An Almost Boring Week

Dentron Antenna Tuner

The past week was pretty slow. Low key. It almost went by unnoticed, but activity picked up over the weekend, which was quite interesting.

On Wednesday, we decided to eat dinner out. I suggested the Chinese place we regularly went to, but
James wanted the other Chinese restaurant we went to when we used to live in Union City. Before that, we stopped by a fellow SBARA member's (Greg, WY6P) home to pick up a Dentron antenna tuner. We met my wife at the UC place, and she got there before we did. She informed us that the ownership of the restaurant has changed, and this came as a shock to James and I.

MFJ Mobile Amplified Speaker

This restaurant was what you may call a "hole in the wall". It is located in a small strip mall, mostly of restaurants, along Decoto Road, where the Asian grocery store, Marina Foods, is located. We've been going to this place ever since we lived in Union City some 7-8 years ago. My wife has helped the owners get pregnant, as well as one of their female servers, by recommending them to avail of IVF services where my worked at. We're always treated very well, more like family, so we're a little bit sad that they no longer own the restaurant. Although the new owners kept the menu (and taste remained the same), it was quite different, and will always be.

Friday was the second Friday of the month, and it was SBARA's monthly general membership meeting. I brought James along with me. The guest speaker talked about t-hunting, short for transmitter hunting (or fox-hunting as it is also called). The talk focused on the various antennas and equipment used in t-hunting, and explained how this had become a popular ham radio activity. As a matter of fact, there is regular t-hunting activity conducted every first Friday of the month within the Fremont-Union City-Newark area. This same t-hunting skills could be used to search for radio transmissions that cause interference to others, intentionally or otherwise.

The girls

Back in the Philippines in the late 1980s, our ham radio group (Ham Radio Philippines) conducted this "fun" activity. A transmitter was hidden somewhere in the outskirts of the city, and the task was to find it. Clues were given like puzzles, and they were suppose to help us find the transmitter. If you failed to crack the puzzle and put two and two together, you will get lost and probably won't be able to find the fox (as we called it). Our playing field was the entire Metro Manila (the whole city and nearby towns), with 7 teams, 12 cars and 16 members participating. We started at 8am, and found the fox at 5pm. Then, lots of food and beer followed after. Back to the meeting, I won an MFJ mobile amplified speaker during the raffle. I had wanted the Alinco dualband handheld radio, but missed out on it.

Last weekend, we sent out an invite for a little get-together at Fenton's Creamery in Oakland for Saturday. I called it  "Summer Hoorah", which was meant to be James' post-graduation celebration, a pre-birthday party (also for James), and a last summer get-together before school started. Since it was a last minute invite, the low turnout was expected. Despite that, we went on with the plan. We weren't going to cancel it even if we only have one attendee. We had three, and everyone had a great time.

The boys

This evening, representatives from Area #14 at Bellarmine organized a get-together for freshmen families from within the said area. It was held at Premier Pizza at Automall Parkway in Fremont,  Area #14 includes Fremont, Newark, Union City, Dublin, Pleasanton, and San Ramon. The gathering was an opportunity for new (freshmen) families to meet other new families, and possibly make carpool arrangements, if they haven't already done so. There was a low turnout, with only six families attending. But this was expected since it wasn't really a school-sanctioned activity. The incoming freshmen and their families will meet next Sunday at a much larger, official event at Bellarmine, wherein iPads will be distributed and student photos taken for their school IDs. It will also be an opportunity for students to have their fingerprints taken for the automated account at the cafeteria, as well as take care of some other logistical matters.

This week is the last week before school starts. Hoping for a productive week, as we look forward to an exciting next for years in high school.