New Shack Pictures

I have come a long way in the shack remodel. I have been working on this for quite a while and am very glade I put the work into it. It is not complete, but when are you ever done. I will continue to tweak it. I have been using it for several weeks now and I like the setup. These pictures are of the main operating desk. I have another desk that can be a secondary operating position or repair station. I will post some other views and of the battery room later. I have run  the station on the batteries for a short duration test with very good results!



 Current equipment list for station one:

 FT-767GX Yaesu HF
MFJ-989B Versa Tunner V
IC-2000 Icom 2m
PRO-49 Scanner
Dell Precision 490
Compaq Presario not shown
TYT UVF1 2m/440 Handheld
7" LCD TV for local over the air stations
24" LED TV for cable

Old Spark Gap Transmitter with Model T Coil

I have had this stored in my building for about 15 years. I found it again when I was going through boxes of stuff to find things to display in my new shack. I originally bought this from a SK's estate. I wish I could remember his call sign. This is a very interesting piece of history. It is a home-brew set that I have no idea when it was built. Was it built as a demo or is it an early spark gap transmitter? I am not sure, but I wish I knew. If there are any experts out there, I would love to have some more information.

Linux Lite

Here is a new Linux distro that looks very interesting for newcomers to linux. It looks like the "old" windows OS. Is that not funny to say? Linux Lite is derived from Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Check it out here. Let me know what you think.

linux-lite

Happy Thanksgiving!

To you and yours!

Veterans Day 2012

Harbor Freight 800 watt generator

I recently purchased a Harbor Freight 800 watt generator. I did have a coupon and only spent $89.99 for the unit. I was very skeptical about what I was reading on the reviews about this little generator. I would not have taken a chance at regular price but what the heck it was less than $100.00. When I opened the box, I did not know what to expect, and I was surprised! It had very minimal assembly required and looked like a very nice little generator. Looks are not everything, I wanted to see if it worked as good as it looked. I had figured it would smoke and be very loud. It was not! It smoked a little on the first start up, but was gone very quickly. It was not very loud at all! If you use a long extension cord the generator should be no problem sound wise. I have not run it long enough yet to know if the 110v is clean and stable, but I am planning on using it to charge batteries and not run anything other than a battery charger with it.

www.harborfreight.com/800-rated-watts-portable-generator

Hurricane Sandy

Our hearts and prayers go out to all who have felt hurricane Sandy.

http://publicdomainclip-art.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday Windows XP!

Windows XP was released worldwide for retail sale on October 25, 2001. XP is now 11 years old! It has been the biggest version yet, and does not want to fade into history. Will the new windows 8 be all that or will it be what pushes the pc world into other operating systems? Only time will tell. I know I have been using XP and plan on keeping my system running past the 18 months it has left. I have also been using Linux and OSX systems also. I do not use any Windows as my main computer OS at this time.

3cx Software PBX for HSMM Update!

I have been playing with this VOIP setup for a while now, It works great! You need to be careful when you setup the remote extensions, why would I know that! Well I had some trouble when I started the installation over again to write a tutorial, I missed a step that really through me for a loop, and it was not anything to do with port forwarding, I set it up on two other routers. The problem I ran into was a password did not match for the remote extension, this will not happen again! There is some good information on the HSMM-Mesh web site on VOIP. I am planning on finishing a tutorial in the near future.

www.3cx.com

www.hsmm-mesh.org

DC or AC to run the Ham Station?

I have built a new Ham Station and have a 12v DC battery backup system. I have posted details of this system in the past. The big question now is do I run it on 12v and let the charger keep the batteries charged or run it from 110vac using transformers to get 12v? I have seen pros and cons both ways. The batteries are on the other side of the wall next to the operating position so the leads would be short. I have also been looking at some DC lighting. I am looking for ideas.