Desert Valley Brewery

Another Wednesday "Old Geezer" lunch. After some confusion (original plans went by the wayside because the place has not opened yet) had food and brews at the Desert Valley Brewery on Ellison near Cottonwood Mall.

Good conversation. I had the burger - thought I was ordering the steakburger but the gave me and charged for the Kobe beef burger ($1 more). Fries were so-so, looked like they were fried in very old oil as they came out very dark.

My beer was their amber ale. Not as smooth as the Ambers I am accustomed to drinking. Last week at Boxing Bear, I had 2 pints, today only one because of the beer.

Antenna Status

Cousin Don and I had dinner Saturday evening at Albuquerque's Billy's Long Bar.  I had much to discuss with don to help ne marry the "ham sticks" I purchased to the tripod. I had not inspected closely the new tripod.  We had made plans for a transition from the base to the antenna.  When I got home and fully unboxed the base, I started re-engineering the planned installation.

It became obvious my planned installation might be a "rube goldburg" installation.  Back to the Ham Radio Outlet website.  Found a better option (with the ham sticks I was looking of operating on 2 bands - 40M and 20M).  I found a "back-packing" antenna that has a better system for mounting to the tripod.  And, a big advantage is that it will cover 40M up to 6M!

Ordered the antenna - it should arrive mid-week.

As usual, we had additional conversation over sandwiches and pints of beer.

Lunch at Boxing Bear

This was the second time I had lunch with the Wednesday group.  Well educated seniors (my BSEE was the lowest education level).  This week, we are at Boxing Bear near Coors and Alameda.

As for me and at least 2 others, selected the "Cubano" sandwich.  A nice break from the routine burger. Washed down the sandwich & ships with 2 pints of their "Ambear" ale.

AMBA Social

Attended the Albuquerque Mountain Bike Association Winter social at the Palmer Brewery.  Stayed there long enough to have 2 pints of beer and had a short coversation with the President.  Since the social was in the back room of the brewery, the acoustics was terrible - I could not hear much and ended up with a light head-ache.

Steel Bender Brewyard

Today I had lunch in Los Ranchos de Albuquerue at Steel Bender Brewyard.  I had the bacon-cheeseburger, fries, and a pint of their local amber ale (Sparkfitter Amber).

Nothing special of the burger.  Fries were cook right - not soggy as like so many.  The Amber Ale is pleasant.  First sip gives a hoppy taste, but not noticed later.

The price is a little higher than I am accustomed to.  About 2 dollars over typical.

The place was not busy at this Wednesday lunch.  I have heard they are packed over the weekend - Friday through Sunday.

New group for me to have lunch with most Wednesdays.  Four of us at lunch.  Ham radio friend and next-door neighbor, Larry (food reviewer) and myself.

Antenna Connectors

Been accumulating parts to assemble an antenna to get on the air. Have coax, "ham sticks" (40M and 20M) a window feed, and a tripod. The photo here shows the connectors for the "ham stick" to coax.