Back On The Air
coming home to a hobby
It all started with an innocent question.
My earliest recollection of The Spark was in our den. I couldn't have been more than five or six years old. There was some 300-ohm twinlead coming in either through the wall or under the windowsill (I can't remember which) that went over to a corner of the room where the television set was located. I innocently asked my father what the wire was for. He patiently explained something like the antenna on the roof picks up the pictures in the air, the pictures come down the wire, into the television set, and on the screen for us to see.
That ignited The Spark. The curiosity. The inquisitiveness. The wonder of it all.
And it's peculiar these days that trees, utility poles, and other vertical objects become frequent subjects of consideration as antenna support possibilities again. Various locations also get my mind thinking about radio fun suitability. Of particular interest is operating while camping. Due to a combination of starting a new job and not having my act together, I missed my 2011 and 2012 adventures to the Adirondack Mountains. However, I am going in 2013, come Hell or high water. I've given serious consideration to doing a dry run prior to the trip and checked out campsites at the Austin Hawes Campground in the American Legion State Forest; a mere five miles or so from Winsted. Couldn't be much more convenient.
Though the Argonaut can operate either CW or SSB, all operating thus far has been with CW. Though archaic to many in this age of smartphones, wifi, and everything else, there's a certain joy in Primordial mode But as I said to Thom, K3HRN, the other day on IRC, I'm going to see how long I can go without hooking up a microphone to the Argonaut. After all, anyone can just talk into a microphone . . .
So contrary to what others may say, you can go home again.