If you got to this post by doing a Google search for the title, and you were looking for a song by the same name - shame on you for listening to terrible music :-)  

     Hello all!  There are no exciting pictures to share yet, but my shack project has moved one step further along - last week I reached out to 3 folks to come and have a look at the drywall I hung to give their estimates on finishing it for me - 2 called back, and the first stopped by this morning to check things out.

    The good news is, he told me that for not being a drywall hanger, I didn't do to bad - that was good news to me, because it was the first time I ever hung drywall!  Luckily, he's another ham too, so when giving him directions I was able to give him my address, and let him know to just look for the car in the driveway with all the antenna's on it!  The second person will be stopping by later this week, so I'm hoping that by early next week I'll have nailed down who/when, and will be able to start planning the next phases of the project - paint, putting down the floor, and building out the operating position!

     As a final note, don't forget that this weekend is the "Support Your Parks Summer 2018" POTA event, where myself and K0ATZ have sponsored a pair of plaques that are up for grabs - hope to hear you on the air!

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One of the things that I enjoy in life is doing things that make other people happy.  It's not out of some sense of altruism.  It's quite the opposite actually - it's self-serving because it brings me a lot of joy to see someone happy, grateful, or excited about something, and to know that I had a part in the reason for their happiness.

For me, this was the reason I decided to sponsor a plaque for the upcoming POTA "Support Your Parks" event.  In addition, Brian - K0ATZ decided to sponsor one as well, so there are a pair of plaques at stake - one for "Individual Activator" and one for "Individual Hunter" during this Summer's 2 day event!

  "Support Your Parks" is a seasonal event, which happens 4 times a year - Spring, Summer, Fall, & Winter - for 2 days.  The Summer 2018 event is on July 21st and 22nd (UTC).  The main purpose for these 2 day events each season is to encourage portable activity in state / federal / provincial parks.  The only "Rules" at play are the normal rules for the POTA program.  If you'd like to try and earn one of the plaques available for this Summer's event, you'll also need to be certain to be a registered POTA user/member, and activators will need to be certain to submit their logs with enough time for their regional coordinators to upload them before 23:59 UTC on August 5th (regional coordinator contact info is available on www.parksontheair.com.)

Have fun, and I hope to hear you in/from the parks!

Recently, in a land called "Lancaster" there was an Old Man (OM) who fancied himself a handy chap.  He was always busy with all different kinds of projects.  Depending on when and where you encountered him, he may have been trying his hand at being a carpenter, a mason, an electrician, a landscaper, a painter, and even a software developer.  

In spite of all the things this OM attempted, there was one task that the mere thought of brought a crippling paralysis to his normal "I can do that!" attitude.  What task could possibly cause so much fear for the OM?  As is the case in many stories like this one, the fear of this particular task probably existed more because of something in the OM's mind than it did because of the task itself.  For this OM, that task was the one of drywall finishing.  It's something he has just never done.  He has encountered gypsum fairies that seem to be able to flit in and out of a room and have what appears to be perfectly finished walls in no time flat, but he is certain he can't replicate their skills and speed.

While looking at the drywall he hung, and contemplating what the finished drywall would look like after his amateur attempts, in swooped Super Lady to save the day!

"You know what OM?" said Super Lady, "you worked so hard on all of this, and you did it all while supporting and being with your family, working a full time job, AND finishing up your bachelor's degree as an adult, I think you deserve a reward."

With that introduction, she concluded with "Why don't we just hire someone to finish the drywall?"

The day is saved! The OM no longer needs to fear that he will completely wreck the job with poor finishing.  Now all he has to do is find a drywall finisher in the Lancaster PA area who does nice work, and is willing to finish this drywall, hung by an amateur:

All of the "stuff" (Outlets, switches, lights, etc.) will be removed to make finishing easier for the person doing the work, whoever that ends up being!

P.S.  If you liked my little story, and happen to know any drywall finishers in the Lancaster PA Area (or if you happen to be one!) reach out to me via any of the methods on my contacts page - I'm looking to have estimates in hand and someone selected for the job in fairly short order!

I had a blast at field day!  Thanks again to W3COB for an awesome job organizing a great event for W3RRR!

I was only able to participate for the day Saturday, but I still had a blast.  Since I never get to play around much on 6 meters, that's where I spent the day.  I didn't make many contacts, but it was fun being on a band that was new to me, and learning the sounds and behaviors of SSB on VHF.  

Hopefully everyone made it through field day in one piece, and had as much fun as I did!

Earlier this month (Fathers day weekend) our family took a trip to Cape May.  Cape May is probably our favorite beach town, because it suits our style perfectly - it's a historic town, quiet, family friendly, and close enough to drive to, but far enough away that it feels like we really went somewhere.

Usually there wouldn't be much "ham radio" related activity to write about in regards to these trips. Normally the most I do is make a couple contacts on the local repeaters from the beach, while the kiddos play in the sand.  This time however, I decided to sneak in a quick POTA activation.  Since POTA only requires 10 contacts for an activation, the family agreed to let me play radio while they poked around the museum and overlook platforms at the Cape May Point State Park. 

So, while the family spent some extra time enjoying the sites and sounds of Cape May Point, I parked under the shadow of the Cape May Lighthouse and made some contacts:

During this activation, I had a thought.  I'm not sure exactly what seeded it - but I suspect it was a conversation on the POTA Slack Channel that I had with W8TAM about QSL cards and lighthouses.  I enjoy QSLing, but I don't normally do it for my POTA activations unless someone sends me a card first, because sometimes there's a pretty good pile-up, and the postage could add up if I tried to send them to everyone.  I decided to do something as a fun middle-ground on my next few activations - since 10 contacts is what we need for a successful POTA activation, I'm going to pick up 10 post cards that are representative of the place I was activating, and then send those 10 post cards as QSL cards to the first 10 people to contact me on any given activation.  With that thought - if you happened to be among the first 10 to contact me at K-1610, watch the mail for a card (probably with a picture of the Cape May Point Lighthouse on it!)

Our trips to Cape May always feel short because time flies when you're having fun, and I can't think of a way to have more fun than to combine the beach, time with the family, ham radio, and an old-fashioned carnival on the lawn of the inn. (Do you think those strings of lights would make a good NVIS antenna?)