Category Archives: From the OM

It’s gonna be a bumpy ride!

Posted on August 4, 2011 by robert

A major M-class (just shy of X-class) solar flare is on its way to hit earth sometime early tomorrow morning to late afternoon. You can always find the latest space weather information here:  http://www.spaceweather.com/ Maybe some aurora activity?  http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html or … Continue reading →

Posted in From the OM, Satellite | Leave a comment

ARISSat-1 U/V transponder is working!

Posted on August 4, 2011 by robert

According to ARISSAT-1.ORG early this afternoon:  “The transponder is working! Drew, KO4MA was successful in easily working through the transponder with a 1 W uplink” That is a great relief. Maybe the kapton tape fell off and the antenna was … Continue reading →

Posted in From the OM, Satellite | Leave a comment

ARISSat-1

Posted on August 4, 2011 by robert

During the July 31 test onboard the International Space Station, I was able to copy several telemetry frames as well as the voice announcement from a middle school in Texas (including the “secret” word). On August 3, I anxiously viewed … Continue reading →

Posted in From the OM, Satellite | Leave a comment

Still fighting the good SDR fight

Posted on July 20, 2011 by robert

In May I acquired a FlexRadio Flex-1500 Software Defined Radio.  While the target market for that device might be the EME/VHF/UHF folks, it caught my attention for two reasons.  First, I have an ongoing interest in DSP and Software Defined … Continue reading →

Posted in From the OM, Gear | 1 Comment

96,000 Miles per Watt

Posted on July 16, 2011 by robert

My friend, WB4KDI, from Birmingham, AL, and I were running some QRP and QRPp experiments with his new Elecraft K3 A week ago on the 30 meter band.  David and I were running JT65, and he dialed his power down to 100 mW, the lowest … Continue reading →

Posted in From the OM, JT65A-HF | Leave a comment

Field Day 2011

Posted on June 27, 2011 by robert

Remembering the fun I had 40 years ago working field day for K4BFT in Huntsville Alabama, and K2AE in Schenectady New York, I figured it might be fun to try my hand at FD again.  I had hoped to contact … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Power, From the OM, Gear, QRP | Leave a comment

Fifth WAS completed on June 24 using JT65

Posted on June 25, 2011 by robert

Well, this Friday at about 2PM, the big event happened.  One of the FIVE different MD stations that I’ve made a JT65 contact with confirmed the QSO on LotW.  This completed my quest for WAS which was officially completed after … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Mode, From the OM, History, JT65A-HF | 2 Comments

You light up my life…(almost)

Posted on June 21, 2011 by robert

One of the conveniences of the WB4SON Shack (called the “Wombat Room” by family members), is a 40 Amp 12 VDC power bus, normally fed by an Astron linear power supply.  It is also fed by a 110 Amp-Hour deep … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Power, From the OM, Gear | 2 Comments

Let’s do the power pole polka…

Posted on June 19, 2011 by robert

I can remember looking at Anderson Power Pole connectors when they first came out years ago and thinking they will never sell because there were other products that served a similar purpose and they were ridiculously overpriced.  Yet now I … Continue reading →

Posted in From the OM, Gear | Leave a comment

Adding those useful little html thingies…

Posted on May 18, 2011 by robert

So here I am in the land of WordPress blogging and there are some really neat ham-radio related HTML links.  I had no idea how to add one to my site.  I tried embedding it in a post, but that … Continue reading →

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