ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes This Weekend

Just a reminder that the January VHF contest is this weekend, starting at noon on Saturday Mountain time. I will be at our cabin up in the mountains (DM78av) with no real antennas up yet but I’ll have a decent Yagi set up temporarily for working 2 Meters. I’ll listen on the calling frequency 144.200 … Read more

Been Reading Stuff Again

There have been quite a few news items, blog posts and tweets flying across the net lately. Here’s what I have been reading: It looks like the FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is out and Julius Genachowski is in. I’ve only found “Julius is a good guy” articles without much detail behind them, so I guess … Read more

How Many Gigafarbles is That?

As the storage capacity and cost of computer hard drives continue to improve, it just amazes me how many bytes you can store for a reasonable cost. For example, you can purchase an external 1 terabyte drive for less than $150….which is probably a good thing, since downloading a few videos and your daily email … Read more

Apple Pushes the Limit with New Computer Design

Apple is legendary for avoiding unnecessary distractions in its elegant designs (e.g., a Right Click Button on a mouse). Always trying to push the limits, they have introduced a new computer that doesn’t require or even have a keyboard. Wow, no buttons! Warning: satire here Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Podcast: Linux in the Ham Shack

Over the past few years, I have developed the habit of listening to podcasts on my iPod as an alternative to broadcast radio. (See my post from April 2006: Competing for Ears.) Of course, some of my favorite podcasts are on the topic of amateur radio. I’ve noticed that some of them have come and … Read more

Managing Twitter Overload

Twitter is The Next Big Thing on the web…sometimes referred to as microblogging.  (For some background on Twitter, see my earlier post: Twitter: Yet Another Web Thing.)  Several of the ham radio bloggers have tried Twitter and have gotten frustrated with it. Steve K9ZW says that Basically the few unique bits of information passed are … Read more