I say, “Good! Let Congress take its sweet time!  Take all the time you want…but get it RIGHT.”

I firmly believe that Congress does its absolute best work when it works slowly, ponderously, and deliberately.  Our Founding Fathers knew this, and set up checks and balances to ensure that this was the norm.  The entire Senate vs. House of Representatives structure is designed around this very purpose - work so that the peoples’ interest (represented by the possibility of relatively quick turnover in the House) is equally represented alongside those who might have more lingering political interest (as represented by the longer terms of office in the Senate).   That the two houses of Congress are having a difference of opinion about the currently-proposed plan of action is the top sign that they’re working the way they should be. 

Now, admittedly, I’m no economist.  However, neither is your average Senator or Representative.  And although they have better resources to dedicate to understanding any proposal the Government throws their way, it is still prudent to take a pause to carefully consider any move proposed to be undertaken.  In my opinion, the current situation is not one that throwing a bale of greenbacks at is going to fix.  In fact, I think that a haphazard plan might make our economic situation worse by further burdening the American taxpayer.

• The LHC will spawn off a [microscopic] black hole that will consume the Earth.
• It will create “strangelets” that will convert the Earth into a lump of dead, Strange matter.
• It will somehow create a wormhole that could open extra-dimensional doors.  (sounds a bit like Half-Life!)

What WILL happen through operation of the LHC is an expansion of our understanding of elementary particles, quantum physics, space-time, special relativity, and the conditions in which our Universe was created.  We will further our species’ knowledge and capabilities.  The LHC will take us places that Einstein and Hawking could only dream about.  

They even explain in an online comic-book why they’re doing this (to give back to the ‘net that made them, and to drive innovation - in short, to Not Be Evil), and how Chrome will be different…and better.

I’ll be downloading this today, and will post impressions later on.

My old (1994 vintage Icom Z-1A) HT was on the fritz, and I’ve been desperately seeking some way to be active…so I got myself a Yaesu FT-2800M 2-meter FM mobile.

$129.95 at R & L Electronics, a decent amount of bells & whistles, and good output power - not a bad deal!

That was one of the preliminary heats…later in the evening he kept walking back & forth between Diane and I.  He must have done twenty laps, walking to me, turning himself around (and not letting me help!), and walking back to Diane.  Turn, walk, repeat…

I’m a happy, proud Daddy tonight.

We went upstairs and Mike Braun (KB8ZYE) was kind enough to show her the ropes on working 20M phone. We contacted a Ham in the Honduras, and had a conversation with a gentleman working QRP portable from a Chicago city park. He was very nice, and stayed in the QSO with us long enough for all of the non-licensed folks to have a go at working the radio. When it came for her turn at the mic, Jessica played shy, but afterwards, she was very interested in tuning the radio, or “turning the big knob”, as she put it. She watched intently throughout, asked some really insightful questions, and was clearly taking everything in.

As we were getting ready to leave, we saw Mike Suhur (W8RKO) and Mike Murphy (KA8ABR) hanging around. They asked Jessica and I if we had seen the club’s satellite shack. We hadn’t, so they graciously gave us a tour. Mike & Mike showed us how they work the club’s 7.2 meter (24 ft) satellite dish.  The coolest part of the evening was when they asked Jessica if she wanted to bounce radio signals off the moon.

Of course, she did!  And even if she didn’t, her Daddy did!

Mike^2 showed Jessica how they had aimed the satellite dish at the moon, and let her key up the transmitter.  2.7 seconds later, a distorted echo of her press (just a tone) came back.  Now, this wasn’t good enough for Jessica.  She wanted to know how they knew it was HER radio signal that came back.  They said, “Ok…press the button in a pattern!”  So she did, and her pattern came back.  THAT impressed her…and the look on her face was worth a thousand tantrums.

I was all grins that evening and all the next day, until she told me, as she grinned from ear to ear, “Daddy, Ham Radio is my favorite Geek Hobby!”  I’m not sure…but I think that was meant as a compliment.  At any rate, she still wants to go to the next meeting with me, so I’m going to take it that way!

I have gotten tired of waiting forever to make a purchase, so today I decided to make a small step forward: I bought an auto-tuner designed for the FT-897d! This auto-tuner has great reviews, seems to be able to tune a wet shoestring (not to say that using a wet shoestring will work well!), and is cheaper than the Yaesu-made alternative.  For me - a ham on a budget - this seems to be a great little product!  (I’ll provide reviews when I get on the air finally!)

I’m going to make a visit to R & L Electronics this coming week to check out some other accessories for the rig as it’s currently designed.  Purchasing of the radio itself will take place after my birthday and receipt of birthday funds!

The Goal

Since I live in an antenna-restricted, covenant-controlled neighborhood, I am unable to put much of an antenna on my home (footnote #1). Having said that, I DO want to be able to work the HF bands, but want to gear my rig toward a more portable installation. I am picturing a system designed to be easily set up & torn down - something that could contribute to a collective Field Day station, taken on a family camping trip, set up in the backyard for some patio DX, or be transported & set up during an emergency. However, I’m also seeking a lot of flexibility in the bands / modes that I can work. I’m a geek, so digital modes are a near-necessity for me (a laptop or other computing devices aren’t a problem).

The Budget

I am going to be spreading the purchase out over about six months’ time, but wish to keep my total expenditure under $1700. My initial focus will be on the Radio & Antenna, with accessories coming later.

The Radio

I’ve narrowed the radio down to the following possibilities, ranked in order of my preference:

1. Yaesu FT-897D
2. Yaesu FT-450
3. Kenwood TS-480SAT

I really like that the FT-897D is basically an all-mode, all-band transceiver, and includes 2m & 440 MHz. (100W out on HF-6M, 50W on 2M, 20W on 440MHz), It is form factored for portability, but it’s portable focus means that I would lose easy access to features, since it is necessarily menu-driven. That’s not necessarily a killing point for me. It has options for insertable batteries and power supply, either of which would greatly simplify mobile/portable setup. However, including those options makes this quite expensive

The FT-450 has a lot of visual appeal to me - it just LOOKS like a radio! It’s also the cheapest option, and includes an internal antenna tuner. However, I lose anything above 2M, and it’s not made for portability, per se.

To be honest, I threw in the TS-480SAT to include an option that isn’t a Yaesu product. The Kenwood offering is the most expensive that I explored, but does offer me features like internet connectability (which is NICE, since I am a geek!)

The Antenna

Here I haven’t put quite as much thought. To be honest, I probably need more help/advice here than anywhere else! Since I’m looking for simple, portable operation, I was looking at:

1. The BuddiPole antenna system (or something similar)
2. Yaesu’s ATAS series screwdriver antennas.
3. Something more homebrew

The Request

To the wise, radio-active surfers to this site: can you think of anything I’ve missed? If you have experience with any of the radios/antennas I’ve listed above, I’d love to hear anything you wish to throw my way! Is there a radio I’ve completely missed? Maybe an antenna to buy/build that you think would be good for my needs?

I appreciate any help you all have to throw my way!

——

Footnote:

(1): Yes, I know I have options for antennas that I could install at my home…and I probably will end up with some sort of antenna, be it a dipole strung along the apex or eave of my roof or a small-ish antenna that I can keep within 10′ of my roofline, while still getting a couple of bands. HOWEVER! That’s not my question here, and I don’t wish to start the base antenna holy war. Please read on!