Miscellaneous

October 27th, 2008 by k8gu Leave a reply »

Just some miscellaneous news from happenings over the past month…first, the good news…

I passed the oral exam on Tuesday.  So, I’m officially ABD now.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Nikon released the 50mm f/1.4G AF-S SWM prime lens at the end of September.  I guess I wasn’t paying close enough attention.  This is good news for D40 owners such as myself.  But, the price is almost as steep as the Sigma f/1.4 30mm and 50mm HSM lenses.  The 30mm lens would be a better all-around choice.  Perhaps Nikon will come out with something a little shorter by the time I’m ready to buy.  Until then, I’ll keep using the 50mm f/1.4 AF-D that I have on indefinite loan from work.

I managed to destroy the drivers in my recently-repaired TS-930S.  I considered swapping the drivers from my second radio into this one.  But, when I took that radio apart, I found that the capacitors had swollen.  So, I have parts on order to fix that.  UPS says they’ll be here today.  I requested a quote for the NTE236 replacement for the MRF-485 drivers.  They want almost as much for the NTE236 as RF Parts does for the MRF-485.  I think I’ll get the MRF-485s.

We had high winds yesterday (Sunday).  I lost the 80-, 40-, and 20-meter dipoles.  Sarah said, “Do you expect that (80-meter) antenna to last the winter?  It just broke in September.”  She’s right.  I’m not sure I’ll repair it if it breaks again.   It’s less than a week to the CW Sweepstakes and I only have one working radio (FT-840) and antennas for 10 and 15 meters.  The forecast calls for 65 and sunny on Thursday.  So, I’ll probably take the day to work on antennas.

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