I'm Back

A belated Merry Christmas all.
The last several days have been somewhat busy as you may expect with Christmas. We did not do very much or go anywhere. We did go see my parents Christmas Eve.
Christmas day it was just the wife, kids and I. It was nice.
We watched a couple of movies and I watched the wife and kids play the Wii system that Santa delivered.
I hope to catch things up tomorrow. I was going to today but fell ill.

My Ham Shack

On Friday November 20th I posted a picture of my Ham Shack. That photo has now been downloaded 216 times. Who knows how many times it has been swiped off of QRZ.
I can not help as to wonder who took my photo and why. I how ever did see my photo being used by other hams as their own personal shack. That really pisses me off.

I have a guest book, please let me know why you needed my image. Leave a comment on the original post or this one. Maybe I should post the IP address of all those that stole my image. Then again, who really cares? It is my shack and no one can claim it other then my XYL.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to the most Amazing Lady I know.
My wife. Melissa.
She is my Best Friend, Lover and Soul Mate

Christmas Trilogy

We just got our "Trans-Siberian Orchestra" box set in the mail today. "The Christmas Trilogy". The kids,wife and I can not wait to see them in 2 weeks.

WHEN AURORAS COLLIDE

A continent-wide network of all-sky cameras has photographed a never before seen phenomenon: colliding auroras that produce explosions of light. The must-see images have solved a long-standing mystery of Northern Lights. Get the full story from Science@NASA.
source

CURIOUS EVENTS IN NEBRASKA

"Last night, Dec. 16th at 9 p.m. CST, a very bright meteor lit up the completely overcast sky like lightning in southeast Nebraska," reports Trooper Jerry Chab of the Nebraska State Patrol. "It flashed for approximately 2 seconds and was followed by sonic booms and ground shaking, which prompted many calls by the public to law enforcement in a three county wide area." Meanwhile, the USGS says there was a magnitude 3.5 earthquake near Auburn, Nebraska, at 8:53 pm, about the same time and place as the fireball. This map shows the nominal epicenter:

"If the earthquake is confirmed, as it appears to be, I think we have the most cosmic of coincidences: A large fireball around the same time of an earthquake," says Chab. "I am simply amazed!"

One possible interpretation of these events is that a small asteroid hit Earth's atmosphere and caused the ground to shake when it exploded in mid-air. However, the timing might not be right. The quake seems to have preceded the fireball. Several readers have pointed out studies that associate lightning-like phenomena with earthquakes: #1, #2, #3. So, the earthquake might be responsible for both the shaking and the light show. Or it might be a big coincidence just as Chab suggests.

More reports could help sort out the possibilities. Readers in Nebraska with photos or eyewitness accounts are encouraged to submit their observations.

source

My Net Control Experience

Tonight I held the Net on the W8ZHO repeater, 146.94- (94.8) W8ZHO is the repeater owned and operated by the MUSKEGON AREA AMATEUR RADIO COUNCIL, MAARC.
We had 7 checking tonight and the topic I chose to do was,
HF Radio Propagation and Sunspots
- an overview of the basics of the effects that sunspots have on HF radio propagation and radio communications in general including two way radio communications, maritime mobile radio communications, mobile radio, radio broadcasting and amateur radio communications.

The NET started out fine until about 5 minutes into it my doorbell rang, the dogs were going nuts. I grabbed my HT and made it to the living room where I discovered that our church was here to treat us to some Christmas Caroling. OH BOY………..
I did not know what to do. The wife was out getting groceries and the kids were involved with an X-Box game. I unlocked the front door and yelled to my son, "Tell them Mom is gone and Dad is unable to talk/visit."
How rude was I?
I made it back to my room and continued with the Net. Mean while, I could hear the church singing, my son stood there by himself with the door open, the dogs got loose and I was committed to doing the net.
The wife made it home in time to see the church group get into there van and to see my son chase the dogs. She opened her truck door and the dogs jumped in.
I did not know the dogs had gotten loose until I was done with the net. Whew…….I got through another Net.

Saturday Dec. 12 2009

You can see where the snow is in Michigan. Not a cloud in the sky right now.

What a beautiful day it is so far.
It's Saturday, got a busy day planned with the family. First, the wife is making a big breakfast right now, then we are off to do some shopping for more Christmas Decorations, gonna stop and visit the parents, then off to down our Christmas Tree. Tonight the tree should be up. I hope I can do this all with out my mid morning nap.

Hawaii; Biggest Waves in Five Years

This is a cool article. It also has some really awesome photos. I'd rather float on an iceberg rather than sitting on a stick in fifty foot waves.
Cool Photos

Thousands of spectators and surfers are flocking to Hawaii's beaches to see the biggest waves in years crash ashore.

Heavy traffic backed up for miles yesterday along roads leading to Oahu's North Shore. Some of the world's most daring surfers took on the powerful and dangerous waves, which forecasters say could reach heights of 50ft (15 metres) by tomorrow.

The surf grew so large that a few beaches on Oahu and Maui were closed because lifeguards feared inexperienced sightseers could drown, according to state officials.

Surf's up as biggest waves in five years come to Hawaii after North Pacific storm

Winter Storm December 8, 2009

It looks like we are going to see some weather over the next few days. This afternoon the wife and kids are going to put up the outdoor Christmas Lights. Hope they get it done before the storm hits. Remember to check your local weather for updates, listen to your weather radio. I am not a metorolgist, just a weather nut so seek professional weather reports. I have many links on my blog, I do not take responsibility if they are wrong or do not know what they say.

ICOM IC-706MKIIG Is to be No Longer

Amateur Radio Victoria reports that the Icom IC-706MkIIG transceiver will definately cease production.

In a news report just received, they say:

Despite deniers in the USA, it has been confirmed that Wednesday 9 December is the last day that the ICOM plant in Wakayama, Japan will produce the IC-706MKIIG transceiver.

ICOM Australia said it has checked with Japan and been reassured that the earlier advice received that the popular transceiver has been discontinued is correct.

The reason is that some components used in the IC-706MKIIG are no longer available and the model had to cease production.

For more on this story see the news section of the Amateur Radio Victoria website

My "No-Excuses" 160 Meter Vertical

I now have all the materials need to make my 160 meter vertical. I plan on starting this project with my son this Friday evening. Not for sure how long it will take, I plan on having it in use a week from now.
I will try to document our progress with photos and plan on posting them here.
Here are the plans that we will be using.
We may change a few things. Stay tuned.