DX Ruminations

A couple ponderings about DXing:

DX Clubs

Attended our area DX Club meeting last Saturday. Very interesting presentation by Mike W9MK about the T42T Cuba event. That presentation was done by Zoom and other than the specific Q&A of our specific day’s presentation, you can actually find the presentation as a YouTube available on demand.

The rest of the meeting was ritual recanting of upcoming DXpeditions, selection of two of these DXpenditions to send $200 each as a gesture of support, a 50/50 raffle which raised less than 10% of the meager monies we will be sending off, and a discussion about discussing possibly sourcing of club polo shirts.

I’m thinking most of the attendees (there were just ten) would have in their pockets many times the $40/head we just sent to DXpeditions, especially in light that everyone bought themselves breakfast and drove (in many cases some distance) to be there.

Sending $200 to a major DXpedition when projected costs are known to be six-digit seems weak. Having to raid the club treasury for each $200 seems doubly weak.

Some realities are we don’t have much for a club resource, having sold many members a Life Membership which cut off future dues income, and were approaching our spend with yesterday’s prices in our heads.

As a club we were being cheap-Charlies with our meager sponsorships.

I’d thought of offering to match the donations pledged, but knowing that might be felt as a shaming held me back.

And why donate indirectly rather than directly as a K9ZW donation?

DXpeditions cost more than money

There are a lot of risks.

Risks to body & health.  Being someplace pretty much “the end of the earth” decreases one’s odds if something bad comes up.

There there is the toll from being away so long.

One guy recounted coming back from a DXpedition to find his wife had moved out.  Doubt DXpeditioning was the only cause, though also doubt it helped the situation either.

A lot of the DXpedition are physical marathons being run by the few old timers who somehow have escaped their Canes & Walkers.  Is it a young person’s pursuit being taken up by the retired?

RIBS and other Remotes Muddy the Waters

Did you work that DX operator ?  Or did you work just some hardware that happens to be at the DX site with the operator somewhere else?  Was that DX operator out there, or out there nearby on the boat, or linked by satellite to their home country?

Have we let clever Technology drain the soul out of DXpeditions?

Not to be a spoil sport, but a Remote Operator claiming to be the DX is not a bonafide DX Operator any more than the guy I work by Satellite is a real Astronaut.

The MFJ Transition

Most of the ham world has seen the MFJ shuttering domestic production announcement:
https://mailchi.mp/62e24f2ccc99/a-heavy-sad-heart

Some backstory about MFJ:
https://mfjenterprises.com/pages/the-story-of-mfj-enterprises-inc

Martin F. Jue, K5FLU was a friend of George W9EVT, and when I take George the Dayton Hamvention we usually had a meet & greet with Martin K5FLU.

I cannot say Martin would remember me beyond being George W9EVT’s buddy.  Nor have I used MFJ’s products much (neither did George W9EVT).

Some things I picked out is “domestic production”  phrase suggesting that MFJ will continue or will develop non-domestic production.

And that the company will remain open to sell from inventory and provide service.

A bit about my Citroen CX 2400 Prestige Cmatic

The Prestige has pieces of extra stainless trim

The backstory on the Citroen CX 2400 Prestige Cmatic is fairly interesting.

Of the CX models the Prestige is basically a factory standard extended length model, intended for executive and governmental use.  Initially extended 10 inches by sharing the station wagon chassis, the Prestige was a low volume model, often custom specified.

This particular car was ordered for the Belgian Congo’s government (then known as Zaire), an intended duty are that led to some interesting deletions and added options.

Thinking Ahead – Resources of Various Sorts

Another post in the Thinking Ahead series started with https://k9zw.wordpress.com/2019/09/10/im-a-ham-or-am-i/…

Consider avoiding consultative resources that are cliquey or dominated by aggressive personalities.  There are the usual ham orientated websites and blogs.

One additional source is a peer-contributed resource that is well worth checking out – https://survivalblog.com/ –  which is curated by a team led by a fellow Army Veteran who has penned numerous books on the topic.

On resource books, they tend to divide themselves into:

• Military FM type and Military-Style “Manuals”
• Manufacturers and Special Interest Group manuals, training courses, technical resources
• Personal Accounts
• Fiction with a Preparedness lesson
• Subtopic Specific References
• Book of Lists (data dump)

The Military style manuals are widely available in digital form, and usually not too hard to find in paper form.

Latest Citroen CX Arrived

My latest Citroen CX arrived today (18 April 2024) transported by the ever friendly Applewood Motor Transport from Baltimore.

The car fortunately was disembarked and transported to climate controlled storage prior to the bridge disaster by a few days.

As our local weather was very threatening at delivery, I forgot to do pictures until after the new car was inside out of the weather.

Parked between the CX Athena and Pinzgauer waiting for Plates

This car is much like my first CX, which I drove all over W. Germany, France, and the small countries back in the 1980s. It is just a a better, longer, plusher version and driving it was deja vu to the max!

Cmatic is a semi-automatic transmission where the three speed box has an automatically controlled clutch AND also has a torque converter.  Sounds complicated but is rather instinctive to drive.  With the very low miles on this car, I’m hoping for the same trouble-free driving experience that the 100,000+ km I had when I drove my first Cmatic.

1978 CX 2400 Prestige Cmatic (and yes the Athena is that dusty)

This car has some nice features including a dual a/c system setup.

I am pretty excited about this car and will write up what I know about its history in another post.

73

Steve
K9ZW

Giving the Station an Uplift

Dealer’s photo of the lift

Purchased a refurbished 60ft (18m) four wheel drive diesel boom lift with the idea of completing a series of projects at the home QTH, transporting it to the Island QTH to complete similar projects out there, and then selling it onwards.

The hope is that the net costs will be less than leasing a lift for a season, and the high-availability for a prolonged period helps me actually get the work done.

Some of the projects (more as a reminder-to-self):

Home QTH:

• Antenna work with the Skyneedle at its lower level
• Tree trimming (much to do here)
• Putting up a large loop antenna
• Installing a large dipole antenna
• Repair of a small spot of woodpecker damage on the house
• Removal of some unused/obsolete dish antennas from the house
• Power washing the Workshop roofs

Island QTH:

• Tower work, including mounting the T-8 and T-28 log periodics and cabling the tower
• Minor Tree Trimming
• Wasp Nest removal, general inspection, any repairs of the high parts of the Island house
• Installing a large dipole antenna

Work QTH:

• General Tower Servicing
• Servicing Light-packs mounted high on buildings
• Some minor Tree Trimming

I had been on the prowl for a suitable lift since before Covid, but hadn’t come up with a decent affordable unit.  Seems most used lifts are either mechanically very worn out or are too big & expensive. I had recently been offered a used 125ft lift (38m) for less money, but I have no need for such a beast.  This 60ft unit is actually at the larger end of my search parameters (45-60 ft) as it is.  The very big lifts require a semi lowboy setup to move, are very heavy and clumsy, and are expensive to inspect & maintain.

That I know the people who refurbish the 60ft lift, have the unit’s complete service history, learned that it was never a rental unit, and that I have great respect the work team whole took care of it throughout its first ownership.  All of the information helps a lot, especially when the actual lift looks so good.

Suddenly rather excited about every chore that requires a lift!

73

Steve
K9ZW