144-MHz DX

My APRS digi station received KD4ZB-3 in Farmville, VA, directly at 09:26 EDST today over a 421-mile 225° path.

Surfin': Take a Mac Break

In this week's Surfin', a new ham radio application for the Mac occasions a visit to a Mac ham app Web site. After you read Surfin’, you can leave your comments here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are 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.

NK7U in SI

I'm have been a diehard Red Sox fan since the late 1950s, back in the days when Ted Williams was closing out his career and the Sox often battled the Kansas City Athletics for last place in the American League. So, it was a thrill to run into former Red Sox outfielder Joe Rudi, NK7U, at the Dayton Hamvention on a number of ocasions. Last time, I saw him I even got him to pose for a photo with me.

Anyway, this week, Sports Illustrated has a nice article about NK7U, which you can read here.

10 reasons to throw away your cell phone

10 reasons to throw away your cell phone is a good read, but I have added the following:


Reason number 11: I use my ham radio equipment, not a cell phone when I want to talk on the radio.

mummy's the word

Mummy movies always scared the bejesus out of me when I was a kid, but this 1959 version out of the UK really did it. I think it had something to do with the fact that I saw it at a drive-in theatre.

My Mom and Dad always sat up front and my sister and I sat in the back, which had one advantage: when the movie got really scary, we could always duck behind our parents and/or the front seat to shelter our eyes from the action up on the big screen.

However, sitting in the back also had one big disadvantage: the side windows. At any time, a monster could sneak around and peek inside the car to see what was inside. You knew that monster was always going to choose the side window next to you. The only solution was to crouch down low on the car floor with your head buried under your crossed arms and that would assure missing the monsters on the big screen and the ones lurking in the drive-in parking lot.

No wonder most of the drive-ins are out of business... darn drive-in trolls!