"VALENTINES DAY (weekend), 2009"

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Valentines Day weekend was very nice this year, making 2 wonderful years celebrating Valentine's Day (something I could not seem to do previously). Friday night was a night out at the Opera, and my mood swings were there as well. I did enjoy the second half of the opera though, and of course, the company of Robin.

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Rising up from the underground parking garage, the skies were suddenly filled with hundreds of birds, but by the time I could get a shot, only one swarm was visible.

Having to save funds for Valentines day, there wasn't much spending, but Robin is so creative, when she stopped by on Saturday I received the most fantastic gift I have ever received. It was a small scrap book that she put together for me and each time I read it, I find something new and/or funny (she has a great sense of humor).

I could tell that she spent many hours on this task, which made it that much more special. My e-mailed valentine card paled in comparison to this special book, that I will be sure to read, many times over. I've included a few pictures of some of the pages to give you an idea how much work she put into the project, along with a picture of a rose she gave me, like her, and her book, the rose was perfect!

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WHAT A FANTASTIC ROSE!!!!!

END PART ONE

WOODY

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"FRIDAY THE 13th - THE ONE WEEK ANNIVERSARY"

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It seems strange as I write this, one week after losing my job, and finding it's Friday the 13th. I don't believe in things like that, or old wives tails like hang a dead snake over a fence and it will bring rain (Bet ya never heard that one). I have heard "It's raining frog's", but that was on the show the X-files (then again, maybe they were toads).
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I've had a few emails, some wanting to know about the anger there must be in being fired from a job I started in August of 1997, but when droopy came aboard last year, I figured my days were numbered, so what's to be angry about if you know it's coming? One friend of mine got me laughing pretty good about the latest picture of me that I'd posted. I don't remember his exact words, but it was something like "Damn, did you get that picture taken in the bar from the movie "Death Proof"??
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I'm still chuckling at that one. The only bad thing that happened, i guess, is that the guy didn't come and replace the garbage disposal. I will try again, and again, and so forth. Over all, the day/night was mixed. I flipped on the rig once or twice (ed.- no skip), and yeah, I'm going to see the new "Friday the 13th" movie sometime soon.
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So as short as this may be, well, 'Nuff said

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73

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WOODY

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"DAY SIX...."

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Well, here we are, at DAY 6. I spent most of the day home (had a power adapter fry, and tore the radio room apart unsuccessfully finding it). But I did take my 7pm break to watch "EARL". -
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And, I've yet to be able to tell any of my story: Which I hope will come out sooner than later. No one seems interested in my side as well as, no one seems too interested I have no income now. During the 2007 fall period until the end of the year (2008)I've paid my temporary Alimony- in fact, I didn't have to pay the month of December, but I did. My Doctor found a lot a problems with my health (which others had missed - GO SOX DOC!!), and I've made some recovery, but without a job and great insurance (which I had), I suspect a slow decline once again.

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Well, I suppose I should go back to finding that burned out adapter as I've lost all 5 USB ports, then clean up the mess I made trying to find another one, and perhaps, in one-two-three or more months? this will end with a homeless Woody....
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73

Woody

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"DAY FIVE....."

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Well fearless fans, the day of the Divorce came yesterday. And no, there was no divorce. Because of my untimely release from work, the opposition seemed to suspect I quit my job to avoid child, oops! I mean alimony.
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I found that kinda amusing as I've been paying alimony all along since 2007, so why would I give up a well paying job, with excellent benefits to avoid it? My body is not producing a variety of things necessary for an normal life, heck just one prescription alone is almost $600 so I don't see the logic in my terminating my employment myself. Here we go back to a bunch of "lawyers in buses plunging over cliff" jokes, but you've heard 'em all at one time or the other. I felt a tremor in the force and glanced back to find my 1st ex-wife sitting there, somewhat "Stocky"(courtrooms should charge someone like that for 2 seats, much like some airlines do, and I guess someone drove her up from Houston, because as far I know, at age 52, she still doens't own a driving license (any doctors in the house?).
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But because the other lawyer almost teared up over the fact I'm unemployed and how it will effect future alimony, I have to give him credit for a good acting job (not quite an oscar, but I suppose actors and lawyers aren't all that different). I did find out some interesting details which of course I'm not allowed to discuss, much like Michele, her mom, and Robin's soon-to-be ex, but I suspect they have their little network regardless of the what the Judge says (did I ever mention that her lawyer is Robins husbands lawyers as well??). So as it stands, I'm looking on ways to pay next months rent, while she sits in a house that I paid off with money I made while she slept until noon or so.

