A little progress

I've finished studying for the general class exam, but have missed the last two exam dates. One because I forgot to bring my license to prove I already had technician status. I'm about to miss the next exam date as well because of scheduling conflicts. Oh well. I'm sure they won't quit giving exams anytime soon.

I have little progress with the fm handheld. I need new crystals that match the frequencies used in this area, but no one seems to have any or know where I can find any. I think I can have some made, but I have a little more head scratching to do before I will know all the specifications that the manufacturer wants. Here is what the current crystals look like.

The frequency of the crystal is stamped into the top end (not in picture). I don't know yet what the numbers visible in the picture mean.

I also have another mystery. Obviously someone has been inside this radio before and has wired in a black box. I have no idea what it does. It is wired to the transmit key and the antenna so I wonder if it is some kind of update transmit courtesy tones, but that is just a wild guess. Here are the insides of this old sr-145b. My mystery component is the black box on the left side with red and grey wires coming out of it.



I imagine I'll figure it out eventually, as time allows. The antenna for the HF rig almost blew out of the tree a few weeks ago, but now that is back up where it is supposed to be. I need some more feed line to get it exactly where I want it, but at least it isn't hanging down in the yard.

Hopefully before the year's end I'll be able to get that general class license and actually get on the air. The HF rig is the only radio I have working and there's not a lot of space on those bands for me to use with just the tech license without learning Morse code. That will come eventually, though. Not only do I want to learn it, but I'm being encouraged to learn it by my family.

Seems like there is never an end to the things I need to learn "right now" for one venture or another.