kb5jbv's blog
Thank You my Friends
I would like to thanks all of my followers from Resonant Frequency and Linux in the Ham Shack for being so patient over the last couple of months.
In the month of January I came down with the flu. I was only actually sick for about a week but I lost my voice for nearly a month. I was able to record LHS thanks to the editing skills of Russ.
Since the start of this month we have had an emergency surgery concerning my sons girlfriend and a yet to be named grandchild. I lost my mother right after that. Then I had to move my son out of his apartment in a hurry and my other son injured himself due to an altercation with an inmate at work. Add to that the largest snow storm I ever remember in this part of Texas and a power outage of more than 48 hours here. I have been a little busy.
My Fans are important to me. you folks have been with me for a long time and I will get a fresh Episode of RF out ASAP. We will be recording LHS tomorrow night and I will be there.
Thank you for your patience my loyal friends and listeners.
Richard KB5JBV
Email to Discovery News about Amateur Radio
Here is another of those self indulgent things. I listen to the Friday news feedbag as a podcast and every week it seems that one of the host makes a negative remark about amateur radio. This week I had enough so I found the email address, loaded my musket and
Get a grip radio operators
I I have to ask myself sometimes "What is wrong with people." A few days ago a fellow showed up on Twitter asking the question " does the average HAM make a difference anymore?"
Well since then some others on Twitter have ask the same question. I say yes we do. We made a difference in Oklahoma City, We made a difference in and around New Orleans, and let us not
Some Thoughts on DXing
I was listening to a conversation on the local 2 meter repeater the other day. I heard an old timer telling another HAM that he needed a beam antenna and an amplifier if he really wanted to chase DX. The flow of the conversation lead me to believe that the old timer was letting the other HAM know that if he didn't have a beam and an amplifier he might as well not even try. Now I have been licensed for about 20 years and have never owned an HF amplifier. I have had a couple of commercially manufactured antennas for HF but they were verticals and they were crap. I run wire antennas here at the shack now and have had great success with them. Don't get me wrong. I am not an avid Dxer. But over the years I have accumulated a pretty impressive collection of QSL cards. I feel that Dxing is kind of like deer hunting. You have the guys that go and get the most powerful rifle they can find and the best scope they can find so they can sit in a tree ¼ of a mile away and murder Bambi. On the other hand you have the guys that go into the woods with a knife and a bow. I feel the bow hunter must have more skill. It is the same way with DX. The operator that is working with 100 watts and a wire has to be far more skilled than the guy with the Yagi antenna that is running legal limit. Knowing to make the call to bus the pile up. Knowing when to dial the vfo a couple of kilohertz off to one side and all the other techniques that will allow a 100 watt station to jump in, make the contact, and get out while the big guns are sitting there scratching their heads. The only time I can remember ever thinking that I needed and amplifier was during hurricane Katrina. That was only because conditions were so bad. Today some folks are starting to call Dxing and contesting “Radio Sport”. OK, The way most folks go about it is more like fishing with dynamite. I don't call that a sport. Of course this is just my opinion. Richard KB5JBV
New Episode Archives
Hey everybody. I just thought I would let everybody know that I have split the into groups of 10 and separeted them by OGG and MP3 under the Archive Tab. I hope that this will make it eaiser for you to locate the older shows you need.
Thanks
