Using Twitter During Mobile Operation
Jeff Nyberg (KF5KWO) on August 2, 2009
From eHam.net
Whenever I get a road trip, I jump on the air with my 10-meter mobile rig. So, having the opportunity today (Saturday, August 1, 2009) to drive from San Antonio to Houston, I prepared for 7 to 8 hours of calling CQ and making a few contacts — just a few since 10 meter conditions aren’t the best right now.
I alerted the County Hunters on http://www.countyhunter.com/ with my plans — albeit late last night — including my route (along I-10) and the counties through which I would pass. But then it hit me: With band conditions being so poor, I want to alert folks as to the county I’m in so they don’t have to search and search and probably miss me. So I created a Twitter account (http://twitter.com/kf5kwo) and sent updates via my cell phone as I entered each county. I added that URL to my post on countyhunter.com, the idea being that folks could go onto the Twitter site and see when I’m in each county and give me a call on my frequency. They could even choose to receive updates on their phones via text message if they so desired.
My plan was flawed from the standpoint that I didn’t advertise my trip until late last night — don’t the best ideas always come up at the last minute? Yeah, that’s the ticket… Also, I’m not sure how many hams use Twitter, or how many would care to create an account for this kind of short-duration event.
A quick search of “DX” on Twitter shows a few DX sites are there, including the DailyDX, which I have elected to “follow.”
So, that’s great idea I hatched late last night. I will be going that same route next Saturday (August 8), and will post that info on various websites and also on Twitter. Hope to garner a few more contacts.
Popularity: 3% [?]
