V44KF

Thanks to my last blog post some of us have become awake and found the time and made the effort to get involved as never before. People take vacation from everything, including life and living, if given the chance. People need to be kept on their toes, sometimes on their face too, or they fall asleep, take an extended break, leave of absence, or whatever, they disconnect and move away and move on. In our hobby of ham radio, someone moves away because things are bad, well bad, as far as they are particularly concerned. It is a personal thing and we have to learn to appreciate that and to be there for the brother or sister, keeping them in touch with themselves and with the hobby, until they can bounce back. We may even have to assist their bouncing back, as best we can. So we are moving on, and I am glad that my last post was able to provide a backdrop of sorts for the appreciation of future events. I knew nothing of the future, I just follow my spirit and 'write it' as it com

I had to abandon my blog for the 16th February entitled "QRP time". How thing are going these days I hope that I can complete and publish it. I suspect that QRP may be a solution that can mean something to some of us, and I am not speaking about myself because I can afford to go QRP. I have been around for a while and worked the world. There are only a few countries that I still have not contacted, but I am not fussy because there are no ham radio operators there, and no plan for any DX-expedition is in the offing. QRP is a challenge that I think could bring me some ham radio excitement. But we will look at QRP later and see what gives. Recently I had a chat with a local ham radio operator and it concerns me that some of us may not seem to be as optimistic as we should be. Optimism is a personal think so I am not knocking anyone, it is just that I see things differently, plus, I may know a couple things that some people do not, and it may not have anything to do with my a

Two months has gone by rather quickly, but that happens when you are having fun. I had too much fun in the last 60 days and had to throw some of it away. So sorry that I could not just pass it on to some of our local hams who may not have had enough fun for their season. But then again some people do not like to get anything that appear to be "left over", but I do not have that attitude, so when you have left over Coax Cable, PL-259 connectors, antenna wire, and maybe even an HF transceiver or 2-meter base radio, just bring them by me. If you have two, so much the better. Don't blame me, I am not being greedy ... but anything free ... take two. I was too busy over the season to follow whatever ham radio action that was going down in our V4 Federation. I know for a fact that if it was only one thing that did not happen, it was that the St Kitts Nevis Anguilla Amateur Radio Society, the Ham radio organization with responsibility for the furtherance of ham radio in our Fe

We are days to the end of the 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season. This was such a busy year for everything else that some of us may have hardly noticed when the bad weather prevailed. No bad weather came at V4 land this year. Our name was not on any storm or hurricane, so we have to be careful and watch out for next year as that could be our time. Ham radio in V4 is alive and well, maybe not doing as well as some of us would wish, but I am an optimist, so for me ham radio is doing well. I have had the distinct pleasure of being around ham radio in V4 for over 40-years and consider myself qualified to make that assessment. Ham activity is high, despite the viewpoint and feelings of some hams. I have seen in some years gone by where only a handful of hams not exceeding 5 of us kept the ham radio fire alight for some years. Hams not privy to our history could feel that the ham radio activity is low, and we are in trouble, but in reality we are floating, but some of us would wish that

I missed another month, but it is not like anything ham radio did not happen, for there is always ham activity at this QTH. Every day 7.195 MHz, the Talk Shop Network, is monitored from sunrise, and most days after 7.30 am, it is 7.188 MHz for the friendly net. I don't think I have ever checked into that net but will do so when the time is appropriate. This is our friendly Caribbean home to ham radio fragmentation in the face of cooperation and unity, but that is a different story for another time. The last month saw many decisions and changes. I did in depth analysis on the rigs which can possibly make it onto my ham radio station's operating table shortly, and after all the agonizing with emails, queries and downloading, I have to conclude that my operating table could be graced with the presence of a commercial [marine] radio with ham radio capability. It is a hard decision to make but one that is logical to me, considering the cost, efficiency and other factors. Ham radio

This must be my ham radio month, and maybe I should really look out for and expect great things to happen, for me. It may sound like I am getting old but surely not selfish. Aging brings a certain level of realization for some people, and maybe it has something to do with conscience and the softening "in the head" and/or brain. As to whether there is any scientific correlation and truth I have no idea. The old people are known for saying things like this, and maybe it is some sort of wisdom that I am not yet privy too, so I leave that right there. I am cleaning up my computer, evaluating and deleting old files in my ham radio folders. Yes, my computer is home to ham radio software, photography software, and other software programs, and I try to keep them in some logical order, just like emails, a different email account for different hobbies and interests, not one email account for everything. From my limited experience it is only in a wok you can cook everything together a

Another month has gone by from the last post and it is not that there is nothing in ham radio to blog about, but I do not wish to say anything about certain aspects of ham radio that some might say has caused them to become reactive. You know how some people are, and can get, when they are looking for an excuse to escape from the scrutiny. I think enough time have gone by and I can talk freely and without favor again, and do not expect to upset anyone. I am not planning to muddy any waters, but some people does watch the crystal clear water and say it look muddy to them. Let us hope that by now they have 'clear eyes' and do not seek to retard, hinder or slow down any forward mobility that exist, as we all try to break free from the depressive grasp that seeks to encourage most of us to  call it quits. If you think you are dead, you are dead. Some of us tolerate and endure a lot of bull crap every day. I have developed a certain immunity to the crap. I just ignore it, irresp