Posts Tagged ‘Off topic’
No time for radio this weekend……..
There were train tracks here at one time. |
2 clicks into our walk |
A shot of the Grand River |
Yaesu FT-818 fact or fiction??
I just came across some info regarding a replacement for the road warrior FT-817 it's the mystery FT-818? I have read some comments on blogs that wrote about the FT-818. Some seem to be drooling while others see it as wishful thinking. I did try a link on one blog that boasted of a Yahoo group for the FT-818 but it did not exist. The "up coming rig" sure does boast of some very impressive improvements.
BUT Yaesu has not even hinted about this rig...nothing at Dayton....and well check out the Icom IC-7000........seems to me the FT-817 has had a photo shop crop job done to it! What do you think is the the FT-818 fact or fiction?
- All mode, all bands 1.8-1296MHz with 5MHz and 70MHz
- 5W RF (2W 1296MHz)
- 3.5AHr Li-Ion battery pack (2hr charging)
- Built in random wire and whip auto-ATU
- Full colour OLED display
- Multi-function DSP noise reduction
- RF Speech processor
BUT Yaesu has not even hinted about this rig...nothing at Dayton....and well check out the Icom IC-7000........seems to me the FT-817 has had a photo shop crop job done to it! What do you think is the the FT-818 fact or fiction?
Opening thoughts about ARRL CW contest
Before you knew it 00:00 came and the ARRL international CW contest was a go. During my first 1/2 hour 20m was open but only to non DX to me. So it was off to 40m's and it was alive and hopping! Here at VE3WDM the contest power is 5 watts or less. The band was crowed and the pileups long I did give a few DX stations a call but the KW powered stations going back to the DX really gave me no chance. I did hang in for the whole 1/2 hour but it was just not happening to night. I shut the rig down for the evening just to crazy out there, once the contest adrenaline cools I will get back on. I am looking at Saturday to give 10m, 15m and 20m a go for some DX soup.
Until then....contest on!!
Until then....contest on!!
Things are a changing……….
Lots of changes |
The KAT100 and 100w amp enclosure |
P3 and AKG headphones |
A QSL card that was almost a quarter century in coming!!
A contact from 23 years ago |
have not sent out QSL cards (all electronic cards now) for over 10 years. Now I was just a bit confused...maybe this was a mistake....he must had copied a call wrong and sent me a card......Then I look a closer look at the front of the card..... this card was from 1989!!! To say the
The back of the card |
The station 23 years ago |
The log (N8LA at top of log) and QSL |
QST is going digital…………..
This afternoon when I checked my email there was a very interesting email from the ARRL. In June of this year QST is going digital!!
Well almost they are still going to offer their paper addition but ARRL
members will also have access (free of charge) to the QST digital
version. The digital version will have some content that is only offered
in the digital layout along with videos and hyper-links. Now if you are
a regular reader of this blog you may remember back in August of 2011 I
posted about Monitoring Times digital addition. They
were offering a digital only subscription at a cheaper price than the
paper version. I went for it and well...it was the reason the alarm
bells went off
when I read my email from the ARRL's regarding the introduction of a digital version of QST. I have to admit I have had the digital version of Monitoring Times for 5 months now and well this digital thing sounds very sci-fi and geeky...BUT......it just has not worked out for me. For example on December 17th I was emailed the new Monitoring times issue.....it's still in my Hotmail in box a month later. It's almost time for the next issue!!! There sure are some cool things about the digital issue with the hyper-links and instant emailing feedback to articles.
I have come to the conclusion there is nothing like the paper version. There is something to say for pulling out a periodical when you have a spare minute. With the digital version I found this very hard to do. It's not easy to roll up a laptop or Kindle and toss it in the glove box of the car. I think QST has the right idea offering both for the same price and not making you chose between the two. I am looking forward to June and see what this digital version has to add to the paper version.
when I read my email from the ARRL's regarding the introduction of a digital version of QST. I have to admit I have had the digital version of Monitoring Times for 5 months now and well this digital thing sounds very sci-fi and geeky...BUT......it just has not worked out for me. For example on December 17th I was emailed the new Monitoring times issue.....it's still in my Hotmail in box a month later. It's almost time for the next issue!!! There sure are some cool things about the digital issue with the hyper-links and instant emailing feedback to articles.
I have come to the conclusion there is nothing like the paper version. There is something to say for pulling out a periodical when you have a spare minute. With the digital version I found this very hard to do. It's not easy to roll up a laptop or Kindle and toss it in the glove box of the car. I think QST has the right idea offering both for the same price and not making you chose between the two. I am looking forward to June and see what this digital version has to add to the paper version.
The Ubuntu Linux learning curve………..
Some weeks ago I blogged that I was installing Ubuntu on my laptop as I was going to give another operating system a try. It's been over a month now and the learning curve has been slow. It's not because Ubuntu is difficult and arduous it is Bill Gates who has a firm hold on me. We all learn new things different ways and the trick is to find how best you learn. As for me the best way I learn things depends on what I am trying to learn. When it comes to operating systems...well.... it has and always been the Windows systems. When one of Bill's OS's where changed there was the frustration factor of just trying to make it work. This is where I am at with Ubuntu; I have downloaded some programs and once downloaded for the life of me I can't find them. It occurred to me the other day that I am looking for these programs with a Windows mindset. I began to head over to Youtube to check out some learning videos. The problem here was I would have to keep stopping,
trying what they said then getting back to the Youtube video and then back to the same spot in Ubuntu again. That was just a receipe for frustration as this game plan was far from smooth going. It was off to some user groups but that turned out most of the time to be a hunting trip. I would end up going to so many links that the original question was forgotten and at my age that process does not take long. I came to the conclusion the written word in the form of books was the way to go to solve this monkey on my back. I hope to become more familiar with the Ubuntu OS now and get past the wall I have come up against. Over the Christmas break I will be taking a leisurely approach with the help of some books and hands on learning to get Ubuntu in check.
trying what they said then getting back to the Youtube video and then back to the same spot in Ubuntu again. That was just a receipe for frustration as this game plan was far from smooth going. It was off to some user groups but that turned out most of the time to be a hunting trip. I would end up going to so many links that the original question was forgotten and at my age that process does not take long. I came to the conclusion the written word in the form of books was the way to go to solve this monkey on my back. I hope to become more familiar with the Ubuntu OS now and get past the wall I have come up against. Over the Christmas break I will be taking a leisurely approach with the help of some books and hands on learning to get Ubuntu in check.