n9ik's radio blog

Want a ham shack in your’ garden?

N9IK — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 15:22:23 +0000

Do you want to put your’ ham shack in your backyard garden shed, but don’t want to leave the garden tools and that lovingly customized racing lawnmower out in the rain? Don’t want a run of the mill boring box in the yard? How about a “Tetra Shed“?

Tech support in history

N9IK — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:38:03 +0000

One hell of a weekend

N9IK — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:22:47 +0000

Man, it has been a long, long time since I have enjoyed myself as much as I have during this past weekend! All of my boys are home at the same time, and all of them have “their women” with them, along with my two grandchildren. I am usually one of those that has a difficult time dealing with chaos and noise, but I’ve seen a bit of heaven here, with the lasses all vying with the lads for hot water in the showers, and good-natured ribbing about that eternal, incomprehensible, daily ritual of the goddesses called “getting ready”. And then there is the howling and posturing of the young males, each attempting to assert their dominance in the pack – none of them realizing that they lost it long ago, as soon as they were captured by the females. It’s especially poignant when one of the lads does, momentarily realize this, and gets that glazed “deer-in-the-headlights” look that is the best indicator of them having a “huh? Wha’ happened?” moment.

Fortunately, I am a wizened grandfather and well beyond the chest-beating and eyelash-batting so necessary of the younger generations for making their own way in the world. Well… that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

Currently listening to: Al Di Meola – Consequence Of Chaos – Turquoise

Change is Gonna Come

N9IK — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:01:58 +0000

Another great song from the Playing For Change crew. This one is live, for the first time.

In the hospital with chest pai…

N9IK — Wed, 13 May 2009 01:09:43 +0000

In the hospital with chest pains, damnit. Last time this happened I had a stent inserted.

http://twitpic.com/4pe8d – Tim…

N9IK — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:19:21 +0000

http://twitpic.com/4pe8d – Time to get out my station equipment again!

Been playing around with twitt…

N9IK — Thu, 07 May 2009 04:45:16 +0000

Been playing around with twitter for a bit, and am now integrating with my blogs.

Candy Tins for Enclosures

N9IK — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:43:01 +0000

The ubiquitous Altoids (and other candies) tin. A widely used enclosure for amateur radio builders and many, many other hobbyists, adventurers and professionals. Not to mention consumers of mints. My own junk box holds something like thirty or forty tins, most from Altoids or Blizzard’s Bones brand mints, and cover the gamut of shapes and sizes. The tins from Blizzard’s Bones, for example, are shaped somewhat like dog bones.

BLIZZARD’S BONES®

Don’t like mints or candies? Just want an empty tin? Do you want a tin with no “advertising”? Want to start “fresh” (ahem, pun intended) with no graphics? There are a number of sources for bare, unpainted tins. The source that I’ve purchased a variety of items from is County Comm, located in Santa Clara, California. County Comm specializes in providing items to various government agencies. They have quite a few items appropriate for your’ RACES/ARES go bag, and seem to offer decent prices on most items.

Above: A couple of my kit projects from the past. An Az ScQRPions Stinger Singer frequency counter, and a FOXX-3 QRP 20 meter radio. Both of these kits are no longer available.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have no interest in, nor am I connected in any way with Altoids, Blizzard’s Bones, County Comm, or any other company or organization that is mentioned in this post, except as a customer and consumer.

Hi-Mound BK-100 "Bug"

N9IK — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:38:25 +0000

I’ve recently acquired a Hi-Mound BK-100, "new" version (the trunion has ball bearings). It needs some serious adjusting before it can be used, but in general it seems to be in fine shape. The plastic cover has two cracks in it – one on each corner at the "business end" where the paddle lever is. It looks to me as though the plastic cover fit a bit too tightly, which is why there are cracks.

There were two versions of the BK-100 made by High-Mound, as far as I know; the early version did not have ball bearings in the trunion, and the later version does. This one is a later, or "new" version. I’d read in the Straight Key Century Club‘s (SKCC) mail list that, at least for Vibroplex bugs no lubricant ought to be used in the ball bearings, but this bug has grease in it. I need to find out if the Hi-Mound bugs should be greased or not.

I also would like to get my hands on a copy of any manual or user guide that the bug came with, if it did. In the mean time, once I get it adjusted (and degreased, if need be), that I’ll get some practice with it before getting on the air.

Welcome to my new blog home

N9IK — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:37:09 +0000

The following is a cross-post from my blog’s old site:

This blog has moved to a new location.

After much vacillation and angst, I’ve finally registered a couple of domains and moved my blogs away from WordPress.com to a hosted server where I have complete control over, and responsibility for, my blog.

As a blogging platform, I think that WordPress is one of the best (actually, it’s my opinion that WordPress is the best blogging platform, but hey, what do I know?), and the free blog hosting at WordPress.com is the best of the best: consistently being kept up to date; a knowledgeable bunch of users in the forums to provide assistance when needed; and for those that wish more flexibility or features, a number of options that are priced very competitively. And, best of all, the platform is – what else? – WordPress. The WordPress software, whether the free service at WordPress.com, or used independently, has a loyal user base that is near-fanatical. The forums at WordPress.com and at WordPress.org (WordPress.org is where you get the full software package to use on your own servers) are full of knowledgeable, honest and out-spoken users and developers, where everything about the software is discussed – both the good and not-so-good, ideas for development are shared, problems solved, challenges overcome.

I’ve moved my blog, not because I am dissatisfied with WordPress.com – quite the contrary, but because I want more flexibility, and because I want to learn and stretch my knowledge of PHP and web development. With the free, group hosted service at WordPress.com, one does not have that flexibility, and rightly so. Who wants to have their blog hosted at a site where the system can be brought down because someone else made a change that didn’t work?

My personal blog "mind? what mind?" has moved:

From: tfarrow.wordpress.com

To: mindwhatmind.com or at thor.farrow.cc

My amateur radio blog has moved:

From: n9ik.wordpress.com

To: blog.n9ik.com or at n9ik.com/blog

My several web sites are, or will soon be, hosted at the excellent 1&1 Internet Inc.