Yesterday was World Amateur Radio Day. Was that a real thing? Yeah, I guess it was, though I was oblivious to the celebration. I heard some hams talking about it on the East Coast Reflector. I access the ECR via my IRLP (4212) node and a handheld. It’s a great group though I’ve noticed all the VoIP “modes” have one thing in common, nine out of ten operators only want a “radio check”....
It’s been raining this morning. I heard it begin in the wee hours and it has been off and on ever since. It’s somewhat cooler this morning too, I like that. The lawn has been mowed three times so far this season and it looks pretty healthy, all the proper weed and feeds having been applied. We don’t normally put out flowers until Mother’s Day though with the noticeably changing seasons summer has been backing...
On this day, April 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic, the largest luxury liner in the world, only four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City, struck ice in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic and slipped into eternity. Though records are imprecise, it is believed that of the more than 2,200 souls onboard, more than 1,500 perished that day, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in...
I finished a fairly large personal project today. It’s something that has occupied most of my time and attention since the first of the year. With this behind me, I can finally turn my full attention to new ventures in radio tech. I haven’t had a radio on since March. That’s only two weeks ago, but it already feels like a turning point. I’ve come to realize just how many interesting things can be done...
I have spent much of the last four years adding radio hardware to the shack. The only computer purchases have been new laptops, the latest being a 2024 M3 MacBook Air. Moving into a new phase of the hobby, it seems prudent to upgrade the shack infrastructure — a new home server, NAS, and upgraded networking — essentially building a home lab: a tech hobby of its own, but one that also supports adventures in...