CB DAZE

2012-03-03T14:40:00.004-06:00

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER HAMFEST....

I stopped by the Houston Area Hamfest this morning to visit with my good friend David McCombs, presently the new owner of the "Houston Amateur Radio" store up in Spring. After walking around in circles for awhile I finally found his area (right next to the door I first walked into) and could see that gleam in his eye, he was in his element.

Dave and I go back to the early 80's where eventually he became my "Elmer" and I finally got on HAM Radio. I still haven't made it to his re-designed store, but promised I would.

As for the Hamfest itself? Well, I think there was more than a little exaggeration to "The 2nd largest Hamfest in Texas" claim, with many people packing up and leaving when I arrived around 10:30. Of course, I caught up with Steve and he dutifully pestered me to get back on-the-air. It seemed smaller than two years ago when I went down there to upgrade to General, but times are tough, and gasoline prices are high, so all-in-all it was a pretty good event. Hope to see both Dave and Steve up in Belton this April - Woody

2012-02-26T07:55:00.002-06:00

READ STORY WHY THIS HAPPENED - HERE

2012-02-22T15:39:00.002-06:00

Six Things You Didn't Know About Heinrich Hertz

"Heinrich H ertz found his purpose in the invisible. Hertz—who originally wanted to study the more tangible, practical field of civil engineering—was eventually drawn to the theories of James Maxwell, which hypothesized that electromagnetic waves that move at the speed of light exist." I found this article while perusing PCMAG.com. You can read the whole article / slide-show HERE.

2012-02-17T17:02:00.005-06:00

Trailer for "Tomorrow, when the War began"

2012-02-17T16:33:00.002-06:00

Bill Simons, W9BB, Silent Key; Developed Shure Microphones

“The response to the microphone was outstanding. It took over the market and Shure became the most popular ham microphone around. Mr. Shure was very pleased with what we were able to do.”

Read Full Story HERE.

2012-02-07T13:30:00.002-06:00

TWO BLOGS ARE BETTER THAN.....

While I struggle to get back into radio, I've decided not to bombard you with PC security issues or virus alerts. If you glance to the right side of this Blog, you'll find a link for "Security Daze". If you are interested in seeing what's going on in the world of PCs and PC security, you might like to bookmark it, or, simply get to it by coming here first and using the link.

Regards,

Woody

2012-02-03T07:57:00.001-06:00

YA GOTTA LOVE THIS COMMERCIAL -
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2012-01-26T10:51:00.001-06:00

2012-01-25T09:36:00.001-06:00

2012-01-22T09:42:00.001-06:00

01-21-12

2012-01-02T07:34:00.000-06:00

How to cut off online security threats before infection

2012-01-02T07:28:00.000-06:00

How to stop your boss spying on you at work

2011-12-11T15:20:00.001-06:00

A FEW MORE PIX

2011-11-27T11:34:00.000-06:00

2011-11-22T15:14:00.009-06:00

11-11-11

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT SIX ONE'S

COULD MEAN SO MUCH??

2011-11-21T11:37:00.003-06:00

11-11-11

2011-10-28T16:37:00.002-05:00

Ham Nation 8 TWiT.TV

Ham Nation is an exciting podcast/broadcast about anything-to-do-with-Amateur-Radio, and, for those of you who used to enjoy ZDTV, and Leo Laporte, you'll be happy to find out that Leo is now one of the Ham radio ranks, as well as a part of "Ham Nation"

2011-10-24T17:03:00.003-05:00

HARD DRIVES, ADOBE, SUNSPOTS

If you've been thinking about buying a new hard drive you'd better act fast. Due to flooding in Thailand (which accounts for 70% of the internal motors in all hard disks sold) several drive manufacturers have been closed and prices from distributors have already jumped about 30% (wholesale). This shortage is expected to continue through the first quarter of 2012.
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I read several articles about a gigantic hole in Adobe Flash software which (to my knowledge) has not been patched, where malware on a website could activate the webcam on your PC/Laptop and monitor you without your knowledge. Because there are several fake update pop-ups out in the world, I would suggest going to the Adobe website and downloading the latest Adobe Reader and Flash updates directly, vs. clicking on an annoying update pop-up which may or may not be genuine.

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Sunspots are all over the place with healthy numbers near, and occasionally above the 200 mark. I listen to it almost every day and find Texas in the middle of it all. I can hear the West coast and East coast very well, but not the stations across the ocean they are talking to (disappointing). Nonetheless, it beats no traffic at all and it's great to hear the East coast reaching into Europe and the Middle East.

2011-10-16T09:43:00.003-05:00

EVER WONDER HOW TO IMPORT PHOTO'S TO A MAC?

2011-10-07T06:19:00.002-05:00

CLICK ON PICTURE

2011-10-06T12:50:00.001-05:00

ZOMBIE HOLIDAYS

2011-10-06T12:38:00.002-05:00

IRON MAN - IRON BABY

2011-10-06T10:54:00.002-05:00

ETC.....

New virus out there (ZeroAccess). Usually if you see 31840211:354334.exe you've got it. Another tell-tale symptom: if your task bar turns white/gray, you've probably got it. Hard to remove. Combo-Fix, run 3-4 times in safe mode will usually do it, but because it infects/corrupts the TCP/IP stack, it may require a clean install of the OS.
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Another new one I've seen is the "Open Cloud Anti-virus". Puts a nice fluffy blue cloud-looking icon on your desktop, but it's bad news.
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DX really picking up. While listening (in-between calls) on 11m, I hear New England yakking with Africa, Germany, etc. I could barely hear the guy in Germany.
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Keep yer Flash updates up to par, as well as your anti-virus software, and run Malwarebytes if the hairs on the back of yer neck stand up...

2011-08-27T15:33:00.031-05:00

GET OUT OF MY FREAK'N F-A-C-E,
FACEBOOK
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Where do you go to get your daily news, updates, etc.? TV? Radio? Well for as long as I can remember, I rely on YAHOO. My homepage is YAHOO, I've customized it so when I get up in the morning I can open my browser and see: My Inbox, Travel Photography Pool, ARRL Web, MONSTER JOBS Recent Results, Various Yahoo Radio related Groups, U.S. News, World News, Boing-Boing, Techdirt, NPR, Red Sox News, Cnet, Local News and Weather, etc.

But for several months now when I bring up my Yahoo! page, at the very bottom lies a sinister yellow bar blathering something about Facebook. Until I click the X I can't scroll through my page and read my news, and this is occurring with more frequency on other sites too. So...

Dear FACEBOOK, keep yourself to your own stinking page and let me enjoy websites the way I used to, if I want to use facebook, I will - 'NUFF SAID.
-
P.S. - Facebook's Timeline Will Help Hackers

ON TO OTHER THINGS

- [COOL PICTURE]
Hulking computing engines of Toronto’s yesteryear

[DEFINITELY HIGH QUALITY METH LAB PHOTOS OR - MOVIE STILLS]

Inside a clandestine Mexican meth lab

FROM TEAM COCO

ALSO FROM TEAM COCO

-Not too long ago I went to the 50th birthday party of my former co-worker, CB/HAM buddy, Doug (for those with long memories, or early issues of the CB Gazette, he wrote a couple articles and is often referred as "101"). His wife Kelli did a great job of setting things up and the theme "World of Beers" was a great choice too. It wasn't until the following day that I started counting (on my toes, fingers, etc.) and realized that out of his 50 years, I'd known him for at least 26 of them. There aren't many people that I've known for much longer (not counting family), except CW-Dave that I've managed to keep in touch with - while some people in small towns have known just about everyone since the birth of dirt.
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CW-Dave, Doug, and I have a unique connection as well. Not only were we all working for the same company in the mid-80's, but Dave was our "Elmer" (or as new age protocol dictates: "Mentor"). He spent a lot of his time teaching us of the Jedi ways of Morse-code, and thanks to him, we both became HAMs during the same test session (CEJ and CEM). Times were different back then, all under 30, with Doug being the "baby" of the under 30 age-group.

2011-08-24T11:15:00.004-05:00

HUMOROUS, YET......?
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2011-08-18T13:25:00.005-05:00

VIRUSES, TROJANS, AND WORMS (OH MY!!)
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Yep, worms are making a resurgence, akin to the spread of bedbugs, thought to have been pretty much eliminated from most of the world or at least, the U.S.

I remember the "Blaster" worm and a couple others that made my life a corporate nightmare back in the 2000-2003 period, and then they seemed to slowly disappear (almost over night). But during my recent rounds I've run across several different variety of computer worms in the last eight weeks, which is disconcerting to say the least.

Last Fall, virus infections picked up quite a bit, but I never thought it would double or triple in 2011, but they have, and much like unemployment numbers of the US deficit, I don't expect to see them decline throughout the remainder of this year. CNET, a great source to keep up with what to expect, published a "Malware Chart" recently, and it will give you a glimpse at what you and I are facing each time we get on the Internet, or check our email. If you have children in the 8-18 year-old range, I'm sorry that you are experiencing (in many cases) multiple virus/trojan infections on what may seem to be a fairly regular basis. There isn't a magic bullet, there is no anti-virus that will be 100% effective, and with 500-2000 new virus definitions appearing each day, the best you can do is keep your computer software updated (including Adobe Reader and Flash), and think twice when it comes time to click on that search engine link, or email.

