Are We There Yet? — One Year Later

1

It’s been almost a year since I started out on the mother of all road trips. I was both encouraged to and discouraged from blogging along the way. Somehow I managed to do both, or neither.

I learned a lot about myself on that trip last summer, but one of the biggest lessons about myself was, in fact, something I already knew about myself: I need to process things, and that takes time. I ponder. I stew. I process, consciously and subconsciously. It’s part of who I am, part of who I always have been, and now after having been on this journey, I’m realizing it’s part of who I always will be.

Except for a few scheduled stops on my trip (W1AW, my brother’s wedding in Boston), I didn’t announce specific times and places I would be ahead of time to the general public through this blog or my public Twitter account. I was a single woman, travelling alone for months on end, in a recognizable car with my well-publicized call sign on the license plate. I was using APRS, which means when it was turned on, I was trackable in real time. Because of all this, I made a point of turning off APRS about 30 minutes before I got to where I’d be spending the night, as well as any other point when I thought it prudent. Similarly, I blogged about events after the fact.

While I know some of my readers would’ve preferred updates more immediately, it didn’t bother me to be a few days behind. But then a couple of things happened that changed the way I was updating the blog.

First, about a week into my trip, I was at the Atlanta hamfest. The plan was to be in Charleston, SC, to see my godkids a month and a half later, and to meet some of my friend Heather’s friends who to that point I had only known online. But I managed to somehow talk Eugene into driving over to Atlanta for the weekend so we could meet each other earlier in the trip, so he could come to my forum at the hamfest, and so he could take his ham radio test sooner rather than later and ensure he had his license before I got to Charleston so we could both get on HF when we went to the USS Yorktown. Twelve months later, we’re engaged to be married this summer, so it may be hard for you to believe that all of this was completely innocent. But it was. Looking back on it, we realize now that we liked each other already from our interactions online, but neither of us was consciously aware of it. We spent two nights sharing a motel room with two beds, and we didn’t so much as hug or even shake hands that entire weekend. We missed each other after the weekend, though, and it didn’t take us long to decide we wanted to get to know each other better. I hadn’t factored a nightly two- to three-hour video chat session into my plans when I was calculating how much time it would take me to drive across the eastern part of the US and Canada and try to blog about it. What would’ve been my blogging time was taken up instead with phone calls and video chats.

The trip started out as an idea about a month and a half before I actually started driving, and the ideas and plans changed often, morphing from one great possibility to another. “It’s tentative!” became my motto, and as funny as it was, it was true. There was a place I wanted to visit in Pensacola, so I figured I might swing by there. And hey, that’s really close to Alabama, so it would be silly of me not to cross the state line so I could get another state. But hey, Mississippi really isn’t too much farther, so I may as well go over there, too. Oh, and you know what? Louisiana is pretty close to Mississippi, so I could go there. And if I’m going to Louisiana, I really want to go to New Orleans and drive across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Things like that happened for every portion of planning my trip.

The focus of my trip changed as well. Having just lost my mother in February 2012, the trip that I was planning to start three months later  included two separate weeks at my dad’s house, because I wanted to help him go through belongings and help him with anything else that he might need. I was done in the town where I had been living for the past few years, and I didn’t yet have plans for where to be in the fall, so the timing was perfect for me to get out and see things and do things and meet people and just really be free for a summer. It started as an off-hand thought that maybe I should go on a road trip that summer and couch-surf. Because Twitter is so great for sharing random off-hand thoughts, I tweeted the idea. Almost immediately, people said that yes, I could stay with them, or that if I came through their town, they would buy me a meal. It started to turn into something that sounded feasible. It was only after that that the focus shifted to include ham radio. One of the guys on Twitter — or more likely several of the guys simultaneously — suggested that I put my HF rig in the car if I’m going to be driving all over the country. I enlisted the help of friends, bought a mobile antenna, and got everything installed. NR4CB/M! Momentum started to build. Hams were writing about and mentioning my upcoming trip on blog posts, podcasts, and international ham radio online magazines. More equipment was loaned (APRS equipment, magmount antenna for HT) and donated (magmount antenna for APRS, which I now use for my HT). One guy offered to host a website for me so I could blog about the trip.

It kind of took on a life of its own. I loved it. It was the adventure that everyone said he wanted to have. A once in a lifetime opportunity. Life changing. Tentative!

