Musings By KE2LJ |
Our
Holiday party will NOT be at UL on 12/15.
Bill, N2SFT has to be out of town that week, and we cannot use his
facility. So, Jack, WA2PYK, scouted
around for a suitable replacement party venue. He located Old Country Buffet in
Levittown. They’re at 3023 Hempstead Tpke. Next to Tri County Flea Market. We
expect to see offerings for dinner of roast beef, chicken, turkey, and salmon.
Even better, the price should be about $10.
We’ll have our own room, but we really need to get a fairly accurate
head count. If you intend to go to the party, please call Jack at 516-249-0979
and let him know. We usually use the party as an opportunity to collect dues
for the coming year. If you can afford it, please bring an additional $20 for
dues.
The
January meeting will be a program on old radio pioneers, presented by George,
W2RKM. He has some operational spark equipment that he likes to demo. But, we
cant do that in UL, so we probably will do this offsite. It’ll may be at Briarcliff in Bethpage (old Plt 35).
Jack has been trying to contact people at Briarcliff, and we might go there. He
also is talking to the Credit Union folks to use their downstairs meeting room.
Watch the GARC web site for late breaking news.
HRU
2005 will be held on January 9 at Briarcliff. There will be 5 parallel tracks
of forums, as opposed to the 4 we had last year. Marty and I will be doing the
DX forums for LIDXA. Bob will be doing a digital presentation. The Friends of
LI Wireless will also be there, and I may actually have my latest Tesla Coil on
display. I spoke to Connie from Wireless, and that organization is applying for
charters from the State. Once that happens, they can get additional funding.
Their big wish these days is to acquire their own building in which to
construct permanent displays of old L.I. radio equipment. This sounds like a
place my Tesla Coil could go when I retire to Florida.
I
haven’t heard too much about the “estate” sale of the Ham gear that we
got. The main items are a TS680 160-6
HF and Icom 575H 6 and 10 meter radio. There’s a D104, some 2 meter gear, small
power supplies and SWR meters. Also, an MFJ 941 tuner. I have that same tuner
at home, and it does a pretty nice job. So, if you could use some of these
things, speak up. All the money goes to the widow. We’re not going to hold on
to any of it at this point. A few Saturdays ago, Bill (N2SFT) and my Son
Michael (N2NTD) went to the widow’s home to remove the tower. It was a 2
section crank-up bolted to the house next to the chimney. It had 2 beams on it,
but they were all broken up from wind and trees. One was a 6 meter, the other a
10 meter antenna. They weren’t worth saving, so Michael used a tubing cutter to
dismantle the antennas. That way the tower could be easily laid over without
hanging up in the trees. I threw a sling around the chimney, and used Bill’s
block and tackle to ease it down. Smooth as glass. We carried it out, tied it
to his trailer, and cleaned up the junk in the yard. Fortunately, there was a
dumpster in the driveway, so it was easy to get rid of the old antenna pieces.
Now Bill has a 40’ tower with rotor, already to go. A nice project for
Springtime..
As
you know, I have had an Icom 706 in my Blazer for a few years now. That’s the
one I used on my cross country trip to Yosemite. I love having HF and VHF in
the same small radio. A few weeks ago I began to hear 533 noisy, and people
would report that I was noisy going in. I figured it was an antenna issue. I
check my coax, and where it enters the car under the weather stripping, there
was a big nick in the jacket, and water was getting in. Once that happens, the
braid usually decomposes rapidly. The water wicks up to both ends of the cable,
so it’s time for a new antenna. I called Mike (KJ6XE) and bought a new 5/8 wave
mag-mount from him. After installing
the antenna, I still had the problem. I then called the place I bought the
radio from (KJI), and Gene said it was
a common ailment among radios that stay in cars all the time. The extreme
changes in temperature cause solder joints to get stressed and go bad. Now I
have to find an Icom repair place, and send that radio out to get fixed.
Last
week I made another trip to Sun City Center, just below Tampa. We closed on a
nice house on a lake. It has a small dock and a boat. It’s a lovely retirement house. The lady we bought it from will
stay in it for awhile, paying me rent. In a couple of years, when I retire,
she’ll move out, and we’ll sell our Long Island holdings and head for Florida.
Meanwhile, I have some remodeling to do there, such as building a garage and a
tower. The first thing we did was hire a company to install hurricane shutters
on all the windows. I think we’re going to have some more big hurricane seasons
in the future, and I want to be ready. When I move in, I’ll get a generator as
well, and I’ll be all set.