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All right.  I'm a purist. I admit it.  I'm one of those obnoxious people who becomes annoyed when a ham signs off with "best regardses."

The complaint goes something like this:  "73" means best regards so when you use "73's" you are making a plural into a double plural.  Regards becomes regardses.  The same is true for 88.  Adding an "s" to 88 turns "love and kisses" into "love and kisseses."  This is the kind of thing which rancors fussbudgets like me. 

At least it used to.  Now, I'm a reformed nit-picker.  You see, one day I ran into a ham who happened to know a little more than I did and he educated me on the subject.  The fellow pointed out that The Old Man, the discoverer of the rettysnitch, one of the great amateur radio pioneers, the founder of the ARRL, Hiram Percy Maxim W1AW himself used "73's" on his QSL cards.  Who am I to fault the remarkable Hiram Percy Maxim?

So it no longer bothers me when I hear "seven threes" on a sign-off.  If truth be told, it's a gentle reminder of the legacy the early hams left us with, and that makes me smile.

73 es 88
MaryAnn NS7X

CARA's annual Junk in the Trunk ham swap meet & sales will take place October 9th at 08:00 at the Culpeper Agricultural Enterprises on Rt 29 in Culpeper. We expect vendors as well as a bunch of hams with equipment to sell, swap, or buy. Come on out and enjoy the day. Bring your radio "junk" to sell / swap - admission is still just $5 per car. Hope to see you there!






Website:




https://W4CUL.org










Email for information: k4mvm@arrl.net






Club: Culpeper Amateur Radio Assn (CARA)






On site testing?: No






Conferences / Workshops?: No






Flea market: Yes






Indoor / Outdoor: Outdoor






Cost: $5.00 per car






Ham Community attending?: We will not be attending

It used to be that an "Amateur" was someone who was not paid for something they did. The Olympics were Amateur Sports.  The best of the best but no one got paid to train and compete.  The definition of amateur was:"noun 1. a person who engages in a pursuit, especially a sport, on an unpaid rather than a professional basis."  Then somewhere along the line a second definition was added: "2. a person who is incompetent or inept at a particular activity."  this seems to be the more accepted definition.  

Should we be renaming ourselves to "Volunteer Radio Operators" to shake that definition of incompetence from our hobbies name?  

So I found this tide clock in a thrift store.  About a pound of solid brass, not the thin tin brass stuff.  I had seen them online for $160 but there wasn't a price tag on it.  I asked the lady how much it was, expecting to hear $60 - $80 or so.  She said the clock doesn't work and she'd take fifteen bucks for it.   I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough.

I bought a clock mechanism for ten bucks and did some photoshop work on some photo cardstock.   Now I got a neat clock for the shack.

""CQD, CQD, this is Titanic......."



 

After having spoke with several seasoned hams about my setup, I've come to the conclusion that I need a grounding system for my rigs and antennas for safety purposes. For the past few days I've been doing some research and I've come up with a system that I think will work and will last, but I have some questions and I would like some feedback. Thanks in advance!