I was officially voted into one of my local radio clubs last night. It seems like a good group, a mixture of folks both older and younger than me. Which I think is what you want in a club. I’ve always been a learn by reading and doing on my own person. It will be nice to have resources to actually talk to and watch as I prepare to jump into POTA, antenna design, and other areas where just watching a YouTube video might not cut it.

I continue to focus on FT-8. I admit, there is a rush to it, akin to video gaming, when compared to standard voice. It hasn’t helped that I’ve either been busy, the bands have been bad, or the dreaded local noise has made voice difficult for the past week.

As I type this Tuesday morning I’ve added seven new countries in the past 24 hours. Make that eight, another just came through. That quick accumulation of News is just the dopamine rush I need this time of year.

The ability to hit African and Pacific stations is the biggest draw to me. I just do not seem to hear them, or have them hear me on the rare occasions one of them makes it to my QTH, on phone.

The combination of WSJT-X and Gridtracker is a pretty slick interface. Very cool to see where your signal is going and be able to track your stats on the fly.