Taking up the challenge & other things

You know how you mean to do things; but "stuff" always happens?

"I'm going to lose that 10 pounds ....... really!"
"I'm going to start working out more ...... really!"
"I'm going to stop smoking cigarettes ........ really!"
"I'm going to finally paint the house ........ really!"

And so on, and so on and so on.

I don't smoke; and our house has vinyl siding. I could stand to lose some weight and get more exercise ........ but as Hams, I bet a lot of us say, "I'm going to get on the air more ........ really!"

I've come across an event that is giving me an impetus to get on the air a lot more. The gauntlet has been thrown down by my friend Jim Stafford, W4QO. But the gauntlet has been thrown down not only to me; but to all QRP ARCI members via the Worked ALL ARCI Challenge.

And the "challenge" is quite simple, actually. Get on the air over the next 5 months and exchange as many QRP ARCI membership numbers as you can. The person who collects the most will win a $100 Elecraft gift certificate! How cool is that? The way I look at it, is even if I don't win (and I probably won't), there will be a lot fun in trying my best; and if it gets more of us on the air - that's a good thing. So if you run across me on the bands from here on until the end of the year; please put up with me when I ask you for your QRP-ARCI membership number. Hopefully you have one!

Second thought on my mind as part of the FOBB post mortem brain storm. Carrying the station around in the metal case I bought from Harbor Freight is not ideal. It may be very protective; but it's a mild pain in the butt to walk around with, what in essence, is a small handheld suitcase.

I've taken to the idea of acquiring a decent sized rucksack/backpack and carrying the gear in there. The only problem is that I don't want to wrap the K1 in a towel or bubble wrap and have it rattling around in the bottom of the pack. I would like to compartmentalize all the various pieces of equipment and carry them that way. Those plastic tubs that deli meats come in at the grocery store are ideal for most things; but are too small for the K1. It's going to take a bit of searching finding the ideal container for the radio. But I like the concept of fitting about 4 or 5 containers in a pack and carrying everything safely and conveniently.

73 de Larry W2LJ