Read It!

Science fiction, when not entrapped in utopias, has presenteed remarkable essays on individual liberty, now L. Neil Smith's best is being released-Get It!
http://www.bigheadpress.com/lneilsmith/?p=455

73 de Rob

P33W Cyprus

Busted the pile-up with a measured five watts, its 1000 miles a watt-QRP goal # 1, just had to snicker. 73 de Rob

The Discovery Channel and Sheepdogs

The stand off and manifesto at the Discovery Channel headquarters has resulted in speculation about the motivation of Lee, the hostage taker. I read his manifesto and, no surprise there, is was reflective of the species self-hatred that has become fashionable in some circles. Delusional people's delusions are a reflection of the zeitgeist-paranoids in the middle ages obsessed about witches not spiders from Mars. Fortunately these are rare but I will not be surprised if Lee's actions and manifesto resonates with some and he will be assigned some degree of martyrdom. Irrespective of his world model be based on a novel about a telepathic gorilla and a twelve year old saving the world.

Not that I do not have sympathy and do endorse some of the "Green" issues; The hunting of cetaceans is an abomination-they are sentient to at least the level of the great apes and most would be repelled by plastic wrapped Gorilla Burger in the meat department of the local Safeway.

All that aside, I want to know more about the people that evacuated the children from the day care at Discovery. A cited number was a hundred children. There is no way that caregivers alone could have accomplished this, there must have been others that exposed themselves to an unknown risk to accomplish the evacuation with no other obligation than moral.
R. A. Heinlein said something to the effect that when all the window dressing is stripped away the basic task of civilization is to protect children and child-bearing women. Mr. Lee did not believe this, it is magnificent that others did. One of the MilBlogs I frequent refer to such people as the day care workers as Sheepdogs, willing to stand between the helpless of the flock and danger. Those people were Sheepdogs and give civilization hope-Well Done!

73 de Rob

First Confirmed Light House

Just a little fun 73 de Rob

Contests and Special Events

Yeah they are a pain but for a pissweaker it was nice to work from Eu to the left coast. I heard VE9AA for the first time in ten years but couldn't work him-Damn! I may have to use this e-mail thingie HI
73 Rob

A Tale Told by a Fool

This is for my friend Alisa, Bolshoi Droog link below. I learned the little Russian I understand as a sailor back in the days of the Cold War when we were conflicted with Asian agrarian reformers and the Russians gave them the stuff to fight. We occasionally interacted in various ports but they were hard to know as they had a army of Zampoliti (political officers/minders). This set the background with a story I told her a few years ago. I had been on liberty in Hong Kong, looking at the world with young man's eyes, seeking adventure but due to improvidence low on cash so I was staying at the Seaman's Club, a sort of YMCAish hostel for merchies and naval types. I met up with some Russian merchies and based on my five word Russian vocabulary struck up conversation that led to fetching of cheap beer and card games where I tried to tech them
F!#k Your Buddy and they me a game I think was called Stupid! The best English speaker was the Zampolit, a drunken one legged veteran of the Great Patriotic War that insisted Russia won the war for the Allies and the like until he passed out in a drunken stupor. At that point the sailors broke out the goodies they stole from their cargo. I was eating Black Sea Caviar like it was Skippy Peanut Butter and drinking top shelf vodka like water. Somehow we decided the Zampolit's wooden leg was oppressed and should defect to the west-the next day it was in the forward hold of a Navy oiler on its way to Hawaii. Or something like that-nutten to with radio 73 Rob

What is with Lithuania?

Back when I was on 6M a lot it seemed there was a pipeline from West Virginia to Cuba, If the band was open CO2OJ always seemed to be there. Now it is Lithuania, if EU is open I'm working Lithuania and I have the most confirms from there. Tis a puzzlement. 73 de Rob

Gooch's Paradox or Of Course Its Working

The Ham Radio corollary to Gooch's Paradox is "RF has to go somewhere." This is often invoked to explain why exotic, high dollar, mystery antennas work at all; Lord knows your correspondent has put up and used some pretty marginal antennas, what didn't add to the heat death if the universe was able to convey information, even to some impressive distances. Trouble was, that some of that heat ended up in the finals of the radio and could convert your rig to a very expensive night-lite.

Gooch's actual paradox states that for something to be believed it must be observed and, more importantly, for something to be observed it must be believed. Kinda sounds like the world wide bailouts the earners have had to fund, or mortgage their progeny to fund, doesn't it? "They" keep telling us its working and have the "Facts" to back it up. As RAH said, TANSTAAFL.

