I posted a thank you to the Plano Balloon Festival’s Facebook page this morning and someone actually had the nerve to say “They didn’t do a thing but charge ppl money and cancel everything.” …  Yep, it is all about you. They decided to take the easy way out and just cancel everything and take your money. Seems like the best way to get the crowds to return next year. So, what REALLY happened: Weather … Continue reading
I recently helped out with a couple of volunteer events, providing safety and welfare radio support. First was the Plano Balloon Festival, which was to be the biggest, most time consuming event we support as radio operators. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas. Between the much needed rain and excessive winds, there weren’t any official launches. Second was the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk to Cure Diabetes in Dallas. This second event was a ‘smaller’ … Continue reading
I answered the call of W5ADC (Tony) to volunteer to support the Plano Fun Ride this year. The event is a pretty small semi-casual bicycle rally. It has a 5 mile loop and a 10 mile loop. It is a family friendly ride. I expected to have Tony throw me in SAG duty, rest-stop.. or even shadow on the race director. Nope. Tony had other ideas… I was the Net Control Operator… All I can … Continue reading
My wife says I’ve gone off the deep end. Perhaps she is correct. Why? Well, it seems that the local amateur radio club was in need of a webmaster. I offered. I was elected. Crap. What did I do? 😉 Seriously, I am highly qualified and even have experience setting up and administering the CMS package they use. Andy (WA5UP) has done a great job of getting the new site up and running and almost … Continue reading
Well, it is that time of year! I have had three weekends in a row where I had some volunteer activity going on. There was the Blacklands Triathlon where I was the radio ‘shadow’ for the bike technician. It was a rather uneventful event, so to speak. We only had three flats to deal with this year, and two were for the same guy. Talk about bad luck… or poor maintenance. 😉 Next I helped … Continue reading
Wait, is this about ham radio or music? Yes! 😉 The thrill isn’t gone from my ham hobby. Quite the contrary. I went to a Buddy Guy and BB King concert last night with one of my fellow hams, KA5HMI. He invited me over to check out his shack and assortment of antenna projects he has going on in his HOA-ruled subdivision. He has some very cool uses of camouflaging, pulleys, etc. While … Continue reading
