{"id":4962,"date":"2021-04-01T05:40:51","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T05:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/websterart.com\/wordpress\/?p=4962"},"modified":"2021-04-01T05:40:51","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T05:40:51","slug":"radios-soldering-a-hit-and-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websterart.com\/wordpress\/2021\/04\/radios-soldering-a-hit-and-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Radios, soldering, a hit and run"},"content":{"rendered":"

It seems I’ve taken a break from painting. I had expected to be dirt poor when I retired. Painting was going to be my second career. During the last 30 years I’ve diligently chipped away at the ‘teach yourself to paint’ learning curve. I’ve sold around 90 paintings in galleries. But for every painting I’ve sold, I have 10 that are sitting upstairs piled up against the wall, or stacked in boxes, or hanging on my kids houses walls. They come to me for free decoration.<\/p>\n

So, yeah, I’m kind of burned out on painting. I did paint on my last trip, and I’ll paint on my next one. Climbing is hard, rest days are important, and the cliffs are always lovely. <\/p>\n

But lately I’ve been playing radio a lot. Like climbing, it is totally pointless…my favorite kind of hobby. I even taught myself to solder. I ordered a kit for an antenna. Everyone is out of the finished product…but kits are available, and only cost $25. My last one took all day to build, and it was so complicated I don’t know how to use it yet. But it sure was fun to build. Who knew soldering could be so much fun?<\/p>\n

We drove to two parks today. I took my 7300 today. I’m finding that 100 watts is a nice solid workhorse. QRP with 9 watts is a nuisance. I haven’t given up on QRP, but I think I might save it for mountain tops, or Panorama Point.<\/p>\n