Please reread this at about 1830 EDT. There has been new information.


Tonight, Saturday night 25 April 1900 EASTERN DAYLIGHT.

40 meter Arf frequencies, 7.213 or 7.285. LSB. My PRC 320 has the LSB modification.

Your PERSONAL mission is A. To check in and B. To get the uber secret code phrase.

All arfcommers should pass the code phrase around to as many others arfcommers as possible. Get the word out. There is NO REPLY to this code phrase. To find out what it means get out your Little Orphan Annie decoder ring. (Klingon and Captain Marvel rings won't work)

Many of you will NOT be able to QSO directly to me. Plan on it. I am NOT running a normal station. More on this later. Many of you will have to get another arfcommer to relay your call to me to check in.



Afrcom's COLLECTIVE mission is to pass a message on to a specific arfcommer, get an answer and get it to me. When I get his answer I may have another reply from him needing an answer.

I am running the PRC 320, a 30 watt military rig with a wire in a tree for an antenna. I have already been playing with it today. I played hell getting on the YLs log. It was a bitch. Strangely one of the net controllers in AZ checked me in.

We do NOT have the luxury of a fine station like Gyprat's. He told me his station was sabotaged by the Gestapo and that he managed to escape with some spark gap transmitter that was built by Marconi. He will be a part of the massed rabble like the rest of us. I heard he took one in the leg but he's going to be OK.

This IS going to be a circus. A number of arfcommers have said they are going to be running raggedy assed QRP and Mickey Mouse rigs. We are going to have to help each other.

You will have to be patient as I am going to have to stop and carefully write the log with a pencil and paper. It is going to be difficult to separate the actual QSOs from the check-ins.

I may be short with you guys from time to time. Take no offense. I am going to be an overwhelmed old man that has NEVER had a pileup of his own to deal with.

Incidentally if I hear code I will probably tell you guys to clam up. I don't read code for sour apples and if I hear it I will have to concentrate. There is ONLY one person authorized to send CW in this exercise. That's our stubborn child, KD5TXX. Someone had to be different and difficult so he stepped in and took the only remaining slot.

I had to plug his call into my Morse translator and listen to his call 2463 times to get it into my head.

OK, Individual mission, check in and get the secret code.

Collective mission, we relay a couple of messages back and forth.

My station consists of the PRC 320, a wire in a tree and a couple of notebooks and pens. It has NO speaker, only a handset.



One other thing. Any and all of you guys be ready to take over net control for me for a while if something happens and I gotta take a dump or something. I am not going to pull another stunt like I did when I worked Beefington in Alaska and piss in the damned wastebasket and let my dinner burn.Enough is enough.



Update:

Please reread the entire post at about 1830 before the thing starts to pick up any last minute updates.

You old hands know what this is all about. It is about ham radio and ONLY ham radio. It is NOT about the internet.

Gyprat, myself and a few others have a policy of NOT answering IMs and posts on the threads because for sake of these drills the internet does not exist. It's called an EMERGENCY drill for a reason. Don't go looking to the thread or the web to find out what's happening. Look to your rig.



Oh yeah, Don't be THAT GUY. When you get the secret code do NOT post it on the board. Pass it on via ham radio ONLY. Duh! Please think before you post. There will be a separate after action report thread. Post your victories and defeats there. We need all the input we can get to improve things.

Now another thing. You are going to have to think. The ECOMM frequencies are just a guide and a place to start. If someone else is on frequency go up five and listen. No luck? Go up another five. No luck there? Go down five from 7.213, then down ten.

Still no luck? Try the 7.285 channel and see what is happening. Same game here, go up five if necessary.

This one is going to be VERY interesting because the list of cripples, beggars, thieves, lepers, criminals and dwarfs (QRP stations etc)is growing exponentially. I have half a mind to not CQ but instead cry out "Alms! Alms for the poor!" and stuffing a basketball in the upper back of my shirt.

Incidentally I hope a few of you are running full power. We're going to need a little help here. In a serious SHTF scenario there would likely be a few full power stations up and running by hook or by crook.

