Ham Shack Update

I may have been quiet on this blog, but I have not been quiet on the airways.  I am a regular on a local 2meter net as well as a net that I access through Echolink.  I am giving a try to being a net control and learning that.  I am doing well at that and just have to get rid of the nerves.  It is no different that just talking to friends around a table and they let me guide who talks next. For some reason it still seams scary and unnaturally to me but I have a feeling that will go away with time since I am getting more comfortable about it.

I have added a mobile radio that I am using as a base station.  The hand held came first followed by echolink. The three together has made for a nice base of equipment to start from.  From here, I need to figure out what functionality and what bands and what modes I want and need to get the biggest bang out of my ham radio dollars.  Being able to run the radios on and off grid is one important goal for me as well as getting a better antenna.  Being able to work digital sounds interesting but there is some learning to be had to see what is needed to pull that off.  Recording the ham radio adventure and what I have learned in this blog is also a goal that I have not been doing very well.

Ham radio is a huge hobby with a lot of avenues to explore.  Sounds like I just may never be boarded with it as long as I am trying something new.

Another Radio Club

I found out about another radio club at this website Here. I wish I had found this sooner. Really not sure why I did not. Closest thing I figure is that I have been busy and not giving any one project or hobby enough time to get things done. I am really hoping if not to get less busy in the new year, then at least better focused so I can get better results and more done. I have gotten my license which is really, really good but have done little else or at least little else resulting in anything. I got a feeling that once I can get my logjam broken up, then a lot of things will get better including my ham radio activity. Here is hoping.

There' a new ham in town

Another Fort Wayne Hamfest came and went and this time I took the plunge and got my technician license. Fortunately for me, I passed and I get to start transmitting as soon as my call letters come in. I wish I had known they let you take as many levels as you want as long as you keep on passing. My goal was to get my technician license and that is what I got which is good but I could have gone further on the same money. The important thing is that I got my foot into the door and I can aim for the other two levels next year.

There was one thing that made me kinda sad though, I could tell that the economy has really been taking its toll. The number of vendors at the hamfest seamed to be really down from the ones I have been to earlier. I do not know what that means for the further of the hamfest but I am hoping it continues or grows as things hopefully get better. At worst, I hope it just means it goes to a smaller venue and continues on. It takes money and attendance to keep any convention going. Money is tight and I am not seeing that change anytime soon unless it is going to tighten up even more. I would absolutely love to be wrong on this. I just hope things like hamfest do not fall in the mean time. I have enjoyed them in the past and now that I got my initial license there, I am always going to be fond of them.

The biggest help in studying that I had was an app for my android phone called ham study. It is portable so it let me study anywhere and the information I got from it was spot on. I will definitely be using it to go for the general and the extra class ticket.

Speaking of where I want to go next with being a ham, I am hoping to go to next year's hamfest and get the next two upgrades to my license. I am also going to trying to get my equipment so I not only know where it is but also set up and ready to go do whatever projects and abilities that I want. It is definitely going to be a year of research, learning and skill obtaining. I have scanners that I will using to listen with to more than just the police bands. I will setting up Echolink and other computers programs to do the digital side of the hobby with. I will also be trying to learn more electrical stuff so I can be more than just an appliance operator. I do not know how much of a home brewer I will be but to know nothing of the equipment I am using is not my style either.

Before getting my license, I was scared of trying to get my license. Now that I have it, I both excited and scared to start exploring what I can do in the realm of ham radio. Hopefully, I can report back here after I learn a few things. It is a big world out there.

Local Clubs

So far I have found two local ham radio clubs. Only down side is that they are in Fort Wayne/Allen County rather than a bit closer to my location. It is not an outrageous distance away and I was able to hear an on air club meeting. That was cool for me. Between hearing the club meetings and some rag chewing, it is giving me a flavor of the local hams. One of the clubs has a website HERE the other one is HERE. I will be taking my time to pick a ham club. I want to make sure the club is a good fit. I do not want to sound like some hard ass but I have been burnt by civic groups before and without putting blame on anyone, it was a bad fit. I will not claim that either I or the group was 100% clean on it going bad. I just want to make any dealings I do good for everyone. Maybe I am just getting some smarts as I get older.

