HS0ZHM's Blog Post - 4/5/2012 8:35:48 PMThunderstorm and Strong Gusts31 Mar 2012 in the dry season in northern Thailand. A thunderstorm hit with heavy rain (19 mm in about half and hour) and strong winds gusting to an estimated 45-55 km/hr (Beaufort scale visual estimate). When I heard the winds gusting, I grabbed the camcorder and headed for the upstairs back porch to check on the unguyed 9 m AGL mast in the backyard.
The winds were gusting so strong that I had trouble standing and holding the camcorder steady. I crouched down with my back against the wall, framed the mast in the viewfinder, and started recording. I video taped for about 2 1/2 minutes and before the wind started blowing rain into the porch and spray got over the camera lens obscuring the view. I took the hint and headed inside.
The storm subsided. The mast stood up well without any guy wires, so it past the test. Viewing the video tape was a surprise. I don't recall the mast flexing that much in the breeze and gusts. More surprising was the government weather station less than 200 m north of us reported "calm" winds for the entire afternoon. "Calm" winds are less than 1.5 km/hr. OK, my eyeball estimate using the Beaufort scale is a subjective judgment call. But take a look at the 5 pics I posted.
The first shows the mast under calm conditions. The other 4 were taken from the video clip. I added a red dashed line for the normally "plumb" mast alignment under no wind/calm conditions. The upper part of the mast is 2.5 cm diameter steel pipe. The top of the mast is 9 m AGL. The cross arms are about 1 m to either side of the mast. Max deflection is about 0.8-0.9 m. My eyeball estimate could be off, but do you really think a "calm" wind (less than 1.5 km/h) would make the mast deflect 0.8-0.9 m from the vertical?
Go figure. If the wind speed at the weather station less than 200 m away was calm, all I can say is that it is clear the winds and gusts were NOT very calm in my backyard.
PS. Yes, in the future, when "calm" winds are being reported during future thunderstorms, I think I will plan to just keep the mast lowered at all times unless I need to hoist up an antenna. Why tempt fate even though it stood up to the gusts this time without any guy wires.
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HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 4/5/2012 8:18:10 PMMaximum flex; it held up fine
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 4/5/2012 8:17:36 PMThe mast is bending from the gust
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 4/5/2012 8:12:53 PMA gust hits the mast
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 4/5/2012 8:11:49 PMThe wind begins to blow
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 4/5/2012 8:10:39 PMThe mast in normally calm wind conditions.
HS0ZHM Updated Profile - 4/5/2012 5:45:53 PM
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 3/27/2012 3:07:20 AMhs0zhm EchoLink User Configuration Diagram
HS0ZHM's Blog Post - 2/17/2012 2:55:52 AM2 more new free Emergency Prep LessonsTwo more new lessons in the 12 part Emergency Preparedness series are now available in time for the hot/dry season in Thailand.
EP-9 Lightning
EP-10 Wildfires
These lessons join the previously released lessons
EP-1 Preparing for Emergencies
EP-2 Shelter
EP-3 Water
EP-4 Food
EP-5 Space
The lessons can be found at http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/RTC-TH_Tech/pages
Best wishes to all.
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HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 1/23/2012 5:23:45 AMMast with yardarm at max height (9.6 m AGL) and optional hoists rigged
HS0ZHM's Blog Post - 1/11/2012 8:09:45 PMHappy Chinese New YearIt's taken nearly 2 years to put up this light-weight mast in the backyard of our "town" site station. The "tower-like" base section is a salvaged TV antenna base from the second floor balcony when we did minor remodeling of the house. Originally I was hoping to set this up at the farm. But plans changed and things got side tracked.
This past week, all the odds and ends came together, and I added a 6m length of steel pipe, a PVC yardarm, and made use of some "old" stainless steel fittings / hardware from my sailing days.
