CQ Field Day, CQ Field Day … this is KY4Zed …

Sunday, June 25, 2017, 8:45 p.m. — Well, another Field Day is in the books (whatever that means), and this one was one that was worth participating in. I decided Friday night to operate from the shack rather than outside, and that decision required me to tackle some long-delayed shack straightening.

Now that took some time but I did get some items moved into long-term storage and out of the shack.

I operated phone on 80, 40 and 15 meters. I did tune the CW bands, but with my laptop at the operating position for logging, I really wasn’t set up well for operating CW. I did check out PSK on 80 and 40, but again, phone was the path of least resistance. I probably operated a total of 3 or 4 hours while in the shack, but that was fine. I haven’t operated the Yaesu FT-2000 much in a while, so it was nice to get back to it. I’m running a Behringer condenser mic on a boom, and thanks to the audio adjustments in the rig, the mic sounds nice. I have the option of a Heil headset, but in the privacy of the shack, I prefer to listen to the audio through the speaker.

 

COMING ATTRACTIONS. I recently won an auction for a key I’ve wanted for some time — a complete Electro Bug.

I have a couple of Electro Bugs as well as an Electro Bug Jr. The regular bugs originally were built with an electromagnetic coil that assisted the production of dots; apparently the coil took its power from the telegraph line. My keys lack the coil assembly.

These keys are not really common, but they do show up from time to time on eBay. I have missed numerous opportunities to pick one up over the past few years, due to conflicts in my schedule, a lack of funds, or just plain forgetfulness to follow the auction to its close.

The one I won was an ok deal; I pursued it mostly because I felt like any complete Electro Bug was better than lacking one in my collection!

73 ES CUL … DE KY4Z 73 GN SK …. dit dit …