Around the shack...

I'm in a new house, and now have more room to dedicate to the amateur radio pursuits.  At the core of the station is a Yaesu FT-897D that provides for what I need in HF and VHF/UHF.  It's currently driving a home-made NVIS HF antenna and an MFJ-1522 dual-band antenna for VHF/UHF.  No amplifiers, no beams, just a basic station.  And I like it that way.

But...in the works:
1. 40ft tower to be acquired soon from another fellow amateur operator, and placement of the same.
2. Change from the NVIS HF antenna to a commercial inverted-V antenna.
3. Expansion of the house's wireless internet connection.  This comes in the form of giving an old Linksys WRT54G router a new life with DD-WRT firmware to enable it to behave as a repeater-bridge. 
4. Repair of a Yaesu FT-7800R for either mobile applications, or use as an Echolink station.
5. Establishing an Echolink station in a test configuration after I get the aforementioned internet issue resolved.
6. Installation of a 2-meter antenna for Echolink station, if I decide to leave it set up permanently.
7. Setting up an outdoor weather webcam.  Not much to do with amateur radio, but I like the idea.
8. Resuscitating one or more old computers for use as shack computers to run various systems like Echolink, and NBEMS for digital traffic and messaging.

There's more that is lingering out on the edges of the thought process, but it will have to wait a while.

In the meantime, if you'd like to monitor whats happening on the airwaves, tune to 3862 kHz most evenings to the Mississippi Section Phone Net, every weeknight to 147.285 or 444.975 MHz if you're in the Mississippi Delta for our local net, 147.420 MHz on Sunday nights for our emergency service net, or just listen in for local chatter on 146.520 and 146.550 MHz.