But then later, further into the adventure, after I’d gotten past the one obligation that the entire trip was planned around (my brother’s wedding), I withdrew into myself more. I was a month into the trip, falling further and further behind on the blog, and I was becoming more introspective. I would drive for hours without the ham radio or the music radio on. I spent a lot of time in thought. I had my friends on Twitter and the commenters on my blog who I could reach out to if I needed information or company. I had Eugene to talk to most nights. So feeling secure with the knowledge that I could reach out if I needed to, I let myself withdraw. I found it harder and harder to write about what I was experiencing each day, because my brain was still thinking about it and figuring it all out.

Some of my typical thought was very much just stream of consciousness: Was I going to grad school that fall? Which school? How was I going to pay for it? Where would I live? Which state? Which city? In an apartment? When would I move? Who could I ask to help me move my furniture? Is my dad holding up okay? I miss my mom a lot. Why did she die? She was only 63. That’s too young. This song has been on the radio a lot. That ham wasn’t what I pictured he’d be like, but I’m glad we met. That other ham’s wife didn’t like me at all. I probably should get an oil change soon. Should I jump out of a perfectly good airplane? I don’t feel like getting on HF today. This countryside is so beautiful. I had no idea there were so many windmills here. That’s an odd-looking stoplight. Oh, look, Quebec’s street signs are in French only. I’m glad I remember how to read a little bit of French.

And then I’d get to where I was going, and I’d be exhausted from thinking. At one point in Western New York I just got a motel room for a few days and basically slept for three days straight. I was taking in so many experiences and having so many thoughts that I was just worn out.

The trip lasted for a little over two months, and it started a year ago this coming weekend. Truly, I think just now I’m starting to be able to look back on the trip as a whole and make some sense of it. I drove 7,000 miles. And you won’t believe this, but round trip (from my friend D’s driveway where I started to her driveway where I ended), it was precisely 7,000 miles. I had estimated I’d drive 6,000 miles on my trip, but I was off by exactly a thousand miles.

I was tracking a lot of things as I went along: how many ounces of coffee I’d had, how many times that one song was on the radio, how many QSOs I’d had, and other funny things. I still have the hand-written notes I took each day, so I could get a total of all of those at some point. We’ll see how I feel about it after my brain processes this a little more.

I do want to write more about the trip. About jumping out of an airplane, about seeing Niagara Falls, about the USS Yorktown, about a zillion other things. The biggest thing I learned on this trip, though, is that I cannot change my nature, and my nature is to be guarded and private. So rather than promise you that I will tell more of the story, I will tell you that I want to tell more of the story, and that if I do tell more of the story, it will be here.

About half of the QSL cards have gone out. If we had multiple QSOs on the trip and you live in the US or Canada, you should have received your QSL. If you live outside North America or we only had one QSO, I haven’t sent yours yet.

I appreciate those of you who enjoyed reading about my trip, and those of you who left comments for me. It’s been an unbelievably amazing year.

Are we there yet?!? I don’t think we ever will be, and I’m okay with that. :-)

73 de NR4CB, Connie

PS — you see that? That’s what I get for trying to update my blog. I broke it. I’m not sure what I did to the settings, but my title and tag line’s colors have changed now that I’ve changed their text and I’m not sure how to change them back. It’s okay, though, because I have really smart friends, and I’m sure they’ll contact me as soon as they see the mess I’ve made. :-)

Children’s Day

4
Wanda Bird November 7, 1948 - February 21, 2012 Photo by and courtesy of Len Pepe

Wanda Bird
November 7, 1948 – February 21, 2012
Photo by and courtesy of Len Pepe

My mother died one year ago today: February 21, 2012. It happened unexpectedly and suddenly, but thankfully not so suddenly that she was alone. My father and sister were with her in her last moments. My brother and I arrived home that night. That Tuesday began a very difficult week that included planning, visitation on Friday, her funeral on Saturday, and her burial the next Monday. It doesn’t feel like a whole year has already passed. I miss her very much.

Mom loved doing things for people: for family, for friends, for the Church, for strangers. She decorated cakes for church functions, friends’ weddings, and family members’ weddings. She volunteered in several capacities over the years in our parish. She made sandwiches to deliver to the hospital once a month to feed the families of patients who were there waiting. (Incidentally, Mom died in this same hospital.) She never passed up a gift-giving opportunity. In fact, she created them.

