Just in case you didn't already know this, I've been putting in a lot of hours helping to get the QSO storage system for the Parks on the Air group up and running.  From the main website, if you go to the dashboard section it takes you to a page of statistics where you can see results from activations, log in, look at your own personal profile etc.  That's the stuff that we've been furiously working on for the last few months :-)

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    Since I just recently finished up my Information Systems degree, it's been nice to have this project to help work on, so that I can get some "real world" use out of my new-found skills, and support a hobby that I enjoy at the same time!

     Fun certainly does not always equate to easy though!  It's been quite a lot of work (I estimate conservatively that I've spent about 12 - 20 hours a week on it.)  The only reason I point out the amount of effort that we have been putting into this, is to highlight that we're all volunteers doing it - Our reward is seeing people enjoy the program, and having a fun time activating parks.  In one case though, one of the individuals who participates in the program, and also helps out with some of the administrative stuff, went above and beyond to show his appreciation, and sent me this in the mail as a way to say thanks:

     So, in return, thank you!  As soon as the new shack is ready to start having furniture moved in, and decorations hung, this will be one of the first things to go up on the wall!  Until then, it's sitting next to me in the temporary closet-shack that I call home while the dirt and dust flies around down in the basement :-)

     Things on the shack front are getting pretty exciting! 

     After we got the quotes for having the drywall I hung finished, the YL and I sat down to review our options.  We got 3 quotes - two of them were very close to each other, and the third was very high (so high, that I suspect the guy didn't actually want the work.)  Since the other two quotes were very close, it made sense to me to go with the person who is another ham!  We dropped the check in the mail last week, and this week the fun started out in the main part of the basement:

     I'll be sure to share some more pictures when the drywall finishing is complete, since the first coat of mud and tape isn't really the glamorous part of drywall.   While the work down there continues, I'll be getting some paint and flooring together so that the YL and I can move along with that stuff as soon as the drywall is ready for paint :-)

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Recently, in a land called "Lancaster" there was an Old Man (OM) who fancied himself a handy chap.  He was always busy with all different kinds of projects.  Depending on when and where you encountered him, he may have been trying his hand at being a carpenter, a mason, an electrician, a landscaper, a painter, and even a software developer.  

In spite of all the things this OM attempted, there was one task that the mere thought of brought a crippling paralysis to his normal "I can do that!" attitude.  What task could possibly cause so much fear for the OM?  As is the case in many stories like this one, the fear of this particular task probably existed more because of something in the OM's mind than it did because of the task itself.  For this OM, that task was the one of drywall finishing.  It's something he has just never done.  He has encountered gypsum fairies that seem to be able to flit in and out of a room and have what appears to be perfectly finished walls in no time flat, but he is certain he can't replicate their skills and speed.

While looking at the drywall he hung, and contemplating what the finished drywall would look like after his amateur attempts, in swooped Super Lady to save the day!

"You know what OM?" said Super Lady, "you worked so hard on all of this, and you did it all while supporting and being with your family, working a full time job, AND finishing up your bachelor's degree as an adult, I think you deserve a reward."

With that introduction, she concluded with "Why don't we just hire someone to finish the drywall?"

The day is saved! The OM no longer needs to fear that he will completely wreck the job with poor finishing.  Now all he has to do is find a drywall finisher in the Lancaster PA area who does nice work, and is willing to finish this drywall, hung by an amateur:

All of the "stuff" (Outlets, switches, lights, etc.) will be removed to make finishing easier for the person doing the work, whoever that ends up being!

P.S.  If you liked my little story, and happen to know any drywall finishers in the Lancaster PA Area (or if you happen to be one!) reach out to me via any of the methods on my contacts page - I'm looking to have estimates in hand and someone selected for the job in fairly short order!

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     Since I've been slowly building my ham shack, my temporary location for radio operations continues to be the master bedroom closet.  For HF this isn't too bad, because it is only a short distance to the feed-point of the long-wire antenna I'm temporarily using for those bands (I talked about putting up my current version last fall.)  For VHF/UHF however, I've been limited to this arrangement:

    While this has worked fine for the local repeater, it limits me because:

• Indoor antennas for VHF and UHF are almost always poor performers
• Its only like 2 feet from my head, so I'm rather restricted on the power I can run through it.

     Ultimately, the plan was to put my VHF and UHF antenna's on a mast on the roof, because I'm fortunate enough to live right near the crest of a small hill, in a relatively flat area, which means I don't have to get very high to be clear of obstructions for quite a few miles in all directions - in fact, I only need to get a few feet above my own roof to clear my own trees!  

A while back I decided to just get the stuff ordered to put the mast up, figuring that I can feed the coax into my temporary shack while I continue work on the permanent one in the basement.  With that though, I was off to the roof!

Per the directions, I started by holding the top bracket in place at the peak of the eve, and using a torpedo level to make sure it was straight.  After marking the holes, and pre-drilling, I installed the bracket (with just a dab of silicone to seal things up!).

Putting this bracket on first, allows you to assemble the bottom bracket, attach it to the mast, and then position the bottom bracket by sliding the mast up through the top bracket and tightening it down.  This basically "hangs" the bottom bracket from the mast and top bracket, so that you can freely position, level, and then screw the bottom bracket fast.  Easy!

After tightening everything down, I have a mast in place!  Like many other hams, time is limited, so it will probably be a couple weeks before I order an antenna and get it mounted (or even just temporarily mount the thing that I'm using inside.)   I think I'm going to claim that the delay is on purpose - this way if any neighbors complain about interference, I can shoot them down - "There's not even an antenna on it yet!"
     That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

     Howdy all!  I just have another short update for everyone this week, related to the progress on my primary project - the home ham shack.  The shack and the main "rec room" part of the basement are part of the same project, so the last couple weeks have been tied up with drywall and related work in the main part of the basement, which is mostly not ham radio related (which is why I haven't bored all of you with those details...)  
     Before I started hanging the drywall in that room, I did share some of the work I did to run coax, rotor cable, conduit, etc. across the rec room.  I discussed that way back here, but if you recall, I basically ran a bunch of wire, coax, and conduit, and left the ends in a box against the outside wall.  The idea was to make it easy to do the penetration to the exterior when the time came.  Here's a couple pics as a reminder of that:

     Now, with drywall in place, the same spot looks like this:

     This gives me an easy access panel in the basement, so that when I get to the tower part of the project, I'll be able to put a matching box outside the house, drill through the exterior wall into the back of this box, pull my cable and wires through, and make my connections in the outside box, where all the connections to tower, ground, etc. will be.

     Just trying to plan ahead as I keep plugging along with this project!