Thank You Team XR0Y

I wanted to thank Team XR0Y for their tremendous effort to bring Rapa Nui into our logbooks. The team delivered an experience for each of us in addition to a wireless signal heard around the globe. They faced each challenge as a problem looking for a solution despite obstacles like voltage fluctuations or sever weather.

The team on Rapa Nui exemplified the best in ham radio.

I specifically enjoyed Stan, SQ8X and his tireless effort at video blogging the team's journey to the center of the world. He captured the spirit of ham radio when power was suddenly lost in the XR0Y shack. Stan struggled with the incomplete Q as a significant personal loss and I admire what that meant to him.

The world of amateur wireless communicators listened for the team as Team XR0Y listened for all of us. They made thousands of Qs yet that one missed opportunity beyond anyone's control is vividly described by SQ8X. For me, such effort speaks a lot about the character and mission, of Team XR0Y.

I wanted to say thank you for taking time from your personal lives. Team XR0Y rewarded as many as possible with a new DXCC counter and that is the spirit of ham radio.

73 from the shackadelic on the beach.

RadioSport Hot Link | CN2R

Enough content packed into this website to keep one occupied for hours. Take several minutes and study the deployment of CN2R's monobander(s) at different heights. Also, look for CN2R's use of Google Earth and what this mashup means for RadioSport going into the future.

CN2R | Contesting from Casablanca Morocco in North Africa.

Pour on the CQ!

Backup Your Hard Drive (HD) Today Not Tomorrow!

I'm slogging through the painful process of re-creating 7-years of desk top personalization. My computer is an extension of self and self reaches out through the medium of the Internet. A cybernetic system like biological or ecological systems have redundant safeguards that prevent complete collapse.

Toby, DH1TW recently posted "How to create a data backup strategy" where he described six leading ways to loose data then prescribed a methodology to safeguard one's work.

Remember, backup your HD today not tomorrow!

73 from the shackadelic.

Off The Random Wire (Week 28) | Primary Hard Drive Failure

What would happen if 2-years worth of labor is suddenly destroyed while technology pundit's warn neophytes like myself, "Back-up that hard drive!"

My hard drive (HD) after 7-years of service finally gave up the ghost yesterday afternoon. I sauntered into shackadelic after walking Radio Dawg to the sound of a skipping HD head. My monitor displayed the coroner's report, "Primary hard drive failure."

I had a feeling that hardware aging crept into shackadelic and 7-years of service is an excellent return on investment. However I failed to heed warnings, time and again, over and over, pundit's warn the best insurance against lost file despair is backing up personally important information.

I procrastinated. I did not set-up path name(s) to my flash drive when saving personally important information. My effort was, frankly, pitiful. HD failure is an eventual reality given its mechanical parts and I paid a handsome price yesterday afternoon for my failure to heed warnings.

Lesson's Learned.

1. Back up personally important information.
2. Perform periodic maintenance on desk top computer ie. clean dust, dirt, and grime inside the box.
   
3. Save personally important information to a flash drive and/or cloud storage.
4. Back up like RadioSport's motto, "Practice, practice, practice."

One cannot replace 2-years worth of labor and my heart sank for a few minutes while thinking through to a solution.

73 from the shackadelic on the beach.