XO in Wolcott

I received an e-mail late last week that my XO computer would not be shipped until after the holidays and that I can expect delivery before January 15.

I was disappointed because I planned to give the XO to my wife, Laurie, as a Christmas gift. Laurie has never used a computer, but lately has expressed an interest, so I thought that the XO would be perfect for a novice like my wife (plus I could play with it when she wasn't playing with it).

Christmas Eve morning, Laurie was out doing some last minute Christmas shopping and I just came in from the cold after washing the crud from the recent snowstorms off my car. The Pie dogs started barking, which was a sure sign that someone had driven up our driveway. I went to see who arrived and it is Fedex delivering the XO! I was surprised and very happy.

I wrapped the XO's shipping box without opening its contents and gave it to my wife with other sundry gifts yesterday morning. She was very happy to receive her own computer, but we did not have much time to play with it because we had a full schedule ahead of us.
I did power up the XO to make sure it worked (and it does). The user interface is cool and the XO sees our home Wi-Fi network, so that is a good start.

In the next few days, I will get the XO on our Wi-Fi, check it all out more throroughly, and report my findings here.

All You Need Is Cash

After a busy day, I wanted to relax and watch something amusing. Nothing on the dish interested me, so I looked through my collection of DVDs and decided to watch The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash.

I have not seen this film since it came out in 1978 and it was almost like watching it for the first time. I laughed a lot and enjoyed the music. I had forgotten that it was a Lorne Michaels' production, so there were cameos by the prime "not ready for prime time" Saturday Night Live crew: Aykroyd, Belushi, Murray, Radner, Franken, Davis, and Michaels, himself.

For those who have no idea what I am talking about, The Rutles, "a living legend that will live long after other living legends have died" is a spoof of the Beatles career following their rise from Liverpool to their breakup in 1970. George Harrison appears in the film as an interviewer.

The music is dead-on Beatles. I like it so much that I have the soundtrack on my iPod.

If you are a Beatles fan, buy or rent the DVD; I think you will have a laugh or two.

Surfin': Guarding the Coasts With Our Radios

This week’s Surfin’ explores how ham radio operators can help the US Coast Guard. Read it here, then come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

time to fire FCC Chairman Kevin Martin

Yesterday, "Bush-appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin rammed through a 3-2 partisan vote to remove the longstanding "newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership" ban that prohibits a local newspaper from owning TV and radio stations in the same market. Witness yet another shining moment: the Bush administration serving up a wholesale giveaway to the largest media corporations in the most corrupt process imaginable."

Read the rest of the story here and complain to your representatives here and here.

Surfin': When Kenwood Was a Trio

This week’s Surfin’ exposes another of WA1LOU’s favorite radios: the venerable Kenwood TS-520. Read it here, then come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': Twoer, Not Tower

This week’s Surfin’ exposes one of WA1LOU's favorite radios. Read it here, then come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

XO Marks the Spot

Here is the deal of the century! Yeah, I know the century is not even 7 years old, but this is one of the best deals I've seen in a long time.

For a mere donation of $399, you can give a laptop computer to a child in a developing country, receive a second laptop for the child in your life, and get a $200 tax deduction! (This deal is only good in the US and Canada and ends on December 31.) The Give One Get One program is part of One Laptop per Child (OLPC), whose mission is to "empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child."

The laptop, known as the XO, includes a bundle of hardware and software features that make it a versatile computer and not just a toy. Since the XO runs on Linux, ham radio Linux applications can be run on it, too.

If you sign up for the Give One Get One program (like I did), you will help a child in a developing country join the computer age and you can give a laptop to a young ham to help him or her join the Amateur Radio computer age. If you need more convincing, read David Pogue's review in The New York Times and for more information, check out The OLPC Wiki.

(Thank you, Harv Nelson, AI9NL, of Harv's Hamshack Hack fame for cluing me into OLPC.)

Surfin': Widget to Read This

This week’s Surfin’ reveals a new Amateur Radio widget for the Mac OS X. Read it here, then come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': Gobble, Gobble, Google

Wow! I was so busy this holiday weekend and I didn't even shop! And I was so busy that I forgot to blurb on about this week's Surfin', which talks about Google and my editor's fascination with Google's Elmer Fudd interface.

Which reminds me that on Thanksgiving Day, we took the bus to NYC and watched the Macy's parade. Elmer Fudd was not among the balloons in the parade, but we did see Snoopy, Scooby Doo, and the weird silver "Playboy Bunny" balloon!

Read this week's Surfin', then come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': More Space on the Radio

This week's Surfin' picks up where it left off last week with more astronomy and Amateur Radio connections. Read it here, then come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

online interactive sky chart

I am still following the progress of Comet Holmes. If the sky is clear, I go outside with my binoculars at night and view the skies.

I also check the Sky & Telescope Web site for news regarding the comet and anything else that is newsworthy in the sky. Today, I discovered that the web site has an interactive sky chart that allows you to "create a custom naked-eye map of the whole sky for any place on Earth, at any time of day or night, on any date from 1600 to 2400." Their sky chart works in most Java-enabled Web browsers.

You have to register with Sky & Telescope in order to access the sky chart (registering is no big deal and its free). Once you register, you can access the chart and customize it for your location, which takes about one minute to do.

I do have Stellarium on my Mac, which provides the same functionality, but I can access Sky & Telescope's sky chart from any computer with a browser and that can come in handy when I don't have my Mac at ready.

MacLoggerDX 4.3.2 released

Dog Park Software is pleased to announce that version 4.3.2 of MacLoggerDX has been released and can be downloaded here.



What's New in this version:

* Updated for Leopard
* Intermittent crash fixed
* Ten-Tec Omni VII S-Meter adjustment
* TS-480 S-Meter adjustment
* K2+XV50 Driver 50 MHz.
* HamCall fix for Hughes ISP
* Added 'Include Host in URL' check box in Station Info
* New Free Internet lookup format fix
* Yaesu FT-450 and FT-950 Drivers added.

Surfin': Space Cadets on the Radio

This week, Surfin’ discusses the connection between Amateur Radio and radio astronomy. After you read this week’s Surfin’, come back here to leave your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Comet Holmes

Read about the exploding Comet Holmes and last night, the sky was clear, so I took my old refractor outside to have a look.

The comet is visible with the naked eye. At first, you might mistake it for a dim star, but it is actually a fuzzy spot. Put the telescope on it and it is a gray fuzzy ball.

The comet is easy to find. Here is a map from the Sky & Telescope web site that will assist you in finding the comet.

stop Kevin Martin

"If FCC chairman Kevin Martin gets his way, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch will be able to go into the largest American city and buy the daily newspapers, the "alternative" weeklies, the neighborhood and suburban weeklies, the eight biggest radio stations, the most watched TV stations and the most popular websites. Then he can start making real money by producing the news and commentary for those different forums from one downsized, dumbed-down but dominant "local" newsroom.

"That's a local problem, with profound ramifications for already undercovered urban and low-income areas. But there's a national threat as well. Representatives, senators, even Presidents are elected on a region-by-region, state-by-state basis, so when the dominant media in a battleground state speak with one voice, the owner will shape not just the local agenda but the national debate."

