Kim, Terry and I survived Hurricane Irene. Well, by the time it got to us, it was a Tropical Storm. But still, we were a little worried about what we were going to get. And by the time it got here, it really wasn’t too bad, but the rain and wind did really do a number on our area. Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed  Read More →

There was a lot of news coverage for then Hurricane Irene and what people should do and not do during the storm as well as get ready. Kim, my YL, and I did what we needed, to get ready and we felt pretty set and ready to ride out the storm. But as luck would have it, there really wasn’t that much to ride out where we were. We got lucky.  Read More →

The main thing most people are talking about on the local radio shows and TV morning shows is Hurricane Irene. Giving updates, information on being prepared and of course comparing it to other past hurricanes. Kim and I are pretty much ready, we’re going to get a couple coolers to keep perishables cold should we lose power. Needless to say, here is some video of the storm from NASA TV.  Read More →

With the news of Hurricane Irene, a Category 3 storm, moving into a category 4, Greg, G0DUB, reminds us on the IARU Region 1 website, that hurricane watch frequencies are active and gathering info on the storms. These are used by Hams in North and Central America for tracking and deal with the storms and reminds us about creating QRM near these frequencies.  Read More →

We’re excited that we made it to Episode 9! What do you think so far? One of Rich’s co-workers has listened to the show and likes it – we hope you do too. We can’t be sure until you let us know though. It’s easy to do…check us out on Facebook or leave a comment here. Simple, quick, and easy! Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed  Read More →

While I was at my “regular job” yesterday, I along with countless others on the east coast, felt a 5.9 magnitude earthquake. I was leaning against a table helping someone with setting up a new computer and felt the table start to move. The first thing that ran through my mind was someone was shaking the table. It was almost surreal.  Read More →

I’ve seen a couple of stories about this video already, so I figured I would post it too, and get Randy a little more traffic to the YouTube video. Randy headed to Petaluma, CA, and hung out at the TWiT Brickhouse with Bob Heil, K9EID and Leo Laporte, W6TWT, for the first day of the new Ham shack in the Brickhouse Studio.  Read More →

Jumping out of a fully working airplane from 13,000 feet is not exactly my cup of tea. When I stand to high on a ladder I get a little woozy. But this guy jumped from an airplane and using 70cm Amateur Radio Television, shared ti with other Hams.  Read More →

So after oversleeping this morning, I managed to find a nice video that I can share with all of you. It’s nothing groundbreaking. It’s just a time lapse video of a gentleman putting together an Elecraft K3 from unboxing to finish. Pretty interesting to see the process.  Read More →

With the new opening of the TWiT Brickhouse studios, Leo Laporte, W6TWT is going to be hosting a special event station to celebrate the opening of the new studio, with the help a few area Hams.  Read More →

While Kim is out of town this week, I’m holding down the fort and thus comes my post about this week’s show. As you may have giess from the title, it’s pretty much all Television stuff this time around. Shows we like and some news that TV related. Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed  Read More →

I’ve been seeing on the googles and the twitters, that HeathKit is going to start selling kits again, but not for Ham Radio. They are going to start selling “Do It Yourself Kits” for around the house. While this is great, It’s kind of useless for me.  Read More →

So Google has announced that it is buying Motorola Mobility, a spin off of the original Motorola. The main focus of the company is mobile handsets. But with a little extra work, could Google maybe diverse even more into ham radio? Chances are, they wouldn’t, but let’s take a trip to “Fantasy Land” and see what it could be.  Read More →

Some weeks, it’s all I can do to find something to talk about, some weeks things just seem to fall into my lap to talk about. This I think is going to be one of the latter. If you enjoy the outdoors and Ham Radio, this video shows you some HF work on a hill near the Bay Area.  Read More →

If you have been itching for some meteor scatter to work, well, isn’t it a coinky-dink, that the Perseids with peak on August 12th, which is tomorrow. With luck, you could work a station 2000 miles away by bouncing a signal off the ionized trail of a meteor! How sick is that!  Read More →

The episodes seem to be getting a little more interesting now. I was in a little funk on recording day, so I was having a little wine to help me loosen up a bit. Now, I’m not a wine drinker, I’m more a beer guy. But this was one of the wines from Old Forge we bought and it was pretty good. Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed  Read More →

If you’re like me and have been wanting to receive signals from ARISSat-1, it is pretty easy. Here’s is a simple way that you can do it in the field, with just something to record audio and a receiver that can hear the satellite on 145.950MHz.  Read More →

It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since that tragic day. But as we all know, life will go on and we will remember. Where we all were, what we were all doing and those feelings of seeing what happened.  Read More →

So after ARISSat-1 was deployed, I have been trying to receive a signal from it. Specifically SSTV signals. I haven’t been very sucsessful. For one, I haven’t been able to be at the radio when it makes a pass because of work and family commitments. I’m hoping this week, I’ll have more time to sit down and be there to listen for. But the first thing is, I need to know where it... 

So when I checked my Mac yesterday for pictures from ARISSat-1′s for SSTV, I was a little disappointed I didn’t have any. I know one of the problems was that it was deployed late because of a 70cm antenna issue, but also of a dumb mistake on my part. But now I have to wait another day for a pass. But to keep track and pass the time, I have a couple mobile apps to help me.  Read More →