Back on the air after 11 years

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Yes, it's true. After 11 years of threatening to do so, I finally have some wire back up in the air and a station that will (usually) transmit as well as receive. Still have a few bugs to work out, like the overload relay dumping me off the air occasionally on voice peaks. But on 2 weekends since mid March, I've made contacts!

The station is currently only active on 40 meters since that's the only antenna in the air. My plan is to rebuild the old 75 meter dipole soon and hang it back up, maybe even before Hopkinton. W1UJR will be visiting in two weekends, so look for us then.

My first contacts were Bruce, the Tron, Dave (W9AD), and Eddy, VE3CUI. The following weekend I worked Paul 'VJB, Dave again, Craig W3CRR and a few other stations. Tim was one of my last contacts before things tanked back in 94-95.

Attached is a photo of the lash up. I call it the Kitchen Studio, for obvious reasons. Since I don't have a 230v line in the radio room, I have to slide the electric range out of the way, roll the transmitter out and plug it in, then hook up the antenna and associated wires for the receiver, which sits atop one of the burners on the range. Not terribly purty, but it works. And, being single, I can get away with these things.

Looking forward to some good ol' buzzardly contacts again on 75 soon.


'KAQ

[W1RKW]

Todd, Congrats for getting back on the air. 

I can see it now, me trying to convince my wife that we should convert the kitchen into a kitchen studio and replace her corner hutch with a 6 foot tall xmitter. To the garage I will go.  She doesn't know it but the garage is my favorite room.

[w3jn]

OUT-frigging-STANDING, Todd!

It was a pleasure meeting you at Gaithersburg, and look forward to seeing you on 75.  My 40 meter antenner is presently dead, maybe that'll be a project for this weekend.

73 John

[WA3VJB]

KA1KAQ AIRCHECK
Sounds like this.
500K file size, MP3


http://www.wa3vjb.com/sound/KA1KAQ-Returns.mp3

Liner notes: 40meters/~7285Kc mid-morning, dipole broadside E-W, receiver 1966 R-390A, line output, 8Kc into 1990 Otari 5050B open reel machine, then rendered as an MP3

[Herb K2VH]

Love that tall dark gray kitchen cabinet of yours, Todd!

K2VHerb

[WA3VJB]

Yes, and I can see at least two buns in the oven there!

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Thanks guys!

I'm pretty lucky in that the YL is very tolerant on my activities and actually asked me to get on the air while she was up visiting in March, the second weekend after I first got back on. I was going to give all of my attention to her, but she insisted! Now, if I were to make the set up a permanent fixture, things would probably change quite fast. I like the garage pretty well too, Bob - but between the big gas range that's sitting in the middle of it and the RA-1000 kit stacked on the side, there's no room for me.

John, it was my pleasure to meet you as well at Gaithersburg. Only wish we'd gotten there Satruday afternoon instead of Sunday morning. I heard you not so long ago on 75, I think with Frank and Timmy (or maybe it was 'JJ?). Strapping signal up here, like Paul. 40 was the band of choice simply due to space and needing to get something up soon and also the need to rebuild the 75m dipole which is crap. But 40 doesn't last long, especially if you sleep in on the weekends. So, now that my appetite is whetted, I'm anxious to get back on 75 where 'band availability' is a bit more tolerable. You guys just have waaaay too much fun on there.

One of the things I never had before but will certainly make a priority now is a means of recording audio for playback. The recordings Paul made gave me an excellent idea of where I stood, immediately. And it's so much easier than trying to figure out descriptions. I like the recording he posted better than the other one he sent me, because it doesn't include the *zorch* I experienced in mid-sentence. How annoying, not to mention embarassing. 

The spark has once again been rekindled to a fire, now I need to fan the flames and get a station set up reliably on 40 and 75, maybe even 160. I'm planning to move south later this year so there is plenty on my plate already. The absence from AM just can't be tolerated anymore.

~ Todd  KA1KAQ

BTW Herb, do you keep your old logs from years ago? The first contact I made with this transmitter was to a group of fellows on 75 that included Uncle Eddie WA3PUN, a guy "at the bottom of Lake Huron" and someone from Penn Yan. 1990, I think. Can't lay my hands on my old logbook because it's packed away, but I wonder if it was you?

[WA3VJB]

Todd, the recording of your zorch is a time-honored tradition, on 75m especially.

People who've been around a while will testify we all enjoy a good zorch every so often.

For example,

These days we gently poke fun at the Class E crapouts by having the usual competition to see who can be the first to react and shout "CRAP OUT!!" when someone disappears mid-sentence like you did with the KW-1.

Often there's a mess of people all keying up at the same time to utter the empathetic phrase that we've all been at the other end of at some point or other. THAT's a funny thing to hear.

To have it recorded is even better, because it keeps us all humble. I guess the opposite of that would be to try to gloss over there's been a crapout and act like everything's perfect or not as subject to failure as reality keeps proving.

I've got a handful of recordings of what could be called  "greatest zorches" taking place at random points in QSOs over the years. I should probably string them together to remind us it's part of how we can appreciate the accomplishment of keeping the plane in the air for as long as do.