A little busy this week……………………………..

As always, first the chronology:

01/07/24 – Sunday – Up at the usual time.  Cleaned up and out to church.  Kathy stayed home.  Wasn’t feeling well.  Home from church and lunch.  Down to do the blog.  Up and out to see Gary.  Home, picked up Kathy and off to Cattleman’s for dinner.  Home and usual evening routine.

01/08/24 – Monday – Up a little early this morning and made the Altoona Over the Hill Net.  Kathy was getting cleaned up to go pickup Shelby and take her to a doctor’s appointment.  I went to the shack and finished up the power supply for my QMX.  All that works great now.  Up for lunch and take care of the dogs.  Then out to the Morton building and cut a piece of wood for Kathy’s nativity scene.  Brought that back to the house and found some feet for it.  She came home with Shelby and I had her check it out.  She said it would be OK.  Then I made a Zoom class at 5PM.  Up for dinner.  Usual evening routine.

01/09/24 – Tuesday – Up a little early this morning.  Cleaned up and over to Gary’s to meet him and a friend Bill.  We went out to Cracker Barrel for brunch.  Took Gary home and said goodbye to Bill.  Took Shelbyville road back to the Gene Snyder and made a stop at the UPS store to drop off a pair of shoes that Kathy was returning.  Then down to Taylorsville and ACE hardware to pick up some paint for her Nativity Scene project.  Home and helped her put a coat of paint on the wood.  Did some computer work then made a Zoom class at 3PM.  Up for dinner.  Then out to Shelbyville to a HAM club meeting.  Home and usual evening routine.

01/10/24 – Wednesday – Up a little late this morning.  Down to the shack and finished up testing the QMX.  All looks good.  Got on the radio to track down one of my instructors.  Found him but he was fading to bad to get back to.  Put the QMX on the air.  Called CQ twice and got an answer from a guy in North Carolina.  Up for lunch.  Some chores and a nap.  Back to the shack and did some more clean up on the QMX.  Up for dinner and usual evening routine.

01/11/24 – Thursday – Up a little early this morning.  Got cleaned up before breakfast.  Checked in to the Altoona net while having breakfast.  Then out to get my hair cut.  Kathy was already on her way to the VA for her volunteer gig.  I ordered another set of paddles for my QMX rig.  Did some computer work and cleaned up the kitchen.  Had lunch then down to the shack.  Played radio awhile and did some TARPN testing.  Kathy came home and we had dinner.  Usual evening routine.

01/12/24 – Friday – Up a little early today.  Kathy had PT at 8:30 and was out.  I made the Altoona net then cleaned up and some chores around the house.  Kathy came home and we went to the church to clean.  Then to the Lighthouse Diner for lunch.  A little shopping at Country Mart.  Home and put things away.  I tested my QMX doing FT-8.  Then up for a nap.  Up for dinner and usual evening routine.

01/13/24 – Saturday – Up at the usual time.  Did my usual Saturday morning routine.  Kathy was up and out to Julie’s to help her today.  I went to the shack and started organizing some things.  Then reloaded the computer for the church.  Played with my QRP radio awhile.  Kathy came home and we had dinner.  Usual evening routine.

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Now the specifics:

Feeling much better this week. A few days I had a problem getting motivated but for the most part the week was rather productive.

I got back on track with my CW learning adventure. Made three Zoom classes. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I would have taken another on Tuesday evening but I had a HAM club meeting. I’ll get that one started again this coming week.

Had a HAM club meeting on Tuesday. It was a short one as there was no formal topic. Just introduction of new officers for this year. My friend Leeta has been doing that but she is getting roped into more at church so she gave up the secretary’s position. The guy that got elected is a really piece of work. I’m not sure that’s going to go well at all. But I think our president Mike might be able to reign him in a little. Time will tell.

Made the “Over the Hill” net out of Altoona, PA three days this week. Monday, Thursday and Friday. That’s always a good thing. I enjoy hearing about what’s going on in the old neighborhood. Also get to check in with my friend Jim as he makes the net rather regularly.

Speaking of Jim, his wife was in the hospital with some chest pressure. Turned out to not be anything extremely bad. Just needed to adjust some medication and she’s back home.

Kathy was rather busy this week. Up and out early on Monday to pickup Shelby and take her to the doctor’s for suspected Pink Eye. She got some eye drops for that. Thursday she did her volunteer stint at the VA hospital. Friday she was up early and out to Physical Therapy. She has two more sessions scheduled and hopes that will be the end of that.

Friday after she got back from PT we went down and cleaned the church. Not such a big job now that schools back in session as the folks that do the home schooling and use the church clean the upstairs and the lavatories. So about all we do is the sanctuary and fellowship hall.

Finally got my QMX radio all tested and ready to go. What people forget is that if they build something, from scratch or a kit, It’s still our responsibility to make sure it is working per FCC regulations. I got that all done Wednesday. I hooked it up to an antenna and started calling CQ. Usually you do that at least half a dozen times or more before you get a response. I sent 2 CQs and got a reply from a guy in North Carolina. Amazing on 5 watts. Friday I had it on the air doing FT-8 just to check it out. And again Saturday I made a contact with a guy in Long Island. Have an intermittent problem with the keyer hanging up and have posted a note on the groups.io page. I’ll have to work that through although it is probably a firmware issue and will take an upgrade to fix it. Time will tell. In the mean time I’ll just use a straight key or an external keyer.

Tuesday I went to breakfast with Gary and Bill. Bill’s wife is wheel chair bound so he has a van with a ramp out the side that you can get a wheel chair up and in the van. He brought that over to Gary’s and I met them there. We took Gary to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. I think that’s the only time Gary gets out of the house any more other than to go to doctor’s appointments. I enjoyed Bill’s company and it was good to get Gary out of the house.

Well that’s enough for this week. As always, hope this finds everyone safe and healthy. Stay that way and I’ll blog at you again next week.