Motorcycle withdrawall

[cushman eagle]

This long cold winter is giving me motorcyle riding withdrawall
It is a rare winter that is bad enough I cannot ride for 8 weeks straight,and the forecast is not encouraging.

[GrandpaDenny]

I'm right there with ya, buddy. I love snow, it's beautiful (especially in my neighborhood, this place is awesome), but I can't ride in it So I'm spending the down time doing some little things on the bike. I discovered one of the trunk hinges had come loose, and therefore left the trunk light switch on and killing the battery flat dead. So I got a charger and charged the battery, and fixed the stripped out screw holes with epoxy. I have repaired the broken rear speaker mounts, and after repairing the wiring will be reinstalling them. I am installing a Cobra 75 WX ST CB radio, and have obtained a stock antenna mount (thanks Carl Leo) and a stock antenna (same as for a GL1100/1200, $50 with shipping from cyclemax.com), I got the adapter for the coax to PL-259 off ebay. I have a 12v. outlet where the stock CB controls go, and will be putting the CB connector in there instead, for now. At some point I may consider replacing the connectors with waterproof ones. I wonder how my soldering skills are; I haven't done any in about 20 years.

I am taking my ham license (Technician) test on the 23rd; wish me luck. The rig on the bike will consist of a Baofeng tri-bander. I found a Sena bluetooth hub that will connect the ham radio, my phone, and the CB audio all to my helmet bluetooth. It also comes with a PTT button, but I think I might install a stock CB handlebar switch. The Sena hub is $180 bucks, so not getting it quite yet. At some point the bike will get this cool fold-down tri-band antenna. Anyway, I'm not worried about the test, but what I am concerned about is The Question. You hams know what I mean, The Question on the 605. The fruits of my past mistakes... So I'm not spending any money on gear till I get my ticket. Not even getting the $60 radio (yeah, I could get a 144/450 for $30 or so, but I want 220 as well).