Canon 20D

UPSR result was out last week and though my daughter's result is not the best around but it seems that she could get hold of Bahasa quite well. She scored As in Penulisan, Maths and surely English but Bs in Pemahaman and Science. Since she has struggled enough for the past 6 months trying to get hold of Bahasa, I think it paid off. Anyway, she wanted a DSLR for her birthday and present for her UPSR.. a new entry level DSLR can set us around RM2400 for Canon 400D with kit lens and accessories .. was interested on going for Nikon, but my camera buddy suggested against that. So .. was looking around for the best deal around town but hey, saw somebody is trying to sell off his Canon 20D, an intermediate DSLR for less than 400D with kit lens. My camera buddy persuaded me to go for this camera instead.. so, finally, my daughter becomes a proud owner of a Canon 20D DSLR .. since I've 50% of my share on the usage .. hey, I'm looking for an upgrade now .. hee.. hee.. not the body, but the accessories. First of, need to upgrade the bag! Will see how it goes .. most probably going to get a Lowepro bag since it is the most affordable one.

I'm back in KL

Thankfully, the docs kept their words. After I got my body casted with few layers of fiberglass, the docs allowed me to go back home. So, I spent a day and half, not going anywhere though .. but only to see my aging, immobilised grandma who I guess had been worried about me.

Anyway, last Friday was really surprising me.. my buddy 9W2STT (Salleh) and Mak Zam paid us a visit at kampung .. I guess as said before, there must be a hikmah .. otherwise, I've no idea when they could visit my kampung .. Thanks Salleh & Mak Zam .. you guys really made my day last Friday..

On Saturday, handed over the driving role this time to my wife .. she took the Triton key and drive us all the way to KL. To cheer her up and not to make her feel sleepy, no body in the car went to sleep .. and we just keep talking from one topic to another.. we had Sholala Coffee (did I got the name right??) at Seremban R&R.

Had few conversation on air at night and this morning .. still remember everybody .. so, guess I'm as good as before .. (might not 'as good as new' tho' .. hee.. hee).

Radio .. and ended up at the hospital during eid!

Sometime, your craziness on your new hobby ends you up in the wrong side of the pond.. and that happened to me. I was so happy to be back in Muar to celebrate the eid with my family after spending the last five eids in Manchaster. But guess it is not a lucky one for me, while trying to reposition my slim jim antenna to get better reception and transmission, I slipped off the ladder and end up, bed ridden for the past five days in the hospital.. there goes my raya this year.. Hopefully, the hospital will release me after I get body casted .. when? hopefully by tomorrow... Oh well, pengalaman mengajar erti kehidupan!!

Ramadhan - radio - etc ..

Ramadhan is coming to its end in less than a week time, it seems that everybody in Malaysia is franticly trying to put whatever finishes to things that they've done before the eid next week. For us, we've done nothing to our house, because ... I'm too lazy ... though I need to patch up some water leaks near the ELCB unit.

Every morning, when the time permit, our good friends from ASTRA (The Malay Amateur Radio of North Malaysia) come up on air for Sahur-Net just before the end of sahur each day. I have yet to check in. Will see if I can manage to check in the day before eid.

Looking at my log book today, I have done 34 QSOes till the 5/10 .. oh.. and few more QSOes done during driving around KL. Not to boast myself, but I think I'm pretty much comfortable to go on air now compared to few weeks ago.

HF set/Yaesu FT-897D.. I'm still dreaming to have one.. I missed the boat last week, my friend called me and he said that he was going to 9V land last Friday .. but instead, he went there a day earlier. He said that he is going again next week.. but I'm thinking of going there myself instead.

4x4 ride with anak2 yatim - MARES+MARTS+ORS+BP

Went to the event organised by few parties led by 9W2AXE (Azhar) at Rumah Anak Yatim in Puchong. The ORS + BP teams brought the children on quite an easy ride to the normal place they've frequented, Jln Kebun .. and well, some of us from MARES tag along with the team. 9W2JAZ(Hilux) and finally 9W2BBS(Triton) broke their 'dara' ..

Some photos from the event.





More photos found in the album:

Off-roading 23/09/2007

Log book and another pole?

I just checked my log book today, hey.. hey, I have eight lines now with twelve contacts! What an achievement .. not! :)

I was on the road today, going out from my housing estate when I met another ham, driving a fully make up 4x4. 9W2AMR .. salam kontak perdana.. His QTH is not that far from mine, might go for an eyeball one of these days with other hams surrounding me. The other one that I know of is 9W2PRO which I have not meet either before.

Ah .. I just couldn't stand that I couldn't do a simplex with many hams in Klang Valley area.. had another look at the back .. and I guess, I need to push my antenna a little bit higher.. so .. here I am again with another aluminum pole .. need to connect the two together and make it a 30 odds feet antenna mast. Just need to find a time though ..

Radio .. am I crazy about amateur radio?? :D

I have no idea really .. it was a ham friend of mine who persuaded me to take up a radio amateur. I went for Radio Amateur Examination last June and I got my license (AA) last month. I was quite happy with a handy which I asked my friend to buy for me, a Yaesu FT-60R until one day, when I tried to start a conversation, it just died on me .. low battery and from that day .. I shy off from transmitting.

Last weekend, I went to Singapore with my family .. shopping for my first ever proper mobile rig. Spent around S$1000++ for a Yaesu FTM-10R, a power supply, SWR meter, vertical antenna (Diamond X200) and yagi antenna (Diamond A144S10).



Bought a 20' aluminum pole for my antenna mast and have my vertical antenna up. Had a short QSO with few ham friends. Still not get into the ham lingo, so sound a bit weird. Anyway .. here is my X200 up at the backyard.