Fort Wayne Ham Fest

I said I was going to try to have or get my ham license by the Fort Wayne Ham Fest. This year it will be on November 19th and 20th. I might get it before that if I am ready and able to get it at a testing site before then but that is the latest I want to go unless all plans get totally nuked. Considering the time line I have given myself, i should have ample time to get it done. Hopefully, I have not given myself too much time and waste it all. I have a hard result with a hard deadline. Let us get on with it.

Ham Operator in the making

This blog has been dead for a while. I think it is time for a resurrection. The reason being that i finally got myself a 2 meter hand held ham radio. The motivation to get my ham license has gone from wishful thinking to time to get this done by November and the Fort Wayne ham fest. I am hoping to use this blog not only to tell of my trip to becoming a ham but the trip of me being a ham. We shall see how the future will unfold.

Random Post

I have not been posting for a while but hey, life gets in the way. I have som enews from these parts on the rf front. First of all, WAWK, the local daytime only AM station has picked up a FM station so they can go 24/7. I am happy about this since they are an excellent station with local flavor. I just hope they do not go corporate. I am not against comercial radio since they have to pay the bills somehow but I do not care for corporate radio that sounds the same no matter where you go. WAWK may not always be the most polished station but they do handle local information and entertainment and the needs of the community much better than any station that follows some corporate formulam into service for success. I will get off my soapbox for now but there it is.


The other piece of news is that my wife and I have been doing some cleaning around the house. I have found some of my old radios I have not used for a while. I think it is time to press them into service. It remains to see what will come of my use of them. Hopefully, this mean si will be getting into the hobby more and maybe, just maybe I will be posting tp this blog more. Time will tell.

WBCQ

This is not the freshest news but WBCQ has been cutting its hours to save on energy costs. I understand that between the economy and energy costs, things have been getting tight. I am not happy that the hours have been cut. I really enjoy WBCQ and the programming they bring to the airwaves. I also agree with their free speech position stance. (for the most part anyway, I don't think there is anyone who i totally agree with). I hope they can get programers to help keep the station open. I also know the economy is not only getting ugly but is already down right mean. I understand that people don't have the money to spend on broadcasting a show. I don't either. I hope the people can and are interesting do s to help keep this station on the air.

Listening in

I am starting to listen to shortwave a bit more again. I actually caught WBCQ's Area 51 for the first time. I must be in the wrong spot or just listening in at the wrong time. I usually depend on the internet feed to hear it. I love the internet feeds but it is not the same as getting ti over the air. Somehow getting the dirty analog signal is more pleasing the clean digital signal. Who knew?


I also picked up Voice of Russia for the first time in many a moon. I am wondering if propagation is improving. It would be nice. I have gotten very lazy about turning the radio dial and just doing the net stream.Internet feeds are great but it is not the dx hobby. There is a lot of good info online so I praise it but it can also a distraction from turning the knobs and listening to the airwaves. I would just use the old excuse of that there is never enough time but it falls hollow but it is also very true. I am very much the slacker about my hobbies and divide my attention too thin.

The Monster Club

I enjoy Old Time Radio and I also enjoy monsters and horrors stories. That is why I am bring the website, the Monster Club. The link for it is here. Enjoy!

The Ace Online

This week's website is dedicate to clandestine radio. It is always neat to hear what you may or may be suppose to. Check it out here.

Circuits Anyone?

I have neither gotten into the transmitting or the building part of the dx hobby but both have been calling in my ear. There is at least one blog that does look into building transmitters. It is here.

The Mercury Theatre on the Air

On thing I enjoy is old radio shows and one of those is Mercury theatre on the air. There is a website with their shows. It is here. Enjoy!

