What's new

2024 Shave Purchase Sabbatical - The Year of MacGyver

My final check-in, as well. Made it all the way through!

Looking forward to trying out the new soaps Santa brought me (unlike some of your wives, mine is very supportive of the hobby, mainly because she loves to have me clean-shaved, but also because she knows it makes me happy; she also knew I was in the restraint and wanted to surprise me, but insisted I not use the new soaps until the new year).

Happy New Year!
 
My dad had a IC-7800 ... or at least I think it was the one with the matching amplifier and most of the bells/whistles. He became a silent key in September and my brother and I are working on trying to figure out what to do with his ham gear, and his astronomy, metal shop, wood shop, photography, fiber... gear. He had lots of hobbies and tended to upgrade to pretty nice stuff over time.

I managed to "work" him a few times with my lowly kenwood from the 80s. But it is only about 75 miles as the crow flies so... it would be more shocking if it didn't work unless we were trying sub watt QRP. I haven't looked at new gear in a loong time so I have no idea what all the cool kids use nowadays.

My crazy splurge for 2025 or maybe 26, or 27 would be a box truck to facilitate moving about 700 miles down the street in a few years.
Hi,

Firstly - Happy New Year to All!

Secondly: My Final Check-In for 2024.

Thirdly: My Check-Out of 24 and into 25....

OK,the work part is done. :)

Yeah, a 700 mile move. Been there, done that. With a 1997 crew cab dually diesel truck and a 24 foot box trailer (which was my racing trailer). I still have the truck, but wound down the racing between 2005 and 2010. So, the trailer was the last piece to go. It helps to have a large enough rig.

Many reader might want to stop right here. Time to talk some radio hobby stuff!

HF radios these days tend to be in three groups. Low end, mid range, and high end. Come to think on it it was that way since the end of WWII. The players change, of course. Johnson, Drake and Collins are gone. Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu sort of replaced them. They are still around, happily. Then we have other, newer, outfits like Elecraft and Flex. There are some who came and went like TenTec.

If you want to see how various makes and models stack up, Bob Sherwood has a lab where he measures receiver performance. And, it's the receiver that counts the most. He lists them by narrow spaced dynamic range. That's what really counts when you are on the air - the other users close in to your operating frequency. The greater the number of dB of dynamic range, the more likely you are to pull out a weak signal with strong signals either side of your operating frequency.


Anyway, to cut it short, the top radio in the listing is the Yaesu FT-DX101D (100 watt Tx) and MP (200w Tx). That's a current model, Yaesu's top end. $5k last I looked for the 100w model. It has a 110dB dynamic range. The MP has 200w and also runs on 50v so has a power supply with it. The D has 100w and runs on 12v and so you get to supply the power. And so the price is lower on the D.

The Elecraft K3 runs 105-106dB as does the Kenwood TS890s and Icom 7851. The K4D runs 101 dB but that is the Direct Sampling version and not the K4HD hybrid which ought to do better. The Yaesu, Kenwood and Icom models I listed are all hybrid with a superhet ahead of the DSP sampling.

And, that is why I want the K4HD and not the K4D. It's just a better design to have that superhet ahead of the DSP. All one has to do is figure out how to pay for it - and wait for my spot on the waiting list to come up.

Stan
 
Final checkin on my side as well.

One more successful year of not buying any shave related item!

The good thing about these purchase sabbaticals, except reducing the urge to try the next best shaving soap, DE or blade, I finally get an impression of how little I actually use.
 
Well folks this is a wrap for the year.

No purchases were made this year.

I have plenty of soap and blade for another year or two

My Aftershave shall see me through the first half of the year

And here is the used up product for last year :

IMG_2681.jpg
 
Final check-in. I made it!

Congrats to all that successfully completed the restraint.

2024 proved to contrast (pleasantly so) to 2023 when there was a torrid of activity in research, weighing and sorting lists of shaving gear either needed or wanted, and of course frequent purchases that exceeded my rate of learning and acquiring skill. It seems that this holdover was time well spent and I am at a good place to quietly step off.

To those continuing, I wish you well.

Happy New Year!
 
Final checkin. I made it.

For those of you who did successfully complete 2024 I am offering soap, because of course I am. Send me a PM. It's probably going be silver dollar/krugerrand samples. I might hammer in a paper clip indent.

I made it last week of November for my personal use but I have tons extra. Four ingredients. I was going for more of an all-around soap, I think Williams or MWF. It's tallow from Grass Fed cows, water, lye, peppermint essential oil. 6% super fat. Most of the mint scent has cooked off so it's faint and not overpowering. I used it last night not a ton of foam, tons of glide, plenty of cushion. If anything you can always use it for hand soap or a momento, or to help drive in screws. Send me a PM and an address if you are interested.
20241231_102437.jpg
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom