Category Archives: From the OM

Opening Season for POTA (and fishing)

Posted on April 13, 2026 by robert

Yesterday I shook off my long-lasting winter blues and headed out for my first activation of 2026.  This was a shakedown trip to make sure I wouldn’t completely mess things up while testing a few new things.  I drove all … Continue reading →

Posted in Activation, From the OM, HamStick, KX3, P2P, Paddle, POTA | Leave a comment

2026 Hurricane Season Forecast

Posted on April 9, 2026 by robert

Due to the anticipated influence of El Nino (warmer than average water in the equatorial pacific), the anticipated number of Atlantic hurricanes is somewhat lower than average. This is Bob’s broken record – the time to prepare for the hurricane … Continue reading →

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Massive Solar Storm

Posted on November 12, 2025 by robert

Yesterday was Veterans Day, and also a major solar storm event.  The earth was impacted by two CMEs, resulting in one of the largest Ground Level Event in the last 20 years.  Folks flying at high altitudes were subject to … Continue reading →

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First SSB using QRP-Labs QMX

Posted on November 3, 2025 by robert

After building a QMX and QMX+, I decided to order another QMX for 20/17/15/12/10 meters, factory assembled.  Given high demand, it took about 6 months to build, and recently arrived.  I was a bit surprised since it arrived after all … Continue reading →

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Blue Sky Preparations

Posted on September 26, 2025 by robert

The song might say “Nothing but blue skies from now own”, but we can’t depend on that in New England.  Our peak hurricane season still has a few weeks left, and storms like Hurricane Sandy (October 29th) remind us to … Continue reading →

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Beware Puffed LiPo Batteries

Posted on September 8, 2025 by robert

Back in 2021, I was working with a young ham looking to learn Morse code.  As he was blind, many of the tools commonly used, were not as useful.  I stumbled upon the Morserino-32, a wonderful device from Willi OE1WKL, … Continue reading →

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First POTA Award for 2025

Posted on January 9, 2025 by robert

There is ALWAYS something to do with Parks On The Air

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Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

Posted on October 16, 2024 by robert

This is seriously off topic, but there was good viewing of comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS about an hour after local sunset here in Rhode Island tonight.  It was fairly easy to find using a smartphone camera, but I had to wait a … Continue reading →

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Still a bit under 100 new parks to go for 2024

Posted on June 25, 2024 by robert

One of my goals for 2024 is to have confirmed contacts with at least 1,500 unique POTA parks.  As of Saturday June 22, I had 1,401 confirmed. So 99 more parks to go.  Things have slowed down considerably as propagation … Continue reading →

Posted in Awards, From the OM, Goals, Hunter, POTA | Leave a comment

Difference in Standby Current Draw: Linear vs. Switching

Posted on August 4, 2022 by robert

When I restarted my hobby back in 2011, I had recalled the horror stories of folks using switching power supplies and having RFI all over the HF and VHF bands.  So I decided to use a traditional linear power supply … Continue reading →

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