Well we are only a week into May and work has been keeping me quite busy! Not much time to mess around on the radio.

I made a few changes to my setup since my last post. I now have a new L-shaped desk (more room for radios!). I picked up a new desk chair (way better for my back!) to go with the new desk. I've been working on cable management for the pat few days and I'm still not finished!

I was able to get a new G5rv up in the air with some help from Dad. This one I purchased from HRO. It is a Radiowavz brand G5. Seems to preform about the same as the old antenna. This one supposedly tunes on 6 meters. I haven't had a chance to try it out down there yet. But I was able to make several DX QSOs right off the bat. While I was placing and order I also picked up a pretty nice SWR/Power meter. It is a Daiwa CN-901. It makes a nice addition to my setup. I was using the LED bar graph on my LDG tuner for a wattmeter but it doesn't have the accuracy that I wanted. I also picked up a few short RG8x cables that are a little more flexible than what I was using. I wanted them to be more flexible to alleviate strain on the connectors on the equipment.

Now that I have an HF antenna back up in the air I've been working some FT8. I actually applied for a few more awards through the FT8DMC. Hopefully I'll get them soon.

I've started looking at options for a new desktop computer to replace my current PC. It's looking like it's going to cost about $1,000-1,800 to either build or buy a PC that meets my specifications. It's been hard to price components due to a LOT of electronic parts being out of stock. I'm looking forward to updating my setup.

I was able to attend the May KY4ARC meeting IN PERSON!! It was nice to actually be in a meeting with people instead of staring at a monitor. Hopefully I will be able to attend future meeting. It's hard to tell when I'll be able to go with my work schedule the way it is currently.

Lastly an administrative update for email subscribers. I was notified in the last month that FeedBurner, the service I use to automate email subscriptions will be shutting down in July 2021. I'm currently looking at a couple different options for a new service. I hope to have a solution in place next month.

Well no pictures in this one (again).

Hope to catch ya' down the log!

73

Cam

 Well October flew by. I didn't get around to half of what I wanted to.

I worked some FT8 here and there. I qualified for a few awards from the FT8 Digital Mode Club. I got the Worked Prefix Award for working 100 prefixes on 40 meters. I got the Worked All South America Bronze award for working stations in all 10 South American Countries. The Worked All Members 100 Award was issued for working 100 members of the FT8DMC. I got the Worked United States Station 200 Award for working 200 US Stations. And lastly I got the Costa Rican Station Award for working 3 Costa Rican Station.

FT8DMC Awards

I was also able to attend a yard sale and acquire some equipment. I picked up a few sections of tower (with two toppers) along with a Alliance HD-73 Rotor (need to find a control box). Included with the towers was a 2m vertical and what I believe to be either a 2m or dual-band(2m/70cm) beam. 

Equipment wise I was able to get the following: 

• Heathkit SB-401

• Heathkit DX-40 Transmitter
• Hammarlund SB-600
• Knight Ocean Hopper
• Signal Corp BC-342-N (Farnsworth Television & Radio)
• Bendix Radio Type TA-12C Aircraft Transmitter
• (2) Midland 75-764B
• Uniden Pro 510XL
• BIG BOX OF TUBES

Equipment, Antenna, Tower

I need to go through all of the equipment and see if it works or what parts it needs. A couple are in a little rough shape. Looks like most will need new tubes. One needs new knobs. I think the 401 needs crystals but that's as far as I've gotten 😁. I haven't even looked through the box of tubes yet, that's going to be a chore.

Looking ahead I've found a few things to update my room a little and picked out paint colors so hopefully I can get that started soon. Ham wise I'm thinking about trying to work the ARRL SSB Sweepstakes this month. We'll see what happens. 

Well that's all for now! Kinda short, but there's pictures this time!!

73

Cam