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As mentioned in my previous blog posting, I’ve taken a serious approach to my health.  Much of what I accomplished in losing over 30 pounds was just done by following the Atkins diet and casual exercise.  Much of this exercise has been in the form of walking as my wife and I are trying to get in better shape for our trip to Europe.  In previous years, we didn’t prepare ourselves in advance for all the walking we end up doing.  We suffer for the first week as a result.  I believe this year will be different. 

My goal of reaching 200 pounds prior to 15 August was in an effort to verify that diet and exercise will help improve my cholesterol levels.  I will have a checkup next week and my ultimate goal of those results is just to verify that the needles are moving in the right directions.  I know I have more work to do…but I am looking for proof that what I’ve accomplished in the past four months is the right thing.

Part of vacation is enjoying life and I don’t plan to follow the Atkins plan while in Europe.  If you are familiar with Atkins or the Low Carb diet, you know that carbs are avoided like the plague.  The national dish of Belgium is Belgian Frietjes or Belgian Fries.  These are the best fried potatoes (can’t refer to them as French) that I have ever tasted and I’ve enjoyed more than my share of fries.  In addition to the Belgian fries, I’ll also enjoy a few Belgian Waffles and many other delicacies which I just can’t get here in the US.  I figure many of the carbs I consume while on vacation will be offset with the tremendous amount of walking we do. 

Anyway…..10,000 Steps for Health is how I plan to tackle the next phase of my goal.  I’ve heard people talk about losing weight just simply making sure they walk 10,000 steps daily.  But just how many steps does an average person….or more importantly, how many steps do I take on an average day?  A friend of mine has had incredible success with this this program and uses a little device called a Fitbit.  A Fitbit is a small electronic gadget (fancy pedometer) which is worn to track the number of steps you take, the number of floors you’ve  climbed, distance in miles or kilometers and calories burned.  You basically wear this little device and sync the data to a free Fitbit account where you can view your results.

What I found by just wearing the device each day was without even trying I was averaging about ~6000 steps each day.  So by adding an additional daily walk to my schedule (and taking the stairs more at work) has proven successful at pushing me over the 10K mark each day. 

For now, my focus remains on the final 4.5 pounds which I plan to lose by 15 August, then enjoying a fantastic vacation with my wife.  Once I return home and return to work, I will begin working on the next phase of my plan to reach 180 pounds by Christmas.  At this point, I really don’t plan to go any lower than 180 pounds.  I’m 6 foot tall and at 180 pounds, this places my BMI in the normal weight range.  But of course, I’ll consult with my doctor and most importantly perform another blood test to check my overall cholesterol numbers. 

Until next time…

Jerry

P.S.  I realize this blog post has nothing to do with amateur radio.  However, my getting in better shape, getting healthy and staying healthy will most certainly allow me to continue to enjoy the hobby for many years to come.  Plus I just want to share this info with others who might be interested in shedding a few extra pounds.   73 de KD0BIK

Distracted.

That’s the best word that I can think of to describe my effort for Flight of the Bumblebees 2013.

The weather was certainly a distraction. With the forecast (all week long) calling for a 60% chance of rain on Sunday, I was not surprised to find that it was raining when I left Mass yesterday morning. That sealed the deal for me regarding my operating position. Right then and there, I decided that I would be a home station this year, and would forgo using my Bee number. As it turned out, it ended up being sunny, then rainy, then sunny, then rainy in small cycles just about all afternoon. Thunderstorms and torrential downpours waited until the 5:00 PM hour, just when I would have been tearing down.

Operating from home has its conveniences and creature comforts, but it also comes with its share of distractions. The phone rings when you don’t need it to, spouses and children ask for things like they always do …. it’s just a bit different than an evening Sprint, which are generally shorter and occur when things have already pretty much settled down for the night.

But the biggest distraction of all was this little guy (and I am definitely NOT complaining!). Meet Harold, the newest member of the W2LJ family, who came to live with us on Saturday.

We met Harold last Sunday, when we went to the local Petco store to pick up a bag of cat food for Sandy. Happy Paws Rescue was there with a full compliment of dogs looking for homes. Harold was not down on the floor with the other dogs, he was sitting in one of the volunteer’s laps. We didn’t even see him at first.

The first dog we were interested in was a retriever mix named Tia. She was a very playful and friendly little girl, and most importantly, I was informed that she was cat friendly. But it turned out that someone was already filling out papers for her while we were looking at her. There was another retriever mix there, a little older and a little bigger, named Hershey. However, the volunteers weren’t able to tell me if he was good around cats, or not.

