projects still on hold

It’s already Thursday and another weekend looms in front of me. I didn’t get a chance to warm up the soldering iron last weekend, as expected, but I guess that’s why ham radio is a hobby and not my profession or life’s work. Lately it just seems that the busy-ness of life has gotten the best of me.

I’ve gone back and forth (in my mind) between completing the Elecraft K2 or completing the PSK-20. I’d have to say that I’m about at the same point in both kits–a few more parts to stuff and  then an alignment stage. I suppose, time-wise, the PSK-20 kit is much closer to being complete; however, since I’m using a larger enclosure which is not pre-drilled, I will have to create a template and drill out the enclosure before calling that project done.

The feeling of satisfaction from completing a project still eludes me, but hopefully that will change and it will be a reality soon. Stay tuned!

a short trip north

This past week work led me to Rockville, Maryland for a few days. As always, I had my trusty Yaesu FT-7800R with me in the car to help keep me company on the drive. While my other coworkers elected to fly, I chose to drive so that I could have some flexibility to visit friends and family who I have in the metro DC area.

As far as radio goes–I didn’t make time to program any of the area repeaters in my radio before I left, so I left the rig stuck on 146.52 MHz simplex throughout my trip. Three times over the past three days I was able to make simplex contacts. I sent out QSL cards today to these folks: WA4KEB, W5JMC, and KI4XH. The terrain around Washington, DC is not exactly conducive to long simplex rag chews, unfortunately. Quick chats with WA4KEB and W5JMC were all I could muster, but I had a nice, long chat with Fred KI4XH.

Fred and I made contact on my way to Ham Radio Outlet in Woodbridge, Virginia, where I was headed for some window shopping and to purchase some 15A PowerPoles. We chatted a bit about my travels to Rockville as well as other future work trips I have planned for the spring to Chicago, Anchorage, and rural Pennsylvania. It turns out that he has had extensive travel experiences in Alaska and would be happy to offer suggestions for places to eat and things to do during my time there. What a fruitful QSO!

This weekend I hope to pull out the soldering iron again and work on some aspects of the PSK-20 project. While I was gone, the LP filter I had ordered from W8DIZ at PartsAndKits.com arrived. It should be a quick build as there are only a few through-hole parts and two toroidal inductors to wind. The LP filter will go between the frequency synthesizer and the PSK-20 PC board to transform the signal into a nice sine wave.

why I’ll never choose to buy a home governed by a homeowners’ association

This afternoon I was greeted by an email from the manager of the local homeowners’ association in the neighborhood where we are renting our townhome.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Xxxx Xxxxxxxxx Xxxx X - Antenna
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2009 14:41:51 -0500
From: Xxx Xxxxxxx <xxx@xxxxxxx.org>

Hi Xxxxxxxx and John and Board,

John, I'm not sure if you are still the resident at Xxxx X but we've had complaints regarding the large antenna and two green posts that are in the backyard. These items should be removed immediately, as they are in violation of the Xxxx Xxxxxxxxx Declarations attached, page 14, section 8.4. Also, the bikes should be stored on your back patio area or on a bike rack provided in the front of the units. If the screens are yours, please remove them, or I will contact your neighbor in Xxxx X to see if the screens belong to them.

Attached is a picture of the large items in question, please contact me or the Board if you have any questions.

/Xxx Xxxxxxx, Association Manager/

Here’s a copy of the photo which followed the email.

rear view of our townhome

I’ll admit that the bicycles probably shouldn’t be there. The window screens in question don’t belong to us and are actually behind our next-door neighbors. The television antenna on the 20′ mast can be taken down now that we have cable television; however, if I had not decided to pay for cable television and wanted to receive OTA broadcasts it seems quite ridiculous that I should have to obtain written permission to erect such an antenna. For example, we cannot receive the local NBC station as well as a few other “major networks” without the use of this external antenna due to the distance of our home from the transmitter.

The two fiberglass telescoping poles are 32′ long and hold the edges of my delta loop (the other edge is attached to an eye-bolt below the roof line of the house). I’m not sure who would see these poles unless they were walking in the back yard area of the townhomes. Given the fact that the green space behind our home is less than 20′ from the fence which borders the property, I can’t imagine why anyone would walk back there.

It completely infuriates me that these rules may cause me decreased quality of life and decreased enjoyment of my hobby. I don’t mind using some ham ingenuity to determine an alternate solution to this problem, but the rules still make me reaffirm my vow to never purchase a home which is governed by a CC&R or HOA rule-making board.

For those of you who are wondering how the folks living in the far field of the photo got away with the erection of their DirecTV antenna, here’s the reply from the property manager:

Hi John,

Xxxx X was approved by the Board on August 12th, 2009 with a formal request from the renters at Xxxx X.

Xxx Xxxxxxx, Association Manager

Anyone have any suggestions on my next actions? My only idea now is to figure out a way to make the 20m delta loop temporary–which will require me to erect it each time I want to operate. I could always move to another antenna situation; however, my investment in this one seems too great already (expensive 32′ fiberglass poles, time/energy spent building the loop, etc.). This loop helped me make QRP PSK31 contacts with Poland, Italy, Spain, and the Caribbean. <sigh>

resurrection

Welcome to the first post of my newly revived W4PAH ham radio blog!

I sincerely hope that the content on the site is relevant to folks who are interested in kit building, homebrewing, and QRP operations both at home and in the field.

Past incarnations of this site were both unorganized and frankly not very interesting. This version will provide the reader graphic (read: pictures, drawings, etc.) and textual evidence of my life in ham radio.

Comments are always welcome, but please take the few seconds to register and become a member before attempting to post a comment. I hope each of you enjoys the site!