Long time no blog!

Sorry for not doing any entries lately, but I'm back in school now and I am very busy with that. I thought I might take a few moments out of my day; to update you a little bit. Since my last entry there has been a bit of a remodel of my room; pictures to be coming soon. My ham shack has been updated and moved around, those pictures also coming soon. All four of my radios have been working great for a few weeks now. So far the two antennas that I have up in the air are going great as well. No great out of country contacts yet. But I'm trying; mostly on late afternoons nights and weekends.

oh yeah one of the thing. For the past week and two days I have been fighting a very gnarly head and chest cold, so it is ill-advised to drop by ha ha!!!

Thanks to all the guys who helped out throughout the summer and up to just recently. I am not only relieved that most of my recent radio troubles have gone away, now that back on the HF bands I am having a blast. Again thank you everybody

Dolphins at play!

Check this out; this link was e-mailed to me earlier today it is very cool.

click here to see dolphin bubbles

Long time no transmit # 3.

An Icom IC-821H Transceiver for VHF/UHF all mode operations.

Well wonderful news as of 10:30 a.m. this morning and up to just a few minutes ago. I now have my wonderful; fully operational VHF/UHF base radio back in the shack and no antenna problems with these bands.

Even though it's only been a few hours I am already on cloud nine and Monday night at 8:30 p.m. I will most definitely be on cloud nine once again. Because every Monday night at 8:30 p.m. there is a SSB net; for years now. And I can't wait to get back on with a bunch of guys to talk radio stuff.

Long time no transmit # 2 Update

To my stunning surprise the blog entry previous to this one; is incorrect. Because moments ago my radio was delivered right to my driveway via FedEx. I am so very happy! unfortunately today I don't have time to play with it. I did however at least open the box, and she still looks brand-new. by the way this particular radio was discontinued 15 years ago, so it's entirely possible that the radio could be 20 plus years old. I'll keep you informed on how it goes.

Long time no transmit # 2.

An Icom IC-821H Transceiver for VHF/UHF all mode operations.

By the looks of the news just received; moments ago. the necessary repairs and shipment was carried out yesterday afternoon. So with any luck at all I'll have the radio back by tomorrow afternoon or maybe by Monday. And if you haven't noticed I have been waiting; a long over due three years to play with this radio again.

My Quickie Q7 is a go!

As I have mentioned in a previous post it's time for a new wheelchair And two weeks ago I went in to pick out a chair; as well as see what requirements of mine could be granted. To my surprise today around 3:30 p.m. I got the phone call that that initial paperwork was approved swiftly not only by my doctor but my insurance company as well and all of my wishes were met.

In my opinion that is record time for paperwork chasing by any doctor or insurance company these days. With any luck I may have my chair by late September; in time for school. The lady on the phone did say she has seen the ordering process go as quick as two weeks. But my timeline could be as much as a month or more from now. Oh by the way I did change the color, I no longer want root beer brown. I am going for midnight purple.

Long time no transmit.

An Icom IC-821H Transceiver for VHF/UHF all mode operations.

Some of you really want to know the status of this radio, so this is the story. I believe that it was about four and a half years ago; when I needed this radio repaired.

A week or so ago I sent it off to the manufacturer; for them to fix. Today I got a phone call for an estimate to do the repair. Long story short what is needed is two hours worth of labor for about four dollars worth of parts; in order to have my radio back. It was said that I should have it back by the end of the week or maybe early next week.

My new look.

I was playing around with some of the new layouts and templates that blogger now has available and right now this is close to my own website I can get it. I don't like it when my pages don't all match. So in the coming weeks my blogger page my guestbook page in my own website with all its pages I hope to match as close as possible; to the point where you see very little difference. That's if you really care about how all these pages with a look. I know I do, so I thought it would only be proper to announce major changes throughout to you.

Sick Humming Bird.

For little more than a week now this loner radio; (not my radio) a Yaesu FT8500 with the Yaesu DTMF Microphone MH-39 has been producing a 60 cycle like hum noise when I transmit. I have been aware of this; since the start. For the few of you that insist on being radio doctors, and this list is short. I do ask of you to please stop trying to fix it. I know what the problem is. It is for sure the microphone shown below.

