Missed out on Dayton this year, bummer. With starting the new job yesterday it was just too much to cram into a weekend. Next year is a must! I did however start playing around with Echolink. I setup a simplex repeater on 145.600 here in Allentown and we seemed to have coverage all the way up to the Hickory Run area. I linked it up to a ham out at Dayton who sets up a simplex repeater every year. And word was one of my local clubs linked up the 440 side of the D-Star repeater out there, but some of us just don’t have that ability just yet.

During the weekend while going over some operating proceedures with my YL, KB3SIK; 10 meter seemed to come alive on 28.400. I heard a VK station to the south west of me, only assuming he was actually from Australia, but found quickly he was located in Tennessee. But not bad for 10 meter from Pennsylvania!

So all that being said I did start the new job yesterday. I’m psyched and intimidated all at once. I think that’s what happens when you’ve been laid-off for 6 months. It’s a role I haven’t been directly assigned in over 4 years, having come back to the Linux admin side of the house from being a Network Engineer. The chops are still there and seem consistant. Now to fast forward the next 3 months to get up to speed so I actually feel like I’m contributing to the group.

Oh, more QSL cards on the way and a new vanity call sometime next week!

–jeff