A New Thing

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." - Jeremiah 29:11

"Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." - Isaiah 43:18-19 

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." - Romans 8:28 

Sunset at Sitgreaves National Forest, Clay Springs, AZ

Wow, what an interesting time it has been over the last five years, since my wife Nancy passed away. I haven't been on the radio very much, especially HF, which I really miss. Spending summers in Wisconsin, winters in the Tucson area, and half of last summer in Clay Springs, Arizona has been a very interesting experience. I've made a number of new friends - some very close - and have spent a lot of time praying, studying the Scriptures, reading, and talking with everyone that stopped by at my corner site where so many interesting stories were shared. 

I ended up leading a Bible study at the RV park in Tucson for the last two years. What a blessed time of encouraging others in the Lord. So many lives were changed by God's hand. Last year, as we were studying the Gospel of John, our perspective was to understand that the Holy Spirit had John write this book to tell us something, so we should listen and read the text carefully, and with an open heart and mind. Our main question was, "Who is Jesus, that is, who does He say He is, who do others say He is, and how does this affect our lives?". 

Many, by the work of the Holy Spirit, gained a much better understanding of who Jesus is, like in Peter's words from John 6:68-69 where he said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." As a result, some came to Jesus in repentance from their sin and started a new life in Christ Jesus. Praise the Lord! What an amazing time.

A New Home

So what's been happening lately? Well, through much prayer and searching, the Lord has led me back to Wisconsin, but not in the way I was planning. I looked at twelve different properties to build my home plan on, but all fell through for the strangest reasons. Here I was praying over each piece of land asking the Lord to work out His will regarding them. That is when the Lord convicted me, saying, "You ask Me about each piece of land and if that is what I want for you, but you never asked Me about building your house plans". Oops. This is true, so I asked for forgiveness and turned it all over to Him.

The next morning, I got my almost-daily email with land for sale that fit my specific search criteria. The first entry was a house, not land, and not two or more acres. In other words, this should not be in this email because it does not fit my specific search parameters. Understanding this, I said, "Okay, Lord, what are you doing? Long story short, this two-owner house was built in 1975 by the grandparents of a dear best friend of mine, who grew up in it and helped build the home. He now lives a block and a half away.

The evening before closing, I met with the realtor to do a walk-through and we started talking about the Lord. As I told her my story, I mentioned Romans 8:28. The following day at closing, the realtor told me to tell the banker and the closer about what we talked about last evening, that is Romans, so I did. Then the realtor asked me, "What day is it today?". I said, "Um, closing day?". She said, "No, it's 8/28, like Romans 8:28!". Ha! God really does work "all things together for the good, for those who love Him, those called according to His purpose"!

This home and yard hasn't been touched for 50 years, except for a new roof in 2019 and a few replacement windows. It has all the original paint, walpaper, flooring, cabinets, fixtures, siding, etc. So as of the time of writing this, the following boxes have been checked off.

• Move a heat register
• Move the clothes washer and dryer from the kitchen to downstairs
• Remove wallpaper from three rooms
• Paint all walls and ceilings
• Installing a new boiler furnace
• Remove all old flooring and install White Oak wood floors
• Furniture and appliances are on the way
• Install a new front exterior door (scheduled)
• Remove a kitchen window and replace with an exterior door to backyard (scheduled)

There's still more to do, but thankfully the list is much shorter now.

A New Station

Desk and breakfast bar area on the east end of the kitchen.

Cardboard mockup of the desk (lower left) and the breakfast bar (higher right) area.

On the east end of the galley kitchen, I'm building in a small desk and breakfast bar where the clothes washer and dryer were located. The desk is where I'll be setting up the new station with a Yaesu FT-710 HF radio and a Yaesu FTM-7250D 144/440 radio. 

Funny enough, this house already had a small tower set up, so I mounted a Diamond X-200 vertical on a 10 foot mast at 33 feet, and a Diamond X-50 on a stand-off arm at 24 feet. The FTM-7250 is up and running, as well as a YSF mode, WPSD hotspot. I'm still deciding if I'll set up the home-brew repeater and APRS digipeater again, as the tower is a bit short for either to run well.

