Subj : I finally got my license To : DaiTengu From : Daryl Stout Date : Sat Oct 24 2020 21:28:00 Da>> Yeah, we're down to 5 cats, a bird, 6 bunnies, and a dog. The cats Da>> are getting up there in age, the bunnies are about 3-5 years old, Da>> The dog is 3, and the bird is 12. The bird will likely outlive us. DS> You forgot the partridge in a pear tree. Da> My wife always makes that joke, :) Or a partridge in a pair of trees. :P DS> What gets me is that you see the price on a rig, but then you have to DS> buy all these accessories. Da> Yep! Fortunately all I needed when I got my IC-7300 was a power Da> supply, a USB cable and an antenna. The antenna has been the bane of Da> my existence, and it looks like I'm going to have to drop the $80 on a Da> new wire. If it would stop raining here, maybe I could get outside and Da> fix the stretching issue. We're in a stormy weather pattern here right now...with rain and storms forecast here much of next week. If I can ever get the BBS into the cloud, I won't have to worry about as many downtimes. Da> THe good news is, it's supposed to stop raining soon. Da> The bad news is, it's just going to switch over to snow. I talked to Virginia, KC5SAM, in Frontenanc, MN (her brother, George, N3ZKV, in Rincon, GA, are faithful checkins to nets), and she noted the snow that they had up there...and that more was forecast. We haven't had much of a winter here in the last few years, so I think we're overdue. Da> I listen in on nets I hear on HF from time to time, but the only net I Da> actively participate in is the weekly FCARC (Fox Cities Amateur Radio Da> Club, my local ham club) net on 2m. Unfortunately all I have for Da> VHF/UHF is one of those cheap, BaoFeng HTs. It seems to work though. Da> I'll probably look at getting a 2m/70cm radio next year. I just operate "internet radio", but I'm thinking of an HT with out of band receive on 2 meters, on my train trip next June. I plan to have the laptop computer and Verizon Mi-Fi on the trip, to be Amtrak Railroad Mobile. Da> The only digital stuff I've gotten into heavily at this point is FT8, Da> mainly because it's so simple to set up. I'm about 4 confirmations Da> short of getting a "Worked All States" badge on QRZ (and probably Da> LOTW). Lots of folks are using FT8 on the digital modes now...as poor as HF conditions have been, it sure helps to get those contacts. Da> Which reminds me, my buddy is pestering me to update my QRZ.com Da> profile, which is something I should probably do at some point. I'm Da> just not very good at listing information about myself when it's not Da> part of a conversation. I update mine every so often...but, considering I've been a ham nearly 30 years, I have quite a bit there. Daryl, WX4QZ .... Winter is a Sysops friend...Thunderstorms are the enemy. --- MultiMail/Win v0.52 þ Synchronet þ The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net .