrew, KD5ZZK, saw a photo and called it my Sanford & Son setup. I was kinda proud of it... until later. Here, judge for yourself: https://flic.kr/p/2jgwhrg I headed towards the mountains and my old FTM400 just would not lock onto any GPS satellites to squawk my location on aprs until I got over the front range. You can see that on my aprs track here: https://flic.kr/p/2jgzEpt I think I am going to sell my 400 and buy an upgraded 400xdr since it has a better GPS rx'er. If you haven't been to Colorado before, this road over Kenosha Pass is absolutely stunning. The unveiling of 14,000' mountains before you as you move from valley to pass to valley will have you feasting on magnificence and beauty that I think inspired us all to get into SOTA. https://flic.kr/p/2jgs897 If you come to this summit from Gunnison, CO I would suggest filling up there before heading out. There are no more gas stations after you go through Gunnison. Alpine Rd is a named road off of 149. Here's a suggestion, use google maps to navigate there and download the offline maps for that area before you head out. I did this and it made navigation much easier since there is no cell service after leaving Gunnison until you get to the summit. Here is the GPS location of the turn: https://flic.kr/p/2jgmpc4 There is some exposure on this road with some incredible views: https://flic.kr/p/2jgs8vz Alpine Rd is a well maintained forest road two track that any passenger car could navigate. The turn off of Alpine Rd is a Rt turn at this sign: https://flic.kr/p/2jgs8vE GPS location: https://flic.kr/p/2jgisxv This road, 867, is a two track that is maintained but not as well as Alpine Rd and I would suggest a SUV or higher clearance vehicle than a passenger car but a slow and cautious driver could make this road if very careful IMO. There is a lot of logging operations along this road that could change conditions at any time due to their heavy machinery and the frequency of afternoon showers. https://flic.kr/p/2jgwhLK Once you get to this location: https://flic.kr/p/2jgnH4F (this photo was taken on the way back from the summit 2 track to 867. GPS coordinates: https://flic.kr/p/2jgmqLB The summit 2 track is high clearance 4x4 only, so park there and hike up if you don't have an offroad vehicle. Here is video showing what it's like to drive this summit 2 track: https://flic.kr/p/2jgsNNx I got to the summit after sunset and set up camp in the dark: https://flic.kr/p/2jgwi8b The next morning (Saturday morning) I woke up to this view: https://flic.kr/p/2jgv4hG Here's my camp setup: https://flic.kr/p/2jgv4jk and https://flic.kr/p/2jgs8Za and my field day/SOTA radio summit shack: https://flic.kr/p/2jgwign The plan was to run 1B for field day but I ended up only doing a SOTA activation using my 991a radio, a Bioenno battery, and a KX3 Helper end fed antenna thrown into the pine tree next to my station. I started breakfast and then turned on the radio to find an empty slice of band pie. The 991a has a nice bandscope that allows for easy viewing of the activity around your tuned frequency. I put out a spot on 20m and immediately had a nice pre-field day start time pile-up. I've uploaded my logs so if you got me, you're in the database. I needed to get back to my bacon so I put out a last call and got another in the log before getting to breakfast. I realized I had forgotten to bring plates and silverware. Add that to the checklist for the next trip! Oops I also forgot sunscreen and now I'm sitting here typing this with some serious heat radiating off of my neck, arms, and face! I did bring a big hat but it didn't always stay on in the summit winds. I did get a bit sick later in the day from either the bacon grease I cooked my eggs in or the medicine I took, or maybe a combo of both with the campsite elevation of 11,500': https://flic.kr/p/2jgv5sh but due to that, I didn't operate much more and just relaxed and enjoyed my summit campsite. I felt better the next morning and got a couple more contacts, one on 18Mhz (NE4TN) and another on 21Mhz (N4EX). I packed up and thought I'd try another unactivated summit on the way back to Gunnison, Tolvar Peak. https://flic.kr/p/2jgmpAW It is 100% a high clearance 4x4 road that you need to attempt only before the rains (and get off before it rains) with lockers and preferably sway bar disconnect or just park at the 149c road to the two track turn and hike up. I looked at the shortest path up the front of the mountain and even though there's a two track going straight up the face, I didn't feel comfortable trying that so I went around the back and ended up backing down from that: https://flic.kr/p/2jgnEcy Some of you might be asking, why doesn't he just hike up? Check out this album which shows some of the things I'm still working on getting back to normal: https://www.flickr.com/gp/98644071@N08/SsN4U4 I didn't get up Tolvar. The rain started heading in and I didn't think it was save to be up there so I headed home.

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Freedom!

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