A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE NET.........

This actually dovetails nicely with Santa's "Life Lessons Series" Part 4.
Last night while preparing for the 160m meter net, a bunch of operators were on the 1.860 frequency having a very nice ragchew session. They are regulars since the 160m band opened up and they are always very gracious when I ask if I can have the frequency at 9pm for the net. It was no different last night except for one operator that expressed his opinion on our project and the whole Prepper movement in general. It was not directed at me, nor was it nasty or out of line, it was his opinion and he is certainly entitled to it. To kind of condense his thoughts, I'll just say he was calling us a bunch of "Chicken Littles". I thought about this and here are my thoughts....
This operator is, I'm afraid, the norm, rather than the exception. He has lived his life his own way probably not paying a whole lot of attention to things outside his immediate world. When he does pay attention to the news of the day, it has been trimmed and slanted as the Media is so inclined to do. I feel bad for folks like this. It is the goal of this movement and others like it to wake people up. Santa's post lays it out nicely. So read it a couple of times to let it sink in and get to work!!!! There is much to do, we have to be ready WHEN, not IF things get troublesome!!!!!!!!!
73
Dave K7DLB

SUNDAY!!! SUNDAY!!!! The APRN 160m Net is set!!!

Once again this Sunday the APRN 160 net is prepared for take off on 1.860LSB at 0100UTC (9pm eastern).
This week Jeff, KD8JPQ is running the show and the topic will be "What were your WORST prep ideas?". Now that outta be interesting!!!! Remember, we've all bumped into a wall where we thought there was a door now and then, so let's all be honest and fess up!!!!!
We hope to hear you on Sunday night!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY APRN!!!!!

Today is the APRN's 3rd(month) birthday!!!!! This project was started July 23rd 2009. Geez, it seems like yesterday.......
Well after 12,000 hits and some growing pains the future looks bright here. There is alot planned for the APRN and things may seem a bit slow now, but WATCH OUT!!!! Stay tuned.
Thanks to all that support the APRN by running one of our nets, giving us ideas and checking into our nets on a regular basis. WE APPRECIATE IT!!!!!!!!

Tuesday Night APRN net

The American Preppers Radio Net takes to the air tonight at 2359Z (UTC)

Lee K4USS has informed us that the net tonight will be on the 80 meter band at 3.961 for the first part of the net. Lee has been very busy installing new antennas for the 40 meter band and will move the net to the 40 meter band immediately after closing the 80 meter net.  The 40 meter move will go to 7.198 as soon as we wrap up the 80 meter net.

A lot of people liked the 40 meter net but it has been very unkind to us recently so with a little luck and some people to make the move just maybe we can get that band to work for us again. Everyone that can do 40 meter please come join the net tonight and help us out with this test run to see if all the antenna work Lee has done pays off.

The topic for tonight will be How to Survive an Economic Meltdown.

WOW!!!! It's almost that time again!!!!

Yup, here it is the weekend again and K7DLB is outside staring at his 160 meter wire making sure it is ready for another go at the APRN 160 meter net at 0100 UTC(9pm)eastern) on Sunday night. His neighbors think he is a bit nuts because his yard looks like a landing zone for UFO's with all of the antennas out there!!!!
The topic will be an open mic format with a short(or long) continuation of last weeks water storage topic.
So, come one come all and join in the discussion!!! Bring your thinking caps and comments and questions.

Thursday night 10-08-09 on 80 meter

The Thursday night net was another fine one. The net started on the alternate frequency of 3.983 but soon moved back to it's home of 3.961. It seems there is a group of hams that have recently moved from another frequency to 3.960 so just before the net started we moved to the alt. frequency.

Well shortly into the net 3.983 became the place everyone wanted to be..... Welcome to the wonderful 80 meter band. AC0BG looked for another freq. and we soon moved back to what seems to be our home.3.961

After the move the signals were much better at first but soon begain to go up and down.

All in All we had a great net tonight....The first topic was actually the announcement of plans that are still in the infant stages of developing......The APRN has been looking into doing a DXpedition to Cape Brenton Island in Canada.... More on this later as plans develop......

Next we did a open mic round tonight like last week as everyone really seemed to like that..........

In the end as always the dedicated members that make up the APRN stuck to there guns (or mics) and managed to get in several rounds of comments before the net was closed and the freq. returned to regular amateur use.

W4DMH...... Dave.......WV.......Net Control

AC0BG.......Dean.......IA

WA1HHN ......Walt.......MA

KD8HDP...... Justin.......MI

KD8JPQ......Jeff..............OH

Thursday Night 80 Meter Net

The 80 Meter net is on for tonight so come join in at 0100Z (UTC) at 3.961 or 3.983

There will be an announcement tonight about something that may interest people so we will go for a round of comments and see what others think. 