[Brian Woodbury is former editor/publisher of "WoodyWorlds CB Gazette" and "The CB Gazette", guest commentator/writer for several publications, sole writer for the CBDAZE Blog and the CBGAZETTE.COM website, author of "The History of CB Radio", Computer Virus Ninja, Cat Sitter, and now...a bit confused]

2011-08-16T07:04:00.002-05:00

Heathkit making a "Kit" comeback?

LINK

2011-08-14T09:01:00.014-05:00

I'M CONFUSED....
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And perhaps you are too?
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"WITH THE TOUGH TIMES WE FACE; RIOTS, UNEMPLOYMENT, CUTS IN BENEFITS, ETC. WHY IS EVERYONE LAUGHING So MUCH?"

Well, that how is it seems to me. I read the very grim headlines, many new, that seem to engulf the news each day, then look on various blogs and social networking sites to find everyone LOLing (LOL= Laughing Out Loud), and LMAOing (LMAO= Laughing My Ass Off = Laughing Their Ass Off??). Many conversations appear to end with either (or worse) both. Typical conversations seem to go like this:

X - Say "Y", how is work going today LOL?
Y - It's the usual grind LOL, but ya got to make some money, ya know? LMAO
X- LMAO, yeah, lol, I hear ya bro lol.
Z- LOL, you two have me LMAO!!!!
X- Ha-Ha, LOL
Y- He-He LOL
Z-LOL, I can't hardly breath, I'm LMAO, LOL.

Granted, these conversations could just be from young children, senile adults, or people with limited working keys on their keyboard (answer: not likely), but I've noticed this trend growing year after year and wonder: "Is this the beginning of the Zombie Apocalypse?"

Naturally, I'd like to hedge my bets and not upset any potential Zombies out in the cyberworld, but to borrow some of their lingo, a casual observer would have to say these people have LONH (Lights On, Nobody Home) syndrome (a possible first step to becoming a Zombie).
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"LMAO",
Woody

[Brian Woodbury is former editor/publisher of "WoodyWorlds CB Gazette" and "The CB Gazette", guest commentator/writer for several publications, sole writer for the CBDAZE Blog and the CBGAZETTE.COM website, author of "The History of CB Radio", Computer Virus Ninja, Cat Sitter, and now...a bit confused]

2011-07-29T09:31:00.001-05:00

2011-07-29T09:14:00.007-05:00

I'm not a big fan of Microsoft, but, they did pull off a funny video:

2011-06-09T11:11:00.018-05:00

2011-05-30T13:44:00.003-05:00

2010 LIST OF MEMORIAL DAY MOVIES
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It was a short list, but varied:

Kelley's Hero's

The Battle of Britain

Sahara

Desert Rats

They Were Expendable

Operation Pacific

The Story of G.I. JOE

2011-05-26T14:17:00.011-05:00

WE'VE BEEN BUSY.....
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SORRY FOR THE LACK OF POSTS BUT HERE ARE SOME PICS (NOT ALL IN ORDER)

"IF" I get the time, I'll add some captions - Woody.

2010-12-29T11:58:00.001-06:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS,

AND...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Time has flown by these last few months, hope you're enjoying the Holidays, and perhaps some DX. I haven't had the chance since my last post to check conditions, and where I used to check spaceweather.com every day, I didn't get around to it until last week (the day of the eclipse). Still moving stuff, and while we didn't have any snow - we did get a cold, windy Christmas!
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Last week was slow, with very few calls but a lot of walk-in traffic. A virus had done something to wreck the boot record so the computer couldn't boot. My Boss had me type in two separate commands and it was back in business. I wrote those commands down and circled them on my scratch pad I carry with me.
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Yesterday I visited someone whose Daughter had run a file called Xmas.exe, and shortly afterwards he was left with a blinking cursor on his laptop. After trying the usual stuff I was about ready to tell him I'd have to take it back to the shop when I remembered those two commands. I had a disk to get me to the system and ran the two commands and it booted to Windows fine. After the boot, I used the usual stuff to eradicate the Trojan. Good thing I wrote those down eh?
73
Woody
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2010-11-27T11:00:00.003-06:00

There may be a disruption on my website (but not the blog) this month as I move it to another provider, timing depends on my physical move, hope yer all enjoying those Sunspots!! - Woody

2010-11-21T17:11:00.002-06:00

Sorry for lack of posts. Have been busy getting readg for relocation for job, and other issues.

Woody

2010-10-27T07:15:00.002-05:00

2010-09-08T13:17:00.004-05:00

THE PERSISTENT URBAN [AND CORPORATE] LEGEND ABOUT - PASSWORDS

Much like the Babysitter who receives disturbing phone calls - from an upstairs extension, to girls who find the body of their boyfriend hanging above their car in the woods, there is a persistent "Urban Legend" about how frequently you should change passwords on a computer, that has yet to fade away.

At one place of business not only the length of the password, but the frequency at which it was forced to be changed became a misery of many an end-user, when in fact, experts are reversing their opinion on this practice from the "DARK AGES". I recall many times seeing a persons list of passwords of everything from network login to EBAY and PAYPAL written on a piece of paper conveniently scotch-taped to the monitor or often, under the keyboard when in fact there were far worse things to worry about when it came to their personal and business security.

If an end-user requires 4 different passwords, each different, to access the network and do their job - and is forced to change them every four or six weeks, memory (and we're not talking about PC memory here) overload becomes an issue and passwords get written down and stored in places they usually won't forget where they were placed. At one company I worked for, at least a third of the users used 123456 for a password, until the password rules were extended to eight digits. Suddenly 123456 became 12345678. Other examples abound such as adding a number or alpha character to the end of the current password, so if your password was geopet, then when the next change came, "geopet" became geopet1, followed by 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. [ed. - either you get the idea by now...or you're already password Zombies].

Knowing what I knew, after many years of end-user/server support, I could see that as hard as a network security policy could be, end-users could find an easy way to comply, yet not compromise any further grey matter which could be used for better things. Over that past 18 months I've read numerous articles on this same subject, the consensus being - frequent password changes do little to secure your computer, data, or network. Just today I ran across yet another article CLICK HERE which prompted me to finally write what I wanted to write sometime go but forgot to write it because I have too many passwords stored in my head.

WOODY

2010-08-31T05:20:00.006-05:00

PROGRESS.......?

Robin and I were at a local wireless phone store last week so she could replace her semi-working RAZR. This is a good reason to get another phone, as opposed to many people I know that change phones like they change underwear. There are several reasons for this: Some have to own the latest and greatest technology (whether they'll even use it or not), call it "Bragging Rights". Others do it because someone they know got the newest phone on the market, and so they had to "Keep up with the Joneses".

As I perused the various selections I wondered if we really needed a phone to watch movies, music videos, or browse the Internet on. I could see some reason for "MIFI" feature, allowing up to 5 computers access the Internet via the phone, but many other bells and whistles seemed overkill. When I replaced my phone several years back, it gave me the option to store MP3 music on it. I've never used that feature - I like my "Classic" IPOD.

Phones aren't the only target in this post as the same applies to computers, software, and yes...HAM Radio. As an IT person, it's hard to get an end-user to believe he or she really doesn't need to get a new PC, just because a co-worker in the next cube did. Sure, it was .4GHz faster, but unless they were a power user, most people use their work computers for E-Mail, Web Surfing, Instant Messaging, Word, and....an occasional spreadsheet. Nonetheless, the end result would be another new computer and of course, "Bragging Rights". Servers are another example. If your server is used for storage, and user accounts only, it doesn't make sense to buy the biggest, fastest box on the market. Software? Microsoft is up to Office 2010, yet I have no issues with Office 2003, and if truth be told (ed. - it's about to), I've always preferred Wordperfect. I could bend your ear with other examples but I've picked on computers enough.

HAM radios. They get smaller, thus the knobs or buttons decrease in size - and quantity, while menu's get deeper and deeper with a steep learning curve. They're also built to die off faster (and this isn't just an Amateur Radio issue - it's an issue with most electronics and Chinese quality control). Parts become obsolete in 4 or 5 years, whereas you can find what you need to repair rigs that are half a century old. To bad there weren't as many HAMS as computer users because I have a dandy of an idea for a business - something along the lines of a "HAM GEEK SQUAD", ready to be dispatched to your QTH and program your new radio for you. They'd pull into your driveway with a sleek black SUV, with so many antennas mounted on it the vehicle would look like a shrimp boat on wheels. Impressive.

It's not that I woke up in a foul mood this morning and decided to write this post, it's just a thought, born from a visit to a cell phone store that's been circling around my brain ever since. It was merely coincidence that I woke up early in a foul mood...

'Nuff Said, Woody

2010-08-25T13:30:00.009-05:00

NEW FAMILY MEMBER....

"Buddy", was Robin's Aunt Argie's cat. Argie asked Robin to take care of him after she passed away, and now he's here - complete with half a mustache, and a very interesting personality......

2010-08-13T08:53:00.025-05:00

IT'S BEEN BUSY.....

