Amateur Radio · VHF/UHF · Summits On The Air · Colorado Mountains · Adventure
Hide the children! Broadband Over Powerline (BPL) is coming to Colorado. Xcel Energy has announced plans to make Boulder the first SmartGridCityTM in the nation. See my previous posting on BPL. The pitch from Xcel is: The next-generation electricity grid will allow our company to better meet growing demands, address environmental challenges, maximize available resources … Read more
Steve (N0TU), Peanut and Rooster are at it again. This time the Old Goat Trio are back on Mount Herman for the 2008 ARRL Field Day. Steve made another one of his fun and interesting ham radio videos. Or take a look at it on Steve’s blog. 73, Bob K0NR
It didn’t start out all that great. First, my boss decides that I need to be in Scotland the week before the contest weekend. I have nothing against Scotland, I just preferred to not be there right before the biggest VHF contest of the year (ARRL June VHF QSO Party). I needed to be home … Read more
At Dayton, I picked up an ICOM IC-91AD handheld radio, with D-STAR capability. The thing is, there are no D-STAR repeaters within range of my house. Fortunately, Elliott KB0RFC also picked up a D-STAR handheld and we arranged a sked on 2M simplex. The de facto calling frequency for D-STAR is shaping up to be … Read more
As reported on the ARRL web site, the FCC rejected the proposal from Ken Chafin, W6CPA, and Leon Brown, KC6JAR to create a 2M subband for digital voice repeaters. This proposal was apparently a good-intentioned approach to opening up new spectrum for digital machines (D-STAR, P25, etc.). Chafin and Brown jointly filed a PRM in … Read more
Here’s a few thoughts and observations from the Dayton Hamvention®: Dayton remains the ultimate ham radio geekfest on planet earth. I am checking with other galaxies….so far, no competition. Attendance, inside booths and flea market activity all seemed to be down a bit this year. I am guessing that $3.85 per gallon gasoline might be … Read more