When All Else Fails…HAM!

When all else fails use Ham Radio right? This is the way I’ve been keeping in touch with the fellas back home when on the road. Just throw out a wire and start talking. Only a 12 foot fiberglass painters pole with a 20m homebrew dipole tied off to BBQ pit on one side and tied off to a rock on the other side fed with an ancient ICOM IC-730 doing about 70-80 on a Read More …

Geronimo Surrender Site

This Monument commemorates the final surrender of the famous Chiricahua Apache Chief Geronimo to General Nelson Appleton Miles on September 6, 1886, occurred at the western edge of Skeleton canyon. As the surrender site is now on private property, commemorative monument has been erected to the northwest along SR 80, where it intersects with Skeleton Canyon Road.

Painters Pole Antenna Mast

A painters pole antenna mast seemed like a good idea. My wife & I are going on a trip soon and I wanted to take my HF radio with me. I did not want to spend the money on a Tarheel or a screwdriver antenna yet so I opted to make a portable lightweight antenna and mast. I had been doing some research and found several people had been using a fiberglass telescoping painters pole Read More …

Green Country Hamfest – Claremore, Oklahoma

On Saturday, we made the trek to Claremore, OK for the Green Country Hamfest. This was the first Hamfest I’ve been to that I didn’t have take a test. I’ve only been to four Hamfests total. The first three Hamfests I was committed to taking tests. Now that I have my Extra, I could really enjoy myself and mosey around and shop. It isn’t the biggest, but so far it was the biggest I’ve been Read More …

It’s The Beginning

Finally, I did it…I took the plunge and got my amateur radio license. The bug actually bit me way back in high school. I thought I’d get my license back then, but let the morse code intimidate me. Needless to say, I put it off. Then, life happened. I pushed it to the back of my mind. Then, 19 years later, my interest surfaced again. I realized that morse code wasn’t required, so I got to studying. Read More …