It's been so busy in the last month I've hardly had time to make a post, so I bit the bullet this morning and got my pictures and thoughts together to fill you in. I'm pretty sure this is mostly in chronological order, except for the very beginning (this part). I'll start with a couple weeks ago: Robin and I were at one of those Japanese grill-while-you-watch places and we'd just sat down when I looked across the room and suddenly my neck rotor came to an abrupt halt. There, some twenty feet away, appeared to be a slightly older version of a friend of mine (and also a former co-worker from back in the 90's). I told Robin that I thought that guy was him, and instantly came up with a brilliant plan - I'd walk slowly down the aisle towards his table, then stop behind him and in a calm voice repeat "Calling Mr. Fink, come in Finkto", and if, after ten minutes of talking behind his back didn't work I would slink away and back to our table. But he saw me when I was about ten feet away and began to stand up - Yep! It was Todd. I now have his contact info so I can keep in touch with him, and I also found out that he's been a faithful reader of this blog for many years!

On another occasion, Robin and I were out at a club (you'll read about it later) when she pointed out the woman in front of me, and the tag hanging out of the back. We couldn't understand why her husband hadn't told her about it, but the bugger for me was that I just couldn't ignore it. Once it was pointed out to me, my eyes were constantly drawn to it as if it were a giant ZIT. I spent the rest of the night wondering if I should discreetly tell her about it, or not.

Okay, now on to the catch up part of the Blog. I've tried to keep the pictures down to a minimum so as not to bore you with non-radio stuff. We start our journey at the Church where Robin's Aunt had her service. We thought the church looked cool and took a few pictures:

From there we travel to my Dad's house where we made a long overdo visit. We combined general visits with a late Father's Day trip. My brother Glenn, in the first picture was getting ready to take a picture of Dad, Robin, and myself.

We also went to the Houston Dog Show and I saw more dogs than I ever thought I would. We had a great time (I liked those Frizbee catching dogs the best), and I think we'll be going every year from now on.

I had to get a picture of this poor fellow because he had a look on his face that just said "OH GOD, SOMEONE GET ME OUTTA HERE".

I found a scruffy looking fella in the "Meet the Breeds" section.....

(I think Robin liked "Scruffy" too.....)

About a week from Robin's Birthday, Glenn took us downtown to see the Broadway-across-America version of "Wicked", a humorous musical about the "TRUE" story behind the wicked witch of OZ. The sets were great, the costumes were great - and we had a great time.

Afterwards, we went to a really nice steak house, that had a great view of an outside garden. Mario, our waiter, was the one manning the camera.

And here a quick shot that Robin took of the great view from the dining room!

Thanks "Bro".....

YEP!! That's Pauly Shore on stage at a local comedy club. Robin surprised me with tickets to see him, and I guess I didn't really look that happy, but I've never been much for surprises, and the tickets were for that very night. Robin likes to surprise me, and by golly, I'm going to try my best to change, because she's so wonderful.

Oh - and yes, Pauly was pretty darn funny that night!

Her Birthday arrived, and she picked a popular Jazz cafe with live music to go to. It wasn't quite what we expected ($20 just to get in), and had a limited menu, but I can tell ya - those red beans'n rice were excellent (I got a second helping). The band was a bit late starting but once they did, all was well, EXCEPT, the stupid tag (mentioned earlier) on the back of the woman's dress in front of me.

Not quite last, nor least, we went out one Saturday night to see a Pink Floyd cover band. The place was crowded, but Robin got a great table and seats right at the edge of the dance floor. Like any amateur band, some guys in the group play really well, and others...just get by. We had a lot of food to put away and somewhere along the line I guess I went into a food coma.

Robin's Birthday week ended on a Sunday at her folks house, where everyone got together and sing off-key a rousing chorus of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY".

LATER.....
Robin met her friend Angie for the traditional Birthday lunch get together, and catch up on things that may have happened in the last six months or so.

And that's where my "What have you been up to lately Woody" ends. Liner Notes: We did see the movie "Inception" and recommend it to anyone who would like to see an originally conceived, intelligent movie that is a lot of fun, and keeps you thinking about it for sometimes afterwards. I'm working with the Publisher on my book, and it's going at a nice slow pace which allows time to think various options over. My Son Chris and his wife Ada came by for a visit during this busy period as well, and they're "expecting". If you haven't noticed, Sunspot numbers have been climbing (several days into the high 50's), so dust off those rigs you have stored in the closet - it's almost time!

WHEW!! The only thing left to say is 'NUFF SAID...

WOODY

2010-07-25T11:13:00.006-05:00

IS EBAY YOUR ONLY SOURCE?

The answer is "of course not". While it's true, if you want to get the best price (as a seller), or find that oddball oldie that you've been pining away for, EBAY is number one. As a seller, you "give" EBAY about 9% of the total sale price, and then Paypal takes about 4% of what is left over. EBAY has a feedback system which should give you warm fuzzies when buying from someone but I've been ripped off at least a dozen times from people with good feedback.

There are other HAM (and CB) related websites that offer free postings, and as a seller, you benefit from keeping that 9% while still being able to accept Paypal. It's a bit more risky when you are the buyer because you are making your purchase decision by the description/picture of the item, and faith that the HAM won't rip you off. It's a tough decision as a buyer, especially when your talking big bux ($1,000+) and a no-brainer for the seller (no 9% EBAY payout), but you don't reach as many people as you would via EBAY.

2m weekly nets. Yep, they're alive and doing well thank you, and locals are still listing what they want to buy, or to sell. It's a local sale, you get to check the equipment out, no surcharges or shipping, but it's an even smaller market share.

Tailgate Meets. Ditto, ditto, and ditto. Unless power is available, you won't have the option to test it (faith-in-fellow-ham), and pricing isn't much better than EBAY because they've usually checked the site to see what their rig is fetching, and price it as such. I don't go to many of these any longer, but I listen to the repeater traffic and usually hear the same thing: "There was a good crowd, and some nice equipment, but it seemed like no one was buying much of anything". Too bad; I used to enjoy going to those.

CRAIGSLIST. Occasionally you'll find CB and HAM gear listed on CRAIGSLIST in you locale. I've never bought nor sold anything from it, so I couldn't tell you how successful it is - have you?

CB IS DEAD - LONG LIVE CB

If you're a regular reader of my Blog you know very well that CB is not dead. Many people who got caught up in the CB "FAD" of the 70's have assumed that CB went the way of the "PET ROCK" but we know differently. Because licenses are no longer mandatory it's hard to keep track of the numbers, however if you look at the amount of CB Radios being sold each year it's easy to estimate several million users (and that's not including those who are still using their 20-30 year old rig!). This proves that Citizens Band Radio was not your typical "FAD" that fades out quickly, but an inexpensive means of communication that will be around for many decades to come. Long live Citizens Band Radio, 'Nuff Said.

Woody

2010-07-25T09:11:00.005-05:00

SUNSPOTS KEEP COMING
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It looks like we're slowly entering the next sunspot cycle as numbers continue to improve. Today's reading:
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Sunspot Number = 41

Flux = 83

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What this means to you - DX or "SKIP" conditions will become more frequent so those frequencies that have been somewhat dead in the last year (both HAM and CB) will start filling up as operators come out of the woodwork once they realize conditions are favorable.
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PICTURE REQUEST - GOING, GOING......

But not quite "GONE". If you have pictures of yourself, or shack from the 60's/70's during the CB boom and still would like to have them included in my book, please e-mail me.
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'Nuff Said,(and good dx to you)

Woody

2010-07-19T11:09:00.005-05:00

ONE MAN'S BLOG POST ABOUT THE TS-2000 NOISE PROBLEM

[CLICK ON PHOTO]

2010-07-16T09:30:00.004-05:00

MY TOP TEN PICKS OF: CB EQUIPMENT YOU'LL NEVER RUN OUT OF SEEING ON EBAY

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Sure, there's more than 10, but I tried to stick to things that were at least 30 years old, and most, but not all were bid up to unrealistic prices (as if they were "rare"). So here are my picks:

Astatic D-104

E.F. Johnson "Whiteface"

Turner Plus 2

Turner Plus 3

Courier 23

Lafayette HE-20

E.F. Johnson 250 Anniversary Base

Midland 23 channel AM Mobile's (any of 'em)

CB SAMS

Realistic TRC-30

Of the ten items listed, I think it's a tie between the D-104 and the CB-SAMS. The Astatics will always sell for more than they're actually worth, while the SAMS will linger until a law is passed banning the sale of paper items - there's just too many of them out there.

2010-07-09T13:23:00.005-05:00

GET YER SUNGLASSES OUT......

SUNSPOT 1082 IS COMING 'ROUND TO EARTH'S SIDE

AND ITS POPPING AND CRACKLING

[PICTURE FROM SPACEWEATHER.COM SITE]

2010-07-08T04:54:00.006-05:00

LIFE, DEATH, & PHOTOSHOP

This past weekend I was up in Texarkana with Robin to attend the services and funeral of her Aunt Argie, who passed away early last week while fighting cancer at her in-home hospice care in Pearland. It was a quick attack, lasting less than a year, and the speed of her downward spiral took us all by surprise. It was just a week before that Robin had brought a cassette recorder down to capture some of her stories and early family memories on tape. We didn't know it would be our only recording.

Robin and her mom drove up on Monday, while I stayed behind until late in the week. My mission: to scan and retouch as many photos of Argie as I could before the service. Partially due to my erratic scanner, and the age of the photographs, it could easily take two or three hours just to get one picture ready for printing (or presentation). If any of you have undertaken this type of restoration, you know that you spend a lot of time editing at 300-400%, then dropping down to 100% to make sure you got it right; then back up to pixel sized editing again, over and over.