73 de Rob

How Ivan Denisovitch taught me to deal with bureaucracy

1) We have been prisoners longer than they have been guards.
2) Never loose your spoon.
3) Goodies from home are better bribes than treats.

73 Rob

Ja Bolshoi Kulturni

Completed QSO with a RU this am, he couldn't copy my call so I gave it the try in "Ham Russian" ie numbers and a "spasibo-dasvadanya" and got a confirmation-that felt good. Also Poland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Switzerland. Nobody told me to get a "real radio." 73 de Rob

Best Laid Plans...

Built a Super-Sloper this weekend aimed at VK/ZL Land. First two QSO's? Germany and France, to the west? zzzzzzzz! Either all the local power/phone/cabletv lines are distorting the pattern, or I screwed up or its really loooong path HIHI! 73 de Rob

Over The Top

DL1IAL "Beaming over North Pole" 59/57 nothing like a little auroral buzz to make a pissweaker's day! Also did a proper hookup for an lightning ground, no more moving gator clips, now I got a big honking copper knife switch with wire running every which way.
73 Rob

Counting the Cost

It was a bad Monday for WV, my grandfather went into the mines, my wife's uncles went into the mines, my brother-in-law worked at that mine in the past and people I work with lost friends, one counseler cried most of the day but wouldn't go home. http://wvgazette.com/News/201004060805

Q Codes?

Heard an OM today pronounce that Q Codes were for CW only. Funny when a SS OM began calling CQ on an occupied frequency, a "QRL OM QSY por favor" worked. Yeah he might have understood enough English to do it anyway and my tired Miami Spanish may have gotten it across but we didn't need to try. Q Codes were an effort to reduce the number of characters in a message but also provided a mutually comprehensible language. I'm QRT.

73 de Rob

But Is It Ham Radio?

I was reading the mail, listening to a VK work a JA with S-6 or better signals until they ID'ed. Low and behold; The VK was remotely operating station in the Carib. via VOIP and the JA the same with a station in the Southwest. It reminded me of the April Fool thread on QRZ-more importantly is it DX.? Yeah its techno whiz but not the same as working Uruguay Sporadic-E on 6M at 10W or three new countries QRP HF in an afternoon. The issue is dependence on infrastructure, we loose track of what happens inside the magic box(s). No I can't build my HF transceiver but I can build and understand a simple CW Xmitter and DC receiver and in a pinch could rely on it to make some contacts-admittedly slow and sloppy.
Distance wise maybe DX. I consider CO6LC DX but not if I E-Mailed him.
If the intention is to advance the art OK, I can understand that. But when radio becomes just one element in the data path, then its not DX. But what do I know.

73 de Rob

CQ Contest...

The CQ Magazine WPX SSB contest is this weekend, and I am ambivalent; On the one hand a contest, esp. a dx contest a continent away, gives a pissweaker a better shot as the other guy is looking for any signal, not just the loudest but on the other hand the band can be filled with "5-9" and a confirming datum irrespective of conditions real or otherwise and not too much scrutiny to see if the frequency is in use. Guess I'll sit back and be morally superior unless a VK or ZL happens to pop in....

73 de Rob

OK Now who called me a terminal no code?

Chicken Banders and Whiners

On QRZ (http://www.qrz.com/) and the Isle of Misfit Hams there was a thread, and reference to same, of someone bitching that without a kilowatt and a beam DXing was no fun. His kinfolk came by the house the other day. I was working in the yard and he stood in the street and asked about my wire and if I "Shot some skip." I mentioned confirming 12 states including Ak. He asked about a "Get Out Box" (bootleg 11M amp.) I said I was running 8W. His Reply? Bullshit! Good thing I didn't tell him about the 12 countries!

Had an awful lot of fun last weekend, the Russian DX Test had a bunch of folks out and worked Eastern Europe, Scandinavian, the Caribbean and wore the paint off Brasil, the Oklahoma and ND QSO Parties didn't hurt either.

Saw a FT 7 for sale, what I could do with 20W?

73 de Rob

My Band of Brothers, MATSB Song Ong Doc II 1970

The Gravedigger and Mr. Jones, Fat Albert, Trung, the Dufflebag team and all those time has fogged.

(stolen shamelessly from http://brownwater-navy.com/vietnam/vietnam.htm)

Nothing to do with radio except for a PRC-25.

73 de Rob

And another and another...

Happy dance 73 Rob

Got that one confirmed:

73 de Rob

My Kinda Engineering

http://thereifixedit.com/

Brother Bill WA5SQO

Archetypal monastic ham-great QSO.

