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Shipboard wireless room - 1912
From Phillip’s & McBride’s frantic CQD/SOS sent from the sinking Titanic right up to the bitter end of the 20th century, shipboard radio operators routinely sent dots and dashes flying across oceans. Continue reading 'Yesteryear in radiotelegraphy – audio'»
Many years ago, a high school friend and I decided to get into scuba diving. We took lessons, rented equipment and dove those muddy lakes in East Texas. Its a wonder we didn’t get bitten by water moccasins like that Irish kid in Lonesome Dove. Years later, the Navy took me to real places for divers: Guam, the Philippines, Thailand, VQ9, VK6. But while my transportation to these places may have been free, the requisite equipment wasn’t.
Today, a modest scuba set-up easily tops $1000. And that doesn’t include transportation to a worthwhile site. Continue reading 'The cost of a hobby & the best deals in ham radio today'»
A few days ago I made a posting to the Elecraft reflector asking if any K3 owners in my area might be willing to let me get touchy-feely with their rig. I’ve read all the specs, product reviews and user reports over the years. I’ve also followed the reflector, noting not only the praises but the problems encountered along the way. I’ve written about these concerns elsewhere on my blog so no need to repeat them here.
Here’s where I’m at, just so you understand my perspective: my FT840 continues to provide excellent service. With it and nothing more than dipoles, I’ve worked 5BDXCC – something I thought I’d never accomplish back in the old days when I used to wonder how to even go about DXing through a pile-up.
But I’ve lately gotten more interested in CW contests, primarily the CQWW, ARRL DX and a few others. I’m well aware of the fact that any new rig is gonna be a huge improvement over my FT840 but I want what my Novice rig (Ten Tec Century 21) had and what all my QRP rigs have: QSK. Gotta gotta have it.
This feature, cost and various performance issues narrows the field to Ten Tec or Elecraft. Continue reading 'Elecraft K3 demos: two for the price of one'»
I first set up for WSPR a little over two months ago. At that time, I was using my main rig (FT840), the computer’s sound card with all the requisite cables for audio & keying, a RigBlaster and the latest-at-the-time WSPR software.
It was fun and surprising to see what could be accomplished with a watt, even on the low bands. But I had a ton of wires and a rig tied up to the mode. And I couldn’t use the computer’s sound card for other purposes without disconnecting wires and plugging in the speakers. Continue reading 'WSPR simplification & performance improvements'»
The thing about ham radio is that it’s not one hobby; it’s several, all wrapped up in one. There’s DXing, moonbounce, APRS, ATV, etc…..
With my new SignalLink USB interface, aquired to eliminate the spaghetti mess of wires otherwise needed for WSPR, I thought I’d try PSK31 again. I dabbled in this mode long ago but it held my interest for maybe a dozen “QSOs”. Continue reading 'Chasing a mouse around a piss-pot'»
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I guess the pace of the contest at some points was such that I didn’t look at each & every piece of info presented by the N3FJP software I was using. But I worked two stations whose QTH I was unaware of at the time and happy to learn about later. Continue reading 'CQWW: two surprises via LoTW'»
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