http://vp9kf.com/blog ...ramblings about Morse Code (CW) by Paul: G4BKI, VP9KF, 8P9FT, J37KF & V31WJ [FOC:1578] Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:24:54 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en OK. Here we go. I’m building a remote base station without any PC involved. First hardware to arrive is a nice Netgear FS-105 ethernet hub (5 port). This is cool because it is in a metal case, it’s tiny and it only cost $9.95! However, there is a new model with ... http://vp9kf.com/blog/?p=42 It doesn’t happen very often (in fact, it has been exactly TWO years since the last reboot of the server!), but my server got re-booted. It coincided with (almost) the switch of my FOC site at w4.vp9kf.com and the new FOC Members’ site at http://firstclasscw.org/members/ . Just one of those ... http://vp9kf.com/blog/?p=41 I have my Begali. It is made very well. I have to say that, unfortunately, it doesn’t fix my problems with the K1EL keyer. More of that soon….. http://vp9kf.com/blog/?p=37 I ordered a new Begali Simplex Mono, Palladium and with Red no-slotted finger pieces. Hopefully this will get away from problems with the newer iambic keyers that I make more mistakes with than before they “grew” microprocessors inside. With a single lever, it can’t fool you! So, now I await ... http://vp9kf.com/blog/?p=34 Oh dear. Since the turn of the year the SoHO sunspot image has gone nuts. Boy, if we only had that many spots! It looks like all of the spots for 2008 have been dropped onto the image, although I haven’t gone back and checked for the oldest number shown ... http://vp9kf.com/blog/?p=33 Group 11009 has shown on the Sun. It looks like the SSN may be as high as 23 by the end of the day, if that second group right behind gets counted (or keeps growing). The only downside is a big Coronal Hole straight on axis at Earth, which may ... http://vp9kf.com/blog/?p=32 SoHO MDI, EIT imager and STEREO Behind all confirm that group 11009 is coming around the Eastern limb of the Sun. EIT is showing ‘flaring’ around the limb and STEREO shows two very strong spots from it’s view at 45 degrees from straight-on. Soooo, look for some potential action late ... http://vp9kf.com/blog/?p=30 I’ve been watching the chatter about the CA antenna case. Yes, the one that limits the antenna to one inch (25mm) above the top of the roof. There’re always a few ways to handle this. Don’t aggravate the neighbours in the first place. Start out by keeping your power down so ... http://vp9kf.com/blog/?p=29 Well, not quite, but nearly. Ever wondered how to get one of those stamps used on QSL cards that says “Verified by….”? Well, go to good old Vistaprint and check out their free rubber stamps. Play with the format and then order red ink (extra $1.99) so that photocopies ... http://vp9kf.com/blog/?p=28 Just after the STEREO mission came live, I wasn’t very impressed. I even sent away for some free (as in beer) 3D viewing glasses. The problem was that the data was very patchy and there were a very limited number of far-from-real-time 3D images. However, STEREO is much more interesting than ... http://vp9kf.com/blog/?p=27