Defense of the Republic of the Philippines

tried to clone the hamilton hull:



dropped it forecastle first, clumsy me, oh well, make another one

been a while,
forced to stay home with nothing much to do:

LD-601, added a few pipes and tubes


AC-3, PF-7, PS-19 and AW-34 with bits of progress

QRP has it’s challenges, i’d love to go and try qrp when i would go hiking outdoors, thinking of setting up the 706mk2G for that, would only stick to 20m band coz most likely the hiking would be done daytime, if there would be camping and staying out, then i will include a 40m antenna. thingking of going solar like you  but bring a small lead battery for backup. its almost autumn here and would like to take advantage of the weather before winter comes.

btw, how does the R-72 performs, i’m thinking of getting the R-70, there are some cheap R-70s i see in Ebay.

1-3db loss is not that bad, will definitely think about that setup.

also, i want to ask, if ever i go to the Philippines and want to go on air. What do i need to have to go on air? Can i use my call sign here (i’m at ITU region 2) in the Philippines (which is under ITU region 3) or would i be needing some sort of permit, or take the NTC exam to have a separate Philippine Call sign to use while on air in the Philippines?

they look alike but they are actually different models, from top to bottom, IC-28H (144Mhz), IC-48A (440Mhz), IC-38A (220Mhz), IC-1200 (1200Mhz). different frequency bands each

@girder
ah, it's not phraseology when it comes to HAM Radio or mostly radio communication on that matter, "Radiotelephony procedures" is the more appropriate term
anyways, just like what Talibong said, speak like as if your speaking to the person face to face,
nothing really special about it, the most hurdle about it (i think) is knowing the Q-codes, barely used anymore but still used by some to maximize transmission time and clarity when it comes to traffic handling.
here in my area, we need to say our call sign every 10 minutes in the conversation, whenever we end conversation/sign off or QSY

@ tailbong
definitely will try 6meters, sunspot are opening, and the "magic band" is becoming alive again
given the location where i live in (a studio in an apartment building) i have very limited options on my antennas, putting my antenna farm by the fire escape is already pushing it. that's why all of my antennas are somewhat "compromised" already, i use an antenna analyzer to bring the antenna as close as possible to the target frequency and use the manual tuner to bring it more down to the 1:2 ratio at least, but that's HF, VHF and UHF antennas are easier to tune to freq.

@ salbahis
nice one on the ISS
theres this app on iPhone (I'm sure there's also for android), it's called "Satsat" the avatar is red satellite with white "SAT" letters on a blue background. it kinda gives Amateur Radio Satellites that are passing by near your location, that includes the ISS. in case you wanna do some satellite signal hunting.
do tell more about your el-cheapo tv dongle SDR

we have the same problem, i live in an apartment building and also have those restrictions, my antenna farm is at the fire escape and i have to color them flat red red so it wont be easily seen from the ground, still can be seen if you look carefully but if your just passing by and at night time, it virtually invisible.
satellite and moon bouncing is on the hobby part of ham radio, just another way to propagate that signal. for disaster coordinating purposes, you just need a good transceiver and a good antenna.
to cover distances like Manila and Samar, HF is the way to go, VHF will be a bit more of a challenge unless your in a high location with not much obstruction to line of sight, stacked antennas and high power outputs. satellite and moon bouncing can help with that.
Theres a motto here in New York/New Jersey area, “when the phones are down, the Hams are up”.
Most of the Hams here (not all) are volunteers for ARES, Amateur Radio Emergency Response, in case of emergency, it can easily be tapped to help and coordinate.
SDR is becoming popular as well, small and light, programmable by computer, its the next generation, but it kinda still rely on computer and internet. internet needs phone service, if the phone service is down, it will be very limited (i think) (what do i know) (i’m an old dog that can’t really learn new tricks)
Just be careful on acquiring those vintage sets, it’s like buying a second hand car, try to know the history and what that particular rig have thru.

@talibong
i once made a go bag myself during my airsoft days, i put in my Icom IC-706mk2G in it with a small lead battery in it. used mostly the VHF and UHF frequencies with a dual freq antenna. for HF i had an end fed wire antenna that fit the bag pocket of the bag just in case i just want to go in the air and make contacts. also got a home brew antenna tuner to make my radio happy and don’t go overheating on me. sometimes i have the straight key as well to go with it. it was not that heavy, its manageable, its a backpack style.
now the IC-706mk2G is part of the shack, it’s connected to an amplifier and antenna tuner for the HF band. i dont use the 50hz frequencies coz i don't have the proper antenna yet and propagation on that frequencies are not that good yet. the VHF/UHF is hooked up to a home brew dual band dipole antenna that’s horizontally polarized coz i do SSB and CW in VHF here in my area, pretty quite on the UHF side as far as SSB and CW is concerned. for FM on VHF/UHF i use my other old rigs, Icom IC-28H for 144mhz, Icom IC-38A for 220Mhz, Icom-48A for the 440mhz, and the IC-1200 for the 1200mhz band. yes i’m an Icom freak hahaha. thats the brand i grew up with. it all started with the Icom IC-02AT. also have the Icom ID-880H, i have really tinker with d-star yet, its in the shack but never use it much.

@girder
Tecsun PL-600 is not a bad receiver, just have to get used with the tuning coz it can get noisy.
Baofeng UV-82 are good radios to begin with, just throw away the antenna it came with and you made the right decision to swap it for a nagoya hehehe. the only portable i have right now is an old Icom IC-32AT. big brick of a radio but its a tank.

i live in a studio in an apartment building so my weak point and problem is the antenna, i have to use small antennas just to get my signal out.
how about you guys, do you have restrictions as far as antenna is concerned?

there's this game called "Fleet Command" released around 1999

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_Command

Fleet Command, previously labelled as Jane's Fleet Command, is a real-time tactics naval warfare simulation computer game released in May 1999.[1] It was developed by Sonalysts Inc. and published by Electronic Arts (EA). The game licensed parts of Jane's Information Group's military information database, which was used as an in-game "Jane's Library", reference material that the player could refer to while in-game. Jane's also licensed to EA the "Jane's" name and the "Jane's Combat Simulations" logo, and the game was marketed under the "Jane's" name, much like the previous "Jane's Fighters Anthology", also published by Electronic Arts.

it can be a single player or multi-player.
released for PC, 1 CD/DVD for install and update
later on it can be downloaded on "STEAM" website

upon install, there was only one unit that belonged to the Philippine Navy, that was the Bacolod Class
later on there was a software where you can modify/add/subtract units to the game,
some die hard players who have the a 3D software that can create/modify the 3D files of the game made and added units to it (some boats that was not on the initial list of ships that can be played)

you can also create scenarios, there are already some scenarios included but you can also modify those

it is mostly about naval tactics but you can also add air force units and army ground units in it but are limited, especially the ground units

i still play the game sometimes,
my copy of the game already have the Del Pilar Class, Rizal Class, Jacinto Class (still have to modify the weapons and sensors a bit more),  Tarlac class and the Malvar Class. also have the F-5's, F-8s, OV-10 and T-28s, UH-1, still trying look for the S-211s in it