It is slightly puzzling that at the end of this kinda-trial, Michele's Lawyer was telling her what to pack where, etc. while he talked to the judge, almost like an employee or lap dog. I can't recall my attorney asking the same of me.
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By the time we got back into Houston it was around 2 and so we made a trip to my doc's for whatever free samples he had on hand for stuff like acid-flux. Neither Robin or I were in the best of moods until rush hour traffic time, and as a picture in an art gallery can mean one thing to one person and something entirely different to another no one should jump to any conclusions as to what the picture means, if anything at all, except; that it's a picture - ART
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As for finding a new job.....I'm taking as long a break I can before returning to the work force (unless some great job drops in my lap), but I haven't had a real (R-E-A-L) vacation since 1997 when I was first hired there, so I this is my chance for some time off, not having to worry about what is happening at work without me (it was just me) and unwind (provided I can pay my rent, electricity, and cable). I'm sure there are many of you have had similar lack of vacations, so you'll agree some time-off and mental cleansing is long due. However, unlike the one-day-to-be ex, I will seek employment.
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So now, I am I told "To wait" (easy for someone making money to say), but in the meantime, there are a lot of things and places Robin (who looked FANTASTIC yesterday) and I have wanted to go to or visit around town and what better time to spend waiting, eh?
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Until my next crappy posting -

73

Woody

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"DAY 3 AND 4...."

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I missed yesterday's post, so I thought I'd combine the two days together (who would have thought that not being employed keeps you pretty busy). Yesterday was like the previous 2, like a sine-wave. Someone did offer to get me out of the apt. and go see a movie, and while I was partially inclined to just molt in the radio room, I went anyways. I saw "Fan Boys", which was playing at only one theatre of all Houston.
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It was pretty funny even in a sine-wave kinda mood, reminding me of "Free Enterprise" to a certain degree. It was very entertaining and if you've seen Star Wars fans, and or Star Trek fans (or are one or both), you'll enjoy it even more. Several cameo's and a good storyline executed well makes this something you'll either drive to the one theatre to see, or buy the DVD.
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Between that, and a stop of at a favorite Ale establishment pretty much killed the day.
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TODAY

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Today was mostly wrestling with getting the taxes done for tomorrows divorce, and a followup doctors visit. Which leave me where we're at now, 2 Ales down and a blog post almost completed. I heard from a good (yet never met) friend Dave, and his e-mail about my current situation. Much appreciated Dave - Thanks!.
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So that's where I end this posting (gotta get in that final divorce trial mode) and I'll let ya know how that ends up tomorrow. At least we can expect no more free rides for the Ex, as I'm in the same unemployed boat she is....
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73

Woody

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"DAY TWO...."

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Well, I'm into day two of unemployment, and must say it's a lot worse than yesterday (guess I was just "numb") and so the fear factor sets in, the reality of getting a job at my age, at an equal (or close to salary). Not to mention not having a phone and having to rely on e-mails or IM to contact people.
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The place I worked at was great as far as benefits go, and I'll miss those, and perhaps a few people there too; Hey, it was great only living about 5 miles from work. As you know, I've been through a ton of medical tests to find out reasons why things weren't working and without those benefits, it would have been hard to do. The irony of it all is that they had found most of the stuff wrong with me and taking the appropriate medications and the ton of certain vitamins, I was actually feeling more like my old self in the recent months.
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You never realize how much crap you have to change when something like this occurs, and I've been working on changing addresses, etc. Unfortunately, it'll be tough paying for this place w/o a job, but all I can do is believe that things will workout. On a brighter note, for all of those "I wish I had the time to complete this" items, can be done, once I'm outta this funk.
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Resumes. This will take quite a bit of thought as the last resume I had was from around 1991 and if it still exists, it's currently in someone Else's possession. I'll work on it amongst other things, but still the first item on the list is the Divorce on Tuesday. Once this long/extended ordeal is over, I can breathe a sigh of relief and that'll clear up a big spot in the brain so I can work on other things. The worst part is, after working there since 1997, I've come to consider some of the end users as friends, and hope that their future projects will still go as planned, in my absence.
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CB or HAM radio stuff is temporarily off limits and I'll probably have to sell a few items to meet next months rent. Don't get me wrong - I'm not writing this for self-pity, but for the other 598,000 jobless folks in the US as of January (maybe that makes me the 598,001 jobless person eh?). There's no way I can afford to fix the Lumina, so I have time to clean it out and perhaps donate it, depending on the divorce finalization. It was a good radio car, but with some grounding issues I could never resolve. The only thing that worked well was my VHF/UHF rig (that was until something electrical blew it out), and I never had great HF performance, but it was halfway decent performance.
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In the meantime, I have plenty of things to change (regarding shipping addresses, phone numbers, etc.) and it sure would be nice to have a little DX to perk up 'ol Woody, but the sunspot numbers just aren't there. So someone send me an email about this D-Star I've been hearing about. I'd like to read something from an everyday ham vs. Manufacturer propaganda. As well, is there anything that excites you on the radio market? (ed. - yeah, I still haven't taken that AES catalog out of the plastic).
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It's a shame I had to get rid of the TS-850 (my favorite recent rig) and it would be nice for the manufacturers to drop prices due to the economic situation the world is going through. I was listening to NPR and they were saying the un-employed level is equal to or worse than 1974 (coincidentally the same day my services were no longer required.) If it weren't for the rebuilding of an old PC I wouldn't be typing this now, and it doesn't really require much oompf; this Pentium one is doing just fine only I have to return the monitor to the former job, which I'll do sometime next week. With the price of LCD's spiralling downward, I should be able to pick up a fairly good deal.
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So, until I find some employment, I'll probably have time to drop daily posts (day2, 3, 4, etc.). Hope ya have some DX in your area!! Mine is dead -
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73

Woody

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"THE GOOD NEWS IS......"

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I'm alive. The bad news is, the Stonerguy got canned from work today. Yup, I'm typing to you today without office, card key, or income (well, it was payday today, so I guess that's better than it not being payday). If I were to trace back in time, today's event partially comes from the bitter rantings of someone, that festered for a year or two. No matter how dark things can seem at times there is always a bright side; Mine? I can't pay alimony if I'm not working. True, the judge can say she gets 10% of Zero, but...I don't think so.
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As well, because the soon-to-be-ex and lawyer always refused to settle, I'll get a percentage of the sale of the homestead and land, as well as a good share of it's contents. I just paid my Internet bill and rent, so I have that [pardon me while I digress, but I was paying the bill in person, the guy in front of me sees my shirt which features Bruce Campbell in "The Man With the Screaming Brain" and before you know it, I'm in a 3-way conversation with that guy and the one behind me in the line, about the great actors of horror - Lon Chaney Jr., Boris Karloff, etc. and I'm thinking "This is pretty freaking weird" just being axed and having a good conversation with some guys I don't even know. Surreal - that's what it was], and a Big Smooch to Robin for having the foresight in giving me a pad of paper for passwords (or else I might not be writing this blogs post today). I'm not planning anything farther than getting divorced next week, and that's the way it outta be...I have great beer plans for the near future (well, "Ale" to be technical).
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So while I pursue those goals, until the next post

73

Woody

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".....SERVERS - MEANT TO SERVE YOU DATA AND SERVE YOU PROBLEMS"

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Man, what a crappy 1.5 weeks!!! Servers can be your best friend, or worst enemy, and currently one server in particular is my worst enemy. I'm running here and there in our building, skipping lunch, etc. But once everything settles down, I have plenty of other stuff sitting here waiting to be done (ed. - Such is the life of an IT Monkey).

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When payday hits next week the first thing I'm doing is getting my old SOW (Shack On Wheels) towed to a faraway parking spot at work. I'd been counting on getting it over 300k but I guess I'll have to settle around 240k miles. Too bad, good spots to plant rigs, and I liked it, but after getting an estimate I had to say "Adios". GM makes a good engine, but that GM Antifreeze is like a computer virus. My advice, get your system flushed out until nothing remains of that stuff and put good old Mr. Green in as your coolant or else you'll be in the spot I was.-

And while we're (I'm) on the subject of cars, why do people have to get a new car/truck every couple years? I get around 250k to 350k before looking for something else. Once that first scratch or ding happens, it's keep it 'til it dies. My favorite SOW was a Maroon Van. It had the deluxe chairs, room to mount radios on the floor, and I bought a shelf that extended across the width of the windshield. Not a lot of height up there, but the vhf/UHF stuff fit nicely. I was going to Belton twice a year and I remember one particular year where I bought an old tube receiver that was big, and took 3 of us to get it in the van. Good times....Good times.

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I received a new AES catalog earlier this month, but it's still in the wrapper along with the last couple of unread QST's. There doesn't seem to be time to do much except go home, watch a 1/2 hour of TV or spend 1/2 hour surfing the web, eat, get the next days work clothes ready, and hit the sack. Sometimes I'll stop by the local Walmart to see what DVD's they've added to the $5 bin, and it's amazing how cheap they keep going. Of course Blue-Ray is perhaps pushing the pricing down, but they're already working on B.Ray's replacement - it's almost worse (I said "almost" ) than Microsoft. DVD's are the best bargain around, and with the up conversion, they look great. Maybe when this Divorce is over I can replace some of the movies I paid $16.99 for, at a much lower price range $3-$5.

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Speaking of USB Storage sticks (which I wasn't) I found a great little bugger by Transcend. It's so small, it looks like a joke or fake memory stick but it works great. They come in 2GB (black) and 4(GB) sizes, and for me, it's great to have clipped on a loop around my neck and It has most applications I would have to run back to my office for. Being so light of weight, I don't even notice it. If you have one of those small picture screens that shows off pictures, with this tiny stick you can't see it sticking out of the frame. Of course I have a great state-of-the-art cubicle as you can see! My trusty robot guards over me should an end user's requests exceed the budget, or if they threaten me with a paper cut. He's small but on the server at the right side of the desk you can barely make out my pet rat, "Ben". Hmmm, guess I'd better cut this post short as auto-save is failing. Anyways, until next time -
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73

Woody

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"WHAT'S THAT I HEAR...........SKIP?"

