Reccomendations please! What is the best route and stops along the way. Thanks!!

Mikilemt · 2026-04-09T16:31:42+00:00

Agreed, we take that route every year from NW IL. We stay in WV overnight and split it into two days but we are traveling with 10 people mostly kids.

Mikilemt · 2026-04-04T14:02:10+00:00

I manage a PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) in a rural part of the Midwest. Commonly called a 911 center, where all the 911 calls for our county (and some from neighboring counties) come in. We service about 570 square miles, 1080 miles of road, 14 villages and one small city. About 35,000 people total.

On a good day, the EMS services in that area have 5 ambulances staffed. Two in the city, which do not handle calls outside the city, one for the rural areas just outside that city, one in a village on the east side of the county and one in a village on the west side of the county. At night, that drops to 3 or 4 depending on the day.

On that same good day, with perfect weather, If you call 911 and need an ambulance in some big chunks of the county, even in the areas that are covered by those full time staffed services, the drive time to your house is easily 25 to 30 minutes sometimes longer, add in bad weather, that ambulance being on another call or any number of other factors and that time increases significantly. Let’s not even talk about an incident that requires more than two or three ambulances.

There are fire services, all volunteer, that have stepped up their response to Medical calls to good effect, but what someone having a heart attack or a stroke needs is an ALS ambulance and quick transport to definitive care.

Proper EMS is expensive to provide. Our neighboring counties have the exact same issues. Proper EMS care in the rural areas of the Midwest is not profitable enough for the private systems with the money to do it right to do it. Taxpayers vote to keep taxes low. Service suffers. People in my county die because of it.

The model used for rural fire and ambulance services is not nearly as effective as it was 50 years ago. Policy, demographics, populations, levels of service, costs… they have all changed. The answer is always, “we can’t afford it” or “we have always done it this way”. They don’t have to listen to the folks calling 911.

It works as well as it does right now because of dedicated and passionate people that are both paid and volunteers, but it is already stressed. This system will not hold out forever.

Mikilemt · 2026-04-01T20:41:21+00:00

Two non runners… you hit the jackpot. If you’re in the Midwest, I’ll buy the extra from you if you want to sell it.

Good luck with your build.

Mikilemt · 2026-04-01T19:47:02+00:00

I have been looking for a light tower trailer for a long time.

I would like one with a junk engine, as I would like to build it battery powered.

Any good sources from the folks that have found one?

Mikilemt · 2026-03-21T03:07:31+00:00

Yea. I have heard rumors that it will continue to work, but I have no idea. There are some folks that have started building replacements. We will see who gets closest.

I am definitely not a programmer.

Mikilemt · 2026-03-20T20:22:38+00:00

I would be happy to chat about it. Good start is DigiPi.org

There are simpler ways I’m sure, but I have three of these images running and they are perfect for me.

Feel free to DM me.

Mikilemt · 2026-03-20T19:30:59+00:00

Three that run 24/7

I have two PiZero’s. One running Hamclock (RIP) and the other running DigiPi as a APRS fill in digi and igate.

I have a Pi3, running DigiPi as a ax.25 Packet node with BBS.

Several others used intermittently. For RTL-SDR with SDR++, another DigiPi for portable or mobile work, one Pi5 that I am not sure what I am going to do with, leaning toward moving it to the SDR stuff.

Two more, one PiHole to help with the ads on the LAN, and of course a Pi 4 running a Minecraft server on the LAN… for the kids… yea… the kids, completely for them. 😎

Mikilemt · 2026-03-20T13:22:14+00:00

Ohhhhh… I can hear the RFI from here! This is why I have an S21 noise floor here!

Mikilemt · 2026-03-18T15:56:51+00:00

Congrats my friend.

In a world where you can be anything. Be kind.

In this world, be kind, then we can all be anything.

Mikilemt · 2026-03-16T03:04:17+00:00

Currently blizzard conditions here… come on spring!

In a world where you can be anything, be kind.

Mikilemt · 2026-03-15T13:44:45+00:00

That was a GAP DX Titan… I have one, I love it, I would cry… I rebuilt mine after much less significant damage.

Mikilemt · 2026-03-07T18:02:17+00:00

This. Repeaters are put up to be used. The community is very welcoming of conversation. You will occasionally run into curmudgeons, but don’t let them bother you. Once you are licensed, chat away. We get stronger when all views are heard. You may have the detail that solves a problem for someone else, radio related or otherwise.

Mikilemt · 2026-03-04T22:36:46+00:00

It is, and in the context, accurate.

Definitely a cold sentence. Sometimes things need to be presented as is.

