Crafting and Overcoming Mike Fright

[hollyking]

Our first Arts & Crafts Night was a success. hollyqueen make Chicken Soup. cheesentoast finished a necklace. omg_teh_funnay sat around being a smart ass. I baked biscuits and read some supporting material for some projects I want to work on in the coming months. A low-key night but as the first one I am going to call it a success.

Preparing for posting for National Preparedness Month has reignited my interest in amateur radio. The thing that keeps knocking me off track is that I get wound up with living in an apartment so I don't have a place to install antennas or put together a large amateur radio station. So I keep reminding myself of how much fun I do have when I play and that any activity is better than no activity. There are lots of things I can do with the radio equipment I do have. So I have a list of projects that I can do now and another list of projects that I will do in the future.

The future list is waiting on saving up a bit of money to buy new gear with HF capabilities. Because there isn't much room in the apartment for radios my plan is to put together a rig that could be used while backpacking. Then I'll take that to different areas in the area and operate from islands, mountain tops, parks and whatever. I also need to learn Morse Code so that I can use some real small portable units.

Another thing I need to keep reminding myself is that "mike fright" is a common affliction of radio operators. That is a fear of pushing the button and actually talking to people over the radio. Tonight I overcame that fear and pushed the button to join some folks on the Nine O'Clock Net. I was given a nice welcome and no one pointed out the few mistakes I made. I'll have to keep chatting with these folks and get over that fear.

So the first big project on my list is getting one of the radios installed in Zero. I sit in traffic often enough, why not use some of that gear to talk to people while driving around? I have the radio, I just need an antenna, some coax and the kit to mount the radio in a different location from the control head. Oh, and finding someone with some tools and a bit of skill with installing radios in cars. ;)

Comments

[neuro42.livejournal.com]

Oh, and finding someone with some tools and a bit of skill with installing radios in cars. ;)

I can do that...

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

That didn't take too long. ;)

I'll let you know as soon as I have the rest of the parts and we can setup a time to make it happen. Thanks!

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

Every time I see you post about this I have a vision of you as the mobile communications expert for G.I. Joe. But I don't have a code name for you.

Help me out here.

:D

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

Well KD7LAH is my callsign from the FCC. Radio operators in the military are called Sparky a lot. I guess it's from the old days of using spark gap transmitters where there would actually be sparks arcing while sending signals.

[maida-mac.livejournal.com]

Interesting that you've started posting about this again, as I'm considering getting my license and a hiking kit. ^_^

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

Sweet! I'd love to help you with that!

[cheesentoast.livejournal.com]

Crafting night was fun! :D I still have a lot of projects I need to finish.

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you had fun! I'm looking forward to the next one. ;)