Saturday, July 25, 2015 — Well, my Amateur Radio life seems to be returning to normal … Morse code keys in the mail box, big boxes of ham stuff on the front porch!
Yes, my Flex 3000 arrived yesterday and is sitting in the shack still in the box. I still need to do some shack cleaning/bulldozing to make room. I also need to figure out what computer I’m going to run with it. Nothing I own has the required FireWire port, so I’m going to need to buy an accessory card to add to whichever computer I use.
I may not even unbox the thing until I get the card installed. NOTE TO SELF: Buy a dang FireWire card!
DRAKE YAKE. The TR-7 and PS-7 are occupying a place of honor on a table in the shack. The power supply cord is about 3/4-inch short of reaching the closest plug (no exaggeration, it was “that close” to making to the wall plug). More importantly, the rig is even further than that from an antenna connection.
My shack setup includes a corner desk and two four-foot tables, one on each side of the corner desk, which serves as the main operating position. I have a coax switch at the center desk that feeds switches on each side desk. Now, in my absence from being active in the shack, the side desks have accumulated lots of “stuff” on the desks in front of the shelves of equipment (a stack of three shelves on each desk).
What I need to do (among a long list of needed “to-do’s”) is to clean the tops of both desks, and then replace one of my existing rigs with the TR-7. I’m going to need to (and this may sound familiar) create some storage for my keys, many of which are on one of the three operating desks.
One of my stations that I have long enjoyed is the Tempo 2020 station — the rig, matching VFO and speaker. It fills most of a four-foot shelf, and it has been a great CW rig. In fact, I have a second complete station I bought from a ham friend who needed some money. It would probably make the most sense to take the Tempo 2020 station out and replace it with the Drake — or clear the shelf above the Tempo.
The good news is that my son and I have cleaned up a good-sized area in the basement, and I’m going to get some folding tables and use those for storage rather than the attic. I should be able to clear up sufficient space, and the work we’ve been able to do in the basement to keep it dry will not only keep it from flooding again, but it will stay dryer in general.
Maybe we can get to Lowe’s this weekend and pickup a couple of tables. I’m looking forward to creating some storage space that’s easily accessible, rather than the attic, which is not only difficult to access, but hotter than blue blazes most of the year.
Well, time to get some work done around here …. going to see Ant Man this afternoon.
73 es CUL … de KY4Z … SK … dit dit …