RIP: PopComm, CQ VHF, WorldRadio Online

CQ Communications, Inc. announced today that "Effective with the February 2014 issue of CQ, content from the magazine's three sister publications, Popular Communications, CQ VHF and WorldRadio Online, will be incorporated into CQ's digital edition as a supplement to be called 'CQ Plus.'"

Which means that CQ Communications will no longer publish Popular Communications, CQ VHF, and WorldRadio Online.

I subscribe to all three and enjoy reading them, but I will miss Popular Communications the most. On a monthly basis, I probably read more of PopComm than all the other radio rags I subscribe to put together.

It's too bad.

New Hardware

Source: Kansas Historical Society (http://www.kshs.org)

Two new pieces of hardware showed up at WA1LOU last week.

My sister gifted me with a C.Crane CCRadio 2E Enhanced AM/FM/WX/2-Meter Ham Band receiver.

I gifted myself with a MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013 laptop computer.

I plan to review both items here real soon now, but I will leave you with my most impressive impressions of both.

The AM radio part of the CCRadio 2E is outstanding and the MacBook Pro is fast!

Merry Christmas from the WA1LOU Family!

Christmas in Connecticut

This is nuts! December 22, 2013, the temperature at 2PM is 64 degrees Fahrenheit here on Compounce Mountain.

Two on Thursday

Caught two new ones last night on the high end of the AM broadcast band:

At 2324Z: WKDV on 1460 kHz transmitting 5 kW from Manassas, Virginia, 310 miles to the southwest. The signal strength of the Mexican music varied between an S0 and S4.

At 2338Z: WVON on 1690 kHz transmitting 10 kW from Berwyn, Illinois, 760 miles to the west. The signal strength of the traffic reports varied between an S0 and S2.

Equipment used was a C.Crane CC SW Pocket AM/FM/SW radio and a Terk AM Advantage indoor loop antenna.