Disappointed, just simply disappointed

FrankAllen

Upgrade again !  I set time aside for the upgrade. Read the problems some people were having.Poured a fresh cup of coffee, and downloaded the upgrade. Ten minutes later it wa done. Done !! No problems, no issues, just done. Hey, us hams are suppose to troubleshoot, fix, repair, figure out stuff. How about a checkbox that would ASK for a small problem or two?  I've got spare time on my hands now, and that ain't a good thing !!  

Tim - W4TME

You can come to my house and rake some leaves.  The XYL has been on me about that ;-)

FrankAllen

You just need to move further North, Tim. Snow has already covered the leaves I didn't rake, and the lawn that really needed mowing, and it's too cold to paint around the house. Guess I gotta babysit the Grandson and plkay ham radio. Darn !

Bill W2PKY

I remember those days in NJ! Had to pack them in bags and take to the city dump.

Tim - W4TME

Jd Dupuy

You can come finish building this 8,000 square foot house for me in 10 degree weather. My customer wouldn't mind seeing a fresh new face on the job. I'll even provide the tools (I do this anyway).

Andrew O'Brien

Frank solving small problems with Flex hardware of software is not a big deal.  To be real helpful to us hams, you could work on the solar conditions and cook the ionosphere a bit more. That should take you to dinner time at least.
Andy K3UK 

Mark WS7M

I've got snow you can shovel!  

FrankAllen

Oh, OK Andy, if you insist. But I run WSPR and JT9 mostly so it will take a while to cook things off. Guess I better start, eh !

N6OIL

Same thing here, I even did it remotely from work via TeamViewer. Running Windoze 8.1 on a freebie Lenovo M51 with 500gb SSD. Good times. Ready for the next big update!

Clay N9IO

Frank I'm canceling winter so get ready you may be raking yet!
For those of you who never see snow, well I'm not thinking nicely about you right now.
Just saying.........

Ria

I need help raising some antennas on the tower. Come on over. 

FrankAllen

You have no idea how much I would like to do that. I was on the original installation tower crew for Gabriel Electronics putting up microwave dishes, a long time ago. Now, I'm too old and my cardiologist threatens me when I climb my little tower !!

N6OIL

We sure could use some snow here in So Cal high desert. Last time we had a good snowfall was back in 2008 18" then.

AA0KM

I told a ham friend that upgraded from older SDR Technologies and told him he would get bored with the new
6000 series as it works pretty darn good.
Which he has found out.
We had a laugh or two about that but its true Flexradio keeps getting better all the time.
Except for the occasional of (myself) forgetting to switch around DAX or Com port configuration.
I guess you cant dummy proof everything in this world.
73 Jeff

Kevin

That is a good point. On my old FT-1000 I found myself tweaking and tuning and simply enjoying the challenge of finding and copying weak stations. With mediocre antennas my chances of contact were quite minimal. Jumping into a pileup blind basically left me simply hoping for luck.

With the Flex, there's no doubt about a learning curve. Learning the adjustments and understanding of the noise abatement techniques is key. Then finding that station becomes a lot less difficult. Visualizing the pile up, noticing the DXer's response pattern and finding the sweet spot in the pileup. Actual communications becomes possible!

Love my Flex. Love what it does. Love the fact I can complain about things that last year I didn't even know were possible. Love the potential. Love that it is getting me into new areas (C# programming).

But I do miss the glow of a fluorescent frequency readout. Maybe the new amp will help me get over that.

Kev

Terry K8EET

Frank, if you didn't follow Tim's great directions, you could have  a lot more fun.

Ria

But I have cookies and free food!!! And even **** if you want... Oh well!

Tim - W4TME

hehehehe

Jay Nation

Speaking about weather issues, another year has passed now, and still the hexbeam project here, is still in the boxes. I've just finalized the emergency drip tarp installation above the shack desk, sometimes the shack ceiling drips and/or occasionally streams, when it rains. Last year's roof repairs seem to have only been 90%+ effective. The promised re-re-repair is now being pushed out to as soon as the weather is nicer, and they find the time. No seriously! They didn't totally forget. Believe us!  we won't forget next time. And then we will put that antenna thing up like we said we would 3 years ago.

Maybe, I won't need the tarp for too many more years. Especially, if I keep hinting that I'm considering moving the shack back into the dining room while I'm waiting for the next drought.

My wife has always been better at motivating our children.
   
 SDRgadgets

73, Jay - NO5J

Mark WS7M

Jay, I have offered before.  I'll offer again.  Ship me that hex beam.  I'll build it, tune it and install and test it for you.  When you are ready you just drive right on up here and you can take it back.   In the mean time it will get well weather tested.

It's a win-win deal I tell you!  You get your beam assembled and used for just the cost of shipping it to me!  You cannot beat that deal!!!

<BIG SMILEY FACE GRIN!!!>

Jay Nation

Mark

Assembling it all is not the issue. I can handle the on the ground work. It's the ladder and rooftop work that my oldest son-in-law, an EMT has insisted I need to avoid. The very same son-in-law that, installed the shack roof, did all the roof repairs sub-optimally, and claims he didn't forget the antenna project, and now drives my pickup that I gave him last year, after the doctors all agreed that I shouldn't be driving anymore either, BTW, we warned you about that too.  

I've offered to reclaim the pickup, sell it, and use the proceeds to hire the job done.
But he insists that there's no need to do all that, it's all on his to-do list. Which he might look into getting around to, someday real soon. 
   
 SDRgadgets

73, Jay - NO5J

Mark WS7M

Well I guess I'm not getting through Jay... See I can avoid all of that for you.  You just call UPS, ship it here.  It gets assembled and tested for you then when your son-in-law is ready he can drive up and get it for you and mount it.

You just sit back in your easy chair with the warm and fuzzy feeling that your hex beam is a live an well on a small tower in Fort Collins, getting everything all worn in and functional in preparation for your eventual use.

Its a known fact that antennas have to wear in and doing it in a fantastic environment like Fort Collins where your antenna will actually feel WWV is by far the best.

Win-win I say!   <GRRRRRRINNNNNNNN>

Ria

We're done with that thankfully. Now we have an awesome lawn service. 

Jay Nation

Mark

Not sure I can depend on the son-in-law, to go pick up the assembled hexbeam in preparation for the roof work, that he insists he's not procrastinating about.

It might be some sort of karmic thing. I used to procrastinate quite a bit, especially when it involved something I had no intention of ever doing.   
 SDRgadgets

73, Jay - NO5J

Kevin

It seems like Mark's offer is your best bet for getting any use out of your Hex beam. At least this way, you, using whatever antenna you have now, can have a QSO with Mark using your Hex beam and get some satisfaction that you've finally got to use that Hex beam of yours.

Optionally, get rid of the son-in-law and get a new one.

I suggest the path of least resistance.

Kev

Mark WS7M

I second Kevin's suggestion.   When Jay should expect the UPS boxes?