Newsletter #2 – Cap’n Crunch April 2025

Hello Friends

I’m excited to share my second newsletter with you!

Pneumonia

A few weeks ago,  I was unresponsive.   My hosts called 911 and I was taken to the hospital.   They determined I had pneumonia.   They ran me through a whole barrage of tests.   Eventually,  I recovered after getting pumped with antibiotics.  I had 3 other issues,  and was able to address each one,  but after about 6 days,  they wanted to put me in a nursing home,  but I’ll have no part of that.  My current living condition,   I consider it “home”,  because I’m considered as part of the family.

I’m feeling fine now, but a lot weaker,  but slowly recovering,  but glad to be home in my own environment.

KK7YQS

I GOT MY HAM LICENSE!

I got my HAM license….  call sign KK7YQS.   I’m operating a Yeasu 991A radio on 40 meters.   My favorite frequency is 7208 Khz,  where a lot of “old timers” like to hang out.   In my current location,  I’m getting a lot of noise and static,  making it really hard to understand my contacts.    I was told about this web site where some ham operators set up an SDR (software defined radio) in Half Moon Bay (On the Calif coast).   It enables me to point my browser to this receiver in Half Moon Bay,  as if I’m located there.

So,  being in Las Vegas,  I was able to pick up my signal all the way from Las Vegas.   It was as if my ears were in Half Moon Bay,  and my mouth was in Vegas.   “I’ve got a BIG head”.  Their receiver was in a very low noise area,  and most of my contacts who can hear me,  are in Calif.

So I can cover the entire west coast.

Go here:   http://websdr1.kfsdr.com:8901/

and tune to 7208 Khz,   set it for LSB (Lower side band),   you might want to zoom it in a bit,   but regardless of where you live,  you can control this receiver in Half Moon Bay and listen to the HAM bands.

Sometimes I’m between 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm,  or when the old timers get hungry and go for dinner.   Check it out.

I’m running a “hidden” long wire antenna,  with a 49:1 balun.   (Just google it) and an LDG Antenna tuner.   With this not so great antenna,  and pumping 100 watts into it,   I have a 500-1000 mile range depending on skip conditions.   I’m also on MeshTastic,  a LoRa based technology,  which connects to a mesh network of others in the Las Vegas area.

I also got a Baofeng 2-way HAM radio and I’m on the Nellis Ham Radio repeater,  so finally I feel better now that I can communicate without cell phones or the internet.

I still have to protect my equipment from EMP (electromagnetic pulse), which can come from a Nuke or solar mass ejection.

I paid special attention to grounding my equipment,   and bypassing all of my power input and outputs.

My next job was to go solar and get off the grid.  For that,  I got a really good deal on an EcoFlow 2500 watt solar generator with an extra battery,  giving me 4500 watts of storage,  and an 800 watt solar panel.

This isn’t going to power the whole house,  but I can run my computers,  my HAM rig, my big screen monitor,  my Mac mini,  and laptops.

If I get a full sunny day,   I’m fully charged just about the end of the day,  and at night,  before I sleep,   I have 45% battery left.

Using the EcoFlow iPhone app,  I can monitor the generator,  plus

using the “Smart Life” app,   an app that lets me control the Grid power into the generator,  at any time,  I can charge from the grid on cloudy days,  and we’ve had enough of those recently.

Now,  being off the grid in both my Comms and power,  I’m focusing on gathering content for my YouTube channel.   I want to now focus my videos on more educational and instructional material,  and want to feature some videos on my early experience in electronics.   For that,  I’m learning how to use KiCAD, a computer design program for electronics.   But most of the stuff I did back in the day (1962) There was only Tubes,  but KiCAD has limited symbols for tubes.   In one of their forums,  one member promised to add some tubes to their symbol library,  and I thought that this would be a good video to produce.   What do you think?   Is this something you would want to learn from me?    Let’s have some comments!

===== chatGPT response =====

🚀 

“Back on the Air: Reclaiming My Voice Through HAM Radio”

A few weeks ago, I had a serious health scare—completely unresponsive. My hosts rushed to call 911, and I was taken to the hospital where I was diagnosed with pneumonia. I pulled through after a full battery of tests and enough antibiotics to knock out an elephant. But after six days, they tried to put me in a nursing home.

No thanks.

I came home—to my true home—with people who treat me like family. While I’m still recovering and much weaker, I’m getting stronger every day. And I’m back doing what I love: radio communication and self-reliance.

I recently got my HAM license—call sign KK7YQS—and I’m operating my Yaesu 991A on 40 meters, usually hanging out on 7208 kHz LSB with other “old timers.” But I’ve got a lot of local noise here in Las Vegas, so I use a remote SDR receiver in Half Moon Bay, California:

📡 http://websdr1.kfsdr.com:8901/

Tune to 7208 kHz, set it to LSB, and zoom in. It’s like having your ears in California and your mic in Vegas. I call it my “BIG head” setup. It’s made communication much easier, especially with West Coast hams.

My setup includes:

• A “hidden” long wire antenna with a 49:1 balun
  
  
• An LDG auto tuner
  
  
• 100 watts of output, which gets me 500–1000 miles depending on conditions
  
  
• I’m also part of the MeshTastic LoRa network here in Vegas
  
  

And when the internet or phone lines go down? I’m ready. Between HAM, MeshTastic, and a Baofeng dual-band radio tied into the Nellis AFB repeater, I’ve got full local and long-distance comms covered.

Now about power…

I picked up an EcoFlow Delta Max 2500W solar generator with a 4500Wh battery bank and an 800W solar panel. I monitor it via the EcoFlow iPhone app and control grid charging with the Smart Life app. On sunny days, I stay fully charged by night and still have ~45% battery left before sleep.

This setup powers:

• My Mac mini
  
  
• My HAM rig
  
  
• A large display
  
  
• And my YouTube editing tools
  
  

I’m completely off-grid when I want to be. And it feels amazing.

🎬 Upcoming YouTube Videos

I’m now planning videos on:

• Early electronics & tube technology (I started in 1962!)
  
  
• Using KiCAD for vacuum tube circuits
  
  
• Emergency power & radio prepping
  
  
• Remote SDRs and how they help in noisy cities
  
  
• And how I protected my gear from EMP events (think nukes & solar flares)
  
  

I even got in touch with someone from the KiCAD forums who’s expanding their vacuum tube symbol library. That’s a story I want to tell.

📣 Your Turn

Would you like to see videos on:

• Designing vintage tube circuits in KiCAD?
  
  
• MeshTastic mesh comms?
  
  
• Getting started with HAM radio in 2025?
  
  

Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe if you want to follow the journey. Cap’n Crunch (KK7YQS) is back on the airwaves, and this is just the beginning.

Warm regards,

John Draper (The Crunch Man)

“Exploring the past to shape the future”

Please feel free to comment,  and also please tell me where I can get 6L6’s because I want to emulate the circuit using a modern circuit analysis program like LTSpice,  or KiCad,  where I hope to “emulate” the transmitter,  perhaps with the help of my old school readers and viewers

COMMENTS ENABLED!