The second round for comments will again be a OPEN MIC round like last week. Get your notes out and go over them and see if there is anything we have talked about that you would like to ask questions of other members or just comment with something you have learned on that topic.

Hope to see you on the air tonight once again remember to tell a friend and come join the fun.

Hear Ye Hear Ye!!!!! The 160 net will be all wet!!!!

Tacky isn't it!!!! K7DLB net control for the APRN 160m net is wringing his hands and wringing his brain to get ready for Sunday nites APRN 160m net. This week we will start to talk a bit about water storage. Hopefully net control won't be all wet. So, think about the topic and be sure to check in on Sunday nite a 0100UTC(9pm eastern) on 1.860LSB.

80 meter net report 1- 1 - 09

 The 80 Meter net for 10-1-09 once again has gone above and beyond all I every thought would happen with this net. We started with the topic of how do you think we could improve the nets and websites. Some had very good suggestions that we will need to work on but most thought we were doing fine.

For the second round of comments the topic became what I referred to as OPEN MIC NIGHT. I was not sure how this would work out when I put up the net announcement but wanted to try it anyway. What I wanted to do with this is give everyone that makes this net possible a chance to talk on the subject they wanted to know more about. I have to admit this was initially because some topics seem to get very little attention . It is very hard to come up with 3 or more topics every week that are of intrest to everyone.

Well let me tell you this turned out to be the most lively net I have done to date. The topics were from A to Z and there were people that joined in and shared information willingly beyond my wildest dreams. I want to Thank everyone that took part in this net and was so willing to contribute. Without all of the great participation form all this net would truly not be possible. The 80 Meter net rocks once again.

73 to all

W4DMH

Santa

W4DMH....Dave....WV....Net Control

WA1HHN....Walt....MA

KB4MSU....Robert.......OH

NW8I....Del.....OH

W4SQL....Landy....SC

K4USS....Lee....VA

KD8HDP.....Justin....MI

KD8JPQ....Jeff....OH

Thank you all

Thursday Night 80 Meter Net

Santa is back tonight fir the APRN Thursday night net.
Everyone please come join in the fun tonight.
The place is 3.961 on your radio dial.
We will use 3.983 as the alternate. 
The time will be 0100 Z (UTC)
Tonight the first topic for the net will be, How Do You Think We Can Improve The Net. After discussion on this we will have a round of OPEN MIC when everyone will have a chance to ask any questions or bring up any topic they have had fun with before. Everyone please give this some thought and feel free to bring up whatever you want. We have had some topics in the past that continue to be very popular so feel free to bring any of them up again tonight. Everyone please come join and remember to tell a friend to come join the fun.
73
W4DMH
Santa

40 Meter net turns 80 Meter net out of necessity.

The Tuesday Night 40 Meter net turns 80 Meter net out of necessity on the fly. Lee K4USS took to the air on 40 meters at 2359 Z on Tuesday night for the APRN 40 Meter net. Well folks if you were not there you missed it as Lee took the 40 meter net and multiplied it by 2 and we ended up on 80 meter. Lee has tried very hard to get the ripples work out for the 40 meter net but they just keep coming back even stronger.  With several weeks of giving it his all on 40 it was the straw that broke the camels back as once again 40 meter shut the net net down in record time.


The net was quickly moved to 80 meter at 3.983 and the net came back to life there. Those that were watching on Netlogger (which by the way is a free download on the left sidebar of this page) saw the change in the almost instant messenger window and knew exactly where to go.


The topic for the net was WHAT TYPE OF DISASTERS DO YOU NEED TO PREPARE FOR IN YOUR PARTICULAR AREA.

To all our regulars that missed us please note that the Tuesday night net will now be at 2359 Z (UTC) on 3.961 or as a alternate 3.983 so make a note and please do come and join us at the new location next week.

The Noise Really "Dried us out"!!!!!

The APRN 160m net topic tonite was "Dehydrating Foods Basics" and lets just say the band was really overboard with noise tonite!!! In spite of the noise we had a thought provoking discussion and we all have some new things to consider and try out.
Tonites Check Ins were:
W4DMH Dave, WV
Kd8JPQ Jeff, OH
NW8I Del, OH
AC0BG Dean, IA
AC8EM, Mike, OH
K0CKD Dennis, SC
K7DLB Dave, MD Net Control.
Once again THANKS!!!! to all that checked in and have a safe week!!!See you Same time, Same Frequency!!!
73's
K7DLB

ANOTHER HAM SAVES THE DAY!!!!!

