====== The KE5YGT Amateur Radio Farce ====== ===== Kilo Echo Five Yankee Golf Tango ===== {{:ke5ygt:dr-strangelove-sellers-hayden.jpg?direct&200 |}}"Yankee Golf Tango" is the first half of the Primary Target Reference for the B52 Stratofortress Leper Colony, commanded by Major T. J. "King" Kong (Slim Pickens) from the movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). You can't let go of a callsign with such a wonderful cultural reference - it is just too precious a thing. Here we see Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) explaining the communist plot to pollute our "precious bodily fluids" through fluoridation to Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers). Marvelous! ==== Spring 2014 Status ==== No change in my lack of activities. Haven't attempted more than 2 QSOs in the last two years, though I updated my contact info in ULS so any locater search will be accurate again to my present home. ==== Summer 2012 Status ==== Still have only the China 2m and not a QSO even attempted. I have not been camping out with work at all in almost 2 years, so things are a little depressing on all these fronts. ==== Feb 2011 Status ==== I have a Chinese 2m handheld that I have never had a QSO with. I have listened to others on the radio when I have been in more populated areas, but they couldn't hear me. Also, no one in my town seems to use 2m, so it is practically useless to me. I may sell it off at some point. I have, on-and-off, been trying to learn Morse, but I lack resolve. I would need a 20m (preferred) or 40m setup to contact anyone, I think, given my remote location from other operators. I would really like to do something digital as well. My first contact will happen one day... ===== History ===== I had always been interested in ham radio, but figured I didn't have the money or connections to pursue it. It was always a toss-up between computers and ham radio, but my access to computers came first and jobs ultimately followed. This doesn't happen so readily in radio. In 2008, I was very stably in my NMSU System Analyst job and terribly bored. I figured that I could just get my license (only costs about $15) on an odd trip to Albuquerque and that would be that. I bought a few books, studied very little, took all the tests and was four points away from earning an "Extra" Ticket. So, I have a "General" License, which lets you do everything on the all bands, except for a few privileged frequencies. Perfectly adequate for me, especially since I didn't have to learn Morse Code right off the bat. My first radio was a Small Wonders Labs "Warbler" transceiver that I built from a kit. I finally got everything pulled together, but I live in quite a radio-remote place and I doubt I had everything worked out. Ultimately, I sold it rather unused.