For Christmas my dad bought me my first ham radio, a Kenwood TM-V708A (see here). I have only just begun programming it, there is a lot to learn on this radio in order to use it to its full potential. Now that I have my own radio and I do not have to use my dads HT I am thinking about creating a JAVA program with an online database to keep a log of all my contacts, until then a spreadsheet will have to do.
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Ham Radio (KI4ICY)
On Saturday December 11th, I took my ARRL Amateur Radio Exam and passed. I have always had some interest in Amateur Radios but I never really took the time to take the exam. About three weeks ago I decided that I was going to get my license. Only really took a couple days to get the material down but I had to wait a while in order to take my exam. After I passed my Technicians exam I took the test for a General not having studied for it and got about half the questions right. Looks like I will have to learn CW (Morse Code) and study a bit to get my General class license.
Today the FCC posted my Amateur Radio call sign in the ULS Database. If you live in the Richmond, VA area I should be on 147.340 at least during December and early January. After which I will be back in Radford, VA and will be monitoring the Roanoke, VA repeater (147.270).
P.S. To my Dad (WB9DZS) I told you that I would eventually get around to taking the test. Hell it has only been 12 years (wow) since I studied last, but at that point I guess I didn't have the time to learn CW since it was needed under the past Novice requirements.
So for the amateur folks 73... KI4ICY Clear
Today the FCC posted my Amateur Radio call sign in the ULS Database. If you live in the Richmond, VA area I should be on 147.340 at least during December and early January. After which I will be back in Radford, VA and will be monitoring the Roanoke, VA repeater (147.270).
P.S. To my Dad (WB9DZS) I told you that I would eventually get around to taking the test. Hell it has only been 12 years (wow) since I studied last, but at that point I guess I didn't have the time to learn CW since it was needed under the past Novice requirements.
So for the amateur folks 73... KI4ICY Clear
Thursday, December 02, 2004
New Laptop (IBM Thinkpad X40)
I just sold my Sony Vaio 2.8ghz laptop for $1,000 and bought a new IBM Thinkpad X40 P-M 1.2ghz. The IBM offers a bit more of portability and longer battery life. The Sony was fast and had a much larger screen, but for the things I use the laptop for it was an inconvenience. As for the setup I only have XP on it I haven't put Fedora on it yet.
"The X40 is the Mercedes of laptops!" -- CNET.com
This time around I decided not to put MS products of any kind on the laptop unless I absolutely needed to. I have installed FireFox (browser), Gaim (IM client), OpenOffice.org (Replacement for MS Office). Still looking for a Windows Media Player replacement.
Suggestion: If you have a laptop you should consider downloading Post-It Lite by 3M (http://www.3m.com/market/office/postit/com_prod/psnotes). It sure does come in handy for setting reminders.
"The X40 is the Mercedes of laptops!" -- CNET.com
This time around I decided not to put MS products of any kind on the laptop unless I absolutely needed to. I have installed FireFox (browser), Gaim (IM client), OpenOffice.org (Replacement for MS Office). Still looking for a Windows Media Player replacement.
Suggestion: If you have a laptop you should consider downloading Post-It Lite by 3M (http://www.3m.com/market/office/postit/com_prod/psnotes). It sure does come in handy for setting reminders.
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