This Saturday, five diehards, defying the infernal temperatures, met for the weekly Saturday morning ham breakfast at Virlie’s restaurant in Pittsboro.

John, KX4P, who has rebuilt a homebrew crystal-controlled AM transmitter, described his impressive feat of raising the frequency of an FT-243 crystal by hand grinding the quartz crystal with some VERY fine sandpaper, raising the frequency about 20 KHz. It took him only 18 tries to sneak up on it.

Bill, N8BR, has been cutting firewood, probably training for a transcendental antenna effort.

Roy, WA2JLW, remarked that his Vibroplex paddle needs occasional adjustment. Obviously a case of hypermorse activity. He also observed that 4 out of five of the breakfast attendees were 75 years old. His birthday is Sunday.

Nick, KA1HPM, the youngster of the group at only 73, brought a show-and-tell of an adapter for his headset/ mic to his radio. Nice job. He does a lot of that.

Herb, N4HA, reminisced about a sideswiper key he built as a young ham from a hacksaw blade. Thank goodness for iambic paddles.

Where are the youngbloods? Please join us and inspire us every Saturday morning.

posted by KR4UB for Herb N4HA

On a foggy Saturday morning this week, local hams dedicated to amateur radio and eating met at Verlie’s Restaurant in Pittsboro for the weekly RF download and a plate of eggs.

When the conversation turned to robots, Terry – KK4JGT, suggested a book he recently read called “We Are Legion”, wherein the main character signs up for cryogenic preservation, is subsequently killed in a car wreck and wakes up 200 years later with the dystopian occupation of being part of a computer.

John, KX4P, reports seeing a JT65 signal at three frequencies simultaneously on the waterfall display. He emailed the station who suggested that John update his software. Admitting that it was at least possibility, he tried to update but was thwarted by his Norton anti-virus.

Guy, KM4QLF (is that the best CW call you’ve heard, or what?), is contemplating putting up a multi-band fan dipole and asked what other breakfasteers were using for an antenna.

Bill, N8BR, has found a remote rig controller made in Sweden that does it all without a computer. He has also settled on the DXtreme logging software.

Nick, KA1HPM, showed photos of his new, neat and XYL-friendly home station.

Roy, WA2JLW, has recently recovered from a stomach bug and hasn’t been on the air much this week.

Pete, K4PHS, has moved and is much closer to the “Egg and I” breakfast, so he will be going there for his ham breakfast. We’ll miss him and hope he can come by sometime.

Herb, N4HA, was bedeviled by his inability to delete “599” from the N1MM logging software during the recent NA QSO Party contest.

If you’re not joining us, we hope you will soon. It’s every Saturday morning, around 8:30, at Verlie’s Restaurant in downtown Pittsboro.

/for Herb, N4HA … KR4UB Dan

Another delightful report on the Virlie’s goings on by Herb, N4HA

Despite the coldest temperatures of the season thus far, six hearty hams sated their hunger for eggs, coffee, and radio this Saturday morning at Virlie’s in Pittsboro.

Nick, KA1HPM, a newly ordained VEC, had to leave early to administer tests for some lucky amateurs-to-be. But not before relating a story of his being mistaken for Santa Claus by a young child in a store.

John, KX4P, is inching up on his digital DXCC goal at 96 confirmed. His quest to separate a length of 1 1/2″ copper pipe from its union with a union continues. A friend has offered the services of their tractor, winch, and a sturdy tree. Failing this, Nick will press his weedburner into service.

Terry, KK4JGT, continues to organize the Chatham County CERT program, despite its likening to herding cats.

Bill, N8BR, shared his knowledge of ice cream and old age. (The best ice cream is Graeter’s, coincidentally made in Cincinnati, Bill’s hometown. Also, don’t expect to live past 127; beyond that, the body falls completely apart.)

Roy, WA2JLW, extolled the empirical virtues of the G5RV antenna ( it works pretty good).

Herb, N4HA, has hit another snag in the postponement of the erection of his 30 meter switched Vee antenna due to the recent acquisition of some antenna wire and a crimp-on pl-259.
Now the only thing left is to put the darn thing up and see if it works.

note: please overlook any misspellings, incorrect statements and/or hyperbole. It’s hard enough remembering how old I am.

by Herb N4HA

Chatham hams assembled for the ritual breaking of eggs at Verlie’s Grill this past Saturday morning. Seven and a half amateurs attended the breakfast.

Terry, KK4JGT, reported that he has had a dozen people respond to his Chatlist posting concerning starting a CERT team in Chatham County. The state authorities have been contacted and the process is under way. Good job, Terry.

Nick, KA1HPM (a.k.a. “Hiram Percy”) had a premonition that he should back up his hard drive about two weeks before his un-backed-up hard drive crashed. He says retrieving the data from his old drive will be very expensive, if even possible. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m backing up mine NOW.

John, KX4P, brought in the chassis of the AM modulator for the radio he is rebuilding. He asked for advice on how to clean the smoke and debris deposits from the chassis, the result of an expired power supply transformer. Nick suggested oven cleaner or putting it in the dishwasher. Nick also brought in adapter plates he had fashioned for the replacement transformer and mic connector.

Bill, N8BR, enjoyed the North American QSO Party, making around 1300 QSO’s for the team of 4 at N1LN’s super station. He is having some trouble getting his new logging software, XMlog, to do right.

Roy, WA2JLW, was able to get a few licks in during the NAQP also. At some point in the conversation – can’t remember where – he reminded the group,”never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity… but don’t rule out malice.”(This is known as Heinlein’s or Hanlon’s Razor).

Pete, K4PHS, has gotten the radio unpacked after his move into his new digs. He has made a contribution of several antique radio pieces to an antique radio museum.

Herb, N4HA, saw two meteors during the recent Perseids shower.

John, KK4VUR, made a brief cameo appearance while breakfasting with another group.

Hope you all will join the fun some Saturday morning.