April 2012
1 post
4 tags
Delmarva Amateur Radio & Electronics Expo →
Apr 11th
February 2012
5 posts
3 tags
Feb 26th
1 note
6 tags
Pedal Board Weekend
Most guitar and bass players fashion one of these boards to keep their pedals straight. I helped a friend of mine build one in a weekend, with minimal effort.  Measures about 1ft. x 3ft. Took one trip to the hardware store and a bunch of trips for velcro (shame on you stores for not selling rolls of it). Painting on an apartment porch is bad business, especially when it is windy as hell, but...
Feb 21st
3 tags
Its all solid state
Its all solid state. I have completed the installation of the Crucial M4 256GB solid state drive that I had purchased from Newegg about a week ago, and I would like to share my performance results. The results are pretty good overall, but I did however run into some caveats during the installation of Windows in regards to installing the AHCI driver, and properly setting the BIOS to play...
Feb 19th
4 tags
Acer Iconia gets ICS →
To be honest, the Acer Iconia series of tablets were the last tablets I thought would get Ice Cream Sandwich. Good on them. 
Feb 18th
5 tags
Feb 15th
January 2012
1 post
8 tags
Now that's a twisted pair!
I just wanted to post up this link (in the sources) about a recent episode of This Week In Radio Tech. I started listening to this podcast after a coworker of mine had mentioned it. Working in the same industry as the show hosts (broadcast and radio engineering) I found it comforting that there are others doing the same work as I am, and gave me some insight to other possible...
Jan 26th
December 2011
1 post
1 tag
Actor Harry Morgan Passes Away →
MASH is one of my favorite shows. Let there be no mistake, there is no television show to date that can compare, and as hard as writers try, they couldn’t do it any better.
Dec 9th
1 note
November 2011
1 post
5 tags
Wartime Radio: The Secret Listeners →
Wartime Radio: The Secret Listeners A brief documentary on the roll of Amateur radio operators in the first and second world wars.
Nov 30th
September 2011
2 posts
3 tags
WatchWatch
This is a good lab that was posted on the Electronics-Lab blog. I never knew that PWM was used for LED’s. I really thought it was used in motor controllers only. Super informative.  For a while now I have been interested in the Arduino platform, but finding the time to tinker with one would be difficult. The last microprocessor I had worked with extensively was the Motorola (Ask me about...
Sep 24th
4 tags
Gear Review: Camelbak Ambush AB-500
Today I would like to review an item I had purchased about a month ago. As you all know, I like being outdoors and have a huge hard-on for any kind of gear that can be used in hiking, running, biking, and in survival situations. To start out, I took a trip to my local Wally World to see what they had available. I was not impressed, with the camel hiking packs that they had. The build quality of...
Sep 10th
1 note
August 2011
3 posts
4 tags
Aug 24th
2 tags
Airborne Engineers →
Good series of photos of Army Engineers and the job that they perform. Have an engineering problem? The careful application of explosives can fix any engineering problem flash. I think these guys have one of the coolest jobs in the world, and I have a great deal of respect for them. Keep up the good work engineers!
Aug 8th
5 tags
Aug 1st
July 2011
3 posts
5 tags
MARC Hamfest July 17th, 2011
This was the first hamfest I have visited. Think of a hamfest to be just like a computer show, sometimes indoor, sometimes outdoor. Sponsored by the Mid Atlantic Amateur Radio Club. This show wasn’t particularly large, but it gave me some exposure to hamfests. I carpooled up (with myself at the helm) with W3VD and N3YH from our local club to check it out. This hamfest was in Kimberton, PA...
Jul 31st
2 tags
FSARC Field Day Mention →
First State Amateur Radio Club was mentioned in a very short poor story briefly in a WDEL story during our yearly field day event. You can see me sitting in the logging seat on the left with the black t-shirt. I was the only one to make a total of four contacts on the 10, and 15 meter bands.
Jul 30th
8 tags
Places to see in Connecticut
Talcott Mountain State Park Talcott Mountain State Park is a great place to go hiking and see the Heublein Tower which sits on the ridge above. Very scenic, and the hiking was as easy or hard as you wanted it to be. W1AW On my trip to Connecticut I did not get to see the W1AW Radio Station and Museum. This is the ARRL’s headquarters. Being a relatively new licensed amateur radio...
Jul 23rd
May 2011
1 post
3 tags
WatchWatch
The Powerhouse Museum looks like an interesting place to visit.
May 1st
April 2011
3 posts
5 tags
Duxford Battle of Britain Airshow →
Even if you don’t like aircraft, this is still pretty impressive, and historic.
Apr 25th
6 tags
Copyright and IP kings strike again →
So, I was sitting there. Doing some studying of old times (AKA, when I was in college). I have forgotten so much. Months ago I had a TI-86 emulator on my Android phone that worked quite well in a pinch, or while at work, where I don’t carry my actual calculators. I own both TI-83 and TI-86 calculators, both a requirement of my past education. I went searching for these emulators to...
Apr 24th
Apr 19th
March 2011
2 posts
3 tags
A brief reminder
Remember to set your clocks ahead one hour, the east coast of the United States is now time zone -4 hours from Zulu.  Also remember to replace the batteries in your smoke alarms and to test them as well.
Mar 13th
3 tags
Mar 6th
February 2011
4 posts
4 tags
Spectrum Management Bill Threatens Amateur... →
I knew it would only be a matter of time. Really, I want to just haul off and say, “Fuck you, FCC.” but I cannot bring myself to. I do have to say that there are much wider, less used pieces of spectrum that they could use. I also have to question the intelligence of the congress people who suggested this bill not knowing that Amateur bands are already used for emergency management...
