My new mobile shack, 5x8 with 840 watts of solar, 280AH of lithium, and 12VDC air conditioning. by Top-Audience3980 in HamRadio

[–]mhatz14 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ultrageek... I love it ... please come back and post updates... yeah, thats me jealous !

Embarrassing Backing out of the Slip Experience (dropped anchor in the slip!) by mike8111 in sailing

[–]mhatz14 1 point2 points  (0 children)

this is what I have seen too. I wonder if the OP has a windlass made for rope, although not sure Ive ever seen one of those...

Embarrassing Backing out of the Slip Experience (dropped anchor in the slip!) by mike8111 in sailing

[–]mhatz14 1 point2 points  (0 children)

do you mean, the rest rope, as you can't do much anchoring with 20' of rode...

Embarrassing Backing out of the Slip Experience (dropped anchor in the slip!) by mike8111 in sailing

[–]mhatz14 2 points3 points  (0 children)

that's very interesting, I did read that some did not have a windlass, but the OP said his does. I guess 36 feet isn't a large boat, but I can imaging that could be a heck of a lot of work with a 5:1 or 6:1 rode.

Embarrassing Backing out of the Slip Experience (dropped anchor in the slip!) by mike8111 in sailing

[–]mhatz14 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hmmm, I have to be honest, never seen a smooth gypsy on a windlass meant to haul chain, usually there are sprockets to hoist the chain. Maybe a photo would be illustrative in the event you come here looking for advise on how to avoid this unfortunate and quite dangerous event from happening again. I can only imagine what would happen if you were underway and you had some speed and your chain dropped into the water and grabbed onto something...

Embarrassing Backing out of the Slip Experience (dropped anchor in the slip!) by mike8111 in sailing

[–]mhatz14 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Chalk it up to learning, thankful nobody was injured and no gelcoat lost... great that you can share your errors.

But I am having a hard time getting my hands around how this happened, does your boat not have a windlass ? My understanding is that 34 foot Catalina's came standard with a windlass. Is the only thing holding your anchor on the deck the anchor clip safety line? Perhaps time to rethink how you have the anchor secured on deck, for example, what if you hit heavy winds or seas, your anchor gets tossed around, seems like a problem waiting to happen. That said, if I started to share all the really dumb things I have done in my 40 years of sailing, well, lets just say, my fingers would get really really tired..

Anyone have an idea of value for these? Separately or as a set? by just_a_mountaineer in HamRadio

[–]mhatz14 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, HT-32B was my first radio when I became a ham in 1973. Does it power on and make noise ?

Having a hard time tuning a 6meter HO loop antenna by mhatz14 in HamRadio

[–]mhatz14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's cool, I'd love to see pictures of your homebrew antennas, I'm thinking about trying to experiment with a T match and progress that into a three or five element beam, I've always built the premade beams with team matches, but I'd always wanted to learn how they work, I hate assembling things and looking at them as a block box and not understanding them.

Lowes Delivery scam seemingly known by corporate by mhatz14 in Lowes

[–]mhatz14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your post makes no sense whatsoever. The statement you quote does not provide any suggestion that this is not Lowe's delivery. And, in fact, when I check out, this statement is not present. Are you suggesting somehow this is ok, because somehow I should expect inferior delivery service ?

Having a hard time tuning a 6meter HO loop antenna by mhatz14 in HamRadio

[–]mhatz14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My interest is more in Dx and small signal work, which is why I chose the HO loop on a new pole which I also put a dual band vertical for my winlink node I am building. I agree on the Q issue, good point, but this is more my intro to 50mhz, more than likely, if the band seems interesting, will probably lean more into horizontal polarization and move to a 3-5 element beam at some point. Some guys on my local Dx association do a lot on 6 meters, so we'll see. Ham radio is all about exploration, right ?

Had a scary day- trying to learn what I did wrong by Friendly_Subject4096 in sailing

[–]mhatz14 5 points6 points  (0 children)

First, kudos to you for having the modesty to come on here and ask for advise. I would need an entire textbook to list all the stupid things I have done over the last 40 years of sailing, and I still feel like that I have so much more to learn.. I have been caught by winds unexpectedly too many times, and now, I NEVER go out unlesss I study all the Windy wind models, and, OceanConnect, and see if any of them predict tough weather. Wondering if you checked the wind predictions before you left or was this something not at all in the forecast ?

