Checking out the neighbours today, radiowise. I’d done the usual groundwork, by looking up the locals in the callsign database. And, there was an anomaly. One address, a cluster of calls. Time to go and see what their installation had, up, to get on the air.
posted in ham radio, travel | Comments Off on The local high wire act | 284 words
With only a few hours to go in this long weekend, there was a need for motivated effort. Mowing the lawn had to be scratched, sadly. Too much accumulated moisture on the grass (from that rainshower earlier) to safely pass an electric mower. Not enough daylight to go anywhere. But there’s my antenna project…
posted in ham radio | Comments Off on Analyzed dipoles | 310 words
Don’t panic. That warning of intense thunder storms with a possibility of hail and a tornado touchdown is just to wake you from your slumber. This is Canada, in June. We don’t get weather like that.
posted in ham radio | Comments Off on Cut and roll | 262 words
Now that I’ve got solar power on my mind, I’ve been reading and collecting and trying to get ready for a sunny day. Have my first battery (a 7Ah gel cell) with room to expand, and now I have a controller. Actually, I already had one, but it was simply for voltage. Now my kit contains a small circuit board that allows me to trickle charge. Apparently that’s really important. And since I’m not afraid to melt a little solder from time to time, I ordered and received a kit from AcmeQRP. Today, I assembled it.
posted in ham radio, photography | Comments Off on Narrow bands of colour | 287 words
Late to bed and late to rise. Given my silly decision to stay up until past midnight, my morning came slowly. If not for the polite urging of the two pups, in need of my door opening talents, I might still be half awake.
posted in ham radio, travel | Comments Off on Observing the Field Day field | 262 words
Saturday in the suburbs. Or, how I visited the Ecocentre. When the garbage people ignored my properly piled plastic, I knew that extraordinary measures were in store. And so this morning, before coffee, I reclined the seats, spread the spread and loaded up for my next adventure.
posted in environment, ham radio | Comments Off on Visit to the Ecocentre | 286 words
Time to get back on track. It’s late. I’ve already missed my usual bedtime. No matter, because this is a long weekend. Got one now, and another one in seven days. One of the few advantages of living in a province where things have to be different.
posted in environment, ham radio | Comments Off on Planning to draft some dipoles | 267 words
What with the constant incursions into our privacy, perhaps a little paranoia is reasonable. Identity theft, posting of passwords (by the millions), ongoing escalation of “watching” by various government agencies; all bricks from the collapsing wall around our persona.
posted in ham radio, politics | Comments Off on Bricks from the collapsed privacy barrier | 272 words
A rainy afternoon visit to the local flea market has allowed me to complete a project. One of the rules of amateur radio is that you can’t broadcast just anything at all. Hence, the need for something called a dummy load. Imagine a small collection of resistors, carefully matched to provide a measured resistance, with sufficient ability to dissipate a given amount of energy. Sounds simple. Except, as an amateur radio operator, there’s a rule that says you must limit your spending (and your transmitted power) to the amount required to get the job done.
posted in ham radio | Comments Off on Transforming someone else’s junk | 278 words
Going to bed at a “later than usual” time seems to disturb my normal sleep pattern, leading to insomnia. Unfortunately, going to bed at an “earlier than usual” time has exactly the same effect. I’m doomed to a life than misses prime time.
posted in ham radio, media | Comments Off on The dog and new friends | 250 words
