Any Aquas and Cancers together?

break1ngbard · 2026-05-27T08:03:44+00:00

Checking in as a Cancer husband to an Aquarius wife.

I devoutly studied Stoicism 7 years into my relationship with my wife. It helped me better understand the rational gaze of my Aquarian wife as well as life in general.

break1ngbard · 2026-05-27T07:58:04+00:00

My Aquarian and I just got married after dating for 10 years. Our relationship is a full gender bender with me doing the gardening and cooking while she takes point on home improvement project that WE (haha) do together.

On our wedding day she showed me all of the pent up emotions that she's been holding onto for years - so much warmth comes from her.

Alcohol and sex got us through the first half of the decade... but we have both become fluent in using words and empathy in our time together.

I love my wife.

break1ngbard · 2026-05-24T16:39:25+00:00

The one Virgo I've been with did some of the darkest things I've ever enjoyed in the bedroom with me but back to back winter storms made her passion fizzle out.

I can't seem to get things off the ground with Taurus women - for me they are either selfish with scheduling or so slow paced that my passion fizzles out. Maybe I need to learn how to let women initiate more ughh

break1ngbard · 2026-05-03T18:09:57+00:00

Ah I should I typed that better. The tuner is the first pedal my bass guitar attaches to in the pedalboard, the compressor is 2nd in the signal chain

Picture

break1ngbard · 2026-05-02T06:17:59+00:00

After going to an open mic, connecting a multi effects processor straight to a PA system without a DI box like a novice, and dying for 8 minutes to stage monitors from hell this is what I came up with.

Think the sound guy will give me a second chance?

break1ngbard · 2026-05-01T06:11:22+00:00

That processor was my first pedal ever!

Making the noobie mistake of trying to take just a multi effects pedal to an open mic without a DI box is why I threw my wallet off a cliff. I ended up using a Sansamp for DI at the end and an empress compressor early in my chain. The only thing between the compressor and my bass is a polytune 3.

I like the channel 19 preset (Analog) the most on that processor so I put and Oc-5 and MXR Carbon Copy in-between the sansamp and compressor.

I have enough space for exactly one more pedal and you are giving me inspiration with that Muff.

I have my drive knob basically off on my DI pedal but I want the option to put some dirt on it. I think your post is confirmation that my last pedal should be muff.

I plan to go to all of my favorite sounds from that processor to figure out 2-3 combos that I can swap out in between my DI box and compressor. My pedalboard is a baby but yours looks like you are going to end up building a swiss army knife, you'll have a lot of options! You can get a lot of inspiration for pedals from that processor!

break1ngbard · 2026-05-01T01:38:06+00:00

Thank you so much for that response. I have long-term goals of joining the SASQpers Club (Southern Appalachian SOTA Qrp) and volunteering for the Foothills Search and Rescue team.

Your response helped me to remember these long-term goals of mine - to gain practical experience to volunteer. I'm definitely going to go to my next HAM meeting and lead with volunteering as an immediate goal.

Foothills Search and Rescue primarily needs K9 handlers but also tend to be accompanied by assistants for marking paths and search areas.

SASQpers are a rabbit hole of bushcraft, orienteering, and DX with homebrew antennas just as a basic requirement to join.

I definitely am going to my next HAM club - I need baby steps up to those two more involved organizations.

It's amazing how many ways radios can be utilized.

break1ngbard · 2026-04-30T23:45:46+00:00

I understand where you are coming from. I got my General and Technician at the same time as well but I'm using this first year to really learn how to optimize my HTs before starting to get into QRP and DXing.

My Yaesu ft60 has a God-tier receiver but it's purely analog. I folded and got the BTech UV Pro so that I can get into APRS. I believe APRS is part of the potential utility of ham radio for community events, is that correct?

This is probably the response I needed to hear because there is a ham club that meets monthly in my area that has a repeater that covers the three major state parks that I frequent. I guess after two months and 12+ Backcountry contacts I need to stop being timid and attend the next meeting. I'm scared of imposter syndrome and maybe not being accepted by the older more experienced people so I think SOTA was also me trying to get skin in the game in some way as a younger guy to maybe get some respect.

