KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Operating Notes: log notes, dumb DXers, HT charging

Posted: 02 Nov 2014 08:28 AM PST
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


The other day I worked Bruce, WB8FMA. When I typed his callsign into the
N3FJP logging program, the program reported that I had worked Bruce on
December 30, 2007, nearly seven years ago. I mentioned this to Bruce, and
he looked me up in his paper log.

Apparently, Bruce keeps detailed notes, because not only did he find the
contact, he asked me about several things that we talked about that day,
including a funeral that I had attended the day before.

That was rather sad, because the funeral was for a fellow ham, who, was one
of my Elmerees.Â*I told Bruce that I indeed remembered attending that
funeral because the fellow who died was a ham and was one of my Elmerees.
He died from injuries sustained from falling down the stairs leading to his
basement while taking down a basket of laundry. I think about him nearly
every time I take a basket of laundry downstairs myself.

The point here is that I appreciated that Bruce took good notes on our QSO
of nearly seven years ago. While I try to take notes, I dont do nearly as
good a job as Bruce did, but maybe I should. The notes would help me
remember the contacts and the people I have had contacts with. Not only
that, it might help a fellow ham remember something poignant as well.
Dumb DXers

A couple of nights ago, there was a big pileup on 30m. After tuning around
a bit, I found that the guy being piled on was 4O7CC, a station in
Montenegro. Now, Montenegro is a fine country, but its not that rare, so I
was wondering why the big pileup. I Tweeted this, and a minute later, a
couple of guys responded that the pileup was the result of someone
mis-spotting 4O7CC as FT4TA, the DXpedition to Tromelin Island. Apparently,
lots of hams jumped into the pileup without actually copying FT4TA. How
dumb is that?
HT charging

Talking about dumb, I just did something dumb myself. Yesterday, as I
headed for WA2HOM, our amateur radio station at the Hands-On Museum, I
grabbed my Baofeng HT. When I tried to turn it on, I found that it was
already on. I had forgotten to turn it off the day before, and now the
batteries were dead.

No problem, I thought, Ill just grab the Wouxoun HT. Well, I hadnt used
that for at least two weeks, and when I went to turn that on, I discovered
that the batteries were dead in it, too.

Now, its not a big deal that I had to go to the museum without an HT, but
what if there had been some kind of emergency? The point here is that its
probably a good idea to keep the handhelds charged, whether you use them or
not. If you dont, when you really do want to use them, youll find that the
batteries are dead.



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