Category Archives: Gear

A Repeater Finder App for IOS and Android (and the web)

Posted on March 8, 2013 by robert

While I had programmed every repeater in my local area into my IC880H before installing it in the truck, I had no idea exactly where the repeaters were located, and I discovered that I was not able to bring all … Continue reading →

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Mounting a VHF/UHF Gain Antenna on a Chevy Avalanche

Posted on March 4, 2013 by robert

My WB4SON-mobile is a Chevrolet Avalanche.  Despite the fact that I’ve owned that truck for over a decade, I’ve never had a permanently mounted rig or antenna, relying instead on my handheld with a mag-mount antenna.  After about the sixth … Continue reading →

Posted in D-Star, From the OM, Gear, Operating | Leave a comment

Zippy LiFe 4200 Battery Self-discharge Test: 4% perMonth

Posted on February 28, 2013 by robert

A month ago I published some test results indicating a Zippy LiFe 4200 battery did have a capacity near its manufacturer’s claims (in fact slightly better than the claim at a C/2 discharge rate (2.1 Amps).  That original curve is … Continue reading →

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

Initial Test Results on Zippy LiFePO4 4200mA 4S battery pack

Posted on January 27, 2013 by robert

There has been substantial discussion, but not much in the way of published test, on the “Zippy LiFe” batteries offered by Hobby King.  Hobby King has been supplying RC hobbyist LiPo batteries for years and recently started offering a LiFe … Continue reading →

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A Complete “On-the-go” Ham Station Under Six Pounds!

Posted on January 24, 2013 by robert

Would you believe 5.75 pounds (or less)?  What’s in the “On-the-go” bag? Elecraft KX3 with Internal Tuner Elecraft Paddle and Hand Mic Headphones Two sets of Sanyo XX 2.4AH batteries (16 hours of operating) DC Power Cord w/Powerpoles & Cigarette … Continue reading →

Posted in From the OM, Gear, QRP | 11 Comments

WB4SON NTP Clock

Posted on December 30, 2012 by robert

The basic clock function was too simple.  Not including the LCD library, supplied by Adafruit (the company that makes the LCD Pi Plate), a total of four lines of Python code are required to write the local time zone date/time … Continue reading →

Posted in From the OM, Gear | 2 Comments

Does Raspberry Pi and Ham Go Together?

Posted on December 29, 2012 by robert

At a recent breakfast with fellow hams, Ted, W1GRI, showed me his latest gadget — A Raspberry Pi (RPi).  This is a small computer with ARM CPU, 512K of RAM, a SD card for flash memory, two USB ports, a … Continue reading →

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Happy “Accurate” 12/12/12 12:12:12

Posted on December 12, 2012 by robert

Today is one of those special once-in-a-lifetime events; it is December 12, 2012. Or as people would commonly refer to it: 12/12/12.  I’d like to commemorate this auspicious event and describe a small iPhone/iPad App that I find very useful. … Continue reading →

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

Happy November!

Posted on November 1, 2012 by robert

Lots of good things going on this month besides a chance to enter a turkey-coma on Thanksgiving.  CW Sweepstakes is this weekend,  and SSB in two weeks.  CQ’s WW CW DX contest is just three weekends away, and the ARRL’s … Continue reading →

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World’s Cheapest Dual-band HT?

Posted on October 17, 2012 by robert

While searching for MURS Radios, I ran across the Baofeng UV-5R+, a 5 watt, dual band, FM HT.  This unit was sold by Amazon and was under $59 including postage.  It included the radio, a LiPo battery pack, desktop charger, … Continue reading →

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