Personal Satisfaction

 This post is going to be about personal satisfaction, but in two different ways.

First off, last night after dinner, I went down to the shack, determined to get the new laptop talking to the KX3. I use the rig control feature on AC Log for one reason only and that's to allow the logging program to know what frequency I'm on, so that I don't have to manually enter it. Lazy? Yeah, I guess, but I like it!

I realized the other night, or remembered would be more accurate, that I needed to load the drivers for the KXUSB Cable in order for everything to work properly. It was easy enough to find them via a link on the Elecraft KX software and firmware page. I downloaded the drivers, but then ..........what next? Where do they go and how do they get there? I am definitely no computer genius.

I perused the page and discovered the installation utility all the way to the right of the page. I clicked on that, and installed the drivers. Success - kinda. I went to the KX3 utility which I had downloaded and installed on Sunday and hit the "Test" button and saw that rig was talking to computer via COM 4 at a rate of some 38 point something kilobytes a second - or whatever.

I opened AC Log and ............. nothing. The Rig Control utility was polling the KX3 but wasn't giving any answer. So now what? That's when I spied that you can choose the "communication speed". I hit the 38 point whatever button and the rig and logging program started singing a duet. Nice!

Here's the thing. When I run into computer problems, I generally take on the IQ of a small soap dish. I work in an IT Department and work with computers every day; but when it comes to drivers and where to put them, and configurations and opening up databases and stuff like that - well, you'd get better help from an Oreo.

BUT ........ I got it done! All by myself, without going to YouTube or Google or asking anyone for help and that's where the personal satisfaction comes in. But I'm not about to become smug about it. I will always remember that one time I was working at Sinar Bron and I came up with the solution to a problem our studio strobes had encountered. I was feeling pretty proud of myself that I had figured out an answer that even the factory engineers hadn't thought of. My Boss, who was Swiss, looked at me and said, "Larry, even the blind pig finds an acorn every now and then." Wow! Talk about bringing you down to Earth and keeping you grounded! But it was a lesson I'll never forget.

The second thing about personal satisfaction that's on my mind. Last night on the POTA Facebook page, someone was complaining that his QSO acknowledgement rate seems low to him and sometimes it takes a very long time for activators to load their logs so that he can get credit for his QSOs.

Why does everything in Ham radio have to be about competition, awards and all that kind of stuff? What happened to going to a park, getting out in the fresh air and sunshine and having fun making radio contacts? What happened to the personal satisfaction of breaking a pileup and getting a QSO; or the satisfaction of completing a successful activation? Why the need for awards and tallies so that you can declare yourself "King of the Hill"?

I've got my share of POTA certificates. I haven't downloaded or printed any of them to hang on the wall. Just knowing I can be heard, that my station is working and that I can make the contacts is plenty good enough for me! Same thing with activations. I don't need to make 137 Qs on an activation.  Don't get me wrong, that would be nice; but I get my 10 done and in the log and I'm a happy camper. I accomplished something and there's deep satisfaction in that - and that's good enough reward for me.

However, I guess it takes all kinds to make up this world that we live in. The trick is in not letting the annoying ones get to you - and most of the times, I fail miserably at that.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!