N7QJM, Kurt, has created a few "introduction to ham radio" videos and uploaded them to the Internet. As there are getting to be more and more of these and as I already have a few tips and other resources for newcomers to our hobby, I decided to setup a page dedicated to these intro videos. [...]
Last night I had the privilege of participating in the Iowa Caucus. As the vast majority of the readers of this blog are outside of Iowa (see my website country statistics), I’m sure many won’t know what a Caucus is or its relationship to ham radio (the primary focus of this blog).
My experience in [...]
The HamLinks Ham Radio Toolbar continues to grow in popularity… with over 1500 installations since its release a couple months ago. I continue to get emails thanking me for putting this toolbar together and asking for new features (only so many hours in the day, but I’m thinking about a few new features).
The HamLinks [...]
I’ve decided to take a new approach to dealing with PL-259 coax connectors. It’s a move away from completely soldered connectors to a crimp style PL-259 with a soldered tip.
It seems as though I’ve ruined many PL-259 coax connections and I don’t completely trust the ones that I’ve made. The biggest problem is usually the [...]
A couple hams in Europe have reportedly broken the 200 word-per-minute barrier in the world of competitive High Speed Telegraphy (HST). How fast is this? Here is an example of the word PARIS being sent in CW at 200 wpm.
Of the seven HST CW-wizards who attempted to break the 1000 cpm (200 words per minute) [...]
My business trip to Connecticut had a few setbacks this week (delays, meetings canceled, etc.). With some extra time on my hands, I decided to head ~40 minutes east to Newington and take the tour of the ARRL Headquarters. I thought it would be a great way to spend a few hours. As it turns [...]
I’ve created a (free) ham radio toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox that may be of interest to other hams. I’d found some shortcomings in some similar toolbars so I produced this one… The Hamlinks ham radio webbrowser toolbar.
At the moment, the HamLinks toolbar looks like this:
It is very easy to install (and uninstall) for both Firefox and Internet Explorer. [...]
I’ve been using RufzXP to work on my Morse Code speed over the past few months. It’s a good way to kill ~10 minutes while eating lunch or sitting on a plane. When I looked at the report showing my scores (and max CW speed), I wondered how I was doing overall. So, being the [...]
You might recall the Butternut HF6V damaged in the ice storm. If not, here is what it looked like:
Someone had asked what the Butternut looked like after the storm had passed. I finally uploaded the pics showing where the antenna had failed mechanically:
Here is a wire that broke:
Finally, here’s a picture of some corrosion [...]
I took some time Saturday to go to the Iowa 75 Meter Hamfest/Picnic in Marshalltown. It was hosted by the Central Iowa Radio Amateur Society (CIRAS). I made an attempt to sell some surplus things that I needed to downsize (solar panels, RFI kits, and other stuff). While I didn’t sell much I did have [...]