VA3VJB....

is now operational on HF. I got my dipole antenna set up yesterday. its a G5RV. For the first time I could here a lot of activity on the HF bands. Very exciting!

Antenna

The hunt is on for an outdoor dual band antenna for 2m and 70cm. The magmount on a metal base is great.... to get to a repeater close by. Like a HAM told me last night. From where I am located, I could hit the repeater with my little finger in the antenna socket :)

So what will it be? My budget is at its limit and Bob can sell me a dual bander that he uses for his experimentation for 50 bucks. I think thats a GREAT deal. Hope to get it in the next few days

Hmm

Changed cars today because of the snow. Don't have a radio in this car so it was a boring drive in. Now its time to install a radio here as well. Thinking if I should try a Kenwood? Yaesu? or stick with icom.

Logging

Started logging callsigns of people I speak with every day and associating the callsigns with their names.

For the car

I decided to get this radio for the car. I figure might as well stick with one brad through and through as much as I can help it. Though I figure thats going to change with the introduction of the Yaesu VX-8

Antenna

Waiting for some good weather to put up an HF antenna in the forest.

IRLP

Tried IRLP yesterday and its a LOT of fun. More on this later as I have to leave for work

Unpacked everything

Unpacked everything while talking on the phone. Set everything up and I fire it all up and dial in 147.225 for the VE3YRC repeater. Guess what? People sounded like they were in a tunnel on a spaceship. I scan the display and see an icon that says 'CW'. Alright, so its as "out of the box" as I would have ideally liked it.

These are the other two handhelds I use

Believe it or not, I use the 91AD from my car, using a mobile VHF/UHF and a Diamond 7500 mobile antenna and I can hit the repeater in Aurora from 427 and QEW. That is REMARKABLE!

Can't wait to get home

Can't wait to get home to try it all out. Right now its sitting in the back seat of my trunk and I can hardly wait to go home and hook everything up!

Got guests coming in at 6pm. *GROAN*

YAY !

So I got my IC-7000 today with the AT-180. So here is the catch. I am going to be using it at home with a MAG Mount and a mobile Antenna for the time being. I am using this with the following two Antenna's.

SG-7900 [DIA-SG7900]

HV-7A [DIA-HV7A]

I know its not the best scenario and some might even argue that its a bad idea but I dont have a choice right now. This is temporary till I get my proper Di-pole HT Antenna sorted out!