Hanging in there
The last dose of steroids is in, and I’m happy to report that so far, they seem to have helped. No idea for how long,…
Category: Ham Radio
35 of 36 will just have to do
I have finished installing the radial field for my new ham radio antenna (a Hustler 6BTV). Finally. I had planned on 36 radials, each 32′…
Good wood warms you twice
I keep thinking about that old saying, and wondering if making an online transfer to the natural gas company or the electric company might not…
Field Day, 2021
For the uninitiated, ARRL Field Day is an annual operating event where we hams are supposed to go out somewhere, set up our gear, and…
Look Who’s Back in Amateur Radio Gear
The HeathKit we all knew “back in the day” is long gone. But the new HeathKit is offering a very interesting station accessory. First orders…
Life in the time of Wuflu, Part 35: Busy, busy, busy
Bonus points if you get the cultural reference I’ve been going at what passes for wide open this week. 20 years ago this would have…
Sunday Reading
Reading time has been in short supply this week. I have not picked up a book the entire week. “Working” at Republican Part HQ, a…
Fighting the demon RFI
St. George had an easier task. Since I’ve finally gotten my HF radio setup in place, I’ve noticed that my home simply reeks of devices…
Hooking up
Sorry about the black blobs, but OPSEC. No, that kind of hooking up. Y’all got some dirty minds. I mean hooking up the ham radios.…
Putting up a 6m/2m/70cm beam antenna, Part 6
Cushcraft A6270-13S. The little round white guy is a broadcast TV antenna. It’s a bit embarrassing that my last post was on this subject was…
How I spent Saturday evening
While the new ham shack isn’t feature complete and won’t be for some time yet, it is running at somewhat reduced capacity-but reduced is good…
What I did on my summer vacation
Trust me when I say the picture on the left has no bearing to what I’ve been up to the last 10 days. But it’s…
Need a cable?
In particular, do you need a programming cable for a hand-held 2-way radio? I’ve found a good one. KJ6ZWL makes a line based on an…
What do you call it?
What do you call it when there is simply nothing that moves you to write? I’m not talking about writer’s block, where you have a…
Antenna coupling
Figure 1, Figuring out where the damn antennas are going to go. Radios require antennas, and unless you’re blessed with a decent acreage, lots of…
It’s all about the voltage drop
Most people, if they have half a brain, will check what wire size is needed to carry a given ampacity before they start hooking up…
RF Exposure–not a good thing in high doses
Amateur Radio RF Exposure Calculator. Whether the rules require you to perform these calculations or not, it’s a good idea to do so. Don’t forget,…
Toss a bunch out on their ear
And the rest (mostly) get religion. After a series of election losses for ARRL incumbents, plus the (in appearance, at least) hasty departure of a…
Some budget cutting is a bad idea
Cutting the budget to fund the WWV family of radio time service stations is definitely a bad idea. These services are used by many consumers…
Internet Censorship–Brother, can you spare a mimeo machine?
(Via SurvivalBlog) As you may guess, I”m catching up on reading some of my blogroll. Rawles, it seems, has been on something of a roll…
A bit old, but a good take on the ARRL BOD issue
Since I’m not a big fan of the NFL at this juncture, I’m kind of left out of the national frenzy involving this year’s Super…
Ham radio projects
Like so many ham radio clubs, the club where I’m a member has been struggling with an aging member demographic and declining membership numbers. So…
Who said you can’t fight City Hall (or the ARRL)?
It seems that when enough people protest loudly enough and threaten to not renew enough memberships (and I suspect some other monetary hits we know…
And so we get this missive from the ARRL’s President on the Board of Director’s imbroglio
Rick Roderick, K5UR, has been kind enough to notice that the natives are restless. Or, as he puts it, we are listening to “…an organized…
More on the ARRL and the Board of Directors’ Code of Conduct
It’s weird how things work. I had looked earlier this week for more information on the subject of the ARRL’s new Board of Directors’ Code…
American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and my future relationship to it
After a number of bad experiences where the politics of an organization have interfered with my enjoyment of what the organization purported to provide (the…
Will Amateur Radio become extinct?
It’s an interesting question that has been thrashed around the table more than a few times. I know that my club is in trouble–our youngest…
Putting up a 6m/2m/70cm beam antenna, Part 1
The weather is getting back to spring, and it’s time to launch into some spring projects. One of many is the installation of a Cushcraft 6m/2m/70cm…
For the electronics geek in you
If there is no electronics geek in you, you may as well skip this post. If there is, ElectronicsNotes has a series on YouTube on oscilloscopes.…