I can develop B&W film now!

Today our house was hooked up to town sewer, which means I can now develop B&W film safely. I didn't want chemicals to go into the ground water, even though I was told they won't cause any harm to the environment. Finding B&W chemicals will be a challenge since the world has gone digital!

Cape Light

This is one of my favorite books on Photography and Cape Cod. I first saw these photos when I was in High School on a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts. These photos have always stuck in my mind as some of the best photos taken on the Cape. You can order the book new or used from here if interested:
http://www.amazon.com/Cape-Light-Color-Photographs-Meyerowitz/dp/0821227955

Lessons learned

I went to Cape Cod last week (which is why I haven't entered any new posts recently) and brought 2 HF radios. I brought a Yaesu FT-817 and Kenwood TS-440. I brought my 20m end fed dipole for an antenna. The lessons I learned from this trip are as follows:

1) If you have an Antenna Analyzer, bring it! If you don't, try to borrow one!
2) Bring more than 1 antenna
3) Bring both a battery backup and a power supply

Although I heard lots of stations, they didn't hear me. This was caused by the placement of my antenna. Had I had an Antenna Analyzer, I would have found this out ASAP and not wasted precious air time. Had a brought more than one antenna, I could have tried it to see if my results improved. And last but not least, I only brought a 12V lawn tractor battery and not a power supply. When I finally got a reply to my CW, my battery died! All in all, I did not make any QSO's, but that's OK as I was on vacation with my family and I learned what not to do next time!

DXpedition to St. Kitts

For those of you who don't know Scott (NE1RD), he is a friend of mine that I met at PART, my local ham radio club (http://www.wb1gof.org). He will be going to St. Kitts in October for his next DXpedition. His is looking to make 1000 QSO's, so I'm just helping him by spreading the word.

You can see his website for this event at http://dxpedition-v4.com/index.html. Scott also has an excellent blog that can be found at http://100pounddxpedition.blogspot.com/

Rich

The Flying Pigs QRP club

I just joined this club. It looks to be interesting.

http://www.gentzow.com/fpqrp/index.asp

A clever 20m dipole

I found this site on making your own 20m dipole. I like the idea of using a 35mm film canister. I plan to build on of these and report back later on its performance.

http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=12484

First Look: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18

My friend Rick pointed out this new camera to me. This camera is an 8 MP with an 18X zoom and optical image stabilization for under $400. I look forward to trying one out when it arrives at a local camera store.

http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/4394/first-look-panasonic-lumix-dmc-fz18.html

2007 Maryland DC QSO Party

I plan on trying to make some QSO's this weekend in this contest. Check it out at http://www.w3cwc.org/funcontest.htm

Welcome

If you are reading this, odds are you know who I am. I've started this blog to track my adventures in Ham radio, photography and to document other cool items that I come across. I'll add more as I get more familiar with blogging. Thanks!