Just noticed that the overnight lows for the next week are expected to dip into the 40's. It's been 5 months or thereabouts since they last dipped that low.
And some of the trees in the neighborhood have started turning yellow. Even our maple tree in the front yard has started to turn, and the crab apples are dropping off the tree in the backyard. I've heard the aspen trees have already turned, possibly due to the lower than normal rainfall they received.
We bought an 8' plug-together, pre-illuminated Christmas tree, used once, at a garage sale for $20. These go for ~$180 at the Big Box stores, so we scored on that one, along with another new-in-box 'baby gate' for $5. The people who had the sale are moving from Colorado to Kalifornia for reasons unknown, and were literally selling everything down to the walls of their $650k house over on the East side of town in the Miramont area.
And on the radio scene, I've canceled the plans for the tower and antennas. I was out measuring the yard a couple of weeks ago, and started getting questions from my wife about what I was doing. I explained to her I was locating where to site the tower, and she started getting reeeal nervous and agitated. The instant she said "Well, WHY do you need a tower?" I knew it would be tough sledding, so I'm just dropping the project.
I'll pick some other hill to die on, not this one.
This renders most of my equipment impotent, so I'll be listing it on eBay over the next few months. I'll keep my cheepie Bao-Wang-Feng-Ding-Dong walkie talkie and my Elecraft K2 and Buddipole, but as the old saying went "Everything Must Go!", and the rest of the equipment, parts, spares, antennas, accessories and other detritus of my radio career are going on the block.
If you happen to be looking for anything in shortwave receiving equipment, drop me a line and I'll send you a list of what I'm selling.
It's been a fun ride......
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<i>The Fisher Saga</i> Continues - Act III -
Been working on this post since right after Thanksgiving. I'm making very good progress on the Fisher, and will most likely power it up...
It would be like you and the 7th Cav at the Little Bighorn? Over an antenna mast? What about the Wonder Dog? Does Pebbles get a vote?
ReplyDeleteI don't need the stress, and it would rise to DEFCON2 levels.
DeleteNo, Pebbles doesn't get a vote in this, unfortunately.
Fall can't come soon enough.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the yard will come back in the Spring, and I can get on watering it on a schedule.
DeleteBetween me not understanding just how freakin' DRY it is here, and whacking it with 2,4-D to kill the weeds, I really messed up what was looking to be a nice lawn.
Wait.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a fun ride......
That's it? You're quitting radio? What a gruesome thought!
And as for "fall is in the air" and what Well Seasoned Fool is saying, last night we honestly had a discussion about whether the heat index at 11PM was really more like the 103 one station was reporting or the 93 another one was. It's August 49th.
No sign of relief for the next 10 days.
Not entirely quitting it. I'm keeping my K2 and BuddiPole/BuddiStick, a couple of HT's, and a couple of shortwave receivers, along with my test equipment. And I still have the VHF/UHF rig in the car, and my solar panels and deep-cycle battery, so if TSHTF here, I can still communicate.
DeleteBut the rest of it is going. Some I'll sell, some I'll give away, and I have a feeling I'll be getting acquainted with the eWaste people real soon.
That's truly sad. About the radio thing.
ReplyDeleteCan you run an antenna in the attic? Or use the roof somehow?
One of the goals of moving here was the installation of a tower. That's been swept off the table. My ground-mounted vertical worked "as predicted", which was pretty mediocre. I think I can figure a way to get it mounted 8' up, and have it similar to how it was in Long Beach. It worked very well in that configuration, just like the modeling software (NEC4) predicted.
DeleteFall has been here for awhile, more than half the leaves have fallen (including a LOT today). Highs in the 50s, lows in the 30s. Snow on the higher peaks, not far away. And while I can't imagine you without your shortwave equipment, I understand your decision.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I imagine being 20* (We're at 43*33'N) North of here will accelerate the seasons.
DeleteI'm keeping a few things, but since I'm never going to build-out what I had planned, there's no reason to keep this stuff any longer.
Dang man, that is just depressing.
ReplyDeleteI've got an R8 mounted on 20ft of pipe and I get pretty good reception. It's really unobtrusive mounted off the back corner of my house....
You know your domestic situation better than anyone else, but your post feels kinda abrupt and for lack of a better word, panicky.
If you can't put up your own gear, can you work remotely with one of the remote sort of time share systems? you've got family not far away, can you set up a shack there? maybe then do a point to point link and access it remotely??
I hope there is something you can do rather than walk away...
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Oh, I can still put something up for an antenna, I just don't want to "go through the process" with my wife, justifying every step along the way.
DeleteIt's just not worth it.
You of course know your own circumstance.
ReplyDeleteBut damn I'm sorry, you have gone through a lot to get to the point of doing this and now... puf...
It is what it is.
DeleteI can understand the minimalist approach to radio. Retirement is much more than keeping things like they were.
ReplyDeleteOf course, you will be able to contact some of us hams who may wander by Ft. Collins sometime in the future.
Well.....it's a bit more than that. I'd planned on a tower and HF/vhf antennas, but I see now that's not going to happen.
DeleteSo far everything that's 'on the block' are things I'm not going to use. I don't need FOUR HT's, several packet TNC's, several "parts radios" for rigs I no longer have, and a collection of radio-related knick-knacks that might look cool, but have no real function.