The schedule is between 1900 and 2200 Eastern Daylight time.

I would like ALL participants to check in on the AAR thread. I am going to want a lot of information to see what we can learn from this mess. You do not have to give your call sign but an IM with it would be VERY helpful

I am going to want to know your location you broadcast from, power, antenna, what kind of luck you had, who gave you the message etc, etc. This includes anyone that didn't even hear a peep as well as someone that heard a pin drop in Slobovia.

If you were sitting in Death Valley with a WW1 surplus 2 watt rig it doesn't matter that you own a 1.5KW rig in Cleveland. Let me know what you were running with for this drill. I am going to try and figure out what happened as best as I can. In order to do this I'll need good dope from you guys.


Good hunting

Is your unit able to do LSB?

In!

lol.  wish I had an HF rig

YES.

It will be on LSB

Damn....I have go in early for work and won't be home.

I accept this mission.

Tag. Will try, but can't guarantee I'll be around.

Mission accepted.  I'll be on a battery powered IC-7200 to a BuddiStiick antenna from a hilltop just west of Fort Hood.

I will be in the woods, with a backpack after hiking in, with a 20 watt radio, a battery, a headset, in the dark, with a portable antenna, operating on a PVS-14 with no visible lights, probably covered in tics.

Maybe I should be on a 100 watt radio battery powered, just more weight to carry.

I managed to escape from the Gestapo operatives, only with minor injuries. Thank goodness my dual sport bike was ready and loaded to bug-out on a 2 minute notice. Elecraft KX-3 was packed in the panniers, along with several portable antennas, a battery and a folding solar panel.
I'll be operating a 10W portable from an unspecified location, way behind the enemy lines. There won't be enough time to deploy any decent antennas. so I may resort to CW for checking in. If anyone hears me on CW, please relay it to Piccolo (through SSB Phone).

73!
87!

This whole thing is getting to be more and more of a challenge as the number of portable/QRP/Mickey Mouse stations increases.

We are ALL going to have to WORK at this one!

This is getting more and more interesting to say the least.

No matter WHAT happens we'll ALL learn something from it.

Remember we learn from our failures as well as our successes.

Sounds like a goat rope.  

But I'll be listening.  I just wish it was going to be dark here, so I could put up my "real" 40m antenna in the yard, and run 100w.  As it is, I'll be limited to about 10w with my random wire. If I hear Gyprat on CW, I'll try to make contact and pass along his info to you on SSB....not that you'll be likely to hear me.

OST

One of the things I see here is guys that are willing to try things that they know beforehand stand a good chance of failure.

You, Gyprat and a couple others are doing just this and it actually speaks highly of you guys.

As for the others that opt to stay home and run the base stations that means we are going to have a lot more work for you to do to get the word out.

Still, this is all very much a crap shoot. Who knows?

Maybe one of you QRPs may end up saving the entire drill. Stranger things have happened before. After all, I DID manage to work Navassa on a split with the PRC 320 during an EPIC pileup.

Im going to deploy a 40m dipole up on the Blue Ridge Parkway some where. I'll bring my 7300 and either run it off a battery or connect it to trucks rigrunner. Forecast is for rain, so probably run it from the truck.

In, planning to be as drunk or drunker than OP

I should be around, count me in.

Nothing personal, but that is one ugly-assed radio.

I'm in.

Since the Confederate Jasmine has taken down my main antenna temporarily, I'll put up my emergency field day portable
special event antenna.  I'll orientate (learnt that word in college) it with the 40m elements broadside to Picc's tree, hopefully
catching other Arfhams between us.

http://www.costafarms.com/plants/confederate-jasmine

https://www.south-florida-plant-guide.com/confederate-jasmine.html

It is a climbing vine that twists upon itself, wraps around the ends of my antenna and climbs it.  Tendrils will reach up and
grow up to the wire elements.

And it smells good.

My portable antenna uses the GoVertical mast to elevate the center.  I can put it up to 30' in minutes, by myself.