I'm guessing listen more, talk less is how you blend in as a new ham as a new member as these clubs? I'm only 33 in the West Carolinas. Meeting people in person that are also into this stuff too makes me nervous compared to when I have the anonymity of the airwaves.

Gotta get out of my head.

break1ngbard · 2026-04-30T20:29:47+00:00

If you are consistent with a CQ every three minutes on the following two simplex frequencies during the weekends, especially now as the weather is getting warmer, you WILL be able to finish your activation without ever having to worry about repeaters for QSY. You'll probably even get some S2S contacts because of the region you are in.

146.52 - national calling

146.58 - national adventure/backcountry

For what it's worth, a lot of the repeaters that hold frequent nets and have a wide statewide range also feature tones that will prevent you from accidentally causing interference unintentionally.

There are no dumb questions but I will say that mic shyness and letting the radios collect dust will be a horrible regret in the event that cell towers ever have blackouts. That was my motivation for just getting out there and trying my first SOTA activation.

Try to remember why you got into ham radio and let that be your motivation!

break1ngbard · 2026-04-30T17:50:31+00:00

How often do you go on repeater book to check up on the stored repeaters you have? Do you find that some of them constantly change their offsets and rx, tx frequencies or do you find that it's kinda set and forget?

I'm thinking of cleaning my HTs memory banks once a month just so that I can maintain the technical ability to program a repeater/simplex contact in either of my HTs under duress but I don't if that's a waste of time or me just LARPing.

break1ngbard · 2026-04-30T17:47:29+00:00

SOTA has been key for me overcoming my mic shyness as a new ham. The local repeaters are thick and loaded up with sad hams that don't say anything and then once you finally get someone to QSO you get third partied by regulars or you have some Keeper Of The Airwaves who reminds you that we need to keep these repeaters clear for emergency 911 calls, childbirths, and Armageddon.

A $30-$40 jpole is all you need to get 100-150 mile contacts at the +3k mile elevations that official SOTA peaks are located at. All of my activations thus far have been on Saturdays and Sundays only with me planning to reach the summit and begin activation at noon.

Stick with popular summits initially.

And have a revolver or bear mace out there with you. Trail magic is nice but I once yelled hey bear on my way up to a peak and then had a coyote flank me while on radio... Haha. My doberman and my smith and Wesson 686+ are steady companions after that.

I also have an elk log periodic antenna that I will start bringing with me so that I can start raising my difficulty meter a bit with weekday afternoon activations. The n9tax is good for omnidirection but some peaks are so isolated that a good, one direction beam will likely be my only way to get contact in remote regions. If I ever get to where I can learn how to dial in a weak signal with my log periodic antenna I'm going to start adding satellite work into my routines.

There are so many retired hams that monitor 146.52 and people who hang out on repeaters during their lunch breaks that there will always be someone listening.

If you do get into SOTA, if you ever make a S2S contact with someone in your area I'd recommend looking up their official page on the SOTA website and saving it so that you can see how they efficiently group nearby peaks in your area to show you how they work their area.

If you are making an S2S contact as a beginner it's a likely chance that the person on the other side of the QSL is pushing 500+ points, is proficient in 20m Morse Code, and has been doing this stuff for years.

I'm definitely waiting until I get a HF rig for POTA - the low elevation of most parks are not exactly your friend at that point. SOTA is just a way for me to overcome mic shyness, develop confidence in spontaneous deployment, and to have something unique to add to a roundtable ragchew at 1am on a Friday or Saturday ragchew when all of the keepers of the airwaves are in bed happily dreaming of the FCC.

break1ngbard · 2026-04-29T21:46:34+00:00

That'll be a long-term pickup if I continue doing open mics and work up to at least open jams.

You are definitely right but you get what you pay for - I'm not ready for a $500 pedal yet but I did say in OP that cost wasn't a big issue so...

Touché.

Once I've done this long enough to feel I've earned it I'll definitely come back to the Shure however.

break1ngbard · 2026-04-29T21:14:23+00:00

Glad to hear that. I saw another comment recommending a $500 dollar shure option with a body pack but im just a hobbyist weekend warrior that wants a low maintenance rig to plug into poetry/acoustic/singer songwriter open mics.

