Here we are, in the After Times. The Strange Days. As a resident of Gen X, I was promised that the apocalypse would be swift and that there would be an immediate free fall into chaos. As it turns out, the apocalypse we got is more of a slow settling to the bottom of the ocean. Thoughts like these are prompting me to look for ways to fill the hours. Reading is always a good use of time (see also: books I cleared off of the pile last week) but it still brings thoughts with it that might not be the best for the times. What’s a body to do?
If I were so inclined, I’d be working on handicrafts. I’m not very good at that. I’ve done some tree pruning. I’ve installed a bird feeder. I’m poking around at the things in the house that need doing, but that’s not very recreational now, is it? It doesn’t feel like it.
There was a time when I would solder something together at least once a year. Synthesizer kits. Effects pedals. Winding my own pickups for guitars that were never finished. Right now seems to be a renaissance of kits for radio amateurs. Yes, the original “Social Distancers” have a lot to choose from these days. So I threw in and picked up this kit. It only does FT8 and one other mode (I’m going to try JS8 for this one). It only works on 20m. And it looks like it’s fairly simple to assemble, test, and get on the air.
A little time spent staring at tiny parts with a soldering iron in my hand will hopefully bring some much needed mental quiet. That’s the name of the game.
There will be more on this as I build it on The Other Blog That I Don’t Update Much.
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