My Rooms @ FriendFeed

Too much noise and not enough signal? Quantity over quality? Want to benefit the most from social networking? One can tune their signal and improve reception. I return to my model that Twitter is campus cafeteria and FriendFeed is university library. Both serve a meaningful purpose in our emergent digital century.

I created a number of ham radio related rooms to solve my signal-to-noise ratio. A single aggregated feed is overwhelming, quantity driven, leads to attention deficit, and diminished social interaction. Instead, I have divided my interest into sub-folders. The result is content management.

FriendFeed Rooms.

• Cognitive Radio | Intelligent wireless radio (link).
• Future of Ham Radio | A working group of thoughtful ham radio operators covering a broad spectrum of problems both technical and social. The purpose of this room is to facilitate problem solving and define workable solutions (link).
• HamRadio & DigitalCulture | Get the smarts on HamRadio & DigitalCulture (link).
• HamRadio & RadioSport | Where humankind meets wireless technology in the game called RadioSport (link).
• HamRadio DXpeditions | Let the adventure begin with Ham Radio DXpeditions (link).
• HamRadio Products | The latest and greatest ham radio product news (link).
• KA3DRR Feeds | All my feeds in one room (link).
• HamRadioVideoFeed | Ham radio video from across the Internet (link).
• SoftwareDefinedRadio | Discussion related to software defined radio (SDR) (link).
  
• Shackadelic Awards 2009 | The best of the best in ham radio (link).

One can visualize my content transmission propagating from ham radio's community antenna. The end result is content management and a bump for ham radio content creators. An ultimate benefit is time savings for each of us as interests are now categorized for future reference and discussion.

73 from the shackadelic.

2009 Convergence | San Jose, California [February 9th and 10th]

Do you know Guy Kawasaki (link)? Do you know Robert Scoble (link)? Or at least follow them?

Convergence 2009 will demolish conventional wisdom as well as everything one knows about planet media and radio. Just browse the site (link) and get a feel for the emergent digital century business model. An asymmetrical relationship between business and human being is morphing into a dynamic relationship with greater symmetry driven by digital interactivity. The digital century business model is social relationship built on interactivity across digital platforms.

Take a moment and expand awareness.

73 from the shackadelic.

Ham Radio Research and Development Challenge

If one is into a challenge then design, develop, construct a 50-watts amplifier to follow a 5-watt 40 meter transceiver or "adapt a published design with appropriate credit."

Our American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is sponsoring a second challenge (link) for those garage and shack innovators. Such an amplifier is an excellent green technical contribution as well.

Some basic requirements?

• Must meet all requirements while operating from a 13.8 V dc power supply.
  
• Must put out 50 W PEP on 40 meters with a 5 W PEP input.
• Parts must be readily available either from identified national retailers or by mail order. No “flea market specials” allowed.
• The total cost of all mechanical and electrical parts required for duplication of the amplifier cannot exceed $125.

Read entire basic requirements (link).

Does one begin to get a sense of direction given a few mentioned requirements. Why not take this a step further and think about a patent? I do not know the number of 5-watt QRP kits in operation but an affordable linear amplifier built from parts purchased from national retailers or mail order? Why not think sponsorship.

73 from the shackadelic.

Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS)

Life needs water and so does California. However NASA is searching for water ice on the moon. The LCROSS mission is little sister to Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) with a scheduled launch in the spring of this year.

NASA's adventure to the moon and beyond gains momentum as LCROSS plunges into a shadowed crater near the poles. Got a 10-to-12 inch telescope?

Read (link).

Think great, act boldly.

Ham Radio Wins Big Time In Palmdale

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) just announced a big win for ham radio. The restrictive, nihilist nature of Palmdale's antenna ordinance was overruled. My thank you to those involved in the struggle for the future of ham radio.

Read (link).

73 from the shackadelic.

Discovery STS-119 Mission In Question

Everything needs to work perfectly for a mission to fly and STS-119 has a problem. Flow control valves directing gaseous hydrogen from the "main engines to the external fuel tank" were removed, inspected, and reinstalled. An excellent precautionary step in a process that allows for no mistakes.

