Last November, Maki got his amateur radio license. He's now licensed to transmit on the amateur bands in some crazy number of countries. Maki spends nights learning morse code and listening for transmissions from around the world. He even has a vanity call sign - K4RQZ, which even CJ has duly memorized. And yes, he has the matching shirt.Maki brought his radio, the Yaesu FT-817 that I got him last Christmas, to Mexico. He also brought along his BuddiPole antenna. It sounds like a lot of gear, but it wasn't and Maki was excited to be able to try out his fancy equipment outside the US.
Maki did not have a lot of opportunities to actually listen or transmit, but he did spend one afternoon on the beach while CJ and I played in the water. Unfortunately, there was a lot of static (not sure where it came from) so Maki didn't make any contacts. He did meet a meteorologist who saw Maki's giant antenna on the beach and introduced himself. Mr. Metereologist said that he and other meteorologists rely on hams (amateur radio operators) to provide them with information about storm conditions and damage when the power is out.
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