Mattes's Musings by KC2GIK

Alright for those who have been following this blog for awhile, you have known I write about my hobbies, namely license plates and radios. The editor of t he Plates Magazine has come under fire for prioritizing his articles over other contributors . He had the two major articles this time while people who had submitted material to the magazine had seemed to be overlooked. To be fair when complaints surfaced I was first to pipe in that most articles for a bi-monthly publication take a little be longer to appear. I think the people who are complaining write for a hobby and lack the knowledge of the writing business, meaning they just write whatever their heart desires. They have no real idea about why a word count is important or why one article seems to get laid out better than the next. I am not discouraging them from submitting articles to the magazines. However I don't think they read like a writer. I mean they read the articles, extract information and come away learning s...

Since I can't drive, drunk or otherwise, I figured tonight was the night I do a little experimenting. Yes ladies and gentleman I am drunk and there's no telling what I'll write. F or the record I juszt had four glasses of wine during and after a nice lobster dinner. This might be a mistake but it 's not like anyonce I have just suffered through the movie "Ten th ings I hate about you" and am now onto "Runaway Bride" but I am too lazy toi change the channelLV livng

A few month ago I posted a fairly exciting post about signing on from home with PSK-31.. Here's a little update for those wondering. I have 14 states , confirmed meaning I have received cards from at least 14 people in different states. For those who are wondering, I am running 15 watts which when hitting states like New Mexico isn't an easy task. Since I am using the keyboard people can definitely understand me over the air. To refresh your memory this isn't anything like IMing over the Internet, it takes a lot of patience and sifting through a lot of noise. It also is a matter of timing, a station could be could be booming in one minute and drop out just as quick, even quicker. I also en joy sending out and receiving QSL cards, which are written confirmations of the contact. Being the clever computer guy I am, I have designed my own QSL card with the Baymen's Heritage license plate and posted it on Bergenscanner.com . Getting the cards give ham's a real sense...

Time passes quickly!! A few weeks ago I announced there was some debate over whether or not I should read the toast for my brother and his wife . Well it went right down to the wire, literally, my uncle was on standby just in case. However after escorting the Maid of Honor down the aisle, I figured the best man speech was in the bag. Let's recap the entire two day event up to the walk down the aisle and the toast. I read on multiple websites it's not right for the best man to upstage the bride and groom so I feel like I need to mention Chris. We drove down for the rehearsal dinner the night before which had an interesting twist. Every time we go somewhere it seems something always makes us late. My family decided it was me printing out copies of the toast AND NOT the accident that backed us up four an hou r. We made it to the church to find Chris pacing out front. I quickly exited the car and made my way to the back room, to sign the marriage certificate. Chris was very relax...

In case it hasn't been clear before I do have Cerebral Palsy and if you did a serach for my name on Google or even looked through the pages of this blog you'll see while I don 't focus on the topic exclusively, I write about it when the time warran ts. It also gives me a little bit of a license to point out some misrepresentations the general public makes about folks with disabilities. I am also very harsh when people accuse my of using my disability to get sympathy even thou gh I admit I do it on a very RARE OCCASION! I am also extremely critical of people who use it too often.........enter Michael J. Fox. Unlike most celebrities even before he came down with Parkinson's, Fox was someone who people respected, I do too. I am saying not he is flawless nor am I idolizing him, however he has always stayed somewhat above the fray when it came to mixing politics with fame. He's a devoted Democrat but doesn't think if you're a Republican you're going to Hell...

OK here's the scenario my brother made me his best man for his wedding. Two things immediately sprang into my mind, the bachelor party and the toast. Without going into too many details, I, with a lot of help from my uncle, got a group of guys out to Las Vegas. If you're wondering where's that particular entry, keep on looking because I'm sitting on it indefinitely. The second more pressing issue is the toast, not writing it but reading it out loud in front of everyone. It's my decision if I want to read it or not, but I'm getting a lot of external pressure to hand it off to my uncle. Now I have been grappling with this idea for weeks, one day I want him to read it, the next day I want to get up there on my own. Writing speeches is a lot different than writing articles because a speech is not a time to exercise my massive vocabulary or compose these complex sentences. The problem lies with the fact my relatives know how I can drag out my conversations and t...

Well in two of the entries in this online journal I have talked about getting on the air for Field Day which is the last weekend in June. Well after years of obstacles, Ifinally have setup a HF station at home. It consists of you guessed it, a dual band HF rig and my HP. I written about PSK-31 in two previous artciles, so I won't go into too much details aboutr that. However I will say knowing that I can jump on for a few hours during the band openings is a good thing> I even made contact from folks out in Minnesota which was a thrill and a half!! It's not always easy roping these contacts in, but it is sure rewarding when I confirm a contact. One of the extra bonuses is working "Special Event" stations where they give out special certificates when you make contact with them. It's just one of the many thrills of being a ham. After a week o f trying to get them to recognize my call, the answered. So now I have sent away for a certificate that should be here s...