Read the rest of the story here.

why I hate Chri$tma$

I am eating breaksfast and reading the newspaper. My wife turns on the television and is watching the Today Show from NBC.

I am startled to hear a Christmas tune during a segue into a commercial. After the commercials, the show starts up with the same Christmas tune playing and one of the female Today Show talking heads informs me that Halloween is over and the Christmas season is here (or some such).

What the...?

What happened to Thanksgiving?

It wasn't long ago, that the Chri$tma$ $ea$son didn't begin until the day after Thanksgiving! And I can remember when the countdown didn't begin until December 1.

If you listen to the media, Thanksgiving is now just a warm-up for the next day, the so-called "Black Friday," when everybody is supposed to show up in a frenzy at the mall at 6 AM to begin their Chri$tma$ $hopping.

They can all go to Hades, as far as I am concerned. This year, I will celebrate Christmas, but not Chri$tma$.

Surfin': RTTY, NEC, Verbs, and Nouns

This week, Surfin' covers a number of topics including RTTY contesting, antenna simulation software, verbs, and nouns. After you read this week’s Surfin’, come back here to leave your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Red Sox 4, Rockies 3

My Red Sox are the World Champions and now I can get some sleep!

Red Sox 10, Rockies 5

Sleep! What's that?

new presidential directive gives Bush dictatorial power

In case you missed it (and you likely did because the media missed it or refused to publicize it), The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, signed on May 9, 2007 declares that in the event of a "catastrophic event", George W. Bush can become what is best described as "a dictator":

"The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government."

This directive, completely unnoticed by the media, and given no scrutiny by Congress, literally gives the White House unprecedented dictatorial power over the government and the country, bypassing the US Congress and obliterating the separation of powers. The directive also placed the Secretary of Homeland Security in charge of domestic "security"...

...This is another step towards official martial law, which suggests that a new "catastrophic event" 9/11-type pretext could be in the pipeline.

Read the rest of the story here.

Surfin': When "Radio" Was a Verb

This week, the wayback machine is idling and ready to take you back to the days when radio was king. So, get on board the wayback machine in this week’s Surfin’, then come back here to leave your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Red Sox 2, Rockies 1

I am so sleep deprived!

new antenna design software for the Mac OS X

Today, Chen, W7AY, released cocoaNEC 2.0, an antenna design and modeling program for Mac OS X. It is free and is available for downloading from Chen's web site.

Red Sox 13, Rockies 1

What can I say?

why I like Senator Dodd

Dodd got my vote when he ran for Senator and he gets my vote in his run for the Presidency. He is fighting for people like you and me as you can see by his recent blog and what other people are writing.

nutty weather

It is 74° F at 1 PM according to my weather station at my house. Yesterday, it was almost as warm. And this is the beginning of the fourth week of October!

During October, the temperature has only gone below 40° F once: 39° F for about an hour around dawn on the 13th. The high was 83° F recorded on the 5th and 6th of the month. The average for the month so far is a hair under 60° F.

On the 13th, I picked all the tomatoes and peppers that were worth picking. I put the peppers in the fridge and the set the tomatoes on a shelf in the garage to ripen. The next day, I intended to pull up the plants and put them in the compost pile, but I never got around to it

The weather started warming up again, so I continued watering the plants. The tiny tomatoes and peppers I did not pick are now growing to full size and they will be ready picking for picking soon.

This weather is nuts!

up with the Sox

It's 12:42 AM and I should be sound asleep because I have to get up at 5:50 AM to go to work, but my Red Sox just won the American League Championship and I am watching the celebration on TV.

Surfin': Spark Transmitting

This week, take a ride on the wayback machine and hear what a spark transmitter sounds like over the air. Get on board the wayback machine in this week’s Surfin’, then come back here to leave your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

144-MHz band opening

Two meters is open a bit this morning. Best DX received directly* by my APRS digi station was N3KTX-7 near Wye Mills, MD, over a 248-mile, 222° path.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

Surfin': It's Contesting Time!

The leaves are falling and the snow is not far behind, so it must be time to get ready for the ham radio contesting season. Read all about it in this week's Surfin', then come back here to leave your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': Linuxating VOACAP

This week's Surfin' visits Web sites that bring “the most professional HF system performance prediction tool” to the Linux world. After you read Surfin’, you can leave your comments back here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

144-MHz band opening

Two meters was open overnight. Best DX received directly* by my APRS digi station was N3KTX-2 near Frederick, MD, over a 282 mile, 239° path, and N3KTX-8 in Ocean City, MD, over a 248-mile, 207° path.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

one down, ten to go

My Red Sox won the first game of the playoff last night. It was no contest, as Josh Beckett had his stuff and mowed down the Angels while giving up only four hits and no runs in a complete game effort. Youk and Big Papa provided the firepower with home runs. Nice, quick game!

It was also nice that the game started at 6:37 PM and was over at a decent hour. I wish all the games started that early. Sunday's game in California begins at 3 PM, but, alas, Friday's game in Boston begins at 8 PM.

why I hate the frat boy

Bush vetoes child health insurance bill

The War

When I was growing up, the adults in my family always referred to World War II as "the war" as if the previous and subsequent wars did not count. In a way, the other wars did not count because World War II was like no other war. It not only profoundly affected the soldiers fighting the war, but it also had a profound affect on everyone, who lived through it.

I majored in history, so I should know my history, but after sitting through each segment of The War series on PBS, I learned a few things.

For instance, I was not aware of all the incompetency of many of our military leaders. I guess I was brainwashed by all those old war movies in which our side always made the right moves against an incompetent enemy. We almost lost the war a couple of times due to the incompetency of our military leaders. If it wasn't for Patton, Bradley, and a few others, I might be typing this in German today.

I never knew about the civilian prisoners of war in Manilla. Those poor people must have a life-long hatred of their captors.

I did not know about the Japanese-Americans that fought on the European front.

My Dad was a Marine, 4th Division, during the war and fought on the islands of Tinian, Saipan, and Iwo Jima. He was wounded twice and awarded two Purple Hearts. He did not talk much about his war experiences, although he often mentioned that he likely would have been involved in the invasion of Japan and he was glad that the invasion was made  necessary by the atomic bomb. After watching The War, I can understand why.

I am glad I watched The War. I think it was a job well done. I found Ray Leopold (a Waterbury native) reflections on the war particularly poignant, although I disagree with his statement that you can jump across the Mad River.

On the other hand, just about anytime that woman from Alabama opened her mouth, I wanted to go up to the television and slap her in the face. I got the feeling that for her, the war was an inconvenience and a source of humorous stories that she can retell over the future tea parties. I think she was included in the series to show both sides of the "greatest generation," too.

I look forward to viewing The War DVDs for additional footage not included in the television broadcast.

Another great job, Mr. Burns!

144-MHz band opening

The band remained open to the northeast during the day with a lot of stations in Maine received directly* by my APRS digi station. The best DX was VE1PKT in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, over a 509-mile 61° path.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

144-MHz DX

What a night!* The band opened up in all directions. To the northeast, he best DX received directly** by my APRS digi station was VE1AAQ in Springfield, Nova Scotia, Canada, over a 457-mile 60° path; to the northwest, N2HLT in Branchport, NY, over a 225-mile 289° path; and to the south-southwest, WA4KXV in  Virginia Beach, VA, over a 376-mile 207° path;

* That's what she said.

** Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

144-MHz DX

My earlier report speculating the reception of DX via meteor scatter propagation turned out to be false. Instead, it was the beginning of an excellent band opening to the northeast. The best DX received directly* by my APRS digi station was VE9WRC in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, over a 511-mile 49° path.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

144-MHz band opening

My APRS digi station received KQ1L-7 directly* on Sugarloaf Mountain in Kingfield, ME, over a 270-mile 28° path. This was a short opening with only one distant station received; I wonder if this might have been meteor scatter propagation.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

remembering Sputnik

Sputnik 1 was launched 50 years ago this Thursday.

It was a big deal around our home back then. My sister, Jeanette, and I were the original space cadets and my mother was our leader.

Mom found out when Sputnik would be visible and I remember standing out on the lawn with my parents and my sister watching that pinpoint of light that was Sputnik cross the sky over our house.

One day after work, Dad brought us home our very own Sputniks: a simple toy that some entrepreneur hastily put together to take advantage of the moment.

The toy Sputnik was a simple kit consisting of a white round balloon and a handful of white soda straws. After you inflated the balloon you attached the soda straws to the balloon to emulate Sputnik's antennas. We were on our own with regards to a launch vehicle.

bionic woman advertisement

My aunt subscribes to Entertainment Weekly. She gave my sister a pile of recent back issues and my sister passed them on to me when she was through with them.

The September 28th issue included an advertisement for the new Bionic Woman television series. The ad was a four-page insert printed on a heavier stock of paper than the magazine's normal page stock.

The first (cover) page is black with "A NEW LIFE BEGINS" printed in white. Turn the page and it is a two-page spread of the bionic woman's eyes. When you open the two-page spread completely, her right eye lights up in an unnatural green color.

I removed the insert from the magazine to check it out more closely. I slit open the bottom of the page on which the magic eye was printed and found two small circuit boards mounted inside connected to each other with two wires.

The larger board had two "watch" batteries mounted on it and an appendage on the side. I assume the appendage is a sensor that detects when the page is opened.

The other board provides the light (I assume with an LED) for the eye.

I was impressed. This is a very expensive ad that most people are just going to throw it away with the magazine.

I wonder how much this advertisement cost? It was not cheap.
And did anyone consider the environmental issues regarding the proper disposal/recycling of the batteries used in this advertisement?

my Sox are first

Today is the last day of the baseball season. The play-offs begin on Wednesday.

The season is long, beginning in early April and ending today, but it seems like it flew by this year.

I am happy to report that my Boston Red Sox had a very good season and finished in first place in the American League East.

Go Sox!

Surfin': Looking for Log Periodics of the VHF/UHF Variety

This week, Stan searches for a tree guy and some new aluminum to replace the old. Read all about it in this week’s Surfin’. After you read Surfin’, you can leave your comments back here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

maintenance

I was up on the roof this morning (before it got too hot) checking out the weather station and radio station installations.

I replaced some tie wraps that broke off a couple of cables.

The 2-meter APRS digipeater vertical Diamond antenna has a noticeable lean towards Europe, so I checked it out. I tightened the bolt that is supposed to prevent the lean and it improved it a bit. The base of the antenna is still a little loose, so I will have to revisit the problem on a cooler day.

144-MHz band opening

There is a small band opening here now on 144 MHz. My APRS digi is receiving lots of stations directly* from Cape Cod and the eastern Massachusetts shore. Best DX so far is N1YHR-10 in Barnstable, MA, over a 136 mile, 87° path, received at 1229 Z.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

144-MHz DX

Two meters was wide open to the south last night like it had been yesterday morning. Again, the best DX received directly* by my APRS digi station was WB4YNF-4 in Ahoskie, NC, over a 428-mile, 211° path.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

144-MHz band opening

Two meters is wide open to the south this morning. Best DX received directly* by my APRS digi station is WB4YNF-4 in Ahoskie, NC, over a 428-mile 211° path.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

144-MHz band opening

Two meters is open slightly this morning. Best DX received directly* by my APRS digi station is K3XY-3 in Eagles Peak, PA, over a 194-mile 243° path.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

144-MHz band opening

Two meters is open. Looks like a repeat of conditions on Wednesday with my APRS digi station receiving directly* N3KTX-8 in Ocean City, MD, over a 248-mile 207° path.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

Surfin': Finding Radio Videos and Deals Online

Find ham radio videos and "free" radio deals online. Read all about it in this week’s Surfin’. After you read Surfin’, you can leave your comments back here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

why I hate Senator Lieberman

Yesterday, "the US Senate fell four votes short of restoring Habeas Corpus, the fundamental constitutional right of individuals to challenge government detention, which the Republican Congress revoked in last year's Military Commissions Act. Fifty-six senators supported a procedural move to tie the Habeas provision to legislation authorizing defense spending--a step that requires sixty votes." - from Yahoo news

"Say it ain't so" Joe Lieberman, one of the senators who "represents" my state in the Senate, voted against the bill.

(Our other Senator, Chris Dodd, voted for the bill.)

144-MHz DX

Two meters is open. My APRS digi station received directly* KV3B-1 in Germantown, MD, over a 278-mile 229° path, N3KTX-8 in Ocean City, MD, over a 248-mile 207° path, and in the opposite direction, KQ1L-5 in Camden, ME, over a 264 mile 45° path.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

144-MHz band opening

There is a small band opening here this morning. My APRS digi station received W1MV-15 in East Bridgewater, MA, directly* at 11:01 Z today over a 105-mile 76° path.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters.

The World, the Flesh and the Devil

I am a fan of films depicting doomsday. Fail-Safe and Dr. Strangelove are my favorites and I have both on DVD to watch whenever I feel like it.

The World, the Flesh and the Devil is another doomsday film that I liked a lot, but have seldom seen. I saw it at a local drive-in theater when it was first released and I was 8-years-old way back in 1959. I saw it on television once, maybe twice, but that is all. As far as I can tell, the movie was never released on VHS or DVD.

I'd love to see The World, the Flesh and the Devil again (and again)*. If anyone is aware of where I can get a copy of this film, I would appreciate it.

* Being a techie even at age 8, I was fascinated with how they filmed this movie. Most of the film takes place on the deserted streets of Manhattan. This was long before special effects could sweep clean the streets of people, so I imagine it must have been a logistic nightmare accomplishing the same effect without special effects.

144-MHz DX

The band is starting to open. My APRS digi station just received N1YHR-15 in Bourne, MA (on Cape Cod), directly* at 12:33 Z today over a 122-mile 86° path.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

Surfin': Your Radio on YouTube

YouTube has a lot to offer the ham radio operator: over 1000 videos! This week’s Surfin’ tells you all about it. After you read Surfin’, you can leave your comments back here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

out of sync

I have been a fan of the Boston Red Sox since 1958.

How did I become so afflicted?