Read (link).

KA3DRR Gets 3D

Life is high frequency.

New Room @ FriendFeed | Ham Radio Products

A new room at FriendFeed for those interested in the latest, greatest ham radio products. Get your aggregated news in a single feed. News contributions and commentary welcomed from other ham radio operators as well.

Ham Radio Products (link).

73 from the shackadelic.

On Ham Radio Needs A New Suit | K. T. Stevenson, AJ4KI responded "Amateur Radio still has an edge. When all else fails, amateur radio WORKS."

Read comment (link).

I like your attitude. Ham radio will always be there in time of need and your comment speaks to the heart of that matter.

My very best to each EMCOMM operator in Kentucky who came to the call of service. Keith, your comment, is an honor.

Think great, act boldly.

On Ham Radio Needs A New Suit | David commented, "I agree with your comments about freedom of speech..."

Read comment (link).

The anonymous comment had zero redeeming value neither was it constructive. I let that one sit for several days and thought about its content. And I returned to the benchmark of a simple outlandish attack on ham radio. Those anonymous words remain a private conversation between anonymous and myself. Anonymous could do better in the future.

David. Thank you for your support and encouragement.

73 from the shackadelic.

YouTube Videos @ KA3DRR Via FriendFeed | Ten-Tec

I'm having lots of ham radio fun despite not operating in nearly two weeks. Sprint CW sponsored by the National Contest Journal is next Saturday and I'm looking forward to the action. In the meantime, please enjoy Ten-Tec instructional videos narrated by Scott Robbins, W4PA.

Thank you Ten-Tec and Scott Robbins, W4PA for your hard work while delivering digital content for our digital century.

Video Feed Menu (link).

• Looking Back At The Omni VI Plus.
  
• PL-259 Installation Made Easy For RG8X.
  
• 1254 Shortwave Receiver Kit.
  
• CW On The Jupiter 538.
  
• PL-259 Installation Made Easy For RG213.

73 from the shackadelic.

Ten-Tec Television

Ten-Tec television moved to a new URL (link) with archived episodes located on iTunes, YouTube, and Ustream.

Did I hear Ten-Tec television is now available on iPhones?

73 from the shackadelic.

Roteno Labs Suggested Brave New Concept For Ham Radio R&D

Victor Vanderberg, KE4HGN of Roteno Labs in his posting Technology Incubator Program: A Call for Leadership (link) suggested, "I would like to propose that the ARRL and amateur radio clubs establish Technology Incubator Programs. The programs could offer grants to support hams that are developing new concepts when they need it most, in the beginning."

Perhaps, we may consider, a non-profit 501(C)(3) supporting Vanderberg's R&D funding concept? His idea is bold. Additionally, we might borrow from Intel's Havok Physics Innovation Contest and engage the competitive spirit of American ingenuity?

A non-profit organization could pool together resources both material and financial in support of ham radio research and development with crossover applications for industry. Technology incubator programs inside the shacks and garages across this nation is an idea whose time has arrived.

Furthermore, ham radio manufacturers may consider sponsorship of wireless technology awards, with or without a prize. I, for one believe intrinsically driven ham radio operators will accomplish such a goal. Recognition for one's accomplishment and success is enough for the intrinsic one.

Think great, act boldly.

A Ham Radio Challenge For Our Digital Century | Dave Sumner, K1ZZ "Technology and Science, A Two-Way Street"

I've read many articles streaming out of Newington and this one really grabbed my attention. Our R&D challenge?

• "Can we put our new tools to work, collecting propagation data more comprehensively and accurately than ever before? By doing so can we contribute not only to the science of radio propagation but to environmental science as well?"

In fact, we are discussing K1ZZ's challenge at this moment, on Twitter. I did not think to include propagation data in my digital logbook and experiment with the data. Additionally, weak signal propagation reporter (WSPR) is another scientific tool. Or look at WSPR propagation map (link) or WSPR spot database (link).

Technology and Science, A Two-Way Street by Dave Sumner, K1ZZ (link).

73 from the shackadelic.