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 […]
Category Archives: Amateur Radio
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 […]
Cancel
In January, at the Schertz TX hamfest, I picked up a little oddity: an MFJ-1026 Deluxe Noise Canceling Signal Enhancer, for $25 cash. This magical box takes the input from the main antenna and mixes it with the input from an auxiliary antenna and allows you to shift and invert the relative phase until a […]
Field Day 2020 In Quarantine
This year’s ARRL Field Day was noticeably tinged with difficulty, problems, and loneliness. The goal of Field Day is to set up our radios with makeshift antennas and operate on emergency power while making as many contacts as possible for 24 hours. Adaptation in the face of adverse conditions is the heart of these field […]
Natural Log
Today I played Radio and won. Since I have a new laptop for work, I’ve been occasionally moving it from my office desk to the ham bench to mess with digital modes like FT8 and Winlink. But I’ve been waffling on getting logging software and keeping shitty paper logs of my radio contacts to manually […]