Near-fest this weekend!

This is the biggest Ham radio flea market in the area.

http://www.near-fest.com/

Ubuntu 9.04 as slick as Windows 7, Mac OS X

In short, Ubuntu is now as slick and beautiful as Mac OS X or Windows 7.

Click here

Ellsbury Steals Home Red Sox vs. Yankees

With Joe Costiglione audio. As the NY Post said "An Ell of a play!"

Click here for the YouTube video.

Google theme is morse code!

So long Pontiac

It looks like GM is going to kill Pontiac. If they are to survive, I feel they should close everything except Chevy and Cadillac.  If they focues on just these two brands, I'm willing to bet they could make quality products AND a profit! http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/23/report-general-motors-to-kill-pontiac-monday/

Slot radio

This is a nice MP3 player that would make a great gift for someone that wants an easy to use MP3 player. From the website: "Introducing slotRadio - the instant load music player bundled with a 1,000 song slotRadio™ Mix card. No downloads, no PCs and no work involved. Simply pop the card in the player and enjoy a near-endless supply of full-length tracks." Visit http://www.slotradio.org/ for more info

Mismating mix-up makes for monstrous military mission

You'll think twice from now on when attaching a connector!   http://www.edn.com/article/CA6651606.html?nid=2431&rid=9065121

How to afford anything

I don't agree with all of this, but it makes a very interesting read!   http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/how-to-afford-anything.htm

Why we love film

Ken has a lot of good arguments as to why you may still want to use film!   http://kenrockwell.com/tech/why-we-love-film.htm

Ken Rockwell reviews the Olympus 35RC

This was my very first 35mm camera and I still have it.  I know film is on life support in these digital days, but I still enjoy my film cameras.   http://kenrockwell.com/olympus/35rc.htm

K1P was a great success!

My local radio club, PART of Westford, had a special event station this past weekend commemorating Patriots Day. Visit www.wb1gof.org for more info and photos of the event.

The World’s First Desktop Cloaking Device

I wouldn't use this at work, but it's a clever device!

http://www.stealthswitch.com/

Armstrong's Invention of Noise-Suppressing FM

The IEEE Communications Magazine has a monthly series History of Communications edited by Mischa Schwartz, professor emeritus of electrical engineering at Columbia University. This month's issue is on Edwin Armstrong's Invention of Noise-Suppressing FM. Armstrong is credited as the inventor of wide-band FM and was awarded a patent for his invention on December 26, 1933. That and other interesting information can be found in the four page article which is available at http://www.comsoc.org/livepubs/ci1/public/2009/apr/pdf/cihistory.pdf

Not what I expected!

From "Britains Got Talent 2009": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY Quite remarkable, IMO

Strange CW keys

These you have to see to believe!

http://oh6dc.cw.googlepages.com/strangecwkeys

Far circuits - PC Boards for electronic projects used by Hams.

They have some really nice stuff!

http://www.farcircuits.net/

Bondo gone bad

This is what happens when you have too much bondo and too much time on your hands!   http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/14/no-mo-bondo-hapless-toyota-camry-gets-its-fill-of-filler/

Excel to ADIF

If you are looking for a helpful tool that you can use to take old manual logs and enter them into an Excel spreadsheet to have the data converted into an ADIF file for uploading to LOTW and/or eQSL, download it from:

http://www.wb8nut.com/download/Manual_ADI_entry.xls

Courtesy of Paul, W8TM - Enjoy!

Retro software

Old software starting at $1.00!

http://store.retrosoftware.net/

Bits & Bytes Magazine July 1984

A blast from the past! Check out the prices (New Zealand dollars)

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/7/6/1990698/NZ-bits-and-bytes-issue-2-10.pdf

PSK 31 flavors contest on 4/11/09

I hope to give this contest a try as it looks interesting.  It runs from 12PM till 6PM your local time and only on 20m.   http://harvey.licht.home.sprynet.com/PSKFlavors/2009/2009RulesPost.htm

The top 10 operating system stinkers

No surprise who is on top of the list!   Click here

Digital modes for Field Day

An interesting discussion http://www.eham.net/articles/21329

Rapidly Deployable QRP Station

Based on a Stanley Work Center from Lowes and a lap desk from a craft store. The key and PTT switch are wired to the mic connector on the head of the IC-703. Invented by Greg, N4KGL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSC3iM28VZc

Portable Ubuntu Runs Ubuntu Inside Windows!

Very cool!   http://lifehacker.com/5195999/portable-ubuntu-runs-ubuntu-inside-windows

Top 5 Get-On-the-Air-Quickly Antennas

A great article on antennas http://www.eham.net/articles/21270

Relatively easy solar panel

For about the cost of a 2m mobile rig, you too can add solar power to your shack. http://www.eham.net/articles/21321

Unix cat command

Here's proof that the Unix cat command was so named because it was done by a programmer and not your average end-user! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_(Unix)

Solar minimum

How low can it go? The Sun is plunging into the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century.   See the full story at: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/01apr_deepsolarminimum.htm?list1014869

Click and Clack to Head Up GM Revival

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) -- In a surprise move, the GM Board of Directors has appointed two radio talk show hosts to head up the company's emergency restructuring. The new GM Product Czars are Tom and Ray Magliozzi, also known as "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers," who host NPR's Car Talk radio show. Former GM fans from the 1950s and 1960s, they since went on to become harsh GM critics in recent decades.   For the full story: http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/cnn/