$570 Later...

Well, the trip to Austin to the "candy store" was very fruitful! I purchased a new Yaesu FT-8800R VHF/UHF mobile, and a Comet SBB-7NMO dual-band antenna which will be mounted on a triple-magnetic mount. That mount holds very well! In addition I purchased a new ARRL Repeater Directory for '08-'09 and a book from the ARRL about HF digital communication. This is in line with my plans for the future as to how my station will evolve.

The main issue is simply to get the power cables run from the radio to the battery in the truck for the 2m/70cm gear, but I haven't found a place to run the cables yet. I don't plan to wait long to do this, for I want the mobile station to be completely operational by the end of next weekend so I can make my trip to Round Rock for the LSARA meeting on May 13.

But at least I have things in motion, and this was with the blessing of the XYL! I love the lady no matter what happens, but she wants me to enjoy my hobby and this will certainly help. She still talks about the events of the end of April when we had that severe weather roll through and all I could really use to talk to her was the cell phone. Not a good idea, especially for someone like myself who knows better. On top of that, Mary was quite scared...so the decision to buy the gear for the truck was easy.

Stay tuned; I think things are getting better on the home ham radio front!

WR1TX