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Damn!! There's some SKIP out there today!! not loud, not strong, but they're trying. I'm hearing Georgia and Florida mostly, and apparently, they are catching the West Coast and not Texas, but nonetheless, it's great to hear something other than static.
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Speaking of dropping me an e-mail, I did get one from another "Brian". Here's his report -

We are getting sporadic skip into TampaBay from the North East, and Texas. I think we must have a hardwire to Texas, as it is almost at will in the afternoon hours, into early evening

Enjoy reading your Blogs, hope everything works out for the better. I especially like your trips down memory lane, talking about your early days, and the different radios you have had/used….reminds me of me.

Fwiw…I have a fairly nice collection of stuff also…….

In the Shack:
2 Cobra 2000’s, a Magnum S9, a Magnum 257 (50 watt), a Siltronix 1011D with matching freq counter, a Kenwood TS-440SAT with the PS-50 power supply and the MC-60 mic & a Heathkit SB-220, a very nice Cherokee AH-100 with all of the optional extras, half a dozen Turner Plus 3’s, and 2 Plus 3B’s

In the mobile I have the Magnum S9 with a mint condition Turner Road King 76 (I also have 4 or 5 extra RK 76’s in very nice condition, all working, I collect these if you know of any)

On the shelf in the garage I have 10 GE 35979 40 channel walkie talkies, all kinds of assorted meters, speakers, and mics, a real nice Palomar TX-75, and a very, very nice (almost mint) Maverick 250, a KRIS Mach 3B, a Johnson 223, a Johnson 352, and a few Uniden 510’s and 520’s , also all kinds of different mobile antennas. There is also a spare NIB IMAX 2000, and a never opened but the box is ratty, Moonraker IV, for when I retire (5-7 years) and move to where I can put up a tower.

Keep it up and 73’s
Brian, Tampa FL
American Radio 205
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Hey Brian, thanks for the e-mail! Sounds like you have a nice collection, a doorway to Texas (which unfortunately I can't open), and by the sounds of it, we're in the same general age range. I sure did love that E.F.J 352, but I hated the microphone connection on the back end. Also, appreciate the good wishes - for every door that closes, another opens and as long as I'm working where I'm at, I guess I'll be a cave dweller rather than a home owner. Five minutes home and then five minutes back makes a big difference. BTW- your state is now really loud, but be that front that is slowly moving through the area. 73, Woody
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It's always nice to hear from everyone, wherever you are, and it's good to get back into the groove of the blog, although like anything there are up's and down's. And it's 3:35 Central time and the skip is still rolling - sometimes hard to hear, and others blasting my speaker. But if you ever get a doorway to Texas, 27.385 is it, and I'm just the 202 portable!
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73

Woody

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"Divorce, women, and attorney's"

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Man, I guess the-soon-2-be-ex listens to her attorney with glazed eyes. In the beginning things that they listed as $20,000 are now $2,000. Antique furniture paid hundreds for, $50-$100. I'm not sure what kind of strategy this is, but if I had to name it, it would be the "Backwards Principle". But (ed.- "fingers crossed" 'Nuff Said) Feb. 10th is THE day.

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I peeked into Ebay recently, but nothing exciting. I did pick up quite a few photography books, as I'm not expecting to get the ones I had (pre-marriage) back (along with some photo gear). I guess because digital camera's are all the rage, older photo books are selling dirt cheap (like 49 cents for a lot of books). What they fail to realize is that what applied 20 or 30 years ago, still applies today even if it is digital. Dummies. Ask a digiphite what "Depth of Field" is, or "F-Stops" and you'll see what I mean.

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Much of my days of collecting are over now......after building a nice collection over a 15 year period, it seems pointless to start over again. Robin, has managed to get me out of the packrat style of life I was leading, and she truly is marvelous, so thanks Robin, you've made me a better person,and I hope I've been able to add something to you as well! By instinct, I still come home and flip on the HF rig, but usually nothing is happening, or when the Lumina was working (may it rest in peace) I'd hear some DX, but by the time I got home - nada.
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EBay is a great example of the recession, shipping prices are still high (weird, 'cause gas is a lot less) but the final sale price is not what it used to be because I've seen some rigs go for a lot (LOT) less than 2 or 3 years before. Sometimes it's kinda funny in an amusing sort of way. I bid .49 cents for something (thar goes the memory lads), and was quite surprised to find out that I won it. So I paid my .49 cents and about $7 to ship it. If you were wealthy, and had plenty of storage (climate controlled) and waited it out, maybe prices would increase....but then, I lost my ass when the Tech Bubble burst 9 years ago. Nothing like seeing a .0000001 per share price eh? It was a good lesson and I've stayed away from playing around with stocks ever since.
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Back to EBay. This is a great place to find something you've been looking for, or just remembered the item and found it after a quick search. EBay is for buyers. Selling is another matter. There are fee's for listing, fee's to have your ad in bold, and on, and on. If you should sell the item, they take a percentage of that too.....and most of us buyers use Paypal (which just happens to be owned by EBay) and the seller is whacked for another 4%. I don't know how sellers make money, much less break-even, but if you have the hots for a new rig and want to sell yours pronto, there is no larger audience to be found. I heard on NPR yesterday that EBay posted a loss, and I'm not surprised, but I fear the amount of companies posting losses will become many, increasing every quarter until we're out of this mess.
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And that's my jot for the day (actually I started it last night around 11pm while I was at work doing a restore of a folder on a server. Hope yer weekend goes well, and yep, I'll be around!
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73

WOODY

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A REPORT FROM THE STREETS OF DIVORCE TORN SEALY!!