The problem is that it appears the microphone cable is not shielded enough to prevent any noise generated around my house or neighborhood; from getting into the microphone. Typically known as a grounding issue. I know this because it a few months ago I had singular problem with a Yaesu FT8900 microphone. To resolve that issue I traded microphones with somebody else; then the problem on this end was gone instantly. In fact my microphone turned out to work fine at his place.

Sense what I believe to be 1996 I have been running all of my radio equipment on the following power source. Astron power supplies. As of now this is the one I am using. An Astron RS-35M power supply, and in the last three years; from time to time transformer or some other component gets noisy. Pictured below.

To be fair; These so-called radio doctors who have been making comments are not typically found on my hang out frequency. I have had a lot more of you; on my hang out frequency tell me that the interference in question was not making me inaudible; all the time.

As soon as I am told by one or more persons that this noise is very very bad and cannot be heard without severe difficulty; I will stop turn off the radio. I am getting some up and coming help; in which hopefully the problem shell be resolved. I also hope to address some equipment grounding issues throughout the shack as well.

I will soon get my own radios back from their places of repaired, and therefore will announce to the ham world; when the radio gods have decided to bless me. Meanwhile pray for me to have good radio vibes. Oh yeah I googled these images; they are not mine.



This is the microphone in question.



This is the radio that the microphone is connected to. Note I do not have, nor do I want to use the microphone pictured with this radio. (FS-10)



Astron RS-35M power supply.

School Update # who knows what!

Okay people here goes the school story for you; one more time. Yesterday I went out to the school to make sure that a few more Is were doted and Ts were crossed. That means all is swell and ready to go for this coming September quarter. I am a little antsy but still thrilled as well as willing to go for one more time around the campus for a few more months.

Nothing much more to add as far as school details as of now; other than the fact I truly hope my new chair is approved and arrives before the last week of September when school starts. It's really going to be cool buzz around the campus in my Quickie Ferrari.

Surprising Phone call!

An Icom IC-821H Transceiver for VHF/UHF all mode operations.

Before I get a phone call today, I'll give you some history. I believe it was sometime in late 2006 I bought the radio that you see, so I can have VHF/UHF all mode operations. But about six months into owning it, I started having problems with it not transmitting properly. This led to someone offering to work on for me. Some progress was made; over some period of time but as of a few weeks ago it still was not behaving properly. That being learned I made a decision by July 14th. to send it home to ICOM.

Which leads me to the phone call today; that turned out to be very good news. I was told that my radio had been received and definitely is repairable, but I asked if we could postpone it for a short period time, so I could gather all of the funds in question before proceeding and they agreed. I hope to have more good news soon.

More than just a light weight wheelchair.

This is very cool , my hats off to whoever came up with the idea to add that technology to a chair. Light weight wheelchair technology sure has come a long way since the 70s, by the looks of this video.

TV swapping.

For a few months now the family and I have been changing around who gets what TV around. I think what started all this is, one of the older TV's picture progressively got worse. So after buying a newer to us; LCD flatscreen TV for my moms room I do believe that was the reason for all the changing around. It was probably a week or two and my mom couldn't stand watching the new TV; she just didn't like it. I think she said it was too big and bright for our room. This is a Sony 27 inch LCD. She made a decision to give it to dad and she would use his; TV he had in the living room. And at some point my older sister got involved which led to my dads bedroom TV changing and the kitchen getting a newer TV, a 13 inch from my sister.

Hold on the saga continues ha ha. My sister came back eventually sometime later and we did some more TV changing around. By the way this saga has not directly affected me yet but I'll get to that because that is why I am doing this blog entry. With my sisters last involvement in this TV venture momma lost her little 13 inch kitchen TV. And I think it was two weeks ago a decision was made that involves my niece and another TV. That's where I come in to this little saga. For five years now I have had the Toshiba 20'' MV20P2 TV; a 20 inch. Pictured below. This is been a fabulous TV and believe it or not it only cost my mother $100 back then. I think there is no way these days you can buy a TV for that; that will last years.





