I enjoyed the Bismarck Hamfest immensely this year! Not only did I get to talk to some friends and make some new ones, I passed the General test and won the radio raffle! It didn’t take me long to install that into my car and start playing with it.
I also started my membership with the ARRL and started playing with the LotW.
Thank you CDARC for hosting a great event and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone next year.
Tech test stuff
I took the Technician test with K0ZSH in Bismarck on Dec. 30 and was registered in the FCC database on Jan 9, not too bad for the holidays.
Since then I have been using my Baofeng UV-5R 4-watt HandiTalkie paired with my Nagoya NA-771 or Hypario magmount. Most of the time I just monitor 147.180 W0FX, but I occasionally flip on Dual Standby and listen to county stuff. I have noticed DS mode shortens the battery life a bit and seems to double the Battery Save time, which causes you to miss the first bit of the first transmission.
KE0LOZ 