A rather busy week………………………………………………………

As always, first the chronology:

2/12/23 – Sunday – Up at the usual time.  Cleaned up and out to church with Kathy.  Home and lunch.  Down to do the blog.  Out to get gas and go over to Gary’s for the afternoon get together.  Home and picked up Kathy and out to Mark’s Feed Store for dinner.  Home and usual evening routine.

2/13/23 – Monday – Up at the usual time.  Down and 30 minutes on the treadmill.  Made some phone calls and got some things ready to mail.  Lunch.  Kathy went out shopping.  I took a nap.  Downstairs to work on the amp.  Kathy came home and we had dinner.  Usual evening routine.

2/14/23 – Tuesday – Up at the usual time.  Chores around the house.  Lunch.  Took a nap then out early to help with testing at the HAM club at 6PM.  Followed up with meeting.  Stopped and picked up a sandwich on the way home.  Otherwise, Usual evening routine.

2/15/23 – Wednesday – Up a little late this morning.  Downstairs to do the treadmill.  Lunch then out on the motorcycle.  Kathy went for some shopping and a pedicure.  Got home before Kathy and took a nap.  Kathy came home, unloaded car.  Dinner and usual evening routine.

2/16/23 – Thursday – Up at the usual time.  Cleaned up and out for a 10AM dentist appointment.  Home and chores around the house.  Lunch.  Some work in the shack and some contacts.  Out to dinner with the Craycrofts.  Home and usual evening routine.

2/17/23 – Friday – Up at the usual time.  Down to do the treadmill.  Upstairs for some chores.  Lunch.  Kathy was off to do some banking and shopping.  I worked on the amplifier awhile, then Mike Craycroft came over.  He left and I continued working on the amp.  Kathy came home and I helped her bring things in and put them away.  Took a short nap.  Dinner and usual evening routine.

2/18/23 – Saturday – Up at the usual time.  Spent most of the day cleaning things up after finishing with the Fender Amplifier.  Did some checking with the IGBT transistor.  Spent some time on the radio as the solar flux index was well about 300.  Made 15 to 20 contacts for POTA.  Usual evening routine.

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Now the specifics:

I guess the busy part of the week started on Tuesday with the HAM club meeting in Shelbyville. It was preceded by testing at 6PM. Nothings notable about it just one thing I was committed to this week.

Wednesday I got out on the motorcycle for the first time this year. Wow, it’s amazing how much you lose in skills over a couple months. Had to start consciously thinking about what to do. Definitely need to regain some trust in the bike. A very interesting ride. Was only out for perhaps 1 and 1/2 hours. Put a little over 60 mile on the bike. Think I’ll be able to get out again one day this week. I’ll go a little further this time.

Had dinner with the Craycrofts on Thursday evening. Went to a new place called Drake’s. It was interesting. Rather loud and open. Food was great and reasonably priced. But I don’t think we’ll go back. Not our kind of place. But it was a nice night out.

If you haven’t noticed, I’m trying to get in shape and lose some weight. I’m watching what I eat and trying to do the treadmill for 30 minutes at least 3 times a week. This coming week I’m going to start making it hard as the 30 minutes has gotten rather easy. I’m down to 253 from well over 260 but I think I hit the plateau. Now I just have to be patient and continue my efforts.

The radio bands have been great this week. A thing called “Solar Flux Index” is suppose to tell you how good things are. They say when it gets over 120 the bands are good. Well, it’s been between 110 and 115 for awhile but this week jumped up to over 300. Yea, I know, who cares. lol

I spent time on several occasions working on the Fender Amplifier from church. Friday I played it for over 6 hours without a fault. I really can’t find a trouble that isn’t there. I’m sure it will fail again, I just don’t know when. I’ll take it back and let them deal with it. I hope it holds but not sure.

I got the IGBT transistors several weeks ago but they are the wrong kind. I have been searching the internet for hours trying to find the kind I want and I’m starting to believe they don’t make them. I’ll keep working on it. My Gobox isn’t going to work the way I want without them.

Last but not least I’ve been thinking of doing podcasts rather than the blog. Or perhaps doing both. There is a service called Podbean where you can put your podcasts up for nothing and people can download them for listening later or just listen online. The up side would be you could just listen to me and wouldn’t have to be looking at you phone, tablet or computer. Of course you wouldn’t be able to play it while you and other folks are watching TV or doing something like that. Anyway, not sure what I’m going to do. Give me your opinions.

I did not forget Valentine’s Day. So I’m not in trouble with that. I must remember next Tuesday is our anniversary. We plan to go to Red Lobster and use up a gift card I got for Christmas last year. Just need to remember to give her the card in the morning.

Well that’s about it for this week. Hope this finds everyone safe and healthy. Blog at you again next week.