AmateurRadio.com

Brian Boyko, a freelance IT author, created this informational and rather entertaining video on Windows 8.

The video echos a lot of my experiences, albeit brief ones with Windows 8.  A few weeks ago I attempted to use a Windows 8 Surface tablet at a mall kiosk and left in frustration.  Last week while Christmas shopping I happened to venture into the computer section of a department store and played with a Windows 8 laptop.  After ten minutes of trying to make sense of the Metro interface, I again left in frustration.  I should mention I’m not a computer newbie. I’ve been using computers for over 30 years, and have worked with them in a professional capacity for over 20.  I used Linux before it was sexy and my first GUI based OS was Windows 3.1.  I’ve never owned a piece of Mac hardware (I have an iPad and an iPhone), but if you drop me in an Apple store and put me in front of a Mac, I can be web browsing, viewing pictures, and creating documents in moments.   I just can’t do it with Windows 8.

User interface changes are always stressful to end users.  The last major one Microsoft made was the ribbon bar in Microsoft Office replacing the venerable and admittedly long-in-the-tooth menu bar.  At first I hated it and customized all my Office applications to have the buttons I needed in the quick bar which sits up in the title bar.  Eventually I got used to the ribbon bar, but being a fan of minimalist interfaces I think the quick bar is much more efficient.  But, OK, I admit Microsoft was right with the ribbon bar and it’s a valid step in the evolution of user interfaces.

I won’t repeat everything in Boyko’s video, but he’s absolutely right on all points.  The Windows 8 Metro interface is a massive departure from the old interface.  The revolutionary change would be a good one if it was actually an improvement.  But similar to when Microsoft tried to put a desktop OS on a mobile device (Windows Mobile/CE), now they’re trying to shoehorn a mobile phone and tablet OS on to a PC, and it just doesn’t work.

This video goes into the desktop mode a bit more and shows the discontinuity between Metro and the desktop:

The changes in Windows 8 presents an opportunity for anyone who uses Windows, including amateur radio operators and software authors.  While Windows 8 has a compatibility mode that essentially lets you run legacy apps in a legacy pre-Windows 8 style desktop, it’s problematic.  If Microsoft doesn’t abandon Metro, they’re likely going to push application authors to the Metro interface, perhaps at some point even eliminating the legacy user interface.  With such a revolutionary change to this tool and its steep learning curve, it may be just as easy to migrate to Linux, Mac, or a Chromebook and learn something totally new that is actually going to be productive and useful.  With Windows 8, essentially Microsoft has increased the pain of upgrading to the point where it is equal or less pain to migrate to a different platform.  I suspect many people will horde old or bootleg copies of Windows 7 and XP, storing them away like a rare wine or expensive cigar, for use when getting a new piece of hardware.  It’s going to be interesting.

Surprise!  The world did NOT end yesterday …….. and seriously, did you think for even the tiniest bit that it would?

But it was the shortest day of the year and Winter has officially arrived in the Northern Hemisphere (Happy Summer to you folks lucky enough to enjoy it in the Southern half!).  So for once, I looked towards the dark hours, because at sunset the 2012 Zombie Shuffle commenced.  I made one QSO on 20 Meters with John K4BAI before being called to dinner.  After that, the family went for a drive to go view some Chrsitmas lights.

When we got home, I jumped on the radio – about 9:30 PM and stayed on for a little over two hours.  Much to my surprise, I heard not a Zombie soul on 40 Meters.  Even though I know that 40 Meters goes long, I expected to hear something there – but no dice.

For me, all the action was confined to 80 Meters. When all was said and done, 16 Zombies were nabbed including 4 Maya Kings.  Not great; but not as terrible as I thought it was going to be with 40 Meters out of the picture.

Thanks to all the Zombies and Maya Kings that made it into my log – and special thanks to Paul NA5N for running the event.

This afternoon, I went grocery shopping and you would have thought I went to a regular shopping mall!  There was traffic everywhere and a close parking spot was not to be found.  What is it about the Saturday before Christmas that makes seasoned motorists drive like they’ve never been before the wheel before? Traffic and crowds were a nightmare – glad I have all my Christmas shopping done. Now …. onto wrapping!

As Advent draws to a close and Christmas draws ever closer, I leave you today with a beautiful Advent hymn – “Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel” which is being sung in the original Latin (it started out as a Gregorian chant) by Hayley Westenra who has an absolutely angelic voice.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

As you’ll have gathered from my earlier post. I hadn’t premeditated any 472khz activity, although it will certainly interest me to try and hear something on the band. Googling around quickly, I found some interesting information from DL4YHF that he had used his IC706 as an exciter on the band.

This intrigued me as I have an IC706 Mark 1 which was the same model that Wolfgang mentioned. The IC706 had been tucked away in a cupboard for a little while, so I dragged it out and hooked it up to a dummy load and a power meter. To my surprise and delight, on the lowest power setting I discovered I could get around 2W output on 472khz.

However, what didn’t quite add up was that I couldn’t hear anything on the FT1000MP that was running in the shack- either the MP is a bit deaf – OR the 706 is not doing quite what I think it is! So I will have to look a bit more carefully!

Have a look at DL4YHF’s interesting post here

Over the last day or so, I’d seen people commenting on Twitter that they’d applied for 5MHz NOVs. I’ve got a current one and I wasn’t sure whether I need to apply for a new one to use the new frequencies. I decided that it was probably just easier to apply for a new NOV and then there is no doubt!

Application for the NOV couldn’t be easier! Just head over to the RSGB’s NOV page – the only thing that slowed me up was that I didn’t know my licence number, so I had to log onto the OFCOM portal (having remembered my password!) to find it out.

On the same page there is the NOV application for the new 472khz band. I decided that, although I don’t have any gear for the band at the moment, I might as well apply for an NOV, which I have done and received. And it’s already given rise to a bit of experimentation which has been quite interesting. More on that in another post…

The NOVs don’t come into force until 1st January 2013, but I am looking forward to seeing what can be done on these bands.