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SF Bay Area SSB Chat Night

A

AlanH

compulsive typist
I propose an SSB chat/test talk for Thursday June 19th at 9:00 PM.

I should have my ground plane finished up on Saturday and it's time to make sure the flippin' thing works. However, I don't really remember the frequencies we use on the TransPac, or have used in past Bay Area chats. Anybody want to chime in? if Thursday doesn't work then Friday the 20th is fine, too.

Was it 8A? bleeeah....:confused:

Alan

PS: I might bug some of you guys at the Cruise In to fire up your SSB's and see if I can talk to you from 400 yards away.
 
AlanH said:
However, I don't really remember the frequencies we use on the TransPac, or have used in past Bay Area chats. Anybody want to chime in? if Thursday doesn't work then Friday the 20th is fine, too.
Click to expand...
The frequencies used in 2006 race are listed in the 2006 communications plan, available from the SSS TransPac archives - links are on the 2008 race page.

AlanH said:
PS: I might bug some of you guys at the Cruise In to fire up your SSB's and see if I can talk to you from 400 yards away.
Click to expand...

Sure - Beetle will be there, and we can check out the SSB on Ankle Biter.

- rob
 
Here's a quick cut/paste from 2006:

Primary Check-in (short range) 4.021.0
Backup Frequency (short-range) 4.027.0
Primary Check-in (mid range) 6.224.0 (6A)
Backup Frequency (mid range) 6.227.0 (6B)
Primary Check-in (long range) 8.185.0
Backup Frequency (long range) 8.191.0

If possible, I'll motor out to Naval Air and chat with you Thursday night. (There's no use trying to transmit from down in my "hole" at Marina Village.)

Wildflower, are you available to join us?
Will Haulback be under way yet?
To test the 8 band, Nereida?
 
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Listening to check in , confirming results

Hey All,

I just checked out Summer Moon's ssb from my home at 1500' above Los Gatos while she was at the light ship. I have done this numerous times. If you would like I could listen in and log results and/or be available by phone on the seminar calling card phone number. As each boat transmits results could be compared real time by cell phone to every one dialed in.

Let me know if that might help.

Brian
redsky
 
I will try to be there. Dream Chaser will (very hopefully) be back in the water by then and it's SSB has been checked a lot in actual use.

As far as I can tell, there hasn't been a decision as to frequency. At 9 PM anything above 4 MHz will be iffy generally, but that band should cover Canada to the Mexican border and almost 1000 miles out to sea if the bands are "normal" at that time of night.

John
Dream Chaser
 
I have essentially no experience with this but I propose that we start on the primary check-in short-range channel...4.021 (which is NOT 4A, by the way) at 9:00 PM

...and stay there for 15-20 minutes. Then we move to the primary check-in mid-range, which is 6.224.0, or "6A".

But I'm open to suggestions!
 
tiger beetle said:
Hi Alan -

you're talking about 7pm Thursday June 19, yes?

- rob
Click to expand...

I'd said 9:00 PM, but it might be a good idea to start at 7:00 for sunlight/atmospheric conditions, yes? Let's move it to 7:00 PM on Thursday June 19th..

Hey All,

I just checked out Summer Moon's ssb from my home at 1500' above Los Gatos while she was at the light ship. I have done this numerous times. If you would like I could listen in and log results and/or be available by phone on the seminar calling card phone number. As each boat transmits results could be compared real time by cell phone to every one dialed in.

Let me know if that might help.

Brian
redsky
Click to expand...

You could check who was audible and who wasn't, and post on the forum after we sign off. That'd be easy. I figure if I can talk to and get heard by Brian in Los Gatos, the guys in Alameda, and Dream chaser in Sausalito, then I'll likely be able to talk to folks on the race course.
 
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It would be good for me to jump in on this too but I won't be around on Thursday or Friday, any chance of a repeat on M-T-W July 7-8-9? As a minimum we should also run a test after the Thursday raft-up.

Jeff Lebesch / Hecla
 
Jeff Lebesch said:
It would be good for me to jump in on this too but I won't be around on Thursday or Friday, any chance of a repeat on M-T-W July 7-8-9? As a minimum we should also run a test after the Thursday raft-up.

Jeff Lebesch / Hecla
Click to expand...

Monday the 7th is the next SHTP seminar, I believe, so that won't work but Tuesday the 8th would be good. Sunday the 6th would be even better since it gives folks a couple of days to fix something if it doesn't work. The 8th and 9th are getting pretty darned tight on time if someone has to fix anything significant with their setup.

Can you be here on Sunday the 6th?

Trying a test while we're all tied up in the CYC basin is better than nothing but it really doesn't mean much because we're so close together that ANY signal getting off the boat will be audible. Now, if someone wanted to fire up their SSB at their slip at a pre-set time on Friday the 10th, and they were berthed someplace at least a few miles away, that would be valuable.
 
VALIS is the Pac Cup Comm boat this year, and we will be on the water this weekend for a shakedown -- including SSB radio checks. We are planning to do some sending and receiving starting around 11:00AM PDT Saturday (June 21). If you would like a radio check, try giving us a shout on 4A. We will be on S.F. Bay, or possibly just offshore by then.

-Paul Elliott
S/V VALIS - WDB2898
 
Tonights chat was very useful.

Thanks to Bob on Ragtime for being the central check-point!

Alchera, Ragtime, Sparky, Caroll E and Ankle Biter all chimed in.
 
Yes, thanks to all.

Tom, Brian, John (if in the water), were you able to hear any of it?

I was able to hear Wildflower a bit and he could hear me well, down in Santa Cruz. I think anchoring out in the Bay helped a lot.

FWIW, I took apart the ground plane attachment to the keelbolt, wire-brushed everything and resprayed with (can't remember - anticorrosion goop) then put it back together with no washers between the copper and the nut on the keelbolt. It seemed to me that the most metal-to-metal contact is between the threads on the nut and the keelbolt itself. If the washers are uber-clean that's fine, but I think I have better contact putting the copper directly against the nut.

All voodoo science, that. The satphone comes next Thursday!
 
Hi All,

Sorry I didn't make it. Boat was still on the hard, and I was sleeping on a neighbors boat. I am back on board now and in the water but still haven't connected the lead to the insulated backstay. Sounds like you had good participation even without me.

John
Dream Chaser

PS. 5:43 PM and still 95 degrees inside the cabin in Sausalito!! What gives???
 
AlanH said:
Monday the 7th is the next SHTP seminar, I believe, so that won't work but Tuesday the 8th would be good. Sunday the 6th would be even better since it gives folks a couple of days to fix something if it doesn't work. The 8th and 9th are getting pretty darned tight on time if someone has to fix anything significant with their setup.

Can you be here on Sunday the 6th?
Click to expand...

Yes, I can manage Sunday. I will also try to get a professional to check over my system (proper dillegence for a comm boat). It worked great on the LongPac, but then we were never as far apart as we will be on this event.

Jeff / Hecla
 
Any particular time you're taking about on Sunday? The RC plans to have a receiver in Hanalei so we can listen in at the evening tree gatherings. It would be good for us to test along with y'all.

Synthia/Eyrie
 
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