In which I will repeat myself ad nauseam: Just Not Much Happening Around Here!

Got off my duff and made myself a 10-meter dipole antenna, tried to "tune" it and finally mounted it on the roof in an inverted-V. Seems to work okay but not the greatest as the MFJ HF/VHF SWR Analyzer (model MFJ-259b) I was using to tune the antenna isn’t working right. Probably hasn’t been "tuned" itself in the past couple of years. But I’m not getting much SWR (feedback) according to the SWR Meter in the radio and I can talk to folks so I’ll leave it alone until I get an antenna tuner. Which a friend is giving me one tomorrow that he got for free and hasn’t used. Cool! It’d be nice if I could get all of that 100 watts actually getting out! Next I need to get a better power supply…

Did answer my first CQ yesterday (Friday). K7IDX about 10 air-miles North of me. KB3KOV out in Export, Pa joined the conversation and we heard each other really well. Not bad for a home-made slightly out of tune antenna that’s "pointed" East/West! The 10-meter band has been opening up a lot lately and I’ve heard (but have yet to talk to) folks from Georgia, Argentina, Brazil and a few of the South-Western states. Tried answering the QSL(?) but wasn’t heard. Oh well. Will try again.

Also trying a program called BPSK31 that allows us to type CW (Morse) back and forth. Got the receiving down pat but haven’t figured out how to send YET. It appears to be working (radio transmits) but no one hears me. I know I’m missing something…

Not much else going on. Average daily boring routine of keeping the house clean and SWMBO happy. Still downloading our favorite shows the morning after they air. Smallville is still my favorite (lots happening! Clark told Lois about himself but she already knew.) along with NCIS, CSIMiami and some others. SWMBO likes having them available for when she’s ready to watch them and they have NO commercials. Now if we could just figure out how to get rid of those ads at the bottom of the screen (VERY INTRUSIVE!!!).

Weather has been steadily going downhill. Waiting for a storm to hit later tonight that should last through tomorrow. Supposed to be lots of wind and wet. But we’re supposed to have another "La Nina" this winter so I might as well get used to it.

Saw some "Impeach Obama" protestors last week in Belfair. Would have joined them but SWMBO and I were on our way somewhere and I couldn’t stop. They were all gone by the time we got back to town. Obama is the worst President I’ve ever seen. This Congress we have is the worst I’ve ever seen. Our Senate sucks. Washington’s Governor needs to step down and Senator Murray should have to pay back all of her salary to the people of Washington state.

But don’t get me started.

BTW, if y’all see a post from "John" or "Uncle Herman" that’s my Uncle. He has a lot of "right" ideas about our political system and it’s participants that I totally agree with so I’m trying to get him to post somewhere other than Facebook; where really only family members see what we’re posting. And they don’t seem to much care for our opinions. Sort of. (Sometimes I think they’re too busy with Farmville and sending smoochies to each other…)

I know. I know. I’ve been lazy about posting lately. Time just seems to fly by and when I remember I need to post I’m ready for bed. And being OLD I go to bed.

What’s been happening? Just trying to keep busy in my forced retirement.

New Ham Radio came in on Oct 7th (Thursday), was talking to my friend staying out on Pacific Beach via the Capital Peak repeater (145.170) on the 2-meter band by Friday. That 2-meter J-Pole antenna I made is working perfectly. My SWR meter barely flickers when I talk. Now if I can just figure out what to talk about!

My home-made 10-meter antenna isn’t working so well since I put it up on the roof. So much SWR that my radio cuts out. Which is a LOT better than it just burning up; but still a pain in the butt. All the measurements check out and I added a "balun" but it still doesn’t work right. Think I’ll get the parts and put together a dipole today and see how that works.

Still taking the online tests at QRZ.com for the General Class and still getting a good, solid, 50% results. Not good enough to pass the test but better than the solid 46% I was getting last week! If I keep it up I should be ready for the December test… We’ll see.

Homefront is doing well. Trying to get ready for the "La Nina" we’re supposed to have this year. If it gets much colder I’ll park the Digger in the garage where it’ll stay reasonably warm in case I need it to push snow or whatever. It’ll mean parking my truck outside but my truck doesn’t have any problem starting in cold weather.

Still haven’t finished my bookcases. Haven’t had enough rainy days to finish putting the trim on the last of them. That’ll change soon.

SWMBO is still working from home and still doing her genealogy thing.

Did I mention that we sold our other property over on Tahuya River Drive? We did. I still sometimes think that I ought to head out to "The Property" for awhile then remember that I can’t. Not our anymore. Ah well…

Been getting more and more angry about the "state of the Union" and our fearless leaders in Washington D.C. It really seems like Obama and his crowd are out to break this country. Both morally and financially. I say REELECT NOBODY! We know the folks in office aren’t doing us any good so let’s reelect nobody and get some new(er) blood in office. All offices. I’d run for President if I could. It’s gotta be bad if I’m ready to put up with me.

See that little rotating globe down to the right of this page? That proves my blog is read all over the world! Cool! Thanks!

My "Ham Shack."

In-Laws visited for the last couple of weeks. Phew! I purely enjoyed their visit but am sorta glad they’ve gone home. SWMBO and her Mom stayed cloistered in her room or out shopping, etc while I spent a lot of time with her Dad. Not that I minded. We have the same mind on a lot of things. Took him to the Tacoma Museum to see their train layout and then to the Tacoma Train Club’s meeting place to see their trains and to the park in Port Orchard to see the Live Steamers ride able trains. Got lots of video! I wouldn’t mind if they moved out here… I think he had fun running my Digger around and pulling up a post that was going to be in his way when he pulled their 5th wheel out.

Sold our "other" property out on NE Tahuya River Drive. Closed last Thursday. Didn’t get as much as we wanted for it but got enough to get a couple of toys and pay off some major bills. Now I gotta remember not to head out to the property anymore. Kind of a bummer but we really weren’t doing anything with it. Still, I’m going to miss going out there and "getting away from it all."

So, SWMBO bought herself a new sewing machine and I ordered a Yaesu FT-857D Ham Radio.

Really looking forward to getting it and setting it up. Started studying for my General Ham License. I can’t believe I bought a Ham Radio when I could have bought a 40" LCD TV for the same price!!!!

Not much else going on around here.

Put On The Dammed Suit!