OT: Pets in the Shack

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OT: Pets in the Shack

Dick Roth
I have two furry family members who often visit me when I'm
operating...and often come into the shack when I'm not there.
Naturally, being cats, they climb all over the place including my
operating position.

Heres a tip:  if you leave your radio on when you aren't present, engage
"Tx TEST" to prevent accidental carrier transmission if they want to try
out their fists on your keys.

Sure, I could shut the station off, but I tend to cling to my old ways
when I used hollow state gear (last rig before the K3 was a National
NCX-3) and it required long warm-ups.

--
73 de Dick, ka1oz

Elecraft K3/100(K) #859
G5RV Doublet
Titan-DX Vertical



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Re: OT: Pets in the Shack

Don Wilhelm-4
TX TEST works great for the K3, but there is no equal on the K2.  I
would suggest for the K2, tap the mode button to put it into SSB of RTTY
mode - especially if you use PTT and not VOX.  If the dot paddle is
closed, yes, it will go into transmit, but there will be no audio to
produce a signal unless the cat purrs into the microphone.

For the KX3, there is mo TX TEST, so there too, I recommend setting the
mode to SSB.

Actually, the best prevention is to arrange your station antenna
switching to connect a dummy load - then when you leave the operating
position, just switch the "antenna" to the dummy load position and be
done with it - no worries.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 8/9/2012 7:11 PM, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:

> Excellent suggestion, Dick.
>
> Such events, along with a person setting something of the operating desk
> that bumps the paddles, is one of the major causes of "ditters". Not only
> are they annoying, a Ham in the USA is committing a serious Federal offense
> by allowing transmissions not under his/her personal control.
>
> (As an O.T. myself, one of the few old things I enjoy breaking are old
> habits, Hi)
>
> 73, Ron AC7AC
>
> -----Original Message-----
> I have two furry family members who often visit me when I'm operating...and
> often come into the shack when I'm not there.
> Naturally, being cats, they climb all over the place including my operating
> position.
>
> Heres a tip:  if you leave your radio on when you aren't present, engage "Tx
> TEST" to prevent accidental carrier transmission if they want to try out
> their fists on your keys.
>
> Sure, I could shut the station off, but I tend to cling to my old ways when
> I used hollow state gear (last rig before the K3 was a National
> NCX-3) and it required long warm-ups.
>
> --
> 73 de Dick, ka1oz
>
> Elecraft K3/100(K) #859
> G5RV Doublet
> Titan-DX Vertical
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

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Re: OT: Pets in the Shack

Phil Kane-2
On 8/9/2012 4:31 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:

> Actually, the best prevention is to arrange your station antenna
> switching to connect a dummy load - then when you leave the operating
> position, just switch the "antenna" to the dummy load position and be
> done with it - no worries.

My operation is mostly PSK31 and SSB.  My tsble microphone has a
"disable" switch that neuters the PTT function, and my digital setup is
"fail safe" with no signal.

Everyone's setup is different.

  --
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
Elecraft K2/100   s/n 5402

>From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon
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Re: OT: Pets in the Shack

va3bxg
In reply to this post by Dick Roth
But my friends have pasted their test.

With multiple question test, their score was all over 70%. (They were allowed to meow their answers)

;-)
a 'kosher ham'

Robert

-----Original Message-----
From: "Ron D'Eau Claire" <[hidden email]>
Sender: [hidden email]
Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2012 16:11:17
To: <[hidden email]>; 'Elecraft Reflector'<[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT:  Pets in the Shack

Excellent suggestion, Dick.

Such events, along with a person setting something of the operating desk
that bumps the paddles, is one of the major causes of "ditters". Not only
are they annoying, a Ham in the USA is committing a serious Federal offense
by allowing transmissions not under his/her personal control.

(As an O.T. myself, one of the few old things I enjoy breaking are old
habits, Hi)

73, Ron AC7AC

-----Original Message-----
I have two furry family members who often visit me when I'm operating...and
often come into the shack when I'm not there.
Naturally, being cats, they climb all over the place including my operating
position.

