AmateurRadio.com

I want to first want to thank all those who commented on my last post. At the time I was making a choice of either upgrading Norton 360 for another year at a price of 60.00 or go with one of the online free programs. I received a huge amount of feed back from the blog world. There were comments sent to my blog, email and from amateurradio.com where my blog is also posted.  I have decided to go with AVast for my PC online protection. There were lots of great suggestions and I even found out about some free software I never knew was out there. Thanks again for all your feedback. Now onto the next blog post......

As most of you know Windows XP has come to an end….. and how does that affect WinXP users.....will  WinXP refuse to start up?……no it will start,  will your programs start up and run……yes your loaded program will still run. So what's the big deal you ask? The end of Windows XP means Microsoft no longer "supports" XP and if you serf the net this could be an issue as you will no longer receive security updates. (maybe you could get past this issue with 3rd party virus protection) If you are a big IE browser fan and you continue to use it you will  do so at your own risk as there is no updates.  If your XP machine is just used to run off line ham and family related stuff you are good to go…….UNTIL…..you want to upgrade to a new program as most programs may  stop supporting Windows XP platform as well. Windows XP was released in 2001 and it's hard to believe it has been around that long. In the past Windows has had some bust OS's for example ME, Win98 and Vista. If you have a PC that is not going on the net and your only going to use the programs that are on your PC I would think you could stick with XP! As for me Windows XP is really the only OS I enjoyed using and really had no troubles with. It has been around for a long time and those high up at Microsoft felt it was time for a channel change! My PC is on the net all the time both for ham radio and personal use. For this reason it is time for an OS change at VE3WDM. I chose to go with Windows 7. It has been around for some time ( released in 2009) and has good reviews, one bonus for me is you can run XP programs from within Win7. My PC will have no problem with Win 7 as the processor, ram and HD memory are well within spec's of whats required to run Win7. I have ordered Win7 and it's on it's way and my first decision is…….upgrade PC to Win7 or clean install ? So blog world give me your feedback!!


Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

So yesterday I celebrated my 47th birthday.  I had a great time eating a nice dinner with my Wife and children.  Perfect night!

My 14 year old son, Ryan, has discovered a graphics program called Blender – he is teaching himself how to use it and has really done some cool stuff.

Well, for my birthday present he made a graphic of my Elecraft KX3!  He apparently had been making clandestine trips to my newly implement shack to see what the rig looked like and then model it up in Blender.

Here is how it turned out….very cool….I just had to share it with you guys.

What a great birthday present from him – I am gong to make it into my wallpaper on my shack computer.

Thanks Ryan – you did a great job!

Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Sometimes I like to make QSO's instead of endless calling with QRP CW or JT9 without takers. You know what I mean? PSK31 is the right mode for making QSO's in a row. In the early morning I work on 40 meters and at day time the highest band possible.

On 40 m I worked: UA3TN, OH6FSO, YU1SAA, US8ISY, UT3MR, UT0SE. On 20 meters: UT1PA (see photo), HA6ZX. With JT9 LY2CV. I was also spotted with PSK31 by AI4HH and WB4SIA on 20 meters. I heard TI5MLJ on 20m PSK31 with good signals, but after 1 CQ cycle he was gone.

Paul Stam, PC4T, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from the Netherlands. Contact him at [email protected].

Yesterday and today we had a lot of rain. It's the end of an early warm spring since March. Now it's a lot cooler. Rain always affects my antenna performance. I ran WSPR today on 10 meter, but no spots at all.

I placed a new widget on my blog at the end (Footer): The QRZ Log - the latest 15 QSO's. I saw it first on John's blog (N8ZYA). I made one QSO this afternoon on 40 meter with G0RWL with PSK31.

Nice surprise at 17:16 GMT PY2RN spotted me on 10 meter with WSPR.

Paul Stam, PC4T, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from the Netherlands. Contact him at [email protected].

Since I put the 30′ EF long wire in the attic I have been playing around with digital modes – PSK31 & WSPR.

I fired up WSPR on 20 meters remotely this morning using Team Viewer and much to my surprise I was heard by WA2YUN on Wake Island.

Pretty cool to for my 3 watts to be heard on a location with such historical significance!

Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

WSPR results on 10 m with 5 Watt this morning.

Paul Stam, PC4T, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from the Netherlands. Contact him at [email protected].

Courtesy of Facebook postings:

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

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].