I thought I would include a non-book blog about my other passion...ham radio and some of the magic I have experienced being a woman in ham radio. Just a bit of fun blog and maybe a way to show who I am as a person behind the book talk. Also the story of how I met my dh (Phaedrus on eHarlequin).
I discovered ham radio in 1996 when, as a Red Cross Disaster Services volunteer, I manned a shelter during Hurricane Fran's path through NC. At night, a 12 year old girl, a ham, did all our emergency communication when we lost lights and power. I couldn't sleep so I talked to her dad and her (when she wasn't on the air) throughout the night. I just thought it was the coolest thing ever so I got my first ham license a couple of months later.
This was one of the first magic moments. I had a contact with this guy from Colorado and we exchanged QSL cards confirming in written form our on the air contact. People use QSL cards for awards. His card talked about hoping to see me on CW (Morse code). Little did he know that I had been trying to find a CW on the air partner locally for months...so I asked him if we could schedule some Morse code contacts on the air. Long story....but that one little exchange---four words!---- on the air in voice "59 North Carolina" from me and "59 Colorado" from him would lead to marriage! Believe it or not, I knew he was "the one" long before we ever met in person.
A picture of Glenn at my NC station with Dante, a lot younger. His first trip to NC.
Connections to my grandmother
There was huge pile up on this Bermuda ham (rare on the radio) but I had to talk to this ham and try to break the pile up. A woman's voice gets through.... 
. A magic moment. As a child I spent all my summers in Bermuda visiting my grandmother. I told Walter VP9KD that she lived on Riddell's Bay in Warwick Parish. Amazingly he told me that he lived in Southampton Parish near the lighthouse which looks down on Riddell's Bay. My family made me go to sleep when the lighthouse came on in the evenings.
After our QSO, Walter met with the family friends who had bought my grandmother's house after her death and took pictures. Walter and his wife had been in her house. Before his visit with the camera, he described the house down to the finest details, including the cedar chest she once had. When I told this story to my mother (who had spent her 20's living in Bermuda), she had tears in her eyes.
The voices of women
This is a picture of a thrilling ham radio moment for me. I was running contacts at a big Colorado contest station (200 ft radio towers) and this little girl called me, a 9 year old girl from Virginia. Her dad, a ham, got on and told me that his daughter had never ever wanted to get on the air before but when she heard my voice on his radio she begged him to let her use the radio. This is a picture of me talking to her. One of those moments I will never ever forget.
Three stories....three magic moments from my other hobby. Books also have magical connections.
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
Sweet story!
Awwww... that is a really sweet story!!!
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
Aww
Aww that is a sweet story! Your own unique romance story.
People who look down on others are the real freaks of this world.
Best radio contact!
That was the best radio contact I've ever made !!
AKA Glenn
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my lovely wife Merri AKA Paisley
Wow, What a great story!
So this means if I ever master CW I can find a man to marry also. I'm a ham too. In fact tonight I've been practicing copying on air morse code on 40 m.
I'm kinda a shy ham. I listen alot more than I transmit. In fact the guys in the club here keep pestering me cause they don't hear me enough on air. I enjoy doing kits and have the solder burns to prove it.
73, Tiana KE5ODX
Tiana, I am really shy
Tiana, too cool on the ham radio!
I am really shy too! Of all things, one of my favorite parts of ham radio is contesting. I am so shy that I feel this intense dread for 24 hours before the start of the contest! The second I call CQ and I get my first call, all is well. But let me tell you...I had to be forced into my first 2m contact! I was so nervous! I built one kit, a receiver radio. It was fun but I have a lot to learn in the building area.
I was really scared to call CQ for the first time in a contest but now love it! We just heard that they just spotted the first sunspot of the new solar cycle! The new solar cycle is official here so it can only get better!
That is just so cool to meet another ham here! I had to have surgery 2 years ago. I am petrified of anesthesia so I was blithering on about how I met my husband....it turned out my anesthesiolgist was a ham with a call very close to my current call!