As I dropped down to normal viewing, from time-to-time I couldn't help but look at the picture, Argie (at various ages), her surroundings, and wonder about things like: "Was that her first puppy?", or a black and white Christmas photo taken in her teens as she holds her brand new folk guitar and thinking "What were her plans and dreams at that moment?", and so it went, right up to the last photo I had time to do before time itself ran out. I emailed the photos and left to join Robin.

This week, I'm still scanning photos and doing the best I can to restore them, and eventually when I'm finished, I'd like to use a service from Walgreens photo that I've used before: a cloth-bound photo book - this one filled with pictures from Argie's life. And now that I've gone through this process I've promised myself to take a little longer when looking through someone else's photo book(s), because I've learned that if you take the time and really look you'll find, it's true what they say: that "Every picture tells a story....".

P.S.- While away, I received an e-mail that said my oldest Son's wife lost her brother around the same time (no idea from what). I can't imagine what that would be like - I only have one brother, but I know that I wouldn't want to see him depart so soon.

2010-07-05T11:45:00.003-05:00

TNX, MR. SUNSPOT

I had a long road trip to make last week and I knew I'd have two choices of entertainment: My IPOD (which I couldn't find) and my rigs. The IPOD would have lost out in any case because: 10 meters was open, I had plenty of time, and my QRP rig was eager for some use.

In many cases, I didn't have to tune around to look for someone - I would just finish my contact, then sit there for a few minutes before someone else came along to call.

Everything was stateside, and my goal was to make a QSO with a station that I heard (for the longest time) in Canada, but even after 30 minutes of driving and calling, it was not meant to be. I did get close, with a quickly fading conversation with Nebraska, and then everything else was just a little bit lower. At one point I even heard Brownsville and Amarillo Texas while trying to work the Canadian station. So... "TNX" to: Nebraska, Naperville Illinois, Iowa, Cleveland Ohio, Kentucky, and a couple other stations for making the drive quite enjoyable!

73,

Woody

2010-07-01T22:23:00.000-05:00

RANDOM NOTES.....

By now you've all probably heard about the ICOM IC-706 being discontinued. Whatever stock remains - is "IT". By the same token, you'll find a lot of 706's coming up for sale or auction as some operators are taking this time to either get something else, or, start a bankroll for whatever replaces it. I've heard that the IC-7000 is the replacement (makes sense, as ICOM has slowly slid the price upwards in that last couple years making the monetary difference between the two not as great).

I've owned several incarnations of the 706 so I wanted to make sure that if you were looking to pick up a used one, to know there were more than a couple versions. Many original 706's are still on-the-air, whether it be base or mobile and usually can be found for a good price. I may be incorrect (any 706 aficionado can email me for correction) but the biggest thing to know when buying the first model is that the finals (the same ones the Yaesu FT-100 has) were discontinued years ago, and while a few still lurk about - it can be a very expensive repair once you've jumped through hoops in finding them. If memory serves me right, they're in the $150-$300 price range depending on who is selling their dwindling supply. This isn't quite as bad as the FT-100, which had VHF-UHF from the get go, and the VHF-UHF finals are definetely nowhere to be found, unless you pick up another used FT-100 for parts.

The ARRL has announced that they now have a FACEBOOK page, so I wonder if they'll supply additions to the game-for-the-inane - "Farmville" (like towers, antenna farms "Hey! so'n so needs helps raising his tower", etc.) Naturally, I'm joking about Farmville add-ons because it would be the low point of our hobby. I read an article in a popular PC magazine recently that really laid into the online game with a final thought that if Farmville people spent as much time doing REAL things as they did on Farmville chores (imaginary), they'd get a lot more real life items done with less roundtuit's. Another ARRL note: They have posted a complete report on new equipment on display at Dayton, in PDF format, which can be found HERE.

"I knew I was poking a stick into a hornets nest..."

HAM-LITE. I got quite a few emails regarding that post, so thank you! Some were concise, others funny, and few were...off the deep end, but I was expecting a variety of responses because I knew I was poking a stick into a hornets nest! Once again, tnx for the emails.

READER MAIL. I'll have some reader mail posted soon, and several may have questions that you can answer (I couldn't, but someone can).

WOODY

2010-06-29T17:37:00.003-05:00

AVOID "ELECTRONICS CHEAPO" ON EBAY

I needed about 18ft. of coax cable to complete a project so I turned to EBAY. My criteria was to get BELDON cable with soldered Amphenol PL-259's as there are several dubious/unknown brands being listed everyday. I ran across Electronicscheapo and their ad read like this:

CB Ham Coax Cable. 18'
BELDEN-8X-1.8
RG8X (Mini 8) Coax Jumpers
Made From High Quality Belden Cable
95% Shielding
Hand-Soldered Amphenol PL-259's
Gray
Packaged

The price was good and the feedback decent, so I bought it. Imagine my dismay when I received the package with 18ft. of gray coax cable, complete with PL-259's BUT - the cable was not Beldon and the PL-259's weren't Amphenol. My first thought was "I guess they shipped me their cheaper product by mistake", however, after sending an email to them explaining what I received was NOT what they advertised I got a simple reply: "This is the correct cable and the ends are PL-259's". When I get back from a road trip I will take the time to inform EBAY that these guys aren't sending you what they say they are selling, but in the meantime - BE AWARE.

2010-06-22T11:35:00.005-05:00

ANYONE REMEMBER THESE?

I remember quite a few, if not most of the CB and related equipment from the olden days, but I guess I was sleeping in '68 when Radio Shack sold this strange - yet innovative product called "CB SLAVES" (ed. - could be a movie eh? 'Nuff said).

I guess they never really took off, and I've never seen a pair for sale, but if you had these back then, let me know what you thought of 'em! (click on the smaller image to get a readable full size ad).

Woody

2010-06-18T10:52:00.002-05:00

FIRE UP THOSE RIGS!

Another new Sunspot has appeared today, and the Solar Flux is decent. All signs point to a great RF weekend - so be prepared.

2010-06-17T10:20:00.002-05:00

RADIO ZOMBIES

[RAY-DEE-OH ZOM-BEES - 1.Elitist 2. To look down upon. 3. NOS, or bust.4. Picky]

I came across this thought the other day while perusing some equipment ads on a popular website which sells used HAM gear. Some ads had pictures, others only with descriptions. Most of the advertisements having pictures allowed you to click on them to allow you to see it all up close and I found myself mumbling stuff like "Hmmm, scuff mark", "Scratched bezel", or, "Looks more than only 3 months old to me". Suddenly, I realized what I'd been saying to myself, and fervently began to look for bite marks on my body! I didn't see any, yet still I wondered: "Had I become a Radio Zombie?"

Confused? Let me explain -

I remember 'back in the day' when I was a). first starting out in CB and later, b).first starting out in HAM radio, and I don't recall being all to picky about the exterior condition of an acquisition. It could have electrical tape holding the top cover on, a digit or two out on the display (ed. - Hell, or no freaking digital display at all - just ANALOG), and enough dust bunnies to feed several starving dustbusters; the only thing that I was concerned with was "DID IT WORK?" If it did, and the price was right, I was happy. After all, shacks weren't usually a place you would associate with Martha Stewart, Vacuum cleaners, or Moms white glove test for dirt and dust; they were places for men to spread their equipment, miscellaneous parts, and tools around without much thought on how perfect the equipment looked as odds were that the equipment would get a nick or two while you worked on one project or the other.

But then, slowly but surely, steadfastly and fashionably, Zombism attacked from within the shack itself - yes, we were slowly becoming aware of regular bathing and grooming, and...cleanliness. We slowly turned into Radio Zombies, demanding only NOS looking gear which would be fastidiously stacked, arranged, photographed, and displayed on a web page for all to see. If you have a used rig for sale (today) that is sans original box and scuffed up a bit from Field Day use, you can hang it up right there - it will be a tough sell.

I owned an ICOM IC-725 for a time, and it was butt ugly. Beside numerous scratches and dings, it was missing the power button, forcing me to come up with a variety of creative techniques in powering it ON, then OFF, while using it mobile. Rough on the outside, yet tough where it counted. When I did sell the rig, it wasn't an easy sell but finally I found someone who was just happy to get his first HF rig. Perhaps his first shack was like my first shack - a piece of wood for the table, cut to the width of a small closet, supported by cinder blocks. It wasn't pretty, and it wouldn't make the cover of a magazine, but it served it's purpose. I've tried to maintain the same "if it works, use it" attitude throughout the years. Maybe one day in the future, I'll have a shack decked out with new looking rigs & other various gear, dusted and arranged perfectly on an expensive desk......nah, just kidding.

See the first definition of a Radio Zombie - it's "Elitist". These are the guys that (usually) are found on various HAM group websites quick to point fingers and slur a fellow HAM with their smarmy term General "Light" or HAM "Light". I don't know who came up with the term (used for new amateurs who weren't required to take and pass a code exam), comparing it to beer (REAL beer tastes good; LIGHT beer is not as good) but it's been picked up by similar minded amateurs that seem to look down upon the new breed of Amateur Radio operators who became a HAM after the Morse Code element was dropped from the exam. They're also quick to talk about how hard it was for them years ago with stories that started off with something like: "....in the olden days I had to do 5wpm on the way to school, and 15wpm on the way back", so any other HAM prospect should do the same.

