Tag: ham blog

New blog!

Ok – I’ve been getting re-energized in my amateur radio activities and thought I’d use a new and improved hamblog to help maintain the momentum.

Invention Lab: RadioShack

http://rsinventionlab.com/

What stuff have you done?

The tag line from a RadioShack contest and website called The Invention Lab. And they are partnered with MAKE! How cool is that?

There’s also a blog and different sections talking about various projects.

I think it’s great that RadioShack is trying to inspire the builder. RadioShack has had a pretty bad reputation over the past few years with most hams looking down there nose at the businesses drift into cell phones instead of their previous focus on radios and component parts. I believe the biggest difference between the RadioShack of yore and today’s ‘Shack is the sales people. Back in the day, the man behind the desk knew electronics inside and out. He also knew where every diode and every transistor was in the store. Today’s sales clerk does not know any of the electronic components the store carries, much less where to find them in the actual store. But this shift in the dumbing down of sales clerks is true across all lines of business. Have you been to Fry’s Electronics lately? The sales clerk at Sears in the hardware department can’t even tell you anything about the Craftsman tools they carry. So I’m a support of RadioShack – if you look hard you can usually find one that’s close that carries what you need. After you hunt and peck around the store, you’ll know where everything is and will only need the clerk to ring you up.

Headed Home

After a year deployment in Iraq, I am heading home.

I have not been keeping this blog up to date, but hope to make some posts here to describe my experiences operating an amateur station in Iraq (YI9MI). Other plans when I get home are to attempt a QSO with my dad (KD6EUG) – Virginia to California. My dad upgraded to General last year and we have not yet had the opportunity to have an HF QSO. I’m also going to install a Tarheel screwdriver antenna on my Toyota Tundra to enjoy some mobile HF while I am on the road this summer.

I am looking forward to getting back to the States!

Thank You AmateurLogic.TV!

My internet capability here is rather limited, especially when it comes to large downloads. I had seen a few episodes of AmateurLogic before I left the States and now I wanted more. But try as I might, the download usually timed out before I could get the whole episode. I sent Jimmy an 2GB SD card with a SASE and asked if he could mail me back some of the earlier episodes. Not only did he fill the SD card, but he included a CD with the complete collection of AmateurLogic episodes. You guys are great! He also asked if I could send a video clip of our radio activities here…. hmmm, maybe I can do a segment on my MARS station. More to follow…

For your consideration

Here is a great ham webpage. Explore the links to the left under the Site Map. Dave, G3VGR, is a rabid CW enthusiast: “CW is my favorite mode of operation. I no longer operate any other modes as none give me anywhere near as much enjoyment as sending and receiving Morse. My microphones are stored safely somewhere in the garage and I removed the SSB option board from my K2 a while ago. I am a member of 8 CW clubs and like to participate in their activities.” He’s got a great collection of CW keys.

He also has a great collection of QRP rigs and homebrews a lot of his own equipment: “I am a Radio Amateur, not an Amateur Radio Operator”. Great quote!

I recently read this blog – from it’s first entry back in Jan 2004 up to today’s. Right off the bat, the blog looks cool. I like the MFJ-564B paddle as the background image. The QSL cards stacked along the right side are very cool. I enjoy the blog’s focus. Michael, WA5ICA, also only operates CW. He starts his blog adventure with two MFJ QRP rigs (15M and 20M) and operates from his truck.


It is interesting to see his operations and equipment change over time (participating in contests from the driveway, trying different CW keys, getting a new rig, new antenna). I invite you to start from the first post and work your way forward, I think you’ll consider it time well spent.

Link List

Jeff, KE9V, took down his blogroll. I completely understand why he did it… but I used it for my daily stroll through ham blogdom. If I was squared away, I’d have one of those RSS aggregators – I’d be able to neatly peruse through the latests posts. But I’ve never been able to get the hang of using those. I panicked a bit when I saw the blogroll was gone – but then I attempted to piece together what was there and added in some other blogs that I enjoy as well. So now over on the left side my link list is much longer than before. The beauty of my blog is that it doesn’t get much traffic, so I won’t run into the same problem Jeff had…. and I’ll easily be able to take my morning walk through what I believe is the best in amateur radio blogging.

HELLO

10 REM THIS IS A PROGRAM
20 PRINT “HELLO”
30 END

Great post from Richard on his 30th anniversary of working with computers. Looking at the code above brought back many memories.

