Subj : I finally got my license To : DaiTengu From : Ray Quinn Date : Tue Oct 13 2020 13:09:14 Hello DaiTengu! 06 Oct 20 15:58, you wrote to me: Da> Speaking of which, we had to put the dog to sleep 2 weeks ago, he had That is a difficult thing to do. We had to do that a couple of times with my wife's cats over the years. We now have four cats and a dog. I worry about one of the cats, in particular. He likes to climb on the roof and then is afraid to climb down. (this happened last night and my wife was in a panic. He finally jumped down onto the fence and then the ground.) Da> all wearing masks and washed our hands/sanitized, etc. THe wife and I Da> quarrantined for two weeks, but we haven't had any symptoms, so Da> according to the WHO and CDC we're in the clear. I guess we dodged a Da> bullet there, as both of us are "high risk" We are "high risk" as well. I heard a report on the radio this morning stating that more than 85% (may have been 95%) of people who were diagnosed with Covid were vigilant about wearing masks - meaning they cought it even though they wore masks. Think about this: If your underwear and jeans don't stop a fart, how is a cloth bandana or mask going to stop a virus? Da>>> Now that I've spent $18 on testing/studying, I guess I'll need Da>>> to save up for the $2000+ I want to spend to build my hamshack Da>>> :) RQ>> ONLY $2000? I lost track a long time ago. Da> Well, since i posted that I went and spent the $2000. I got an Da> IC-7300 (like the rest of the world, apparently), and an End-fed Da> Halfwave antenna that has been a giant pain in the ass (it's about Da> 130ft long). Back around the end of September, I ordered something like that. I can't remember exactly what at this moment, but it was a little box that you use to connect coax to and a random length of wire to make an antenna. I finally set it up last week, but didn't attempt to make any contacts. I just listened. Then a few days ago (I have since moved back to this location) I attached one end to the muffler guard on the truck and the other end of the wire to a pickup that was parked behind the lowboy trailer. I was able to check into a traffic net in Utah without any effort. The antenna was in a basic north-south configuration so it talked east-west. I tried to check into another net to the north of me and they couldn't hear me well enough to get my call. I haven't gotten it back out since. Da> It's been years since I've put connectors on coax, but I honestly Da> don't remember it being this hard. I have the proper tools, soldering Da> iron, coax stripper, right size crimper, etc, and they either short Da> out on me, or pop off with a simple tug. I have similar issues. The supplies I bought for my antenna included pre-terminated coax as I don't have room for much. I had to go to the local hardware store to get come cutters (to cut the wire), string (to tie up the antenna to whatever), zip ties, and a couple other things. Da> I mean, the coax I have isn't the best right now, it's 3 lengths of Da> RG8u, with a Mix31 toroid that has rg58 wrapped around it about 15 Da> times, and a short rg58 jumper to run through the window. Yesterday Da> I spent hours re-doing everything, and getting the antenna up where I Da> wanted it (it literally runs diagonally from the top of a tree in my Da> front yard, all the way across my house, to the top of a tree in my Da> back yard. I have an orange tree and a almost dead peach tree in my small back yard. Neither are tall enough to attach an antenna to. I do have a 30' tower in the back yard with a microwave dish on it (5.8 gHZ internet link to our repeater site 37 miles away) Da> Anyway, I tested all the connectors, got the antenna up to the top of Da> the tree with ropes and a really long pole to push the transformer box Da> over branches, and everything was quite ducky. Da> Until I was on the radio about 7pm last night, and suddenly my band Da> went dead, then came back, then went dead, then came back ... my SWR Da> would go from 1:1 to off the scale. I went outside and adjusted the Da> coax coming off the antenna, and that fixed things for a little while, Da> but it got windy and it started again. Da> I'm going to have to pull the whole thing down and re-do the connector Da> on the antenna. which is probably the one connector that I haven't Da> re-done on that cable. Sounds like my luck. However, I haven't been home enough lately to do anytning except sleep. Da> It's great when it works though! I'm having a blast doing FT8! I've Da> worked almost all 50 states, I'm just missing Alaska. Which I worked Da> once, but it's sitting unconfirmed. I haven't tried many of the digital modes, and FT8 wasn't one of them. I don't have a proper cable to connect my computer to my radio and finding one online has proven difficult. I have (with me) an Icom IC-706 and the cable I have (at home) has failed to work lately. Da>>> ... Extreme boredom serves to cure boredom. RQ>> Talk about extreme boredom. I am on day 44 of "working" on the RQ>> California wildfires. My job is deliver the dozer and then wait Da> Man, I don't think I'd be able to hack it. I need to keep my mind Da> occupied with .. something. You'rea stronger man than I am! Well, I have the computer which allows me to read email, echomail on several nets, and ham radio to occupy my time. 73 de Ray Quinn W6RAY Creek Fire day 37 (59 overall) Ray's Road Node Somewhere in California --- GoldED+/W64-MSVC 1.1.5-b20180707 * Origin: Ham Radio operators do it with frequency! (1:214/23) þ Synchronet þ US 99 BBS - Visalia, CA - bbs.quinnnet.org .