Max height is 9.6 m AGL (above ground level). The yardarm normally rests at about 4.5 m AGL. Each end of the yardarm has a S-hook fitting to allow connecting another halyard truck. The main halyard hoists the yardarm and can also hoist an item. So there are 3 possible lifting points with all able to attain a maximum height of 9.6 m AGL. (See a photo of the mast installation in progress in "My Pictures."
The tower section frame is embedded in a tractor tire filled with concrete. The estimated weight of the tractor tire base is about 325 kg. Right now, it is intended to be a free standing mast. The main purpose was hoisting antennas for testing / tuning. I didn't intend to mount any antennas permanently to the mast (but who knows, things can change).
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HS0ZHM's Blog Post - 12/15/2011 11:29:33 PMFree Emergency Preparedness LessonsThe first 5 lessons (in a planned series of 12) for emergency preparedness are available free on our Rural Training Center-Thailand website
The first 5 lessons are general and can apply to most people and places. Once at the RTC-TH Tech site, got to the "Pages and Documents" area, scroll down to the RTC-TH Emergency Preparedness (EmPrep) section to find the lessons:
EP-1 Preparing for Emergencies
EP-2 Shelter
EP-3 Water
EP-4 Food
EP-5 Space
The remaining 7 lessons are currently in development. They deal with natural disasters common to Nan Province, Thailand. However, they can be adapted to any location if you have the relevant data.
Remember, once an emergency begins, it is too late to try to prepare.
Best wishes to all.
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HS0ZHM is Connected to the following - 11/3/2011 6:52:21 AMHS0XX HS0ZHM's Blog Post - 11/3/2011 6:52:21 AMEnglish language weekly net for Thai hamsAny Thai hams interested in doing a weekly English language net via EchoLink?
If so, email me at ki6gig@arrl.net or try to contact me via Echolink node 520300. Let me know which day of the week and time of day would be convenient. If possible, list 3 possible choices and let's see how many folks we can get together to practice.
I am a native English speaker. Sorry, my Thai is so limited. It took me 20 years struggling with Mandarin (with only 4 tones). Since Thai has 5 tones, you can do the math and figure out it's going to take a while to get Thai. But I am willing to help some Thais with their English.
Hope to get some interested folks responding.
Best wishes.
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HS0ZHM's Blog Post - 6/23/2011 3:36:10 PMGreetings to Charlie, KC9TSB Sawadee (Greetings) Charlie,
Thanks for requesting to be the first added to my contact list for My Ham Shack. Look me up on QRZ.com if you'd like to contact me via e-mail.
It seems you recently got your ticket. I am relatively new to ham radio, too, but will readily share what little I know with you. I don't know about your background, but this "new adventure" is a steep learning curve for me. And being the the "sticks" of rural Thailand means a shortage of reliable resources, though I maintain contact with my Elmer in southern CA where he first roped me into the world of ham radio.
If you haven't already done so, take a look at the various lessons we've created for New Tech's and for emergency weather observations (www.neighborhoodlink.com/org/rtcth) mentioned in earlier blogs. Your part of the world gets some pretty exciting weather in contrast to what we get here in northern Thailand.
I am still in the process of setting up my station...having limited equipment but 3 potential operating sites to cover due to the various properties available to us.
Best wishes and hope to hear more about yourself and your station.
Greg, HS0ZHM
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HS0ZHM is Connected to the following - 5/16/2011 11:57:11 PMKC9TSB HS0ZHM's Blog Post - 5/16/2011 11:57:11 PMFree Lessons for New Tech License HoldersI help out some friends in the Glendora Emergency Response Communications group (GERC). They recently held a Technician License study class and organized an FCC license exam. It turned out to be rather successful with 23 of the 28 people passing.
Like many organizations, recruiting is necessary for the long-term viability of the group. So talked about this with Mark, N7YLA, GERC's founder, and suggested that we get more pro-active about following up with the newly licensed Hams.
