DOA x 2

At Hamvention, I wanted to purchase an MFJ-4225MV power supply. MFJ had none at their booth, nor did any of the dealers at the convention who sold MFJ equipment, so I ordered one online after I returned home from Dayton.

UPS delivered the power supply about a week later and it was dead on arrival.

I contacted MFJ and they had UPS pick up and return the dead unit back to them. I tracked the package back to MFJ and then there was silence until I received an e-mail from UPS on Monday informing me that a package from MFJ was on its way.

UPS delivered a replacement MFJ-4225MV yesterday and it was dead on arrival.

Argh!

UPDATE: I phoned MFJ and they are shipping me another replacement with a return label for the dead unit. To avoid DOA x 3, the folks at MFJ tested the replacement unit they are shipping to me.

Bear With Me

I'm still waiting for the standoffs from Elecraft.

USPS originally estimated delivery on Saturday, but they were not delivered and USPS tracking indicates that they are now in transit from the Springfield, Massachusetts USPS facility. Maybe they will arrive Monday, maybe not. I am not holding my breath.

So while I waited impatiently for the standoffs last week, a black bear visited and dined on the contents of our bird feeder Thursday evening. Here are the videos my daughter and I took while sitting in her SUV observing our visitor.

The Standoff Standoff

I planned to assemble my Elecraft KX3 kit this week.

Over the weekend, I cleared a place to build the kit, rolled out the anti-static mat and connected it and the anti-static wrist strap to Earth ground.

It was a very busy weekend and that is as far as I got, so I planned to work on the kit each evening after my day job.

Monday, I unpacked the kit and did an inventory only to discover that my kit had four incorrect sized standoffs. After completing the inventory, I phoned Elecraft and they shipped the correct sized standoffs on Tuesday.

The standoffs are needed early in the kit assembly (the 5th step in the assembly instructions), so there is not much point beginning the kit assembly and then stopping to wait for the parts to arrive.

I was hoping to have the KX3 ready for the VHF contest this weekend, but that prospect does not look good.

WDNB

WDNB, 102.1 MHz, Jeffersonville, New York

Driving back to work from my lunchtime run to Walmart, I had the car radio tuned to WAQY FM on 102.1 MHz out of Springfield, Mass. As I pulled into my parking slot at work, the song WAQY was broadcasting was captured by a weather report for a town that was new to me. After the weather report, the station id'd as "Thunder 102," WDNB out of Jeffersonville, NY, about 108 miles to my west-northwest. My new logging was a solid S-9 unless I rolled the car a few feet forward or backward; then WAQY would capture WDNB. I tuned around the FM band, but did not find anything else unusual.

Arrived

My First Heathkit ― The HR-10B Receiver

Yesterday, UPS delivered the Elecraft KX3 transceiver kit that I ordered at Hamvention. UPS also delivered an anti-static mat and wrist-strap that I ordered to use while assembling the KX3.

I have built plenty of Heathkits in the past and did not need any stinkin' anti-static devices. However, the KX3 kit is not your father's Heathkit.

The KX3 kit is a no soldering needed kit. Basically, I build the KX3 enclosure and plug-in various preassembled and tested pc boards. Those boards contain sensitive components that may be damaged by Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) simply by touching them, thus the need for the anti-static devices.

Last night, I unpacked the box from Elecraft and checked that everything I ordered had been delivered (it had). Then I began reading the kit assembly manual and plan to build the radio this weekend (3 to 4 hours are required to build it).