For an HF antenna, I found a fair deal on a Hustler vertical that I'll try out, since there's no way to set the Barker and Williamson BWD-90 folded dipole up here.

Another radio project may be building a Raspberry Pi based YSF Reflector with a friend, KD9MNK. I'm sure more on that will be upcoming as we also attempt to get his Wires-X room up and running again.

Final Thoughts

I am very grateful to the Lord for bringing me back to Wisconsin. Since coming back, God has been reconciling several relationships that were broken for a number of different reasons. While going through these processes, it is clear that God's hand is in it all, and I thank Him for this. I am very thankful to have a home again, and pray this home serves the Lord's purposes.

Airstream Ham Radio

In May of 2023, I began living full-time in my 2023 Airstream Flying Cloud 23FBT. As my interest in amateur radio continues, finding good information on setting up an amateur radio station in an RV, with all the issues surrounding mobility and power, doesn't come easy. I hope this explanation of my station setup will be helpful to those who operate out of an RV, and to my fellow Airstream owners who don't want to poke new holes in their trailer.

The two radios sit atop the table I made for Nancy before she passed away. Linux Mint runs CQRlog software.

Your station itself will probably be as individual as we are from each other, but the behind-the-radio setup has some specific rules to follow in order for the station to work properly. I won't get into all of that, as, since you are reading this, you are likely an operator and have at least a basic understanding of things. The real issue for many RV'ers is finding unobtrusive routes for cables, providing sufficient ground plane for antennas mounted to the RV, and protecting everything from the extended "earthquake" from moving your RV down the road, or off-road.

One of my main goals in building a setup is to not do something that cannot be undone and appear as if it never was. In other words, no new holes or modifications that can be detected by the casual observer's view; everything must be out of view and reversible. With this in mind, I found a way to route coax without creating any possible leaks. 

The 2023 Airstream FC23FBT, like many other RV's, has a roof-mounted snorkel-like refrigerator vent that has a very nice cover over it. This makes a perfect place to run coax up to the roof that no one will ever notice. For those with non-metal RV roofs, a roof-mounted antenna may not work, but this location may provide a top-side entry location for whatever setup you have. Be sure a sufficient grommet and cable holds are made to prevent damage to the coax while your RV is moving.

The coax passes through the front end of the refrigerator vent snorkel, behind the large cover.

In my case, I ran the coax from the vent, down behind the refrigerator and forward to a floor port where the plumbing comes up from the fresh water tank. From there, I fished the line on top of the water tank to another floor port on the curb-side of the trailer where the water heater is located. The coax comes up into the trailer there and to the radios sitting on a little table I made for Nancy. 

A Yaesu ATAS-120A screwdriver antenna is mounted with a UHF connector antenna bracket to the lower half side of the metal AC chassis. This is electrically grounded to the trailer body/skin which also acts as a ground plane for the antenna. I can also swap out the HF antenna for a 2m/440 antenna and flip the antenna switch to the Yeasu FTM-7250D. 

The antenna bracket is standing off the side of the AC chassis with extended bolts to allow for the AC's composite top cover to clear the antenna. Of course, antennas are removed and the radios are safely stowed while travelling.

The UHF connector antenna bracket with stand-off bolts is on the curb-side of the metal AC chassis.

Power is supplied directly off the batteries via a RIGrunner 4004U fuse block.

Internet connectivity is supplied via Starlink, which is now powered by a 12v to 48v step-up booster and PoE setup I made. A Nest router is also running on 12v so no shore power or inverter is needed for internet to operate. When Starlink isn't available due to overhead obstructions, such as tree cover, a PEPwave 4G/WiFi repeater router (also 12v) provides internet when 4G cellular or public WiFi is available.

Outcome

So far, I've accomplished my goal of operating from the Airstream without making irreversible changes.

There are no wires or cables detectable except where they are connected to devices. Perfect!