This past Monday night my niece and her husband are over there unused RCA 27 inch, pictured below. The picture on this TV is phenomenal; not to mention for years now I've never had a TV that had two working speakers. I rather like that feature. Having poor vision I've never been able to read the cable box display on any of the TVs I've used in 12 years, and live in or not on this RCA I can read them sitting in my bed a few feet away. For five years I've had a Toshiba and now I am still not used to having seven more inches of screen to see. Now I have to lean back further in my chair to watch TV ha ha. I guess I'm going to have to get used to watching TV in bed.

Quickie Ford VS Quickie Ferrari

A few months after I arrived in the Portland metro area, I had to have a wheelchair to get around. I definitely needed it when I started college in the fall of 2002 because of the large campus and for a large amount books I need to carry around. So I ended up getting the Quickie II Breezy. The first picture seen below. I jokingly; for years now called this my Quickie Ford for two reasons. First because it weighs about 40 pounds without me and my gear on it or in it.

Throughout junior high and high school I played wheelchair sports and had many opportunities to use quickie chairs. Even today I can't see myself using any other brand.

As we all know it sucks getting old not to mention having to push a 40 pound chair around for eight to ten hours a day; isn't the least little bit pleasant. For six years now I injured my back a number of times, to the point that the first chair tins to aggravate me more now than it did even seven or eight years ago.

So I think it was about two months ago I had a conversation with my primary doctor about an upgrade of my wheels. The steps after that and a couple of phone calls as well as a little bit of waiting. Yesterday this process began. The fitting need for a chair, so after a couple of hours of talking and measuring along with a test drive, I will soon have what I will be calling my quickie Ferrari. This is the latest technology Quickie has out today. See the second picture below.



Quickie II Breezy
Click on the picture to see larger view

After 12 years of use I am sick of pushing around 35 to 40 pounds of weight, and mag wheels that are heavy. Now it's time for some better back support. oh yeah I did forget to tell you over the years the first chair above that I've done a whole lot of modifications just to make it work a little better for me.



Quickie Q7
Click on the picture to see larger view

For the most part this is my new chair; that I should get in about two months. I was even allowed to pick at a new seat cushion as well as the paint color that's known as Root Beer Brown. I chose this color because dark colors I believe it won't show scratches or any other damage as much, nor much dirt. Black is just a little too plain. The flashy colors like yellow, green, orange, and even pink just aren't me. There will be a few minor differences on mind than there is on this one. One better back support. Two different back wheels and front forks and casters. In addition to frame adjustments and measurements.

After just a few minutes of a test drive I was thrilled and even asked if I could take it home; to break in for a week. ha ha!!! This thing amazingly moves around so smoothly and turned on a dime, meaning I can do 360s in very tight spaces. My arms and shoulders had no idea they were moving a chair.

I consider myself somewhat of a patient guy but after 12 years I just can't wait; I'll just have to I guess. I'll keep you up to speed as to when my quickie Ferrari arrives.

Radio Trouble VS Antenna Trouble.

Well darn it the saga continues and it gets worse. What I thought might just be a radio problem wound up being that and more. Not only did I harm my radio; the one I just bought three weeks ago. I have discovered the following; with more help from two more people earlier today. This afternoon the two guys checked out my antennas and their connections.

All is well on the VHF/UHF font, meaning all connections are good at both ends. As far as my 706 goes; it's in capable hands on its way to be fixed. There is bad news to report though, on the HF side of things. after taking my Solarcon Antron 99 antenna down; that's made entirely of fiberglass. It had water at the base of the antenna; which then made its way down the coax. Once the intent was down the guys pointed out the fact that not only was the coax full of water but that they could see water running down the entire length of the antenna. So no HF for now.

I don't how old the antenna actually was; probably first used in the mid 80s. But at least I got five years out of it. I'm not too terribly worried about my antennas at this point, considering that I have bigger troubles to concern myself with right now. Meaning I have two radios to repair. I guess when it rains it pours; I have never had the best radio luck in the world and why not include antennas these days.