The result is 3 lessons for newly licensed Hams. The specifics of the lessons are geared to directing them into the world o Ham radio in such a way that they are prepped for becoming functional GERC members IF they chose to actively participate. But the lessons guide them to learning and doing things that make it an easy transition into GERC. For example, when getting to the part about buying their first radio, we followed the GERC list of features, accessories and capabilities. If later they decided to become active in GERC, they are already in sync with the group for better interoperability. But there is lots of information that can be used by Hams in general.
Please be aware the lessons were meant for self-study by a person sitting at a computer. So the "slides" were not intended for projection in a classroom. Some slides are heavily loaded with text which would be hard to read at classroom viewing distances.
Lesson 1 is a general orientation (keep in mind, in the US, no Morse code is required for the Technician License so the focus of these lessons is VHF operating)
Lesson 2 leads up to buying their first HT
Lesson 3 is about caring for their new HT
The lessons are available free individual and educational use so long as nothing is altered, no changes are made to the material, and no charge or profit results from their use.
The PDF lessons are found out our website, www.neighborhoodlink.com/org/pages, the scroll down the left column to the section "RTC-TH / GERC Collaborative Lessons".
Best wishes to everyone.
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HS0ZHM's Blog Post - 5/15/2011 7:38:41 PMFree Weather Observation Lessons AvailableFree MEWS (Mobile Emergency Weather Station) and weather observations lessons are available on the web. MEWS enables amateur radio operators to make valuable weather observations in disaster areas where there are few or no working weather stations. These weather reports can help relief helicopters to know flight weather conditions in the disaster area. Relief coordinators can use the weather data to understand the situation in the disaster area to better coordinate logistics and supplies for survivors.
The lessons divided into two groups: Basic and Advanced.
Basic level MEWS only needs a thermometer and a magnetic compass and selected reference tables (all in the free MEWS Observer Handbook). So the "weather station" fits into a pocket and requires little to no cost. The observations are more subjective in nature, but still relevant as they are "standardized" terms and come from on the ground in the local disaster area.
The Advanced MEWS is much like Ham radio with no upper limit as to what other equipment you can buy. But if you get the right combination of equipment, you can still fit everything into a backpack and be fairly portable. The big difference is you make more measurements rather than estimates or observations.
You can read about MEWS at the following links:
1) QRZ.com at http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?293778-Mobile-Emergency-Weather-Station-Complete-quot-How-to-build-and-use-quot
2) Hamuniverse.com at
http://www.hamuniverse.com/hs0zhmsparky.html
http://www.hamuniverse.com/hs0zhmmewslessons.html
To access the lessons, visit www.neighorhoodlink.com/org/rtcth, then go to the “Pages & Links” section, and click on “RTC-TH MEWS Lessons".
The lessons are in English. I welcome any help from other amateurs to translate these lessons to other languages.
Thanks for visiting my page. Best wishes to you.
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HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 5/12/2011 7:12:24 AMShelf Project Step 7 picture
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 5/12/2011 7:11:51 AMShelf Project Step 6 picture
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 5/12/2011 7:11:14 AMShelf Project Step 5 picture
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 5/12/2011 7:10:44 AMShelf Project Step 4 picture
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 5/12/2011 7:10:06 AMShelf Project Step 3 picture
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 5/12/2011 7:09:23 AMShelf Project Step 2 picture
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 5/12/2011 7:08:41 AMShelf Project Step 1 picture
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 5/12/2011 7:07:54 AMShelf Project Overview picture
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 5/8/2011 7:29:19 AMSparky with 2m slingshot beam; driver side
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 5/8/2011 7:28:24 AMEchoLink contact with N7YLA and GERC
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 5/8/2011 7:27:26 AMSparky with 2m slingshot beam; passenger side
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 5/8/2011 7:25:00 AMSparky with 2m slingshot beam; light wind position
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 5/8/2011 7:24:29 AMSparky with 2m slingshot beam; nedium wind position
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 5/8/2011 7:23:50 AMSparky with 2m slingshot beam; high wind position
HS0ZHM Uploaded a Picture - 4/17/2011 6:39:50 AM"Sparky, the Batt-mobile" loaded for MEWS
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