Feb 19th
5 tags
Sonnet Rackmac →
If I owned a mac mini, this would be an absolute must for mounting in a rack. 
Feb 12th
5 tags
We have the technology.
I feel like this is going to be a long post, so I will attempt to keep it short. For years now, since I have had my iPod(s), I have been using an FM transmitter/charger to listen to my tunes and podcasts in my vehicle while under way. Until recently I was able to tolerate the semi poor audio fidelity that my Griffin Itrip provided me with. I think somewhere along the line, I realized that it was...
Feb 3rd
4 tags
Clarus: The Pet Lover's Mac App →
After seeing this post on Macgasm, it instantly took me back to the six or so years I spent working at a local animal hospital. Our records systems (DVM, and Cornerstone, yes both of them) were not that great. It was hard to edit or find data, or wasn’t designed with practicality or visual appeal in mind. Clarus, while designed for personal use looks amazing. I hope eventually they do come...
Feb 3rd
January 2011
5 posts
1 tag
Jan 29th
6 tags
I found a fix! PVR 150.
I finally found the fix I was looking for. I own a Hauppauge PVR 150 tuner card that I use with Windows Media Center. This is not a new card by any means but it does get the job done for all of my SD television viewing and recording.  Its the second card that I have owned, the first being an ATI, many many years ago. The 150 worked well under Vista (32bit) media center, but I began to struggle...
Jan 27th
5 tags
Even Marines like fun in the sun. →
I thought that this was cool. I almost want a hand in it. Using solar panels cuts fuel usage on FOBs and reduces attacks on resupply convoys. Soldiers that would have been on those convoys are now free to fight the terrorists. Sounds like a win win to me.
Jan 25th
2 tags
All Racked Up
Has been a project long time in the works. I looked years ago into getting a server rack to put my equipment in, but at the time it was cost prohibitive. Along with some help from coworkers I was able to obtain and organize this server rack. Most racks are designed to be bolted to the floor in data centers, or radio tower shelters. I had to cut a set of feet for the rack itself to be bolted to....
Jan 9th
1 note
3 tags
US Army 2010 Year in Photos →
I regularly pay attention to the US Army’s Flickr page. The rundown for 2010 has some really good photographs.
Jan 6th
December 2010
1 post
3 tags
Republicans on new FCC net neutrality rules: kill! →
Certainly a lot of hub bub about the internet, but I certainly agree to the fact that this is something that Congress should decide on, not just a few people. I haven’t really started to have feelings about this early on, but being in the communications sector, my mind has been changed. Maybe not changed, but I am certainly watching issues like this a lot closer.
Dec 28th
November 2010
13 posts
7 tags
Clean your hot water, and clean it often. →
I think this is a good write up of a household maintenance task that many people do not perform.
Nov 17th
5 tags
Android App of the Week 025
  SwiftKey Price: Free for Trial, US $3.99 for Full Version Platform Reviewed on: Android 2.2, Motorola Droid Review: SwiftKey is an application that makes typing much quicker on your phone by using predictive text to guess what you are going to type next.
Nov 15th
5 tags
Interview with Grant Brünner →
My pal Grant’s interview with Geni.
Nov 14th
3 tags
Ham-tastic. →
I have found this website to be a good reference in studying for my exam.
Nov 13th
3 tags
Android Application of the Week 024
  DroidStats Price: Free Platform Reviewed on: Android 2.2, Motorola Droid Review: DroidStats is an app that keeps track of you phone usages, such as minutes of talk time, SMS messages, and data usage and warns you when you reach a predefined value.
Nov 9th
7 tags
People could carry future phone network nodes →
Well, see the thing is, they already do. This is not new technology by any means, but is traversing to the consumer side of the playground. Let me explain. Law enforcement and emergency response crews have the same thing. VRS or Vehicle Repeater System is a way of extending coverage at the scene of a natural disaster or crime. Without going into too many details, it is two radios one for RX and...
Nov 7th
3 tags
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man...”
– Theodore Roosevelt
Nov 7th
5 tags
Replace Your Hard Drive Using Free Windows 7 Tools →
Good article by Paul Thurrott. If you are running Windows 7 this is one of the easiest and best ways to upgrade or change your drive configurations while maintaining your data.
Nov 7th
3 tags
Happy Birthday Android →
I can’t believe its been three years. Time flys.
Nov 7th
2 tags
Nov 5th
1 note
6 tags
Don't look down! The daredevil engineer who works... →
I would put this up there in one of the best jobs in the world.
Nov 3rd
5 tags
Android Application of the Week 023
Awesome Drop   Price: Free Platform Reviewed on: Android 2.2, Motorola Droid Review: Awesome Drop is an app that allows you to drag and drop files to your phone over the web with a simple pin number.
Nov 2nd
4 tags
Nov 1st
October 2010
9 posts
8 tags
Oct 30th
7 tags
Cyanogen 6.1 RC Available →
This means that the stable release is not far off. I run this ROM on my personal phone, and so far, I can’t say I have many complaints at all.
Oct 29th
4 tags
Facebook Apps: A thing that should not be... →
I found some documentation for removing all Facebook apps from your account. I find no need for them, and neither should you. I could go on about this for days. Facebook has apps so that they can make money, not so that you, the user can have a good experience. They don’t care if it spams you with ads, or collects your personal information. I find it to be a severe lack of judgement on the...
Oct 28th
5 tags
Android App of the Week 022
App 2 SD Price: Free Platform Reviewed on: Android 2.2, Motorola Droid Review: App 2 SD is an app that relocates other apps to your SD card to keep your phone clean and running smoothly.
Oct 27th