ramcharger
Dismember
Woke up early, picked up a ham friend (Mike) and went to a "hamfest" in Longmont. Met up with another ham friend (Rich) and we went to the Kawi dealer so he could get a facescreen for his motorcycle helmet. Met the owner of the joint who hill climbs and said he'd sponsor me for drag racing bikes (cheap parts) if I could bring him some pics and if I'd put some mylar stickers on my bike (easy on and off) when racing. :love10:
Then we all went to lunch (I bought, Rich is retired and his wife just had two heart stents installed), then we stopped at his place. I asked if I could sit on his bike to check it out and he unlocked the forks, put the key in the ignition and fired up the bike and said "Get! Go have a little fun!". :headbang: So I went for a 15 minute ride and then we checked out his ham gear and rocking antenna set up (45' tower with an elevator to bring the antenna down so he could work on it). He gave Mike a ton of crap for having Yaesu equipment and lauded over his Icom gear, lol! He swapped stories of being a Railroad Officer (He's 6'3" and 295) and how they sent two peckerheads to Wyoming in locked rail car after busting them breaking in twice in one night, lol.
Shortly after that he said "See that roll of wire under the bench, drag that sucker out". He then proceded to do some calculations and had Mike and cut off the correct lengths of wire for every HF band and said "Now go get yourself some baluns and get listening and get that dang general license!", lol! Then he said "See that 4 element 2m beam there? That's yours and don't fk it up". :thumbup: He showed me how to tune it (nice antenna and all billet aluminum).
If all this wasn't enough he brought us inside again and gave me a rockin', old school HF antenna tuner! It's an old made in USA B&W unit that accepts both wire and coax outputs, model VS300A, good for 300 watts. Wow!
So get this, I drop Mike off and gives me a 9th edition ARRL operating manual and a CD he burned of the 2010 ARRL handbook plus a nice Greenlee punch for 3/4" NMO antenna mounts for my Jeep! AAACCCK!
I get home thinking "Man, I have some work to do" when Fishy68's package arrives with a bunch of ham books and parts that any ham could use! Dang it man!
Oh, not to mention that Onebaddart's package arrived with not one, but TWO antenna rotators in the box! Now get this, Rich and his wife just called to say "Thanks" for buying them lunch when in all honesty, I feel it was a privilege to meet them both and it was the least I could do knowing that they are both on a fixed income and Rich's wife is cruising around on a walker, but despratley (sp?) wants to get back on the bike with Rich.
WOW! What a day! I am a lucky man, no doubt. :thumbup: Both Rich and Rita (his wife) and I are both looking forward to some charity rides this summer with the "Make a Wish Foundation" on the top of the list. Both Rich and Rita are skilled woodworkers that make many of the "Poker Run" prizes for the charity rides.
I can only hope that your day was as good or better than mine. :goodman: LMAO!
Tell us all about it even if it sucked. :headbang:
P.S. (post script)
I'm now making a box of stuff that Mike needs and I dont.
Then we all went to lunch (I bought, Rich is retired and his wife just had two heart stents installed), then we stopped at his place. I asked if I could sit on his bike to check it out and he unlocked the forks, put the key in the ignition and fired up the bike and said "Get! Go have a little fun!". :headbang: So I went for a 15 minute ride and then we checked out his ham gear and rocking antenna set up (45' tower with an elevator to bring the antenna down so he could work on it). He gave Mike a ton of crap for having Yaesu equipment and lauded over his Icom gear, lol! He swapped stories of being a Railroad Officer (He's 6'3" and 295) and how they sent two peckerheads to Wyoming in locked rail car after busting them breaking in twice in one night, lol.
Shortly after that he said "See that roll of wire under the bench, drag that sucker out". He then proceded to do some calculations and had Mike and cut off the correct lengths of wire for every HF band and said "Now go get yourself some baluns and get listening and get that dang general license!", lol! Then he said "See that 4 element 2m beam there? That's yours and don't fk it up". :thumbup: He showed me how to tune it (nice antenna and all billet aluminum).
If all this wasn't enough he brought us inside again and gave me a rockin', old school HF antenna tuner! It's an old made in USA B&W unit that accepts both wire and coax outputs, model VS300A, good for 300 watts. Wow!
So get this, I drop Mike off and gives me a 9th edition ARRL operating manual and a CD he burned of the 2010 ARRL handbook plus a nice Greenlee punch for 3/4" NMO antenna mounts for my Jeep! AAACCCK!
I get home thinking "Man, I have some work to do" when Fishy68's package arrives with a bunch of ham books and parts that any ham could use! Dang it man!
Oh, not to mention that Onebaddart's package arrived with not one, but TWO antenna rotators in the box! Now get this, Rich and his wife just called to say "Thanks" for buying them lunch when in all honesty, I feel it was a privilege to meet them both and it was the least I could do knowing that they are both on a fixed income and Rich's wife is cruising around on a walker, but despratley (sp?) wants to get back on the bike with Rich.
WOW! What a day! I am a lucky man, no doubt. :thumbup: Both Rich and Rita (his wife) and I are both looking forward to some charity rides this summer with the "Make a Wish Foundation" on the top of the list. Both Rich and Rita are skilled woodworkers that make many of the "Poker Run" prizes for the charity rides.
I can only hope that your day was as good or better than mine. :goodman: LMAO!
Tell us all about it even if it sucked. :headbang:
P.S. (post script)
I'm now making a box of stuff that Mike needs and I dont.
