This "ham radio" stuff is fun!

I know.  Two amateur radio posts in a row.  But several interesting things lately prompted me to break my "variety" rule.

One was the receipt early this morning of a press release from my friend, fellow ham and writer, Wayne Long K9YNF.  He will be celebrating his golden anniversary in the hobby by operating from Fox Island, Alaska, on August 16 through 20.  He will be using solar power, operating mostly around 14.260 mhz on the 20-meter band and 18.128 on 17 meters.  Wayne maintains a very interesting and entertaining web site at http://www.longshortstories.com/. 

This comes on the heels of an operating event called Islands on the Air in which amateur radio types get on the air from islands--big and small--all over the world.  I spoke with folks on big islands like Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain, and tiny ones, such as one in Long Island Sound off Norwalk, Connecticutt, and another in the South Cook Islands in the South Pacific.  Great fun and interesting people!

Just this weekend, and in only a few hours available for getting on the air, I have spoken with a trucker as he went from the Texas Panhandle into New Mexico, another very nice fellow who lives in the suburbs of Paris, and a ham in an aircraft over Kansas headed for an air show in Illinois.  I also spoke with what we call a "special events station," on the air from the famous Oshkosh, Wisconsin, airplane fly-in.  I also had brief chats with folks in Greece, Herzogovina, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Finland, and Argentina.

When I flip that "ON" switch, I never know what or where I will hear or who I will meet!

Don Keith N4KC
http://www.n4kc.com/
http://www.donkeith.com/
www.facebook.com/donkeith