1) The Pocono Hamfast was an unfortunate bust. We drove 70 miles from our QTH in Pottstown, PA, to be faced with a “less than mediocre” hamfest. Only 1 vendor listed on the flyer was there and they were only selling power poles and HT cases. Honestly this has to be the worst one I’ve been to yet, which was quite unfortunate.

2) With the upcoming 2009 CQ RTTY contest this weekend (Sept 26-27) I’ve enabled digital modes on Laurie’s Heathkit SB401/301. I took a hint from another ham using the HD15 phone patch as a computer interface for a DVK (digital voice keyer), I used our SB-630 station console for PSK/RTTY/SSTY instead. It was quite simple to do even though their appears to be a 550 ohm impedance difference between the computer and the phone patch interfaces. So far so good. Posts with photos coming soon.

3) I recently aquired an IC-2200H for the truck. Even though it’s only 2 meter, it gives me better D-Star capabilities down the road. My interest in D-Star has been waning as of late. Packet loss and “R2D2′ing” gets old quick, especially when you are a member of net operations. Thoughts of selling my 91AD for this reason have been plaguing me lately. See my recent D-Star post.

4) After spending an afternoon with my local radio club (DLARC) and speaking to a fellow ham, I’ve been introduced into the world of Hex Beams and Cubical Quads. I’ve never really investigated these types of antennas as they’re not considered to be the “conventional beam”. I’m happy to say after doing a bit of research, I’ve started building the base of the antenna and am quickly aquiring the parts to build the rest of the antenna. It seems all the commercial vendors want $100 for a hex base. I really wanted to go with the DX Engineering base, but decided to go completely homebrew instead and spent $30 at The Home Depot last night on parts. As I build this thing I’ll post my experiences and photos as I progress.