Machinery Infatuation

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I bought my first NEW piece of farm machinery. I am not sure if this is a failure or a success, but it is different. I picked up a NEW Rotary Cutter (bush hog, brush hog, mower, etc) from a dealer. It cost me almost as much as the tractor did with its bits of hardware and options. It seems to work well on the CNH Boomer 33. I planned on getting up to NY in the next couple of days, but Gracie has been sick.. she has been up and down. The steroid treatment and a change in diet seem to be helping at this point. Besides hauling the tractor and mower up to NY I have numerous events planned over the next month. I will be in Charlotte for a conference as well as Tucson Arizona and of course other events and activities. I started installing radio equipment in the Humvee. It now has a telescoping 30 foot antenna, a 24 volt to 12 volt converter, a removable SDR radio and some other stuff to be sure. I'd like to get it to the Stone Mountain Hamfest -- thats what i am shooting for. I thr...
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The station is at or near maximum capacity now. There have still been no trips to the pole and all the folks for the pole are here. It is crowded. You have to plan when you do things to make sure you can get them done such as laundry. I hear that we are getting at least 3 trips to pole tomorrow. That will be good. It has been unseasonably cool at pole. The rule is that the LC-130s don't land when it is colder than -50 F. It has been -60F at the pole all last week. Cool indeed.

Here is a picture of me struggling with the Antarctica climate at Gallager's at McMurdo. It is a non-smoking bar. The folks who tend bar are moonlighters. They have regular station jobs but also tend bar for minimum wage. The other picture is after the halloween party at about 11:30 PM. This is sea ice on the Ross Sea. This ice will break up and ships will come in this area in February. Right now they are landing C-17s LC-130s, Twin Otters and Baslers (turbine powered DC-3s) on the ice runway. The runway will move to Wiley field in a couple of months. Wiley is on the "Permanent" Ice Shelf. It is all pretty impressive especially when you realize we have a Microwave Landing System out there for ultra precision approaches. Better equipment than almost every airport in the US.

I got on the air (40 meters and 20 Meters) a couple of hours ago (0300 UTC). I did not make any contacts. However, 20 sounded like it might be opening up. I am going to go back up there in a little bit and try again. We have established a Ham Radio club. We had our first meeting this morning.

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Machinery Infatuation

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Image
I bought my first NEW piece of farm machinery. I am not sure if this is a failure or a success, but it is different. I picked up a NEW Rotary Cutter (bush hog, brush hog, mower, etc) from a dealer. It cost me almost as much as the tractor did with its bits of hardware and options. It seems to work well on the CNH Boomer 33. I planned on getting up to NY in the next couple of days, but Gracie has been sick.. she has been up and down. The steroid treatment and a change in diet seem to be helping at this point. Besides hauling the tractor and mower up to NY I have numerous events planned over the next month. I will be in Charlotte for a conference as well as Tucson Arizona and of course other events and activities. I started installing radio equipment in the Humvee. It now has a telescoping 30 foot antenna, a 24 volt to 12 volt converter, a removable SDR radio and some other stuff to be sure. I'd like to get it to the Stone Mountain Hamfest -- thats what i am shooting for. I thr...
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