Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

My Amateur Radio License Plates are on the Way

w7gd-plate.jpgI went to the local AZDOT MVD office and ordered Ham Radio license plates for the RV, which was up for renewal in a few weeks. I killed two birds by ordering the plates and renewing the registration at the same time.

The image at the right is a mock-up of what the new plates might look like. I took a screenshot of the image on the DOT website and cobbled in the radio tower from another image. You can see what I did if you look closely.

Besides the call sign, there is a radio tower with lightning bolts coming out of it and the words “Amateur Radio Operator” instead of “Grand Canyon State” seen in my mock-up. In addition, there is a mountainscape and several saguaro cacti in silhouette along the bottom. The plates are colored in gradient from turquoise at the top, through white in the center and to gold on the bottom. I think they’re quite nice looking. An actual completed ham radio license plate can be seen here.

The agent who took my order said that the plates take four to six weeks to arrive. In the meantime, I’ll be impatiently waiting!

28 Nov 2018 by Notions Technobabble

Ham Radio Vanity Callsign Bonanza Day Results

New QSL Card

The Vanity Quest for a new 7th area Ham Radio Callsign is now over. We managed to get picked and won the callsign seen above. It was my third choice on the list I submitted in my application to the FCC on the 5th of November. I achieved my goal of having the new call before the end of 2018.

I started the Vanity Quest last January for a 7th district call when I “harvested” a silent key’s (deceased ham’s) amateur radio callsign by providing a letter requesting the call be released for reissue and a copy of the obituary to the FCC. I was disappointed when I didn’t get that call because the suffix was my first and last name initials. I was doubly disappointed when a guy from Illinois (out of the 7th district) got the call.

Before today’s result, I applied for 21 callsigns on 19 applications, all of which were dismissed. This morning when I read my email, the FCC notice was in my inbox. Now, I am pleased with the fact I got an old-timer W7 call and am happy with the Quest being at an end.

Click on the image to enlarge.

24 Nov 2018 by Notions Retirement Technobabble

Thanksgiving 2018

Thanksgiving 2016

We’re going to put a turkey breast in the smoker this morning which will be the entrée for our Thanksgiving dinner. We know that we are blessed on this day and others by the grace of God. May He bless you and yours on this day of thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

22 Nov 2018 by Arizona Family Food & Dining Holidays

Classic WWII Jeep

Classic WWII Jeep

Dave Echeverria, a descendant of the family for whom the airstrip was named, presented this 1943 G503 “Peep”, a Ford GPW (Government Pigmy Willy’s) to American Legion Post #12 to be placed on permanent display at the corner of Frontier and Apache streets in Wickenburg as a tribute to veterans and as a reminder of Wickenburg’s World War II history.

Echeverria Field, located near Wickenburg AZ, was used by the Arizona Glider Flight Academy during WWII and the Jeeps (painted yellow for visibility) were used at the airstrip to ferry pilots and other personnel around as they were training the pilots and crews. The Gliders were critical to several operations in Europe, including those deployed on D Day.

Damsel took this photo this week when we were in the downtown area on errands. Click on the image to enlarge.

15 Nov 2018 by Arizona Classics Military Nostalgia

Wandering Minstrel Eleventh Blogiversary

skull-punisher.gifIt’s been a couple of months and a few days since the Wandering Minstrel Site went down with some sort of WordPress file corruption. Troubleshooting with the website host was to no avail and I tried a complete reload of the WordPress files which also did not help. Unfortunately, we are going to have to terminate the internet hosting and the URLs associated with the old site.

Today would have been the eleventh year of being on the net with the Minstrel site. We originally started that blog to serve as our primary pro second amendment presence in the blogosphere. The pro 2A function will now be restored to Cap’n Bob & the Damsel.

As for the Minstrel site, we have been going through some of the old uploads accessible via FTP and downloading them to a safe place on our terabyte drive. The files being rescued are mostly images and a few other scripts and files we developed during the Minstrel days.

So, on this eleventh blogiversary, we will no longer be talking much about the Minstrel and that site now relegated to cyber history. If we discover some pertinent images or files of note, we may repost them here, if warranted. Adios to the Minstrel! SI VIS PACEM PARA BELLUM!

13 Nov 2018 by Blogosphere Cyberspace Second Amendment

Mikey Turns One

Boys and the Alphabet Train

Our youngest great grandchild, Mikey, had his first birthday yesterday. We sent him a birthday package via USPS and our granddaughter took this picture of him playing with his new toy set. It is a V-Tech Sit to Stand Alphabet Train. Here’s the detail on the educational toy:

  • Push toy is designed to grow with your child; the toy train can be used as a floor toy, a ride on that also transforms into a baby walker or a pull toy wagon they can fill with toys
  • Learning toy comes with 10 activities including a storybook, clock, gears; 13 double-sided alphabet blocks build fine motor skills and introduce letters, numbers, colors and more
  • For toddler role-play toy fun, the included Walkie-Talkie and number pad encourage role-play and introduce numbers and animals; counting toy plays more than 100 songs, melodies, sounds and phrases
  • Toy train counts the alphabet blocks when they’re dropped down the chute; kids story book teaches sing-along songs and plays melodies
  • Educational toy is intended for toddlers ages 1 to 3 years old

Anna, our eldest granddaughter and mother of the boys, sent us the above photo of Mikey and older brother Alex with the train toy. She also sent a video of Mikey putting blocks in the top of the toy and it responds by playing sounds and music. Damsel and I both got a kick out of that.

Thank God for our being able to see the kids as they grow up via electronic media.

11 Nov 2018 by Family Technobabble

Ham Radio Vanity Callsign Bonanza Day

vanity-bonanza.jpg

For whatever reason, a large number of desirable amateur radio callsigns will become available tomorrow, November 5, 2018. The callsigns available are shown in the screenshot from the RadioQTH website. I have only shown the 1×2 and 2×1 calls designated for the amateur extra class licensees. There are 164 1×2 and 24 2×1 calls becoming available.

Since I am only interested in 1×2 calls with the numeral 7 in them, I will only apply for those tomorrow. The FCC vanity application allows for a list of up to 25 callsigns in order of preference. I have already made up a spreadsheet for the calls I intend to select. The order I chose was based on three criteria: 1) CW weight, or the length of time it takes to send the call using Morse code, 2) Phonetic weight, or the number of syllables to articulate the callsign in voice modes using the international phonetic alphabet and 3) my own parochially assigned likeability for a callsign.

Fortunately, there are enough 1×2 calls in the seventh callsign area to allow me to completely fill in the 25 available slots in the FCC application. For most of the calls available, there will be a tremendous amount of competition. Wish me luck.

11/05/2018 UPDATE: Here’s my list. Click on the image to enlarge.

Callsigns

04 Nov 2018 by Notions Technobabble

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