Testing out my android word press app. Seems really sweet.
Back on the air!
I finally fixed my antenna that was taken down during a storm. This time i did a better job and strung it up in a better position a little higher and farther from the house. I ended up relocating a laundry line pole to the back of the yard, and used 3 hose clamps to attach a 14′ fiber glass painters pole.
PS2 USB PSK Adapter
Enough 3 letter acronyms in a row? I think not!
So i finally got my HF rig setup and operating PSK31 all over the bands. PSK uses the soundcard of your PC for its communications, but i still like to listen to music while i work.
Hit the jump to see what my solution.
Revive a dead lead acid battery
When lead acid batteries are poorly maintained or used the can become weak and even give up. A common issue is the plates will build a sulfate layer on them preventing them from producing current. This will help revive the battery most of the time. Please note that a battery with shorted cells/plates will not be saved by this procedure.
Macintosh Classic II
Another little project of mine. I bought this little guy off eBay for about 50 bucks, but the day i got it it died after a little bit of play. Turns out the capacitors had completely gave out and leaked all over the logic board. Posts on online forums suggested putting it in a dishwasher to clean off the electrolytic fluid, but i was not conformable with that. So i went down to ‘The Shack’ and bought some contact/tuner cleaner and gave it a good hose down. After that i went ahead and replaced all the caps with thier modern equivalents and its been running happily ever since.
AVIC-U310BT Pt. 2, It’s here!
After weeks of waiting i finally had received my new Avic. It has been installed and running for about a week now. Click more for my thoughts and a couple install pics.
Pepsi vs. Coca-Cola Logo Evolution
You can see how much Pepsi loves to change there logo. Follow the link to see the image of a side by side comparison against Coke. (via digg)
Satelite Repeaters
This is a nifty blog post with good information on communicating with satellites as the whiz by. Any one satellite is only within range for a short period of time as the pass above in our orbit. Check out the link below and read the article written by KC2UHB.
The satellites AO-51, SO-50, and AO-27 orbit the Earth acting as repeaters. Repeaters are automated relay stations that allow hams to send signals over a greater distance using low-power hand held transceivers. The satellites allow hams to relay messages from Earth to space and back to other hams somewhere on the planet. The International Space Station (ISS) also has a repeater, but occasionally, if you’re lucky, the astronauts turn on their radios to make contact directly with hams on the ground.
AVIC-U310BT
I just ordered one of these, can’t wait for UPS to deliver! One of the cool things about it that the screen detaches and it becomes a stand alone GPS unit!