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Where was I in my last post.....oh yes, we'd gone to a mediator (me and my lawyer in one room, her and her lawyer in the other). The mediator is actually a lawyer as well. I won't go into the details, but at least the mediator shook our hands and said he admired us for ability to try and meet middle ground. Next stop - Divorce Court. I'm looking forward to this because I'll come out better than any of the options we had previously proposed, and it will be "The End" (FEB.10)
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After the end, I'm not sure what direction I'll go in. Right now, it's tough being a Ham operator and no sunspots. While I never did get my most recent license from the old homestead, I managed to get my license renewed complete with address change. I'm afraid the SOW I'd been driving has seen it's last day with multiple issues making it not worth it to repair, not even mentioning the weird electrical problems that I'd been battling since last summer (and bumming rides doesn't win any friends either). But the under 5 miles trek to work is great - man, I was so tired of driving 100miles a day for about 15 years that there's no traffic to get stressed over, or, excessive miles put on any given vehicle. It would happen so fast, get another vehicle and before I new it, I'd passed the 100K mark, then 200k, and in a couple vehicles 300k,maybe 400k in one instance.
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No more wild radio collecting (there's only so much you can fit in an apartment), so moderation is the mode I'll function in. I only need 2 or 3 on display somewhere to remind me of the good 'ol days of radio, and an HF rig, which really, has done nothing but pick up static. That leaves Vhf/Uhf, and I can get by with that for now. Are any of you getting any DX where you live? If so, drop me an e-mail so that I know someone is talking somewhere. The rest of the stuff I get I'll put in storage somewhere. There are many rigs that have to be repaired and I was, and still am, looking forward to doing it - when time allows. I would have started something sooner, but my requests for my Variac and Tube Tester fell on deaf ears.
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I did pick up some cheap 35mm film camera's from days gone by to display on a wall shelf. It starts with the 1st SLR I owned to the last. But people are dumping these at almost giveaway prices, I guess because digital cameras have become the defacto standard now. Oh, another question for you: What is the smallest vhf/uhf mobile on the market? Going further, even the used market. I seem to recall a very small Yaesu or Icom that came out about 10 years ago. If you know of any, drop me an e-mail and I'll check it out (it can even be UHF only as well).
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I still check Ebay out every once and awhile and sometimes plunk down the lowest bid possible. To my surprise, I've won several things, and I guess this is an indication of our countries economic problems - people need jobs, people need money, and it's an amazing correlation.
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Health? I'm still working on it. Besides a TON of different vitamins, along with injections and medication, I'm making an improvement. I guess if you've been missing something vital for 7-10 years, you can't expect a quick recovery. I have other things that help in retraining parts of my brain, and if it'll do it, I'm all for it - when you get into neural pathways problems, it's best not to set a timeframe, and just go with the flow.
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And now.....what can you expect from the blog this year????

• More frequent postings



• Different subjects



• Less gaps in the blog where nothing is written for months at a time



• New pictures



• More Video's



• I'll answer reader mail (provided I get any)



• And that's just the start!

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So there ya go.....but wait! We had an invasion of ducks since the fall. They float around the pond, and depend on us to feed them. They have a great internal clock for lunchtime and it's funny how 2 ducks waddle towards the water and swim across to be fed by the company on that side, while two stay here. There are some other kind of ducks (dark brown), maybe twenty of 'em or so that don't even come near a human. They seemed to have split into two groups. One stays on this side,while the other has moved to the other side of the pond. The funny part is that they just stand at the edge, wing-to-wing like a military lineup and stare at each other. No quacks, no sounds, just the staring. The picture I've added is of one of the human friendly ducks.

So ends my first posting of the year (I think). Expect more, and enjoy life!!

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Woody

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"AND THE BATTLE RAGES ON....."

