Radio Dawg Snoozes

Radio Dawg is laying next to the operator's chair while my keyboard clicks and clatters. Her surgery went exceedingly well this morning but she's not the same ole' at the moment. We learned our lesson and beware those gnawing hoofs especially for aging dogs.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement. Radio Dawg is looking forward to the North American CW Sprint in early September.

73 from the shack.

Add A Kilowatt of Success to Your Amateur Radio Blog

Jeff, KE9V gets the credit. He really motivated my research into "What Makes A Successful Blog."

Robin Good at Be Smart, Be Independent, Be Good suggested the following:

• Stay on Topic that is readers are interested in content and not about what I ate at the airport unless one has the gift of wit, humor, or cynicism.
• Be informative and remember your reputation is at stake always check the facts.
• Adhere to a schedule and stick to it. Basically keep the content as fresh as possible or risk loosing your really simple syndication (RSS) feeds.
• Clarity and simplicity results in a 20db signal in the amateur radio blogosphere.
• Spell checking and proof reading. Nothing to add here.
• RSS or die.

Backbone at Corporate Blogging: Is It Worth The Hype suggested common blogging mistakes:

• Not linking to other blogs. It's all about community.
• Not having an email link or comment page.
• RSS or die. That one again.
• Not updating enough. Write, write, and write some more.

Paul Stamatiou suggested 5 Steps to Successful Blogging:

• Have a solid introduction paragraph.
• Visual elements i.e. photographs or screen shots but don't overwhelm the read.
• Structure. Remember those research papers in college?
• Links and Block Quotes. Just go with your gut feeling or intuition.

Good, R. (n.d.) Be Smart, Be Independent, Be Good Retrieved on August 21, 2007 from http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2005/04/26/how_to_write_a_successful.htm.

Backbone (n.d). Corporate Blogging: Is It Worth The Hype Retrieved on August 21, 2007 from http://www.backbonemedia.com/blogsurvey/54-lessons-learned-successful-blog.htm.

Stamatiou, P. (n.d.) 5 Steps to a Successful Blog Post Retrieved on August 21, 2007 from http://paulstamatiou.com/2006/08/26/5-steps-to-a-successful-blog-post/.

Radio Dawg Bones

Radio Dawg has bad breath and it wasn't from the lack of brushing her teeth. Both molars in the rear of her upper jaw are broken at the root. We discovered her painful dilemma yesterday afternoon just before the K9 brush hit the teeth. The culprit in this was a store bought gnawing hoof. It didn't dawn on us that broken molars might follow. Radio Dawg must have a super vice-like bite. We worried about a possible infection but the veterinarian put her on antibiotics and pain medication. No infection. However she is experiencing discomfort sometimes shaking her head and difficulty sleeping at night. Radio Dawg is scheduled for oral surgery Friday morning and comes home to the shack later in the afternoon.

Off the Random Wire (Week 14) Airport Day

An excellent afternoon spent at San Luis Obispo Regional Airport touring the world of aviation. The Lockheed Research aircraft was, at one time, flown by Howard Hughes. One knows when this particular aircraft is flying by the sound of its distinctive engines. The hot trainer featured a joystick-like control with advanced avionics also a parachute for the aircraft much like an ejection seat for a fighter pilot. Fascinating safety feature. We ended up eating hotdogs after our tour and called it a great Saturday. This weekend, I worked Minnesota on Friday evening (30-meters) and Idaho early Sunday morning on 40-meters. Both stations in the CW portion of the bands. Japan just above the noise floor on 40-meter CW early Saturday morning. One day propagation will cooperate. We're moving toward Labor Day weekend and our small beach community is packed. Radio Dawg took me for a walk and the traffic was intense at the Shell Beach Road exit. She decided to change direction and thankfully so. I observed a playful sea otter in the kelp beds while Radio Dawg busied herself making new doggy friends. She has excellent social skills. 73 from the shack.

Signals from the RadioSport Blogosphere v.2

No propagation problems inside the RadioSport Blogosphere this week.

NE1RD's 100 Pound DXpedition gains velocity as Scott prepares for St. Kitts (V4). This week included information on QSL quality, DXpedition notifications, and testing of the new Mosley beam. One gets an inside look into the trails and travails of planning and executing a DXpedition.

K3OQ's Adventures in Radio feels the fatigue hitting the rack earlier than expected. I'm looking forward to Jeff's Potomac Valley Radio Club (PVRC) social gathering article. Is the hypothesis correct that appetite and number of QSOs are related? What is on the picnic plates of Amateur Radio operators? Change your blog frequency and learn more...

A pair of 20db questions pounded the gray matter receiver and I'm lucky to have roofing filters.

KE9V's Long Delayed Echoes recently expanded on AD7MI's blog article "What makes a good Ham blog?" Jeff offers four characteristics of a good ham blog and 1). Serve up Full RSS Feeds, 2). Get in touch with your personal side, 3). Leave the news to the Pros and 4). A picture is worth a thousands words.

In response, what makes blogging distinctly different from mainstream Amateur Radio journalism? One characteristic stands out as the 'cornerstone' and it is the personal side of the blogger. Tell me about your Murphy Trails. Speak about the steep learning curve and the bloopers made along the way. Blogging allows anyone, anywhere to make a contribution to the overall Amateur Radio conversation and it's imperfections. There are no editors involved as well. It is the keyboard and your muse driving the content of one's blog. Neither are we worried about commercial sponsors. Bloggers are in the literal meaning -- free to speak. In addition, regurgitation of information i.e. Leave the news to the Pros does not necessarily create a good ham blog. Lastly, pictures add depth, texture, and tone to one's blog article. Sometimes just a picture speaks volumes of consumable words.

Ultimately be creative, imaginative, and forward thinking. Tell the RadioSport Blogosphere via RSS Feed about the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. After all, it puts a human face on a technologically driven hobby.

K9JY's Ham Radio - Amateur Radio Contesting propagates another heavy duty cycle question. How to embrace emergent technology i.e. internet connected contest stations to increase participation on the air during contests? Remotely controlled stations in rare DX locales via the Internet are now conceivable and foreseeable.

My answer? The influence of such stations will change the infrastructure of contest rules i.e. station classification and scoring criteria in the future. One question appeared as a pattern that is, defining a QSO as fixed station-to-fixed station using the medium of the ionosphere. The use of the Internet diminishes according to some the traditional definition of a QSO. The debate is divided between traditionalists advocating fixed station-to-fixed station using the medium of the ionosphere and progressives. The progressives view the Internet as an adjunct medium as meaningful to contesting as the ionosphere.

I advocate the progressive viewpoint that the Internet as an adjunct medium of communication is as meaningful to contesting as the ionosphere. Why? Because the Internet is here to stay. It is that simple for me. We can develop the philosophical infrastructure i.e. rules, station classification and scoring in order to cope with and manage the social and technological change fraught by Internet.

Likewise, affordable transceivers like affordable personal computers are needed. The current price tag for entry into our hobby can reach the level of one year's worth of college tuition. It is the family i.e. Dads or Moms or Both who pay the cost of an entry-level contest station. We might consider looking at excess inventory within our shacks and donating equipment to highly motivated, budget constrained RadioSport operators within one's local community.

Overall, reaching the Internet generation is of paramount importance to the sustainability of our hobby in relationship to contest activity. Increasing contest activity suggests affordability of contest equipment and, recognition of the Internet's role as an adjunct medium of communication and an agent of social change.

However change is always painfully slow.

73 from the shack.