Back in the spring of 1958, Dad bought me my first pack of baseball cards. Opening the pack, I found a stick of gum and five baseball cards. Included in the five was Topps card number 1, Ted Williams.

I showed Dad my cards and he said that Ted Williams was the best, so I hooked my wagon up to Ted's team and have been following the trials and tribulations of the Scarlet Hose ever since.

Later that spring, Dad bought me a Red Sox yearbook and he bought me one every new baseball season until I could afford my own.

Forty-nine years later, I realized that I had not bought a yearbook this year with less than three weeks left in the baseball season. I had a complete run of yearbooks from 1958 to 2006 and I sure did not want to break that run, so I started shopping for the 2007 yearbook.

I figured I would find one online, but I could not find one.

I looked through magazine racks whenever I saw one, but still no luck.

Yesterday, I went to Wal*Mart to buy some cement to fix a broken tile and before I paid for the cement, I checked the magazine rack and, voila, I found a copy of the yearbook!

After I paid for my stuff and walked to the exit, I passed shelves of Christmas decorations and felt doubly lucky that my unsold Red Sox yearbook wasn't replaced with a Charlie Brown Christmas comic book on the magazine rack!

12-Band World Radio - $50 Value, Yours Free!

I get lots of e-mail trying to sell me lots of stuff, which I usually ignore, but yesterday, the subject of one e-mail caught my eye. It read "12-Band World Radio - $50 Value, Yours Free!"

How could I resist!

The e-mail was from Haband and in order to get the free radio, all I had to do was buy something from them online.

I figured that there must be something I needed. One thing led to another (as it often does on the Internet) and I came across a pair of women's boots on sale for $19.99; a pair just like the ones my wife had been looking for. I showed my wife the boots and she agreed, so I ordered a pair and wait for the radio.

I don't expect much, but the price was right and you ever know, I might be surprised. You can expect a full report here after the radio arrives.

monitoring for meteors on APRS

If you have been reading this blog the past few months, you know I use APRS to determine band conditions on 144 MHz. Today, Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, the inventor of APRS, suggested using APRS to monitor the band for meteor scatter propagation.

Here is the text of Bob's message, which he posted on the APRSSIG:

If you live in a remote area with only one APRS digipeater that you can hear, then you have a good chance of hearing some APRS packets via Meteor scatter.

Just point a good beam towards a high-density APRS area some 500 to 1000 miles away tuned to 144.39. (A preamp also helps)... Go to sleep and see what you have captured by the next morning. Just look on your map for any stations in that distance range. If you got any, then look at the path and be sure they were not heard via any digipeaters. If you heard them direct, or their local digipeater direct, then chances are you heard it via MS. Or TROPO.

See: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/meteors.html

Under the recent optimization of the APRS network under the New-N paradigm, the amount of QRM due to dupes on the national APRS channel has been significantly reduced. This means those people in remote areas that normally only hear one digipeater, will hear lots of silence between the packets. These silent periods are all great opportunities to hear distant packets via meteor bounce (from the other 10,000 signal sources in the USA for example).

A beam that is low (to minimize hearing local QRM, but that can see down to 10 degrees or lower on the selected horizon, will be best.

During meteor showers, we can actually configure the local digipeaters for one night to be even further reduced from out-of-area QRM making it easier to hear more silence while still supporting local APRS only.

You can do this any night, or you can wait for the next Meteor Showers in Oct, Nov, Dec and Jan.

e-mail weirdness

Whenever I check my e-mail for the first time on any given day, I expect to find 50 to 100 new e-mails. Most of it is junk, some of it legit, but I can always expect a large quantity first thing in the morning.

Today, there was nothing new in my two e-mail accounts that are served by different Internet service providers (ISPs). A few new e-mails have come in since I first checked about two hours ago, but nothing like the amount I usually receive.

What gives?

If both accounts were on the same ISP, then I'd figure that the ISP was at fault, but the accounts are on different ISPs!

I don't miss the junk, but I am afraid that some real e-mail has been lost overnight.

Nuts!

pies

I am Polish-American.

Although I was born in Saint Mary's Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut, my first language was Polish and that is all I spoke until my parents brought a television home from McCoy's radio store. Gradually, courtesy of the television, my ability to speak Polish took a back seat to English. Eventually, except for a few phrases, I forgot how to speak Polish.

With four grandparents who spoke mostly Polish, I understood the language. But as they died off, I did not have to understand Polish any longer and today, I have no idea what my current status is regarding my ability to understand the language.

Tonight, I took my wife and sister to Staropolska, a Polish restaurant, for dinner (which was excellent, by the way) and the subject of pets came up. During the conversation, I was trying to recall the Polish word for "dog." I was sure the Polish word started with the letter P, but I could not remember it.

When I arrived home, I looked "dog" up on an online English-Polish translation service and found out that the Polish word for dog is "pies," which is pronounced pee-is, as I remember (please correct me if I am wrong).

We own two dogs. My daughter named her bichon frise, Q-T Pie, I named my cockapoo, Pumpkin Pie, and collectively, they are known as "The Pies." What a coincidence!

another reason why I hate my ISP (AT&T)

Read Being realistic about municipal wi-fi and find out more about why I hate my ISP.

Collins 32S-3 and 75S-3B power connector pin-outs

I just inherited a Collins 32S-3 transmitter and 75S-3B receiver, but only one power cable with no indication which unit belongs to that power cable.

Does anyone have the pin-out of the power connectors on the 32S-3 and 75S-3B? If so, I would greatly appreciate that information.

Surfin': DCC at BDL

The 2007 installment of the ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference is coming to an airport near me (and maybe you) and this week's Surfin' tells you all about it. After you read Surfin’, you can leave your comments here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

144-MHz DX

After a few quiet days, the band opened up yesterday and is open this morning. So far, the most distant station heard directly* by my APRS digi station is N3KTX-8 in Ocean City, MD (which is right on the ocean) over a 248-mile 207° path.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

mad about Mad

Out of the blue, I received an e-mail from Dick DeBartolo. Dick has been a writer for Mad magazine for 40 years and has a daily podcast called The Giz Wiz.

He wrote to me because one of his podcast listeners mentioned my blog's slogan, "My subscription to Life expired, but I still have a subscription to Mad." I came up with it and it resides at the top of the column just to the right.

In his e-mail, Dick also kind of introduced himself and invited me to tour the Mad offices next time I am in the City.

Dick needed no introduction. I have been reading Mad since 1961 and am a big fan of the magazine, so I was certainly familiar with his great body of work and I was elated to receive an e-mail from "Mad's maddest writer."

I mentioned how my Dad worked at Eastern Color Printing Company, where the comic book was invented, and how they printed the four-color inserts for some of the Mad annuals back in the 1960's. Do you remember the Sunday Comic Section, Sing Along With Mad, and the Alfred E. Neuman life-size poster? They were all printed in my Dad's shop.

In response, Dick mentioned how Mad founder, Bill Gaines, claimed that his father, Max Gaines, had invented the comic book. How did that jive with my claim that Eastern Color invented the comic book? Well, Max Gaines worked for Eastern Color. (You can read about it here.)

Anyway, I will be visiting the City next month and plan to stop by the Mad offices for the official tour.

