For the last few days while we've been at our temporary residence, I've been walking with Sam after lunch. We didn't walk yesterday, but did about 1.47 miles Monday. Today we walked 1.42 miles. It was pretty hot, and Sam got overheated, so I had to carry him for at least a quarter-mile.
I picked up some other hitchhikers along the way. I found three tiny ticks on my legs. One was large enough to feel it walking on my leg. The other two were just tiny black spots, hardly larger than kiwi fruit seeds. I quickly took a shower. I hope the Front Line flea and tick meds work on Sam. I hate those things.
I measured the distance walked with a GPS device. I had ordered a FitBit One WIRELESS ACTIVITY & SLEEP TRACKER but didn't have it when we walked. In fact, it arrived just before we got back to the apartment. The UPS truck was just pulling away, and there was an Amazon box waiting outside our door.
So now we'll keep even closer tabs on our personal statistics.
In the meantime, I am investigating using a magnetic loop antenna to try to get on the radio while we are here. The primary difficulty here is that the frequencies that we use for MARS require very large antennas - usually a long wire. The "beam" antennas that many people associate with hams won't work for the frequencies we use for our MARS frequencies; at least not any one that the average person can afford. I have not checked to see if there are antenna restriction in this apartment complex, and have decided that there probably are restrictions.
I've used a mag loop at home, but that one was too small to use on the MARS frequencies. However, it was/is a very effective antenna at the frequencies for which it was designed. But it's too small for the lower frequencies generally used for MARS.
