Welcome to Handiham World!

Back at work!

The Handiham World weekly is finally back at work after a couple weeks of rest & relaxation. While the e-letter went on holiday, I also took my vacation at exactly the same time. What a coincidence!

In the accompanying photo, I am posing in front of something that would make a perfect ham radio antenna support – the Eiffel Tower. My XYL and I made the trip to celebrate our anniversary, and she was a saint to put up with my obsession with ham radio and antennas. According to Wikipedia, “The tower stands 324 meters (1,063 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-storey building.” Just imagine the signal you could get out with a multielement Yagi antenna on top, right?

As nice as it is to travel, it’s always great to be back. Today will be mostly filled with member contacts like phone calls and emails, because I have quite a backlog. I hope to get our audio magazine digest updated either later today or perhaps tomorrow if I run out of time today, but rest assured I will eventually catch up – in the meantime, I am coping with the jet lag by draining out the entire coffee pot.

One of the most fun things was checking in to the PICONET on 3.925 MHz via the Handiham remote base from France and Italy. This is certainly proof that a remote base station can be useful when setting up antennas or traveling with lots of radio gear is simply not practical. I also enjoyed making some Echolink contacts, including a check in on the daily Handiham net. These days, one does not need to give up regular operating just because you are staying in a hotel. These new ways to use technology enhance our options to use ham radio, and I’m sure thankful to all of our volunteers and supporters who make it possible. The best thing about ham radio for me has always been staying in touch with my community of friends. In order to get through all of the calls today, this edition will be a bit shorter than usual, but hopefully still worth a few minutes of your time.