Chuck Gerttula W7CRG
I assembled my low power station (QRP and yes it is Chinese, an RS-918) and hooked up the loop antenna. I was ready to begin a little adventure in chasing stations with low power … even if the adventure was from the back deck on our house. Log book, pencil and cup of coffee, what more could I need? Check connections and push the power switch … nothing happens. The nifty little digital meter hooked to the battery terminals reads low. My lithium iron phosphate battery I got specifically for this type of operation was in need of charging (I got it because of low weight, good power and decent operating time). OK, OK, the low weight wasn’t so important as I only had to carry it from my workshop to the back deck … but that did involve a flight of 14 stairs.
I’m sure this sort of thing happens to all of us but I’ve noticed that it is more recurring in the years past my 70th year on this rock. Yes, I forget things more often now. As a matter of fact, sometimes I forget that I’ve forgotten. Thus setting up a station with a battery I was going to charge.
Charging batteries, as well as changing batteries, is an on-going problem no matter what your age. The Fire Departments have campaigned to tie checking the batteries in smoke detectors to the changing of clocks from Standard to Daylight Savings as many fatality or injury fires they respond to have a dead battery in the detector.
Amateur radio has had an increasing dependence on batteries. We have handhelds (often times more than one), laptops, instruments (how corroded is the battery in your Volt Ohm Meter?), clocks, calculators and many other items. Don’t forget the batteries for your “Go Kit”. Part of the supplies in my “Go Box” is a zip lock baggie of AA and AAA batteries. When I need one in the shack I go to the baggie and grab it and when I get a fresh supply of batteries I replace the batteries in the baggie.
Try to determine a “trigger” for you to think about the various batteries you need to maintain. The Fire Departments use the clock change. I know of one ham who uses a clipboard with the various batteries and other items he needs to check on listed with a monthly space to check-off. That works for him but is far too much for me. But, whatever works for you, try it.
The batteries I have the most trouble with are those for my various HT s as it seems the manufacturers make almost every battery different and the charger has a different configuration. Many have the same voltage and so forth but the charger has a very different connector or plug. So if you don’t use the radio on a regular basis, when you want to use it, it is often with a low charge.
Now I know I had another item to discuss … but I forgot it. Oh, now I remember, manuals. We as hams collect a wide range of radios and equipment. Some of you may remember all the aspects of said equipment. Which button to push to do various tasks. I do not. My philosophy was always I don’t want to clutter my meager number of brain cells with large amounts of information. I just need to know where to find that information when I need it. But as Hamlet said, “Aye there’s the rub.” Sometimes that can be problematic unless one plans ahead when they get the material. By that, I mean right after the “Wow this is great! Look what I can do with it!” I put the information which tells me what it can do and how to make it do that, into a clearly labeled file. A brief bit of organization now saves so much frustration later. And, over time it becomes a habit rather than a task.
“Cheat Sheets” such as the Nifty Mini Manuals are a great help. I’ve found they were more helpful a number of years ago when my eyesight was better and could read that teeny tiny print but they provide a huge amount of operational information. I saw one ham who made a small pocket from clear wide tape and had the Nifty on the back of his handheld. I guess he had a pocket for each battery. The hams who respond with him probably have either adopted his pocket Idea or know where he is to borrow his Nifty trifold when they forget which button to push.
I think in previous blogs or blog I mentioned how one can find themselves in a circle of need (read frustration). By that I mean I set off to fix the “whatchamacallit” and find I need tool A to do it. I search for and find tool A but it needs work/calibration/the manual. I search for and find the necessary work/calibration/manual but find that to accomplish said task I need item B. You can see where this is going, can’t you? If I am lucky the circle quickly closes and I actually fix the “whatchamacallit”. Other times I set it aside and move on to another problem which hopefully doesn’t have a “circle of need”.
Over time I have come to realize that if I fix the item when I first discover it, I save myself hours of frustration and work. I have come to the realization but that doesn’t mean I’ve conquered a bad habit. But it does mean that more and more often I go to use tool A and I can both find tool A and tool A works as it should! (Read smile smugly.)
Another kind of “forgetting” is what I consider re-learning. To set the stage, I’m going out for the afternoon and I grab my trusty Yaesu FT 60. I have programmed a multitude of repeaters and as well as the simplex frequencies on the little hand held. But … I don’t use the radio often enough to remember the number for Otter Crest repeater nor the number for the simplex channel. So I go through each channel looking for what I seek. To make things more complicated, I didn’t enter a name for each channel when I did the programming I “relearned” all right. I reprogrammed when I got home and made the listings useful for the “forgetful” one, me.
Hopefully this has been useful, amusing and provided some ideas to make your ham life better. If it hasn’t, sorry about wasting your reading time but have a happy hammy New Year!
Chuck Gerttula
W7CRG