My first computer was an Apple ][. I started out with a cassette tape player to load programs. Soon I got one, then two disk drives. The 300 baud acoustic cup modem. The 1200 baud Hayes modem. RAM upgrade to 48k(?).

I really enjoyed exploring BBSs. Growing up in the 408 area code (the home of Silicon Valley) allowed me to connect mostly to local boards. However, their was one in Santa Cruz (called Moria?) that I used to call regularly until the phone bill arrived and was told to restrict my modem exploration to local calls only. I remember with the 300 baud modem I could read the text as fast as it came across the screen. The jump to 1200 baud seemed incredible. This was still before file uploads/downloads. Software was exchanged, but it was via 5.25″ floppy disks. We used a hole punch to clip a hole on the left side of the floppy to enable the reverse side to be usable. I went to one of the early Apple conventions at the Moscony Center in San Francisco. I learned how to do simple programs in BASIC. For that I have to thank Ms. Watanabe – she was a teacher at Wilson Elementary in Cupertino and taught a weekly course that I attended. There was a game I used to love to play… kind of a Dungeons and Dragons type game where there was a 2-dimensional maze that you explored. The goal (if I remember) was to find the treasure before the dragon got you.

When I get a chance to go back to Sunnyvale to visit family, two places I always have to go are the Ham Radio Outlet store and Fry’s Electronics. On display at Fry’s, amongst the aisles of stuff, is an old Apple ][. I enjoy the memories that the sight of the beige box brings.

W6PO – Rememberance

http://sutherland.blogs.com/w6po/

This site was put together by Janice, KB6FNS, for her father, Bob Sutherland, W6PO, SK. I really enjoyed reading the entries about Bob’s amazing ham activities. The mix of childhood recollections, remembrances from fellow hams, and pictures are wonderful.

“As a kid, one task would be to turn on the ‘shop’ for my dad before he got home, so all the tubes would be warmed up. (Probably the ham shack too) There is a big breaker box inside the door with a bunch of switches that turn everything on.
During moonbounce activity, we were not supposed to answer the phone until it rang more than once. The ‘one ringer’ signal was from another ham who was verifying that the pre-arranged schedule was on and he was ready.”

Items of interest

Interesting post on W2LJ’s blog about his PDA. I have an assortment of PDAs:

– Palm Pilot Pro that I got an upgrade kit for to make it a Palm III (new chip along with IR sync capability)

– Palm IIIxe which I bought on eBay. It works well except that it eats up batteries even when it is turned off. I have used this PDA with my Kenwood TH-D7 to do mobile 2m packet and PocketAPRS.

– Palm m130. This was the first PDA I had that allowed you to use an SD card. I have used this to program my TinyTrack APRS device.

– Palm Tungsten 3 (or T3). First PDA with wireless connectivity, in this case Bluetooth. Also has a slot for an SD card. I used this PDA for mobile logging, mainly taking advantage of the voice recording function… I’d have a mobile QSO, pick up the Palm T3 and record a voice memo of the time, freq, callsign, and any other significant info. At a later point I used that to update my primary log.

– Some variant of an HP PDA that has WiFi and an SD card slot.

Also have an assortment of keyboards, cameras, and other doo-dads that go with these.

I have the Palm T3 with me now… I’m guessing it needs to be charged.

K3OQ has a post about his upcoming trip to the Outer Banks. He also plans to activate The Bodie Island Lighthouse (USA-067). I had the opportunity to activate that light back in June of 2006. Beautiful area out there – very relaxing. One of the highlights of any hams visit to the Outer Banks is using the Outer Banks Repeater Association’s 2m and 70cm repeaters. I had a few great exchanges with Jack, W2EHD who lives in the area year around. The repeater system also allowed me to stay in contact with the XYL while I was off activating lighthouses.

N9IK’s Radio Blog has a new post about his completion of the Rock-Mite 40 transceiver kit. He’s got some great pics of his work. I hope to develop my building skills to that level. Very nice work. I look forward to hearing about the contacts he makes with it.

K9ZW tries to solve the age old question of the best way to organize QSL cards with his latest post. I’m curious to see how others keep their cards organized. I don’t have a ton of cards yet, but I would like a solid method of keeping my cards organized that will last for years and allow me to access them as needed.

As always – I enjoy reading your blogs. It keeps my interest in amateur radio strong even if I don’t get on the air as often as I’d like.