HollyKing's Journal

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. ;)

The people have spoken and the night has been chosen. Come join hollyqueen for our first Arts & Crafts night. Here are the details:

When: Monday August 11th at 7:00pm PDT
Where: 2425 E Madison St, Seattle, WA 98112 (map)
What: Bring your art or craft projects and work on them while socializing.
Who: hollyqueen, hollyking and you.