Last weekend, on the spur of the moment, my wife and I decided to head “up north” as we say here in Michigan. In this case, up north meant visiting Port Austin, MI, which is at the very tip of of Michigan’s Thumb. (If you don’t know where the Thumb is, take a quick look at a Michigan map, and you’ll get the picture.) Part of the plan was to do a short activation of the Pointe aux Barque Lighthouse.
We checked the weather, and I knew it was going to be dicey on Sunday, but we decided to go anyway. Well, we got way more than we bargained for. It was almost 80 degrees here in Ann Arbor when we left just before 10:00 am, and that made me hopeful, but when we arrived at the lighthouse, the temperature was hovering around 50 degrees, and there was a very stiff wind coming off the lake. Call me a fair-weather activator if you like, but setting up under those conditions would have been no fun. We ate our lunch in our car and then headed to the motel.
Even though the activation was scrubbed, we still had a nice time up there. The weather was much nicer on Monday, and although I didn’t’ have time to operate on Monday, we enjoyed some time down by the beach.
It’s not always cheaper on Amazon
Every year, our club does a “white elephant” gift exchange. Basically, you bring some junk from your shack and exchange it for some junk from another member’s shack. We didn’t do this in 2020, but at the December 2019 meeting, I selected a Wouxoun KG-UV8D. Now, I certainly didn’t need another handheld, but after trying it out a couple of times, I found that I really liked using it. So, I was a little disappointed when the battery decided it didn’t want to hold much of a charge anymore.
The first thing I did was to check for a replacement battery on Amazon. There were some listed, but the cheapest one was $27. I like the radio, but wasn’t sure about spending 27 bucks on it.
So, I widened my search and found a replacement battery on the Main Trading Co. website for only nine bucks! I don’t know why it’s so cheap, but I ordered one right away. Even with a shipping charge of $8, it was still much cheaper than the battery from Amazon. It arrived yesterday, and it appears to be the real deal. It charged up, and I took it with me on my walk downtown this afternoon.
The moral of the story is to check around. Sometimes, the cheapest price isn’t on Amazon.
I want faces, not radios
Finally, just a quick note. If you’re going to put a picture on your QRZ.Com page, post a picture of you, not your equipment. I don’t really care what your rig looks like. I want to see the person I’m having a contact with on the air.
Sid Boyce says
The Amazon adverts here in the UK are all about low low prices but are always higher than EBay.
e.g: I bought a water heater with no connection hoses from Amazon for £59.00 which did not work and was returned for refund.
Checking on EBay a more powerful unit with all hoses (£31.95) and works.
Frank WA8WHP says
I don’t know about Wouxoun, but Baofeng has cases that use standard AA batteries. I keep one in my e-comm go kit so if I cannot recharge I have a source during an emergency. Just check occasionally if it has not been used. Especially for corrosion.
Dan KB6NU says
Yeah, I saw the battery holders on the MTC website. I almost bought one, but they were six bucks, and then I’d have to buy some rechargeable batteries, so I’d have ended up spending more than what I paid for just the battery. Still, that’s a way to go, once the battery packs are unobtainium.
Layne says
But my face is so ugly!
Dan KB6NU says
Well, I often joke that I have a face for radio, but I’d still rather see your face than your IC-7300, TS-590, or K-3.