Time of the Year

I've not had much "Ham Radio" type of posts lately. This is the time of the Year when I don't spend much time in the basement. I work Full-time Monday thru Friday so that only leaves Me evenings to do everything else. Lately that means walking the dog, playing sports with My girls, doing many "chicken" chores ( We have 10 hens!) and generally getting ready for spring !
This means I am back in the house around 8 pm, giving time to make tomorrows lunch, discuss assorted subjects with My Wife,eventually watch the news and sleeptime. Yeah, you get the picture-- leaves Me about an hour in the shack. If I write My blog,check email, cruise the bands-- times up!!
I'm really not complaining, My life is great! Never enough time but why should I be any different than most people? Wintertime in Minnesota is My shack time during the week.
I have slowly been working towards a working tri-bander on My short tower attached to the pole building. I will finish that before the snow flies and hopefully give a work detail of that project.Oh , I also need to experiment with a better HD antenna so all the local channels receive good and aren't breaking up.
Enough for now-- I could discuss the state of our Country or religion, but I need to keep this blogs topics Ham Radio only! No controversy here-
73-- Tim

Lurking

Lurking! Have You heard this term before? Up in these parts it is a Licensed amateur listening in on fellow amateurs chatting on frequency. Can be on Vhf,UHF or even good 'ol HF. I actually do this when I'm working on projects in the shack,typing emails or just like lately when I'm in a quiet, retrospective mood....or when I have nothing to say!!
Most Hams do this at one time or another or on a repeater-should! How many times have You been monitoring a repeater, ready to jump into the conversation, not actually finding a clear pause in the conversation. Sometimes the flow of conversation is such that a person shouldn't interrupt! Then some bozo jumps in-basically to hear themselves talk! Rant,rant-LOL!!
Anyway- just thinking.... Gentleman on 40m now-- He bought himself a brand new Yaesu Ft-5000! Sounds like He likes it alot! Good for Him. I'm still happy with My Ft-950,probably should talk some more---maybe later.
73--Tim

This and That

Last Saturday in April and We have been enjoying an early Spring. This time last Year We still had snow on the ground so I feel like I'm weeks ahead of yard cleanup. This is also Garage Sale time for Us so I took Vacation yesterday to assist My Wife ,put out signs, help with all aspects of running the sale. Today My Girls helped Us alot and now finally done. Very successful and now inside warming up this old body-- in the 40 degree farenheit temperature today so not fun sitting outside. Lucky for Me My Wife and girls did most of the selling!
Also busy at work , retirement party I attended and other Family ,work obligations. What does this have to do with Amateur Radio?? Nothing besides keeping Me from playing in the shack! Still do not have alot of time with the New FT-950, but I definately like the many features I have used. Briefly checked into a Saturday Morning HF Net and a heterodyning noise was present. Very difficult to elimainate, so far about the only interference the new Yaesu has not eliminated entirely. Narrowing receive bandwidth does almost completely remove it but then the voice sounds unnatural.
Oh well,enough for now-- local swapfest next weekend I hope to attend. Maybe I'll find a few treasures. 73- have a good weekend---Tim

An unexpected New One!

After Supper last Night, decided to check email and listen to 20m before heading outside. Happened to scan across the bands and at 14.190 was HH2JEA/N8JEA operating from an Orphanage in Haiti. Haiti is a new one ,so I stopped to listen. He was calling out by the numbers and went from 9 land to Zero land. I was the second "0" to be answered--cool. His signal was an actual 5/9 and He returned the same to Me-- don't know if it was but... gave Him added info about weather and location. Not necessary but I wanted it to be more than wham-bang got the DX again! From the little chatter I heard, Richard N8JEA is from Chicago and in Haiti assisting with medical. A Ham and a good samariton- don't get better than that!
73--Tim

CK8G - 2nd Day

Went to bed last Night not hearing or seeing any indication of CK8G on the Clusters or the bands. When I had a chance at work today checked Ve8ex's blog and some info there indicated His arrival was quite late last night. Eventually it showed him as QRV at about 1400z this morning and checking the DX Cluster verified this. I also found out He was on Twitter as CK8G. I have followed several Dxepditions on Twitter and most of the time its a timely resource.
First chance for a contact would be after work , about 2130z or later. I did quickly look at the Dx cluster before leaving work and seen He was back on 14.260, the IOTA unofficial calling Frequency. After I was Home for a while, wandered down and turned on the radio, tuned it to 14.260 and there He was! He was also calling north America ,so I tuned up, turned on the processor for that little extra kick and after the next Complete QSO I threw out My call.
Now I'm not a big gun station, 100w into either a 260' open wire feed dipole or Buternut HF6V ground mounted vertical and hope for the best. The best is usually many attempts, catching the ebb and flow just right before success. This time was different! I said " November zero United Japan Japan" and right back was "november zero united japan japan 59". Wow! First try! I returned with a thank-you John 59 Minnesota and sat back with a smile! He was in the log without much fuss!
Later as I was writing this I listened to the West coast contacting CK8G,. I was hearing the West coast very well,but not a peep from CK8G. He was there,I just couldn't hear Him. Timing, luck and band conditions were with Me earlier!
73-- Happy Dxing, Tim