Circumstances It’s mid-November and that happens to coincide with my birthday. In my semi-retired state, I have most days to myself after the kids are off to school. Sure, I have chores to do and things to address, but there’s always a little time for radio. On my birthday? On a day with no snow,…
Ah, The Weather October isn’t usually kind enough to grant days in the 70dF range here in NE Ohio. The past few weeks have been really good for that. Sunny, clear days with leaves in high color and a light breeze. It really doesn’t get much better than that for me at this time of…
Big Changes This isn’t a blog where I share everything that happens in my day to day life. The purpose here is to document the fun and challenges of my amateur radio hobby. But a hobby does intersect with life. We’ve all picked up and put down hobbies over time depending on life circumstances. I…
Support Your Parks! Every quarter, the Parks On The Air folks have an event called Support Your Parks Weekend. The idea is to get out to the park at least once a quarter, right? I see it as just another weekend to go play, but maybe there are more hunters out there and a better…
An Activation With An Up And Coming Mode I’ve been pretty active on the Mastodon radio community for a while and I’ve noticed that there are a lot of operators using a mode called Single Side Band or SSB for something called Phone. Apparently, this is where you talk into the microphone (that box with…
A Long Weekend I had the opportunity to take Friday off, so I did. And with a day off and no commitments until much later, I headed out to The Octagon at Cuyahoga Valley National Park – US-0020. I just couldn’t think of a better way to spend a few hours in the quiet before…
Gorgeous Weather It was sunny and the temperature was darned near perfect for June in NE Ohio. My wife and I got on our bikes and cycled out to Cuyahoga Valley National Park – US-0020 so that we could enjoy the day. The plan was to spend a little time at The Octagon shelter area…
You Read That Right It was a dessert activation. Monday nights are Scout meetings so I figured I could sneak out to Cuyahoga Valley National Park – US-0020 and get an activation in after dinner. I thought of it as a bit of mental sorbet to cleanse the pallette after a long day. It worked…
Weeks Without POTA? The past couple of weeks have been very busy and kept me away from my beloved parks and activations. Life is like that sometimes and we have to muscle through it. When I saw a break in the action on Sunday morning, I knew that I had to jump on it. The…