To date, I have had nothing but good signal reports. Awesome!

I have not run the AC while transmitting, but testing will show if there are issues with interference.

There seems to be no issues regarding receiving signals with the AC on.

After removing the curb-side bed and adding a Stressless recliner, there's plenty of room to relax and operate from anywhere.

Operating out of my winter get-away near Tucson, Arizona in grid DM42ke (Nov 2023)

Operating out of Hartman Creek State Park near Waupaca, Wisconsin in grid EN54jh (July 2024)

Taste and See...

1 John 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

ad-ven-ture

 

The year 2023 has been full of changes, both big and small, and I can say without any reservation, life truly is an adventure. In early May, shortly after returning to Wisconsin from Arizona, I purchased an Airstream Flying Cloud 23FBT travel trailer to replace the tiny Flyer Chase. Obviously the Airstream will handle expeditions of longer duration more comfortably, like those I have been making to Arizona. The Flyer Chase will stick around at least until next summer as I contemplate it's future.

At the end of August, I sold the Wisconsin condominium and began living full-time in the Airstream. This is again another significant life change. Thinking back, only two years ago I sold our retirement home on Lake Michigan soon after Nancy passed away and bought the condo. And now the Airstream is my home. Wow, what a change!

As for amateur radio, the residence changes have greatly affected the ability and capacity to get on the air. For now, the home-made Yaesu/Raspberry Pi YSF repeater is off-line and will likely not be up for an extended period of time. The Alinco/Raspberry Pi APRS digipeater station is also down, and along with the Yaesu FT-991A, they too are in storage. The Barker & Williamson 90' folded dipole is rolled up and in storage, and the GAP Titan DX has found a new home.

Looking at these changes as an opportunity to try new things, I began considering what I could do to make the Airstream feel more like home as well as provide space for some of my interests. One of the first things I did was carefully remove the twin bed on the curb-side of the trailer and save all the parts in storage. In the resulting floor space, I added a nice pattern rug and a Stressless swivel reclining chair, minus the included footstool. This provides a clean and very comfortable area that reminds me of a small [very small] den-like space. 

On the floor at the rear of this space, the tankless water heater will eventually be covered by a custom bookcase and space for a printer. At the front, a desktop will extend from the curb-side, over to and including the existing nightstand. Under the desktop will be hanging file folders and some other storage. The non-lifting portion of the top will allow space for the Yaesu FT-710 AEES and FTM-7250D transceivers, as well as a mini desktop computer and full-size monitor. Until then, the radios are located on Nancy's small table at the rear of this space.

After temporarily removing some cabinet bottoms and backs, I found a great way to run coax to the outside without risking water intrusion or changing the trailer's clean exterior appearance. Above the refrigerator, there is a large 5x20 inch screened and covered vent in the roof, and a perfect place to pass coax through. From this vent, I was able to run coax down behind the refrigerator and forward to the fresh water tank plumbing passage. From there, the coax runs under the floor, on top of the water tank to the plumbing passage at the water heater. The result is a clean, totally hidden coax run from the radios to the roof. Perfect.

For the HF radio, the Yaesu ATAS-120A antenna that was on the Flyer Chase setup is used. Mounting was done by using a right-angle stainless steel mirror-mount bracket attached to the curb-side of the AC chassis. The lower half of the chassis is a steel pan with vertical sides perfect for this. The antenna is in the clear as  much it can be without any alterations to the trailer body or roof. After running some tests, the antenna shows a SWR of 1:1 on 10 meters,  2.2:1 on 20 meters, and 4.7:1 on 40 meters. With these results, staying on 20 or above is best. Good thing 10 meters is wide open for the next few years!

The VHF/UHF antenna is currently in "receive only" mode until I decide how to handle that.

For power, there's no worries while the trailer is plugged in. When running off-grid, power is supplied by 200Ah of batteries, 300 watts of roof-mounted solar, and a 35A charge controller. At some point, I may be doubling the batteries and solar collection, but for now, there is no pressing need.

May God bless you as you draw close to Him!