Preparations are underway.

If you think I am going to piss in a wastebasket again just to work you then guess again.

I just checked propagation reports

ALL of the lower bands are bad, 80 meters is fair but 40 meters is rated as GOOD.

We might get lucky.

You got a lot of avocados...

Take a coke bottle and a roll of tp. BRP facilities are closed for da Wuhan.

Well, off to the nearest Catholic Church to make a novena and pray to St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes.

Ok, you guys have shamed me. If it's not raining too bad I'll hike up the hill  /P and throw an end fed wire into a tree.  

Have some flu symtoms but I'll see what I can do.

Yesterday 40 meters was awesome. quiet, and armchair copy on several 2 and 3 stations (CW)

Good, we'll need it.

Attached File


Looks like there could be some civilian attempts to jam the airwaves tonight.

Super pumped to take part in this likely gong show.  Thanks for putting this together piccolo and co!

I'll be running from 3rd floor apartment with 100W FT-891 not my usual FT-991A. Since it's supposed to be like an EMCOMM drill, I'll run off battery power. It will give me an excuse to exercise my 100Ah LiFePO4 battery that usually just sits in the corner. MY one concession to reality is the air conditioner will not be offline. There may also be Ochos Anos and Diet Dr Pepper involved.

I'll be operating from the 8th floor of the Holiday Inn Westbank New Orleans with the KX3 at 15W and an MFJ 1899T antenna in the window.

Screw it, I'm going to put up my outside 40m antenna for this.  I was playing around with it last night, and it is sooooo much more efficient than my attic random wire, plus I'll be able to run 100 watts.  Maybe I'll actually be able to hear something.

Attached File


All of the rest of the stuff for my HF base station showed up today. Antenna (g5rv that's up 20' on one side and 60' up on the other) was already up and I just finished running the exterior feed lines. Need to cut the window passthrough to size, paint it, run my interior feed line and throw some power poles on the power cord.

ICOM 7300 with an LDG IT-100 tuner. If I'm up and running I'll be running at 100W.

dang bro, you don't fool around!

We got relays this time 'round!  I'm just glad I won't have to don snowshoes to get my antenna up in the trees




A balanced diet is an important consideration for any portable work.

Well then I'm out. Don't wanna get the aroma virus via RF.

But, if I wear a mask and gloves and sit 6 feet from the radio...

You'll be fine. The virus only spreads over 5G.

I see it now.

Someone is on frequency. Maybe he'll leave, maybe not. Remember if it is busy to do what it says in the OP.

UPDATE!!!

I won't be able to participate... the sky has suddenly darkened, wind picked up, and thunder.

It is looking gnarly.

Sorry guys.

IM sent.

Headed out to the overlook up in the mountains now. I whipped up an encomm mast this am, I'll post pictures as an update when I get there.

Think HUMANCENTiPAD except with a 21' Silky polesaw and a 12' Craftsman fiberglass polesaw.

Attached File


In my emergency scenario you have $400 worth of polesaws, some scrap aluminum angle and a tig welder...

ETA: Too windy to run full height.

Attached File

It will be interesting because of the number of cripples and lepers running QRP and Mickey mouse shit.

I already am somewhat keyed up wondering if this is going to be a good deal or a shit show.

Tune in and at 1900 my computer's time I am going to open with a real splash.

I'm going to stay full power capable (600 watts) because I can during an emergency with generator power. If I lose generator power. I have battery backup but I'd be limited to 100 watts. Plus my portable rig isn't fully operational yet. I still run it off of a power supply. My battery backup at home is 2 giant 6 volt batteries. Not very portable.

I erected (huh huh) my Hawaii EARCHI antenna on my 30' Jackite pole. Gonna give this a whirl.

IM sent.

Ready in the New Orleans hotel room.

Storm almost on top of us.  Showing lightning 2 mi away.  More rumbling.

Just started raining as I type this.

I'm unplugged for the time being. Thunder storm rolling through.