Some Interesting QSLs from W7ZOI

Wes, W7ZOI, just put up on the web some QSLs from his collection. They are all very interesting. Take a look: http://w7zoi.net/qslcards/qsls.html I especially liked the "lemon QSO" card shown above.

While visiting the QSL page, I also came across the story of Wes's first encounter with homebrew ham radio. As a kid, he he would listen to a local 75 meter AM operator who was a hardcore homebrewer. On this guy's rig, "even the knobs were homebrew." Wes was listening with a crystal radio! What a great way to get started. More on this here: http://w7zoi.net/shack.html
Thanks Wes!

Duct Tape Repair of Lunar Rover

Hey, doesn't that mountain ("Shorty") on the moon look a bit like Mount Calvo (the one that Billy and I were climbing last weekend, see below)? But I digress. This is all about Duct tape. Apollo 17. The right rear fender on the moon buggy gets broken. Duct tape to the rescue!
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/21apr_ducttape.htm

Monte Calvo and a Summit on the Air

We had kind of a mountain theme this weekend. We were out in the country again. After some horseback riding in the morning, Billy and I and some friends decided to hike up a little mountain in the area. It is part of Monte Calvo. We didn't make it to the summit (too much underbrush) but I managed to send an e-mail with the coordinates of our highest point. I put the location it on Google Earth --you can see how we did. On to the summit next time!
Speaking of summits, I only made two contacts with the HW-8 this weekend (from the house, not the mountain). The first was a contest station on 20 meters, UN9GD. But the second (also on 20) was a QRP "Summit on the Air" station. DK1HW/P was running four watts from a KX-1. It was nice to work another QRP station. (It was cold in the mountains this weekend -- my fist was not at its best!)

When all else fails... THE KNACK

Kurt, N3JTW, alerted me to an excellent article on the blog site of the Dutch magazine Elektor. It is about a major flood in the Netherlands in 1953. Cut off from the mainland and without communication gear, OM Hossfeld whipped up the transmitter pictured above and set up a vitally important communications link. He used an 807 tube in the final. 10 Watts out on 15 meters. Note the coil wound on the bottle. The call was PA0ZRK. FB!
Here's the link: http://theelectronicball.blogspot.com/2009/10/radio-to-rescue.html

A REALLY Different Kind of Construction Problem

OK, so you're building a Large Hadron Collider, hoping to conjure up the elusive Higgs-Boson particle. But somehow, every time you try, smoke gets released. Here is one recent theory (reported in the New York Times) about what is going on:

"I'm talking about the notion that the troubled collider is being sabotaged by its own future. A pair of otherwise distinguished physicists have suggested that the hypothesized Higgs boson, which physicists hope to produce with the collider, might be so abhorrent to nature that its creation would ripple backward through time and stop the collider before it could make one, like a time traveler who goes back in time to kill his grandfather."

Wow! This is really useful troubleshooting information! Who among us hasn't been working on something that could be considered "abhorrent to nature"? We are, after all, the "ugly" construction guys. Perhaps if things get a little too ugly, a WHOLE DIFFERENT set of problems kick in. No wonder I couldn't get that 440 Mhz transverter working!!!

Micro Men on the BBC: Sinclairs, Acorns, and the Knack

Now these guys look like some proper British boffins!
Tony Fishpool, G4WIF, sent me this link to a wonderful new BBC program about the early days of home computing: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2009/oct/08/armstrong-freeman-micro-men-bbc

Tony also sent me his own story of computer derring-do in the early days. Here Tony once again marks himself as a true Knack victim, and a true wizard. Commenting on the BBC show, Tony wrote:

...I enjoyed a huge dose of nostalgia. I owned both Sinclair and Acorn computers back then and I suppose they launched me on a geek career that's put food on the table ever since.

One of the first Christmas's of my early married life tested my new bride's
patience with a knack victim for a husband.

A long awaited Acorn Atom kit computer finally arrived on Christmas Eve. All during Christmas day I was hunched over a steaming soldering iron installing every capacitor, resistor and semiconductor in the computer's printed circuit board.

That evening after the last component was installed I applied power and
there was a beep and the TV (which should have been showing Christmas
movies) displayed :-

Acorn Computers

Ready>

Wow!

How I managed to get that computer working first time still amazes me to
this day. How I am still married amazes me even more - but I was "in the
zone" and that computer just had to be built.

The TV show is called "Micro Men" so look out for it.

Kind regards
Tony G4WIF

RSGB Convention... via Skype

The fellows running the RSGB convention asked me to come up to the UK and speak at this year's event. I couldn't make the trip, but we decided to try to set up a virtual appearance via Skype video. Brian, G8OSN, put it all together, and the link worked like a charm. It was really a lot of fun, and I didn't have to be away from the family.
As noted below, you can see a video of one version of my talk by clicking on the video links off to the sides of this blog page. Thanks again to RSGB, and especially to Brian, for giving me the chance to do this.

Video Smoke

There is a special SolderSmoke video on YouTube today. Look for the
M0HBR channel. Or use the SS Video link to the right on this blog 73
from Ponticelli
Bill

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Lunar Impact on October 9 -- LCROSS Hits the Moon

It is a bus-sized object and it will hit at approximately twice the speed of a bullet!

Even though my telescope is a bit smaller than the recommended minimum, I'd be tempted to see if I could see it.... But that 1130 GMT impact time would make it difficult from Rome!