My subscription to Life expired, but I still have a subscription to Mad.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Old Heathkit Manuals Forced Offline


"Even though the company (Heathkit) stopped making and selling kits back in 1992, it apparently just sold the copyrights on its old manuals to another company, which is going around forcing any old manuals offline and demanding people buy them instead..."

Read all about it here.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Surfin': Returning to Smart Phones and Antique QSLs


This week’s Surfin’ opens the new year by returning to the old year.

Update: The links for N8CIA's Web site in the figure caption and the third paragraph of this week's Surfin' went bad. The correct URL is http://www.n8cia.com

Did you know that Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general? If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Get Smart and my radio


Watched Get Smart last night. It has a couple of laugh-out-loud moments, but it is not a great film and I probably will not watch it again.

However, it does have a ham radio moment. In the chase scene near the end of the film, there is a two-way radio in one of the automobiles: a Yaesu FT-1802, the same model of radio that serves as my APRS home digipeater transmitter. The displayed frequency of the radio in the film was 143.910 MHz.

I had a choice of accompanying this post with a photo of the FT-1802 or a photo of Anne Hathaway and Steve Carell appearing in the film. I think I made the right decision.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Surfin': Radio Shack Historically Speaking


This week’s Surfin’ looks back on radio and electronic history via vintage Radio Shack catalogs.

Did you know that Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general? If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Surfin': Going Vertical


This week’s Surfin’ reflects on vertical polarization of the antenna variety.

That is the WATR AM radio antenna farm in the photo, two blocks from where I grew up in Waterbury.

Did you know that Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general? If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

FCC Chairman Manipulated Data, Suppressed Information


WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a scathing report released Tuesday, congressional investigators outlined a pattern of mismanagement, dysfunction and abuse of power at the Federal Communications Commission under the agency's Republican chairman, Kevin Martin.

Read all about it here.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Forrest J Ackerman, R.I.P.


Forrest J. Ackerman died on Thursday.

Mr. Ackerman is noted for coining the term "sci-fi" and amassing a vast collection of science fiction and fantasy memorabilia, but I will remember him as being the brains behind the operation known as Famous Monsters of Filmland, which was one of my favorite periodicals when I was a kid.

Famous Monsters of Filmland was 50 cents per issue at a time when my periodical budget was in the 10-cent comic book and 25-cent Mad magazine range. So, I hesitated splurging on the magazine, although I admired its covers whenever I visited the newsstand.

I built the Aurora model kits of the Universal Studios' monsters and one time, while opening the box of a new kit, I found a coupon for a free sample issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland. I immediately filled out the coupon and walked it to the mailbox at the corner of Baldwin and Piedmont Streets, then waited patiently for my free issue to arrive.

The free issue finally arrived, but it was not the current issue. Rather, it was a back issue, but it was the mother of all back issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland: the October 1963 special King Kong issue! King Kong was my favorite film and I read that magazine from cover-to-cover so many times that the cover came loose and the pages were dog-eared.

That issue hooked me on Mr. Ackerman's magazine and I started buying it from the newsstand regularly. However, in my opinion, that special King Kong issue represented the peak of the run of Famous Monsters of Filmland. I did enjoy the subsequent issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland, but none were as good as the special King Kong issue and after a few years, I lost interest and stopped buying it.

Anyway, thank you, Forrest J. Ackerman, for providing a lot of fun for a 12-year-old kid and helping to inspire him to become a writer.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Surfin': Still QSLing Those Radio Memories


This week’s Surfin’ considers the QSL card for one more time.

Did you know that Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general? If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.