Aves Specta

Suggested by Alan WA4SCA.

Prompting Charlie N5TD to recommend a course offered by MetEd (Meteorology Education and Training): Space Weather Basics.

Wow. Making of a triode. Amazing work by F2FO!

The unspoken resolution for 2007: Complete the varied radio projects without taking on new ones. Here's the list from a year ago...

1. Fix K1 tuning - Done. Had miswired pot.
2. Repair WBR Receiver - Done. Room for improvement.
3. Modify HTX-100 as IF - Mostly done. Unfortunate shift in project focus.
4. Complete ARDF receiver. Not done. Stealing parts.
5. Build NEScaf. Done. Not fully tested.
6. Complete SoftRock receiver - Done. Fun.
7. Put 80m Warbler on the air - Not done. Put it in a good case, though.
8. Reuse K1 CPU and LCD. Not done. Begun in earnest on December 31.
9. Finish solar charge controller. Not done.

...to say nothing of antennas.

Didn't stay true to no new projects... The Maine Bug was my chief interloper. But it was quick and rewarding.

Play-N-Squeak® Pals Firefly

Postscript: While we're at it, how about Gummi Lightning Bugs as a stocking stuffer?

Oh, but this one is the most realistic I've seen yet: Plush Wild Clingers Lightning Bug.

Postscript December 23

By way of explanation... At this year's Lobstercon, W1REX distributed the Maine Bugs kit, a nifty programmable device designed to mimic crickets and lightning bugs. Cricket chirps indicate an accurate temperature reading and the firefly flashes the callsign of the builder.

Mine was built, programmed, and modified this summer, but I wanted to find a clever way to package it. I hunted for an oversized tin insect to no avail. I followed other paths without luck.

One day last week, I moved something on the workbench and the kit hit the floor. "Alright," I grumbled, "time to button up this project." One last flurry of searches resulted in the cute toys mentioned above, but none looked like a solution. So I pulled out a Hershey's truffle tin (very much like an Altoids tin) and mounted my Maine Bug in that.

Advice from Matthew Ratcliff in ANTIC VOL. 7, NO. 1 / MAY 1988 / PAGE 26, as reproduced at AtariMagazines.com.

2400-BAUD SPEEDSTERS

If you truly have "the need for speed" online, shop for a good 2400 baud modem. Prices are coming down to the $200 range.

It was the only result for a Google search on "use a modem speaker," which was among several attempts to find out if it makes sense to scavenge the speaker from a 56k US Robotics modem.

SSB means "10 meters only" for me, so when CQ WPX SSB came during a sunspot dry spell (zero sunspots for 10 days preceding last weekend's contest) I was virtually assured of a poor showing.

A dozen tunings up and down the band between 28300 and 28500, spread throughout the daylight hours on Saturday and Sunday, resulted in no signals heard. I opted not to CQ in vain.

I think a 10-meter-only WPX entry ought to become a tradition for the next 11 years.

WCVB Chronicle "Happy Birthday Radio" via Google Video. Almost 20 minutes long.