Sometimes things just work out. In some cases it just seems like patience is the key, and in some cases it is just a combination of good timing and the camaraderie of ham radio. While this is by no means a technical post, good fortune struck twice in one day in my little corner of the world, so I figured I would share!
First, in my post about my built-from-junk antenna mast that I am working on, I mentioned that where that project currently stands, I am looking for some HDPE plastic (the same stuff cutting boards are made from) in about 1/2" thickness. Since it is a goal to make that mast from mostly re-purposed, junk, or free stuff, I figured I would sit on it, put out a request to the universe at large, and at some point I figured I'd come across an old beat up cutting board or something similar. Well, my waiting paid off and I found 2 pieces of HDPE plastic that are just big enough to be able to use. Guess where I found them.......in my basement! I thought I had thrown out my scraps from the last project I used this material on, but apparently I had actually put them in the re-purpose pile, and had just forgotten about them! For you that means you'll soon get to read about my next steps in that project.
The second item of good fortune that happened today, actually worked the other way around. I had a few moments this evening, so I was working on programming the radio's that were part of my future operator #1's christmas gift (more on that to come in future posts, but for christmas I got a GMRS license and a couple rigs in need of some love for us to work on together.) Anyway, the programming was done, so I wanted to test the antenna she built, and put one of the radio's on the air to see how the audio sounded etc. While looking for the connectors and some other tidbits in the garage I came across one of the small metal pieces that connects the whip for a hamstick to the bottom fiberglass part. I remember where it came from....I had sacrificed a 10 meter hamstick to a low bridge early on in my HF mobile experiments, and this was one of the only surviving bits.
Regardless, as I held it, I looked at it and asked myself "why am I keeping this?" After all, it's one of those things that can quickly make for a full junk drawer, and we've been going through an effort to de-clutter in our house. Not wanting to delay progress however, I tossed it back in the box, and moved on.
Now, here is the interesting part of the story - I rarely turn on my VHF/UHF or HT radio's at night. Most of the time I don't want to wake a sleeping child, and when that's not a concern, I usually gravitate toward HF at this time of night. Since I was working on a little UHF radio though, I turned on my HT, figuring I'd use it to receive what I was transmitting, so that I could hear how my TX audio sounded on the rig for my little helper. When I turned the HT on, it was still on the local repeater frequency, and I just happened to hear one of the local hams - W3CWE, mention that he was working on piecing together something for 10 meters, and he had the base of a hamstick, and a whip, but he didn't have the piece to connect them together.....what are the odds of that?! I quickly jumped into the conversation and told him that I'd drop off just the part he was looking for.
It seems like all I had to do was ask the universe "why am I keeping this?" out loud. The vibrations of stuff that holds the universe together must have propagated the question quite well this evening, because less than 5 minutes later the universe answered - or it was just lucky timing. Either way you choose to look at it, this boils down to hams helping hams, which I feel is one of the most important parts of our hobby. Hows that for good vibrations?
Regardless, as I held it, I looked at it and asked myself "why am I keeping this?" After all, it's one of those things that can quickly make for a full junk drawer, and we've been going through an effort to de-clutter in our house. Not wanting to delay progress however, I tossed it back in the box, and moved on.
Now, here is the interesting part of the story - I rarely turn on my VHF/UHF or HT radio's at night. Most of the time I don't want to wake a sleeping child, and when that's not a concern, I usually gravitate toward HF at this time of night. Since I was working on a little UHF radio though, I turned on my HT, figuring I'd use it to receive what I was transmitting, so that I could hear how my TX audio sounded on the rig for my little helper. When I turned the HT on, it was still on the local repeater frequency, and I just happened to hear one of the local hams - W3CWE, mention that he was working on piecing together something for 10 meters, and he had the base of a hamstick, and a whip, but he didn't have the piece to connect them together.....what are the odds of that?! I quickly jumped into the conversation and told him that I'd drop off just the part he was looking for.
It seems like all I had to do was ask the universe "why am I keeping this?" out loud. The vibrations of stuff that holds the universe together must have propagated the question quite well this evening, because less than 5 minutes later the universe answered - or it was just lucky timing. Either way you choose to look at it, this boils down to hams helping hams, which I feel is one of the most important parts of our hobby. Hows that for good vibrations?
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