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• What Browser Extensions Do You Use and Why?

This Weekend in Hedonism (Segment 2)

• Cheryl’s Recipe Corner

• Banana Bread Pancakes

• Description

• This week I picked a Pancake recipe, as we are coming up on “Shrove Tuesday” (March 4th).  In the United Kingdom, Ireland and parts of the Commonwealth, Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday; otherwise it’s known as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras!  And what’s better than Banana Bread flavored pancakes!

• Ingredients

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 large ripe banana

• 1 large egg

• 1/3 cup white sugar

• 1/4 cup milk

• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, or as needed

• Directions

• Combine flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a small bowl with a whisk. Reserve until needed. Place banana in a mixing bowl and mash into a smooth paste with a potato masher. Add egg and sugar and whisk thoroughly until sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add milk, vanilla extract, 1/4 cup melted butter, walnuts, and flour mixture. Whisk until just combined. Let batter rest for 10 minutes. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large, nonstick pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, transfer in about 1/3 cup of the batter per pancake. Reduce heat to medium and cook until edges start to look dry and small air bubbles pop up through the surface, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes more. Serve immediately. Chef’s Note: While an almost-black banana is recommended here, as long as your banana is fully ripe, and you’re able to mash it fairly smooth, it should still work for this recipe. If you want these a little more decadent, sprinkle on a little chopped dark chocolate before you flip the pancakes — which, of course, is the secret ingredient in our famous banana bread recipe.

• Cheryl’s Mixed Drink Corner

• Brandy Crusta

• Description

• Continuing on the Mardi Gras trend… this drink was established as one of the oldest classic cocktails on record (and a direct forbear of the popular Sidecar) in New Orleans; it was invented in the 1850s by Joseph Santini, an Italian bartender plying his trade in New Orleans

• Ingredients

• 2 ounces brandy

• 1/4 ounce orange curaçao

• 1 teaspoon maraschino liqueur

• 1/2 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed

• 1/2 ounce simple syrup

• 1 dash Angostura bitters

• Garnish: lemon twist

• Garnish: sugar rim

• Directions

• Rim a coupe glass with sugar and set aside. Add the brandy, orange curaçao, maraschino liqueur, lemon juice, simple syrup, and bitters into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain into the prepared glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

• Russ’s Drink Corner

• Beards Town Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

• Description

• There wasn’t much detail to be found about this particular bourbon. It was one I’d never heard of and sitting on the shelf at a larger convenience store outside St. Louis. Bottled at 90 proof with a price tag in the mid-20 dollar range it seemed like it was worth a shot. A little investigation led to the discovery that it’s produced by Sazerac but nothing about it really speaks to it. It might be on off brand product. It’s a Kentucky straight bourbon with no age statement so it’s most likely aged more than 4 years. Being from Sazerac, that seems likely further confirmed. I picked it up hoping it might be a nice alternative for making cocktails or sipping from a whiskey found on the bottom shelf. Beards Town, by the way, is apparently an old name for Bardstown, a place where many fine Kentucky whiskies originate.

• Details

• Mashbill: Undisclosed

• Region: Bardstown, Kentucky

• Proof: 90 (45% ABV)

• Color: Light amber

• Nose: Toasted oak, clover honey, cinnamon, vanilla

• Taste: Vanilla, honey, slightly grassy, barrel spice

• Finish: Medium length, drying with notes of oak, baking spice and honey

• Price: $25 (750ml)

• Rating: 83

Segment 3 (Announcements & Feedback)

• Comment on Episode 571 from Ross, KD0VHN

• RE OBS: There’s an acronym conflict between Open Broadcaster Software and SUSE’s Open Build Service. It’s annoying because you have to pay attention to context, something AIs still don’t manage very well. The AI model was probably trained on material that doesn’t include Open Broadcaster. RE Linux on the iMac w/32bit EFI image: Debian 12.x (Bookworm) has i386 installation media, but I believe upcoming version 13 (Trixie) will not support i386. At least, there’s currently no installation image for testing on that architecture. For long term paths forward for older 32 bit systems Linux is probably not a good choice at this point even though some distros do have some years left in the support life cycles. Many distros and software projects are phasing out legacy x86 support to lighten their support burden. Instead people may want to look at NetBSD or OpenBSD (not FreeBSD because they’re also phasing out 32 bit x86 legacy support). However, it would be a good idea to check software compatibility support for their chosen BSD because not all ham radio projects support the BSDs. If the software isn’t already in their package repositories or an equivalent isn’t available, porting might be necessary which may or may not be as easy as running ./configure && make especially when it comes to audio subsystem API support.

