I got my Yaesu VX-7R today. Rigged up with the 50 MHz extension, I was flipping through the shortwave radio stations from my apartment. I managed to pick up Radio Nederland (very faint), Radio Italia, China Radio International, and some French station. Went outside and picked up 5-6 stations really clear. So awesome, it was like dialing into my first BBS.
Now comes the task of rigging up a larger antenna in my apartment. Two ideas came to mind, if I build a loop around my balcony I can get 36′ of wire strung. The other idea is latching onto the three stories of rain gutter on one side and running magnet wire across the balcony and around the edge of the stairwell on the other side.
I took Friday off of work to finish up last minute errands and shopping before I leave on Saturday. I have a growing mountain of fuh in my livingroom that somehow has to be packed and loaded on the truck. I need to hit the grocery store, Harbor Freight, Lowes and maybe REI again.
I took the truck in for 100,000 maintenance on Wednesday. New plugs, plug wires, transmission filter and gasket, fuel injector cleaning and flushing. Somehow they accidentally flushed my cooling system as well which wasn’t needed until 150,000 miles, but they didn’t charge me for it. I was actually concerned about cooling, since I’m going to be driving long and hard across the hottest parts of the nation in August. The last place I want to be is stranded outside El Paso with a busted radiator, with marauders trying to rob me of my gasoline.
