Last Sunday I drove to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to a hamfest.
Some of my earliest ham radio memories are going with my dad to the hamfest in Cedar Rapids in the 1970s. In those days, the hamfest was a huge event… I vaguely recall table after table of boat anchors and Art Collins sightings. Art, founder [...]
The Story County Amateur Radio Club (SCARC) held field day at the 4H building on the Iowa State University campus again this year. This building is considered an EOC for the campus which allows us to “compete” in “F” category. We have been using two transmitters plus a “Get on the air” station to put [...]
Field Day 2010 is in the books. The antennas have been plucked from the trees, the BBQ has been finished and the generators have been unplugged. Field Day is always entertaining and it’s a great way to try a new aspect of the hobby. This year, I spent time with two clubs: the Des Moines [...]
PowerFilm Solar will have it’s first booth at Dayton Hamvention 2010. This will mark an entry into the ham radio market for the thin-film solar panel company.
Last fall, I joined PowerFilm Solar. At PowerFilm Solar we make thin film solar panel products for a wide variety of products. PowerFilm products include:
Ruggedized/weatherproof rollable solar [...]
As I write this, it’s the middle of a fairly nasty winter. We have had near record snowfall and the temperature is currently 5°F (-15° C). What better time to reflect upon a warm/sunny Field Day 2009?
The Story County Amateur Radio Club (SCARC) and Iowa State University Cyclone Amateur Radio Club (CARC) joined forces [...]
It’s been far too long since I’ve updated the blog. I hadn’t intended to go so long without a post, but the chaos of life simply got in the way.
I’m now planning to get back into the routine of posting from time to time on this blog. I’m going to keep the focus on ham [...]
Dudley (WA5QPZ) from Flex sent me this follow-up note to my post about the FlexRadio CW contest demo. Just for clarification, I’ve included his comments here.
Pat, Read your Blog and very good.. Wish good old MS had not made the changes, but I am sure they were trying to fix [...]
A few days ago the demo CD from the folks at FlexRadio arrived. Unfortunately, the CD was corrupt and missing some key files. After some emails with their support folks and a lot of experimenting, I was able to accomplish my goal: demo the PowerSDR/FlexRadio system in a CW contest environment (without actually buying the [...]
Since posting that the FlexRadio 3000 has been released to the masses a few days ago, I’ve been wondering if SDR & the Flex Radio platform is ready for contesting/DXing prime time.
For example, could the FlexRadio 5000 be used as an SO2R machine in a single box? (SO2R in a box) The literature claims [...]
I’ve been following the development of the latest SDR HF transceiver… the Flex-3000. This radio began shipping last week – so we should start to read real world reviews and hear them on-the-air. FlexRadio Systems is famous for their pc-driven ham radios without knobs and their high marks in the NC0B (Sherwood Engineering) Dynamic Range [...]
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