I did an inspection of my antenna the other day. It looked very good physically. In fact, if there was wind or water damage I would have a far more pressing issue to deal with than the repair of my antenna. After all my antenna is in the attic! As I looked at the bent to fit doublet my thought was how does anyone in the world hear me?
A golfer once told me just as he was about to give up the crazy game, he would get that one great shot and he was drawn back in. Maybe ham radio with a poor antenna is like that. Just as I was about to hang up my key, I had a REAL QSO with a station near Tokyo. For 25 watts and a piece of wire on the rafters in the attic, that is a big deal.
I just wasted more money on the ARRL. Why did I rejoin the league? The hobby needs a voice and the ARRL is the only one in town so I put more of my hard-earned money in the shredder. Stupid!!!
I have to do something different. Operating any more has become for the most part working the same park for the tenth time or watching the Reverse Beacon. The price one pays for very poor judgement when downsizing!
I realize during weekends contesting rules the roost. However, I have noticed that during weekdays the activity has taken on an appearance that I wish I was not seeing. I can tune around a very quiet band thinking the propagation forecast is incorrect until sprint contest time. Suddenly wall to wall strong signals. When the contest time is up the band is dead again.
The shack move to Studio S is complete. What a great move! It should have been done a long time ago. The antenna is still the same (poor), but at least the operating position if first class.
The seldom used operating position formerly called Studio HO (home office) is now called Studio S (study). Also, it has become the main and only location for the station. It affords a much larger and more comfortable space than Studio LR. But as a trade off, a flight of stairs must be traversed to find the morse keys. The web site will be updated soon. I am sure the massive number of my followers awaits with bated breath for the update (all two of you).
The last time my ARRL renewal came up I decided to renew. This came after much thought. I have been a member for over 55 years and have supported the ARRL as I felt the hobby needed a voice in the power centers of the world. So, I sent in my funds for renewal. I have to admit that wanting the 275 entity sticker for my DXCC was the main driving force behind my last renewal. The fact is the ARRL does not need me anymore (if the ever did). Their future is young people, contesters and big donors (especially big donors) not us old school CW operators. Also, for a number of years QST magazine was a welcome benefit to membership. I cannot remember the last time I got anything substantial from the publication. In fact, I wrote this post on a flight from ATL to LGA and got all I could form the December 2022 issue before we reached altitude.
Note: I did not vote in the latest ARRL 2022 decision election because I had nothing in common with the candidates.
I have never been much of a social media person. The only logon I have is with YouTube. Several years ago, I posted a few radio videos, but they did not stay up very long. I have found several radio videos informative. The best posts I viewed have been from newer younger hams and have discussed interesting topics. Of course, I have some negative thoughts also. It appears as the number of YouTubers increases the amount of not so valuable content increases as well. A new radio is announced, and all are posting videos many without firsthand knowledge of the product. Equipped with only what they read from the published literature a video is posted to what appears to not be left out of the fray. Also, at times videos meant to instruct will be posted by individuals without full knowledge of the topic. I watched one recently where the publisher admitted he did not know much about CW, but non the less went on to describe a radio’s CW functions. He went as far as sending CQ and he did not know the letter Q. My concern here is that those looking to gain knowledge may be misled by inaccurate videos. Many new hams I am sure look to social media to grow their knowledge of the hobby and may be sent down the wrong path.
Throughout the years I have not spent a lot of time on 10 Meters and even less on 12. In the PSK31 days I worked a fair amount of DX on 10 meters and tried AM several years ago. As conditions improve 10 and 12 meters may be places for my setup to do okay. At least the past week has netted successful DX’ish contacts. During several of those QSO’s the other station actually copied me well (imagine that).