Radio Jamba International

Another member of the WBCQ family is the Radio Jambe International. Yeah, I have been focusing of WBCQ lately for the Weekly Webness but I am gong down a line of finding. Enjoy their website here.

CFL and weird Radio Reception

I love the Canadian Football League and have not been able to follow since I moved away from the Detroit area. (I miss CBC TV). On Saturday, I found out that my favorite CFL team was playing so I looked the Edmonton station that carries their games on the web. They were playing the Hamilton, Ontario team. This is were it starts getting weird or not so weird in this age of the internet. I was listening to a game being played in Hamilton being carried by an Edmonton, Alberta Radio station website while I was in Indiana. It was a getting streamed through my computer to a Fm transmitter so i could hear it through my radio because it has better sound than the computer.Talk about taking the long way around to getting the signal. My team lost but it was a fabu close game. It was decided by a touchdown in the last quarter. The geek side of me was loving the technology involved in bringing me the game. Yeah, this is not necessarily getting things via the airwaves but there is the RF tie ins so please forgive me. It is nice how technology gives you entertainment choices. Having usable choices is freedom. Got to love that.

Lumpy Gravy Radio Show

One of shows on WBCQ is the Lumpy Gravy Radio Show. It tends towards the psychedelic. Their website is here.

Blog Report

I am starting up the weekly websites again. Hopefully I will start listening more both over the air and using the net and be reporting in. i won't make any promises. I have never been all that consistent with this blog nor have I had the best material. I guess it shows with the lack of following of this blog but I am learning the hobby and it is kind of neat to note my own progress.

I have also caught Ragnar of Pirates Week fame on facebook.com o you might want to go check him out.

Listening in

Not much to report in. I am trying out to somw web radio streams. I found one that has some old time radio. I am also looking into some links to help start up the weekly webness on here again. Hoefully, I can also get some over the air listening and start posting to this blog more.

Area 51

Area 51 is the more free wheeling part of WBCQ's broadcast. It airs on 5110 and sometimes shares broadcasting with 7415. They also have a website which is here.

Conversations on Ubuntu and Linux

I have been exchanging a few emails with Fred Jodry about Ubuntu/Linux and has made me want to do another post about Ubuntu and Linux.


First of all, let me make it clear that I am not the most knowledgeable computer user out there but it is not like I don't know my way around a little bit. Take what I say with a grain of salt and do your research so I don't lead you wrong.

Second of all, my experience with Ubuntu or any other kind of Linux is rather limited so let me talk from where I do know. My experience is experimenting for he lat while with ubuntu fully loaded onto an 8 GIG flashdrive. I have been using that on an Acer notebook. It isw not th emost ideal set up but it has allowed me to have linux without doing a duel boot or doing a Linux only box, It also allows me to have a portable os that I can use on more than just my own computer so it allows me some flexibilty. It comes at the price of not being the fastest configuration. That is a trade off I am willing to make for now.

Thirdly, there are other flavors of linux out there. I don't know how fast or how well I will get in knowing them but hopefully now that I am using Linux, my knowledge of them will grow. There are some smaller versions of Linux that are better for older machines like Puppy Linux out there. I am not sure of the advantage of those so that is something to look into.

The question of cost came up about doing Ubuntu on a flashdrive. I got a an 8 GIG flashdrive for about $25 at Walmart. I will let the people out there decide on the relative merits of that. I have never done an os install before and I found it rather easy and took about an hour for the actual install. This did not include dowloading the file from the net which took forever it seams. Now that I have it, it does not take that time again if I install it again.

Trying out Linux and more specifically Ubuntu is very much an experiment in process. Worse yet, I don't always know what I am doing but I am learning.What I have learned is that is some really nice up side about using Linux and has opend some doors that Windows has not.

While I do not want to hear agruments about which is the best os, I would like to hear people's experiences with themn so I can get more informed about them. I am really on the learning curve with this.

Thanks Fred for your point of view and keep it coming.