I was coming back from Wal-Mart after getting some clothes for Dee when I saw the antenna in the back yard of big two story house. I had Dee wait in the car with Emily while I checked the house out. What I found was better than I had any right to expect. When I first thought of finding a ham radio I envisioned lugging the thing home and setting it up in the garage.
Yeah. Not gonna happen.
The previous owner is, or was, obviously seriously obsessed. It looks like commercial broadcast booth. Fully equipped with sound mixers, tons of music stored on hard drives and even some vintage vinyl. It's a God damned pirate radio station really.
This guy had contacts as far away as Beijing. I don't know if any of them relied on outside relays though. I read that some ham radio operators do that, relay for other operators. But that probably is not something I can count on.
I set up a recorded message to broadcast every twelve hours. It was easier than I thought. The equipment was well labeled and all the manuals were on a shelf right there in the booth. Most of it was operated by a computer. I had Dee say the greeting. She was really cute saying "Hi!" into that huge microphone and was delighted to hear the playback. I figure a child's voice will get attention. I set it up to record any incoming messages. Although the radio is set up on its own generator, including a small AC unit for the booth, the rest of the house is reliant on city power, so staying there is not really a viable option. I will have to visit regularly to check on the generator and to see if there are any messages.
© 2009 R. Keith McBride
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