Archive for March, 2008

Surfin’: Having a Ham Radio Cow

Friday, March 28th, 2008

In this week’s Surfin’, read how N1JOY is putting ham radio on wheels. After you read it, 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.

new mac

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Over a year ago, I wrote about the defective LCD on my 17-inch Powerbook G4 1.67 GHz Mac.

Last count, there were over 100 vertical lines on the LCD. They did not pose a problem using text-based applications, but they did make graphic-based applications very hard on my eyes, so much so that I stopped using my Mac for those applications.

Meanwhile, I had been following the situation closely. I had become resigned to the fact that Apple seemed to be ignoring everyone with the defective LCD and that I was stuck with a bad apple.

My daughter felt my pain and decided to call Apple in late February to fight for my cause. After 90 minutes on the phone, Apple agreed to fix my Mac for the cost of labor, $325, which was a bargain since the replacement part alone cost about $1000. Next day, Apple sent me a box to ship my Mac to their Texas repair center and I sent it on its way.

Day after day, I checked the status of my computer online and day after day, the status was that the part was on order.

Tuesday, Apple called to tell me that the part was expected on Friday and if it arrived on schedule, I would have my Mac back on Monday.

I was pleased with the news.

The man from Apple then said that if Monday was not soon enough, they would ship me a brand new Mac that was equivalent to my defective one. The equivalent is the brand new 17-inch 2.5 GHz MacBook Pro with 2 GB of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive. I jumped at the proposal; it is not often that someone offers me a $2800 computer for $325.

The new Mac arrived yesterday. Last night, I decompressed the backup files from my old Mac and began installing software.

I am still in shock over my good fortune!

Surfin’: Looping Into the 21st Century

Monday, March 24th, 2008

In this week’s Surfin’, read all about new loop antennas we can use to chase DX. 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’: Thrown For a Loop

Monday, March 17th, 2008

In this week’s Surfin’, read all about those loop antennas we use to chase broadcast band DX. 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’: Splat That Path Online

Friday, March 7th, 2008

In this week’s Surfin’, read about a Web site that determines how well your signal gets from here to there. 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.

OLPC XO comparison

Tuesday, March 4th, 2008

This article compares the OLPC XO with its competition.

OLPC XO’s mesh networking

Tuesday, March 4th, 2008

This article explains how OLPC XO’s mesh networking works.