Month: July 2007

I've been rooting around in my radio junk storage area (i.e. basement and attic) looking for treasures to unload — er, I mean “sell” — in order to build up my radio fund. With Catholic […]

It's been prime time for DX on 10 and 6 meters the last few days. I'm listening to a Florida ham in QSO with a guy in the Midwest. I can hear both sides of […]

Just when you think you've seen everything, life throws you a curveball. In this case (particularly since my focus here in Amateur Radio and eBay), the curveball arrived today via my rural mail carrier. I've […]

Ahh, copper … the lifeblood of the cheapskate HF antenna builder! What's cheaper and simpler than a dipole? Very little, though I'm always a little bewildered at the number of hams (new and old) who […]

I couldn't resist the pun, I've worn “fair” puns out on the family since my wife and I returned from the county fairgrounds with our family's winning fair entries. My daughter entered five art entries, […]

DIPOLE DOWN! A Comedy of Errors in 3 Acts ACT 1 SCENE 1: ROPE A DOPE [We join our hero wandering the aisles of a nondescript tractor supply store. His clenched jaw, deeply furrowed brow, […]

Rampage may be a bit strong, but yesterdays' thunderstorms did blast hard through Cox's Creek on their way east. The winds ahead of the storm were 60 mph, and I was in the middle of […]

I worked the IARU contest off-and-on through the evening last night, finally throwing in the towel after midnight. I'll have to admit that I'm a little surprised at how well the old Kenwood TS-430S fared […]

With the IARU HF contest underway this weekend, I decided to give the ol' Kenwood TS-430S a try under less-than-optimum conditions. I've had good luck on 10 and 15 meters, where I've been able to […]

I've been holding off on eBay purchases (somewhat) and focusing more on finding things I need … like parts. I recently picked up a well-worn but nearly complete Vibroplex Champion. It was missing the dash […]