Disappointed, we were about to head to the checkout with our cat food, when I decided to ask if they had any dogs that were cat friendly. They immediately told us that Harold was being fostered in a house that had cats and that there were no problems. Interested, they put Harold on a lead for us, and allowed us to take him for a walk around the store. That’s when the volunteer told me about Harold’s background.

Harold is a nine month old beagle pup who was bred to be used as a test animal at either a pharmaceutical or cosmetics company. The inside of his ears are tattooed with a serial number, as a testament to this fact. Lab dogs like him are never really “named”. It turned out that Harold was never used for testing, and was just an extra dog that was going to be offered for adoption. A secretary at the company found out about this and got him put into the custody of Happy Paws.

And now, he’s with us. He’s a very friendly little fellow, who like Jesse before him, seems “to not have a mean bone in his body”. He loves to be held and played with, and right now, is a bit of a “nose and stomach on four legs”. While he’s a tad underweight, this little guy eats his meals so thoroughly, and with such gusto, that we briefly kidded about changing his name to Hoover. He loves to join you in whatever chair you’re sitting in and totally relax next to you, in essence becoming a “puppy puddle”.

So far, Sandy our cat, has made a few wary attempts at getting familar with Harold. With Jesse, she was used to an older dog who really paid her no mind. She is not quite sure what to make of this little brown, black and white furball of energy. They have been getting closer and closer to each other (nose to nose at one point, in fact) without any bouts of barking, hissing or chasing. If they don’t end up becoming best friends, I am fully confident that at the very least, they will become quite comfortable with each other’s presence.

So while I was making a few paltry contacts on 20 and 40 Meters yesterday afternoon, my head just wasn’t in the game this year. My head and my heart were more fixed upon Harold, and also Jesse, whom I think would approve of his successor, very much. Even though he is a totally different breed and a much smaller dog, each time I look at Harold, I can see Jesse shining through him. And that’s a very good thing, because now it really does feel like Jesse is still right here with me.

As for the news about the Skeeter Hunt – Brady AC0XR wrote a logging program specifically for the Skeeter Hunt this year.  It can be found at http://www.qsl.net/ac0xr/skeeterhuntlogger.html  Some of you may remember Brady from last year’s hunt.  He was one of the few entrants who built a homebrew key for the event for bonus points.

I feel like we’ve hit the big time!  Our own logging program – thanks, Brady!

By the way, as of tonight, we’re up to 94 entries.  I’ll be issuing Skeeter numbers right up until the morning of the event – but don’t wait for the last minute.  And remember, this year SSB has been added as a mode. So if Morse Code’s not your thing?  You can join us anyway and get in on the fun!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Today was a strange day.  It was my last day at my current job at Goldman Sachs. I’ve been there just over six years, managing all the Technology Department inventory (servers and networking and storage equipment) for the offices of the NY/NJ Campus.  I was the manager of the department responsible for receiving, inventorying, warehousing, and prepping for install a multi-billion dollar cache of equipment. I was also responsible for shipping re-purposed equipment both domestically and internationally. Believe me, you haven’t lived until you’ve been tasked with shipping millions of dollars of used equipment to places like Seoul, Sao Paolo, and Kuala Lumpur, and you were told it had to arrived undamaged (even though the original shipping containers had since long been discarded) and it had to arrive “yesterday”. I can proudly attest that in the six years that I was there, my department oversaw that inventory with a shrinkage percentage (loss due to theft, damage or mis-shipping) of less than 0.001%.

Last summer, Goldman felt that they had too many vendors, so they decided to downsize the number that they have on board. Our contract was farmed out to another vendor, and while my team was RIF’ed (reduction in force) I stayed on for six months to basically teach my replacements how to do the job.  My actual employer is Pitney Bowes Management Services, and through them, I will be starting at a new, non-management (actually glad for that, for a change) position with IBM next week.

My co-workers, the other outside vendors (IPC, Scholes, EMC, CBRE) who also serve Goldman Sachs are the best.  Totally unexpected, I walked into work this morning to find this waiting for me on my desk.

If you’ve listened to the news or picked up a newspaper in the past week, you’ve probably heard about the forest fires in Colorado.  There are several popping up across the state as our temperatures continue to soar and very little to no moisture is falling.  The immediate weather forecast doesn’t look promising. 

The High Park Fire is the big one which is grabbing the most media attention.  At the present time the High Park Fire has burned more than 59,500 acres, destroyed 189 homes and there has been one fatality.  The over 1800 personnel have done an outstanding job to get this fire 50% contained.  Below is a current map of the burn area.  This fire has earned the title of most destructive fire in the history of Colorado.

Many Colorado Hams are assisting to fill in communication gaps and this was recently recognized by the Denver Post.  It’s great to read about amateur radio participating in such activities. 

