I apologize in advance if this post isn't "radio-ey" enough, but part of ham radio is rag chewing (for the non-hams: rag chewing is the radio slang we use for a casual, on-air conversation), so consider this post my half of our rag-chew! If you're looking for more radio-specific stuff, check out the categories menu - there's all kinds of stuff there!
As I write this post I'm sitting in the corner of the new bedroom in the addition we put on our house - the work in this section of the house is what I've been busy with when I've had time for home projects, which is why I haven't made much progress on the shack in the basement yet - but the end is in sight, so I'm hoping to get some time with my tools in the basement, so that all of you can start to see the things that are in my head manifesting themselves in lumber, sheetrock, wire, and radio-goodness!
I'm also standing by for the start of my club's (W3RRR) weekly on-air net which will be in progress before I finish writing this. I haven't gotten to participate many meetings or nets because of my new job. When I'm not out of town on a Wednesday night, I'm spending it with my YL and two little future operators. This evening however, was a rare one in that daughter-future-operator fell asleep promptly after her bedtime story, son-future-operator is all snug in his crib, and the YL is enjoying a quiet evening bath - that leaves me with my 9-o'clock hour completely free, so I get to listen to the net, and check in, with the sounds of little ones quietly snoozing in the background.
The hot topic this time of year (and which of course is being discussed on the Net) is always field day. Last year I was going to be running our club's GOTA (Get on the Air) station to help any non-ham visitors get a turn operating some radio equipment to see what the fun is all about! Field day last year is what prompted me to get myself in gear to finish building my "Porta-Station" that I have discussed in previous posts.
As I write this post I'm sitting in the corner of the new bedroom in the addition we put on our house - the work in this section of the house is what I've been busy with when I've had time for home projects, which is why I haven't made much progress on the shack in the basement yet - but the end is in sight, so I'm hoping to get some time with my tools in the basement, so that all of you can start to see the things that are in my head manifesting themselves in lumber, sheetrock, wire, and radio-goodness!
I'm also standing by for the start of my club's (W3RRR) weekly on-air net which will be in progress before I finish writing this. I haven't gotten to participate many meetings or nets because of my new job. When I'm not out of town on a Wednesday night, I'm spending it with my YL and two little future operators. This evening however, was a rare one in that daughter-future-operator fell asleep promptly after her bedtime story, son-future-operator is all snug in his crib, and the YL is enjoying a quiet evening bath - that leaves me with my 9-o'clock hour completely free, so I get to listen to the net, and check in, with the sounds of little ones quietly snoozing in the background.
The hot topic this time of year (and which of course is being discussed on the Net) is always field day. Last year I was going to be running our club's GOTA (Get on the Air) station to help any non-ham visitors get a turn operating some radio equipment to see what the fun is all about! Field day last year is what prompted me to get myself in gear to finish building my "Porta-Station" that I have discussed in previous posts.
I did finish building it in time for field day last year, but then it rained like nothing else, and with the threat of lightning, our club's field day got cancelled. I ended up operating from my garage / driveway and made enough contacts to not be in last place in the 1B category (although I was pretty close to the bottom of the list - good thing for me it's more about the fun of it than winning!)
For this year's field day my goal was to finish my "secret project" in time for field day. While that is still a goal [ed. Field day is now here, and I didn't meet this goal, but stay tuned to my new posts, because I am making progress and will do the formal announcement and sharing when its done!], because we now have a baby in the house again, I couldn't commit to being away for the whole weekend, so I won't be running the GOTA station. I'm still hoping to have my project done so that I can show it off during the time that I will be at field day to participate!
With that thought, I did get to spend about an hour and half working on the secret project this afternoon. Stay tuned, because once the project is done (or at least mostly done!) I'll start posting a daily series on the evolution of that project (The first 2 parts are written already!)
Hope to hear you on the air on Field Day 2016 - stop by the Lancaster County Visitor's Center to meet me and my club members!
For this year's field day my goal was to finish my "secret project" in time for field day. While that is still a goal [ed. Field day is now here, and I didn't meet this goal, but stay tuned to my new posts, because I am making progress and will do the formal announcement and sharing when its done!], because we now have a baby in the house again, I couldn't commit to being away for the whole weekend, so I won't be running the GOTA station. I'm still hoping to have my project done so that I can show it off during the time that I will be at field day to participate!
With that thought, I did get to spend about an hour and half working on the secret project this afternoon. Stay tuned, because once the project is done (or at least mostly done!) I'll start posting a daily series on the evolution of that project (The first 2 parts are written already!)
Hope to hear you on the air on Field Day 2016 - stop by the Lancaster County Visitor's Center to meet me and my club members!
Hey, that was mostly about radio after all! What can I say...I'm a ham, I end up talking about radio stuff even when I think I'm not going to be talking about radio stuff!
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