Re: [amsat-bb] AO27

[John Mock <kd6pag@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

    Thanks for including me in your REGULAR list; I certainly wouldn't want to
    be on your irregular list!

Jeff, you can count me on your west coast irregular list if you want...
I'm a little too far behind in transcribing tapes and sending out QSLs'
to be very regular right now.  [No jokes about laxitives, please...]

    When I'm in EL86, a rare grid (Sanibel, Captiva), using the ARROW and
    FT50, I put a Y adapter in the headphone slot and run my
    micro-cassette recorder.  If you say the time every few contacts, it's
    easy to review the tape and get fairly accurate times, and VERY
    accurate calls! :-)

I got a Rad Shack cassette recorder, as it has microphone jack in it.  I
then plug the headphones into the headphone jack of the cassette machine
and a patch cord from there into into the radio, and i know in advance
when i have the levels right or have something wrong with the connections.
I also record the starting and ending times of the pass, and can later
derive the actual contact time later by using the tape counter and a
little bit of PERL5 code.  I still don't always get calls right, but at
least i can replay them over and over again until i'm sure i have it or
know that it is approximate at best.

    Consider one of those $20.00 Radio Shack lapel mikes used as a hand
    mike, and a pair of over the ear headphones to squelch the outside
    noises.

The down-side of my approach is that i have to disconnect the patch cord
to enter verbal comments (date, time, location at both ends of the pass).
I use a mono-to-stereo adapter, and don't have to worry much about outside
noise.  I only need to catch the callsign well enough during that the other
side knows i'm calling them, and can check the tape over when transcribing
it into on-line form.

			-- KD6PAG  (Networking Old-Timer, RF newbie)

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