K9OZ ham radio blog

My biggest problem is I enjoy messing with different radios. Every now and then, I run out of room and sell some off, then I start buying again. Today, here's the lineup. Icom 756 Pro -- love this radio. I had a 756PROIII I sold a few months ago and was really having buyers remorse. I'm glad I found the Pro at a nice price locally. Elecraft K2/100. It's my baby. I built it. I love it. I'll never sell it. Icom 765. I bought this used a couple years ago for $500. A big rig, big knobs, lots of controls, great receiver, great sound. It's showing its age by making some funny noises every now and then, but still a great radio. I use it a lot. Patcomm 16000A. Anotehr $500 find on e-bay. A strange radio, you don't hear many, or hardly any of them, but a very nice cw rig. Great QSK. I won't say I love it, but well worth the $500. Orion I. I really tried to love this radio, but it's currently for sale on E-bay. I just never got comfortable with it, and it had way ...

Second op Buffy

Last weekend was the North American QSO Party -- cw. I always enjoy this contest, it's fast, only lasting 12 hours, and simple. I messed around on 15 and 20 meters for a while in the afternoon, and racked up about 50 contacts, but didn't really sit down and operate. Then Saturday night I went downstairs and 9:30 and started out on 20 meters, quickly switching to 40 and 80 meters. By 12:30 a.m. I was closing in on 250 contacts, so I shut it down. I had a good, high run rate for those 3 hours and ran a frequency on 40 for the last hour. I seem to have passed a milestone in my contesting skill, where I can now sit and run a frequency for an hour or two. That's a new one for me. On the radio side, I picked up a used Icom 756 Pro. I had sold a Pro III a few months ago, and had a serious case of seller's remorse. I'm really happy to have the Pro, and I can live with the minor downgrade from the Pro III with the extra $$$ I have in my savings account.