73 de Rob

Well I tried

VK3MO was into this QTH ~ 4-3 to 5-7 for about 90 minutes of frustration on my part-but I'll complete this one yet. Should not complain, Sweden, Italy, Costa Rica and Cuba (Ore, CO6LC could be next door most days) worked this day. 6M was dead-where are these openings people are writing about? Couldn't have anything to do with being a pissweaker station? Suprisingly good manners in the wolf pack, maybe spring is coming. I was the token goy on a Yiddish net-you know for an old white man's hobby we can be cosmopolitan (also used german and spanish to complete this week). 73 Rob

Getting Better

Sun must be getting some zits-worked PR8ZX (5-5, 5-7), Brasil and heard Oz, VK3MO, and JA's working Martinique. 7's and 6's very frequent-or I could be wrong.... 73 Rob

Pond Scum, orginally titled: Inconsiderate of Others

Amateur radio operators come in all sizes and a few idiots can expected from bad manners in pile ups to deliberate interference and all but broadcasting. This was going to be my happy little unread echo chamber but I hope someone notices this. This morning I was reading the mail on 14.300( Home of the Intercon, Maritime and Pacific Seafarers nets) and heard a HH/W**** trying to set up a sked and pass traffic regarding needs for sterile materials for the relief effort in Hati. During this effort there was more than one station engaging in deliberate interference-not tuning up stupid but QRMing with an audio osc., yelling and the imitation of flatulence. The establishment of nets is unpopular to some and the ones on this frequency get a bit of vitriol-not entirely undeserved perhaps-no one owns a frequency. Be that as it may be, refusing to yield a frequency to a net is at worst bad manners but deliberate interference to emergency communications is as wrong as slashing the tires on an ambulance, and both are done by the equally mean and stupid. 73 Rob

FB DX Ops And The Others

6W/PA3EWP did a FB job of managing the wolf pack while operating from Senegal, giving several breaks to let in the QRP crowd-oh is this an excuse to tell everyone I worked West Africa with about 8W! Not to mention HC2GF, TI2CDA, Minnesota and B.C. test participants.

Then there were the lids-notably those that tune up on top of a DX station, haven't figured a tune up a few Khz to one side won't effect the SWR when they tune to the DX station-or can't figure when the DX is working an offset and bellow on top of DX op.

73 Rob

SNOW DAY-NO DX-OK I LIED!

G4AKC Pedestrian mobile, Walking along the beach in the West of England
73 Rob

QRO Again

Well...its at least 8 W!

73 de Rob

J97WW/J97WWW, Dave and Gay- Good on ya!

I had the pleasure of working Dave today in midst of a pile up, a well managed pile up I might add, where he and later Gay worked the wolf pack by the numbers and held them off for the pissweaker crowd. A lesson I'll remember if I ever get a zaggy prefix.

73 de Rob

Pissweaker in a Pile-Up

This was a good one, Saul was at 10W and I at 8W. I'd like to say I broke thru a pile up but no-caught him at the "CQDX." (Man's got gall-calling CQDX with just 10W). But as 10Watter in a 100Watt+ world pileups can be an exercise in frustration, this morning I listened to a Welsh ham work 6's and 7's hearing S-9 both ways and never gettting a nibbble. But getting thru happens; JH4UYB, UY2UA, PT7CB bound my world so far-now if only a ZL or VK....

Some advice I've heard has panned out-listen to the DX and get a feel for how they listen and listen for a pattern of gaps in the pack's howling. Other has not. Probably the most misleading was if the DX station is not S-9 or better don't bother. I've had satisfactory QSOs with DX stations when the best was S-4. While it is true with Q-code a QSO can be managed with a non-english speaker and many DX ops know some english, the ability to give a signal report and introduce yourself in another language helps ( now up to four)you break thru-my longest 6M contact was completed because I could give a report and grid reference in Spanish-Some ops seem to suffer from the colonial delusion-speak English long enough and loud enough and the natives will understand you-What you do is piss them off. Just don't forget; This is supposed to be fun! 73 es gud dx Rob

Cheap Tuner

This is the cheap tuner I told you about-back plate for a cheap SWR meter, variable cap from a yard sale radio, junque box toroid and some wire-all held together with hot-glue. Ain't pretty but it works. Gator clips for the antenna lead to the stator lug and to the frame for the counterpoise.

73 es gud dx

What its all about

I was originally going to post about some QSOs with hams with zaggy prefixes but today I rode along with the Salvation Army net for the Hati quake. Even did a relay.

In this day of instantanious digital communications a bunch of hams using techniques worked out almost a hundred years ago with spark-gaps and crystal detectors are still carrying the mail.

Give to the Sally, till it hurts-http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf


73 es gud dx Rob