I've been lurking for a few days after signing up and decided I should officially check in. I found the forum when another member (an old friend) sent me a reference to it. The place looked reasonably coherent so I thought I would sign up and stick around a little while.
I'm retired and live in a more or less rural area in the wet side of Washington state. Although I'm an Extra class operator I haven't been doing a lot of radio stuff lately other than participating in our local ACS group. The QRP/CW discussions between Gil and Radioray have piqued my interest (again) along those lines and reminded me of some unfinished projects I need to finish. I passed the 5 wpm test when it was still required for General but I made the mistake of not getting on the air with CW, so now I need to start over.
Anyway, hello to the forum.
Wally
Welcome aboard Wally :)
I was in Washington State two years ago. Beautiful state, though a bit cold and wet for me, even in August! Montana was 85F and Seattle was 60 and raining ::)
I hope you get back to CW because I don't have anybody to talk to on the West Coast ;) I'd be glad to help you work your speed up, if we can establish contact.
Morse is definitely where it's at for portability and efficiency!
Gil.
Welcome to the forum Wally
I'm down in Northern California. I'm working on re-learning code myself, It has been atleast 20 years since I last used it. Hope to get on the air soon.
Joe
Hey Wally,
Welcome to the forum. It's a good forum and in fact the ONLY concern that I have is that they stoop so low by allowing ME to be a member. ha ha
Yeah , the Morse code is awsome, but you know that. You might want to search-out Gil's 'coffee shop mobile' postings (aka: "/java") If you cannot locate them, then let me know and I'll dig them up. Basically, he'd bring a QRP rig and assemble a short, aluminum antenna at his coffee shop hang-out and chat in CW during the visit. Being a 'Radio PRepper' does not necessarily mean not enjoying some of the finer things in life!
>de RadioRay ..._ ._
Welcome Wally!
Every time I see posts like these I want to try CW...but every time I actually think about doing it...I lose the "want to"...
Glad you're here - hope you like it as much as the rest of us - Gil's built a pretty cool place that tends to collect an eclectic gathering of individuals!
I made the mistake of NOT putting my antenna back up after a friend tore it down while moving his camper out of my backyard :/ ...now works heated up (thankful) and I've not had the time to do anything but check in here periodically!