K7NRA

The NRA will turn 140 on November 17 and with it comes a special opportunity for Amateur radio operators.  Quoting from the YARC page:

The NRA's 140th anniversary is coming soon and with it comes a special opportunity for the many NRA amateur radio operators. 

The Yavapai Amateur  Radio Club (YARC) of Prescott, AZ, will operate a special event  station November 17, 2011, in celebration of the NRA’s 140th birthday.

The special event will operate from the Gunsite Academy’s 2,000-acre campus in Paulden, AZ, north of Prescott.  The special event call sign will be K7NRA. It will conduct operations on the following frequencies from 0800 MST to 1700 MST (1500 to 2400 UTC): 7.250, 14.050,14.250 and 21.335 MHz (+/-).

Mark the date on your calendar, tune up your antennae and heat up the finals! I just upgraded my priviledges and acquired a new radio that I'm itching to use.  The radio only puts out 5W but Paulden is just a hundred miles and one mountain range as the wave flies.
Unfortunately for me that weekdaily inconvenience known as the DayJob(tm) expects my presence exactly those hours.  But maybe I can work something around the edges.

Grandpa's code key

While the FCC has dropped the code requirements to earn licenses, There is still a family historical interest driving me to learn.  You see my Grandfather was in the Signal Corps in WWI and this was his telegraph key:

I think he would be happy to see his key in action again by his offspring.

We don't know much about it, though it's probably at least 100 years old.   There is am 1899 date cast into the receiver(?) frame.  If anyone knows more about it, please answer in the comments (Bobbi?, anyone) or via direct email sandcastlescrolls at msn dot com.

Slant Alpha Golf

Woo Hoo!

I gave a talk to a local low power (QRP) group back in July.  In the process of hanging out with the club the SCSon learned he can get his own license.  We bought him the book and he started studying on his own.  He ran into trouble with the electronics stuff as he has had no formal instruction.   I've tried to teach him the basics but he's at an age where he won't listen to dad.

I got to thinking though about my own license.  It will expire next year and just "sitting" while he takes his exam.  Hmmm... Might as well upgrade my own ticket to General. 

So a few weeks later and I'm ready to take the exam.  He hadn't been studying but rather than let him sit I figured the $15 was worth it to get the experience with the exam format.

I mentioned I was taking the test to a couple co-workers and they all offered "Good Luck!".  I said "Thanks, but it's not a matter of luck".  Either you know the material or you don't.  There are a couple questions I just wasn't going to attempt to memorize "Which of the following frequencies are within the General class portion of the 10M band?"  Then lists three frequencies and All of the above.  I suppose I could get an exam that had enough of these "write off" questions to trip me up but I was confident.

In the end, I passed and he failed.  There's a correlation there between "I studied and he hadn't".   We are looking for a formal class for him to take.  We thought we had one, 6 Satudays and close by.  Unfortunately he's at a local community college and they won't register him because he's under 16.  FAIL!  Supposedly there are other classes that run regularly but nothing on the calendar as yet.

Suddenly I'm regretting living in an HOA neighborhood.   Even though I sleep with the HOA president, external antennas are clearly a CCR violation.  This is going to take some creativity!  Stay tuned.

*  /AG tells the world that I have passed the exam even though the exam application and results has not been processed through ARRL and posted to the usual databases.