144-MHz DX

The band has been open up and down the East Coast (southwestern Maine to southeastern Pennsylvania) for two days. The most distant station heard directly* by my APRS digi station is N3KTX-9 near Millersville, PA, over a 211-mile 238° path.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

Surfin': Loud and Clear, No More?

Last week’s Surfin’ inspired readers to tell about listening to distant AM radio stations as written up  in this week's Surfin’. After you read Surfin’, you can leave your comments here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

144-MHz DX

The band is open up and down the East Coast this morning. So far, the most distant station heard directly* by my APRS digi station is WB4YNF-4 in Ahoskie, NC, over a 422-mile 211° path.

* Directly meaning station-to-station and not via any repeaters

144-MHz DX

This morning, my APRS digi station is receiving many stations directly from along the Northeast coast. W4CAR in Chesapeake, VA, a 382-mile 208° path, is the most distant so far.

Surfin': Is that Loud and Clear?

Hot summer nights listening to distant AM radio stations inspired this week's Surfin'. After you read Surfin’, you can leave your comments here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

144-MHz DX

Same conditions this morning as yesterday morning with my APRS digi station receiving N1YHR-15 in Bourne, MA (on Cape Cod), directly at 10:52 Z over a 122-mile 86° path. This path to Cape Cod is open here on many summer mornings.

144-MHz DX

My APRS digi station received N1YHR-15 in Bourne, MA (on Cape Cod), directly at 12:33 Z today over a 122-mile 86° path.

Surfin': Huntsville Convention Web Cam

In this week's Surfin', you can go to the ARRL National Convention by means of the Internet. After you read Surfin’, you can leave your comments here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

1080-kHz DX

I'm on the road this week. Tonight, I'm in a Ramada Inn in State College, PA.

Around 2030 EDST, I went to my car to get something. I turned on the car radio and dialed up WTIC-AM on 1080 kHz to see if I could catch some of tonight's Red Sox game.

I was impressed on how well I was able to receive the broadcast over 300 miles away. The signal was very clear and I could listen to it all night if I wasn't tired of sitting in my car half the day today driving here.

Usually, I listen to WTIC only ten miles away from its transmitter, so it is interesting to hear something familiar as DX.

Did I ever mention the time I listened to a Red Sox game on WTIC, while sitting in my car in a hotel parking lot in Orlando, Florida, 1200 miles away as the crow flies down I-95? Now, that was a challenge!

144-MHz DX

My APRS digi station received N3NRI-2 on Tuscarora Summit, PA, directly at 08:08 EDST today over a 290-mile 247° path.

Surfin': Take a Longer Mac Break

In this week's Surfin', we visit the best Web site, bar none, that is devoted to ham radio application for the Mac. After you read Surfin’, you can leave your comments here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

why I hate my ISP (AT&T)

Read AT&T: Your World Censored and find out why I hate my ISP.

beware the stare

Back in 1960, the commercials for Village of the Damned were so scary even on a black and white television set that I had no desire to see the movie! Why pay a quarter to go see the film at a theater when I was already having nightmares from the commercials for free?

a good read about PSKmail

PSKmail, as Used During My Vacation is a good read on Jeff Davis', KE9V's, Long Delayed Echoes blog.

144-MHz DX

My APRS digi station received KD4ZB-3 in Farmville, VA, directly at 09:26 EDST today over a 421-mile 225° path.

Surfin': Take a Mac Break

In this week's Surfin', a new ham radio application for the Mac occasions a visit to a Mac ham app Web site. After you read Surfin’, you can leave your comments here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

NK7U in SI

I'm have been a diehard Red Sox fan since the late 1950s, back in the days when Ted Williams was closing out his career and the Sox often battled the Kansas City Athletics for last place in the American League. So, it was a thrill to run into former Red Sox outfielder Joe Rudi, NK7U, at the Dayton Hamvention on a number of ocasions. Last time, I saw him I even got him to pose for a photo with me.

Anyway, this week, Sports Illustrated has a nice article about NK7U, which you can read here.

10 reasons to throw away your cell phone

10 reasons to throw away your cell phone is a good read, but I have added the following:


Reason number 11: I use my ham radio equipment, not a cell phone when I want to talk on the radio.

mummy's the word

Mummy movies always scared the bejesus out of me when I was a kid, but this 1959 version out of the UK really did it. I think it had something to do with the fact that I saw it at a drive-in theatre.

My Mom and Dad always sat up front and my sister and I sat in the back, which had one advantage: when the movie got really scary, we could always duck behind our parents and/or the front seat to shelter our eyes from the action up on the big screen.

However, sitting in the back also had one big disadvantage: the side windows. At any time, a monster could sneak around and peek inside the car to see what was inside. You knew that monster was always going to choose the side window next to you. The only solution was to crouch down low on the car floor with your head buried under your crossed arms and that would assure missing the monsters on the big screen and the ones lurking in the drive-in parking lot.

No wonder most of the drive-ins are out of business... darn drive-in trolls!

2 meter conditions

Conditions today on 2 meters are almost identical to conditions two days ago with the best DX being K3ARL-1 near State College, PA, at 261°, 266 miles.

more ducting

More 2-meter ducting on my APRS map this morning with the top DX being in almost completely opposite directions:

• KQ1L-2 in Litchfield, ME, at 39° 230 miles

• W3ND-2 in Enola, PA, at 245° 230 miles

Surfin': If It Looks Like A Ducting...

Two-meter band openings and a unique way to spot them is the topic of this week’s installment of Surfin’. After you read Surfin’, you can leave your comments here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

144-MHz band opening

Every evening after work, I drop off my briefcase in my home office/shack and check the status of 144.39 MHz as displayed on my computer screen running APRS. Last night was no different except that there must have been a nice band opening on 2 meters during the day.

It looked like your classic summer tropospheric ducting event with loads of stations received by my station all clustered along the East Coast down to the Virginia-North Carolina state lines. The most distant station received was WB4YNF-4 in Ahoskie, NC, approximately 430 miles away!

There was one station I received that was a bit of an anomaly: K3ARL-1 near State College, PA, approximately 267 miles west/southwest of WA1LOU. It is inland and far from the other stations huddled along the coast and I am not sure how my reception of that station fits into the tropospheric ducting model.

1984 plus 23 part 2

What were the pre-2005 "other intelligence activities"? ...our own Government was spying on us using methods even more blatantly illegal than the "Terrorist Surveillance Program"...

1984 plus 23

They've got your number and probably mine, too.

the original X-men X-man

The Man From Planet X is another filme that scared/scarred the crap out of me when I was a kid.

Mind you, I only saw this film on television, never in a movie theater, so, in my humble opinion, the scary parts had to be really scary in order to be as effective viewing it on a 10-inch television screen in the comfort and safety of my parent's living room vs. the big screen in a dark movie theater.

The real scary elements of this film:

• Lots of fog just like a gothic monster flick.

• Lots of suspense waiting for The Man to show up.

• The Man finally shows up in spectacular fashion.

