Eyeball

I wrote earlier about having Ron Foster, W2RIP help me get my signal cleaned up on PSK. He showed great patience and specific knowledge on how to get a clean signal into the ether from my PC. I mentioned to Ron that if he should ever be in the area, look me up, and he replied that he, in fact would be in the area soon. He had to make a trip to Charlottesville to see his daughter and would be coming down I77 on his return. We arranged to meet on Tuesday, June 24. I was, needless to say, excited about the visit. So I shoveled out the shack (even vacuumed the floor!) , stacked all the old QST's on the shelves in what I would consider a neat pile and made sure that all the gear had been dusted off at least on the outside. I met Ron in the parking lot of Lowe's down at exit 42 on I77 and he followed me to the house.

It has been a long time since my wife and I have met such pleasant people. Ron's wife, Betty and my wife, also Betty found that they had so much in common and they talked about photography, camping and wildlife for the hours that Ron and I talked about radio. Ron and I spent some time in the shack going over the software and the equipment, but it was the conversations that were so pleasant. Ron was really impressed at how well DM-780 ran on my super-go-fast PC that I had built from scratch, and that made me feel good.

We ended the visit with a trip down the road to Troutman to Julia's Tally House. Julia's is one of those home-cooking places you just don't find when you're traveling. It's a family place that serves good down home food and lots of it. The fried chicken is the best I've had anywhere, and I'm sure the Colonel could learn something at Julias!

We bid them a reluctant farewell and watched them head south on I77. This "eyeball QSO" was one of the truest pleasures I've ever had. See ya Ron!

In case you were wondering, Ron is the handsome one. Yes! The one on the right!