Many thanks to Del, NW8I for jumping in and running the 80 meter net on Thursday nite!!!! He ran the net like a pro and had a real good discussion going. There really was no topic but it was kind of a review of some of the discussions from nets past. MANY THANKS DEL!!!!!
Please remember, it is not hard to run a net. We do need some alternate Net Control Stations to run any one of our nets. Please consider it and let either Dave W4DMH or Dave K7DLB know if you can help!!!!!

Update!!!

Email from Del;

Hi Dave,

I saw that the 80 mtr net was canceled for tonight. I thought maybe their might be a few guys that hadn't gotten the word or were just giving a listen anyway. About 0105 Z I asked if anyone wanted to check in and believe it or not their were several.

kb4msu Robert Eaton, OH - 1st time checkin

ki4hee Bob SC

n8tah Keven near E. Wheeling, WVA

kd8jpq Jeff

kd8kwd John

kb8jnz Steve Indiana, PA

I announced the official net had been cancelled so we just had an unofficial net.

I couldn't remember what the topic of discussion was supposed to be so we talked a little food storage and a lot of emergency power. The guys had some really good input on novel ways of providing power and different combination's of doing it.

I closed the net down at 0205Z but a couple of the guys talked a little longer.

Its hard to remember who said what but one suggestion was using a weedeater to run a 125 amp alternator which seemed to work very well. Another suggestion was to burn wood in such a way as to produce fuel to fed to a carburetor to run a generator and the guys discussed using steam generators as well. For an off the cuff net it went pretty well.

The band conditions were pretty good for about an hour then the QRM and QRN picked up right at the end.

Dave there is a lot of interest in the topics the nets been discussing. Most everyone is better prepared than myself but they have great info to share.

73s

Del - nw8i

This just goes to show what I have said all along, The people involved in Ham radio are more than willing to jump in and get involved and help. Thanks a bunch Del.
Santa

80 Meter net for 9-24-09

I hate to do this but the 80 meter net for tonight is canceled. I will be back next week so please do come back and join us. The net had to be sacrificed due to a paying job tonight that will interfere with the time the net is done. I hope everyone understands this and comes and joins us next week same time same place as usual.



Let me remind everyone we are looking for Operators to do Net Control for this very reason.

73 All

W4DMH

Santa

Food, Spam and canning!!!!! The 160m net made us HUNGRY!!!!

Once again the discussion was lively on tonite's subject, "Food Storage and Methods". We discussed canning, shelving, Spam, and touched on dehydration tonite. Everybody had some real good points and I'm sure we all learned something new!!!
Tonites check ins were:
W4DMH Dave, West Virginia, Net Logger and BNC
WA1HHN Walt, Massachuesetts
NW8I Del, Ohio
KD8JPQ Jeff, Ohio
N8NMJ Mike, Maryland
KB1JQA Phil, Connecticut
The list was small but the conversation was great!!! Thanks to all that participated on the net as well as on NetLogger!!!
We will look for everybody next week, same time same frequency!!!!!
73's and have a safe week!!!!!
K7DLB

80 Meter net results for 9-17-09

Another great net tonight. They just keep getting better every week as we grow. The topic tonight was Gardening and trust me folks every one had something to add to the discussion. We had a variety ranging from a 130 acre working farm to people doing Square foot gardening due to space limitations.

We have set a new distance record for the 80 meter net tonight with a check in from Iowa to here in West Virginia. By the map it sure does look like roughly half way across the country to me. As winter approaches look for us to reach even greater distances on a regular basis.

Thank you all that take part in this net, because without you it would not be possible. The 80 meter net proves again to be a winner.
73 to all
W4DMH
Santa

Check in list

W4DMH ... WV ... Dave... Net Control

N8BIT/P... MI... Dave

N8TAH ... OH ... Kevin (using his roof for his antenna)

W4SQL ... SC ... Landy

KD4OWY ... AL... Nathan

AC8EM ... OH ... Mike

KD8KWD ... WV ... John

AI4JA ... SC... Gary

AC0BG ... IA... Dean (A distance record for the 80 meter net)

KD8HDP ... MI... Justin

There you it have as we put the wraps on another one.

80 meter net comes to life again tonight

Once again Santa will take to the air on the 80 meter net. Everyone please come join the fun and bring a friend.

The topic for tonight will be Gardening and how do you see this fitting into your long term plans.

Hope everyone gives this some thought before time for the net. See you tonight on the 80 meter net on or near 3.961 at 0100Z (UTC)