Recently, I viewed this film again and it still holds up. I recommend it.

why I hate e-mail

I get 200 to 250 e-mails per day. I estimate that 20 to 25% of that e-mail is legitimate e-mail, i.e., correspondence with real live people, the output of e-mail lists I subscribe to, and advertisements from companies that I agreed to accept e-mail from. The rest is junk that I wade through in order to separate the wheat from the chaff.

I actually don't hate e-mail. It is the process of separating the good e-mail from the bad e-mail that I dislike.

I have been using Thunderbird as my e-mail client for about three weeks. It spots about a third of the junk I receive and seldom mislabels good e-mail as junk, but it may be able to do better. I will tweak its spam filtering settings to see if I can improve things and let you know how it goes.

why I hate Harry Potter

Ron Charles pretty well sums up my feelings about Harry Potter.

Instead of regurgitating what he wrote, you can read it here.

white MD-80 mystery

Thursday morning, I took my daughter to the airport (BDL) to catch a flight to Phoenix. After she disappeared into the bowels of the terminal, I headed home.

Exiting the short-term parking lot ($2.50 for 1/2 hour), I noticed an MD-80 moving slowly on the tarmac in front of me. This was not your everyday MD-80. It had no passenger windows, it was painted white, and the only insignia was a small US flag on the side (behind the wing, but ahead of the engine) with an N-something identification number below the flag.

Friday afternoon, I walked my dogs and as we headed back home, I hear a jet airplane approaching from the north. It was louder than most, so I figured it must be low. When it cleared the trees blocking my view, it was indeed low and it was a white MD-80 just like the one I saw the previous morning. My guess is that it was the same plane having just left BDL, which is less than 25 miles away.

I am familiar with the routes of planes in my neck of the woods and everything related to BDL in my neighborhood flies north into BDL. I never see a plane flying south from BDL, but my white MD-80 was flying south from BDL.

This unusual plane and its unusual route caused me to believe that this plane was involved in some kind of government operation.

I began researching the mystery on the Internet and I had my answer quickly via AIRLINERS.NET. On the web site's discussion list, the white MD-80 puzzle was solved: U.S. Marshals use it to transport prisoners.

I highly recommend AIRLINERS.NET for information and photos regarding aviation. By today's count, the web site has 1,188,164 photos on line!

By the way, the white MD-80 looked spectacular winging its way over Downtown Wolcott.

Surfin': It's All Too Much

This week's installment of Surfin’ provides a grab bag of short topics, all too much to summarize here. After you read Surfin’, you can leave your comments here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

show me your passport

This morning, my daughter is flying to Phoenix by way of Minneapolis to visit a friend. I am watching the track of her flight on FlightAware, which is like APRS for commercial air traffic. Her 7:41 AM flight left BDL at 8:09 AM and is currently over Lake Huron having completed its flight over a foreign land (Canada).

So how come she did not need a passport to enter Canada and then, re-enter the USA?

scared & scarred by the silver screen

My daughter bought me some postcards for my collection. The stash included some depicting posters of 1950's science fiction films including the original Godzilla film titled Godzilla, King of the Monsters.

IMDB says that the film was released in 1954. Amazon says 1956. I'm guessing that 1954 was the release date in Japan and 1956 was the release date stateside because I saw that movie at the State Theater when it came out and I was 3 years old in 1954 and 5 years old in 1956, so 1956 is more like it.

I remember asking my Mom to take me to see that movie. She was a fan of horror flicks, so she agreed and took my sister and I downtown to see the film one afternoon.

I remember the long line in front of theater to buy tickets. The line was so long that it went up East Main Street and turned the corner down Brown Street. Mom thought the line was too long and so she decided that we would return to see the film on another day.

Eventually, we did see the film and it scared the crap out of me! I had Godzilla nightmares for years.

Remember that scene when a procession of people are walking up the side of a hill? Godzilla pops up on the other side and everyone in a panic runs back down the side of the hill. Well, many a time, I relived that scene in my nightmares with my family and I in that procession of people going up and down the side of the hill.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters was the first of the many "monster movies" that scared and scarred me in theaters when I was a kid. I will write about the others in the future.

new holy land postcards

I recently acquired (via eBay) new postcards depicting Holy Land in my hometown, Waterbury. I just added them to my Holy Land, Batman! page. You can tell which ones are new by the word NEW at the beginning of the new postcards' descriptions.

By the way, I am always on the lookout to add Waterbury Holy Land postcards to my collection, so if you have any you don’t see below that you wish to unload, please let me know.

click, click

Yesterday, an intense thunderstorm blew through Downtown Wolcott in the late afternoon. While I was waiting out the storm in our family room, I heard a loud click-click. My wife also heard the click-click two rooms away in the kitchen. The click-click was followed by a very bright flash and the loudest thunderclap that I have ever remembered hearing.

I remarked to my wife that I think that lightning strike was very close!

I got up out of my chair and inspected the inside of the house to see if everything seemed normal. The only abnormal thing I found was the slight smell of ozone as I passed by the closed slider door that opens onto the deck.

I was curious about the two clicks, so I posted my experience on the wxqc (weather data quality) email list, which "is for Citizen Weather station operators who have an interest in improving the quality of the data that they report. This includes aspects like the siting of stations, how to calibrate sensors, how to interpret data quality problems and other general topics of interest."

I received a bunch replies. The consensus seem to follow what retired meteorologist, Thomas Giella, KN4LF, wrote:

"You were hearing the sound of the upward leader moving skyward from your tower, tree, telephone pole, etc. just before it met the downward stepped leader from the cloud and the lightning discharge occurred. You were VERY close to those strikes and lucky to have been unharmed and/or have suffered no property damage."

Wow!

happy birthday, APRS Internet System

Steve Dimse, K4HG, posted this on APRSSIG today:

Ten years ago today I registered aprs.net. For a week or two before that I had been testing APRServe, with consolidated data from San Francisco, Atlanta, and Miami, but the switch over to aprs.net marks the official birthday of the APRS Internet System. What a decade it has been! Thanks to all the (far to many to name) hams whose contributions have grown the system to what it is today.

LDE hoax

In this week's installment of Surfin' about long-delayed echoes (LDEs), Whitey Doherty, K1VV, recalled "hearing about an LDE incident many years ago, must be at least 40 years ago, when TV channels went off the air at midnight. Someone said a program showed up on the screen, a snowy picture, but it was a broadcast from six years previously. It lasted several minutes. Can’t recall where or exactly when I heard that or read it.”

Today, Ric Wayman, K7DLX, e-mailed me that this story is an urban legend and, in fact, an LDE hoax. You can read all about it at the Urban Legends Reference Pages web site.

Surfin': Long-Delayed Echoes -- Again, Again, Again...

Long-delayed echoes (LDEs) is again the subject of Surfin'. After you read Surfin', you can leave your comments here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

more long-delayed echo e-mail

This week’s Surfin‘ about long-delayed echoes has generated additional interesting e-mail today.

