Well, there hasn't been a lot to write about over the last couple of days for a few reasons, most of which are pretty much related. I really haven't done much radio "stuff" this week in general because I've been unusually busy at work this week. In fact, my usual evening routine of sitting at my computer and answering email, reading blogs, catching up on favorite websites, all while keeping the radio on and the spot cluster up (I use DX4WIN for general DX use, which has a spiffy feature where it will audibly announce an "interesting" spot, like a new country, so I just keep it running in the background) has been pretty disrupted since I've had to do a significant amount of work in the evenings for my "day" job. Well, as I say, if you're busy, it presumably means that you're valued and that's always a good thing.
A couple of things that I have somehow managed to squeeze in are a series of email conversations with Bruce, K0BJ, regarding operating from the Caymans, mostly about some of the locals down there, operating from ZF1A, the Cayman Amateur Radio Society club station. (Sure wish I could find a valid link for them; occasionally I've run across it, but most of the places that have links point to a now-dead link.)
The one other thing is that Bob, K0NR, suggested that I take a look at the ICTA website for information about operating down there. It looks like the ICTA is the Caymanian version of the FCC. I'd emailed one individual a while back, but hadn't heard from him, and apparently he may be quite ill, so I'm going to write to anyone else on that website that I can find who seems like they might have information about Amateur Radio licensing. Interestingly enough, there's a "Radio" tab on the page, which pops out a list of various radio services, but although Amateur Radio is included, it says "(soon)" next to it and doesn't link to anything.
Budd, W3FF, told me that there's been a delay in shipping my Buddistick because they have run out of cases, and were expecting a new batch this week, but apparently they did not arrive. I've still got plenty of time, and as anxious as I am about playing with the antenna, since the weather has finally warmed up, most of the snow has melted resulting in a significant amount of mud all over the place ... so perhaps it's just as well that I wait a bit longer to play with the new radio.
The CQ WPX SSB contest is this weekend, but given the week I've had, I'll probably pass on spending much time in it at all, and maybe just work a new band or a new country, if I happen to see anything.
Hopefully I'll have time to write to the ICTA folks and make some headway on licensing over the weekend.
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