In my very small amount of evening free time in the last months, I managed to work on a couple little projects in my hamshack.  Both of these things are related to the small workbench area I built for myself.  I purposefully kept the workbench on the small side, because I've found that keeping a space small forces me to be deliberate about organization and tidiness.  The end result, is that I end up with more usable work space, because I keep it clean, then I would have with a giant workbench covered in debris (Although I'm far from perfect in that regard...)

   The first of these projects was re-wiring an old task lamp.  My wife's grandfather passed away a few months back, and one of the things in the pile of stuff that we had to go through was an old desk lamp.  It was a really neat looking florescent fixture, being made of all metal, with a nice heavy base.  It looked old, so I figured I'd better inspect it before using it - I was glad I did!  It turns out that it was made in the 1950's.  I know that, because the base, where the open-frame (!) ballast was located, was stuffed with newspaper (!!) dated 1951, to hold the ballast in place.

     The newspaper had the requisite singe marks on it from where things got a little toasty at some point.  The wiring was also all cloth-covered cord that was fraying all over the place.  I pulled all the old wiring out, and did away with the florescent fixture parts.  I replaced the wiring with modern wire appropriate for the task, added a new switch on the base, and instead of a florescent fixture, I attached 3 strips of led lighting from wired communications onto the light reflector.  I now have a neat vintage looking task lamp, but one that runs on the same 12 volts as my other shack stuff, and won't burn down my house if I have it turned on for a few hours!

     The other task that I've completed recently, was to get some organization in place for my small parts that I use most frequently at my workbench.  Step one of that project was to grab a sheet of metal from the hardware section at the big-box-home improvement center, and step two was to snag a 20 pack of magnetic spice jars from Amazon.  Presto - small parts organization!

     And lastly, what better way to exhibit both of these items, than to showcase them being pressed into service by a future member of our ham radio clan, hard at they're work!

     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 :-)

-
    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 :-)

Today during my lunch break we took a drive to a local antiques shop. We’re not far from Strasburg PA, which is known for historical train stuff, so once in a while old telegraph equipment pops ups in the places near us. I didn’t luck out and find anything like that today, but I did stumble on some vintage test gear - a couple “milliammeters” some various volt and amp gauges that could be neat in a project, and one thing that I’m not familiar with - a “Cathode Follower.”

Searching Google for the make and model brings up a lot hits for old articles about accelerometer testing, one of which includes a block diagram of this device in between an accelerometer under test, an amplifier, and an oscilloscope.

This leaves me asking a few questions:
Are the old milliammeters worth the $40 they’re marked at, are the volt and amperage gauges sufficiently cool and vintage enough to be worth around the $15 they are marked at, and lastly, WHAT exactly was this “cathode follower” normally used for?

I had a blast at field day!  Thanks again to W3COB for an awesome job organizing a great event for W3RRR!

I was only able to participate for the day Saturday, but I still had a blast.  Since I never get to play around much on 6 meters, that's where I spent the day.  I didn't make many contacts, but it was fun being on a band that was new to me, and learning the sounds and behaviors of SSB on VHF.  

Hopefully everyone made it through field day in one piece, and had as much fun as I did!

Earlier this month (Fathers day weekend) our family took a trip to Cape May.  Cape May is probably our favorite beach town, because it suits our style perfectly - it's a historic town, quiet, family friendly, and close enough to drive to, but far enough away that it feels like we really went somewhere.

Usually there wouldn't be much "ham radio" related activity to write about in regards to these trips. Normally the most I do is make a couple contacts on the local repeaters from the beach, while the kiddos play in the sand.  This time however, I decided to sneak in a quick POTA activation.  Since POTA only requires 10 contacts for an activation, the family agreed to let me play radio while they poked around the museum and overlook platforms at the Cape May Point State Park. 

So, while the family spent some extra time enjoying the sites and sounds of Cape May Point, I parked under the shadow of the Cape May Lighthouse and made some contacts:

During this activation, I had a thought.  I'm not sure exactly what seeded it - but I suspect it was a conversation on the POTA Slack Channel that I had with W8TAM about QSL cards and lighthouses.  I enjoy QSLing, but I don't normally do it for my POTA activations unless someone sends me a card first, because sometimes there's a pretty good pile-up, and the postage could add up if I tried to send them to everyone.  I decided to do something as a fun middle-ground on my next few activations - since 10 contacts is what we need for a successful POTA activation, I'm going to pick up 10 post cards that are representative of the place I was activating, and then send those 10 post cards as QSL cards to the first 10 people to contact me on any given activation.  With that thought - if you happened to be among the first 10 to contact me at K-1610, watch the mail for a card (probably with a picture of the Cape May Point Lighthouse on it!)

Our trips to Cape May always feel short because time flies when you're having fun, and I can't think of a way to have more fun than to combine the beach, time with the family, ham radio, and an old-fashioned carnival on the lawn of the inn. (Do you think those strings of lights would make a good NVIS antenna?)