If it weren't for the influx of all the new hams this past decade Amateur radio in the US would be facing the prospect of losing frequencies due to lack of use (and declining membership). The smarmy guys attitude is a slap in the face to those who have recently joined the ranks. Many HAM radios newbies probably wouldn't have become HAMS at all if it weren't for the FCC dropping the code requirement - not because it was too hard for them, but because it was of no interest to them. To the new tech savvy breed of Amateurs taking a code test to gain a foothold, or, further privileges, would be akin to someone taking their first drivers license test and having the person in charge say "Okay you've passed the written exam, but before you taking the driving test you'll have to demonstrate your ability to handle a horse and buggy".

But before you slap a "HAM-LIGHT" sticker on my car, let me tell you that I passed my code test back in the 80's and yet I don't feel the slightest twinge of elitism towards those who didn't have to take the exam. Personally, I like cw, but I recognize the fact that not everyone does and they shouldn't be looked down upon because they came to the dock after the CW boat sailed. The ones that do feel that way, seem to think that the CW test helped weed out the bad seeds, but from what I've heard (when the code test was mandatory) on EXTRA portions of the band, morons have no problem learning Morse code.

They also forget to mention those who, while not having taken the CW exam to get their license, chose to learn it anyways. At times it's hard to believe that I'm still hearing this nonsense, yet other times I'm not, because this "If I had to do it so does he" way of thinking is across the board; in your job, hobbies, and life in general. For those of you, who like me, bear no ill will to our new Amateur friends please remember that sometimes, the parent has to sit the oldest child down and tell them that just because he had to take out the garbage every night when he was 8, doesn't mean his younger sibling has to do the same thing now....

Times, circumstances, and rules, all change! 73, Woody

2010-06-15T10:54:00.003-05:00

WHICH "USED" WOULD YOU BUY?

Years ago there was either "NEW" or, "USED", followed by "REFURBISHED". "NEW" is basically the same, although you'll see a second version of it when it's described something like: "Brand NEW in the box blah-blah-blah radio! But, I opened the box to check everything out, and take these pictures. Oh! and don't mind the stain on the owners manual or slight scratch on the cabinet because it happened during my brief test of the rig".

"USED" however is a really crazy category! I've tried to write down the variations as I run across them, but I'm sure that there are some mutations of "USED" I haven't seen in the wild yet, but here they are:

Used
Briefly used
Gently used
Slightly used
Partially used (??)
Used, but needs a little TLC
Used. It's not really used but the box is open so I'm calling it "used".
Used once.
Used. Have owned for a year and only used it 5 hours.
Used, or? Estate sale find (pass)
Used -almost NEW.

So..........which "USED" do you buy?

Woody

2010-06-14T09:59:00.003-05:00

WOULD YOU BUY AN OLD BOX FOR $99?

I DIDN'T THINK SO...

2010-06-11T10:13:00.003-05:00

LATEST POLL RESULTS

Question: WHO DO YOU USUALLY BUY YOUR EQUIPMENT FROM?

HRO - 3

AES - 2

Support local dealer - 1

2010-06-10T17:54:00.002-05:00

FIELD DAY

For all of the "Field Day" groaners out there, complaining about the lack of modern conveniences, here's a Field Day video from 1950 to watch!

2010-06-09T17:06:00.012-05:00

"THE ENEMY BELOW...."
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A few of you might remember the WWII movie "The Enemy Below". It's one of the movies that I like to watch occasionally, starring Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens (directed by Dick Powell). Unlike other WWII films, this one boils down to one man (Mitchum on a Destroyer escort) and Jurgens (in a U-Boat). Each commander has to anticipate the next couple moves of his opponent, or, he and his ship lose (kinda like a game of chess), the classic "cat and mouse" battle.
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This scenario has been adapted several times on TV shows, one of them being "Star Trek". I don't remember the name of the episode but it had to do with the Enterprise vs. a Romulan ship. Kirk was getting the crap blasted outta the Enterprise because the Romulan ship was using a cloaking device, so he steers his crew into some area where sensors on either side would make them both blind, thus pitting the captain of each vessel into a duel-of-wits. Once again, like a Chess game, each captain has to figure out his opponents next moves so he can win. So where am I going with this? good question....
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Chasing rare DX is very similar to this. Not only do you have to move to the other stations receive frequency, but you want to anticipate his next frequency shift so that you can beat the rest of the madhouse trying to make the same contact. It's easy to practice,just find a station doing the split frequency and as he shifts his receiving frequency, pay attention to each one because many times you'll figure out the method to his madness and predict where he will be on the next shift and then the shift after that. It can be a band you don't even have the right antenna for - as long as you can receive him, you can learn, play the game, and when you're chasing some rare Dx - be prepared.
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For example: The other day on six meters I heard some DX faintly in the background. I couldn't quite get the callsign (his English was so-so, as was my Spanish) but he would call on .125 and end with "listening on .xxx". I'm pretty sure that a lot of the stations trying to get back to him either didn't hear that part, or understand it's significance because they were creating a mini-pileup on .125. You'll hear similar things on the lower bands, many times when a rare call is used. They transmit on one frequency and listen on the other, sometimes moving the receive frequency up or down every so often. So, give it a shot and practice. There is no down side, and the up side is making contact with a station you need without 1,000 watts...
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73
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Woody
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2010-06-07T15:16:00.004-05:00

MAKE EACH DOLLAR COUNT

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These days, money is tight and if you want to purchase equipment it pays to shop around. A recent post of mine addressed new equipment and accessory purchases but what about "USED"?
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Sure, there's Ebay, but there is also QTH.COM, or, HAM dealers that sell used or consignment gear (i.e.- HRO). I perused their list today and found an ICOM SP-21 external desk speaker in excellent condition for only $60. You'd pay at least $20 more on Ebay. Looking for a dual-band HT? How about an ICOM T-90A for $165? Surprisingly, I also found a Kenwood TS-50 for only $385! Nothing about that TS-50 is a real surprise except for their description:
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"Description : Good condition/mod. (transmits on CB) Manual power cord."
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What is surprising in the description is "transmits on CB". I don't think I've ever seen that from a HAM store listing. Ebay - YES, HAM store - NO. How do you feel about that? [lemme know].
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I make it a practice to check used/consignment listings at least once a week and I've found several deals that were too good to pass up, and maybe you should too - you might save enough money to buy a new desk mic, watt meter, or other accessory.
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Woody
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2010-05-26T12:31:00.004-05:00

EXIT, STAGE RIGHT.......

As Sunspot No.1072 moves towards the right (and away from Earth), a small speck has appeared higher, to the left, and may be another Sunspot emerging. See SpaceWeather.com for more info (click-on-the-pic).

2010-05-24T11:36:00.000-05:00

"CYCLES OF SELLING"
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Just about any radio item on Ebay goes through selling cycles which start low, then quickly rise to a peak, dropping nearly as fast as it began.

Six months ago, if you owned an FT-100 separation kit, you could name your own price - they seemed to be virtually one of those Avatar-like resources "Unobtainium". This caused a recent flurry of price vs. demand auctions on Ebay, as well as a healthy nostalgic demand for the FT-100/100D itself. Two or three months later the FT-100 "cycle" began to fade and today you can see 2 or 3 separation kits and several FT-100's up for auction at this time. Some of the higher priced FT-100's are from the cycle which just ended. They went unsold, then were re listed at a lower price. Ebay made it more expensive for those on the selling end of the business (between Ebay's "cut" and Paypal, you can expect a 14% loss on your auction). But I digress...

Last year I observed a frenzied cycle for Kenwood SM-220 station monitors. Once again, they weren't plentiful until suddenly one went for auction and sold for nearly $500 (and this was without the pan adapter). As the cycle reached it's peak it was easy to find SM-220's on Ebay, sometimes 3 or 4 per week, until the supply outgrew the demand and it became hard to sell one for over $200. You never know when the cycle will hit for something you own, but when you do it's like having a stack of twenties sitting in a pile collecting dust, which is hard to ignore. It then becomes decision making time, and quickly - you have to get it in while the cycle is high or face the prospect of the selling process not being worth your time at all......

2010-05-24T09:25:00.003-05:00

SUNSPOT NUMBER IS.....

2010-05-23T10:09:00.004-05:00

SPOT 1072

Sunspot Number 1072 has grown slightly since it emerged on our side of the Sun, go to SpaceWeather.com for the details.

2010-05-21T23:08:00.003-05:00

KENWOOD TS-590S

2010-05-18T16:57:00.003-05:00

A NECESSARY TOOL....
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Radio accessories come and go, and are usually the first things I sell when trying to get some new rig money, but one accessory/tool that has been with me for awhile is one that I find invaluable to have in my shack - it's MFJ's MFJ-259B antenna analyzer.
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I've only used but a few of this little gems features, but even those have kept me from pulling out anymore precious hair. Taken from MFJ's website, their description is:

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"Here's what you can do: Find your antennas true resonant frequency. Trim dipoles and verticals.Adjust your Yagi, quad, loop and other antennas, change antenna spacing and height and watch SWR, resistance and reactance change instantly. You'll know exactly what to do by simply watching the display. Perfectly tune critical HF mobile antennas in seconds for super DX -- without subjecting your transceiver to high SWR. Measure your antennas 2:1 SWR bandwidth on one band, or analyze multiband performance from 1.8 to 170Mhz! Check SWR outside the ham bands without violating FCC rules. Take the guesswork out of building and adjusting matching networks and baluns. Measure distance in feet to a short or open in faulty coax. Measure length of a roll of coax, coax loss, velocity factor, impedance. Measure inductance and capacitance. measure resonant frequency and approximate Q of traps, stubs, transmission lines, RF chokes, tuned circuits and baluns. Adjust your antenna tuner for a perfect 1:1 match without creating QRM. And this is only the beginning! the MFJ-259B is a complete ham radio test station including -- frequency counter, RF signal generator, SWR Analyzer, RF resistance and Reactance Analyzer, Coax Analyzer, Capacitance and Inductance Meter and more!"

