Passed ham tests Wed night

[streetglideok]

Yeah the Chinese have secured a nice little market with the entry radios and the toys for them. Typically, a longer antenna is a must. The Diamond antenna I used this am for an event helped a lot. I bought the AA battery conversion for my yaesu handheld in case I used my radio a lot and ran the rechargeable pack down. Makes it easy to swap and reinstall. Singlestack, I talked to the coordinator today, and he said they'd gladly take you on board to help for the hill climb if interested. It is an all day event he said, being later in the eve before you get off the mountain.

[ChadAmberg]

Some people get vanity signs, some of which are kind of funny, others just fits the holder of the license. I saw one down here that said N0MUD. Yep it was a big 4wd. Sometimes you end up with a cool one. I've had a couple of gamers ask if mine was a vanity. Only reason I'd upgrade to extra and get a vanity, would be to drop a letter from my callsign.

Thats what I did and picked up K0ZZZ. It'd be a bitch to use in morse code, but on digital modes on HF, I get lots of good contacts because people see an unusual call sign.

I know most of this is about VHF UHF, but yesterday and today on HF digital modes, I talked to Italy, Spain, Netherlands, UK and various spots around the US, including my first FELD HELL contact with a chap up in NY state. That's a pretty interesting mode to use!

[streetglideok]

HF is pretty important too, and gets overlooked by the newly minted hams. If the cost of a quality rig and a reasonable antenna were lower, a lot of us would likely jump aboard. I really need to get a dual bander in my jeep, then I can focus on an hf rig. Icom 7200,718 come to mind for new rigs, used ones there are a ton of good ones.

[Singlestack]

Yeah the Chinese have secured a nice little market with the entry radios and the toys for them. Typically, a longer antenna is a must. The Diamond antenna I used this am for an event helped a lot. I bought the AA battery conversion for my yaesu handheld in case I used my radio a lot and ran the rechargeable pack down. Makes it easy to swap and reinstall. Singlestack, I talked to the coordinator today, and he said they'd gladly take you on board to help for the hill climb if interested. It is an all day event he said, being later in the eve before you get off the mountain.

I'm spoken for - both my Mom's and Nieces Bday on the 30th. Thanks tho.

[streetglideok]

At this point, who knows if the race will go on as scheduled. I would hope that another week or so the fire will be under control down here. They rescheduled the hill climb last year due to waldo.