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Showing posts from November 3, 2024

100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...

Stone Mountain (Gwinnett County) Hamfest 2024

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I haven't been to a hamfest in probably 10 years. They are still happening. They certainly are not as big as they were back in the 80s and 90s. But they still happen. An ever-reducing fraction of the expereince is still advancing state of the art communications technologies. Otherwise, they are celebrations in the antique, classic and nostalgic. It's fun to have conversations with folks that understand the specifics of eosteric radio and electronics technology. I saw one product that I wrote the manual for many years ago (The MDS new "P" Model). Angie decided to help out. We left the house incredibly early with the truck that was loaded up the night before. How early was it you might ask? Well, we went to Waffle House for Breakfast on the way to set up and the waitress told us to have a nice night when we left. I sold a few items, and I couldn't help but buy a few things. (Military Antenna base for the Humvee, a vintage Marantz receiver and few other odds an...