N2NL Amateur Radio and other stuff

I just finished writing my contesting bio for the National Contest Journal.  It should be published in the July/August issue.  I’ll place a copy of the article here once I get the finished version back from the editor.

Posted under Uncategorized

Work is progressing on the Pea Island’s dry dock, now less than 3 weeks from the finish date.  Most of the hull has been blasted, and the reinstallation of the engine room is underway.

Port side of the cutter, with the 1st coat of anti corrosive paint on the hull. Some of the areas are still covered for blasting. The grit from blasting gets everywhere, making a big mess of the yard.

The starboard side of the ship, with the rudders and fin stabilizers hanging and ready to be installed.

All the large machinery has been installed in the engine room, and the piping systems are being fitted to the machinery. The hole in the hull is to fit the new main engine exhaust piping.

Posted under USCG

My grandparent’s have some interesting history from the Second World War.  My Grandfather from my father’s side, as a German national, fought with the Wehrmacht on the Russian front.  He was captured by the Russians, but was able to escape to cross American lines where he was recaptured and eventually was able to emmigrate to the USA.

On my mother’s side, my Grandmother was an Army nurse in North Africa and later Italy, on the American side.  My Grandfather was a fighter pilot for the Army Air Corps, and flew the P-38 lightning.  He shot down three German fighters before he was shot down himself and killed during a bomber escort mission over southern France, on June 25, 1944.  I recently found some archival information about him that’s pretty interesting.

This page is from the unit monthly mission report, he is referenced on the 25th.

Posted under Uncategorized

We’re only starting the third day, and all ready we’re removing items from the engine room, so it can be sand blasted and re-painted.  The “soft patch” covering the engine room has been removed, and the engines themselves are getting pulled.

Posted under USCG

Not many USCG boats have been pulled by tow trucks…..Here’s the Pea getting pulled into her final docking position for the remainder of the yard period.

Posted under USCG

We started the routine dry dock of my ship, the Pea Island, today in Tampa, FL.  Here are some photos of her high and dry:

Posted under USCG

We recently acquired two 4-month old kittens (brothers) from the local shelter.  We had a cat for many years that passed away last fall.  Since then, my daughter has regained her fear of cats and dogs, so they’re as much therapy for her as enjoyment for everyone else in the family.  I grew up a dog person, however I will hold off getting one until I have a place of my own with room to run.  Cats are low maintenance, and let us go away for a weekend without needing to worry about care.

Since our last cat was an adult and never did much but lay around, we got two kittens this time.  What a difference - they tear around the house after each other like a couple lemurs, bumping into walls and sliding across the floor.  They are very entertaining, at least until night time when the chaos continues after we’ve gone to bed.

This is "Noodles", the clear leader of the two and the friendliest of the two so far.

And this is "Butters". He is a lot more shy, and likes to keep his distance, unless of course "Noodles" is getting all the attention.

Posted under Home

I got K5D in the log this morning on a long burst when his signal came up for about 30 seconds.  It was a struggle and it’s apparent that he wasn’t hearing that well.  Here’s a MP3 of what he sounds like much of the time here:

k5d CQ on 6m

Posted under Sound clip

I installed a small, non-optimized, and somewhat resonant 3el 6M beam temporarily to try to work the K5D DXpedition on this band.  This morning, I heard a couple CQs from them on 50.106 Mhz but they weren’t copyable long enough to make a QSO.  I’ve got a pretty good shot in that direction, as you can see in the 2nd photo.

Here's the small 6m yagi on a 25ft tall push-up aluminum mast. The antenna on the left is a sloping fan dipole for 10, 17, and 15m, It usually gives me an S-unit advantage into Europe and South America over the verticals on these bands.

Here's my path toward Desecheo Is.....nothing but salt water. Stock Island can be seen in the distance, with nothing but the Bahamas between it and KP5.

Posted under N2NL QTH

FW5RE was QRV this morning on 80m with a good signal.

FW5RE 80m 05FEB09

Posted under Sound clip