A Lame Duck is nothing more than a Left-Over Turkey!

Time is close to see the results of your carefully planned yearlong strategy to get a new POTA friendly radio from your family for Christmas. You are hoping for a KX3, but you will settle for a Xeigu G90. Now, so you don't get caught with your undershorts at ankle level you have three days to think about an antenna you could use for that POTA event. You don't have much time and of course the 1st POTA opportunity would be Friday, December 26, 2025. You better get cracking today! EFHW Antenna from BOZOS about $90 You have thoroughly thought out the parity of this transactional encounter. You get a KX3 and the XYL gets a new hand operated lawn mower. BTW in the Left Coast State sales of new gasoline powered lawn mowers is outlawed. You don't want to buy a battery powered unit as then the XYL (GF or partner) would have to know about charging the battery. This opens a path that you might have to get involved so hand powered means the other party needs no instructions, no battery...

If you have not bought that special gift for your partner, XYL, or GF... start stressing. Needless to say, it is bad form is to buy the GF and XYL the same present. This not about buying a gift for you such as this high end SDR. While my XYL was still with us, I really enjoyed buying her Christmas presents. Often it would be clothes as I was dialed in to what she liked. I knew that to be true because she would actually wear the clothes, I bought for her. This is the first time in 57 years there is no shopping to be done for her.   Relish the opportunity to buy that very special person a meaningful gift. While you have convinced the XYL, GF or partner that it is her duty to mow the lawn, a new lawnmower is not in that meaningful gift category. GF Partner XYL Also resist the cruel, old trick of buying a new truck and saying to that special person: Look what I bought us for Christmas, and your intent is to never let her drive it. Stunning news as two high profile YL MAGA acolytes...

BC-348, Rx (bottom) and BC-375E, Tx (top) Now is the time for a Christmas wish and some wishes would be to have this station. It would be perfect to check into POTA Net stations using AM and for those stupid closed "red hat" nets on 40M check in on CW. Click the Link under the photo. This is a typical WW2 large aircraft (B17, B25, B29) radio setup. You can find the BC-348 and the BC-375E on eBay and with about $1500 you could snag this pair today. In 1946-47 you could buy the same for about $50. This would be a hoot to operate and if anything is a trip back in time when this radio was key to the crew's survival.  I am just dying to hear about your BC-375E As we move into the last two weeks of 2025, stay focused on the 2026 Mid-terms and what must get changed. A lame duck is nothing more than a leftover Turkey. What is your trust level in the individuals running the current administration? Be honest! Them that know can make things go. Blog Post Update: The blog post featu...

Some visionaries suggest we are all connected, and that these connections are many.  I am trying to figure out some of my connections and can report the one connection shared by me and many world-wide is ham radio. [First a bit of Good News is that my LARCSet 40, the $39 SSB/CW transceiver was shipped yesterday and will be here in time to put under the Christmas Tree.] But below is list of individuals that have another critical connection, and it is a very strong bond! Katie Holmes Josef Stalin Bette Grabble Billie Eilish Ray Liotta Stephen Spielberg E. Howard Armstong (Radio Guy) Brad Pitt (My man with a GF half his age) SIA Christine Aguilera Keith Richards (Stones) DMX Me Ron White (Red Neck Comedy Tour) Ossie Davis Hana Soukupova (Czech Super Model) Archduke Ferdinand of Austria (ignited WWI) Ty Cobb (Baseball Legend) The Connection is their birthday which is today. Happy Birthday to all. The gathering this Christmas of the extended family will be challenging. Just as America i...

It is sad when an American ham radio manufacturer no longer produces cutting edge products and then folds. The R L Drake Company is one of those firms. As a part of my herd thinning, I dug out my Drake TR-7 and powered it up. I was in awe for this is a radio built in the time frame of the late 1970's to early 1980's and had no microprocessors or microcontroller embeds yet performed like it did. In today's dollars and fully kitted think $10K. Sitting at your operating desk, the TR-7 could operate on all frequencies from 1.5 to 30 MHz on AM, CW and SSB. The PA stage was rated at 250 watts but typically set to deliver 100 watts. The TR-7 had provisions for 3 filters and a slot for an optional NB. The Digital Display could be switched from the back panel to become a general purpose 100 MHz Frequency Counter. Initially the TR-7 using a jumper board could be used without the digital display and became an Analog Only Radio Readout. There were capabilities to temporarily store freq...

As I prepare to unload my garage of the old boat anchors it became apparent that I made a serious mistake when I started collecting them. Mistake should not be singular as I made quite a few mistakes (plural). I want to share those with you in hopes of informing you to not do what I did. Easily I own 30 boat anchors. That was Mistake #1. Many were inexpensive to purchase and so the low cost was a driver. But in reality, they were low end radios and today are not too good on the ham bands. I am talking SBE-33/34's, National NCX-3/NCX-200 and the SWAN SW series the 120/140/175/240. Throw in a Hallicrafters SR-160 and a Drake TR-3 and you get the picture. I also have two WRL DB-84 Duo-Bander transceivers, and we should not forget the Transcom SBT-3, (SBT = Side Band Turkey) and the Ten Tec Triton II. WRL Duo-Bander DB-84 Mistake #2 was that even though they were low cost, I spent a lot of money. I would have been better off buying just a few radios that were a higher quality, feature ...

" Let them eat cake " is the traditional translation of the French phrase " Qu'ils mangent de la brioche ", [ 1 ]  said to have been spoken in the 18th century by "a great princess" upon being told that the  peasants  had no bread. The French phrase mentions  brioche , a bread enriched with butter and eggs, considered a luxury food. The quote is taken to reflect either the princess's frivolous disregard for the starving peasants or her poor understanding of their plight." [Source = the Internet] This past weekend was marked by world-wide violence. Some of it happening here in SoCal... RIP Rob Reiner and XYL. The answer as is typical is thoughts and prayers or as said by the princess: "Let Them Eat Cake". This is being "tone deaf" to the social problems that need to be addressed. Even today in the USA, there seems to be a focus outside of the core issues that generate such violence. It must be more fun to conduct ICE raids v...

Wise, visionary, intelligent, diplomatic, worldly, considerate, a communicator, tolerant, compassionate, astute and decidedly with a sense of history. As you read those words to a person, admit that you scored 100% in a self-assessment. This is not unlike the nursery rhyme saying... Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all. It is just human nature to stretch the truth but there is a clear and present danger of perception versus reality in that an attribute masks actions that are contrary to the rule of law.  As an example, drug trafficking is abhorrent but assuring there are no survivors in a boat raid raises ethical questions. Rounding up US Citizens because they look foreign is yet another example. These actions clearly have the purpose to demonstrate strength and power but on the other side of the equation what actions are being taken to fix the root cause. It is very evident the long-term problem resolution actions don't garner headlines or rouse up the base. T...

I am appalled at what I hear on the ham bands today. As Amateur Radio Ops we have a responsibility  to conduct ourselves properly , since essentially what we do is over an open microphone. Classic Ham Radio: Collins Tx, Astatic "G" Stand and a comely YL Foul language has no place in a QSO and the same applies to those hams running 5KW to simply invade a frequency without checking to see if the frequency is in use. Cutting down on the discussions about enlarged gall bladders would help too.  On 40M out here on the left coast a group of guys regularly meet around 7260 kHz. In the background is a jamming station sending CW on a loop about a slutty YL. Great code practice but it is jamming and inappropriate content. Another group on 7225 has the same issue. What was once a hobby that oozed respect, dignity, decorum and consideration is no more.  A station running a POTA operation heard several call signs at the same time. He announces that he heard multiple stations and said ...