May Updates

 Well we are only a week into May and work has been keeping me quite busy! Not much time to mess around on the radio.

I made a few changes to my setup since my last post. I now have a new L-shaped desk (more room for radios!). I picked up a new desk chair (way better for my back!) to go with the new desk. I've been working on cable management for the pat few days and I'm still not finished!

I was able to get a new G5rv up in the air with some help from Dad. This one I purchased from HRO. It is a Radiowavz brand G5. Seems to preform about the same as the old antenna. This one supposedly tunes on 6 meters. I haven't had a chance to try it out down there yet. But I was able to make several DX QSOs right off the bat. While I was placing and order I also picked up a pretty nice SWR/Power meter. It is a Daiwa CN-901. It makes a nice addition to my setup. I was using the LED bar graph on my LDG tuner for a wattmeter but it doesn't have the accuracy that I wanted. I also picked up a few short RG8x cables that are a little more flexible than what I was using. I wanted them to be more flexible to alleviate strain on the connectors on the equipment.

Now that I have an HF antenna back up in the air I've been working some FT8. I actually applied for a few more awards through the FT8DMC. Hopefully I'll get them soon.

I've started looking at options for a new desktop computer to replace my current PC. It's looking like it's going to cost about $1,000-1,800 to either build or buy a PC that meets my specifications. It's been hard to price components due to a LOT of electronic parts being out of stock. I'm looking forward to updating my setup.

I was able to attend the May KY4ARC meeting IN PERSON!! It was nice to actually be in a meeting with people instead of staring at a monitor. Hopefully I will be able to attend future meeting. It's hard to tell when I'll be able to go with my work schedule the way it is currently.

Lastly an administrative update for email subscribers. I was notified in the last month that FeedBurner, the service I use to automate email subscriptions will be shutting down in July 2021. I'm currently looking at a couple different options for a new service. I hope to have a solution in place next month.

Well no pictures in this one (again).

Hope to catch ya' down the log!

73

Cam