I’ve been looking at some accessories for my current radio: Yaesu VX-170. I’ve also been looking at a mobile 2M/70CM rig, and some base stations for the house. I’d really like to hop on HF, but the upfront cost is the biggest limited factor right now. Apart from the transceiver, i’ll also need the antenna(s) to successfully transmit/receive for the bands. I’ve also been interested in packet radio, APRS, and AMSAT.

I’ve also got an ICOM IC-25A mobile that was manufactured in 1989 and doesn’t seem to operate properly. It won’t accept saves in the memory, and honestly i’m not even sure if it will receive at this point. On my projects/to do list is to build a copper J-Pole antenna, so once that’s up i’ll see what this old radio can do. Even still, it doesn’t support repeater tones (I think?), so I won’t be able to hop on the local repeaters anyway. Nonetheless it’s something fun to play with.

Last night I attended the Lamar Amatuer Radio Club (LARC). There were 14 in attendance (including myself), and it was interesting. The meeting started off with business and minutes from last months meeting, a treasures report, upcoming events, announcements, etc. Afterwards an educational piece on corrosion was displayed. The president and presenter, Randall, is a corossion engineer and went over corossion cells, what corossion really means, how to prevent it, types of materials, dissimilar metals/soils, and annodes and cathodes. It was really fascinating and I learned quite a bit. I’m looking forwards to next months meeting and the learning aspect of it.

This is my wife. Look at her with her new hair color. Hello Bonita.

Home Gym

Originally uploaded by rjaynes

Here’s a better picture of the home gym setup! We also installed the foam flooring in the room. It’s going to be great working out in there now. This weeks physical activities so far include:

Monday – Bike to work and back – 7.42 miles, Weight lifting
Tuesday – Run/Walk at local park – 25 minutes
Wednesday – Weight lifting
Thursday – Bike to work and back – 7.42 miles
Friday – Weight Lifting (Planned for tonight later)

On another note, why have I not been using the Flickr “Blog This” feature more often? These past two posts were from Flickr. Such an awesome feature!

I purchased a new bench and weight set for the house. The bench is a “Keys Fitness ST-IB”, and the weight set is a bundled 300lb package.

The weight set is a 45lb olympic sized bar and the following plates: 45lbs x 2, 35lbs x 2, 25lbs x 2, 10lbs x 2, 5lbs x 4, 2.5lbs x 2

So far it’s been great working out at home. This Thursday the foam gym flooring should arrive and the room will be finished. I’m going to keep building up the equipment as I can. The next thing will probably be dumbbells. I’ll buy a couple each month to finally make up the set. I’ve also been looking at resistance band systems such as Body Lastics.

Oh well, here’s to hydration!

1. Saturday, Dec. 13th: Leave from New Orleans at 4PM on the Carnival Fantasy
2. Sunday, Dec. 14th: Fun day at sea
3. Monday, Dec. 15th: Arrive at Progreso, Yucatán
   1. First Shore Excursion: Chichen Itza Mayan Ruins (Details)
4. Tuesday, Dec. 16th: Arrive at Cozumel, Mexico
   1. Second Shore Excursion: Atlantis Submarine (Details)
5. Thursday, Dec. 17th: Fun day at sea
6. Friday, Dec. 18th: Return to New Orleans port

Right now i’m so excited I can barely stand it. This is going to be an awesome trip! Since we decided to book it on this date, it was very inexspensive (off season). I could see taking many more cruises in the future at  these prices.

The next thing we have to do is get our passports. As of right now they are not required for water/land travel, but in 2009 that law is changing. We figured we should go ahead and get them now (and have less hassle later).

Pictures can be seen on my Flickr account.