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Yes fervent fans, the Divorce will continue into the next year!! (glad we didn't have kids - I'd be saying next century). On the bright side, going to court will sell and split everything, so in reality, I'll get more than I thought I would and she'll have to find a place to live. I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed living closer to work, and filling my gas tank once a month or so. But with enjoyment comes compromise - I'm in an apartment, not a house, so no outdoor antenna's, thus I'm an HF listener and a VHF-UHF talker!
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Unfortunately, I had to sell off all my HT's, but if (BIG "IF") we get a bonus this year, I'll pick up another. I do like my Kenwood TS-480s so I can listen to 11m and 80m, but without many (or any) sunspots, all I get is static, so I spend less time on the radio. Fortunately, as a man, I have more hobbies than I can either deal with or afford, and some of these work fine in an apartment! Which reminds me, "Why is it, that men have a/or more hobbies than women?" I don't know how many women I've asked "So what hobbies do you have?" and get a "Why would I want a hobby" look back at me.
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I still look occasionally on e-bay for some pristine transceiver or receiver (but it has to be "as new", but being a collector, and having to shrink down what I collect, I'll p/u and occasional cw key, I'm going to try to get one of every camera I've owned (35mm), and a few walkie-talkies. None of these take up much room so onward I go.
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If you are a regular reader of my blog, well, you'll never know what to expect, but there will be radio entries as well - Oh, I almost forgot! I collect "Doc Savage" paperbacks, and back to the TS-480s, while it's a nice rig, I may move that out for something that will p/u HF-UHF (maybe another FT-817nb?). I really liked that rig, but had to sell it to make ends meet this year. As well, I have my yearly car maintenance to take care of, and other things not so fun (lawyer fee's, repayment of money borrowed, etc.).
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As for the Doctor report - not all of the tests have come back yet. The last, and final test was a week before Thanksgiving and they said usually it takes ten days to get the results back, but because of turkey-day, maybe 15............and here we are knocking on Christmas Eve.
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So, if this is my only December post, I wish you all a Merry Christmas!! And if I sneak another one in after Christmas, your mission is to email me with any cool ham gear you may have received (and of course, your opinion of it/them).
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'Nuff Said

Woody

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"Back To Cameras Again"

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An electronic problem ended my love affair with my Minolta XK, but I still had the others. The year was 1989, and once again I found myself drooling at all the goodies locked up in the brightly lit glass cases.

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It was like radio heaven, only for cameras. They had [have] new, used,rentals, accessories, and a very knowledgeable staff. My problem was that I was always looking for exotic lenses [used, of course] - especially wide angle lenses.

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One day I happened to ask about some Minolta lens and of course the sales guy said "Nope, nothing used, but I can order a new one for you". The blood draining from my face, must have been the clue, 'cause as he stared at my bloodless, pasty white face, he said:"I know you've been in here year after year, only to walk out empty handed, so it's time you changed brands"

(SOMEHOW i KNEW THIS WOULD BE EXPENSIVE)

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He went on to tell me about Nikon's, and how I could walk into practically any camera store in the world, and find a used lens, in the Focal Length I wanted. Not only that, there were bunch-O-bodies of various price ranges that these lenses would fit on. That was the day I became a 35mm Nikon man! I bought a beat up looking but perfectly functional F3, with a 43-86 zoom....."A good start", I thought.

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It wasn't long after that the "fever" hit me. I love wide-angle for the outdoors, so my next purchase was a Nikkor 20mm 3.5 lens, and I probably shot 75% of my photo's with it. Next came "Normal" lens (much cheaper), and that kept me happy for awhile and I developed an itch for a 105mm f2.5 semi-telephoto, but razor sharp when it came to pictures!!

THE 105mm 2.5 Lens

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I suppose next to my F3, the FE's were my next-in-line-favorites. I also owned an FM, and FM2, but the guy was right - I could walk into any camera store in whatever state I happened to be in, and fine what I wanted, "used".
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Woody
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"AS I WAS SAYING....."

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Whew! tack on one more cat scan, and the unexpected loss of my left hand (death to two-handed typer's around the globe). It wasn't a stroke, and the last set of tests came back ok, so the neurologist just said "Lets wait six weeks and see if it's any better then". So I've been working on the index finger, and got it to uncurl, so I'm two finger typing now.

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I haven't been putting off a new post because of the [weeeeeeell maybe a little], just busy, both at work and play. Work seems pissed off because they want some kinda date when I'll be 100%, and with light duty, I have to ask for help on 1 outta 3 calls -as least I'm not doing that 100mi. round trip drive from the old QTH and where I reside now.

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PLAY?? I saw Cheech and Chong, live, here in Houston on Halloween night. A few weeks ago, I met THE man, when it comes to sci-fi, humor, and monsters! Any guesses? Geez, if chins could kill, my guess is there are quite a few dead guessers out there. Yes, here's a shot of yours truly with Bruce Campbell - and yes, I saw his newest movie making the rounds: "My Name is Bruce", and it goes without saying it was great. if you don't recognize the shirt I'm wearing, it's from a movie he wrote and directed - "The Man with the Screaming Brain"

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Sold most of what I bought with my bonus money [rigs], and it was easy to see that people are putting food b4 radios this fall, which explains about our economy to me more than anything else - especially at the give-a-way prices I saw, and had to experience when selling.

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Yep BC likes to do Q &A's with his fans

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Divorce coming to a conclusion......makes me wonder what i'll end up with. Still waiting on items, books, camera lenses and bodies I owned pre-marriage, and once again - that's all I have to say about it.........

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So, not so bad for limited typing, eh?

Regards, Woody

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NOTHING ABOUT MUCH

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I've had quite a few e-mails about the divorce, my website, and my picture change.

1. DIVORCE - Still ongoing, still don't have my radio stuff, and I've paid out around 26k so far for "Spousal Support". Other than that, I have nothing else I want to say about it.
   
