A few weeks ago Thomas K4SWL emailed me a book recommendation and I’m so glad that I followed through with an order from Amazon.
The book arrived and I couldn’t put the darn thing down. It was far better than I’d hoped and was compelling on many different levels.
The gist of the story is this:
“Five days before Christmas 1943, a helpless, shot-all-to-hell American bomber pilot locked eyes with a German fighter pilot in an Me-109 over the frozen skies of Europe. The German pilot spared the life of the American, and both men would reunite and become friends 50 years later. Franz Stigler and Charles Brown started the war as enemies, but during a tense wartime encounter, both men discovered a higher call.”
The phrase “higher call” might seem to have a religious connotation but that is not the case here. It simply refers to the component of chivalry shown by the German pilot and the values with which he was raised.
No longer the exclusive domain of the military, radio-controlled drones are everywhere today.
Local municipalities are buying them for various purposes and even the real estate world has an interest in their potential to increase sales by offering buyers a bird’s-eye view of a property.
With electronics and cameras getting cheaper and smaller by the minute, drones are now within the reach of anyone who can afford to outfit a ham radio station. Continue reading 'A drone for everyman'»
Back when digital cameras first began to overtake 35mm film in terms of resolution and fidelity, I did a weird thing – I bought a large-format film camera kit which I built from wood, glue and a bit of ground glass.
The camera used 4X5 inch sheet film and required a lengthy amount of time under the dark cloth in order to compose and focus an image.
Its design and movements allowed things not possible with any other camera type in terms of focus thanks to the Scheimpflug principle.
At the time, it did for me what QRP would later do – it got me out and about on various trails. I discovered the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey – places I would later go on QRP excursions with Sam Morse’s code. Continue reading 'The appeal of retro'»
Readers of a certain age may remember shoving a tape into the 8-track player mounted beneath their dash and listening to Evil Woman, Mr. Blue Sky, Strange Magic and other tunes by the Electric Light Orchestra.
That band’s leader, Jeff Lynne, has just released a new solo album entitled Long Wave – a collection of “pre-rock standards”.
Looking at my stats page for 2012 offers insight into what people like to read. Some results were predictable, others weren’t.
The one constant is that I owe thanks to many people who, either knowingly or unknowingly, provided inspiration to write much of what is contained within these pages.
Here are the posts (not all from 2012) that received the most hits throughout 2012, in order from most to least read. Each received over 1000 hits during the year:
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A few weeks ago Thomas K4SWL emailed me a book recommendation and I’m so glad that I followed through with an order from Amazon.
No longer the exclusive domain of the military, radio-controlled drones are everywhere today.
Looking at my stats page for 2012 offers insight into what people like to read. Some results were predictable, others weren’t.
Themocracy