Dear Friend,

I feel like Garrison Keillor, creator of A Prairie Home Companion, one of my favorite radio programs, when I start a message with the weather in Israel. Kind of like Lake Wobegon. The weather is beautiful in Israel now, sunny and warm, with cool breezes in the night time from high atop the Judean Hills. The Spring and Fall are my favorite times of the year, full of possibility, with something new around every corner. We have a new government here in Israel after four elections in two years. Optimism is an asset these days as is my pool membership and now a year pass to the Jerusalem Zoo to make walking more interesting.

We are mostly open here and the pandemic closures are almost all gone. Tourism is still limited and testing is required in both directions. Thirteen months of limited social contact and isolation is causing me to not jump back into my old life as fast as I thought I might.

I built an outdoor junction box to hold my lighting arrestors and LDG remote antenna tuner that feeds my 6:1 balun, 100 foot inverted V fed with 450 ohm ladder line. I am almost ready to get on the air to see when I can do on CW. I have a little "key fright" as I have not been on the air on CW for almost 48 years. Wish me luck!

The Expo preparations for August are going forward with now 76 speaker presentations in the line up. The subjects and presenters are amazing. I am so grateful that our hobby and its representatives of every age and stripe like to share what they learn with all of us. It gives me hope for the future. We have some kids who are presenting who are going to show us what they can do to attract their generation to our hobby. I can't wait.

Registration and presentation previews will be up on the Expo website on July 1st. Stay tuned!

In Episode 354, I interviewed Marty Woll, N6VI, who is a VHF, UHF, and Microwave "rover", and makes contest contacts while driving from grid-square to grid-square with his antenna arrays and transverters on top of his truck. Marty grew up in the San Fernando Valley, California, where I spent time as a kid.

In Episode 355, I interviewed Frank Kollins, WA9CWX, who collects CW keys, restores old rigs including WW2 vintage radios, and has an interest in early radio history. After our interview, I convinced Frank that he should make a presentation in the next QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo about early radio experiments by Heinrich Hertz and the "ether", a theoretical substance for transmitting radio waves. It was thought that the ether could conduct transmission to the spirit world as well. I am still looking for that setting on my IC-7300!

My guest this week is Ted Holland, WB3AVD, who as a ham radio artist, designs and builds working CW keys as art. Anyone who has spent time with Begali and Vibroplex knows that keys and bugs are works of art to begin with. Ted takes his one of a kind creations to a whole new level. Be sure to click on the pictures to get a better view of them on the show notes page.

I know that you will enjoy this episode as much as I did making it.

Have a good week, 73,

Eric, 4Z1UG