Subj : I finally got my license To : DaiTengu From : Daryl Stout Date : Wed Oct 07 2020 19:03:00 Da> Yeah, I had an hour to drive home, I struggled to keep it together. Da> Heck, 2 weeks later and sometimes I still struggle to keep it Da> together.... To many folks, their pets are their kids. On another sad note, I just found out that one of the most active posters in BBS networks, Nancy Backus, lost her battle with stomach cancer this morning. She will be sorely missed. :'( Da> Unfortunately I now live in the COVID Hot-zone. My metro area is #3 on Da> the "cases per capita" list right now, The area directly to the south Da> of me is #1, and Green Bay, which is just to the North, is #4. At least Da> I have this shiny new radio to play with, while I stay inside! Even if I could get gear, I don't have the means to have antennas here. Plus, we get lightning like mad with thunderstorms. This is the 6th time this year, Louisiana has had to prepare for hurricanes (now with Delta). Da> I've been dragging my feet on going outside to fix my issues. All day Da> yesterday I had no issues, until around 9pm, when the whole thing Da> started again. Again, we can't keep Murphy out of the shack. Even with "internet radio", Windows 10 likes to muck with the programs and the sound card. Da> I have to untie ropes, grab my 15ft extension pole, and work the coax Da> and transformer out of the tree and back down to the ground. Then I Da> have to pull on the rope and work it back up into the tree. It's a Da> pain in the ass, but I don't have a better solution that covers 80-10m. Da> (It also tunes on 160m, but I really haven't messed with that, yet. The Da> manufacturer doesn't say anything about 160m. I mean, it makes sense, Da> since it's 1/4 wave on that band... Never mind being a PITA switching antennas. Da> My next project, after I sort out the antenna, is to sort out the RFI Da> stuff. I had a constant S7-S9 background noise on all bands. I added Da> in a choke (Mix 31 toroid with 15 wraps of rg58 coax), and that helped Da> lower it to S3-S5 on everything under 20m, but I still have some RFI Da> anomalies, including a random sweep that will run across my 40m band Da> from time to time. Good luck on that. Da> I picked up a TinySA to see if I can track down the worst offenders. So Da> far I haven't found anything super outstanding other than the monitors Da> in my office, but that interference goes away if I back off a foot or Da> two. I've even seen when I get my hand near a monitor, something else, things can get funky. I wonder if it's a delayed charge from the 2 lightning strikes I had over the years?? :P Da> I'm probably going to grab a battery and cut power to my house, then Da> slowly turn everything back on to see if I can isolate the issues. Good luck finding "that needle in the haystack". Da> ... A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer. A clean shack is a sign of a sick mind. Don't straighten up my desk...you will goof up my system. Daryl .... Amateur Radio Chicken Dinner -- Ham And Eggs. --- MultiMail/Win v0.52 þ Synchronet þ The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net .