As a member of the ARRL, I get lots of email about radio (most of it sales material for their books and swag), but this afternoon I got a letter reiterating the core values of Amateur Radio. The most telling is the last paragraph: Amateur Radio is about development of communications and responsible public service. […]
Category Archives: Amateur Radio
Beaters
Is it a sin to hate your hobbies? I just got my car back from the shop. 13 fucking weeks. Thirt. Teen. Anyway, I took all my ham radios out beforehand to minimize risk. But now that my car’s back, I should reinstall them, right? Yes, I’ll reinstall them. It would be a fucking waste […]
Field Day 2020 Score
Tonight I submitted my Field Day 2020 dupe sheet and multiplier qualifications. My score is 212. It’s meager. I could’ve done better, but I learned things (see the link above for a recount of the difficulties I met during the event). Contacts (31 points) 5 digital, 2x multiplier = 10 21 phone, 1x multiplier = […]
Glazed and Unfazed
Does anybody else who’s into Amateur Radio find that when they talk about it other people’s eyes glaze over? Or is that just me? I like knowing about this thing, but apparently it’s too crusty for others to consider valid. I guess as long as it’s the hobby of Grandpa Kindly and Uncle Weirdo, contaminated […]
Misoperator
My primary radio, a Yaesu FT-857, half-died during Field Day, so I sidelined it for debug later and continued with my other HF rig. Last night, I tore apart the radio and the Signalink attached to it, and dragged my oscilloscope out of storage, in order to probe into why the audio wasn’t modulating any […]