Most hams go through cycles of days or weeks or months where they operate more intensely or take a more relaxed approach. Those “lulls” might look like doing more listening, or working on projects, or making cables, or any of the maintenance things that need to get done. In my current situation I am balancing work, family, friends, and other interests against being on the air. A lazy Sunday walking the beach with a surf rod hoping to annoy some fish is not a time poorly spent. Neither is spending quality time with my wife. We have both been working from home for over 16 months and I think it has made it more important that we do fun things together now. Being stuck in the house together all day is not a substitute for real time spent together. Since I set up an antenna each time I want to operate there is a hurdle to getting on the air. That time is often during peak family time, and family often wins. Even then I am still practicing morse code, reading up on antenna designs, planning my next portable operation, and fine-tuning my VHF Rover setup.
In a way it is not unlike being a surfer in a lineup. You can never catch every wave. Some of the best time you spend might be sitting on your board enjoying the setting, watching the fish, or cheering on your fellow surfers. Here in Rhode Island we are in the heart of the summer beach season. It brings with it many opportunities for recreation, gatherings with friends, and even some solitude if you know what beach to be at and when. It’s hard to choose sitting at a desk (again) over watching the daylight fade while up to my neck in the Atlantic.
Every person has their own circumstances, and I can’t deny being a little jealous of hams who are active every day with permanent installations. I look forward to having that chance as my life balance changes. So, I wish I had a technical topic or an operating tip, but this post is about finding balance and making the most of time on the air when we get it.
OK, I lied! Here is a cool tool for JS8Call, written in Python by Groups.io user basho1600. It scrapes calls, grids, and QSO information from the JS8Call receive window and maps out the station grids with lines connecting stations in QSO. It’s a great example of how you don’t need to be developing executables to make something useful. Being open-source it can also be a starting point for another developer. This is the kind of feature that JS8 needs, and a user stepped in to get the ball rolling. BRAVO
73, Pete N1QDQ
petebrunelli 