I've finally gotten a chance to catch my breath post-vacation (funny how that works, the ironic need for a vacation after vacation). N5THX and I played a lot of radio last week. We got some copper tubing and built a super j-pole that I must admit worked like a charm. We mounted it on his mailbox and were able to hit a repeater 50 miles away with 5 watts, which I think rather surprised both of us. HamHoliday in Oklahoma City was a bit of a disappointment. It seemed as though it could have been a much bigger success than it ended up being, had it been, for example, better publicized.

In regards to ke5ukh's previous post, I am also on identi.ca. follow me at identi.ca/robdgreat. In other news, I applied for a new sequential callsign, approximately 2 months after upgrading to Extra. So now I am AE5IR.

73,
AE5IR, ex. KE5TPY

I also went to Field Day here for the Greater New Orleans area, a joint venture between the Delta DX Association (N5RU) and the Jefferson Parish Amateur Radio Club (W5GAD), where I also made my first HF contacts. I also hope to get a log, as while I only made about 4 or 5 contacts during the 15 minutes or so I operated on 20m RTTY, until the generator was shut off for refueling, the only call I remember was the very first - NU7DE, a naturist club in Arizona.

We spent most of this weekend relocating to new digs. Seems all the bugs have been ironed out, and all is well. Please let us know if anything is amiss.

I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but I finally took the time to add the new 2008 Extra pool to the practice suite. Those of you intending to test on or after July 1 can now review the upcoming pool.

To hear everyone's reports, I must be just about the only one who didn't attend the Dayton Hamvention this year. So here's what I did do. Friday I went to work, same as every other Friday. I had a great day, all things considered. I enjoyed a quiet evening at home with the XYL, and crashed early in preparation for Saturday. Saturday we got up early and drove an hour and a half to attend a surprise birthday party for my aunt. After a bit of visiting with folks I hadn't seen in a bit and some requisite drama, we made our way back home for a co-worker's housewarming party.

So I just got off the phone with a guy at the ARRL, which I called to confirm receipt of the Volunteer Examiner application and review I faxed in over a week ago (I meant to check sooner, but procrastination is a beast). I was told that they did in fact receive it (what I didn't want to happen was for me to wait 3 weeks expecting a response only to learn that they never got it in the first place), and in addition had already approved it. "We received it, we held it up to the light, we couldn't find anything wrong with it. You're a VE!" is what he told me.

This marks the initial post of a new ham radio site. We hope to be of benefit to the community at large, and appreciate feedback as we continue getting up to speed. Enjoy!