2. WEBSITE - It's down probably until the first of next year. It's still there, nothing has changed.
   
3. PICTURE CHANGE - I've had a lot of MRI's, CATscans, etc. and I made copies of some because they look cool and it is ME.
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ON TO OTTER THINGS

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You may be disapointed, but it's not radio related. While back I noticed that there seemed to be a weird coincidence between HAM radio and Photography. I noticed this back when I was working at Compaq (when Compaq was still Compaq and it felt more like a campus than a sweatshop.)

That got me down memory lane. My dad loaned me his rangefinder when I was 13 (just to make sure it wasn't just another way to spend his money), and after awhile, and with the help of his financial resources, and money I had made picking tobbacco, I got my first genuine SLR Camera, the Hanimex Practika. It was loud, built like a tank, used screw in lenses and was not very expensive, but I liked it. I took photos of just about everything - and my dad built a darkroom in the basement, so I didn't have to worry about developement costs.

A friend of mine at the time took me over to his house, where his dad had a darkroom too, and his camera preference was the Honeywell Pentax. My friend was not into photography like his dad though. I think I kept the Practika for about a year, and after 12 issues of Popular Photography, my sights were set for a Minolta camera. My choices were the SRT-100, 101, or 102. The 102 had split screen focusing which I like, but I could only afford the 101 after trading in my Hanimex and some cash. The Minolta line lasted almost two decades, and I never had any complaints. That first 101 was chrome and black, so I added an all black one to my collection, then skipped the 102 for Minolta's challange to Nikon - The Minolta XK. I was hooked on that XK! For the first time I could change screens and there was so much electronic features my head spun around.

I used the XK on two road trips to Southern California, and the pictures were perfect, with many being blown up to 16x20 and framed for gifts or to hang on my own walls. But the more I got into it, I found that many accessories and special lenses were hard to find used (much less new) and the new price was just too much. I think I hung around Camera Exchange quite a bit back then (we're now in the 80's). The XK had crapped out with and electronic problem that cost more than I wanted to pay, so I was back with my two 101's.

(To Be Continued)

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JUST TO SET IT STRAIGHT

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You'll see some of my items going out forsale from my separated XYL. To some extent it's wierd seeing 16 years of stuff I've bought being sold. But that's the way it goes....
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• The difference is that I would buy a dead rig that looked MINT and then hope to run across a dog so I could switch the insides out. Many were missing either power cords or microphones, or both, and she references an old name "CBGAZETTE" which in my thoughts, makes the buyer willing to trust everything is for sale (heck, I didn't even have time to test most of them for that matter.) With books and similar items, you don't have to worry if it works or not. But on others, you should ask questions like:
• Does it have a microphone?
• Does it have a power cord?
• Have you tested all the channels? if a sideband radio, is LSB and USB both working?
• If it's a microphone: what is it wired for and does it work
• So you get the idea. I just don't want you getting stuck, or her with a ton of refunds. If you scroll back to '98 or so you'll see when I was selling of that account, but she wanted to sell some other stuff and I started my own, which is not related to Collectmenots.

Regards,

Woody

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"AND I THOUGHT I WAS THROUGH WITH THE LAST POST....."

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I received some input on the last post where the writer thought the difference from 70's rigs and todays were black and white. Yes, today's radios have all sorts of features you could almost imagine, he mentioned DSP as one of them (ed. - of which I'm not a great fan of), but true the newer rigs have more features in them, however, if you're young, on a budget, etc. You can still make plenty of contacts using older equipment, or even something you made yourself.
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While I included price charts I did not include any pictures, so let the slide projector roll....

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ICOM-751

Depending on what filters it has in it, or if it has the optional internal PS,

and the market at the time it's posted, you can pick up one w/o options in the

$300 price range. The "A" model had some improvements in it which usually

makes it more expensive than the non-"A" rig.

- The Kenwoods TS-430S, still a great talker after all of these years.

The Kenwoods TS-820s, Hy-brid rig runs more than the TS-520but both are still great talking Amateur radios.

This is one not mentioned in the earlier post, it's a Yaesu FTDX-560, all tube,probably weighs in at around 70lbs or so. But this is an example of an older rigthat would work fine, but it's more of a collectors item now, so pretty pricey.
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Also an older, yet solid-state model, the Yaesu FT-7

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One of the famous Yaesu FT-101's (This one is an "EE"), and they still command what i consider to be a great value with little to no depreciation. In the 80's you could find them in the $200-$400 range, same in the 90's, as well as 2008. If you make a good purchase on a nice 101 today the chances of losing a bunch of money when it comes to sell it, is very low, and depending on the market, you might even make a few bucks!

The 101 series did have one model with a built-in digital display, that being the FT-101ZD
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Once again, an example of an older rig that sells for what you could buy a new rig with, the Yaesu FT-102

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This is the Yaesu FT-757GX. Yaesu sold a ton of 101's, and I'd have to attribute that to it's ability to be put on the 11m band relatively easily. The 757 was a huge hit, and Yaesu continued the trend making 11m possible by merely moving a switch. Both this and Kenwoods TS-430 were similar sized and featured.

