Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020
The last hamfest I went to was the state’s largest one several years ago where I set up to sell. I had a lot of equipment to sell, too, and I priced it to sell. I did OK except on the nicer equipment; people wanted me to give the damn stuff away. And of course, my mantra is to shoot me a price, I might take it because I brought this stuff to a hamfest to sell it — NOT cart the stuff home!
And of course, hams enjoy haggling, and now that I’m again shedding gear via eBay — the ultimate virtual hamfest — I find it true as well online. But I’ll have to say that I think I met my haggling match — in Florida ham’s XYL. She sent me a message about an item I had listed, asking me why she should buy my item when she can get it for the same price new — and with a warranty!
For starters, I found it humorous that she thought it somehow “odd” the idea of selling things on eBay at a higher price than new! Phhht! Hell, I see an Ebay seller now that has a Vibroplex Code Warrior Jr. for $367.75 when you can buy them everyday brand new direct from Vibroplex for $109.95.
We haggled back and forth until I had to throw in the cost of shipping to complete the deal. She got a good deal, and I got rid of an item that will help fund my Radio Fund.
NEW KEY! NEW KEY! My new key arrived Saturday — a CT Europe iambic paddle by UR5CDX. The key is new in the box that’s been opened; however, the key is still attached to its packing, which is a great way to make sure the key doesn’t move during shipment from Europe.
I took the key out of the box and it had a great feel to it. I bought one years ago but sold it at a hamfest, much to my regret. I made some bucks on it, but if I could have gotten the key back, I would have. I bought this one worth the money with an offer. I haven’t put it on the air yet, but may soon.
SDR WORKING GREAT. I haven’t turned my Yaesu FT-100D on since I fired up my Cross Country SDR 4+ receiver last week. I’m having a blast, and what’s really nice is being able to have the radio audio coming thru my computer speakers.
As much as I’ve enjoyed this SDR, I’ve decided that I need to dig out my Flex 3000 and put the thing on the air. The only problem I face is that my wife and son have crammed stuff into the entryway into the main attic; to get in the door I’m going to have to pull out a coffee table and various boxes of crap that were summarily shoved in the door without thinking of what the next guy will need to do to actually FIND something, lol! Besides, I need to clear a path to unearth all my goodies that are in their for sale on eBay.
Speaking of eBay, due to all the selling I’ve done lately, I’ve had to push aside my boat anchor projects, including my Swan 350 and my SB-102s. I have 3 or 4 boxes left in my SUV to unload and I’ll have it emptied of estate stuff; of course, I have about twice that many boxes of assorted “stuff” upstairs that I’m going thru to list on eBay, so my real work is just beginning.
EMERGENCY NET. Well, tonight I decided to check in to the state’s emergency phone net — after I found a damn microphone. I’m running my Yaesu FTDX-3000 up in Studio C, and I had never made my first phone contact with the rig — its always been CW or digital modes. I may have had RF on my signal, I don’t know, but I did get thru despite the band being long.
I could barely copy the NCS, though stations in Ohio were booming in. Go figure! I remember days when I was NCS for this particular net, and I remember those awful propagation nights.
Last night I also checked in on the local 2-meter net. Two weeks in a row! Woot!
TONIGHT. I may take time for another entry this evening. I have to run to Louisville for a sleep study — my first in more than a dozen years — and this may wind up as quite a challenge. I usually go to bed at 2 a.m., and I think they sleep folks will want me to turn in 3 or 4 hours earlier. Mmmm … I dunno about that shit. We’ll see!
73 es CUL … de KY4Z SK SK … dit dit …