Current workplace
This is how my current workplace looks.… Read the rest
Author: gerard
Logitech MX Vertical
The ergonomic mouse I talked about earlier was an almost instant relief on my lower arm muscles. Therefor I would like to have something like that after having to send back the previous ergonomic mouse.
This resulted in me searching for alternatives and ultimately ordering the Logitech MX Vertical mouse.… Read the rest
DasKeyboard X50Q arrived
Today a new keyboard arrived, DasKeyboard X50Q to be precise. To the right, you can see a picture of the keyboard, showing one of six default onboard back light configurations.
I decided that I did not want a wireless keyboard, and this one came with a 2 meter long braided… Read the rest
The early bird catches connections…
Today I started early (around 06:30) and noticed that the 40 meter band was open on FT8. Receptions from way into Argentina and all the way from New Zealand. See below… Read the rest
Testing keyboard / mouse
Today I tested a nice keyboard and mouse combination. Read report below the picture.
Keyboard
The keyboard is a Mistel X-VIII Gloaming mechanical keyboard. A separate wrist rest was offered. The board looks very nice and it types very well with its Cherry MX silent red switches.
But… the computer… Read the rest
Cleaning mixer
I have an old audio mixer (Behringer Eurorack MX 802A) laying around. It’s been gathering dust for quite a while. In the pictures you probably can’t properly see it, but it had a lot of dust on it. Today I decided to give it some TLC and clean it up.… Read the rest
BIOS upgrade
Today, looking for (virtualization) features in my computer, I came across the firm ikbenstil.nl. It came highly recommended by my son in law, a geek like me. I called them and they were indeed very helpful and customer friendly. They showed me the way around my BIOS and helped me… Read the rest
Gray line made visual
In the image below, created yesterday evening, you can beautifully see the effect of what is called the ‘gray line‘ (see explanation by Paul NA5N Harden below). It is the line between day and night, as can be seen in the image. Along this line radio connections are ‘propagated‘ by… Read the rest
Antenna replacement and correction
Yesterday I replaced my broadband Diamond Discone antenna with a dual band Diamond X-300N. The Discone is a broadband antenna with a range from 30 MHz up to 1300 MHz. The new one gives a much better reception on the 145MHz and the 430MHz bands.
old (DisCone)new (Dual band)
Correction… Read the rest
IC-9700 repaired
Today I got my IC-9700 back from the repair I sent it of for. That took a while longer than expected, but hey, I’m glad it’s back. Here it is, In my (again) rearranged shack:… Read the rest
HAM Clock
A fellow HAM – Jon K60J – pointed me to a nice program: HAMclock. Click on the name to go to the page where you can have a look and download it when you like it.
I did, and installed it on my Raspberry Pi 4B. I also had a… Read the rest
Conditions seem to be good today
Today I received a lot of stations on my HF radio using FT8 even one from the vicinity of Australia (from a boat perhaps?). Mainly on 20 meters (yellow), a couple on 10 meters (pink) and a couple on 40 meters (blue). My experience so far is that FT8 is… Read the rest
Screen error in my IC-9700
The TFT screen of my VHF/UHF radio has an error in it. As you can see in the gallery below, there is a horizontal dotted white line just below the middle of the screen. It appears immediately when the screen comes on and stays there no matter what screen I… Read the rest
FT8 connections
What is FT8?
The last couple of weeks I have been trying to get digital mode FT8 working. FT8 is a means of transmitting (which I don not do yet) and receiving messages that are digitally coded, and then encoded into analogue signals so that they can be transmitted over… Read the rest
Digital mode receiving
Amongst the ways we can receive (and transmit) information are the digital modes. One of the popular modes is called FT8. The program WSJT-X that I use is capable of coding and decoding that FT8 protocol. Using that program I received (and was able to decode) the stations in the… Read the rest