I’m proud to call Colorado my home.  I’ve lived here for almost 14 years and the beautiful Rocky Mountains have become my playground for all sorts of activities, even including many related to amateur radio.   We all know Mother Nature has a way of healing and in time the forest will return.  However, this destructive fire has taken a toll on those living in the area. 

The various media outlets in the Greater Denver area are advertising the following link to iGivefirst.  Through the iGivefirst website, you can donate to either the Larimer County Humane Society (currently housing over 200 animals displaced by the fire) or the Salvation Army and  American Red Cross.  This link will take you to the iGivefirst website. 

On behalf of all the residents of Colorful Colorado,  Jerry Taylor – KD0BIK thanks you for your prayers and any help you can provide.

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

There have been events in history where individuals will always remember where they were, who they were with and what they were doing when the event happened.  For the generation of my grandparents, that day was December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked.  For the generation of my parents, that day was November 22, 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.  As I watched the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster unfold on January 28, 1986 I was certain this would be the day which I would clearly remember for the rest of my life and certainly hoped none other would ever prove to be greater.  After all, I was only 19 years old, in my first year of college and grew up in small town Texas.  By the way, I still do remember very much what I was doing, who I was with and where I was on that tragic day.

Tuesday, September 11, 2001 began just like every other day for me.  I woke up early (around 6 AM MT) I had showered, dressed and was downstairs drinking a cup of coffee and watching Fox News by 6:20 AM.  This was pretty much a morning ritual for me.  Because my commute was less than five minutes, I typically wouldn’t leave my apartment until around 6:45 or so.  On this day, I wasn’t in that big of a hurry.  I had been working long hours as I was planning to fly to London later that week.  It was shaping up to be a beautiful day in the mile high city and from what I could see while watching Fox News, New York City was also looking beautiful.

My apartment was relatively small.  From my kitchen I could hear the TV in the living room and heard the initial report of a plane hitting the World Trade Center.  The time was 6:46 AM MT (8:46 AM ET).  I stepped into the living room and watched/listened for updated news.  Initial reports was it was a small airplane (perhaps a sightseeing plane) which hit the WTC.  The Fox anchors talked about how clear the sky was overhead in NYC.  Thoughts of perhaps the pilot suffered a heart attack or aircraft malfunction were more or less what most believed had happened. 

As the time approached the top of the hour, I was really intrigued in what had happened.  I remember at the top of the hour Fox and Friends passed it off to Jon Scott who happens to be a pilot.  Again for several minutes the speculation into what had happened to the pilot or to the airplane was the topic of discussion.  Fox had switched to an anchor outside the studios and I was just about ready to turn the TV off and drive to the office.  Again, it looked like an accident and I would follow up with what happened once I got to the office.

As I was reaching for the remote, what I saw next on TV will forever be in my memory.  It was 7:03 AM MT (9:03 AM ET) when the outside live shot showed a second plane flying into the second tower of the World Trade Center. It became clear to me and to the entire nation that we were under attack.  Yes, one aircraft could accidentally hit the WTC, but two?  Absolutely not. It was also very clear the second plane was not a small sightseeing plane, but a large airliner. For the next 15 minutes or so I sat on the edge of my sofa watching the events unfold in New York City.  I (and certainly like many Americans) was in total dis-belief at what I had just watched happen. 

Part of my job responsibilities (both then and now) was/is to manage our business continuity and disaster recovery processes for the customer support organization at my company.  While we (at the time) didn’t have an office in the NYC area, I wanted to get into my office so that I could be prepared for what ever else might happen on this day.  At this time, only the two WTC towers had been attacked.  I was not aware there were two other planes.

I quickly drove to the office and of course most everyone had already heard about the attacks in NYC.  I’m asked by a colleague if I had heard of the events and said yes, I had watched the information regarding New York.  He said, but have you heard about Washington DC?  It soon became very clear this was not just an attack on New York and the World Trade Center.  This was much, much larger.

Internet access from the office became really slow with employees checking the various news sites, emailing friends and family.  We had small TV’s in the lobby of the building connected to a DirecTV feed and I went down to try to get more information.  I was not only concerned about what other attacks might be planned, but also on the WTC attack which I had watched earlier from my apartment.  I wanted to see what progress had been made on extinguishing the fires and of course get updates on the rescue efforts. 

I made it downstairs to one of the TV’s.  Smoke was still pouring from the top of both towers, within seconds  the south tower began to collapse. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was watching.  It wasn’t long after the south tower collapsed that we heard word of United Flight 93 crashing near Shanksville, PA.  I had already went back upstairs to make a few phone calls.  I remember hearing some employees talking about the north tower collapse.  Again…I just couldn’t believe it. 