Heres a tip:  if you leave your radio on when you aren't present, engage "Tx
TEST" to prevent accidental carrier transmission if they want to try out
their fists on your keys.

Sure, I could shut the station off, but I tend to cling to my old ways when
I used hollow state gear (last rig before the K3 was a National
NCX-3) and it required long warm-ups.

--
73 de Dick, ka1oz

Elecraft K3/100(K) #859
G5RV Doublet
Titan-DX Vertical

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Re: OT: Pets in the Shack

Kevin Cozens-2
In reply to this post by Don Wilhelm-4
On 12-08-09 07:31 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
> TX TEST works great for the K3, but there is no equal on the K2.

On a K2 you can put the unit in CW test mode or switch from VOX to PTT when
in SSB mode.

--
Cheers!

Kevin.

http://www.ve3syb.ca/           |"Nerds make the shiny things that distract
Owner of Elecraft K2 #2172      | the mouth-breathers, and that's why we're
                                 | powerful!"
#include <disclaimer/favourite> |             --Chris Hardwick
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Re: OT: Pets in the Shack

Jack West
In reply to this post by Dick Roth
Hi Guys,

Back in my Commodore-64 days I used to run "Digicom" which was a German Packet
program. One night my cat PJ
slept on the keyboard. This program would transmit anytime a key was pushed. My
cat sent endless rows of
various letters and numbers all night long.

I printed a few pages out and sent them to my buddy in Montana and explained what
had happened.

A few days later I received in the mail printouts from
his Digicom station that were simular.

The caption was: :"FROM MY CAT TO YOUR CAT"

73 de
Jack / W7LD / "Lucky Dog"


----- Original Message -----
From: "Dick Roth--KA1OZ" <[hidden email]>
To: "Elecraft Reflector" <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 10:40 AM
Subject: [Elecraft] OT: Pets in the Shack


>I have two furry family members who often visit me when I'm
> operating...and often come into the shack when I'm not there.
> Naturally, being cats, they climb all over the place including my
> operating position.
>
> Heres a tip:  if you leave your radio on when you aren't present, engage
> "Tx TEST" to prevent accidental carrier transmission if they want to try
> out their fists on your keys.
>
> Sure, I could shut the station off, but I tend to cling to my old ways
> when I used hollow state gear (last rig before the K3 was a National
> NCX-3) and it required long warm-ups.
>
> --
> 73 de Dick, ka1oz
>
> Elecraft K3/100(K) #859
> G5RV Doublet
> Titan-DX Vertical
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html 

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Re: OT: Pets in the Shack

k6dgw
In reply to this post by Don Wilhelm-4
Sometimes, it seems like my "dummy load" is my best antenna.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2012 Cal QSO Party 6-7 Oct 2012
- www.cqp.org

On 8/9/2012 4:31 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:

> Actually, the best prevention is to arrange your station antenna
> switching to connect a dummy load - then when you leave the operating
> position, just switch the "antenna" to the dummy load position and be
> done with it - no worries.


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Re: OT: Pets in the Shack

Don Wilhelm-4
Fred,

I was very glad that all my ham equipment had dummy loads connected 2
nights ago - we had a thunderstorm, and a very close lightning event.  
Many circuit breakers tripped, 4 computers died, and I had to replace
the network router and all switches as well as the NAS storage device I
use as a file server.  No data was lost, but I am in "limp-along"
condition until I can get the file server up and running.

The strike apparently was mostly confined to the Ethernet connection,
although it took out a printer locally attached to my computer too.

The network is back up and running and I am waiting for a couple of
replacement computers for critical places in the network - the other two
(media center and ham shack) will wait for a bit because I do not view
them as critical.

The bottom line is that it did not hurt any of the ham gear.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 8/10/2012 8:19 PM, Fred Jensen wrote:
> Sometimes, it seems like my "dummy load" is my best antenna.
>
> 73,
>
> Fred K6DGW
>

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