Greetings from the Antelope Valley

[Fetus]

Somehow I wandered on to this website and just jumped right in.

I am currently recovering from a torn meniscus in my knee and the accompanying surgery, so I am out of play for the next couple months.

Before I was injured, I did a lot of traveling while offroad. I tend to wander around the local deserts near my home and find new places. I do geocaching with the kids and family. I also do a lot of long distance target shooting when I have the ammo available.

I am a former Marine (92-98) and was trained as Desert Survival Instructor at NAVSPECWAR group at Coronado and NAF El Centro. I still can do ok with map and compass but now use map and GPS.

I am running two rigs, a 1999 Jeep Wrangler and a 2005 Nissan Xterra. The Xterra is for my long range trips where I need air conditioning and good (well better than Jeep) mileage. I can also haul my kids and their gear in the Xterra. The Jeep is for the more rugged terrain and solo and group trips. Both are equipped with Kenwood VHF/UHF radios running APRS.

My favorite trips are to Mammoth, Bishop, Death Valley, Cuddeback Dry Lake, Rachel, NV, Death Valley, and Yosemite.

I am a general class amateur radio licensee and run HF mostly on portable and at home. I haven't started using mobile yet.

Look forward to getting to know you all and learn more.

Cuddeback Dry Lake portable HF station.


Outside Groom Lake (Nov 08) Buddipole on 40m to make contact with father in San Francisco Bay area.

[Chazz Layne]

I see I'm not the only one to pick up one of those tents when they went on sale (or perhaps a souviner in your case)...



Welcome and hello from SSE.

[Fetus]

Thanks, Chazz. It's a good tent for car camping, sucks for backpacking. I bought this on sale used, too.

We were still using the canvas pup tents when I got out of the Marines.

[cruiserlarry]

Welcome to OAUSA, Fetus...You mentioned APRS and working 40m in the desert- what is your call sign ? We can add you to the OAUSA Ham Radio Operator roster...

Several of us are running APRS systems, incl hmfigueroa, sdnative, Ollie, DaveK, NotaMog, and myself. We are having a ham radio testing session at Bass Pro Shops in Rancjo Cucamonga on Oct 10th, so maybe you can come by and hang out with us for the meet and greet. WE get a lot of folks asking questions at these events, so its a lot of fun...

Se you on the trail...

[Fetus]

Thanks, Cruiser Larry

Sounds like fun at the Meet and Greet. Now I just have to figure out which vehicle to bring.

My call is KG6QPH.

I read on another forum that you have a CCD camera setup in your truck. I'd like to make a similar system with a camera that can pan/tilt/zoom but don't want to spend 1000s on it. There are a lot of things that deserve a closer look sometimes and sometimes binos don't work too well. Plus its cooler to use a camera.

[OLLIE]

Welcome aboard Fetus... Looks like we could certainly learn a lot from your experiences. I'm a former Marine myself (92-00). I had the priviledge of attending SERE school in Warner Springs. I love your HF set up in that first picture. I look forward to meeting you.

[cruiserlarry]

Thanks, cruiserlarry

Sounds like fun at the Meet and Greet. Now I just have to figure out which vehicle to bring.

My call is KG6QPH.

I read on another forum that you have a CCD camera setup in your truck. I'd like to make a similar system with a camera that can pan/tilt/zoom but don't want to spend 1000s on it. There are a lot of things that deserve a closer look sometimes and sometimes binos don't work too well. Plus its cooler to use a camera.

I do use a front and rear camera with IR LEDs for night viewing, but they are both fixed position - my rearview mirror has a built-in 6" screen visible when the cameras are activated. Flush mount cameras within a reasonable price range do not have pan/tilt/zoom capability - you'd have to use an external, bracket-mounted camera that would be more susceptible to field damage, and definitely much more expensive as a whole. I use them for rear vision, and for better self-spotting over rocks, etc., especially at night...