We all have Mother’s Day in May and Father’s Day in June. Well, in our family, we had Children’s Day. It was always the third Sunday in July. As far as I know, it was Mom’s idea. Dad mentioned sometime this past year that she might have gotten the idea from one of the magazines she read, but even if she did get the idea elsewhere, it became something that was very “Wanda.” I believe — and I could be wrong, because you know how memories aren’t always reliably accurate — that our first Children’s Day was in July 1980, when I was four years old, my sister was two years old, and my brother was a couple months shy of being born. I remember the first one, and my memories only include my sister, not my brother. Mom chose July because it was far enough away from the other gift-giving occasions of the year: Christmas; Easter [the Easter Bunny always treated us well]; and our January, February, and soon-to-be September birthdays. Mom had started her cake decorating hobby already, and both of us got our own small cake for Children’s Day. We got to decorate them ourselves. Mom always made us a card for Children’s Day as well. They started out handmade, and then in the late 1980s when we got the Print Shop software, she printed them. In the last several years, the cards became handmade again.

I don’t remember if there were presents that first year we had Children’s Day, or any of the early Children’s Day, but they were probably there. I do remember presents from most of the years, mostly because of how they were given to us. In our Children’s Day card was the location of our first hidden present. Always wrapped in Sunday comics from the local newspaper, which Mom probably saved all year to use for Children’s Day wrapping paper, our presents were hidden all over the house. The note might say something like, “Connie, find your first present in the clothes dryer.” So I’d run out to the clothes dryer, find my present, open it, and along with that present would be instructions to find the next present. Presents could be hidden pretty much anywhere: under the couch, in the dishwasher, in a cabinet or drawer in the kitchen, in the garage, etc. I don’t remember very many of the presents. Most were small, but once in a while there’d be a bigger one, which was always the last one that we found.

It was such a fun day, something I looked forward to every year. Even as we grew up and moved out of the house, we’d still have Children’s Day, just without a cake or scavenger hunt. Every year Mom threatened to have that be the last one since we were grown, out of the house, and lately, we were all in our 30s! But we were always her children, and we always had Children’s Day.

If I were able to have children, or if I thought that adoption is something that I would pursue, it’s a tradition I would certainly carry on with my children. As things look now, I probably won’t be having my own children. I’m blessed instead with three wonderful godchildren, and thanks to my recent move, we’re now pretty much in the same city. I decided a few months ago that starting in 2013, I would have Godchildren’s Day for them. Birthday season at their house is August through September, so the 3rd Sunday of July wouldn’t work for them the same way it worked for me and my siblings. After some thought, I decided on the 3rd Sunday of February. I like the idea of having it on the 3rd Sunday of a month since that’s what my mom chose for us. February is far enough away from Christmas for me, though I admit having it later in the year would balance out the gift-giving occasions a bit more. But the 3rd Sunday of February has one more thing going for it that trumps everything else: some years, it will fall on February 21st, the anniversary of Mom’s death.

This past Sunday, February 17, 2013, was our first Godchildren’s Day. Heather brought the kids down to the house, and Eugene fixed us lunch. We had hoped to use the grill out on the porch, but winter decided to show up again on Saturday night, and temperatures had gone below freezing. Still, we had burgers and hot dogs, and everybody enjoyed them. As the 9 year old said, “Mr. Eugene, you’re a pretty good cook. Almost as good as me!”

After lunch, I gave them their cards. Up until that moment, none of us had used the words “Godchildren’s Day,” and even then we didn’t really explain it. They read where to find presents, and that was all the explanation they needed. The kids had fun running around the house finding their presents, ripping them open, and almost completely ignoring the present so they could find the clue for the next one. [This was one of the moments that made me miss Mom the most that day. I wanted to call her and ask her if we had done the same thing as kids.]

After they’d found all their presents, they took some time to color in their new coloring books, and then we tested out the big box of Legos that I brought back from Tennessee on a recent trip. We all had fun with those.

See that Dr. Suess book “My Book About Me” in the corner? They each got one. I got one as a kid, and I still have it. I highly recommend you buy these for the kids in your life. They’re a great keepsake.

Seriously, you are never too old for Legos. Eugene and I played, too.

Legos!

Dessert was banana splits, complete with green maraschino cherries for the kid that can’t have red dye. We played some more to run off some energy before it was time for them to head home. All in all, I’d say it was a success.

