Fri, Nov 11, 2005 at 09:23:42AM -0500, Steve Sandau wrote:
For some reason, I have finally become interested in ham radio. I
thought I remembered seeing some list traffic on this subject, too.

Two words. "Code Quick". I tried for 29 years to learn to copy morse
code and could not. In two months I passed the 5 wpm exam, and then the
13, I could have passed the 20, but did not have time to take the test
before I left the U.S.

Best $50 I spent on any hobby,

Sadly, I can't copy above about 8 wpm now due to lack of use. :-(

If you want to rescue something get an old Ten-Tec rig. A Triton IV
goes for about $150-$200 in the U.S., the digital version is $200-$250.
The difference is the freqency display. 80m-10m coverage 100 watt,
all "solid state", great CW or SSB rig.

Geoff.

Fri, Nov 11, 2005 at 09:23:42AM -0500, Steve Sandau wrote:
For some reason, I have finally become interested in ham radio. I
thought I remembered seeing some list traffic on this subject, too.

Yep. K5WCB here.

Is this on-topic enough since I'll hopefully be looking to rescue some
ham gear soon?

Sure!

I've started reading to pass the technician class exam; sounds like I
ought to be able to without too much pain.

Its just multiple-choice, not a problem at all.

Any suggestions on good places to look for radio equipment? I'm not sure
exactly what I'm looking for since I don't know a whole lot yet. (I may
never know a whole lot.) All I have in mind now is that I probably want
something portable at some point.

I'd suggest starting out with a new 2-meter rig; you can get a good
Yaesu or Icom for less than $200 with antenna, etc. Another $100 for a
*good* desktop/bench DC power supply (get something that gives you
13.8V @ 20A, so you dont have to upgrade later), and you've got a nice
home setup that can be put in a car later.

At home right now I've got an Icom IC-2100, a good Samlex power supply,
and a mag-mount 3/8-wave antenna sitting in a window. Works great, and
I can hit the local Houston repeaters without problems.

Bill

Fri, 11 Nov 2005 09:23:42 -0500
Steve Sandau <ssandau (AT) gwi (DOT) netwrote:

Any suggestions on good places to look for radio equipment?
I got interrested in HAM radio too about a year ago. Unfortunately I
haven't got much further than writing a Morse code generator for *ix.
[1] The thing that interrests me is self build QRP gear. After doing
"virtual" work with computers I enjoy doing real work with a soldering
iron. There are may sellers of kits and construction manuals for QRP
gear on the net. You may get a start here:
http://www.norcalqrp.com/
http://www.gqrp.com/

[1] I could not find a program that was easy to compile and able to
generate "good" sounding code so I did it myself:
http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/projekte/morse.c

Mon, 28 Nov 2005, Gary Goddard wrote:
Morse requirement, went last year in the uk. I've gotta get my licence
back and pull my gear out again.

The US Navy dropped it recently.

Guess how you communicate through the hull or a bulkhead in an
emergency?

I guess you don't.
-DanD

Mon, Nov 28, 2005 at 05:12:20PM -0500, Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
I still fail to see what method one would use to transmit data through a
bulkhead using a Palm Pilot.
WiFi, WiMax, EDGE, 3G, unltrasonic as starters.
Geoff.

Mon, 28 Nov 2005, Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
Steve Sandau wrote:
Wes Will wrote:

The US Navy dropped it recently.

Guess how you communicate through the hull or a bulkhead in an
emergency?

I guess you don't.
>>
>>
>>with your palm pilot ? beam me up, man
>>
>
>
Considering some of the stuff that sailors do with palm pilots now, that
may very well be

I still fail to see what method one would use to transmit data through a
bulkhead using a Palm Pilot.

Simple, just use it to bang out Morse code on the bulkhead. This is probably
another one of those situations where the Newton is superior.

Just wait. In a few years a submarine will ground and no one inside will
know Morse and people will die as a result. It's inevitable.
-DanD

Mon, Nov 28, 2005 at 05:40:23PM -0500, Steve Sandau wrote:
Still, beating on the bulkhead with it may be the most direct method,
A hammer would be better and cheaper (well, maybe not cheaper, given the
US Govt.'s purchasing policies)
Bill

Mon, Nov 28, 2005 at 03:22:16PM -0700, Dan Duncan wrote:

Does the Palm Pilot do any of those?

Mine only did audio and IR.

That's because it was an old off-the-self civilian model.

Current models have WiFi (WiMax is coming down the pipe), EDGE and G3.

