It’s been a minute hasn’t it?

Life Stuff

It seems like I’ve been away from the blogosphere for quite some time. I’m still alive and kicking but since I last posted there’s been a few life, radio, and work changes.

A few months ago I was diagnosed with ADHD. This is a blessing and a curse. I’ve finally been prescribed some decent medications and my ability to focus has improved immensely. This also explains much of the oddities in my life and the way I say and do things. The cursed part is that once diagnosed there’s this weird phenomenon that happens where a lot of skills seem to regress for a time. It seems that this is common for those who are going through this type of thing. This really is a top of another time.

I hope to find a platform to talk more about my neurodivergence journey and how it affects me and those around me. I was involved with Autism Nova Scotia for a while. I also work to advocate for neurodivergent acceptance. That is another complex topic that I hope to talk about a bit more in the future.

Radio Stuff

In the radio world, I’ve not been super active. Since I last posted, we moved to a new house where I was able to set up a completely new ham shack and office in the upstairs of the barn. This is an awesome space where I can work and play.

My current shack consists of an Icom IC-756 for HF and my trusty old Yaesu FT-1900R. My HF antenna (OCF) is out of commission for the time being as the coax broke off at the balun because of the way it was put up in a tree.

I still have my trusty Chevy Silverado 1500. The thing is a tank and I love it to death. I have my Yaesu FTM-100DR and a Ranger RCI-2950 for 10m and chicken band. I’ve made contacts all over Europe with this 10 watt rig. It works really well with the Firestick CB antenna I mounted on the front left quarter panel.

I am still a member of the local radio club and we have gatherings every Saturday. we haven’t done much tech stuff lately but our gear is working very well. We did, however, hire a carpenter and put a whole new roof, new insulation, and new inside walls in our repeater shack. We also put in a heat pump to control the temp. Now our repeater cans don’t lose their tune with the temp changes.

I can’t write about radio stuff without mentioning the one big thing that I did. I am not an Accredited Examiner for ISED. I can test and issue licenses for new ham, Morse code, and Advanced Qualification. So far I have tested two new hams along with two Advanced test. Everyone has passed with flying colors.

I have lots of pictures somewhere and I might eventually post some.

Work stuff

I still work with VoIP tech. I am currently in a project / implementation role for a large Canadian company contracted through my employer. It’s a long and interesting project.

For a little over a year, I took a lead position for our support team. That was a very interesting and rewarding posting. It was, however, very stressful. For what it’s worth, that was expected and known. There was lots of emergencies and escalations to deal with. It was a great learning experience. I learned a lot about being a leader and what it takes to manage difficult employees and customers. I worked hard and was successful in the position. I was able to manager some very difficult contracts from the ground up. I received great feedback from senior management and coworkers. In the end though, I felt that I had done what I could and ended up passing the torch to one of the employees that worked with me. She took the lead position and ran with it. I am sure she will do great things.

At the moment, I am on medical leave as I have been struggling with stress and mental health issues. I should be back at my desk working away at the end of the month.

Camping stuff

I got some pretty good feedback on one of my posts about my Jayco camper and the furnace. I am glad I was able to help some folks.

For the past few years our camper has been parked on a piece of land with my parents. They also have a trailer and we share the power and water systems. A couple years ago we dug a nice well and we have lots of water.

We’ve had a ton of ran this summer and the lake is super high. We spent the weekend there with the kids and swam a ton. It was great. It’s a fun and happy place for us. The kids get to spent time with their grand-parents and we get a bit of a break.

Conclusion stuff

As you can see there’s been a lot going on the past few years. As a family, we live in a very neurodivergent home. Sometimes it’s a struggle and sometimes its so awesome that there are no words to describe it. We have some many laughs. I have the best family support one could ever ask for. We all work together to overcome the challenges we face and have a great time doing it.

Hopefully this post is a start to something more. It feels good to write again.