I didn’t tell the kids that we were going to have Godchildren’s Day every year, and they certainly didn’t ask. But while they may not be anticipating the next one, I’m already thinking about it: good ideas for presents, hiding places for them, and fun and kid-friendly foods for lunch and dessert. I’m excited to be on the other side of the holiday; I’m thrilled to be passing this on to the next generation even if they aren’t my own children; and mostly I’m grateful to my mother for loving us so much that she made up a holiday for us.

I miss you, Mom. I love you.

~Connie

QSL cards!

1

I’m so excited! I received the finished QSL cards for this summer’s road trip in the mail yesterday. I’ve got a lot going on right now with the end of the semester, so I have to wait until late this month to work on them, but I have them!

Please do NOT send me a SASE. The cards are over-sized full color postcards: 8.5 inches by 5.47 inches. If you want to help defray the cost of the cards and mailing, I can still accept donations through PayPal (the email address for PayPal only is bionicnerd [at] yahoo [dot] com). Sending money is not a requirement, but sending a SASE will not help since the cards won’t fit.

PLEASE DO send me a QSL card of your own confirming our QSO if you have not already.

A word about LOTW and eQSL: “Eventually.” :-) I have my password postcard from LOTW, so it’s just a matter of getting it set up. I’m on eQSL already, but again, it’s an issue of time. My logs from the trip are paper logs. Luckily, Eugene is diving headfirst into all things ham radio, so I’ll be able to enlist his help in getting set up to send QSLs by all preferred methods.

Want spoiler info about the cards? There are about 60 photos from the trip showcased on the front: some of the people I met, sights I saw, and yes, even a picture of poutine.

To those of you who aren’t hams but were part of my trip, you’ll be getting a postcard, too.

My target mailing date is January 3, 2013 OR LATER. I know, I’m excited, too, but I have to wait until school stuff is done.

73 de NR4CB, Connie

 

#WATwitter Recap: Post Your Totals!

10

By all accounts, the 2nd Annual US Thanksgiving Weekend Worked All Twitter (#WATwitter) QSO Party seems to have been a great success. We followed new hams on Twitter who we hadn’t been following. Hams on the air heard us talk about Twitter as a great way to interact with other hams. And as is always the goal of #WATwitter, regardless of the time of year, we got on the air, made contacts, and had fun.

Remember, no points are earned and no awards are given, but post your totals and comments about the event here so others can read them.

Use the #WATwitter hashtag throughout the year, whenever you want to self-spot and make contact with your ham friends. And plan on another #WATwitter QSO Party next year over the US Thanksgiving weekend. Thanks to all of you who took part.

[Find all previous blog entries tagged #WATwitter here.]

73 de NR4CB, Connie

 

US Thanksgiving Weekend 2012

7

It’s the start of a long holiday weekend here in the United States, and I’m about to travel from my home in Charleston, South Carolina to my hometown near Chattanooga, Tennessee. Eugene @imabug is coming with me, and whichever of us isn’t driving will most likely be paying attention to tweets. (Find me on Twitter @Bionic_Nerd and @NR4CB).

Tomorrow will mark 9 months since my mother’s death. One of the things we have to do this weekend is sort through more of her stuff, and we’ll be bringing some of it back home with us. It’s nice having some of mom’s things here, and I’m looking forward to having even more of her belongings here. As a side note, if you need to use a sewing machine, I’ll have one. Maybe someday I will learn to use it. :-)

And of course this weekend is Worked All Twitter. I’m eager to get on the air and make contact with my friends I interact with on Twitter. Want to know more about #WATwitter? Here are some great links:

Guidelines for the 2nd Annual US Thanksgiving Weekend Worked All Twitter QSO Party (#WATwitter):

  • Dates: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 through Sunday, November 25, 2012

  • Who: Any licensed operator who also uses Twitter

  • Please update your Twitter bio to include your call sign

  • Please update your QRZ.com page to include your Twitter ID

  • Where: All bands, all modes. To let as many people as possible participate, use the portion of the band open to the most people, ie the technician class portion of 10m, the general class portion of 20m, etc.

  • Exchange: your normal exchange plus your Twitter handle, especially if it’s not your call sign

  • Self-spotting is practically required. Tweet your frequency, interact with people on Twitter, and get other people to meet you on the air at a specific time and frequency.

  • Hashtags: #WATwitter and #hamradio or #hamr

  • Tomas @OK4BX in Czech Republic is testing a Twitter bot that can help us make more contacts. Follow @twQSO on Twitter (and it will follow you back). If you’ve made a successful #WATwitter contact, tweet the information to @twQSO. Tomas will add more details in the comments of this blog entry.

