As some of you may have read, this was my second year as a volunteer at the Dayton Hamvention as a courtesy shuttle golf cart driver. Aside from a couple of hours on Friday morning "shopping and gawking", I spent the rest of Friday, and all of Saturday and Sunday happily shuttling folks around.

I got an email two days ago that a package had been sent via FedEx that would require a signature. I wondered what it might be since I hadn't ordered anything. I thought maybe I was being sent a tee-shirt or something, but the package weighed 2.5 pounds...

When it was delivered this afternoon and you could have knocked me over with a feather!

Apparently I won one of the prize drawings and didn't know that I had. When I signed for the package I noted briefly that the box had JVCKenwood on it...

...it turned out to be a brand spanking new TH-D74 handheld! It is a tri-band radio with D-Star, GPS and APRS. When I checked Amazon.com I learned that the least expensive on offer is listed at $585 USD.

Holy Smoke! That's almost precisely what the weekend cost me.

Congratulations, Bill.  I'm sure you deserved it  and it's wonderful that your efforts were recognized.  Enjoy the radio.

 

Wow!! I'm happy for you Bill.  You'll enjoy that radio now even more because winning it makes it special.  Congratulations!😄

 

Bob

Though not as impressive, a few years ago, I had won a prize drawing without ever being aware of it. I was on my way home from school one night when my dad called me up, yelling at me because multiple packages had arrived for me and why was I wasting all my money buying things, one of those packages coming from the Airplane Shop. Problem? I hadn't actually bought anything, and certainly nothing from the Airplane Shop that would involve shipping. The store was only 20 minutes away from my house, so if I wanted to buy a plane, I would have just driven there myself. When I got home an hour later, come to find out that one of the packages was a Christmas present that one of my friends had sent me directly from the Boeing Store, which is why I didn't know anything about it since I didn't know he was sending me one in the first place. The other was a prize I had won from the Airplane Shop. On the first Saturday of every December, they have an open house at all their locations with door prizes. I had entered, bought what planes I wanted to get, and left. The drawing had happened after I left, so naturally I didn't know that I had won anything. Quite frankly, I wasn't expecting to win anything. Plot twist: Couple friends were with me, and one of them also won something.

Lucky you! Enjoy!

 

Vic

2 hours ago, 188AHC said:

Congratulations, Bill.  I'm sure you deserved it  and it's wonderful that your efforts were recognized.  Enjoy the radio.

Thanks! Now I'm undecided whether to keep it or sell it while still new and shiny. I already own nine hand-held portables, in addition to my other base and mobile radios. It's a sickness you see, over indulging in one's hobby...

That's one of the reasons I spent so little time 'browsing' around and saying "Ooo! Shiny!", and also why I left most of my credit cards at home!

Congratulations on your win Fr. Bill.  Not to put a damper on your win be sure to put some money aside for the IRS and State when you get your 1099 form in February.

Last August I won a brand new Toyota Camry.  Since my wife had never had a brand new car before I gave it to her.

In April I had to shell out an extra 8,000 dollars in State and Federal income taxes.. OUCH!

Noel 

14 hours ago, n4gix said:

Now I'm undecided whether to keep it or sell it while still new and shiny. I already own nine hand-held portables, in addition to my other base and mobile radios.

It's obvious to me you should sell it.  Technology is moving fast!  I once owned a fancy Bearcat mobile and a base digital trunking scanner.  Tried to sell the expensive base trunking scanner in a yard sale 7 years ago and some techie wanted to know why I was trying to sell it for $50 (I had paid over $500 for it a few years earlier) and told him it was worth a lot more than what I was asking.  He then pulled out his I-Phone and said, "does it work better than this?" and then brought up one of his police scanner apps and there was some wild chatter.  His was definitely better!  So, get rid of it as fast as you can!  (Oh, no!  It's too late -  https://swling.com/blog/2014/01/the-best-amateur-radio-and-shortwave-apps-for-ios-and-android-smart-phones/ ).

Nice win though.  Always nice to win something! 

1 hour ago, Jim Young said:

It's obvious to me you should sell it.  Technology is moving fast!

This radio was first introduced to the ham community at the Dayton Hamvention in 2016, so it's still relatively current. Some of the most expensive and feature-rich base radios have been around for several decades, albeit with continuous upgrades and improvements over the years.

Having spent a few hours exploring the manual and the 400+ menu options, I've pretty much made up my mind to put it up for sale. There are only two D-Star repeaters in Chicago neither of which is within range of a hand held radio, so I'd rarely ever get a chance to even try them, much less use them. I only travel to Chicago whenever it's completely unavoidable (such as going to the VA Hospital for an appointment).

Still, it cheers me to have had such a wonderful surprise!

Years ago, I played the California lottery, where you picked six numbers in the millions.  The only drawing I ever listened to, they picked each of my six numbers, in order, one, two, three, four......   Then no more.....  Two things, the excitement was worth not winning the millions, which would have made me a marked man, as such high winnings do.  And second, the consolation prize of $70 for the four numbers was worth the entertainment value the $1.00 ticket gave me.  I collected my winnings feeling as if I had won a fortune!

John

John, I suppose we all have thought about what we would do if we won a million dollar lottery or the Publishing Clearing House a thousand dollars a week for life.

For most ordinary people like us I think it would make our lives miserable.  Especially those of us who do not desire notoriety or know how to best use the money.

We have all speculated as to what we do if we won such a prize.  

Perhaps set up a college annuity for my great grandkids.  Give each of my kids and grand kids (who are all grown and on their own now) about 10,000 dollars.  Certain no more.  Not enough to squander on a new car so they would have to think about what they would do with it..

Set aside a nice amount for the around the continent train trip I have always dreamed of.  Perhaps 10K into a savings account for emergencies.

Hold back enough for the taxes.

The rest would go to people who need it more than I do.  My only charity.  St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.

But I'm in my 80s now.  I don't have the same perspective someone in their 30s or 40s might have.

Noel

Thanks for the replies guys. I have thought about it and I honestly have no real need for this radio. I already own seven hand-held radios, three of which are dual-band DMR (Digital Mobile Radio), and there are only two D-Star (another digital mode) repeaters in Chicago, neither of which are within range from my location, so that's pretty well useless. I only go to Chicago when I can't avoid doing so, such as not-frequent trips to the VA Hospital and a bi-monthly meeting of another radio club of which I'm a member.

Now I could put it up for sale and probably get 90% of it's retail price, but paypal and ebay fees would eat quite a bit of that sales price, leaving me with maybe as much as 80%...

On the other hand, if I donate the new radio to my local ham radio club as a Grand Prize in a raffle, the proceeds from the raffle would add possibly quite a bit to the club's treasury.

It's not like it'll cost me anything since I got it for free... Decisions, decisions!