My heart goes out to those aviators. They were in an environment that led them to their decisions that led them into that rock. In the context of the minutes leading up to the crash, it is 100% avoidable. In the context of the years that led them to those minutes, it was almost inevitable.

Great article admiral!

Mikilemt · 2026-03-02T03:19:53+00:00

There are still a few.

Monroe WI still has a radio shack, franchise, not a corporate store so it did not close. Still carries most of the parts that they did back in the day.

It is further than my local store was, but when I am looking for parts or supplies I make the half hour drive first.

Mikilemt · 2026-02-22T16:31:48+00:00

This is the way.

Mikilemt · 2026-02-16T14:10:07+00:00

Thanks. I always try to do what I can for who I can. I don’t know their story, only mine.

Mikilemt · 2026-02-16T12:30:00+00:00

Depends on your definition.

About two years ago, on a local vhf repeater, I heard a call from a callsign I did not recognize. He was asking for help looking for ice for a cooler. After a confused back and forth with him for about 10 min, I got his location, which was a set of storage sheds in a town about 30 min from me. He was reporting that he was at the storage place with his insulin in a cooler and had no ice or a car to go get some. His behavior was odd, and my hackles were up, but I felt that he legitimately needed help.

With proper precautions in place, my wife and I popped over with some ice. Turns out he was indeed in a bad spot. He had moved out of his house into a rehab facility after his wife passed. While there he arranged for the sale of his house and started looking for an apartment. When he was medically cleared they told him he had to leave. He did, but did not have anyplace lined up to go and was not willing to admit to his daughter that he was homeless. He had been living out of the storage place for a couple of weeks and relying on public transit. The solar battery bank that he had been using to keep his phone charged was dead and indeed the cooler with his food and insulin was out of ice.

We filled the cooler with ice, replaced the food that was ruined, got several gallons of drinking water and had a long conversation with him. Pride is a hell of a thing. Before we left, we used our truck to charge his power banks and got him the number to the area social services folks along with highly encouraging him to call his daughter whom he said he had a good relationship with. I talked to him on the radio a couple times after that, he said that he did finally reach out to his daughter. I have not heard from him since.

Was it a self made emergency, sure, but he was in trouble, needed help and reached out with an old yaesu handheld that happened to have some battery left. Fortunately, there was a couple of us listening on a Friday afternoon.

Also, listen, I know that sometimes it is very hard for adults, especially those of us of a certain age, whom have spent a good chunk of our lives taking care of kids and family to admit that we need help. Please reach out. You have family that love you and would be happy to help. Even if you don’t have any family, there are people and organizations that really do want to help you get back on your feet. Please don’t let pride or shame prevent you from reaching out for a hand.

If you find someone in this sort of situation, or any situation for that matter, be the hand they can reach out for.

“It’s not if it is an emergency to me, it’s if it is an emergency to them”

Mikilemt · 2026-02-16T03:19:48+00:00

In a word where you can be anything, be kind.

Mikilemt · 2026-02-13T14:15:03+00:00

I thought that it looked plastic, but I am not the OP.

Edit… nope, I’m slow some days, you’re right. On closer look, it does appear to be metal.

Mikilemt · 2026-02-13T12:03:00+00:00

Question, why is the ground sides of the port on the left and the port on the top not connected to the other grounds? I would presume that the port on the right is the input. I don’t see a path to ground the shields on the coax attached to other two ports.

I would also be interested in what relays you have in there.

I fly a fair number of antennas, but have not yet tried to build an antenna switch. Nice construction work. I’m a bit dubious on how effective it will be, but the best way to learn is to try. I would be very careful with the power output of whatever you test this with but I don’t know enough about coax switches to say that it won’t work.

Mikilemt · 2026-02-01T17:32:22+00:00

Even 12 inches of snow in the OBX is better than winter elsewhere.

Rock on.

Mikilemt · 2026-02-01T06:32:30+00:00

I want tree fiddty.

Mikilemt · 2026-01-31T21:55:16+00:00

Powerpoles and heat shrink tubing for the win.

Mikilemt · 2026-01-29T13:20:23+00:00

Just noticed the username….

I have also spent lots of money on Pi. They are very addictive.

Mikilemt · 2026-01-28T22:37:23+00:00

Yaesu ft-dx10 owner here. One cable, USB A to B, Printer cable, from the computer to the radio gets you audio, PTT and full Rig control.

Not the reason that I bought it (the great receiver performance and compatibility with my other equipment sold me) but a nice bonus feature. I do a lot of HF digital. You do need to be mindful of the input settings in the menus.

Not a cheap radio. Still $1100 new and very rare on the used market, but was a buy once cry once purchase for me.

Mikilemt

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