Daily Archives: January 26, 2013

Why do we hams accumulate so much stuff?

Posted on by January 26, 2013

I have been planning for nearly a year to move my ham shack from its current location inside a small walk in closet to my home office.  The home office is closer the base of my tower, but more importantly it is about four times the size of my current location.  Unfortunately, my home office has become a large storage space since I retired.

I spent a few hours this morning sorting through some of the stuff I have been shoving into my office over the past 5 years.  It is hard to believe all the stuff we hams hold onto.  It seems like I am personally attached to every ham gadget, blown fuse, burnt resistor or piece of gear I ever purchased!  Fortunately, the clutter is overpowering me so it is time for some Feng Shui!  Some of this stuff is going to have to go to new homes.   Now if I can just follow through and leave more at the next hamfest than I bring home!

73,

Fred

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Posted on by January 26, 2013

In addition to ham radio I am also interested in Astronomy.  During some our recent astronomy club meetings and outings I have noticed that there are a large number of astronomy enthusiasts that are also hams.  Maybe that means that the two hobbies attract the same sorts participants; those with an interest in technical things.  I think the same was true during the early days of the personal computer revolution.

Anyway, for you hams that are also interested in Astronomy, here is a great link to bookmark.  The NASA photo of the day is a good way to start the morning along with your cup of joe and a quick peek at the DX Spotting Network.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Here is todays photo:

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

Alaskan Moondogs
Image Credit & Copyright: Sebastian Saarloos
Explanation: Moonlight illuminates a snowy scene in this night land and skyscape made on January 17 from Lower Miller Creek, Alaska, USA. Overexposed near the mountainous western horizon is the first quarter Moon itself, surrounded by an icy halo and flanked left and right by moondogs. Sometimes called mock moons, a more scientific name for the luminous apparations is paraselenae (plural). Analogous to a sundog or parhelion, a paraselene is produced by moonlight refracted through thin, hexagonal, plate-shaped ice crystals in high cirrus clouds. As determined by the crystal geometry, paraselenae are seen at an angle of 22 degrees or more from the Moon. Compared to the bright lunar disk, paraselenae are faint and easier to spot when the Moon is low.

 

 

HughesNet Upgrade

Posted on by January 26, 2013

🙂 The HugheNet upgrade happened today.  It only took the installer about an hour to change out the old modem and dish.  So far the Gen4 is a vast improvement over our older HughesNet connection.  I haven’t measured the download speeds yet, but it does feel much zippier than before.

Fred, KC9QQ