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The Wrong Solution for the Right Problem

Based on my many years of dabbling with electronic circuits, there IS a right way and wrong way to approach fixing a circuit problem. The last thing you want to do is turn on the soldering iron and indiscriminately start ripping parts out of a circuit without first having done some analysis and narrowing down the possible culprits. But to do this you have to develop skills and have a knowledge base. Information is the key to success! Triton II ALC Problem Take time to watch this video and see how this inoperative old Ten Tec Transceiver was brought back to life using a disciplined process approach. Bottom line the problem was a blown incandescent lightbulb costing less than $1. But an underlying problem was a poor choice of a circuit element used in this critical part of the overall circuitry. Subsequent Ten Tec builds of this very same circuit replaced the lightbulb with a LED that had a far greater MTBF than the lightbulb. I draw a parallel to the current government regime and the gr...
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None of the Above!

We have all taken tests or have surveys sent to us on our smart phones where one of the choices is "none of the above". Regrettably our two-party political system has no choice such as "none of the above". Blog detractors will say you can write in a candidate. But writing in a name is but a tepid response and does not have the clout of saying neither one is qualified. A "none of the above" election was a central theme to a 1985 Movie starring Richard Pryor entitled Brewster's Millions .  Thus, this is not a new idea but one that worked as a premise in a movie and could work for real. Given today that candidates typically come from the Owning Class, we need to think of some different form of just placing wealthy candidates on a slate which essentially is a forced choice selection. The ranked choice approach is gaining traction. It would be fun to rerun the 2024 election in 2026 with the ranked choice approach and maybe the tariffs and mayhem would go ...

The Golden Rule

  The Golden Rule: Them that has the gold gets to make the rules.  It has been suggested that in the USA there are three classes of people... The Working Class, The Managing Class and The Owning Class.  Over the last 75 years our government has taken a sharp turn where those in the Owning Class are in the majority of national political positions of leadership and call all the shots. This may not be a good thing as money is power and power corrupts. One has to wonder if any legislation that is suggested or passed by the Owning Class is 1st reviewed in the context now how will this affect my personal wealth and power A quote from Lord Acton: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Abraham Lincoln famously said: Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Today this might be rewritten: "Government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich, shall not perish from this earth"  Copilot was asked to assess t...

Hustle and pick up an IC7300 MKII

  The IC7300 MKII almost as good as a Naked Centerfold (Almost) Hustle over to the DX Engineering website, plunk down $35 and reserve one for your shack. You want one, you need one, you deserve one, you will buy one! It will be a status symbol and do it now as 2026 will be a bad time to buy ham gear. [BTW the plain vanilla older model IC7300 can be had for $900.] I have been using my homebrew 20M SDR transceiver running several different Single Board Computers including a RPi3, RPi4, RPi5 and the ASUS Tinker Board. The RPi4 is the only one that has problems running QUISK. The ASUS Tinker Board is a fast processor but doesn't like Python3 nor WSJTX.  Of the lot, the 64 Bit RPi5 is the best. If things get boring on 20M, there is always NETFLIX. Aid to the US Farmers I am trying to sort through the current situation with the US farmers. By and large the farm vote supported the current regime. Enter the tariffs and this block of voters got hit really hard.  So, to regain the...

Amateur Radio Operation during WWII

We are prone to take our beloved hobby for granted. What would you do if suddenly an executive order was issued to cease ham radio activities immediately? That did happen during WWII. An article from an August 1995 QST covers what transpired. While it may have seemed to have happened suddenly, there were signs as early as 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. Other countries pulled the Big Switch in 1939 like the UK, France, Belgium and Portugal long before the US. As the article suggests rules were in place prior to Pearl Harbor regarding countries where communication by US Hams were forbidden. [A possible precedent for shutting off communications with Russian hams for the incursion into the Ukraine.] Interesting tidbits were presented like the 1st female operator in the Signal Corp was a YL ham with a 9 call. The number of US hams in 1940 was less than 10% of our current ham population so in reality it was peanuts somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 hams. Many of these hams instantly...

Pearl Harbor Day. Nothing is safe!

Eighty-Four Years Ago, a Day of Infamy Sunday, December 7, 1941, a day of infamy when the Hawaiian Islands (and other US Bases) were attacked by Japan. A day that changed the course of US and World History. We should never forget that fateful event. Today only a dozen Pearl Harbor survivors are still alive, and none will be attending the commemorative ceremony. About 7 months ago I went through hell trying to get a new Passport and a Real ID. The passport renewal involved a 170-mile round trip adventure to an out of the way US Post Office. The Real ID had to await getting a new birth certificate from the State of Pennsylvania. The birth certificate I had was good enough for the Passport but not the Real ID. I have had for a long-time a credit card from a major bank but no other accounts with that bank. I watch the expenditures on that account and once a month drop into the bank and pay off the balance. I did that this past Friday. I hate using their automated teller for payments as one...

Three weeks from now it will be two days after Christmas 2025

We might all ask where this year went? There was chaos, ICE round ups, assassinations, government shutdowns, Elon Musk RIFs, AI taking your job, higher prices for everything, uncertainty for the future and lest we forget tariffs. Indeed, it was a good year for the wealthy and super wealthy but not so good for us common folk. With all honesty it will be very difficult to utter these words "well, 2026 will be better". The only hope for 2026 is the mid-term elections which has the potential of changing the script. On a personal level this year has been tough for me with the passing of the XYL and now adjusting to that major change. Somehow hooking up with a 24-year-old like that old sports guy, what is his name, is not on my radar. [Exceptions made for much older YL's who can still enjoy life.] Soon I will complete another orbit of the sun and with that my get up and go has got up and went. My zest for building anything electronic has been dialed way down.  To keep fit I hav...