Made a life changine decision..........
There's a lot of issues for me
Of course getting older , more frail, and my energy level through the day is not very high. I wanted to get this stuff down before I had to hire it done at expense, or a windstorm caused problems
Not very well off financially, and if I'm not going to use some of this might as well sell it before the value goes completely into the toilet.
The RF noise floor in the neighborhood, and the attitude of the FCC over part 15, after the "BPL" debacle.
The lack of the "old gang" we used to see on 160, 75
The newbies who don't want to learn anything, and who don't want to be told anything
Poor propagation. The last "peak" was dismal.
And a few other things. I was never very good at CW, but my arthritis makes taking notes a pain, as well as even operating paddles is not fun. I don't really want to operate CW from a keyboard.
I've had a bunch of fun over the years. I've been thinking of putting a mobile back in the pickup. I've got a screwdriver antenna which I could rework, and I believe I have what is called a "Swantenna" which could be motorized. This would allow getting away from manmade noise for occasional operations
Swantenna.........I think they were made in a few different models including one motorized one. I think mine is manually "slider" tuned. Been awhile since I looked at it
My old screwdriver was made by Tom Wilson, KA7W, known as a BB3. I have not conversed with him in a long time. He is or was hooked up with Nott Antennas (Nott ltd?) down in NM. I have an auxiliary coil for 160. I used to use quick connect (brass) air hose fittings above the motorized coil to disconnect the whip. The mount on the pickup, I used a large steam / hydraulic quick connect. Seemed to work OK
A BB3 screwdriver similar to mine
There's a lot of issues for me
Of course getting older , more frail, and my energy level through the day is not very high. I wanted to get this stuff down before I had to hire it done at expense, or a windstorm caused problems
Not very well off financially, and if I'm not going to use some of this might as well sell it before the value goes completely into the toilet.
The RF noise floor in the neighborhood, and the attitude of the FCC over part 15, after the "BPL" debacle.
The lack of the "old gang" we used to see on 160, 75
The newbies who don't want to learn anything, and who don't want to be told anything
Poor propagation. The last "peak" was dismal.
And a few other things. I was never very good at CW, but my arthritis makes taking notes a pain, as well as even operating paddles is not fun. I don't really want to operate CW from a keyboard.
I've had a bunch of fun over the years. I've been thinking of putting a mobile back in the pickup. I've got a screwdriver antenna which I could rework, and I believe I have what is called a "Swantenna" which could be motorized. This would allow getting away from manmade noise for occasional operations
Swantenna.........I think they were made in a few different models including one motorized one. I think mine is manually "slider" tuned. Been awhile since I looked at it
My old screwdriver was made by Tom Wilson, KA7W, known as a BB3. I have not conversed with him in a long time. He is or was hooked up with Nott Antennas (Nott ltd?) down in NM. I have an auxiliary coil for 160. I used to use quick connect (brass) air hose fittings above the motorized coil to disconnect the whip. The mount on the pickup, I used a large steam / hydraulic quick connect. Seemed to work OK
A BB3 screwdriver similar to mine
