My first radio was (is) a Yaesu VX-3R that I bought used from a River City ARCS member, Rodney KN6DA. I found this radio extremely difficult to program, just reading the manual and using keys on the radio. The programming software from Yaesu helped a lot, but the biggest help came from another ham, N6OIM, who works in the same building with me at Sac State. Thanks, Eric!!

I live in a stucco house, and I've recently discovered that the metal lath underneath the stucco makes an excellent RF cage! I've been able to take my handheld out to the back yard and hit most of the repeaters, but winter weather is soon going to put a stop to that. So my next project will be home-brewing an antenna for the 2m band, which I'll be mounting on one of the gables on my roof. We have a fairly steep-pitched roof (6/12), so the peak is over 20 feet above ground. Routing the feed line from the gable into the attic will be easy, but I'm not sure where I'll take it from there--I may just operate in the attic over the winter, until I can set up my shack on the main floor of the house.

I buy most of my electronics "stuff" at Metro Electronics. Their prices are usually within 5% of Fry's, but Metro's staff is intelligent and helpful. Park over on I St (for free), and you probably won't walk any farther than you would at Fry's.

I'm on FaceBook and I also have a blog (which hasn't gotten much attention since I jumped into FB).