Radio Trouble # 3.

Earlier today yet another ham; spent a few hours with me to help double check a few things regarding my VHF/UHF radio and antenna. This now makes the third guy; who has come by to help out. There is good news and bad news in this adventure. The first thing we tried was to check the antenna. We pulled my antenna off then connecting his mag mount antenna to my radio; with the same bad results.

After some more checking of my antenna; which turned out to be okay. We disconnected my radio and then connected his radio to my antenna, and proof all of my VHF/UHF problems went away. I will be using a Yaesu FT 8500; VHF/UHF mobile while my ICOM IC- 706mkIIg will soon be repaired.

At this point the only work that has been done was within the shack and all those who have helped as well as those who have heard of the situation are in agreement with me that things on the outside need to be checked as well. in the coming days I will make plans to do so and I hope things aren't severe but I'm not holding my breath ha ha!

Radio Trouble # 2.

Well at this point what I can say is that one problem was resolved yet another was discovered. while fixing my VHF/UHF coaxial cable; that may have affected my ICOM IC- 706mkIIg. We found out that my HF coaxial cable needed work as well. Yet again the tools we had were not working properly and that meant job number two was incomplete. This coaxial problem that was connected to the radio that I just bought; a few weeks ago did indeed affect to the radio. The radio no longer transmits properly, and I have plans in the next few days to have a look at.

Radio Trouble.

Today I realize what my trouble was; with the new radio I just bought recently. With some help from a couple of ham friends the problem was discovered to be a bad soldering job on a coax cable connector. After a while is determined that I did not have the right tools to do the job properly hand that in the future I must do my own soldering.

The saga continues tomorrow. One of the guys that came over today will be here tomorrow; for his second attempt in fixing the bad connection. Is unclear at this time whether are not I damaged the radio; I'll just have to wait and see.

Out of the amateur radio stone age!

For a few months now I have been wanting badly to get back on the HF bands but with my old dinosaur gear and manual tuner; as well as having to sit on the end of my bed, to talk all over the world has been difficult to say the least. So out with the old and in came the new; after a month and a half or so searching and comparing of the icom brand of radios.; I found what I wanted. In addition I really wanted to go to an automatic antenna tuner so after a few different brands and several models of tuners and radios, these two new pieces of gear were an easy decision to settle upon.

The radio hams might say is icom's flagship mobile radio. This is probably because the original version of the radio was released in the mid-to-late 80s, I think. I now have a one person owned four year old radio and this is a good thing because I plan on getting a few more years out of it. The radio is an ICOM ic-706MKIIG pictured below/w the HM-154 t DTMF microphone. In my opinion it is a shame to have this high caliber of radio; that covers every frequency known to man and it comes standard with a severely limited microphone. honestly that's as nice as I can put it ha ha!

For decades now I have been tuning antennas the old-fashioned way slowly and by hand. for me this can taking up to a half an hour to do so. Today was the day I no longer have to do this! You also see below LDG Z-11 proII. I have only had this a few hours and I am already madly in love with it because when you have this radio and an automatic antenna tuner connected together properly; your antenna can be tuned in less than two minutes just by pushing a button.

So far this radio and tuner have been an excellent combo. The excellent reviews from others on the website eham.com of both the radio and the tuner as well as comments from others locally, the decision to have both of these together was incredibly easy and a must-have.

School as of today.

For a variety of reasons I have decided to take some time off. Here are a couple reasons for that decision.

One my health has become a problem for me more so now than in the past. I have been in physical therapy and have gone to several doctor appointments in recent weeks. It is very clear to me at this point the school is not in the cards at this time.

Two For several months now school is not been going well; therefore I have not been all that jazz about going back. Part of this is due to physical and mental burnout. Also I can honestly tell you that money is a problem.

no worries though I will go back soon, we'll see what summer term produces as far as options for me. but for the most part this fall will be a full quarter. That's not a big deal, it will only be three classes and I can handle that.

To conclude with the way economy is today I don't know what everybody's hurry is for me to gradually, it will take about a year for me job.

This blog has moved

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