Mosley mini beam ordered
My St. Kitt license has arrived! That's the good news. The bad news is I was not specific enough about wanting a genuine St. Kitts call sign from their pool so they "gave me" the call V4/NE1RD. {sigh} The call V44RD is available so I'll see if I can get this straightened out tomorrow by sending a FAX down there. The lesson in all this? When you're sending in requests such as this to some licensing authority be as specific as possible about what you want. I did that with the license requests for Montserrat; I didn't do that for this request to St. Kitts. My mistake. We'll see if I can fix it.
I ordered the Mosley Mini-32-A mini-beam today. I spoke again with Gary Sr. at Mosley and reviewed the requirements we discussed a couple of weeks ago. I need this antenna to have no piece longer than 48 inches so it can travel easily in my golf bag. He'll have his team build the antenna to these specifications, though the traps will need to be partially disassembled during travel. He assured me this won't be a problem.
Two things about my discussion today are noteworthy. The first one is practical: the lead time for this antenna is now upwards of 40 days. Mosley is busy filling commercial and military orders. (Good for them!) Like so many things discussed in this blog, planning ahead is always key for these lightweight DXpeditions. In this case, planning ahead means ordering what you need long before you think you need it as lead times on some of these items could be as long as 6 months! I should have the antenna about the time the weather turns warm here in Boston. I can get some experience with the thing here before carting it to St. Kitts in October.
The second noteworthy thing about my call to Mosley was Gary. It was a pleasure to speak with him and work out the details of what I needed, what those design decisions implied, how long it would take, and how much it might cost. He was patient, personable, helpful, knowledgeable, and a pleasure to work with. All too rare these days and definitely welcome.
That's two big expenses in two days. I think that's enough for a while! Of course, I'll report back here on what I learn once these things arrive.
I ordered the Mosley Mini-32-A mini-beam today. I spoke again with Gary Sr. at Mosley and reviewed the requirements we discussed a couple of weeks ago. I need this antenna to have no piece longer than 48 inches so it can travel easily in my golf bag. He'll have his team build the antenna to these specifications, though the traps will need to be partially disassembled during travel. He assured me this won't be a problem.
Two things about my discussion today are noteworthy. The first one is practical: the lead time for this antenna is now upwards of 40 days. Mosley is busy filling commercial and military orders. (Good for them!) Like so many things discussed in this blog, planning ahead is always key for these lightweight DXpeditions. In this case, planning ahead means ordering what you need long before you think you need it as lead times on some of these items could be as long as 6 months! I should have the antenna about the time the weather turns warm here in Boston. I can get some experience with the thing here before carting it to St. Kitts in October.
The second noteworthy thing about my call to Mosley was Gary. It was a pleasure to speak with him and work out the details of what I needed, what those design decisions implied, how long it would take, and how much it might cost. He was patient, personable, helpful, knowledgeable, and a pleasure to work with. All too rare these days and definitely welcome.
That's two big expenses in two days. I think that's enough for a while! Of course, I'll report back here on what I learn once these things arrive.
posted by NE1RD's Blog at 9:54 PM
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