FTM 350 and Begali CW Machine Review

YAESU FTM-350R Review along with the Begali CW Machine.

KD8BIG; Additional Blog Topics

So I have put a lot of thought into the many hobbies I have such as Amateur Radio, Collecting Stamps, Sports Memorabilia and Fly Tying. Yes, Fly Tying. I use to really enjoy fishing since I was a kid till 2006.
Fly Fishing was something I done when I was 13-25, taught by both my grandfathers. When they passed away I had no-one to fly fish with.
Now my son is into fishing and wants to learn about tying flies and the art of being a Fly Fisherman.
I have found my old fly tying rig and it looks like I need to order new material. It’s a far cry from antenna building but it is something I can do in my radio room or in my recliner.
Back to my reason to this post, I started a Stamp Blog back on October 2nd. I just have not really had the ambition to log out of one blog and log into the other and visa-versa. So I am considering re-establishing my KD8BIG amateur radio blog to KD8BIG, Amateur Radio Operator, Fisherman and Stamp & Sports Memorabilia Collector.
However, I am not going to change the URL or anything regarding this site. You’ll just see post on other hobbies of mine as well as Amateur Radio topics.
Stay Tuned.

Amateur Radio Antenna and Power Lines

It's a story we hear of so many times. Amateur Radio Operators installing an antenna and not paying attention. Please my friends, look above before installation.

A 22-year-old Venice woman was hospitalized late Saturday after she was reportedly shocked by a power line.

According to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, Rachel Hinkle was erecting a structure in the 300 block of Sea Grape Road just after 11:30 p.m. when it touched the overhead electrical wires.

Hinkle was taken to Venice Regional Medical Center in serious condition.

Power was restored to most of the neighborhood.

Continue Reading

Portable HF Station

This is cool. I got an e-mail and also discovered this is also posted on the SARC page.
It is a long video.

Graig VK3VCM has produced a 1080p HD video giving his ideas and tips on how to successfully operate full power portable HF.

The YouTube description reads:

My ideas and tips on how to successfully operate full power portable HF and have a great day operating an Amateur Radio HF Station outdoors.

There are two types of 'portable'... If you're planning on running a few watts QRP then 'portable' means a backpack and off you go... however if you want to run a bit more power portable, you'll need to consider a few extra things which are surprisingly easy to overlook... I know this because on a few occasions I overlooked them!

Hopefully this video helps or inspires someone, somewhere, to get out and operate portable! I'm keen to get your ideas and tips on how to make portable operation more fun and easier too.. please comment and reply with your own videos.

73, Craig VK3VCM

Watch How I operate my 100 watt HF Portable Amateur Radio Station by Craig VK3VCM

The Cool Thing about 2011

Just think, at 11:11:11 UTC time the date will read as 11:11:11 - 1-1-11.
The only thing cooler is November 11-2011. Then it will be 11:11:11-11/11/11

Happy New Years Noise Maker

Here we are again, some more Red Green. New Years Noise Maker

Happy New Year!!!!

de KD8BIG; Merry Christmas

Santa Claus Net

This is a re-post reminder

This was distributed to me via the
WestMichiganHams
yahoo group.

On December 24, 2010 @ 2200 hrs local time.

Gather your children, and grandchildren, around your radios for the annual Santa net.

While Santa is delivering presents around the world, the children can call for Santa, KD8DEG, and Santa will ask each child if they have been good little boy's and girls, and what they would like for Christmas.

Elf Radar Frank, N8UVI, will be giving Santa's location using NORAD, along with Elf Techno Dave, KC8PCL, scribing, both located at Santa's communications center at the North Pole.

You can find the "Santa Net" on the Lowell repeater 145.270 pl 94.8; also use IRLP: node 9617; & Echolink: Michigan Conference node 96170 .

73

The originator & Elf - N8UVI Frank
Santa - KD8DEG Tom
Elf - KC8PCL Dave

Please note the changes for the IRLP and ECHOLINK Node numbers. We have been given permission to use the Michigan Conference and IRLP nodes for the Santa Net. This enables the net to run Nationally and World Wide.

An Amateur Radio Christmas

A nostalgic look at the amateur radio operator's Christmas Holidays.