I don't know if it is ham radio or what but we sure hear stories of other hams meeting on the air. Maybe it has to do with just doing what you love in the first place? Too bad I had to date all the frogs before I had that QSO!
73 and 33 de ABØMV (ex-KF4OAD)
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
Great ham story
What a lovely story. If only things went that nicely all the time.
I used to run on CB but not ham. Catching skip was always fun (your Bermuda contact) and going cross country I really enjoyed meeting and talking with all the people. That was many years ago. I lent the radio to someone crossing country and they never returned it.
Jeannie
Yes I am a readalholic and I don't want the 12 step program!!!
Ham radio licenses
Jeannie, they changed the rules and now you don't need to learn Morse Code today to get a ham license.Right now I use voice and radioteletype the most. My husband and our friends are so much better at Morse Code than me (they do about 40-50 words per minute) so I tend to go for other modes. I have to confess....there is something about a woman's voice on the air that just makes it really, really fun to be a woman on the air! It doesn't mater if I have lousy apartment antenna and low power like in NC or 200 foot towers and an amplifier...it's just fun!
If you ever get the fancy, I am a Volunteer Examiner and can point you to several good internet links for practice exams. My dad was into CB radio a long time ago when he had to travel a lot.
The Bermuda contact was very special. I haven't been to Bermuda since I was 13 or 14 years old but it was so special to run into Walter and have that contact again with people connected to my grandmother. The weird thing was my grandmother's next door neighbor was a ham but it did not interest me at the time. Walter had known her neighbor, now a Silent Key (deceased).
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
My first HF contact was
My first HF contact was with an antenna built myself using speaker wire and some baby hangers (insulators) I had around the house up 16 feet on a painters pole. That started my building bug. the other day I was working on a 40 m (7.040) tuner upper. It lets you tune through your turner without having to use your rig. NorCal Qrp sales them for ten bucks. It's mostly smt. It was fun to do except soldering the toriods in wrong and had to desolder and rewind I hate desoldering.
I need to get an 80m antenna up so I join the net most of my friends check into. I've checked in a couple of time using a random wire. But they couldn't hear me too well. I need to figure out a shortened 80m antenna cause I don't have a big enough back yard for a full size.
I have done a few contests. It is a way to get over my shyness. I usually just answer CQ's. I'll probably do the NA qso party this month. Only a couple of hours each day while my little girl (20 months old) Takes a nap. It's had to do anything when my kids are awake.
:) Tiana
Antennas
My first antenna was a 40m double bazooka tacked up against the ceiling of my apartment balcony which resonated best at 17m due to the balcony and not being in free air. I used a TenTec Scout. It was not the greatest set-up for sure. That's how I got into contesting too. I was shy and I felt good answering CQs and the big stations could hear me. My first HF contact was with a special event station so I have pretty certificate for a scrapbook.
My favorite contests are the JIDX because the Japanese hams are really polite and it's easy to call CQ in that one and also the summer phone NAQP because it usually happens around my birthday.
You have really inspired me. Most of the time we operate contests as guests at big stations. We moved into a new home and still are not really settled. We are planning to make this loft into a reading room and radio shack with a low power indoor antenna. Can't wait for the sun spot cycle to get good again!
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
Bring on the sun spots!
Yep, A few more sun spots would make my life easier. I have a Yeasu 857 D which has all the bands so I thought would be a good starter HF radio. I also have a SoftRock 40/80 a software defined radio. It's sold as a kit. I play around with it the most. I'm still working on sending CW. I play around with CW and PSK with it. But it's 1 watt output. I'm looking at making a miniboots amplifier that would bump it up to about Huge 10 watts out.
I'm experimenting making portable antennas. I'll put up an antenna up and test it in a contest. See if anyone can hear me on a wire up on a fishing pole mast. I'd like to combine Radio with camping and hiking. That's why I need to master cw. CW radios are much lighter. ;) And less battery to carry.
I never get as much done as I want, too little time. And I have to take time off from my tinkering and read a few books too.
:) Tiana