  • Log your contacts, tweet your tallies to your friends and @twQSO, but there are no scores or awards. This is a way for us to connect with people both through social media and on the air.

For those of you traveling this weekend, please stay safe. The same goes for all you folks shopping late Thursday night or early Friday morning.

Happy Thanksgiving, Good DX, and 73 de NR4CB, Connie

 

#WATwitter Buzz

1

Our Worked All Twitter Thanksgiving event is generating quite a buzz around the online ham radio community.

Andrew Rohne, KE8P (formerly AC8JO), wrote a great article about #WATwitter on the Milford Amateur Radio Club website: Hamtwits and The Worked All Twitter QSO Party. It’s thanks to Andrew’s suggestion that we’re making Worked All Twitter more than just a spontaneous event and designating it an annual, planned event over the US Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Jerry Taylor, KD0BIK, noted online ham radio Elmer, is host of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast. Be sure to check his updates on myamateurradio.com. Today he published PARP Plus Edition 26, which includes a generous mention of our Worked All Twitter plans.

Previous #WATwitter blog entries from this site can be found listed here: http://bionic-nerd.com/index.php/category/watwitter/.

You can follow me on Twitter in two places: @Bionic_Nerd (public) and @NR4CB (send a follow request).

I’m looking forward to working my old friends on the air as well as meeting new friends.  Most of the time that I’ll be on the air for this year’s #WATwitter, Eugene @imabug AB4UG will be with me at my dad’s QTH in Tennessee. Be sure to work both of us. It’ll be like a two-for-one holiday special on hams. :-)

73 de NR4CB, Connie

 

Guidelines for the 2nd Annual US Thanksgiving Weekend #WATwitter QSO Party

8

As we get closer to the US Thanksgiving holiday, you’re probably making your plans. Maybe you’ll be travelling, maybe you’re following Home-Ec101‘s Countdown to Turkey Day 2012 series while getting ready to host dinner for family and friends, or maybe you’re not planning on celebrating the holiday at all. Regardless of your holiday plans, make sure you to take time to get on the air and play radio with us that weekend.

I’ve written about Worked All Twitter and how it all came about before, here and here.

Some guidelines for the 2nd Annual US Thanksgiving Weekend #WATwitter QSO Party –

  • Dates: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 – Sunday, November 25, 2012
  • Who: Any licensed operator who also uses Twitter
  • Where: All bands, all modes. To let as many people as possible participate, use the portion of the band open to the most people, ie the technician class portion of 10m, the general class portion of 20m, etc.
  • Exchange: your normal exchange plus your Twitter handle, especially if it’s not your call sign
  • Spotting: Self-spotting is practically required. Tweet your frequency, interact with people on Twitter, and get other people to meet you on the air at a specific time and frequency.
  • Hashtags: #WATwitter and either #hamr or #hamradio
  • Why? Connect with people both through social media and on the air. 
  • Have fun! Log your contacts, tweet your tallies to others, but there are no scores or awards.

How many entities do you think you’ll work over #WATwitter? We have participants from all across the continental US, plus participants in Alaska, Canada, the UK, Italy, Czech Republic, and probably more. Work on your ARRL awards for WAS, DXCC, etc, while having fun with #WATwitter.

Are you planning on participating in the 2nd Annual US Thanksgiving Weekend #WATwitter QSO Party? Put your Twitter handle and call sign in the comments of this post so others can follow you on Twitter if they’re not already.

See you online and on the air!

73 de NR4CB, Connie

 

 

 

 

WA4BXC

1

Forty years ago today, my dad was licensed as an amateur radio operator.

Congratulations, Dad. I’m proud of you, and I’m glad that I can share your hobby with you.

88, ConCon

WA4BXC Celebrating 40 years 1972-2012

in the shack, 1970s

 

Part of WA4BXC’s log from 1979.

Playing on the teletype with Dad

My first mode was RTTY

Hanging out IN the shack

Dad’s QSL card with a radar image of the night of the tornadoes April 27, 2011

in Dad’s shack

ham license plates

WA4BXC operating W1AW, 1977
NR4CB operating W1AW, 2012

WA4BXC and NR4CB

 

It’s not a vacation until …

Reply

“Turn here, we want to go west.” — Eugene, leading us astray after a stop for lunch while heading east back home to Charleston, Monday.