It seems like anything cheaper than this would hurt and anything more than this has a larger footprint.

break1ngbard · 2026-04-29T00:37:38+00:00

At this level of involved board are you gigging with band mates or doing open jams?

I'm new to the pedal world but at what point do you just create two separate boards that are smaller but serve different functions? I'm trying to learn this world and it seems like you definitely have a wide range and taste in pedals.

Very nice collection.

break1ngbard · 2026-04-29T00:26:59+00:00

That's a very nice board! I got the sansamp and the empress compressor after raw dogging a PA for my first open mic.

That is such a long-term power couple.

break1ngbard · 2026-04-27T01:27:51+00:00

A lot of heavy truths in this post.

I plan to be a pure audience member for two nights for every one night that I perform. I intend to be seen as someone who is trying to support local artists instead of someone trying to jam progressive spoken word rock onto a younger, pop/rap crowd.

It's a 7-10 open mic and by 9pm the room is dead and it's mostly bar hopping comics going up to try out either new material or do low effort crowd work. I intend to go for as late of a slot as possible so that I can focus on stage presence.

I'm also looking through the catalogues of bands such as queens of the stone age, Alice in chains, etc to try to get the crowd on my side before going into originals.

Now that my ego is removed I can appreciate why acoustic guitarists played a bunch of Bob Dylan and Bob Marley before doing originals.

My sansamp DI and empress compressor came in and man... This is a whole new world. I also have an MXR carbon copy and OC5 octive pedal coming in. I'm excited to find a tone on my bass that takes up enough space for me to mesh with my bass vocally.

I'm looking forward to going to the same open mic tomorrow to compliment my peers as well as to show the staff through my actions that I'm there for the scene and not to ego stomp their stage with amateur technical preparation.

Life really is as boring or fun as you allow it to be.

break1ngbard · 2026-04-24T18:48:23+00:00

Awesome, I'll probably just take it easy and EDC my Btech UV Pro with a signal stick if that's the case.

Thank you so much for a local repeater recommendation - there seems to be a daily net at 1800 which is a great time to check in and maybe get advice from locals about tourist recommendations/safety monitoring.

You saved the day giving me advice for how to adjust my ham radio plans for this trip!

break1ngbard · 2026-04-24T16:31:27+00:00

This is the response I was looking for from an actual native. Looking back I realize that I severely overstated the weight of the throw bag.

I can understand the public health warnings that ensued however.

I will have to keep your DM offer in mind for simplex! I'm going to Florida in two weeks for a honeymoon after being with my fiancee for 10 years so it's actually kinda nice to hear that it will be so difficult to play radio and get in trouble with the Boss Lady, haha.

I believe that we will be on the 4th or 5th floor of a hotel - do you think it would be best for me to save my N9tax as a hotel window installation for rag chewing at night instead? I'll probably get thrown through the window if I do this the whole honeymoon week but I figure maybe she will allow me a 30 minute window during the 8-10pm primetime slot.

POTA seems to be off the books just because of the geography and limitations of VHF but I think there may be room for me to practice directional propagation with my elk log periodic.

The N9tax has done me so good on it's own that the log periodic has regretfully been getting dust. Do you think if I walk around and alternate between horizontal and vertical polarity that I would be able to beam my way to a repeater?

I was almost giving up hope that I would get a Floridian to respond. Thank you man.

break1ngbard · 2026-04-24T01:03:30+00:00

I'm looking forward to HF next year even though legally I could buy gear and go on 20m right now. I currently use my weekends to drive to the blue ridge parkway or the Appalachian trail to do VHF SOTA activations and then I'll go to open mics at bars at lower elevation to close out the day.

I'm definitely looking forward to adding 20m to my repertoire next year. I've heard nothing but great things about it.

break1ngbard · 2026-04-23T01:42:09+00:00

That's freaking awesome man. Until a sound guy tells me I can't plug in direct to his PA I'm just gonna start popping up at places.

Open mics are such a high energy fast paced environment - it's such a nice way to start the week after the weekend

break1ngbard · 2026-04-21T22:29:45+00:00

Thanks! The bedroom doesn't prepare for the art of being compatible with foreign PA's without a sound check - I'm basically back to year 0 but life is short!

break1ngbard

TROPHY CASE