How much steel can a 1 watt WiFi transmitter go through? For example,
until Nov 2003, WiFi and Bluetooth were illegal here. The IDF was given
$800,000,000 to replace their equipment that used those frequencies.

What does the a navy (any navy) do with them out at sea where no on cares?

Geoff.

Tue, 29 Nov 2005, Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Mon, Nov 28, 2005 at 05:12:20PM -0500, Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
I still fail to see what method one would use to transmit data through a
bulkhead using a Palm Pilot.

WiFi, WiMax, EDGE, 3G, unltrasonic as starters.

Does the Palm Pilot do any of those?

Mine only did audio and IR.
-DanD

Hi,

Mon, Nov 28, 2005 at 12:03:28PM -0500, Ethan 'Toole wrote:
A friend referred me to Altec speakers, called Voice of the Theater. Said
they would be a good match for me, when I inquired about hifi speakers for
home.

A7-500 and A7 are the models. If anyone comes across any that are
for sale, I'm sort of looking :-) There were tons of them made, and I
would imagine they may be found around places where computer and radio
geeks would look.

I'm not exactly in the hotbed of geek activity here in Southeastern
Virginia, but I do my part.

As I recall these are high-efficiency horn-loaded speakers, maybe vaguely
a little like Klipsch LaScalas that I used to have. These are especially
well suited for theatrical applications where a lot of efficiency and
frequency range is beneficial, but flat response and well balanced sound
close to the speakers is less of a priority.

They are well suited for theatrical applications, but may be disappointing
in a typical living room -- unless your room is extremely large and your
listening spot relatively far from the speakers.

If you like the "horn" sound, my suggestion is to consider some
smaller more home-oriented (not LaScalas) Klipsch speakers. Many hi-fi
outfits have listening rooms with a wide variety of speakers to compare.

Mark

Fri, Nov 11, 2005 at 09:23:42AM -0500, Steve Sandau wrote:

| For some reason, I have finally become interested in ham radio. I
| thought I remembered seeing some list traffic on this subject, too.

Probably. There's quite a few hams on the list, as you've seen

| Is this on-topic enough since I'll hopefully be looking to rescue some
| ham gear soon?

There's a pretty fundamental difference between old computer equipment
and old ham equipment -- old ham equipment rarely needs rescuing.

Yes, used equipment is cheaper, but don't expect to find ham equipment
for 5% of the cost of new equipment just because it's 20 (or 30, 40,
50, etc.) years old :)

Avoid Ebay if you can -- you'll pay a premium. Instead, check out the
local swap meets and swap nets and such.

| I've started reading to pass the technician class exam; sounds like I
| ought to be able to without too much pain.

The technician test is very easy. Skim over a study guide (even an
out of date one), take a practice test at
, lather, rinse, repeat until you can
consistently get over 80%. Then go take the test for real, and enjoy
your spiffy new callsign. Should not take long.

Works on the other tests too. The morse code test is harder (at least
it was for me) but like Geoff, Code Quick worked for me where other
things didn't. just wait -- the morse code requirement will
probably be gone within a year or two. (The FCC is already
considering it, but they're slow.)

>The US Navy dropped it recently.
>
>Guess how you communicate through the hull or a bulkhead in an
>emergency?
>
>I guess you don't.
with your palm pilot ? beam me up, man

Mon, 28 Nov 2005, Ethan 'Toole wrote:
Simple, just use it to bang out Morse code on the bulkhead. This is probably
another one of those situations where the Newton is superior.
Just wait. In a few years a submarine will ground and no one inside will
know Morse and people will die as a result. It's inevitable.
-DanD

I garantee you they will be able to bang out a hot hip-hop beat though.

In that case, it's probably better to leave them for dead.
-DanD

Mon, 28 Nov 2005, Ethan 'Toole wrote:
I garantee you they will be able to bang out a hot hip-hop beat though.
It'll be like MIB where the guy starts beat-boxing as a form of
communication.

[re: hip-hop and country]

on 11/28/2005 3:51 PM Ethan 'Toole wrote:

I've heard they have mixed the two, but haven't quite experienced it yet
myself.

Four words: Cowboy Troy kicks ass.

He's one of Big & Rich's posse.

Some of what the Rednex do probably qualifies as country hip-hop,
although I can't keep track of what "officially" qualifies as hip-hop
these days.

Rescue: Anyone in the Seattle area have a U2 they need to find a new
home for? I would like to get my hands dirty with Solaris 10. While I
can probably scrape up a machine to run the x86 version on, I'd rather
stick with SPARC if I can.