You're seeing a beacon transmitting.  If you turn up the volume on your receiver, you can hear it.

Since I was putting radials down where I have weeds and open areas of sand, I used a scythe to cut very narrow slits in the soil about the width of a pencil, pushed the radials in with a screwdriver, and then pressed the dirt back down with my foot.  Viola, radials burried 4 to 6 inches with minimal digging.  Don't have to worry about them getting caught in the mower when I mow the weeds.  Took me under 6 hours to do 500ft of radials.

Very interesting... thanks!

I don't think it's necessary to update the clock that often.   I have my computer set up to update about every 15 minutes, which is way more than necessary.  Watch your Delta Time and make sure it's within 3 or 4 seconds.  I can go an entire day or two without synchronizing before it gets that far off.  About once a month, I setup in an ALT QTH without Internet and I can do JT-65 for a day or so before the clock gets off by 3 to 4 seconds.  But, I also discovered that you can adjust the clock manually using the Offset to compensate.  On a long weekend, I've had people tell me that my clock is off, but it didn't stop us from having a successful QSO, so it obviously wasn't an issue, right?

It cannot be done correctly with just a soldering iron and you risk damaging the circuit board.  Rosin core solder is also verbotten.  The rosin acts like a slow motion acid that will damage the board.  In the early days of SMT, I removed and replaced many components with just an iron; however, as they have continued to get smaller, it's no longer practical.

To do it correctly, the board is warmed slowly with controlled temperatures, rather than fast and hot.  Typically, the underside of the board is warmed to just below the melting point of the solder, around 150C, then the component side is heated simultaneously and the components is removed, then there's a cool down period as well.  All this is done thru high magnification microscope with a mechanical mechanism to place the component in the exact position without displacing surrounding components.

If I could upload a 4 MB file, I would show you a Powerpoint presentation one of our staff did that shows how to do it properly with temperatures, etc.  Here's link to the machine we use with a video showing the machine in action: http://www.pdr-rework.com/node/69

Excellent...  I managed to get all 50 states and 70 countries on an OCF dipole at 18ft, which theoretically should be a cloud warmer and worm burner.  

I have an 80M loop at 40ft.  It's been my experience that it performs better on the higher bands than the conventional wisdom would indicate.  Doing A/B comparisons with a vertical, I find the almost no difference between the two antennas.  With all the hype about take off angle, I think it's sometimes forgotten that antennas radiate some power in ALL DIRECTIONS even though they may obviously have gain and lobes that favor certain directions.  

I posted my first review of an AL-80B.  The review mentioned a few problems, but wasn't super critical.  The review never appeared...   

Equipment differences aside, the other major difference is that in amatuer radio the main emphasis is the radio itself and the operator's enjoyment of participating in the hobby.  There is no equalivent to that in the commercial sector.  You won't see employment ads for 'radio operators', that profession no longer exists - if it ever did.  Instead, radios are tools that a professional might use to carry out their duties, but their job is not defined by the radio and the radio most likely plays a very small roll in their job.  In most cases, they could use another tool in it's place, such as a phone, pager, or whatever is the next new technology.  They don't care about the radio any more than a construction worker cares about a hammer.  The owning the hammer is not his profession (he's not a professional hammer operator) and does not define who s/he is.  He also probably won't be bragging to his buds about how many different types of hammers he owns, or claiming that his hammer is bigger than yours.  (Okay, he might do that...)  But anyway, the vast majority of commerical radio users couldn't tell you the name of the manufacturer or the model number of the radio they use every day.  They just don't care because it's not their profession, it's just a tool. 

Congrats, but don't blow it.  

It's already a great location, so you don't need massive gain or power.  If you go too big on the antenna or cause RFI, your time on the roof might be short lived.  If it were me, I would go with a multiband antenna that's not overly large or prone to RFI, and keep the power down during peak TV viewing hours.  Also, make sure everything is grounded per NEC.  Otherwise, first time they get a permit for some unrelated work on the roof, your antenna will become an issue. 

Some of the ideas in the article are pretty far fetched...  Commercial radios are typically not fused on the negative lead, simply because you don't want a situation where you loose the grounding.  Same in home wiring, you don't see breakers on the return because it would create a dangerous situation to have power to a circuit with no ground return.  (I have seen return breakers on ships, but it's done for different reasons.) 

I have seen radios loose ground and pull current thru the antenna shield.  In those cases, the radio was not damaged since it's the same point electrically.  If the radio is properly grounded, either at the radio or where the battery ground connects to the frame, the vehicle cannot pull current thru the radio as described because if one gets disconnected so does the other.  The ground wire on the radio is also directly connected to the frame of the radio and the vehicle body thru the mounting bracket so I don't see how any internal radio circuits are in that return path either.  Now if someone that doesn't know what they are doing is jacking around with the vehicle wiring, then yes, probably all sorts of problems could happen.

I personally don't like non-removeable fuse holders, especially on the ground, because it makes the wires more difficult to run thru the firewall.  I always cut the ground ones off.

The best way is to find a good book and learn radio electronic theory.  You have to know how each stage of a synthesized radio works in order to be able to troubleshoot failures.  Getting to that point is about acquiring technical knowledge from classroom and book work.  

This book used to be the bible for radio techs:  http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Communication-Robert-Shrader/dp/0070571570

I think it's a stretch to say you fixed it yourself...
 

I just purchased an AL-80B and it had a minor issue that was easily fixed.  One of the meters was dead and Ameritron rushed me out a new one.  Other than that, I've been very pleased with the amp.  Don't be scared to pull the trigger on a new amp for that reason alone. 

I wouldn't buy something that expensive used, unless you can get it from someone you trust.  If you buy a used amp and it needs a tube, you just blew any savings.  Once you fix it, you now have a used amp that cost as much as a new one would have.  And, you can rest assured the person you bought it from will then take your money and buy a new amp for himself.  If your buddy came to you and said, "Give me $1,000 bucks so I can go buy a new amp.  I'll give you my old one."  Would you do it? 

Word of caution, you need to budget some extra funds for incidentals when buying your first amp.  You may need to upgrade your tuner or antenna to handle the additional power, buy some RF or control cables, dummy load, SWR meter, ground straps, install a 240V outlet, etc.  Look at the power handling capability of everything in your RF path.

I got one of these for ~$50...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/K-4-Chinese-Military-Heavy-Duty-Telegraph-Straight-Key-/120504634028

When I built my 80M Skyloop, I used a 1:1 balun to match wide ranging impedances in multiband operation.  It works well on 80M thru 6M, including the very bottom of 80M, although it's a bit longer at 295 ft.  At 80M, I wonder if the 4:1 balun isn't making the antenna input impedance too low and more difficult for the tuner to match.  Just out of curosity, I would by-pass the balun and see what happens on 80M.