I miss my A2 upper. Replacing that needs to move up the list.

Especially since I can now have a proper one with a flash hider and bayonet lug.

Silver…

Under $20/ozt again. 

Deal Alert

Bug-out starter kit on woot! today

The bag is solid. I have two of them that I picked up a couple months ago. It's a re-badged Kelty, and by itself is worth every penny of $50.

The knife is a Gerber. They make a great knife for their price point.

Sigg water bottle. Need I say more?

The rest is just niceties and a bit of gimmicking, but it's unquestionably a starting point. I'll be putting up a post of what's in my get-home bag here shortly.

ham status

With "life" happening around me (and a boatload of overtime) I've not had much time for radio stuff lately. When I had the short-notice trip home, I stripped all the valuables out of the truck, including the radio gear.

It hasn't gone back in yet.

On the plus side, I've got the 120-12V power supply in hand and it works beautifully, and I've just ordered a small Rigrunner power block to make this stuff easier to connect and disconnect.

I've installed EchoLink on my laptop; still sorting out the networking stuff necessary to use that at home.

I also sent in an application for a vanity callsign.

Overtime should be drying up shortly, so I hope I'll get in on some nets and rag chews soon.

Antenna thinking

I would dearly like to put a Real Antenna on the duplex. I don't think the landlord would be a real fan of me drilling new holes in the roof... but while walking the mutt, I was noticing the mount for the Dish that's up there.

It looks like the dish is friction-clamped on to the roof mount, which looks like a 1-1/2"-ish piece of gray pipe.

I need to pop up there when I have a day off and see if I can take the dish down, maybe put up a 8' piece of fiberglass extension, and then a 2m J-pole on top of that.

Only issue I see ... if said antenna came down, it stands a more-than-even chance of landing on Important Wires. Hrm.