David Burger, VK2CZ, wrote:

I enjoyed your summary of LDE info, including the Oslo summary too... I've been licensed here in Australia since 1974 and have encountered LDE's around 1977 / 1978 on the 15m band during my degree course. In more recent times, I currently use a 'very very ' large 10m antenna array and have encountered LDE's on some DX stations (VE2 and western EU) from here over the past 6 years or so... ie not my own echo's, but delays between the DX main signal and then replications of their signals.. These type of signals were last heard in Dec'06 during the ARRL 10m contest I did -->> http://www.qsl.net/vk2mb/vk8aa.html [ note: I didn't describe the signals however, but you can see what I've done]

Being an engineer (PE) with a very pragmatic & practical bent... I simply put this down to the effects of signal progression in a waveguide - where it is possible to have a signal moving through a waveguide down to 1% to 2% of the speed of light or less... These are all classical worked examples in microwave handbooks... where the signal frequency is near the cut-off frequency limit for a waveguide...

But I am very very confident the ionosphere can 'fabricate' a sizable waveguide style duct over short periods... and while this would and could explain a single signal delay, some discontinuity in the 'ionospheric waveguide' could generate return loss blips... hence echo's. I've no way to 'test' this idea.. but maybe info from ionosondes might help explore it..

Anyway, I figured I'd share my idea with you... as I sort of took this for granted for the past 25 years that every engineering student who studied microwaves could see this effect if practice on HF.

The idea of unknown aliens or X-Files may appeal to some, but after being immersed in engineering forensics for many years, most things can be explained.. anyway - it makes sense to me..

Sverre Holm, LA3ZA, responded to David and carbon-copied me:

Thanks for your interesting info on possible LDE's. I have never heard any myself, except for the echoes I describe on http://www.qslnet.de/member/la3za/prop/

Here I have recorded JA3YBK coming in simultaneously over three different paths which most likely are short-path, long-path, and short-path w/ extra trip around the earth. Of course this is not an LDE, but rather short-delayed echoes, but they are still interesting.

Terry Glagowski, W1TR, also e-mailed me today with the following:

I had the experience of an LDE back in the mid 1990's maybe about 1994 or 1995…

I was located in Spokane, WA and it was late evening, not quite midnight…

I was talking to some W6 and W7 stations in CA, OR, WA on 160 meters and I heard the LDE echo on my own transmission… about 1/3 second.

I also tried it on 75 meters and the same thing happened!

The other stations I was talking to could not hear anything on my signal or theirs...

This went on for about an hour, and then dissappeared altogether and I have never observed it since !

I wrote a letter / email to ARRL describing this (tech dept) and several possible explanations were given from different articles available at the time… The most likely, that my signal followed a discontinuity in the magnetic flux lines down to the southern hemisphere and bounced back from there.

That would explain the time of 1/3 second, but I didn't do sufficiently precise or formal recordings / documentation of the phenomenon to go any further with it… too bad! There was no perceptable doppler shift that I could discern.

Finally, Whitey Doherty, K1VV, wrote:

Another excellent posting... We have experienced LDEs in several contests ... our sigs on CW coming around 1/7 of a second later ... confused me the first time I heard it ... we have worked some DX during contests that the same thing happened ... it seemed like their CW sign was coming from several directions at once...with delays .. almost impossible to copy the CW ...

I remember hearing about an LDE incident many years ago ... must be at least 40 years ago ... when TV channels went off the air at midnight .. Some one ... don't recall where it said a program showed up on the screen .. snowy picture ... but it was a broadcast from 6 years previously ...it lasted several minutes ... can't recall where or exactly when I heard that or read it.

I replied to Whitey that I thought I had read about it in one of Frank Edward's Stranger Than... books.

an oldie

Geoff, WA1U, wrote about this in his blog on Saturday and I searched the Internet to find out more about the news that WCBS-FM in NYC was returning to an oldies format.

I am an admitted oldies fan. The 1960s is my favorite music era; 1967 my favorite music year; WABC-AM out of The City was my favorite radio station in that era. I'll bet that half of the 7000 plus songs on my iPod are from the 1960s. So, the WCBS-FM story is good news to me.

My wife thinks that it is time that I join the rest of civilization in the 21st Century, at least on a music level. I do listen to music from other eras. I listened to most of the Live Earth concert, i.e., the version that was broadcast on network television Saturday night. It was OK, but I would have preferred to watch a rebroadcast of the T.A.M.I. Show. What can I say?

long-delayed echoes still again

Dave Newkirk, AB2WH, e-mailed the following update regarding this week's Surfin', which talks about long-delayed echoes:

Although Bill Continelli's "Installment #31" says "After the early 70's, reports of, and interest in Long Delayed Echoes diminished. Today, they are just a question mark in amateur radio history," QST told a different story in O. G. Villard, Jr, W6QYT, "The Magnetospheric Echo Box--A Type Of Long-Delayed Echo Explained," October 1980 QST, p 11.

My father and several coworkers heard LDEs on a State Police interzone (shortwave CW) circuit just below 3 MHz in the 1960s. I think he mentioned that incident in "How's DX?" circa 1970.

Surfin': Long-Delayed Echoes Again

Long-delayed echoes (LDEs) is the subject of this week's installment of Surfin'. After you read Surfin', you can leave your comments here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

commute this SFB

My sister phoned C-SPAN's Washington Journal this morning. The subject was the president's commuting of Scooter Libby's sentence.

Here is what my sister said,"As a citizen, I was very upset and have one comment: that I wish the president could commute the death sentences of 3500 of our soldiers in Iraq."

Good job, Sis!

cheap video camera

Recently, Geoff, WA1U bought a disposable video camera and hacked it so that he can reuse it. He has been posting videos that he has captured with his hacked disposable on his blog.

I am intrigued and would like to perform a similar hack myself.

Yesterday, Geoff posted a link to a web site dealing with camera hacking and here it is for those of you interested in hacking your own video camera.

T-bird redux

I have been using Mozilla Thunderbird for a few days now and I am happy to report that it is an excellent e-mail program and I plan to continue using it.

Surfin': Keep On Laughin'

Are you on vacation? Are you having fun yet?

Have a laugh on me and read this week's installment of Surfin': Keep On Laughin', then return here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

T-bird soars

I have been using Microsoft's Entourage on my Mac for sending and receiving e-mail forever. Well, it seems forever. Entourage is part of the Office suite that Microsoft sells for the Mac and except for one annoying feature, it served me well, until now.

First, let me mention the annoying feature: if you have multiple e-mail accounts (like I do), there is a pull-down selection in one of Entourage's menus that allows you to switch accounts (to read and send mail in the other accounts). Problem is that if you are running another Office application (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.), you cannot switch accounts in Entourage until you quit all the other Office applications.

It is a minor annoyance, but it seems to me that the Office suite should have been written so that this would not be a necessity. But, I put up with the annoyance because Entourage worked so well otherwise.

Then I get an e-mail from my Internet service provider (AT&T nee Yahoo nee SBC) informing me that I had to update my e-mail settings because they were going to start using Security Socket Layer (SSL) "to help us ensure the security of your email."

Their e-mail lists the settings I have to change in order to be compatible with their new security system. (They also have a program you can download that will automatically make the changes for you, but as expected, the program is for Windows and leaves their Mac customers out in the cold... again.)

I set up Entourage as required and I could receive e-mail ok, but sending e-mail was an adventure. Immediately after changing the settings, I could send e-mail, but if I tried to send e-mail later, it would fail. I would have to reopen the settings window and reset the settings again with the same results!

