MARCH 24th...

March 24th was like any other Wednesday, yet unlike other weekdays. Robin surprised me with a planned getaway to Bed & Breakfast hideout in the area of Cat Spring, Texas. As you'll see from the photos, it wasn't without it's amenities, however I did suffer brief withdrawal from lack of Internet or Television.

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We were fortunate that a Pacific cold front was passing through which made for a nice rainy night, and a cloudless, cool day to follow.

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I didn't come completely without electronic devices though, and it only took a few minutes for me to hook-up my Yaesu FT-817 to a mag mount to see if any DX was happening on 10 meters. The answer was "YES". The band was open just about everywhere I tuned, and many loud stations were heard coming from Australia, the South Pacific, and South America. A jump down to 11 meters confirmed that it too was hopping with signals, and finally I went to 20 meters to find LOUD stations booming in (sometimes 3/4 scale). I really (r-e-a-l-l-y) regretted not bringing my 20 meter stick, as it would have been a cinch to make my first General Class contact!

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73, Woody

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"RANDOM NOTES..."

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Any TS-50 users out there? W4RT now offers DSP for your rig! I listened to the before/after audio samples and have to say that the addition of DSP really seemed to help. As usual, you have the choice of doing it yourself or paying a little more and having them do it (with a 2-day turn-around). They've had the DSP option for the FT-817 for some time now, but it's nice to see this option being made available for TS-50 owners.


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Someone has a very expensive Cobra 2000gtl (listed as "NEW-IN-THE-BOX") for about $1500!!! I suppose you'd have to be a really BIG fan of the 2000gtl to pay that price. You do a search on EBAY to find it...
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While we're on the EBAY subject, have you noticed the increase in final bid prices for the FT-101 series? They seem to have moved up a notch and now exist in the $400-$500 price range.
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Question: "Have you had any buying/selling experience w/Radio-mart?" If so, let me know how your transaction went.
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Blog changes. I made some changes to the Blog recently. You can now do a search through the entire blog and my favorite web links! Also, you'll see a "POLL" which will change fairly frequently.
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TIP: When you see an item come up for auction that hasn't been posted much (example: SM-220) it might be good to hold off paying that high price and sitting the auction out. Usually a flood of similar auctions will follow when HAM OP's will take notice and think to themselves "Damn, I didn't know I could get THAT much for this gear". Prices will slowly diminish, as the number of units for sale will outpace the limited demand.
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4Sale link. I added a 4sale link to the Blog so I could try to cut down on the percentage that EBAY takes on listing and end price amounts. Some items should appear in the next ten days or so, and I'll add items as I have time.
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Owners Manuals. I've been scanning a variety of manuals in PDF and will list the new selections on a future Blog post.
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BOOK REVIEWS. I've read one new book, and I'm halfway thru another. Look for the book reviews in future posts.
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The "Fiddler". Recently I've reconnected with the "Fiddler" [long time readers of "Nuff Said" on my website will be familiar with that name] and plan an excursion to his QTH in the next month. It was really good to hear from him and I'm determined to make the drive North ASAP.
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HAM CITY. I've done some purchasing from HAM CITY recently and give it two thumbs up! They handled the Internet order quickly, sent email updates, AND they're available on IM. Also, their website is one of the better organized sites on the Web (I found items quickly compared to HRO).
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RANGER has a new "Professional" mobile on the market, the PPR-TLM1. It's an unusual mix of features to say the least. I can see that long haul Truckers might enjoy the MP3 player, or perhaps the photo display, but how is it as far as adjacent channel rejection or front-end overload? And is it better quality and the usual Ranger? Time will tell.
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I'm sure that I've forgotten a few items, but wanted to get these up on the Blog before they too were lost in hazy gray matter....
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73, Woody
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ZOO PIX FOR FAMILY MEMBERS

Robin checks map to see where monthly payment is made

WOODY

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A DAY AT THE ZOO

We stopped by the Houston Zoo to drop off another monthly payment, but the day was so nice we decided to hang around for awhile, take in the sights, and take a few pictures (next post). Hope your Saturday was just as nice.

73, Woody

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DE, KB5CEJ /AG
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[Finally]

Yep, I studied, I went, I passed - it was a long time coming! Great Houston (BVARC) Hamfest too.

73, Woody....


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THE RIG YOU LOVE TO BUY

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[AND SELL]

Just a personal observation, but there seem to be quite a few TS-480's on the market that start off like this: "It's less than six months old" (some are less than a month). So it makes me wonder why the quick turn-around? As a former TS-480 owner (ed. - yep, I confess) I loved the rig. It did everything I wanted it to do, and had a nice LARGE display. Loss of job forced me to sell it, but I'd buy another one day in a heartbeat!

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So, if you're a former TS-480 owner, and sold it so soon after purchase; let me know why you did it. I curious, and, if there is some glaring flaw that I missed, it would be good to know about it -

73, Woody

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