• Please Help Support the Show

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Segment 4 (New Subscribers, New Supporters & Live Participants)

• Subscribers and Patreons

• David, W4DPE

• Mastodon

• @jessdail

• Discord

• Jack_Ripkin

• Magus Zeal

• YouTube

• KW4G

• Mark Trebian

• Live Chat

• Steve, KJ5T

• Mike, K6GTE

• Darren, VK6EK

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 202 is now available for download. A review of emergency power sources. W5SLA Winter Field Day activities. Icom’s new small business radio package. A highly effective noise blanker. Canarduino Christmas goodies arrived. And more… Download YouTube
George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

Lots happening...

You will find some great articles in this issue, along with our regular columnists.

Now read in over 165 countries, this issue brings you 115+ pages of Amateur Radio content from the Southwest corner of Canada and around the globe. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.

Download the January - February Communicator in 
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The deadline for the next edition is April 15th.

If you have news or events from your club or photos, stories, projects or other items of interest from BC or elsewhere, please contact us at [email protected]

73,

John VE7TI
'The Communicator' Editor

The Table of Contents for the March - April 2025 Communicator issue:

Sometimes, I just need a reason to get on the air. Specific operating goals can help with this, whatever form they take, including operating awards. One of the first awards I earned many years ago was Worked All States (WAS). The mixed WAS is not that difficult because you can use any of the HF bands to make the contacts. Some bands are better for close-in states while others are better for long distances. Do a lot of operating, and you’ll eventually earn WAS. And it is fun to chase states.

Six Meter WAS

A few months ago, I looked at my Logbook of The World (LoTW) stats and noticed that I was one state shy of having WAS on 6 meters. I was not working towards this objective, but I was making a lot of contacts on six, trying to work countries and grids. The state I was missing was Utah, which is adjacent to my state of Colorado. I know I had worked Utah before, but I didn’t have it confirmed. Utah is not that easy to work from my location, because the populated areas of the state are in a dead zone: too far away for tropo propagation but too close for sporadic-e. Once I realized I only needed Utah, I kept watch for Utah stations showed up on 6 meters. Soon, I worked KI7MD using meteor scatter and asked him to confirm the contact in LoTW. OK, there you g, I had WAS on 6 meters. I consider this a real accomplishment, one that took many years.

Chasing States By Band

Well, of course, it did not stop there. Another review of my LoTW results by state and band revealed that I already had WAS on 20 meters. I patted myself on the back for that accomplishment, even though I just stumbled across it. Then I noticed I had 43 states on 40 meters. Hmm, that should not be too difficult to complete because 40m propagation covers the US quite well. Alaska and Hawaii were both already confirmed so the challenge was filling in the missing lower 48 states. I’ve been doing quite a bit of FT8 operating lately, so I set JTAlert up to alert me when any of the states I needed were received on 40 meters. Whenever they popped up, I’d make it a point to work them, if possible. Soon, the missing states were filled in, and I had achieved WAS on 40m. Technically, I have the confirmations in LoTW (good enough for me), but I have not applied to have the award issued. Well, what band should I pursue next? I was a latecomer to the 30-meter band, making my first contact on that band in Feb 2024. However, I have learned to really like it with its propagation characteristics being an interesting mix of stateside and DX. I had about 30 states confirmed on 30m, so I figured it would not take too long to fill in the blanks. Again, I used FT8 aided by JTAlert to keep watch for the states I needed. I wasn’t completely zoned in on working these states…usually, I was on the air for other reasons, but when JTAlert told me there was a WAS contact to be had, I grabbed it. Right now, I have 49 states confirmed on 30m, with Delaware being the only one missing. Now, someone out there is thinking, “Don’t pursue WAS one band at a time; go for them all at once!” That probably would be more efficient, but that’s not what I am after. I just like having a few operating goals in front of me to focus my efforts and pursuing states on a single band fits that just fine.

WAS Score Card

Here’s a snapshot of my WAS numbers today, from LoTW. After I finish up 30m, I will probably focus on 15m or 10m. I tend to be on those bands anyway for chasing DX. On those bands, I seem to be missing the closer in states with lower population density such as Kansas, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Utah. This is predictable with the longer F2 propagation normally found on those bands. I don’t know that I’ll ever get WAS on 2m and I am more focused on VUCC for that band. Note that I have 4 states on 70cm: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. I am a bit surprised by that. Anyway, if you are looking for a reason to get on the air, chasing states might be interesting. Remember, it’s all about having fun messing around with radio. 73 Bob K0NR The post Chasing States appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.
Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Dan Romanchik KB6NU, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT, Edmund Spicer M0MNG, and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and the episode's feature is Rigexpert AA-650 Zoom Analyzer.

We would like to thank an anonymous donor along with our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

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• Video Tribute Honours New Zealand CW Op
• As Dogs Pull Sleds, Hams Pull Long Shifts On Air
• Operation Veritable Special Event
• George Washington's Birthday Special Event
• Attending WRTC2026
• RigExpert’s Administrative Office Destroyed in Russian Missile Attack

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.