Some Time Off This past week was Thanksgiving in the U.S. and I decided to take off Monday – Wednesday to pair up with the holidays that were already on the calendar for Thursday and Friday. It made for a good, long stretch out of the office. It also provided the opportunity to get out…
My birthday turned out to be a fantastic day in terms of November weather for NE Ohio. It was sunny and the sky was perfectly clear. The temperatures were in the mid to upper 40s and there was the slightest breeze. Given that it was my birthday and a Saturday to boot, it was a…
Fun Rottweiler Facts! There are some things that people don’t understand about Rottweilers. Some of those things lead to a prejudice that can be debunked in under 2 minutes with a dog. First off, do you know why Rottweilers and Dobermans were the “Bad Dogs” in all the movies? Docked tails. Yeah. It’s hard to…
About one weekend every month, my house empties out for the weekend. My wife, who is an Assistant Scoutmaster, and our two kids go off on a camping adventure. I stay home to take care of the dogs. That is my story and I will stick to it ThankYouVeryMuch! In any case, I usually take…
16th place in the Single Operator – Single Radio – Low Power – In A Park category with 1,053 points. That’s how it shook out. That category is always very competitive. Or maybe I should say that it’s got a lot of entries. It’s the most fun way to run the contest and single operator,…
The forecast for the week was just too good. It was warm and the sun was out. Friday was set to be in the 70s with mostly blue skies and light breezes and that’s exactly what it was. I took the day off and decided that, after getting a haircut, I’d head out to the…
Almost Too Good To Be True The ending days of October in Ohio come with unpredictable weather. Last weekend it was in the 30s and 40s with high winds and rain. Suddenly, the sun returned and temperatures bounced up into the 70s. Never had a Tuesday screamed for a little time out in The Big…
Ah That Beautiful Autumn Weather It’s that time of the year where Northeast Ohio reminds us that it’s going to be cold and miserable for a bit. There was a good amount of rain on Saturday and that combined with a myriad of family activities made getting out for an activation impossible. Sunday was a…
One of the first ham radio specific kits that I built was a dummy load from QRP Guys. I keep it on my desk. It’s two PCBs with a shedload of resistors sandwiched between. It is simple. It is brutally effective. And the other day, it was invisible. I have no idea how it wound…
My last couple of activations have been at West Branch State Park – K-1999. I mentioned back in January of this year that one week there were restrooms and picnic shelters and the next weekend they were all gone. As someone who frequents a park, it began to kind of eat at me. There had…