At some point in the day, an announcement was made or perhaps there was a company email.  But what ever the delivery mechanism, the message was to let us all know that all employees had been accounted for.  I doubt very seriously if much work got done that day.  As I said, I was scheduled to fly to London in a few days.  After hearing about all flights being grounded for possibly a few days, I spoke to my boss and determined I would not be traveling as scheduled. 

I remember going home and making myself a fairly stiff drink.  Sometime around 9 PM I went out to the hot tub.  It was a cool evening and I remember looking up in the sky and seeing and hearing nothing.  This was odd as I lived near the flight path for Centennial Airport (KAPA) and Denver International (KDEN) is only about 25-30 miles and at just about any time of the day and evening you can see the planes coming in for landings and departing.  I do recall hearing a few jet fighters and seeing various types of military aircraft.  I’m sure this was the case over most every major metropolitan city. 

Like many Americans, I did a lot of praying and in doing so asked God a lot of questions.  I have tried to pray for peace each and every day since the attacks and pray for the those who are making sacrifices and sometimes the ultimate sacrifice to ensure our freedoms both at home and abroad. 

In 2005 through the course of two acquisitions, Oracle acquired Peoplesoft who had acquired JD Edwards in 2003.  On the four year anniversary of 9/11 I learned something I didn’t know previous.  While JD Edwards didn’t lose any employees in the attacks, Oracle had lost eight employees that day.  Most will know the name of one employee in particular.  This employee, along with many other brave individuals fought back in what possibly should be considered the first battle won over terrorism and that employee was Todd Beamer.  Todd and many other brave individuals fought back on United Flight 93.  While they gave their life, they did it so many others could live.  Of course we now suspect that Flight 93 was headed for the US Capitol Building or the White House. 

In 2007 I realized a childhood dream to get my amateur radio license.  I remembered the speech which President George W. Bush made in January 2002 when he announced the creation of the USA Freedom Corps.  During that State of the Union address, President Bush asked Americans to serve a cause greater than themselves.  I answered that call by joining the Denver Police Depts. Volunteers in Policing Unit and DAREC, Denver Amateur Radio Emergency Communications.  In the course of just 3 years I had volunteered over 250 hours in that program. 

Yes it is easy to say “I’ll never forget”.  Through illness or old age there may come a time when I just don’t remember.  But for now, I will remember and each year on September 11th (as I have done for the past 9 years), I’ll wake up early and I’ll go downstairs, make a cup of coffee, turn on the TV (yes Fox News Channel) and I’ll say a little prayer and prepare myself to watch, to remember and even cry a little. I hope all American’s will remember, I hope all American’s will pray and I hope all American’s will cry a little. 

Thank you for reading and for allowing me to cross post this across my different blogs.

God Bless the United States of America.

Jerry

Or…So this is where all the cool DX hangs out!  But I thought that title was a bit too long and opted for the shorter version. 

When I arrived home with my signed CSCE on Saturday, 28 August I did want to run downstairs and spin the dial into the extra class portion of 20m and work a station (contest or otherwise) as KD0BIK/AE.  However, I also wanted to make sure I treated my #1 supporter in this hobby to lunch and spend the day with her doing some of the things she wanted to do.  I’ve spent so much time over the past few weeks with my head in a book or on the PC, Laptop or iPad taking practice exams.  So we went to lunch and then spent a few hours digging through antique shops. 

After dinner and also somewhat tired/bored of watching Geraldo get blown around the streets of NYC, I decided I would head down and see what was happening on the ham bands.  This was around 20:00 local (02:00 UTC).  The 20m band was alive with activity with the Ohio and Hawaii QSO parties.  I worked about three Hawaii stations and one Ohio station and then spent about 30 minutes trying to work W9IMS.  While I had missed working them in May for the 500, I did work them in July for the Brickyard 400.  Next year I’ll plan to try to score the Trifecta and work all three special event stations for that special certificate. 

Anyway, I finally gave up on W9IMS and decided to see if the Yaesu FT-950 VFO would turn down past 14.225.  I should have stopped by Ham Radio Outlet on the way home from the VE session to have them check the serial number on my 950 to determine if it had the pre-installed AE module installed.  Ha ha ha

While I had occasionally turned the VFO down below 14.225, it was not something I did often.  I do a lot more listening than I do talking on my radio, but I guess I just always thought I would just listen on the band segments I actually could operate on.  Plus this was a built in safety net incase I heard a really rare DX calling and my excitement clouded by vision of double-checking what frequency I had been listening to.  In any event, my FT-950 tunes down nicely below 14.225 and on Saturday evening, my ears were certainly surprised at all that I heard. 

