Back in New England

We arrived back after two weeks away. Saturday was devoted to getting settled in again. Linda went shopping for groceries and then later did the laundry. We will only back in New England for two weeks before we travel again for the Karns family reunion in Cochranton, Pa and another business trip to Pittsburgh. We have a lot planned, with finishing the teak caprail as the highest priority, but we have many other small projects as well.

Saturday morning I took and passed the exam for my Amateur Radio General Class license. This was a goal I set for myself early in the year, having expected to complete it during the winter. Work demands got in the way, so I resorted to selecting a test day and therefore forcing myself to get ready. I had originally planned to get my General Class shortly after I passed the Technician. I was studying Morse Code at the time and coincidentally at about the same time the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) petitioned the FCC to drop the Morse Code requirement. With that, and trust me it did not take a lot of arm twisting, I decided to wait until the requirement was dropped and then take the General Class examination. The wait was longer than I expected, but they did eventually drop the requirement. So, what is the benefit? Many boats cruising have SSB radios which are used for long distance communication. These have marine bands which do not require an Amateur license. These same radios however have the Ham banks which can be opened up for those with a license. These bands expand the available frequencies and also make it possible to transmit email free of charge. We do not yet have a SSB radio, but expect to add it before we leave or shortly after we depart.