Sunday, February 5, 2012

Is it just me............



I am very excited about ham and have a great time in radio contests,  calling CQ on QRP frequencies, outdoor op's , sitting down at the work bench and building projects and last but not least reading radio blogs.  Is it just me or am I the only one that has a hard time finding the time during the week to do the above radio adventures!!! I'm up at 4am during the weekdays to head out to work and home around 5:30. Then there is the lunches for the next day to be made, the dinner to get going and some house cleaning heck I'm in bed around 9pm so not much time left to do anything else!! There have been times when I do sit in front of the
radio but to be honest I am just to tired to put forth the effort for a CW QSO. It is fantastic as I read Larry W2LJ blog who has made a commitment for 2012 to make at least one contact per day. Then as I read Anthony EI2KC blog and he is bagging DXCC countries daily. I have this past week given some thought on to how to get my beloved radio time in. There are the weekends and at times they can be busy but to prearrange some time and not just hope it will happen may help. During the week I do have about 45 minutes before I have to start work. I was toying with the idea of setting up the K2 in the car along with the mono band mobile antennas  and spending that time to get some QSO's in. But boy oh boy I just don't know how hams do it to be very honest..........

4 comments:

Paul Stam PAØK said...

Hi Mike, 4 am? Oh boy, you make long days. Before I was retired and at work like you, I didn't anything ham radio. Too busy with work and family life. Now I am retired, but I try to make one qso a day. I like to do other things too, reading, walking, biking, making photo's / video, etc. 73 Paul

VE9KK said...

Good afternoon Paul, yup 4 in the a.m...I have about 8 years to go before I retire but I am going to have to pencil in time for the hobby as it is part of relaxing and refreshing me.

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Hello Mike, yep I see similairities with what I have written in my last post. Although I'm leaving home 7:30am and home about 7:30pm. Luckely I got some spare free days and in consultation with my colleague I try to have wednesdays afternoons free. That day I got a hour or 2 radiotime if there are no other appointments. Sometimes I got some time in the weekend in the afternoon and evening but the rest of the time is for family of course. At the start of the year I plan some contests, my XYL knows it but I'm not a too serious contester so there is always time for something else. There is only one weekend that I'm not available for anyone and that is the PACC contest weekend that last 24 hours. That's next weekend. One thing is for shure Mike, the computer takes a lot of time too. Try to leave the computer off for one week and spend that time for radio! I'll bet you got some more airtime then. And don't forget, there are other things in live besides radio. 73, Bas

VE9KK said...

Good evening Bas, I like to contest as well and have good intentions when starting. As the contest goes on usually Saturday evening rolls around and I opt for a movie and snacks with Julie. As for leaving the PC off for a week.....WOW that is a BIG one for me I'm not sure I am ready for that one.