Monday, 19th August, 2024

Buying that flex radio is a dumb idea. I’ve got too caught up in stuff…literally stuff.

The guidance is “spend 90% of your money on antenna” … not radios. But buying radios is easy and making antenna is hard/people don’t like looking at them. Which is why going up a mountain is fun as then no one cares what it looks like, plus you have to optimise it as you’re carrying it all.

I think I have enough radios…and maybe I should try and reduce? Well at least not add.

A local, who I met via SOTA and his YouTube channel, has his home station on his qrz profile. I don’t need to copy people but I do admire the simplicity but effectiveness of his home station. I should go back to my idea of remote setup with the IC-705. I actually think I care more about remote VHF (2m and 70cm bands) as local activators are going to be calling on those and looking for contacts, whereas HF they can get anyone nation or worldwide.

I put up the big vertical at home over the weekend. Was great fun and going to write it up on my radio blog at some point. Could I install that permanently home? I suspect not…

I should focus my efforts on building a 2m yagi for SOTA, maybe a 10m moxon or equivalent and then sort out my home VHF/UHF.

Had a leak from the bathroom into the garage last night. Called insurance this morning to raise a claim as I figured it would be pricy with needing new tiles and ceiling but now I’m doubting that. Plumber came and found the issue is the water pipe to the toilet bowl. Fix is easy enough and the only damage is the ceiling and the tile grout in the bathroom. I suppose the joists could be wet but would they really need replacing? This could’ve been going on a long time as it’s the guest room bathroom and rarely gets used.

I just dislike insurance as it always feels like a trap and a small claim now will cost us for the next 5 years. But if the plumber came and it was a big job then I’d be glad I raised it with them and their “tell us immediately” rules. Ugh. Just feels like every choice is the wrong one.

Back to school for the kids tomorrow. Summer holidays over…that was fast.