Mattes's Musings by KC2GIK

I have been collecting license plates for fifteen years and have heard the war stories of  people getting screwed out of plates. Every now and then some piece of trash gives collectors the real run around andit's mostly annoying. However nothing prepared me for what I was getting into when I first starting talking to Juan Esperenza. Like  all new collectors he wanted every plate under the sun and started  "friending" people on Facebook. Of course since I was friends with fellow ALPCA members I accepted, pretty soon the nightmare began. Juan started making bad deals and bidding on plates with no intention of buying them. This obviously ticked a lot ofpeople off, so he was running out of people who would want to deal with him. He then started messaging me on Facebook because I had thrown a few plates, that wer never for for sale Every single plate I  put on my Facebook page he asked if  it was for trade, I said no. Finally after months of harrasment I told him I h...

Below is a post I sent to the PLATES Listserve. I plan to write something on the other activities like I did for the Erie trip last year. Bottom line despite the numerous troubles I ran into,  overall I had a blast. Well I have been reading all the reports and figured it was time I pass one along. The convention honestly ranked one of the worst I've been to and before everyone gets on the defensively accuses me of not appreciating all the hard  work the Board put into this convention let me preface I had a great time at the actual convention but between having my flight diverted, I was traveling alone this year, and the hotel treating me like a second class person that didn't understand what I was talking about. First of yes I know you can't control planes from diverting and the flight crew WAS GREAT, but they overreacted when I started showing signs of nervousness/ My flight was diverted to Austin for two hours because of the storms in Dallas. I  couldn't help but b...

After a year off due to the 2009 ALPCA Convention in Erie, PA  conflicting with Field Day weekend 2009, I entered this Field Day with  my own laptop and a new antenna. As in previous posts I mentioned I now havea Toshiba laptop which I use remotely whenever possible. So this year I can truly call the station my own! Paul,KC2CJW brought the Pompton Lakes OEM vehicle which was  decided to be my home base. It was definitely one of my more interesting setups because I also toured the van to check out there radios and of course what was in them. This year the 10-70 club, callsign N2SE, setup a station at Darlington Park just down the road from our usual location at Campgaw Ski Lodge. It seems the county scheduled their hazardous materials recycling day the same day as Field Day weekend. However it worked out fine because the attendance was down from last year. We were still a lively group I did have some problems with my new Buddystick  antenna.First of all note to ...