Usually my 259 gets a tad dusty while it waits to be called into action, but whenever the call comes it doesn't disappoint. Recently I was trying to figure out if I had a problem with my AT-50 auto-tuner, coax, or antenna (apartment antennas are a bugger to get right anyways) so I pulled my trusty MFJ-259B from it's lair and within 10 minutes figured out what the issue was (ed. - thankfully not the AT-50). It's not just for base antennas either - use it on Field Day to check your portable antenna, or even that new mobile installation you just completed, plus, you'll be very popular with the local HAM crowd because there's always a HAM out there who is having difficulty and looking for someone with an antenna analyzer to help them out.
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POLL RESULTS: The question was 'are you a fan of DSP or not' and voting ended in a tie.

CW-DAVE sent in this photo of his current station, but rumour has it that his new FT-950 will be replaced with something new or something old shortly.
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73

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WOODY
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2010-05-17T03:20:00.004-05:00

"CW-DAVE....."
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I've known CW-DAVE for [pause while I'll pull out my abacus] 27 years now [ed. - where'd those years go by?] and he was my Elmer. I got a job in the early '80's as a computer field tech and he was one of those assigned to ride with me just to make sure I didn't blow anything up. The company sent me to their lengthy 4 week training class so when I returned I was filled with their mantra on repair which I took to heart and used on each call. I remember one specific service call on a paper feeder which had a history of failing every few weeks and Dave was riding along with me. Immediately I pulled out my VOM to check voltages when Dave kinda chuckled the way only Dave could do and looked to see what was so funny.
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"You know, there's a faster way to find the bad board so we can close out this call", he said, with a slight drawl.

"What's that?" I asked

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Dave dug around in his portfolio case [he didn't like to lug around the 50lb case most of us did] and came up with a small paper clip. Bending it just so, Dave replaced the blown fuse with the paperclip, I put the thing back together and he told me that we could go now and would find out exactly what component was bad within a week - "The easiest way to find it was to burn it up" he told me, adding "And it saves on callbacks". Sure enough, about a week later the client called in a service call on the sheet feeder and sure enough there was a crispy board. I replaced the board and never got another call from them about that again.
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Some time later, after Doug and I figured out we were friends, we started driving around with mag mount antennas on our cars. Dave came up to us and said he had something to show us in his car. We followed him out of the shop into the parking lot and he opened up the door so we could peer in at his mobile radio. It was the strangest looking CB I'd ever seen and I figured it must be some strange gray market brand - "ICOM??", I thought, "What kinda name was ICOM?". That's when we found out that he was a HAM radio operator, and what we were looking at was a 2 meter FM mobile. Even though it was hot and humid outside our interest was peaked, and Dave gave us a demonstration by calling one of his friends who was down near NASA on a simplex frequency. I was amazed that he could talk that distance from his car and began to think H-A-M.
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Dave, knowing we were CBer's, would occasionally insert something HAM related into a conversation, and then one day when we were just riding around took us to MADISON ELECTRONICS in downtown Houston. Walking in my jaw dropped as I gazed at a ton of radios both new and used and when we began to drool, Dave knew he had us. It wasn't long after that when we started studying for our Technician license during lunch breaks, with Dave pushing and testing us all the way. Doug and I took our exams at the same time, passed, and got call letters very that were very close (KB5CEJ/KB5CEM). After that, he started teaching us Morse Code and after what seemed like a long bitter re-programming of our brains, we passed the 5wpm so we could at least talk on 10 meters.
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Throughout the passing years, Dave and I have kept in touch; he's always a good one to throw questions at, and if I wanted to know about what a certain radio was like he was the man to ask because CW-DAVE bought and sold radios constantly - always wanting to try something new. I would estimate that he has owned and operated at least 70% of all the HF rigs every made, from COLLINS and DRAKE all the way up to the latest and greatest. Even if we weren't friends, I'd give him the title of "THE HAM'S HAM" and I look forward to another 27 years of bugging him with questions.....
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WOODY

2010-05-17T02:51:00.003-05:00

2010 HAMVENTION VIDEO
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From TonyNap1 on YouTube, this 7 minute video encapsulates "DAY ONE" and as I didn't go, a video was much better than reading about it. As I mentioned in a early post, some of the online dealers had online Hamvention specials; some good - some mediocre. Like last year, GIGAPARTS seemed to have the best prices on select radios [although unlike HRO or HAMCITY they charge for shipping], and like last year, the rigs with popular pricing sold out fairly fast. They had the lowest price I'd ever seen on the Yaesu VX-6R Tri-bander for $209 [HRO PRICE: $249 w/free shipping] and a good price on Kenwood's TH-480SAT @ $869 which sold out fairly fast. One other good deal I saw on their site was the Yaesu FT-950 for $1229, and it's now back to it's regular price of $1349. I checked out HAMCITY's website on Thursday to see what special pricing they had on Yaesu products, but there wasn't anything so good that you'd click that "AD-TO-CART" button.
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Locally, 10/11 meter band conditions were great, but not-so-great that it was too noisy, allowing me to make a QRP contact to Ohio, but being QRP [I think I was at 2.5 watts] it didn't last long. The weekend was busy in other respects but I still had enough time to make reservations for next years HAMVENTION - it will be interesting to see how well I follow through with those plans.

2010-05-14T12:57:00.002-05:00

KENWOOD ANNOUNCES 2 NEW RIGS

Kanagawa , Japan , May 7, 2010 — Kenwood Corporation, an operating company of theJVC Kenwood Group, is proud to announce the autumn/winter launch of two newAmateur Radio transceivers: the TS-590S and TH-D72.HF/50MHz All-Mode Transceiver - TS-590S (tentative naming)Featuring a 32-bit floating-point DSP, the TS-590S will offer advanced receiverperformance and an extensive range of features that make it ideal for beginnerand seasoned DX'er alike. The radio's exceptional ease of operation, true to theKenwood tradition, will be especially welcome for contest and mobileapplications.144/430MHz Dual Band FM Portable - TH-D72 (tentative naming)The APRS® capability found on Kenwood's TH-D7* and TM-D710 has been upgraded forthe TH-D72. Thanks also to the internal GPS unit, APRS operations will be moreenjoyable than ever. The TH-D72 also offers EchoLink® memory compatibility and amini-USB connector for enhanced computer connectivity. This transceiver is sureto make ham radio operations easier and more fun for all.* For overseas model/Discontinued modelAnyone interested in these two models will be able to view product samples at:Dayton Hamvention 2010 ( Dayton , Ohio , USA , May 14-16), andHAM RADIO 2010 ( Friedrichshafen , Germany , June 25-27).

2010-05-12T17:25:00.004-05:00

TELL US YOUR STORY.....
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On my website (see link) I have a page called "How I Got Started in Radio", and there are some really cool stories. I haven't had anything new to add for a couple of years and it could be due to the fact that most folks read this blog vs. the website. If you want to see what it's like, I've added a link on this page and maybe it will stir up your memory and put your fingers on the keyboard to write a story about how YOU got into radio (whether it be CB or HAM). Just send it to me via email and I'll get it posted as soon as possible. Everyone likes to hear about how someone else got into the hobby (ed.- and I'm no exception) and I'd like to see some more adventures on that page so we can all enjoy it!
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73
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WOODY
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2010-05-11T15:47:00.002-05:00

HAMVENTION

Just a quick reminder that you don't necessarily have to go to Dayton to get a special price on a new rig. Several online sites (Gigaparts) had some great prices last year, but they change by the day and sometimes by the hour, so if it's a good price - dive in.

Hamcity is another site that will offer some HAMVENTION Deals as well! Check their site Thursday night for lower than usual prices on Yaesu gear. I think HRO had something going online last year as well but I haven't verified whether or not they will do it again this year. From what I observed last year, as the days crept closer to Saturday/Sunday the prices crept up as well. I remember having a rig picked out on Wednesday and when I went back on Friday it was about $50 more; it was still slightly lower than an everyday price, but I kicked myself for waiting. One last hint: everything that had HAMVENTION sale prices online were for IN-STOCK items only! Once they sell whatever they have, the price goes back up again.

2010-05-11T13:54:00.003-05:00

FAVORITE SEQUEL POLL RESULTS

"The Empire Strikes Back" took the number one pick, with "Aliens", "Dawn of the Dead", and the "Wrath of Khan" coming in second. "Army of Darkness" came in third. A new Poll just started - Woody

2010-05-11T13:29:00.004-05:00

SAMPLE OF MY BOOK
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The long promised book is done, and currently going through grammar/spelling corrections but I wanted to let you see the Forward and 1st Chapter. The book is a mix of history, nostalgia, with some in-depth looks at some of the people that made CB fun and interesting. Total pages - 160.
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If you notice, the cover has "VOLUME ONE" on it as this book is the first of three that I'll be writing. When I got everything together I realized that I had over 500 pages of stuff to go into the book and decided to break it into 3 parts, with the second one being a bit more technical. I still have to set it up for an Amazon e-book, and I'll have a few "hard copies" to sell as well. Click on the front page below to access the PDF file.

