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By John Harper AE5X, September 6, 2010 5:13 pm

Radio equipment lends itself ideally to multimedia presentation. Manufacturers seem not to have noticed this.

Back when contemplating the purchase of a K3, I posted a brief note to the Elecraft reflector inquiring whether anyone in my local area would be willing to let me have a look-see of their K3. The two hands-on demos that resulted allowed me to see & hear how the K3 performs and was an eye opener and resulted in the K3 now sitting front and center on my desk.

Two options now have my interest: the P3 panadapter and the sub-receiver.

I know a lot of folks contemplating the purchase of a radio-related item look first to eHam product reviews (because they’re conveniently available), then to opinions of owners via various YahooGroups. Then it’s on to write-ups and reviews from QST and other magazines.

But with radio being a hobby that is better heard (and now “seen” with various panadapter displays) than read about, YouTube offers a far better method for evaluating certain aspects of equipment available within our hobby – a huge step closer to being there than any other method short of a touchy-feely session. Continue reading 'YouTube as a method of product evaluation'»

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By John Harper AE5X, May 21, 2010 11:28 am

As olde Billy Shakespeare said, “What’s in a name, yall?”

The Chinese-made HB-1a seems to be getting re-branded – surprisingly, by Ten Tec and MyDel (sort of). Continue reading 'HB-1a, MyDel or Ten Tec?'»

Comments (7)

By John Harper AE5X, January 29, 2010 10:29 am

Ah, the Outer Limits! Great 60′s TV…spooky & eerie! Remember the opening lines:

There is nothing wrong with your set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to the outer limits. Continue reading 'Bizarre doin’s over at Elecraft'»

Comments (3)

By John Harper AE5X, June 2, 2009 10:22 pm

The performance of my trusty and loyal 5BDXCC-with-wire-antenna working, pile-up-on-80m-for-3XY7C busting, head-on-collision-in-Houston surviving old Yaesu FT840 in last weekend’s CQ-WPX contest was the same as it always is in high RF environments: not too bad.

Still, it’s served its time and deserves a comfortable semi-retirement in the shack as the back-up rig. So I’m pondering – and have been for months now – which rig to replace it with: a K3 or a Jupiter.
Continue reading 'Elecraft or Ten-Tec?'»