Almost back on the air!

So I purchased a used OEM mic for my IC-706MKII and my dad tested it for me, confirming that the little 706 is working fine.  A good friend of mine, Walter WY4Z, recently gave me a Tak-tenna which is a spiral dipole that can be mounted horizontally as a directional dipole or mounted vertically with the "cold" side aimed down to be used as a vertical.  Thankfully I still have my large MFJ 300W antenna matcher so I could use the Tak-tenna for 10-40 meters, which is my "normal" operating range anyway.  I am hoping to purchase a Comet CHA-250HD "vertical" antenna as it provides coverage from 10-80 but having no need for an antenna matcher to run muklti-band like the Tak-tenna.

This makes for a nice birthday present to get back on the air as I turn 52 on 27 August.

Here's a recent picture of the 706 along with my Yaesu FTM-3100 2m rig:

Nothing fancy but I will be very happy to be back on the air!  I've missed it so much.

Bad news

So it looks like I'm still off the air.  One of my HF rigs is dead and the other has issues working with my computer.  A new HF rig is going to be in my future someday.  With ICOM suddenly discontinuing my beloved IC-718, I'll be looking for a used rig.

Almost there!

I'm nearly complete getting my station set up but I still need a few more items and to permanently mount my antenna...

Slowly returning

It has been a very long time since I have provided an update.  A lot has happened since my last update.  I'm now medically retired and living in a small apartment which presents its own unique challenges to operating on the air.  I recently purchased a good used HM-103 mic for my IC-706MKII rig which I am hoping to get up and running soon.

Installing Pat (open source Winlink client) in FreeBSD

I decided to tinker around today and installed Pat, an open source Winlink2000 client written in Go, on my FreeBSD 13-powered desktop.  It's quite simple.  The directions to install Go under FreeBSD do not exist on the Pat website so I'll put them here for you.

The three-step process:

1. Install Go:
   # pkg install go
2. Set up needed paths in ~/.profile:
   export GOROOT=/usr/local/go
   export GOPATH=/$HOME/goprojects
   export PATH=$GOPATH/bin:$GOROOT/bin:$PATH
3. Run this command to download the code and compile it:
   go install github.com/la5nta/pat@latest 

Note on step 2: you can use whatever name you want for the directory.

Your binary will be hiding out in the bin directory in the GOPATH path.

Then configure Pat and you should be good to go.

Webpages used for this little FAQ:

• https://github.com/la5nta/pat/wiki/Building-from-source
• https://www.jeremymorgan.com/tutorials/golang/how-to-install-go-freebsd/

I hope this helps!

Still off the air

 I haven't been on the air since April 2021 when I lost my IC-718 to lightning.  I'm still waiting on Social Security as I can't work anymore.  One of these days and hopefully soon I'll get back on the air!

Waiting patiently

I'm still around...just off the air.  Since my radios got hit by lightning April 9, I've simply not had the money to fix them, sadly.  I have also moved into Johnson City in a small one-bedroom apartment and can't put an external antenna up so once I can get a radio going, I'll figure out a way to get back on the air.