WOODY

2010-05-10T16:39:00.003-05:00

"MAILBAG......"
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CW-DAVE sent me this clip via email and it was a hoot!!

2010-05-08T09:57:00.009-05:00

FT-100/100D FINALS

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I mentioned an abundance of information for various radios via YAHOO GROUPS, and if you own a Yaesu FT-100/d and want a spare pair of finals (Motorola discontinued them some time ago) then look for the fellow that occasionally has them for sale. He (or someone) goes overseas and buys them in lots of ten and sells them to those who have signed up to buy a pair. I believe these finals are the same as the ones used in the first two ICOM IC-706 models as well. In keeping with our throwaway society I suppose this fits right into that scheme, but I can't help thinking about how easy it is to find parts for rigs made decades before the FT-100 was even thought of (including the tube finals). You never know when the fickle finger of fate will lay itself on your radio, and that can make you a bit nervous - myself included, so I think it's time to tempt fate no more, sell my FT-100, and let someone else lose a little sleep.

WOODY

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ANSWER TO PREVIOUS QUESTION POLL, "WHO WAS GENERALLY KNOWN AS THE FATHER OF OSCAR?" A: Don Stoner

2010-05-07T15:46:00.006-05:00

DUMB SELLER?
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OR, CAGEY LIKE A FOX?

EBAY AUCTION FOR "CB RADIO"

Ugh...so many things wrong with this auction, and I'm sure they've received emails telling them that this isn't a CB, yet no corrections. What an uninformed buyer does see is "This System works great. The mic has a transmit and Monitor button. I have had this plugged in for the last couple of days and I have caught several transmissions......" (Ed. - from outer-space?)

2010-05-07T10:12:00.005-05:00

SOMETIMES SOME THINGS "STICK"

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As a parent you hope that some of the things you try to teach your children stick with them as they become adults. But kids are pretty intuitive and observant without any coaching. On a recent lengthy drive from Houston to Dallas I was very happy to find out that my son Chris had been observing me for many years as he accompanied me to our twice-a-year Belton Texas Hamfest trip (and I suppose any other time we were on the road and I was on the 2-way).

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For our Dallas trip I had my Cobra 138xlr in "Moby", while we installed my E.F.Johnson 4740 in his truck. At one point, during a conversation with him I used some language which a non-radio person would be puzzled about and was just about to explain what that meant when Chris came back with correct reply.

"Wow, that was cool Chris", I exclaimed, "I wasn't sure you knew what that meant"

[Robin took a picture while I was talking to Chris]

Chris keyed his microphone and replied: "All those years of riding to Belton sunk in Dad". And that made my day. His first time using a radio, and without any coaching or cheat sheets and he sounded like a seasoned veteran. With one hand on the steering wheel, and the other gripping the microphone, Robin reached over and wiped a tear that formed in one eye. Yes, today one of my Son's had become a radio operator!

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73

WOODY
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2010-05-06T16:16:00.007-05:00

MORE TFW PIX

2010-05-06T14:56:00.003-05:00

"MEDICAL EMERGENCIES"

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Everyone seems to like doing studies on one thing or the other and I'm no exception. My idea came to me via an EBAY auction. My item was sold, and a day or two later I got the "I can't pay for this item due to a medical emergency..." email. If you've sold anything on EBAY I'm pretty sure that you've had similar situations, and after giving it some thought for awhile I realized that I've had at least four of these "Medical Emergency" emails since the first of the year, and who knows how many over years gone by.

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Having worn my brain out from all that thinking, I figured that some Government agency should spend a ton of money on a study to determine if people who are magnets for medical emergencies are sucked into EBAY for the purpose of screwing up an auction. So if you happen to be a Government agency who is looking for a reason to spend money on a study - this could be it....
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73
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WOODY
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2010-05-05T16:16:00.011-05:00

TEXAS FRIGHTMARE WEEKEND

2010

2010-04-28T10:43:00.004-05:00

DEAR YAESU.....

I'm a member of a lot of Yahoo Radio "Groups", one of the more fervent being the FT-817 group. If you have questions, it's a good place to get answers (search the message base before asking though), especially when it comes to the type of portable antennas that are being used, along with associated tuners and their "Pros & Cons".

It wasn't long ago that someone started a "WISH" thread - something they'd like to see on the next generation of 817's. There were many additions to the original wish, but I didn't recall seeing something that I'd like to see, and could possibly be done by either Yaesu or a 3rd party manufacturer. My wish: a deluxe external microphone, similar to the MH-29 speaker/mic (which is why I used my picture of the MH-29 to reference what I wanted).

The microphone would have a display on it which would indicate frequency, signal strength, mode, voltage, and whatever internal features were activated (in my example I just have the noise-blanker on-screen). The up/down buttons on top of the mike would change frequency in either direction, and you'd have a double row of buttons below the display, each having their own function with 2 programmable buttons. The "AMP" button would activate or deactivate the microphone amplifier (a circuit similar to the One Big Punch), while the Dx/Bx button would allow the operator to choose between two different internal microphone elements (imagine an HC-5/4 combo). This would let the portable wanderer have his trusty FT-817 slung from a shoulder strap or secured on backpack, and be able to talk and walk without having to actually fumble around with the transceiver. Yeah, I know - it's pipe dream, however, it's MY pipe dream....

WOODY
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2010-04-27T06:06:00.003-05:00

REVIEW: SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD

In this latest installment of George Romero's Zombie series I think Robin and I watched the movie much like it was filmed - half asleep (in some cases, sleep writing, acting, etc.). There's not a lot to get excited about here; Yes, there is actually a character carryover arch that you don't usually find, and yes, there's a zombie who likes to ride horses, but even Mr. Romero himself has said that he didn't plan on doing another zombie film (after "Diary of the Dead") for at least another four or five years until the studio waved a bunch of money at him. I'm not sure if the wait would have helped, and George is such a good Director it's a shame that he doesn't get much chance to do it unless Zombies are involved.

Imagine a zombie movie on an Island that is populated (present day) by two feuding Irish families that dress and talk like cowboys, located off the US coast, then figure it out yourself. The film is being shown this weekend and perhaps one other before going direct-to-video.

2 stars out of 5

Woody

2010-04-24T10:51:00.002-05:00

INTERESTING..

For a similar interpretation about Radio Shack and the article in WIRED, check out the story on the ARRL website by one of their editors. I guess that article in WIRED was good enough to inspire a couple different memories about Rat Shack, etc. (either that or I better start wearing aluminum foil over my head to keep my thoughts from being read). I think I'll go with the WIRED article being so good.....

2010-04-22T11:23:00.000-05:00

RADIO SHACK

ALLIED/RADIO SHACK

1983 Catalog

Unfortunately Radio Shack (which back in the day wasn't even close to LRE) continues down the path towards becoming just another cell phone store. I don't think it's the future they laid out decades ago, but more a matter of self preservation - they want to survive. They are even marketing themselves as "The Shack" in commercials. Lord, the price you pay to be cool. The other stuff we used to depend on them for (resistors, capacitors, bread boards, wire, solder, transistors, etc.) have all but disappeared completely from many Radio Shack stores. I have one close to me and it still has a few things that I can count on, for instance, resistors. I stopped there in search of a resistor to do the fan mod for an FT-100D, and found it. It wasn't easy to find, but it was there. I could have gone to FRY'S, which is only about two miles further, but I thought that if the local RS had it, I'd support them.

If anyone subscribes to the magazine "WIRED", then check out the May issue. On page 076 they have a pretty good article on Radio Shack which starts off telling the tale of franchise owner Andy Cohen who has his store in California looking more like Lafayette Radio Electronics than Radio Shack. He and his manager stock a bunch of items for do-it-yourself solder heads like myself, and have a loyal customer base of local experimenters. The article is 5 pages, which seems like a lot considering what the "Shack" does now, but it does tell the story of a company trying to stay in business. It also led me to Mike D'Alessio's very cool website! Mike took almost 70 years of catalogs, scanned them, and put them online so with just a mouse-click you can pick one and start flipping pages (a link to the website can be found with my other favorite links on the right).

I've been busy with another project or two, and haven't kept any posts going, but after reading the article and Mikes' website I thought I'd jump over to the blog machine and let ya know about it -

Woody
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2010-03-27T11:30:00.006-06:00

MARCH 24th...

March 24th was like any other Wednesday, yet unlike other weekdays. Robin surprised me with a planned getaway to Bed & Breakfast hideout in the area of Cat Spring, Texas. As you'll see from the photos, it wasn't without it's amenities, however I did suffer brief withdrawal from lack of Internet or Television.

We were fortunate that a Pacific cold front was passing through which made for a nice rainy night, and a cloudless, cool day to follow.

