Paul VandenBosch

Squirrels ate my fava bean seed in the ground, they dug around and found almost all of them.

Thank you

20 meter band SSB is good during the day.  40 meter band SSB is good in the evening.  Both of these bands have a zone of no reception which varies but is generally 100 miles out to 400 miles out, meaning you can't pick up anyone closer than that, unless they are close (line of sight). The reason for the area of no reception is that the signal travels into space and bounces off of layers of the atmosphere (actually ionosphere) and comes back down at a certain angle.  

One or two deep discharge lead acid batteries are a good power supply.  AGM's or marine deep discharge batteries.  Charge them with a 100 W solar panel and charge controller, or if you have 120VAC use a automotive battery charger.

The choice and installation of the antenna is key to good performance, both on transmission and reception.  A dipole is a good place to start. Loop antennas are also good wire antennas.  

The transciever choices listed in previous posts are good choices.  I would go with a new model if at all possible.  If funds do not permit a new model purchase, you might find an older Kenwood HF transciever might be a cheaper way to start.  But you need to do your research, and you never know if you are buying a radio with a problem when you buy online. Personally I would go with an Icom 718 for a base rig and an Icom 706 for a mobile rig. But there are many good rigs out there.

Landscaping fabric covered with a portland cement slurry is a good roof covering.  It has some structural strength if you use multiple layers, but it will need framing underneath it. The framing supports the cloth while it is wet to shape the structure, and also supports it after it cures.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF9ktRLX8ug

I have experimented with landscaping fabric and cement, and have some parts sitting outside to see how long they last in the weather.  The parts I made are not as stiff as shown in the above video, but I did not add stucco, just made a few examples with one, two and three layers of fabric/cement.  One thing that worked very well was to cover foam insulation with fabric and cement, the result is a stiff, hard board-like material that insulates. I might use such a foam/fabric/cement board to plank the outside of a longhouse, holding the boards in place with landscaping fabric/cement.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/kVS5zrb

I hope to build a "cattle panel greenhouse" type structure and cover it with landscaping fabric/cement slurry to make a small longhouse type shelter.  I don't have land so its not happening soon.   I would rather use natural materials for a project such as building a wigwam or longhouse, but would not want to strip trees of bark.  We don't have the natural resources available to us that were available in the past, so using industrial age building products may be a better choice if the building lasts a long time and is more sustainable in design than typical construction methods today.

I would finish this type of structure off with a mixture of latex paint and portland cement.  I have not tested this yet, but have heard promising reports.

http://velacreations.com/howto/latex-concrete-roof/

70F, plus or minus 10F seems to work well.

paul wheaton wrote:

Hoping that this person will read this, or maybe in a few days they will reply to this thread asking why they haven't received further instructions.

Thats me, I must have typed in my email address wrong.