Visitors From Everywhere!

 

As you can see on the above map, this Blog gets visitors from all over the world! 

I just added a site-meter a week or so ago to track the traffic. The little dots on the map represent recent visitors. People from Asia, Russia, Sweden, France, South America and many from the USA  have visited this site. 

Yes folks, it is indeed a "world wide web"!

Wild Weather in Murrieta...

We had a pretty wild thunderstorm hit Murrieta yesterday... lots of thunder and lightening. Several homes in a nearby town were hit and caught fire. Thankfully I remembered to unhook the antenna coax from my radio! Took this short clip with my camera phone.

Everyone In The Pool!

Our daughter Carrie Renee was the host this weekend for a pool party at her home in Murrieta.

With wonderful weather, three kinds of pizza, plus gourmet sandwiches and other treats, it was a great day of fun and relaxation.

Our other Carrie (Carrie Ann) from Fallbrook drove up with her husband Kelly and daughters Chloe and Ava.

Carrie Renee's children (Haylie, Quinton and Colston) also enjoyed the day along with Bill and Robbin.

In the top photo Carrie Ann (left) and Carrie Renee play with Ava. In bottom photos, Kelly and Chloe do some splashing while Haylie (at right) and her friend get some serious suntan time.

You can click on this link to see more photos: SLIDESHOW

Field Day 2010 - QRP Class

Last weekend was the annual "Field Day" event. Ham radio stations all over the country get on the air to test their emergency radio skills and equipment. Some are very elaborate operations, with major antenna systems, large generators and multiple stations -- all set up on Saturday just prior to the 24 hour event.

My Field Day participation was based on using a small radio with low output (QRP) and battery power. The HW-8 transceiver (the small green radio pictured above) puts out about 4 watts -- the same as a small night light! The battery is charged with a small solar panel.

During this years Field Day I operated between chores, shopping and sleeping, with about 8 hours of total operation. Even so, I made 82 contacts with stations as far away as Hawaii, Alaska, Texas, Ohio and Illinois.