After returning from the Big Biscuit this morning, I rolled up my sleeves. More on that in a minute…
I sat next to Harry at the far end of the table. Among other things, we talked about how he has hooked up his antennas, in particular for FT8 operation. Lynn, Brad, and John FUZ chimed in with their thoughts as well. It turns out, among them all, there are 4 Signalinks not being used. I opened the bid to buy one of them for $5, and raised it to $10, but had no takers. It reminded me of trying to buy Mexican blankets in Tijuana. I didn’t make out very well there either… Mary and Roger weren’t involved in that discussion. They were talking about why Mary hasn’t packed yet for her trip.
Meanwhile, Mary showed off her first non-QSL card, for her first non-contact QSO on 10M CW! Good job, Mary! Turns out, the card was intended for K4DAY – not K9DAY – one Ernest E. Day. She’ll be forwarding that card to the rightful recipient.
Also, Lynn was gracious to lend me his pounder, as promised, to finish driving in my ground rod(s).
So, I had all these thoughts racing through my head when I got back to the shack and decided to see what kind of damage I could do. I measured the diameter of a SO-239 bulkhead connector (5/8 inch) and got out my best 5/8 inch spade bit. It wasn’t quite long enough to make it through the outside wall, so I had to use an extended 3/8 bit as a lead, then finished from the outside. And when I say 5/8, I don’t mean 9/16… I had to actually thread the 8″ long bulkhead connector through the outside cedar siding. But it’s in. And it is pretty much tight all around.
Oh… and the ground rod. I was getting ready to drive that in near the foundation. And I looked down to see there was one already there! And nothing attached to it! How great is that?!
BTW, I stopped in to see the good folks at Associated Radio after breakfast. Ron helped me select the stuff I needed. They pretty much had everything. It’s nice to have a ham radio dealer right down the street.
I have to say, I’m impressed with how well that bulkhead connector finishes off on the inside. It almost looks like Google Fibre just left the house.
I’m now in the process of figuring out what kind of interface I need to get the Elecraft KX-3 online for FT-8, not to mention all the associated software I’ll need, various cables, etc.
I also received yet another slingshot from Amazon yesterday. I already had one, but the elastic breaks down over the years, and rather than fuss with another band, the price of a new device is trivial. I think I’ll wait till the wee hours of the morning before I start shooting into the trees. I have neighbors with inquiring minds… So, sometime this weekend end, I should be up and running at least in traditional modes – CW, SSB – QRP to start. There is a tuner built into the KX3. How hard could this be?!
See you next week. Same bat channel. Same bat time. It’s time to start getting something down in the log!