In just a matter of minutes I managed to work CT9/RW9JZ operating from Maderia Island, then I worked RJ3AA in Moscow, a few minutes later I worked RG4F in Kuznetsk, Russia.  I closed my DX hunting down by adding CO6LC in Cuba.  This was the first time I had worked Cuba on SSB phone. 

Now I’m just wearing out the FCC ULS search watching for my upgrade to be noted.  This VE Team did state it should appear within a few days so I’m sort of thinking Wednesday, Thursday or hopefully on Friday.  It would certainly be nice to have that record showing as extra class prior to the Colorado QSO party coming up this weekend.  But for now, I’ll continue to be KD0BIK/AE.

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK/AE

I realize it was just Wednesday, 24 August when I blogged about reaching the 50% mark in the amateur extra training course I’ve been attending.  I also realize it’s been less than a month (21 days to be exact) since I blogged about getting serious about extra….Again!!  I have some great news I’ll share with you all in just a minute.

When I first got my license in August 2007, I knew I wanted to upgrade to the general class and I wanted to do it in relatively short time.  I will admit that I quickly grew bored with working local VHF/UHF repeaters and while I did manage to work 10m HF, the QSO’s made on that band were few and far between.  I became intrigued in PSK31 after watching Randy Hall’s K7AGE Youtube videos.  Within a few weeks of earning my technician license, I was actively reading and preparing for general.  I tested for my general ticket on 5 January 2008, just four months after getting my ticket.

Something else I need to admit is once I had my general in hand, I was satisfied.  I had all the HF privileges that I believed I needed and wanted.  I was happy as a pig in mud with being able to work PSK31, RTTY and of course phone on all the bands generals have access to.  I even remember a conversation with a colleague from my office who was also a general.  We both discussed how general was all we felt we would ever need.

Now keep in mind this was inside of my first six months of the hobby.  In May of 2008 I started the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast and the Elmer bug bit me.  Also, it was through the podcast and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter where I really became friends with many hams who were either already extra class or working to become extra class. 

I believe it was very soon after I started the podcast and really started to get more involved with my Elmer activities that I realized I did see more to the hobby than staying at general.  Sometime during the summer of 2008 I picked up the ARRL extra class study guide and started reading.  But sadly over the last three years the ARRL extra class study guide spent more time on the shelf than it did in my hands.

Now jump forward three years and as I blogged on 8 August, I had once again pulled the book from the shelf and began studying.  The approx. 50% of the material I had previously read all came back to me relatively easy.  Plus the SCARS Echolink training was adding additional knowledge and confidence to my overall process.  Again, just as I blogged last Wednesday, I truly felt on-track to take the exam in late September or early October.  While I didn’t state this in writing, my unofficial target date was prior to October 4.  On October 4 I turn 45 years old.  Birthday present to myself???

On Thursday (just one day after the blog update) I had been passing the sample tests from QRZ in the high 80’s to low 90 range.  My ideal practice score is in the upper 90’s as I don’t feel I am the best at taking exams.  I told my wife that I couldn’t see a reason for me to delay taking the exam and she supported my decision to take a chance.  She actually suggested I go into the exam thinking it was just another practice exam.  If I didn’t pass, I still had several weeks of the SCARS class to continue to build my understanding of the material (this has always been my #1 goal versus memorization).  Another reason to give it a try is my schedule at work is also starting to pickup speed again.  I was recently promoted and had a few added responsibilities sent my way.  I feared if I delayed, something would happen and I would lose the momentum. 

I went to bed on Friday night feeling pretty nervous, but feeling confident.  I slept remarkably well and woke up with enough time to enjoy some coffee and a bagel and just ease into the morning.  I didn’t take any sample tests…I just enjoyed the peacefulness of the morning.  With a cup of coffee for the road (a roadie) I started the 25 mile journey to Franktown, Colorado for the Colorado ARES sponsored VE session.  By 9:45 AM, I had the CSCE in my hand and had finally made extra.

In closing, I don’t view the extra class as the only true ham class.  For those who are technician, general, advanced….if you are happy then this is what matters.  You are just as much a part of this hobby and service as anyone else is.  However, if you are interested in upgrading I say go for it.  I’m glad I finally got serious about it and followed through….ALL THE WAY through. 

Finally, thanks to all who over the past several weeks have taken the time to post comments to the blog and even email me to lend words of encouragement.  This meant a lot to my study and preparation process.  I felt like I had all of you with me yesterday cheering me on as I worked through the 50 questions and answers.  

Until next time….

73 de KD0BIK/AE