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Of course, my viewpoints in the last two posts are mine an mine along, and others certainly do, for instance I received my new QST and there was an article touching on the same subject "Your First Rig", only he was seemed to be leaning towards new rigs. And, hey, if you're an adult and have the $$$ more power to you my friend. I'm just thinking about a Jr. High or High School kid who wants to be a HAM, but doesn't want to blow his extra XBox funds on a new rig. I'm also thinking of the high schools who still have "Basic Electricity" and "Electronics" classes, and those who want to build something with their own hands, customize, and talk around the world.

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I'll leave you with these words of wisdom: "Buy what you can afford in a working rig (used or otherwise) but save the planning, and a good chunk of $$$ for the antenna, because without a good antenna system, it doesn't matter what you're talking on".

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Have a GREAT weekend!

'Nuff Said,

Woody

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WELCOME NEW HAM OPS !!!!!

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You've been living in a world of FM either by HT or a mobile rig in the car. In your case, you wanted a dual bander so you bought an HT, perhaps the Yaesu FT-60 or the like (under $200). But you went over to another HAM's "Shack" and was amazed with his HF rig......suddenly, you're world was turned over! Studying and studying, you took the GENERAL class license test - and passed! It was only after everyone had patted you on your back with the "Good going", that you realized you didn't have enough money to buy an HF rig (and you certainly didn't want to sell your HT)
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First and foremost, you can buy an older, used rig for a decent price that will get you on-the-air in the wonderful world of HF. Sure, if you have the $$$, you can buy a new rig, but most HF rigs that are 30-35 years old will do the trick at a lower price.

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Unlike computers, Amateur radios are not considered obsolete every year or so. Computers get faster, and as the get faster, the Software gets fatter, so in would be very painful (if not impossible) to run XP on a PC made ten years ago - and even if you could, it would be so slow you would not be able to use it for what it was intended for.

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Radios on the other hand have had the same objective year after year - to contact another person a mile away or thousands of miles away, through the airwaves. So I can take a radio over 50 years old and either talk or use Morse Code to someone just as well as one of the latest rigs off the shelf.
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Take a look at the chart above. This is for the Kenwood TS-520, which is mostly solid-state with tube finals (70's era). The price is consistently in the $200 range and would make a nice starter rig. It is Ham band only (no general coverage receiver), but has great audio and is resistant to a higher SWR, one that would shutdown a solid-state rig.

In the same category you'll find the Yaesu FT-101 which is solid-state except for the finals as well (like the 520 above, a 70's model). Many times you'll see one selling near or over $300 as the chart indicates, but I've seen them go for under $200 at times, you just have to keep a constant watch on Ebay and snap one up. I've never used the Kenwood, but have used (and still do) the FT-101 which had many different versions (101,101b,101e,101ee,101ex,101f, etc.).

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Now the 101 never had a built-in digital readout, but they did offer the YC-601 external readout with big red digits. This was one of my first ham rigs, so I guess I always come back it from now and then......I guess throughout the years I've bought and sold at least a couple dozen.

The chart above is for the ICOM IC-730, which is all solid-state and sells in the mid-$200 range. BTW, before I go any further, you can always check on the reliability of this rigs by going to EHAM-REVIEWS which is filled with the opinions of your fellow Amateur Radio Operators. Unlike the Hybrid rigs like the 520 and 101, most solid-state rigs run on 12vdc and require an external power supply, so if you don't happen to have a 12v 20-25amp power supply laying around, you'll have to add that cost to your setup. You can find the ICOM matching power supply, or buy one from another vendor. Usually if you buy one, for instance a Kenwood PS-30 it's plug will fit and work on the Yaesu as well. I believe the same is true for ICOM, but never having done it before, I'm not going to say it will.


Getting a bit pricier, the ICOM IC-735, but the receiver is sharper and it is newer than the IC-730.(Usually,NEWer = More $$$)

The ICOM IC-740 and 745 still run in the 300-400 range

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TS-430

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FT-757GX

I'm skipping through the years, and there are many other models you could pick, but I had to mention Kenwood's TS-430 and the Yaesu FT-757GX which were breakaway hits because they were a lot smaller compared to a 520 or 101, yet not only did they have the HAM bands, they also had "General Coverage" receivers, for shortwave buffs, and other groups, including some on the 11m band, because by moving a switch or clipping a diode gave you General Coverage TRANSMIT as well. A no-no to do, none-the-less it was done to many rigs.
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If you made a graph starting from the 50's to 2000, you'd find it looking like a "U", because the oldest rigs are now "Collectors" items (thus pricey) and the newer rigs are somewhat expensive as well. A good example of an older rig being pricey is Heathkit (pick a model, any model) and it can get out of your price range and quite a few others. My first HAM Rig was a Heathkit HW-5400 with matching PS/Spkr and regret selling it because whenever they come up for auction on EBAY, the price expensive!
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With a little electronic knowledge behind you, it's possible to build your own rig. It may not be pretty, or have all the bands, but you'll learn things via mistakes, come to appreciate what you've done, and after you make your first QSO on it - pat yourself on the back!!
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So there you have it......something to think about
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