drdx-pedition 2014 next week be there be there be there

[barefoothank]

Hats off to both of you!

[Lost Ram]

Very Kewl

[jessejamesdallas]

To get him on AM was "kewl"...The gate I did tho was on 37lsb...would have got it on 34, but at the time I really didn't expect to hear him so I didnt have the camera handy.

[MDYoungblood]

He did come back to me twice on 37LSB, I wouldn't have tried 34AM, I'm just not hefty enough for AM. I'm hoping to catch him this weekend coming on his return trip, I'll try to have the camera set up too.

3's

Greg

[795]

COOL, only thing I got on 37 lsb is the MEXICAN operators...
DOCTOR/795

[721HACKSAW]

I tried this morning but pointed south I got nothing but Spanish also. I'll try this evening.

[Lost Ram]

I heard you hacksaw but I guess you could not hear me.

[jessejamesdallas]

Think those Mexicans/Spanish people you guys are hearing are probably Cuban's or maybe even South America...I had a whole room full of them while I was trying to talk to drdx.

[MDYoungblood]

His original post says he won't be back on until Friday 28th and Saturday 29th from 10 to 4 at the half hour.

3's

Greg

[jessejamesdallas]

His original post says he won't be back on until Friday 28th and Saturday 29th from 10 to 4 at the half hour.

3's

Greg

I'm just wondering how he plans on keeping his battery charged that long...Think he said he's just running off a motorcycle battery...

Now that I think about it...Guy has one of the most mud-duck set-ups of all time working a magnet mount Wilson antenna, with a Uniden 980 right out of the box, powered by a motorcycle battery, out in the middle of the Atlantic on a cruse ship, and making contacts left and right back in the States!

And some people think they need to be running Mega-Watt's with 300w radios to make contacts...

[Lost Ram]

His original post says he won't be back on until Friday 28th and Saturday 29th from 10 to 4 at the half hour.

3's

Greg

I wondered if folks would misread the post so I listened today when I had the chance hoping I would get get a chance to talk to members here, the couple times I listened I only heard Hacksaw, he does have a good sounding station thats for sure. I think some seen the "Heres the deal: From Sun-Fri." and then seen the hours.

[721HACKSAW]

LOL, yea, I guess I should have paid more attention to the original post.
I didn't bother logging in to get on the Shoutbox either. Sorry I missed the chance to make contact with you Lost Ram.

[MDYoungblood]

He is probably using a 12v wall wart to charge the battery, sticking a magnet mount antenna on the side of an big metal boat seems to work, just remember on the return trip his antenna will be to the south side so us northeast guys might not make the contact. Still going to give it a shot.

3's

Greg

[Lost Ram]

LOL, yea, I guess I should have paid more attention to the original post.
I didn't bother logging in to get on the Shoutbox either. Sorry I missed the chance to make contact with you Lost Ram.

No problem, I heard CBRT so I came back to your call. I totally missed the dollar 98 until I heard CBRT over the air.

[721HACKSAW]

I'll warm things up here and try to reach the DR again here in a few.... [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

[MDYoungblood]

Me Too!!!

3's

Greg

[MDYoungblood]

Well I missed him of the return trip, his antenna would have been pointing south so he probably was practicing his spanish on the way back.

3's

Greg

[jessejamesdallas]

Listened for him for a little while, but nothing.

[Buzzweiser]

I got to him last Sunday on 37LSB at 10:30CDT. Didn't have a chance to get a gate going but we did have a good 5 or 6 minute QSO. He was actually giving me a 5 over 9 signal at times and was really loud on audio. I was impressed with the contact for sure. He did tell me that he had made contact with JJ at 10CDT on 34 AM. I listened throughout the day and heard him several more times but left the band open for you other guys. Did hear Rabbit Ears as well that day but could not punch through to the west with just a copy stick.

[drdx]

Hello everyone, I'm back on the way home now and at the airport. Thanks to the poster that mentioned ssb as it was most successful. Starting out I had Jesse James on am, my only am contact, he was super clear. The on to ssb, I had Jesse again, buzzweizer, mdyoungblood and a ton of others, many of which I couldn't tell we're members or not on that Sunday. I got a few gates I'll try to edit. I also heard hacksaw really clear but don't think he heard me. That Sunday, all contacts were with me on the side of the ship aiming away from the USA. Fast forward to Friday and I have a clear shot to the USA and I hear Bombero, talked to lost ram and a few others on ssb only but I was flooded with trash and carriers and had no more luck Friday or Saturday. Also on Saturday 37lsb was tied up on my end with wwrf forum members that have no concept of not quick keying.

Thanks a bunch for trying guys, it was a blast. I was about 90 feet up and barefoot on the wilson. I see the battery discussed and it is a portable power supply/ auto jump starter that will power an export for hours. I hammered it and never ran it below 50% and it charges in a few hours. I'm adding pics below and hope they upload on this poor connection. I learned a lot and already know where to improve but the most important was that a dipole is not the way to go. The wilson did fine and I'll craft a better antenna next time. In the pic the wilson is bent, I had to do that to get the stinger away from the rail to get the swr down.

-drdx
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[jessejamesdallas]

Just go's to show you don't need a bunch of watt's to get your name called or talk to people thousands of miles away on a CB Radio!

...SSB is one thing...I talk to people all over the World who are in Mobiles on ssb............but AM? That was just un-real!

As the Crow-Fly's, from Seagoville TX. to where you were is between 1250-1300 miles!.........and on a 4w radio, and a upside-down Wilson magnet mount antenna with a bent stinger...Just wondering..."Do you think you could make it more of a challenge next time?"

[drdx]

Well, just to clarify, the one am contact was using the s3 and it has a max 15w or so dead key and 50w peak but the battery is right at 12v so all things considered and antenna efficiency my erp was probably quite low. Last year I used a suction cup held dipole and it took 10 minutes to set up and tune. With the wilson I just had to tinker with it a minute to match. That's important when you have a guy coming in 4 times a day to tidy up the room. I kept the antenna in the coat closet and just set the radios down into a suitcase that slid under the bed. That was about a 2 minute setup arrangement. Next time I'll likely go open coil and top loading, like a t top to squeeze it in there and rid myself of some coil loss and go with more ssb wattage. But if u want a challenge I can smuggle my 4 watt Maxon talkie next time and try outside, 15 floors up from the water. I scouted that idea out this last trip and it is doable. Or maybe one of those old ge help cb setups with its tiny telescopic mag mount on the top deck. I honestly think that may make just as good a signal. I was wrapped in metal on the balcony. Now the rear of the ship has open balconies but there are too many cameras around so I would need a thread thin wire something. Sometimes my inlaws take the next cabin over so that would help that idea.

-drdx

[jessejamesdallas]

Personally, I think this time was about as much of a challenge as your going to be able to do, and make a contact...Even if you were on a 15w radio swinging around 50w's, "STILL" with the antenna you were using, that is still simply amazing I could pick you out on a AM channel...That's like hunting for a needle in a haystack, covered in mud, located somewhere in the State of Texas...First you have to find the dang haystack!

[drdx]

Well, to put it in non radio terms, I was a needle but you had the beam (or in this case, the metal detector that is the size of a mine sweeper on steroids). Once you swung more south it greatly improved.

-drdx