The presentation I did last week on the Raspberry Pi Overview mentioned several links. These are below: Zoom Recording of Session (unedited) RaspberryPI.org Pi-Hole HamClock Top 10 Ham Radio Uses for a Raspberry Pi Fldigi Digital mode software Raspberry Pi Satellite Tracking Inteface Follow-on discussions Florida Repeater Database Formatted Repeater Database (Beta)
Posts published by “Tom”
Hello. I have been licensed since 1980. I am currently the president of the St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club (SPARC). I am a founding member of the Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club (UPARC) as well as a past-president and past club secretary. I am a Life Member of the ARRL as well as a member of the ARRL Maxim Society. Additionally, I am a life member of AMSAT, a member of the Clearwater Amateur Radio Club and a past-president and member of the Utah Amateur Radio Club. I hold 9 band DXCC covering 160 meters through 10 meters. I am also a member of the ARRL's A-1 Operator's Club. I mostly chase DX, POTA parks and dabble in contests both at home and with SPARC. I also work on the development of several amateur radio software projects including TR4W among other open source projects. I am a dyed in the wool Elecraft fan utilizing my K4D and KPA1500 for HF but also have more Icom radios than any one person should own. I also have a growing Begali key addiction that seems to keep growing. I also have a nice collection of older radios, Mac computers and HF 1500 watt amplifiers. Professionally, I own a software consulting company and have been involved in software development and IT continuous for the past 39 years.
Overview of the parts involved in the tower build
The concrete is in the ground secured by a good amount of concrete. The contractor that rebuilt the house is doing the base and house brackets for this project. We had some false starts on the hole. Specifically, the first one they dug was too far from the house relative to the house bracket. The second hole was too far from the house in the other direction (the house bracket would have hung over). I really do not understand why it is so hard to look at a set of…
I thought I was going to wait a few months after the house was finished before I proceeded with the tower install, but plans changed. Since we obtained the tower permit as part of the house project, the permanent Certificate of Occupancy (CO) is dependent upon closing all projects on the main permit. Hence, the tower has to be installed sooner than planned. With this in mind, I ordered 4 sections of Rohn 55G which was delivered recently. The general contractor has the specs to have the rebar cage built.…
The latest batch of cards I had checked at the Tampa Bay Hamfest were processed. I now need just 5 more confirmed on 12 meters for 9 band DXCC as I currently have 8 bands (Basic 5B DXCC on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m) plus 160 DXCC, 30m DXCC and 17m DXCC. After that my focus switches to VHF for DXCC on 6m but that will be tried again in Sporadic-E season in June when I have the tower all ready.
After a contentious Special Exemption meeting where 5 of my neighbors made their case why this tower permit should not be granted, I am in possession of the tower permit. We submitted this permit application near the end of May 2018 and due to the hoops Madeira Beach required me to jump, we were granted the permit mid September. I applied for the tower permit at the same time we are building the house as the tower is house bracket’ed in two places. The top bracket is built into the…
The final step in the saga of the tower permit is for the Special Magistrate to review the application for special exemption. This seems to be just to cross the T’s for the way the City of Madeira Beach has setup for amateur radio tower’s to be reviewed. That meeting is Monday August 27th. http://madeirabeachfl.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Special-Magistrate-Special-Exception-Complete-Packet.pdf
The Madeira Beach Planning Commission met tonight and approved the tower project. This now moves to the Special Magistrate to just verify it meets the Special Exception process on August 27th. During the presentation tonight, the planning director and two commissioners mentioned how thorough the packet of material I presented was. It does make one wonder what they normally get for these things. The planning directory also mentioned that the city may want to review this whole process to simplify it. After my tower is permitted and our house is…
Madeira Beach has scheduled my tower permit on the Planning Commission agenda. The city staff has recommended approval. After the planning commission approval, it goes to the Special Magistrate at the end of August. Here is a link to the agenda packet with my info for those interested.
To catch up, we are rebuilding our house in Madeira Beach. We lifted the house to avoid future flooding (the house has been flooded 6 times so far since 1985). As part of this project, I am installing a new shack and tower. The tower will be 45 feet of Rohn 55G house-bracketed to the house in two places. I have engineered drawings showing the system to support the house bracket. The tower will be free standing. In Madeira Beach, Florida, the city has some confusing language regarding amateur…