Since COVID and finances falling apart I haven’t operated amateur ham radio in several months. Something I said I would never do is quit operating. Well today I decided to get out and play. Even with the contest I made 6 contacts in about an hour and a half on my 817, internal battery and Alpha loop. One of my contacts was KP3MM in Puerto Rico from Miramar Beach with 1 watt SSB! I was rather excited!

Like so many people who are having some rough times, I ended up selling some equipment, something I also said I would never do. I have enough to get on the air at home and portable, but something I would recommend encouraging others that are backing off from operating is to not sell anything!!! Now I don’t have the FT3000 that I loved and only had for a little less than a year, but my money issues are still just as present.

73 de NJ2J #178