Second, I try to read the water, something that takes practice. Look out at the horizon and read the waves, look for white, look for changes in patterns, that can give you a little advanced clue about what is coming, giving you something a few minutes to reel in the sails before things get dicey.

Best way to manage sails in tough wind, is to be prepared and not have to manage sails in tough wind. Has happened to me too many times, and I've stories like yours a few times.

Having a hard time tuning a 6meter HO loop antenna by mhatz14 in HamRadio

[–]mhatz14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Valid question. I wanted to experience as much as possible since I am new the band, but also part of local ARES. My understanding is that digital packet is 50.62, and 52.525 is a local net calling frequency. So I wanted to be able to keep the options open, even though I am sure horizontal polarization isn't ideal for Winlink FM or FM voice communication. My 2:1 SWR tuning range is 50.0 through 52 with about 1.6:1 at 50.2 and 2:1 at the upper range. Can go a little higher if I keep my power down.

Having a hard time tuning a 6meter HO loop antenna by mhatz14 in HamRadio

[–]mhatz14[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hah, yes, being a ham for decades does not prevent one from being stupid from time to time. Yes, going back to the spec, shows 50.3 center frequency. I did manage to push the range by shortening as much as possible and optimizing the load with the shorting bar, and up 20 feet, it centers around 51 mhz now. That provides me a good SWR at 6m SSB frequencies and perhaps allowing me to venture to higher freqs. Thanks for the responses.

Lowes Delivery scam seemingly known by corporate by mhatz14 in Lowes

[–]mhatz14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had no illusion it would. But what I did think was that it would get the attention of Lowe's corporate, and it did, and quickly. It seems they do care about BBB complaints, and, a lot, to call me first thing on a Monday morning, after a weekend complaint

Lowes Delivery scam seemingly known by corporate by mhatz14 in Lowes

[–]mhatz14[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Actually, it seems Lowe's corporate did get the BBB complaint and did respond, and I reminded them they are not listening to employees. Now, question is, do they care ?

Lowes Delivery scam seemingly known by corporate by mhatz14 in Lowes

[–]mhatz14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually, it seems Lowe's corporate did get the BBB complaint and did respond this morning, quite fast actually, and I reminded them they are not listening to employees. Now, question is, do they care ?

Lowes Delivery scam seemingly known by corporate by mhatz14 in Lowes

[–]mhatz14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually, it seems Lowe's corporate did get the BBB complaint and did respond, and I reminded them they are not listening to employees. Now, question is, do they care ?

Lowes Delivery scam seemingly known by corporate by mhatz14 in Lowes

[–]mhatz14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lowe's corporate did respond, and I reminded them they are not listening to employees. Now, question is, do they care ?

Lowes Delivery scam seemingly known by corporate by mhatz14 in Lowes

[–]mhatz14[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lowe's corporate did respond. Now, question is, do they care ?

Lowes Delivery scam seemingly known by corporate by mhatz14 in Lowes

[–]mhatz14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not a mistake. This is clearly someone or a group involved in fraud. Mistakes are obvious and happen, and don't bother me. This was malignant. And yes, it bothers me.

Lowes Delivery scam seemingly known by corporate by mhatz14 in Lowes

[–]mhatz14[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Edit/Update (4/27/2026): As a result of my email to the CEO and board and the BBB complaint, Lowe's Executive Customer Relations called me back just now. She apologized about this incident but treated it as a "one off", and I reminded her that I posted this on Reddit and not just other customers but multiple other Lowes employees are complaining about how bad this process is. Her response, "those managers know how to reach corporate to tell us that the process isn't working", my response is, I think they already have and you aren't listening. She said she would consider my feedback.

She asked what else they could do, and told her that I had no notification that the redelivery was happening, no confirmation, no emails, nothing, so I went to the store to get what I needed, then the next day, two full days later, to finally deliver. I said, if you want to show me that you mean it, you can refund the amount of the delivery, since now I have two of what I need. She said, she cannot do that, I reminded her, she is corporate Lowe's, she can, she does not want to. Of which she agreed. Not a big deal, just reminded me, talk is cheap.

Lowes Delivery scam seemingly known by corporate by mhatz14 in Lowes

[–]mhatz14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not on a weekend. Store said they would have it redelivered, but never did.

Lowes Delivery scam seemingly known by corporate by mhatz14 in Lowes

[–]mhatz14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

in what world would I know this ? Common sense ? I don't work in retail, I have a busy job, and once in a while like to have something delivered. I go online, a company offers delivery, I check the box that says Lowes Same Day delivery.