My Most Recent QSO's

Monday, January 14, 2013

My Morning DX Contact



Today is my 16th consecutive day of working a DX station with 3 watts of power and 50' of speaker wire for an antenna. Today I had a nice QSO with SM7ALC in Sweden. This morning was my fourth contact into this country. My previous contacts have been mostly on 20 meters but I've also worked a station there on 15 meters. Today was my first 17 meter contact. 

Sven (SM7ALC) had a great signal into West Virginia and the best I've heard from Sweden. We exchanged name, location, rigs and antenna, signal strength, and a weather report. It was an armchair copy with both of us and was especially exciting for me since he was not spotted on the cluster. I'm usually able to work any station I hear in these circumstances. 

A little before I worked the Swedish station; I worked the same Nicaraguan station as I did the other morning. He was also calling "out in the open and by himself". I quickly shook hands again with YN9SU

That big freshwater lake down there is fascinating to me. There's few places quite like this one with the two big volcanoes in its center. I can only imagine being there on the water. It would be wonderful. 


Tomorrow is NOT going to be a good day for me. I broke a tooth several months ago and I'm to be at the dentist at 8:30 am. My regular dentist found it impossible to repair this tooth and I was given an antibiotic, to reduce inflammation, and rescheduled with an "Endodontic Specialist". 

Not only am I dreading the procedure, I'm also dreading the accompanying expense.

Those of you reading my blog, from other countries, are probably "shocked" at what dental care cost here in America. To put it in proper perspective, I paid $400 (USD) for my current radio. After the "root canal" tomorrow, I would have been able to buy five new radios. I'm just say'in.............

Most of the people interacting with me on this blog, do not live here in the United States. Just out of curiosity, how much does a "root canal" and the following "crown" for a tooth cost where you live? 

I think my friends here in the US are going to be surprised. 

5 comments:

Paul Stam PAØK said...

Hi John, sorry to hear about the dental problems. Those things are rather inconvenient. A root canal treatment with a crown included cost 374,87 euro (497,60 USD) in the Netherlands. But I pay a monthly premium of 331,85 for health care. But not everything is insured. Than I have to pay more a month. I do have a own risk and that's almost 500 USD a year. So Health Care in the Netherlands is very expensive. Prognosis for the future is that the Dutch will pay 30% of their income for Health Care. Good luck and take care, 73 Paul

PE4BAS, Bas said...

John, my wife happens to be a dentist assistant. So we do know something of it. The rootcanal costs nothing! It is insured at the basic insurance which is sort of a insurance that you need at least here and most of the people have it. A crown costs about 400-600 euro (500-800 usd) depends on what kind of insurance you have, the basic insurance doesn't cover it. We have to go to the dentist this afternoon, luckely it's just for a dental check. But I'd had several rootcanals in my life, I know what it is....not my favorite. So, John, I wish you a lot strength with it. Luckely you're a CW operator and this is not affecting your communication for the radio. Just think of your hobby wen you're in the chair. Good luck! 73, Bas

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Hello John, I made a mistake. The rootcanal costs about 20%. New rules for 2013. All things get more expensive :-(. That would be about 100 euro (130 usd) for 3 canals. But I don't know exactly what it costs when it is performed by a specialist, that's complicated. Could be as expensive as in the US. 73, Bas

VE9KK said...

Good morning John, well first great contacts with the speaker wire and 3 watts!! As for the dentist my wife had a root canal done at a cost of 1200.00 and the crown was in around 800.00. Both were covered by insurance to no expense out of our pocket. Hope all goes well with the procedure, I know going to the dentist can be a not so wonderful thing.
Mike

Jspiker said...

Hello Guys,

I was "in the chair" for an hour and a half this morning but I'm home now. The dentist said it was a "hot" tooth. It was NOT painless.

This mornings procedure cost me $820 USD and the crown will be $890 USD. (total $1,710)

On the medical expenses, I'm very fortunate to have most of my "medical" (not dental) costs covered by the Veterans Administration. I was a member of the Navy and the Air Force for more than 10 years. It's not "free" but there are nominal expenses involved with every visit.

My brother has good insurance but pays $800 a month for just medical coverage and NO dental or eye care. A few years ago he lost the tip of one finger. His medical costs (with insurance premiums) that year were more than $12,000.

Medical bills can quickly bankrupt you over here without insurance and there are still many people without it. The "Affordable Health Care Act" will make things better but we still have a way to go. Most of those provisions will not go into effect until at least next year.

Despite all the "smoke and mirrors" from the insurance companies here, health care costs are a major reason American businesses swarm to other countries.