Archive

I didn’t attend Hamvention last year, one of only a handful of misses over the last 49 years. Like last year, I do plan to once again attend the DX Dinner on Friday (May 15) night at the Marriott. Dinner tickets are purchased, and the hotel is booked....

I was at the hospital early this morning, despite the freaky cold weather and 40mph wind gusts that made the temperature feel like -2F. I was scheduled for a Cardiolite Stress Test. Cardiolite is a radioactive drug used with a special imaging test to diagnose heart problems. This, because I...

The Elecraft K4 will continue to anchor the shack moving into 2026, along with the matching KPA1500 amplifier which will see considerable use. I bought the amp about mid-2025 but only fired it up to test it out before pulling its plug. I had already spent a considerable...

Taking stock of my ham radio results for the year makes evident 2025 wasn’t as productive as some past years. I logged 1577 total QSOs which is nearly a thousand fewer than last year, but that resulted in 137 unique entities which was 16 more than last year. The mode...

With only a few days left in the year, thoughts turn to what’s next. Some choice DX is queueing up before Cycle 25 sputters and falls. Bouvet Island 3Y0K is the biggest DX news in the New Year, and that would be an ATNO if worked and confirmed, but...

“A foot of new snow and it’s still falling, this is getting bad,” Tom muttered to no one in particular. Just then Stella walked in with a sad look on her face and Tom knew right away. “The kids aren’t going to make it, are they?” he asked. “No,” she...

The name for the festival of the Winter Solstice in Druidry is Alban Arthan, which means ‘The Light of Arthur’. Some Druid Orders believe this means the Light of the hero King Arthur Pendragon who is symbolically reborn as the Sun Child (The Mabon) at the time of the Solstice....

Radio bits from around the globe… Primary time scale failure at NIST Boulder campus; significant impact on NTP services How Israel’s amateur radio operators used quiet diplomacy, saved lives on Oct. 7 - opinion: “In a world where trust has become a scarce resource, amateur radio operators...

You ever see a cartoon of some critter busy sawing off a tree limb that he’s also sitting on? Seemingly unaware that he will soon fall along with the freshly cut limb. It’s funny but not so funny all at the same time. I couldn’t help thinking of those cartoons...

Cause that’s what we do…

I was curious enough to look over the 800 some items rock star Joe Walsh will be auctioning off at the Troubadour in Los Angeles this week. The collection includes some old amateur radio gear which was my main interest, but, wow, that’s a lot of guitars! Life’s Been...

Like a growing segment of the human population, I hate AI too. I’m sick of all the unwarranted hype and over the top media attention. I’m exhausted by all the “cute” images that folks keep forcing the tech to regurgitate just so they can share them with me and their...

Despite being out of town and visiting relatives during this holiday season, I have managed to launch a few of the old short-stories promised a while back. I’m starting with the most requested tales, many which haven’t been available online for a decade or more. Classics like, A QRP Christmas...

Just 100 days until the 2026 Sable Island DXpedition gets underway. The Northern California DX Foundation (NCDXF) has announced a $25,000 grant supporting the upcoming operation. Complete details available here. We are very pleased to announce that Parks Canada - Sable Island has invited the CY0S team back...

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt on the morning after the Pearl Harbor attack <img src="https://ke9v.net/img/20251207.jpg" alt="" style="margin-top: 17px;...

As the sun slowly sinks in the west here in Luddite Junction, I have thoughts, and not being a very smart person, I often translate those thoughts into words and that’s usually where the trouble begins. For example, I have a very good friend who is also a radio enthusiast....

I recently inventoried my QRP transceivers, twenty-one of them. Most are CW-only transceivers, but a few, like the K2, the IC-705, and the TX-500 are all-mode. Sixteen of them were built from kits, but the point is, I have a lot of QRP transceivers and I recently ordered one more....

Fred: I heard you check into the Possum Trot Net on 40 meters this morning. Didn’t know you hung out there. Odd thing, I could copy you fine, you’re practically local. But I couldn’t hear anyone else on the net. Propagation must be pretty poor today? How many folks regularly...

Chapter Six of Late Night Radio, the first book in the ‘Mac Hodges’ series is now available. I’ve also added the Zombie Apocalypse from 2024 to the collection. Thanks for reading and following along! Be sure to visit the site index for a complete over view...

Never have I ever had a conversation about moving into a retirement home. When you are young there are plenty of future dreams and aspirations about all manner of things from starting a family to awesome vacations and even retirement, but never have I ever said to my wife, “someday...

I guess I still don’t understand the DXCC pay to play rules. I worked the 9U1RU operation to Burundi on three bands when they were active. The operation has since concluded. I used OQRS to confirm and send funds to obtain LoTW confirmation for those three contacts. So I was...

An interesting high-altitude balloon payload from enthusiasts at Iowa State University will be taking to the skies sometime after December 1st. November 21st Launch Scrubbed: Weather, including the possibility of thick clouds and icing at elevated altitudes, forced the balloon launch to be cancelled. The next launch opportunity is...

A note from Bernie with an update from M0SDV says he’s on his way to Grenada where he expects to be QRV from November 23 to December 3. Checking the big chart, I do need J3 as that would be an ATNO for me. I’m not certain what else might...

Editor, QST: Not knowing just how many years it takes to be classified as one the fraternity of “Old Timers,” I won’t make any claims, but at least I have been through several periods of wild forecastings and dark forebodings. I was just perusing some of my old radio magazines...

One is never afraid of the unknown; one is only afraid of the known coming to an end… In the sleepy town of Saratoga Springs there’s an old amateur radio club that’s been around since 1931. Officially, 43 members are still on the books, but during the last Field Day...

Since resuming blogging I’ve been looking at a few minor upgrades to improve the UI where it fits with my sense of simple. Adding the ability for readers to comment might be a bridge too far as it brings up memories of previous platforms where commenting was built-in providing me...

The recent post, DXing in 2025, by Ron VE3VN really resonated with me and I intended to write more about it. But after several aborted iterations, I realized I had nothing more to add. The article is a lament about losing interest in the pursuit of DX, and suggests...

Dave, NM0S has announced a tentative list of speakers for the Four Days in May (FDIM) event in 2026. The KIO2 interface for the venerable K2 transceiver is a serial interface option that goes for about a hundred bucks from Elecraft. But PH2LB details a USB...

The Farmers’ Almanac, citing a “chaotic media environment”, will cease publication after their 2026 edition. The almanac dates back to 1818. It’s the Maine one, not the main one — a 208-year-old, Maine-based publication that farmers, gardeners and others have relied on for planting guidance and weather predictions...

Today’s song: Mendocino County Line. A sign on the side of Interstate 69 in northeastern Indiana seems oddly out of place as it proclaims, “Come enjoy millions of Christmas lights in the heart of Amish country.” I get that it’s probably not the Amish who installed so many holiday...

When I purchased our current home in 2023, I knew that within five or six years it would need a new roof. This asphalt shingle roof was installed in 2011 so it’s not yet at the end of its life, and there is no immediate urgency, but a new roof...