My version of Entourage is current; there was nothing new to download, so I reinstalled it, but that did not help. I deleted my e-mail accounts and set them up from scratch, but that did not work either.

I gave up!

I have been eyeing Mozilla's Thunderbird for awhile. I have been very happy with Mozilla's web browser, Firefox, and figured that Thunderbird might serve me well, too. But, until now, I did not feel the need to switch e-mail software. The Entourage debacle finally pushed me over the brink.

I downloaded Thunderbird and had it up and running with all my e-mail accounts in about 30 minutes.

Whereas Entourage required that I switch accounts to send and receive e-mail in separate windows for each e-mail account, Thunderbird allows me to send and receive all my e-mail accounts' mail in the same window (I have separate folders set up to differentiate the accounts). Nice!

So far, I am very pleased with Thunderbird and wish I had made the switch earlier!

iPhone: not for me, but....

Despite the problem with my Powerbook that Apple refuses to fix thus far, I still like Apple products and likely will buy Apple products in the future. However, as attractive as the iPhone seems to be, I will not buy one because I live on top of a mountain with spotty cell phone coverage.

The cell phone towers are located below my home and I assume they are optimized to provide coverage for the surrounding valleys where the majority of people live. I am lucky to get any cell phone coverage at all. (If I stand on one foot near the dining room window between 6 and 7:15 PM and the wind is not blowing above 5 MPH... ) So, I am not very confident that the iPhone will work any better at home.
Also, my WiFi and Powerbook provide more than adequate "mobile Internet" access at home.

Also, I hate phones. They are one of those "you can't live with them, you can't live without them" things. I dislike them so, that I don't even own a cell phone. My wife and daughter have one, but they are not for me.

However, that being said, I think the iPhone might shake things up and I direct you to the following blog post titled "Why the iPhone matters." If you are tired reading about the iPhone (I can't blame you), just read the end of the post: the last six paragraphs starting with the sub-heading "What do you mean? How could the iPhone change the larger phone business?"

Surfin': Don't Stop Commentin'

In this week's installment of Surfin', I write about Field Day and running Xastir, which is a Linux version of APRS, under Windows.

If you have any comments regarding what i wrote, leave your comments here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': Don't Stop Surfin'

“Don't Stop Surfin'” is the title of this week’s installment of Surfin‘. After you read it, you can post your comments, if any, back here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

wizard dead

Don Herbert, television's Mr. Wizard, died yesterday. Like Sandy Becker, Bob Keeshan, and some other television personalities of the late 1950s and early 1960s, he was a virtual friend of mine and I mourn his passing.

morning visitor identified

After doing some research, it seems that my Saturday morning visitor is an Eastern Box Turtle or Terrapene carolina carolina and he is a female and not a male.

According to this web page, my visitor is a rarity because it's normal habitat is "coastal regions and river valleys, rarely going above 500’ altitude." I encountered my visitor at over 900' altitude.

closure overrated

I see that a lot of people are upset about the final episode of The Sopranos. The fans are upset because there was no closure. Boo, hoo!

Closure, schmosure! I thought the final episode was perfect.

Life goes on and most of the time, it goes on without closure. The only closure that you can count on is when you drop dead. So, forget about closure and like they said in one of my favorite movies, get busy living, or get busy dying.

morning visitor

Let me preface this by saying that I was born and raised in the city, so I am always amazed when I encounter any wildlife now that I live in the country.

This morning, while I was pulling weeds in front of the house, my weed removal revealed a round object about 8 inches in diameter. My first thought was that it was a squash, but then I realized it was a turtle with its head and legs pulled in.

I gave the turtle some space and continued to pull weeds a few feet away. Eventually, he popped out his head and legs and sat there checking me out for about fifteen minutes. Then, he decided to hit the road and started walking away very slowly (at a turtle pace).

Forty-five minutes later, he had crossed most of the front yard, but he was heading toward the road and I was worried that one of the neighborhood maniacs might run him over. So, I picked him up and gently deposited him in the woods across the street.

Funny thing is that when I picked him up, he pulled in his head and legs as I expected, but what I did not expect is that as he pulled everything in, there was a whooshing sound just like in a cartoon.

iPhone APRS

Steve Dimse, K4HG, the brains behind findu.com, is planning to do a version of APRS for the iPhone. (That might push me over the brink to buy an iPhone myself!)

Here is what Steve posted this morning on the APRSSIG:

Just curious if anyone else will be getting an iPhone at the end of the month.

It seems that Steve Jobs backed off from the closed architecture he initially proposed, and rumors abound that Apple will release an SDK next week at their developer's conference. I'm an Apple developer, and I will be writing an APRS version to run on the iPhone if it is possible. Whether it is web based or APRS-IS based depends on what the SDK allows. One rumor is that the SDK will be a modification of Mac OS X widget, which does not allow access to ports to connect to the APRS IS stream, in which case a web app will be the only option.

If anyone gets an iPhone and wants to beta test whatever I develop email me privately.

Steve K4HG (steve@dimse.com)

Surfin': Where's Manned Spacecraft?

“Where's Manned Spacecraft” is the title of this week’s installment of Surfin‘. After you read it, you can post your comments, if any, back here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': Telling the Pacific Radio Story

“Telling the Pacific Radio Story” is the title of this week’s installment of Surfin‘. After you read it, you can post your comments, if any, back here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': It’s Only Software

"It’s Only Software" is the title of this week's installment of Surfin'. After you read it, you can post your comments, if any, back here.

By the way, Surfin' is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin', please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

author at work

Here are some true words about the business I am in.

Dayton wrap-up

I had another good time at the Hamvention. The weather was perfect for a ham convention: cool and dry.

My schedule was so full that I had little time to update this blog while I was there. Also, the slow intermittent Internet connection at my hotel did not help matters.

On Friday, I attended an informal meeting of ham radio Mac users in the pub at the Hamvention site. About 15 folks showed up and it was great to connect the faces with the names and call signs of the Mac users I have known for years.

Friday night, I attended the TAPR-AMSAT dinner. In past years, TAPR and AMSAT had competing dinners, but this year, they put their heads and dinners together and tripled attendance. The dinner was held at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson.

The food was great and after short talks from the leaders of TAPR, AMSAT, and the Hamvention, we had the run of the place for two hours. The museum is huge and houses huge planes, like a B-52, inside its hangars. I took a lot of photos and as soon as I get them all sorted out, I will post them on the Internet for you to view.

On Saturday, the forum (APRS) that I moderated was successful. We had a full house, standing-room-only, crowd. I estimate that there were over 300 in attendance. (I have a photo of the crowd and will make a better estimate later when I can actually count heads.) All the speakers were interesting and I did not see many people leave in the middle of the forum like I have seen at other forums, so that is a good sign that people were enjoying the show.

Software Defined Radio (SDR) received a lot of attention the Hamvention this year with lots of talks and new equipment related to SDR. I worked at TAPR's booth Friday and Saturday and could not help notice all the interest in TAPR's SDR offerings.

Throughout the Hamvention, I met old friends and acquaintances, some for the first time in person. That is a big attraction for me to go to the Hamvention.