My Ham Radio To-Do List

A ham friend came over one day last week to pick up some stuff I was giving him. He’d never been to my shack before and commented on some of the old radios I’ve acquired over the years, including:

• a Grundig console radio I purchased when I was in college,
• the Philco console radio that I inherited from my grandparents and which got me started in radio, and
• the old tube tester that my father-in-law saved from a dumpster where he used to work.

I mentioned that they all need some work to get them up to snuff, and it’s always been my plan to do so.

That got me thinking about the rest of my ham radio to-do list, which currently includes the following:

• Get EchoLink working on the ARROW repeater (K8PBA, 146.96-).
• Get this computer to talk PSK31 and RTTY.
• Play around some more with antennas:
  • loop antenna
  • home-made verticals
  • Moxon rectangle
  • tower to support all this stuff
• Fix up the HW-101 I’ve been carting around since I first got my General ticket in 1972.
• Build an Elecraft K1 or K2,
• Work more contests.
• Get more involved with the ARRL in some capacity.

I guess I shouldn’t get my hopes up that I’ll get around to fixing up that Grundig any time soon.