V44KF

Today I saw my first Flex 5000A on eBay, and I just had to lay down a bid on it. There were also a couple Elecraft K2 and Ten Tec Omni 6 rigs. I suspect that even though things are tight some hams are not letting go their top-of-the-line Ten Tec Orion or Elecraft K3 transceivers, until it is absolutely necessary. Well, I wouldn't either, something else would have to go first, second and third, but not my ham radios nor my fishing tackle. I know that some happy hams will be camping out on eBay, on the coop, and I myself might loose some sleep watching the auction minutes counting down. My Kenwood TS-940SAT is calling for maintenance again, so I am honoring the message about MTBF. I used to think that I was the only person who had been turned off by an unexpected, albeit unwarranted, response from a supplier for a ham rig made in Japan. I now find that I have friends with similar experiences, for the same brand of equipment [it is not Kenwood]. I will endorse the equipment for it

GOD is good all the time. Some of us believe and some of us don't, but it is a personal thing and I am not getting into your business. On the other hand I can afford to share my business as by doing so it may help someone to better find their way, even if it is only one, I have won. Humbly, I believe that I am making headway, but even if I am not, doing this keeps me out of trouble, and trust me, trouble is running wild in these days. You see them "petite jeune filles", they are trouble, not just in Arima, but all over. Anyway, I have my ham radio for entertainment and more importantly, to keep me focused. When seniors loose focus, it can be the beginning of the end, so, all you seniors and prospective seniors, [and youths don't work, if you live you will arrive too] don't ever loose it, find something to do and stay with it, forever, stay focused, and stop watching the girls suntanning on the beach ... Yesterday one of my ham radio buddies dropped by. We have be

Well, at last everything is back to normal at this QTH, as far as the impact on ham radio over the last few months is concerned, given all the excitement surrounding the general elections, the winning 4-peat Government and subsequent swearing in ceremony for the newly elected constituency representatives on Sunday 7th February. The national political action is not over but its impact on my own local ham radio is done. So I am picking it up where I left off last year. The 18-foot length of aluminum tubing is already mounted on the mast. You may recall earlier I was going for the option to re-install the single band 40-meter top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna. This is the first step towards my 2010 antenna experiments, that of phasing two top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antennas. The two masts are already about 30 plus feet apart, so that limits the number of phasing combinations and configurations. The vertical elements are only 1/8 wave tall, even though I prefer 1/4

Over the last few weeks being pressed for time I blogged here and posted that content to the Verticals2 discussion group . Today this will work in reverse, and the forum post from earlier today follows ""Greetings again to all the fine members of the Verticals2 group. At last we are back to normal in the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis. The general elections are over and we still have the same government for another 5-years. It is a 4-peat. Though there is still some politics in the air everything is virtually normal, so ham radio down here can now continue where it left off a few years back. My brand of ham radio was not impacted by the local politics. I may be considered as a by product of the politics given my roots, but other hams got caught up in the fray, more like sucked in, but they should now be back to normal, even though they did not get the Government they tried for, and that is no reason to hold ham radio to ransom. So where do we go from here. I am of the view

Ham Radio is alive and doing better in St Kitts and Nevis. I wish all hams will continue to prosper in 2010. I am expected to say something like that as an opening statement. We already know things are better, and not just down here in the sunny Caribbean, because we are all here, as in alive, to appreciate that, and we have a handle on our destiny. I am not entertaining any discussion on this destiny topic, as some folks seem to believe that the world will end in 2012, or is it now 2050 or sometime. If the end is so close then we could afford to throw caution to the wind and have ourselves a ham radio ball, like take our last cent and treat ourself to that dream rig. The other option is to do like some others on the planet oblivious of the apparent 'end of the world' and continue to live one day at a time, taking this ham radio hobby in stride. Ham radio is doing better in V4 because the first monthly meeting of our ham radio society was very well attended by 10 hams, and we

I missed the Jouvert Jam on 26th but have no regrets as my time was better spent on the computer doing what I enjoy. At this time of year most persons, hams included, indulge themselves, with making a new year wish list. Why this is done at this season is anyone's guess, because one should be continuously reevaluating priorities and updating wishes and needs. It may or may not be critical for persons living in recessional times and I cannot pronounce on this because I am still awaiting the recession, here. Some recessional attributes exist on the planet as a matter of course, but some people may find it convenient to disregard them. Anyway here it is about ham radio, not economics or politics. I expect that the typical V4 ham will have everything on their wish list from a rig right down to solder. So many thing are that much more difficult to get these days. Living on an island in the Atlantic ocean adds another dimension to that, and provides the ultimate test for ones resourceful

Tempus fugit. The T-shirt slogan, "time flies when you having a good time", may be seriously misleading, or maybe that was how it used to be in days gone by when "things" were very different. Anything behind the last word you just read is history. I am not getting into any discussion today on time, nor space, neither time travel nor space travel. It is boxing day here and since 2.00 AM I was awakened by the sound of music, actually, its was the thumping sounds from a rhythm box some 1/4 mile away in the West where a DJ and and his orchestra has set up on a flatbed for street jamming all day today. I will have to post some snaps here so that you can get a peep at the Caribbean lifestyle as it pertains to the Jouvert morning jam. Everybody is familiar with rock concerts and the kind of audio power that is run from the amplifiers, so try to imagine that set-up on a flat bed being hauled through 20-foot and 30-foot wide streets by a tractor, and few hundred people stree