I have been off the air for much of the last year, but there’s a good chance that will change soon. There is no noble reason for my lack of presence on the ham bands: it was lawn mowing. I still haven’t buried the coax running from my house to my antenna and in the past my landlord took special care when mowing the lawn to stop his zero-turn mower, move the cable over a few feet, and thus keep the lawn maintained without cutting the cable to shreds. Now that my wife and I have actually bought the house rather than rent it, the mowing has fallen to me. I am, apparently, more lazy than my former landlord. I disconnected the cable, coiled it up to the house, and went to town with my lawn tractor. Then I dragged it (my butt, not the cable) back into the house without reconnecting the antenna.
Mowing season is over, though, and the antenna is connected once again. We shall see how much I’m on the air but if I had to predict in advance, I will likely be on digital modes this winter. My sleeping schedule is out of whack and talking assertively into the microphone is more likely to interfere with my wife’s sleep, so the digital modes have a certain appeal. Will I get my act together in time for digital contests? We shall see…