Mattes's Musings by KC2GIK

On April 29th I celebrated 25 years in ham radio!  So I have doing a series of blog entries to celebrate the achievement! I will highlight a few accomplishments.     It happened again, I made a simplex contact  from about 80 miles away. Not exactly a record but still pretty decent.  This isn't my first major contact but every simplex contact is special. It's a sign my radio and antenna are receiving, and more importantly transmitting properly. Ever since I  got my license twenty five years ago, I have been fascinated with simplex more than repeaters. For those who don't know the difference between a repeater is a machine usually in a high building or other structure that receives on one frequency and transmits on another.  With simplex it's just one frequency, direct from radio to radio  line of site. There are atmospheric conditions that can increase the distanced, that's call ducting and there's a map on the Internet that shows  the conditi...

 It;s a tradition in Cape May. Every year at 10 AM the Saturday of Memorial Day 150.9950Mhz comes alive with voices of the dedicated people of the Cape May Beach Patrol. I know a lot of them from cruising the promenade on the scooter. They are really active during the weekends from missing child reports to jeyllyfish stings. Even though Cape May is one long coastline, it's divided into twenty-five sections between Poverty Beach down to the Cove Beach.

  Another Facebook post that inspires a blog entry So I need to explain my previous post. I was cruising Beach Ave and I noticed Steve's Stockton Golf was wide open.....So as a goof I just turned around and glanced at a sign that said "I'm somewhere on the course just pay me when you see me" . So I thought I would just play a few holes, I was tired I hadn't slept well last night, my back hurt and i did have PT earlier that afternoon. The entire time I was playing nobody else showed up! I kept looking at the booth hoping to see someone so I could pay him or her.I get to the 17th hole right near the booth and it was a hole in one! I was alone, or so I thought. I get to the booth, the attendant was there. He looked at me and said "You played the entire 18 holes, alone" I answered " I kept looking for you" as I reached for my wallet. He simply said "I saw your hole in one, the game's on the house.: " I was humbled. Another day i...

Ok if you didn' t read last year's post regarding the Amateur Radio Field day go back and take a peek ! Even though this wasn't my first Field Day, it certainly was the best because not only did I use my own radio, I got to actually stay up during the entire event instead of going home when the bands just starting to heat up. Over the past year I became real close friends with the 10-70's VP, Isaac,NJ3C, he's gotten me to the meetings this year ands has really helped me setup my base station right, though I'm STILL not finished! Anyway Isaac,NJ3C, knew this year he was going to try to get me to stay overnight, it's not like we sleep that much anyway!! So anyway I had my radio and arranged for a laptop, "borrowed" a table that was in the lodge and patiently waited as Paul,KC2CJW, built my station. Paul and Issac had an unspoken deal, Isaac would get me up there, and Paul would set me up. Well after a handful of tying different laptops to see if they...

By now you have heard that during a rally in  Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett decided to take a swipe at  Governor Gregg Abbott's immigration policy. During her speech, or rant depending on your views, Crockett seemed to take a jab at Abbott, who uses a manual wheelchair, "Governor Hot Wheels".  After a few comments from people, Crockett realized her mistake, but didn't apologize.  Of course the first reaction from the right was she made fun of someone in a wheelchair, and the left's defense was to trot out the time President  Trump made fun of a reporter with a disability. There was another time where Trump order a wheelchair user removed because he refused to move when he was told he was blocking a fire exit. These two instances caused real backlash,  and in my opinion  people swooped in to defend   both people. nb  They were made into saints overnight. It's soo predictable it's sad Governor Greg Abbott didn't have that luxury! Y...

Once again I have coverted a Facebook post into a blog entry. There have been mixed reactions about President Trump shutting down the Department of Education. My only fear is what will happen to IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). W e will see what  happens   Here I am listening to all the noise about the future education in this country. I've heard parents, from those who fully endorse the public education to ones who home school. I;ve heard from teachers who of course hate the idea to students who have excelled in carter schools. Now you're going to hear from ME, a former student who survived special education, was fully mainstreamed, but lacked to confidence to continue to college. You've heard stories how I had great high school experiences, which I did, but the previous eight years before high school were pure hell. I went to a pub lic school that never recognized I had a brain. My mother fought them tooth and nail for them to provide me basic services...