Warning regarding Accessories connected to your Radio

Warning regarding accessories connected to your radio
Information from West Mountain Radio web site.
http://www.westmountainradio.com/content.php?page=supportpro
If you have a Rig Blaster or other interface connected to your 12 volt radio, DO NOT connect the negative terminal of the accessory to the negative terminal of your power supply. Here's why. If for any reason the 12 negative connection for your radio becomes disconnected from the power supply, the full current drawn by the radio will also flow through the ground loop circuit of the accessory. Your accessory will most likely fry and you may damage your radio. Connect the NEGATIVE wire of your accessory to the ground terminal on your rig, or use a wall wart (ugh). Better yet, to avoid ground loops, connect all your accessories to a separate DC source.
Example; use a 12 volt 10 AmpHour AGM battery, fused of course. The current draw on most of these accessories is in the milli amp range and will last weeks even if not turned off....

AIR 25 Inflated Antenna Tower for Amateur Radio & CERT

Quick Start Guide to setting up a 25 foot tall inflatable antenna tower invented by LTA Projects…and built especially for Amateur Radio and for CERT Teams. This is a revolutionary way to temporarily put your antenna up. Perfect where there are neighborhood restrictions on permanent antennas…or just to take your rig on the road with you. Or use it with a cell repeater if you’re an RV-er on the road looking for better cell reception at your stops in remote areas. It performs amazingly well in winds & is VERY safe to use. We have larger versions operating with Emergency Management and Law Enforcement all over the US. For more information or to purchase these affordable towers visit us at http://www.ltaprojects.com/

NYC Ops Situation Page

Access public content on the NYC Ops Situation
Page at....

http://www.vuetoo.com/nycops/Situationpagenews.asp?af=&sit=6443

KD8BIG / jinglemonster

I really love it when a fellow blogger finds my site. It is even more gratifying when they ask me to help promote their site.

Their Blog is located in my blog list~ Check them out.

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Hi,

I came across your blog, KD8BIG, while reading another radio blog. It’s a really cool site. Nice work!
I help run a blog on a jingles website, where we do have plans to regularly feature different radio stations. You can check out our first featured radio station here.
Since we do share a common interest for radio, I was wondering if you could help us out by putting a link on your site? We can return a link to yours if you'd like?
Please let me know if you’re interested.
Cheers!

www.jinglemonster.com.au
http://jinglemonster.com.au/our-blog/

VETERANS DAY 2011

"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations."

Asteroid 2005 YU55

2005 YU55, an asteroid larger than an aircraft carrier, is expected to pass by Earth at 6:28 p.m. EST today, but NASA says there is no chance it will collide with the Earth or moon.
NASA radars are monitoring 2005 YU55, an asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier, as it heads for a flyby of the Earth-Moon system later today. There is no danger to our planet. At closest approach on Tuesday, Nov. 8th, at 3:28 pm PST (23:28 UT), the 400m-wide space rock will be 324,600 kilometers away, about 85% the distance from Earth to the Moon. Professional astronomers are eagerly anticipating the flyby as the asteroid presents an exceptionally strong radar target. Powerful transmitters at Goldstone and Arecibo will ping the space rock as it passes by, revealing the asteroid's shape and texture in crisp detail, and pinpointing its orbit for future flyby calculations.

Asteroids this big have passed by Earth at similar distances many times before, but this is the first time astronomers have known about the flyby in advance. For instance, a similar encounter occurred in 1976 when 2010 XC15 split the distance between Earth and the Moon. Researchers didn't discover that space rock until 24 years after the flyby. The Nov. 8, 2011, passage of 2005 YU55 thus represents a rare opportunity for asteroid research.

Experienced amateur astronomers should be able to photograph 2005 YU55 as it zips through the constellations Aquila and Pegasus glowing like an 11th magnitude star. Even under the full moonlight of Nov. 8th, such a bright asteroid is within reach of mid-sized backyard telescopes. The timing of the flyby favors observers in western Europe and eastern parts of North America. Check Sky & Telescope for observing tips or go straight to JPL for the object's ephemeris.