It's Official, I'm Retiring In August!

Just filled out the online forms, printed it all, and I'm in the system for starting my benefits in September.

Still not sure when I'm going to tell them at work.......

BUT, considering all the shit they've pulled on all of us, I think I'll be nice and give them two weeks notice......

Gonna See "The Gunny" On Saturday!

R. Lee Ermey will be at the Major Surplus and Survival store tomorrow for their yearly Blow-Out Sale.

I'll be there in the morning helping a bit with the booth for the Iowa, and hopefully I'll be able to get him to autograph his book I bought some months ago.

It's a pretty good book, and one I wished was available years ago when I was younger. He has a lot of good advice in it, and I'm sure I would have taken much of it.

The only "guide" I had way back then was a copy of "The Blujacket's Manual" my Dad gave me.

While that book was pretty good, I felt it just didn't apply to me (hey, I was a young pup!), but I read it anyway, and still have it.

The last time I met Gunny was at "Old Fort MacArthur Days", and I was 100% impressed with the man.

He's a real gentleman in person, and even my girlfriend at the time thought he was pretty cool.

Ever Had That "Terminally Burned Out" Feeling?

Well, I'm there with the one radio club I've been a member of since 1995.

I've been on the board for the last six years.

I've been the Field Day chair for the last six years.

I've been running the weekly net for the last four years.

I'm the President (again....) this year.

And my dear sweet wife assembles, edits, and publishes the club newsletter.

Most of the members are good people, but like most clubs we have a few flakes.

The problem is that nobody wants to help do things with club activities.

Out of the 40 some members, it's the same four to six people who make everything happen, and I'm tired of "fighting above my weight" doing so many things.

Oh, sure, the members have "ideas", and "suggestions", but they want somebody else to do all the work, and when their ideas and suggestions don't happen, they get upset about it.

When you point out that they could do the job, they immediately fall back back on the old "Oh, but I don't know how to do that" excuse.

I told everybody back in January that I would NOT be the Field Day chair this year, and nobody stepped forward to pick up the ball.

As a result, we'll only have two stations operating this year, where we normally have four or five.

And know what?

I don't care.

Amateur Radio is a HOBBY to me, and when your hobbies stop being fun, that's bad.

Besides, I'll be retiring very soon, and I have other interests and activities I want to pursue, along with doing a bunch of things around the house.

It's 100% different with the association we have on the Iowa, where everybody pitches in, and pulls more than their own weight.

And I don't mind bending over backwards one bit on the Iowa......

'Nam Era Music Medley

Stumbled across this on Da Tube while looking for something else.

While I might question some of the imagery used (M1 Abrams?). on the whole it's pretty damn good, and if you're "my age" +/- a few years, you'll definitely 'get it'.

June 6th, 1944 AND 1942

Most everybody knows June 6th 1944 was D-Day, but how many remember that June 6th 1942 was The Battle of Midway?

I've always been interested in the campaign in the pacific since that's where my Dad was (with the SeaBees) during WWII.

Midway was a significant battle, with four of the six carriers used for the Pearl Harbor attack, along with a heavy cruiser, being sunk.

The carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and the Hiryu were sunk, along with the heavy cruiser Mikuma.

It was the first major defeat for the Imperial Japanese Navy since 1863, and most historians recognize it as the turning point in the Pacific Theater.

Great Bass Line!

The first time I heard this song was on "Wide World Of Sports" as the intro to a segment they did on Shirley Muldowney.

I'm not sure what Ms. Muldowney's reaction to it was, but I thought it was a killer song, with the best bass line I'd heard in a long time.

Enjoy the video, and watch out for that HAIR!

Memorial Day on the Batlleship Iowa

Well, we all had a very nice, and somewhat somber, day aboard the Iowa yesterday.

In my rush, I forgot my camera, but since I was inside most of the day, I really didn't get to see much.

We made about 300 contacts althought the band conditions weren't the best.

I was running my Elecraft K2 on the trussed monopole near the helipad, and the other operator was running our Kenwood TS-850S on the disc/cage antenna.

There were over 3500 paid-at-the-gate visitors, and the local radio stations bought a large number of tickets to hand out.

If anybody will be down this way, let me know, as I have a stack of "Buy One Get One" tickets which will get you and a guest in for one paid admission.

Really Bad News From A Fellow Blogger

Our fellow blogger over at Live From The Alamo City has received some devastating news.

Please keep he and his wife in your prayers, and drop by and give him some support....


Thanks, he's a good guy.

Upcoming Amateur Radio Events on the Battleship IOWA

Just got back from the BIARA board/planning meeting for the month.

As of this date, we'll be operating NI6BB on May 26th for Memorial Day, from 0900 to 1800 PDST, along with several other events.

Museum Ships Weekend
0000Z June 7th, through 2359Z June 8th

ARRL Field Day
June 28th~29th OPERATING HOURS TBD

I'll post the other events here, as we firm them up.

Look for us on frequencies ending in "61" (get it? BB61?), like 14.261, 7.261, etc +/- the QRM!

On announced events, we usually get quite a pile-up, so be patient, and if we can hear you, we will work you!

I won't be operating on the Iowa for Field Day, as I'll be running the satellite station for my "other" club, URAC, K6AA.

Hope to meet you on the air!

Busy Day, Again!

Spent all day on the IOWA, for an orientation class, which was extremely well done, and then a couple of hours in Radio Central making contacts for our Armed Forces Day event.

We're encouraging everyone we meet to write a little Military Service bio on their QSL cards, covering either themselves, or close relatives.

Talked to one older gent who'd served on the IOWA back in the '50's, and he was extremely excited that we have regular Amateur Radio operations going on now.

Then I came home, played with the dog, and built a bookcase for my wife.

My son is coming over Sunday morning to see the Supra, and give me a hand moving some things around.

Gee.....2047 local time, and I'm ready for bed. I remember when this was the time I'd be getting ready to go out prowling the streets with my '73 Trans Am!

**~~HOT!~~**

WoW.....We've had three days of 100+ weather, and today is the hottest yet.

The thermometer in may car indicated it was 107*F coming home today, and my calibrated weather station indicates we hit 104.4*F today at 1326 local time, the highest temp so far this year.

And to make it worse, the Relative Humidity has been in the %5~6% range the last several days.

I don't ever recall getting "static zaps" in the summer out here!

It's supposed to break tonight, with high being 93*F on Friday, dropping to 80*F on Saturday, and in the low to mid 70's on Sunday, and through the next week.


AND......I watched my workmates motor out of the harbor today on their way to catch up with the Launch Platform, and then on to 154*W, 0*N (the launch site) for the launch of Eutelsat 3B, which is now scheduled for May 26th, at 1410 PDST, 2110 UTC.

If anybody wants to watch the live streaming web broadcast, drop me an email, and I'll send you the link.