My little piece of Cold War history arrived today in the form of an NOS telegraph key built for the Soviet military in the 1980’s. For only $18, I had to have one.
Shipping was quick (got here in 12 days) and the key seems as solid and well-built as I was hoping it would be.
For a better description and far better pics than I could ever take, have a gander at Yury’s eBay store.
There seems to be a lot of interest in personal weather stations among ham radio ops. I started my own a little over a year ago after researching what was out there, equipment wise, and I did so thinking it would be interesting to see trends over time here at my own QTH.
What I didn’t realize at the time was how much goes on behind the scenes regarding the data flow of weather info for those stations that are tied to computers with an always-on internet connection. I learned about all that after getting set up and was/am amazed at what occurs without my having to do anything to enable it other than allowing my data to go out into the ether.
Nothing says serious contest station like Barney videos and sippy cups.
I was fortunate in this afternoon’s FoBB to have the assistance of my 2-year old granddaughter who is staying with us for a few weeks as her parents (both in the Air Force) tend their duties. Too hot here to go outside anyway, my hat is off to those who endured the heat and set up from afield. Continue reading 'FoBB and sippy cups'»
I’ve never really been interested in scanner monitoring though I appreciate the technology behind it and I have dabbled with them a bit in the distant past. Up until 15 or so years ago it was a simple matter of plugging in frequencies for your local area in order to hear what’s out there.
Then municipalities started using trunked systems to allow sharing of frequencies among various users. Scanners were designed that could follow the various trunked system types, and their difficulty of programming ramped up progressively. Newer & more complex trunking systems were developed, PL and CTCSS tones were required – and the fun factor faded among many. It just wasn’t worth the effort required.
And if you travel to another area, all that programming has to be re-done.
Every now and then, a QRPer has a need for documentation of a radio or kit they bought second hand. The majority of such material exists online and is freely downloadable, much to the credit of those vendors.
Those offering it are probably under the correct impression that a prospective buyer will be able to make a better decision of whether or not to buy based on the increased knowledge of their product that would come from a thorough reading of its description, schematic, parts list, etc.
Plus, there is the spirit of QRP – the sharing of technical and operational information. This takes place on various mailing lists, Yahoo groups, on the air and in magazine articles. And, as mentioned, among most QRP kit sellers. Continue reading 'Thumbs down, OHR! – online documentation for QRP rigs'»
I had a landline QSO today with a gentleman in Louisville, Kentucky who is as friendly as he is interesting. Forty-one years ago this week, Larry Baysinger W4EJA accomplished an amazing feat and I wanted to ask him more details about it than exist online. My email to him bounced, so I picked up the phone and was rewarded with one heck of an interesting story.
In July of 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were walking on the lunar surface as Michael Collins orbited above them in the Command Module. As the rest of the country – and the world – watched this historic event on television, Larry was receiving their communications directly, independently of NASA or the media networks. Continue reading '41 years ago this week – Apollo 11 and W4EJA'»
If you haven’t looked lately, there’s new info from BD4RG and Yimin on these two kits…spectrum plots, YouTube videos and better photos than those available previously.
Gotta admit, with a pre-built 10-watt phone/CW rig that covers six bands costing only $300, I’m real anxious to see what the price will be of their upcoming HF2K amplifier. Two weeks to go on that one.
I had a very enjoyable QSO a few days ago with an Old Timer up in New Jersey. I called CQ at a speed just a tad north of my comfort zone and was answered right away. We exchanged the usual RST/name/location and them moved on to more interesting turf and therein is where I had to really engage my concentration.
I met Hans Summers G0UPL a few years ago over coffee and pastries in Greenwich, CT. We’d had a QSO on 80 meters the previous evening and made arrangements to meet the next morning. All that is written about here.
A trip to Hans’ website is a must for any QRPer – the man is a designer/builder extraordinaire.
Comments (2) 
There seems to be a lot of interest in personal weather stations among ham radio ops. I started my own a little over a year ago after researching what was out there, equipment wise, and I did so thinking it would be interesting to see trends over time here at my own QTH.
Every now and then, a QRPer has a need for documentation of a radio or kit they bought second hand. The majority of such material exists online and is freely downloadable, much to the credit of those vendors.