I didn't come completely without electronic devices though, and it only took a few minutes for me to hook-up my Yaesu FT-817 to a mag mount to see if any DX was happening on 10 meters. The answer was "YES". The band was open just about everywhere I tuned, and many loud stations were heard coming from Australia, the South Pacific, and South America. A jump down to 11 meters confirmed that it too was hopping with signals, and finally I went to 20 meters to find LOUD stations booming in (sometimes 3/4 scale). I really (r-e-a-l-l-y) regretted not bringing my 20 meter stick, as it would have been a cinch to make my first General Class contact!

73, Woody

2010-03-16T12:45:00.003-06:00

"RANDOM NOTES..."

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Any TS-50 users out there? W4RT now offers DSP for your rig! I listened to the before/after audio samples and have to say that the addition of DSP really seemed to help. As usual, you have the choice of doing it yourself or paying a little more and having them do it (with a 2-day turn-around). They've had the DSP option for the FT-817 for some time now, but it's nice to see this option being made available for TS-50 owners.

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Someone has a very expensive Cobra 2000gtl (listed as "NEW-IN-THE-BOX") for about $1500!!! I suppose you'd have to be a really BIG fan of the 2000gtl to pay that price. You do a search on EBAY to find it...
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While we're on the EBAY subject, have you noticed the increase in final bid prices for the FT-101 series? They seem to have moved up a notch and now exist in the $400-$500 price range.
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Question: "Have you had any buying/selling experience w/Radio-mart?" If so, let me know how your transaction went.
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Blog changes. I made some changes to the Blog recently. You can now do a search through the entire blog and my favorite web links! Also, you'll see a "POLL" which will change fairly frequently.
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TIP: When you see an item come up for auction that hasn't been posted much (example: SM-220) it might be good to hold off paying that high price and sitting the auction out. Usually a flood of similar auctions will follow when HAM OP's will take notice and think to themselves "Damn, I didn't know I could get THAT much for this gear". Prices will slowly diminish, as the number of units for sale will outpace the limited demand.
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4Sale link. I added a 4sale link to the Blog so I could try to cut down on the percentage that EBAY takes on listing and end price amounts. Some items should appear in the next ten days or so, and I'll add items as I have time.
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Owners Manuals. I've been scanning a variety of manuals in PDF and will list the new selections on a future Blog post.
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BOOK REVIEWS. I've read one new book, and I'm halfway thru another. Look for the book reviews in future posts.
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The "Fiddler". Recently I've reconnected with the "Fiddler" [long time readers of "Nuff Said" on my website will be familiar with that name] and plan an excursion to his QTH in the next month. It was really good to hear from him and I'm determined to make the drive North ASAP.
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HAM CITY. I've done some purchasing from HAM CITY recently and give it two thumbs up! They handled the Internet order quickly, sent email updates, AND they're available on IM. Also, their website is one of the better organized sites on the Web (I found items quickly compared to HRO).
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RANGER has a new "Professional" mobile on the market, the PPR-TLM1. It's an unusual mix of features to say the least. I can see that long haul Truckers might enjoy the MP3 player, or perhaps the photo display, but how is it as far as adjacent channel rejection or front-end overload? And is it better quality and the usual Ranger? Time will tell.
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I'm sure that I've forgotten a few items, but wanted to get these up on the Blog before they too were lost in hazy gray matter....
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73, Woody
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2010-03-15T10:03:00.005-06:00

ZOO PIX FOR FAMILY MEMBERS

Robin checks map to see where monthly payment is made

WOODY

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2010-03-14T13:53:00.003-06:00

A DAY AT THE ZOO

We stopped by the Houston Zoo to drop off another monthly payment, but the day was so nice we decided to hang around for awhile, take in the sights, and take a few pictures (next post). Hope your Saturday was just as nice.

73, Woody

2010-03-06T21:06:00.001-06:00

DE, KB5CEJ /AG
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[Finally]

Yep, I studied, I went, I passed - it was a long time coming! Great Houston (BVARC) Hamfest too.

73, Woody....

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2010-03-05T12:33:00.004-06:00

THE RIG YOU LOVE TO BUY

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[AND SELL]

Just a personal observation, but there seem to be quite a few TS-480's on the market that start off like this: "It's less than six months old" (some are less than a month). So it makes me wonder why the quick turn-around? As a former TS-480 owner (ed. - yep, I confess) I loved the rig. It did everything I wanted it to do, and had a nice LARGE display. Loss of job forced me to sell it, but I'd buy another one day in a heartbeat!

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So, if you're a former TS-480 owner, and sold it so soon after purchase; let me know why you did it. I curious, and, if there is some glaring flaw that I missed, it would be good to know about it -

73, Woody

2010-02-24T13:45:00.012-06:00

ANOTHER "SK"....

We see, and hear of silent keys every month, some months more than others, some call signs register with you more than others. This past Sunday, W5MET became a silent key. Everyone in HAMdom knew him as "Frank". In the old days on 11meters we knew him as "Big Frank".

Big Frank lived just north of me in the early 80's when I lived in North Spring, Texas. At that time, he was the only guy I knew who was running a ham rig on 11 meters. I think at that time, I was using the Uniden Grant (pre-XL), or possibly a Hy-Gain V w/VFO (can't remember). What I do remember was Frank's impressive signal and audio, and that he worked for the now closed "Federated Audio/Video". He and another radio friend, who lived just a few miles from Frank (Steve, "The Voice of the Woodlands") were often cronies in various hijinks that occurred on the airwaves.

Later, when I existed in Sealy Texas I heard a familiar voice on a local repeater, whose name was Frank and took a stab at a QSO. Yep, it was "Big Frank", and we had a decent conversation that lasted my ride home. We made plans to try and get together on-the-air again, and perhaps at a local hamfest, but that was about 10 years ago, and well, we never did.

From what I hear, Frank died of a heart attack, and many of us (11meter/HAM) are just hearing about it. It would have been nice to get another QSO with him, but then, that's what happens when you put things off...

73, Woody

2010-02-06T13:12:00.005-06:00

SUNSPOTS REPORT

While they haven't jumped as high as expected, the sunspot numbers are gaining strength (Obama could only wish for his numbers to do the same), and from what I've read via K7RA's Solar Report, and other sites like "Space Weather.com", we've being doing pretty good for the last 3 months, with no reason to expect more of the same. On Space Weather's site I saw that there was a change of rain (medium sized solar flare), so let's see what happens.

Woody

2010-02-05T11:38:00.002-06:00

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER REPAIR

MORE ON THIS ONE LATER....

EBAY TRAM D201A - But at what price?

Perhaps older units in condition like this indicate an upwards movement in CB collecting? I guess I'll watch it and see if sells.

Woody

2010-02-02T11:11:00.000-06:00

GROUND HOG DAY 2010

Yep, time flies by and the next thing you know - it's Ground Hog day once again! I'm holding the sunspot ground hog and it saw it's shadow, which indicates a rise in Sunspot's (ed. - 'bout time).

Someone wrote me about a month ago looking for a "President" hand microphone. If you happen to read the blog today, this may be the one you were looking for:

Both 11 AND 10 meters are open this morning, so fire up those rigs and do some talking!!

73, Woody

2010-01-26T09:35:00.001-06:00

From "BOING-BOING"

1956, Mardi Gras, Hams, and Photography -

WOODY

2010-01-25T17:16:00.004-06:00

"DAD'S 83rd..."

After a few false starts, we finally got together to celebrate my Dad's 83rd birthday (which was actually January 2nd). Attending the seafood feast was Chris and Ada, Robin, Glenn, myself, and of course...the birthday boy - Dad.

2010-01-22T09:47:00.007-06:00

"NBC, LENO, CONAN, AND..."

We seen all the stuff on TV, online, and even heard about it on the local radio stations, but I hadn't seen this one until this morning:

2010-01-21T17:36:00.001-06:00

OTHER NEWS...

Just the other weekend the local Amateur Radio store had it's annual FREE hotdog day/swapmeet, and while I didn't make it, here's a video from a HAM RADIO OUTLET store which had the same -

And, while looking around, why not visit a HAM "SHACK"?

Meanwhile..... Doug - KB5CEM, sent a link to this article, which while giving Amateur Radio some press, the writer seemed to think that it was "Low Tech". Thanks for sending that link in OM, and my wallet wishes it was only "Low Tech".

73, WOODY

2010-01-20T21:06:00.000-06:00

"Maunder Minimum"

I'd never heard of this term until just recently, while perusing the latest QST. If you get QST, then you're already familiar with the article called "Where Are the Spots?"

The author mentioned the possibility that our lack of sunspots was due to the "Maunder Minimum", a 70 year period where Sunspots were almost non-existent. Of course, this puts the fear of GOD into a HAM when he realizes, if true, he'll be dead before the Sunspots are blooming again - so, I googled it. Here's one sites explanation. I hope that this QST article was written a month or so ago, before we saw an increase in spots, and activity. As I write this post, 10m is fairly active, but I tend to think it's more weather related than sunspots, but I'll keep my fingers crossed that it is Sunspots. WOODY

2010-01-19T21:48:00.004-06:00

THE SECRET IS OUT....

The A.R.R.L. has been busy working on their revamped website!! It's supposed to be easier to get around and more user friendly. The new website goes active the first week of February.

Woody

2010-01-14T22:25:00.004-06:00

"SMITH & WESSON"

This one is a first for me. I never knew that there was a radio made under the Smith and Wesson name. This one is on Ebay, currently being sold as a CB, but it looks more like something that would go in a boat, or police vehicle.