Short update
Apr. 23rd, 2012 09:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
banjoplayinnerdI managed to get my Montana contact, without having to do it through the countest. I had a contact with a guy from Hamilton, Montana the other day. If I think hard enough I might be able to remember where that is. I'm sure I knew once when I lived in Billings. (UPDATE: Yeah, I thought so. It's in the valley south of Missoula where my wife spent several years of her childhood.)
Then this afternoon I had a brief contact with a station in Australia. So much for being confined to contacts in California. Actually I currently have contacts with about half of the states and six "countries," but that doesn't stop me from being insecure about my ability to get my signal out.One thing about hams, we always want better antennas.
I've mentioned JT65 before, where the contacts are pretty minimal. That means I don't know much about the people I contact unless I look it up on the net, but JT65 still has its advantages apart from brevity and the ability to make contacts in rapid succession. When I send out a transmission there's usually about 90 seconds before I have to react to any reply that comes my way, and the reaction usually consists of clicking a radio button or typing a brief (10 characters) message, so I have time to do things like practice my banjo or work on the low whistle (which is coming along better than it was, but it's still not as natural as the recorder). You can bet that when the Australian station called me I was paying my full attention to him, though.
Then this afternoon I had a brief contact with a station in Australia. So much for being confined to contacts in California. Actually I currently have contacts with about half of the states and six "countries," but that doesn't stop me from being insecure about my ability to get my signal out.One thing about hams, we always want better antennas.
I've mentioned JT65 before, where the contacts are pretty minimal. That means I don't know much about the people I contact unless I look it up on the net, but JT65 still has its advantages apart from brevity and the ability to make contacts in rapid succession. When I send out a transmission there's usually about 90 seconds before I have to react to any reply that comes my way, and the reaction usually consists of clicking a radio button or typing a brief (10 characters) message, so I have time to do things like practice my banjo or work on the low whistle (which is coming along better than it was, but it's still not as natural as the recorder). You can bet that when the Australian station called me I was paying my full attention to him, though.
