Slightly related: I downloaded a mobile logging app I saw recommended on here this morning.
The description on the Play Store seemed reasonable in regards to not being privacy invading malware, but the AI generated splash screen gives me some pause.
@kc2ihx The use of AI does not give other hams as much pause as it does for me. They "YEAH NEW TECHNOLOGY, COOL! MORE TECH!". But I built my own HF antennas, fix radios, and absolutely hate modern radio menus, so there, LOL.
Second $10 garage sale 19 inch rack deployed. Found an extra 19 inch shelf I had snagged a few years ago! Need another. Much better than the pile-o-radios. #hamradio#project
@Geojoek Bargain basement radios are very possible... local hamfests, typically, and some estate sales. -- I get a lot of free HF radios (old!) from people who don't want to bother fixing or selling them... A bunch of Tentecs right now. I did fix one and give it to a new ham (telling them to hand it off if they got their own), and sadly, found they did NOT appreciate not having the latest-greatest shiny thing. 😢 I've given away a lot of fixed HF radios to new hams as it's no use having them accumulating dust in my shack, LOL...
That does not look right at all.
23dB attenuation in between the transverter and spectrum analyzer.
The attenuators are specced to 6GHz and 11GHz, so no problem there either.
TX gain maxed out and hitting the transverter with +20dBm on 144MHz and this is what I get.
@recursive
Yeah the UI is great.
And I agree on the trashed CRT.
The CRT being trashed was the reason why the whole analyzer was also trashed.
And then rescued from there by a friend and delivered to the radio club.
A working HP 8564E 40GHz capable (looked at things on 38GHz and 39GHz with it, it works!) got disposed like common eWaste.
Always worth a look into those bins.
Not even the first free garbage spectrum analyzer I have encountered, but definitely the best and most working one.
As much as I dislike power poles, and I do significantly dislike them, at this point it seems like trying to use anything else is like trying to use different AC electrical plugs and sockets. Seems like a lot of hams, well, went ham over them and made them into a de facto amateur radio standard.
Yea, deciding to go from a 7610 to a 7300 and deciding that said 7300 will be more than enough radio for me kinda started a domino effect.
"Do I really need X or am I just buying it to have it?"
So instead of a bigger radio, samller radio, Same with the supply. Instead of a yuge stable of antennas, just 3-6 well-selected ones. Instead of Bury-Flex, RG8X.
And instead of a "cluttered complex shack" look I never liked, beautiful simplicity.
The first negative I've discovered about the TH-D75A is a personal one: the official and RT Systems software is all Windows-only. Also "Reflector Terminal mode is supported by Windows or Android with 3rd party apps." I really dislike Windows and don't have any Android devices, so this is all unfortunate for me, al
though I've dealt with it on Kenwood radios before. #hamradio
@croyle The amateur radio world really is suffering from so many things being developed for Windows, instead of Linux (which is more in the spirit of amateur radio, anyway). And lots of "it's amateur software but we're only writing this software because we want to make a few bucks"
@b4ux1t3 The main problem I see here is the chance someone plugs in your antenna into a power receptable and dies. That said, I've been tempted to do this to make it easier to plug in random appliances as an antenna -- ie no chance of accidental electrocution (here's a halogen lamp on 15m) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHjHFDflU6s
Consider you would do promotion for #amateurradio in the #maker / #fablab / #hacker community, or towards youth in a #coderdojo , does it make sense to try to get the local radioclub involved?
Or do you just start a local radio-amateur group inside a #hackerspace or the coderdojo?
If the local club consists of mostly old white men - don't. Just don't.
There is nothing more effective to scare young people away from ham radio than old guys who just brag about what they did 50 years ago, or talk about their ailing health.
As much as I don’t fully understand the appeal of #hamradio , looking at folks setups gives me a huge grim. Radios upon radios with random screens. What for? Who knows. But it looks amazing!
One cannot understand it, since the reasons people are into ham radio are quite diverse. Examples:
Some people collect stones, or beer etiquettes. And some ham radio enthusiasts collect connections to rare remote places.
Some build their own equipment from scratch (yep, we can do that, since after learning and doing the government test we are supposed to know what to do to not create interference with other radio services).
Some like the thrill of using transceivers with only 40 components using Morse.
And some the thrill of using top-notch software defined radios running in software, or on an FPGA.
And so one. It's basically an excuse to play with technical devices. And for sure, it's near the top of Maslow's pyramid of needs.
Some talk around the #ARRL outage starting around roughly 26:00. One of the panelists is a data security expert and seems to agree with the current ARRL approach https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHZxW6ebj1s
@kilroy_was_here It's unfortunate that the ARRL has chosen the old school non-transparent route thought. And the whole, "Well, the info we were supposed to protect is already publicly available elsewhere" messaging is pretty out of touch.
I heard the passwords (or at least v the password hashes) leaked. Something that is not publicly available.
So of course things one don't like to leak did indeed leak.
And a lot of people still don't know better and use the same password on a lot of different web pages. They now need to hurry and change that situation, I suggest using KeepassXC with the browser plug-in.
It's also wrong because of typical US American thinking. In Germany (and probably in most of Europe) you can ask the authority to NOT publish your address in the public list of registered hams. Then it's only call sign and name, nothing else.
Actually some hams do that. They decided to protect some of their personal data. Now their address went into untrusty hands due to ARRL. And they refuse to take responsibility.
IMHO they at least half-truths, maybe even lies claiming "only public data leaked".