“It’s not a vacation until you have to turn around.” — Bird family rule, circa early 1980s.

It took until Monday to make our Friday to Monday quick trip to Tennessee officially a vacation, but we managed to do it. Somehow we always do. :-)

I think it was a good trip. We got to stop at HRO on the way to Tennessee; it was Eugene’s first time there.  We tried two local barbecue places that I’d heard great things about but never had made the time to try.  Eugene got to see first-hand the wonder that is McKay’s Used Books:

plan on spending some serious time here

McKay’s Used Books in Chattanooga, TN

He met my dad, two of my friends from school and their children, and the mother of another of my friends from school. He saw where my elementary school used to be, and he saw my middle school and high school. He saw the house where I grew up. We saw a few churches. Maybe he will write a blog post about why Charleston is called the Holy City and compare that to his experience in Ooltewah and Chattanooga. He got to hear me play my flute for the first time, too. We checked into a few HF traffic nets with Dad, and the boys looked over Dad’s latest hamfest purchase together to see if they could find where the magic blue smoke had been let out.

looking over Dad's latest project radio

WA4BXC and KK4JRP

Of course the main reason for the trip was to sort through and pack up more of the stuff in the house. It’s been more than seven months since Mom died; it’s still weird being in that house without her. She loved to collect things that made her smile. I’m keeping some of those things, but we’re selling others at a garage sale soon; I hope that her things can make other people smile as well.

We found her high school class ring. I didn’t even know she had one. I have it here with me now along with the mother’s ring that my siblings and I gave her for Christmas in 1994. My sister is going to keep her wedding ring.

We’ll head back to Tennessee over Thanksgiving weekend, to sort and pack more things. I have a moving van reserved for that weekend so I can bring home her Lane cedar chest, her Brother sewing machine (and table), and some other big(ish) pieces that are more practical than sentimental. Plus boxes. Of stuff. Yeah, I know. But for now I’m not ready to let go of some things, so having stuff for a while will have to be the price I pay.

Also over Thanksgiving weekend is the 2nd Annual US Thanksgiving Weekend #WATwitter (Worked All Twitter) QSO Party. Grab some pumpkin pie and join us on the air. Escaping to the shack when the house is overrun with too many visitors is what we tend to do anyway, right? May as well get on the air and work all your ham buddies from Twitter.

Please also remember that my dad (WA4BXC) is celebrating his 40th anniversary of being a ham radio operator this Saturday, October 6. Thank you to those of you who have already sent greetings to him. If you haven’t yet, would you take a moment to? His address is correct on QRZ.com.

 

73 de NR4CB, Connie

Mini Road Trip

Reply

This morning, Eugene and I are heading to my dad’s house in Tennessee. I’ve got a lot more stuff to sort through in the house before next month’s garage sale. I was there about a month ago and sorted through quite a bit. I brought home some of Mom’s kitchen things and some linens, and I set aside a few more things that I’ll be bringing back. But there’s a lot more to go through.

Dad’s Icom 7000 got a little crispy recently, so it doesn’t look like we’ll be on his base station while visiting this time.  I’m not sure if we’ll be on HF while mobile or not yet. Watch our Twitter feeds for updates (@NR4CB, @Bionic_Nerd, @imabug).

We will have APRS on this trip, thanks to Eugene’s recent purchase. Track us as KK4JRP-7 on APRS.fi.

We’re planning to stop at HRO in Atlanta so I can get a BNC-UHF connector. The magmount I had been using for the past year and a half for my HT was loaned to me by a ham near where I lived in Florida. I returned that to him before I moved to South Carolina. Thanks to Jim N6DHZ of The DX Store, I now own the magmount that he was letting me borrow during my trip this summer which I had been using it for the APRS unit that Jerry KD0BIK of The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast let me borrow. So now I just need the connector so that my HT and the magmount can play nicely together. Plus Eugene hasn’t been to HRO yet, and that’s reason enough to stop there.

We’re planning on making the return trip to Charleston starting very early Monday morning. Watch Twitter then, too, to see if we’ll be on HF.

Also, if you missed yesterday’s blog post, please take a moment to read it. Dad (WA4BXC) is celebrating his 40th anniversary of being a ham radio operator a week from tomorrow (October 6), and I’d love as many people as possible to send him Radiograms and greeting cards. Thanks!

 

73 de NR4CB, Connie