Amateur Radio Christmas Calls

Amateur Radio Christmas Calls.
-- G1FT -- **KR1S -- KR1NGL -- **NØEL -- N1CK--RE1NDR
**Issued Calls

de KD8BIG; Thank You

I just want to thank all of you who continue to stop by and read my little blog.
Yesterday I hit 10,000 visits on my blog.
Here is some of the break down;
631 =1-5 Returning Visits
315=5-10 Returning Visits
64 = 10+ Returning Visits
According to my site tracker 51% of my visitors are return visits. Not bad for an amateur. I realize much of my post are from others and I am just passing along the info. It still gives me something to do.

Thanks again

You can also follow me on Twitter.
http://twitter.com/#!/KD8BIG

SO-67 FM Suspended

Slow day for me today. Getting ready for the Christmas Holiday. The kids are home from school and the DX bands are already showing some congestion.

Got this in the E-Mail box this morning

Johann Lochner, ZR1CBC, reports that the FM Amateur Radio transponder on SO-67 is being temporarily suspended due to a probable radiation event.

On the AMSAT bulletin board he writes:

Last week the flash boot memory of a CAN controller on Sumbandila was corrupted by a probable radiation event. It does not affect satellite health but prevents activation of the amateur radio repeater, as the particular script detects an anomaly and aborts.

The same problem also occurred in October of 2009 and was corrected. However, the fix requires time consuming effort, which cannot be exerted immediately.

SO-67 repeater activations are therefore suspended. We apologize for any disappointment and hope to return to normal operations somewhere in January.

73 de ZR1CBC, Johann.

AMSAT Bulletin Board AMSAT-BB
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/

Southern African Amateur Radio Satellite Association (SA AMSAT)
http://www.amsatsa.org.za/

Rare Lunar Eclipse of Dec. 21st , 2010 (Up-Dated)

This is a Re-Post of my Dec. 10, 2010 post With update
Rare Lunar Eclipse of Dec. 21st , 2010
This eclipse is rare, only one previous instance of an eclipse matching the same calendar date as the solstice, and that is Dec. 21, 1638, the next one will be on Dec. 21, 2094, 84 years from now.
The eclipse begins on Tuesday morning, Dec. 21st, at 1:33 am EST (Monday, Dec. 20th, at 10:33 pm PST).
When to Look; The total eclipse lasts more than an hour from 02:41 am to 03:53 am EST on Tuesday morning, Dec. 21st. Any time within that interval is a good time to look. For other time zones, consult Shadow & Substance's animated eclipse.


More info; click here
and; click here

Preseus SDR info

I have received a few e-mails inquiring what I know about the Perseus by Microtelecom s.r.l. I do not have any experience with this item nor do I know of anyone who owns one.
What I have read thus far is that the Preseus is a software defined VLF-LF-MF-HF receiver based on an outstanding direct sampling digital architecture.
It features a 14 bit 80 MS/s analog-to-digital converter, a high-performance FPGA-based digital down-converter and a high-speed 480 Mbit/s USB2.0 PC interface.

The best I can do is providing you some links to which you may have already found. I think the yahoo group, (linked below) might be the best place to interact with those who have this interesting SDR Receiver.

Microtelecom Preseus page; click here
Microtelecom Preseus Software page; click here
E-ham reviews; click here
Universal Radio Inc/ Preseus; click here
Preseus Yahoo Group; click here

Desk Top Mic

My wife and kids asked me what last minute idea I had from my wish list under 200 dollars. Right away, the vision of The Fin came to mind. So, with any luck, I might have a pretty cool stocking stuffer coming my way.

The Fin, exhibiting a remarkable, natural, clear sound and designed especially for live sound, recording and broadcast applications. The exceptional performance is achieved by the use of a special magnet structure with a large 1 1/18" aluminum low mass voice coil assembly similar to the Heil PR 20. The frequency response is 60 Hz - 18kHz with that traditional Heil Sound mid range 'bouquet' at 4kHz, which presents incredible brilliance and presence. The Fin exhibits a tight linear cardioid pattern. The chrome finish is a special 'showchrome' where the steel body is copper plated and then double chrome plated producing a deep chrome finish. A blue molded internal foam windscreen inside the grill covers the large diameter Heil dynamic microphone element mounted in a specially tooled Sorbothane c shock mount.

The fun part of The Fin is the four blue L.E.D. lamps mounted inside. These can only be illuminated when using The Fin into one of the 3 pin balanced XLR inputs of a professional mixing console that supplies a + 48 volt d.c. phantom voltage down the balanced mic line. A small slide switch on the bottom of The Fin must be switched to 'ON'.


The Fin, by Heil; click here