Power is being shut off today from 9AM to 3PM so SCE can install new equipment that can preemptively shut down power quicker! Ten months ago the power was off for 4 days just in case. Now they can do it quicker and longer. We have truly become a 3rd world country. Both my phones and the laptop are fully charged!
.webp)
Your government is Shut Down!
I watch things like license expirations and during the last shutdown submitted my ham ticket renewal way early only to suddenly find my renewal was in limbo resulting from nobody at work at the FCC. I suspect if you have a renewal in process with the FCC today, you too will be counting the days.
For those who may not know I have four kids, three boys and a girl and none of them hams. When they were kids, I actually enjoyed taking them to the local playgrounds and just observed what they did.
The playground is the world's greatest living laboratory for experimentation and technical growth. They all soon learned the physics of pumping a swing to make it go higher. Or where you positioned your butt on the seesaw could very much impact how much force you could exert (force application and moment arm length equations) or jumping off the seesaw and your partner got a jolt. Newtons law of physics was very much at play. Gravity drove how fast you went down the slide (a small butt helped too... less friction).
But there was also learning about sharing as there were only so many swings and so many seesaws and sometimes you had to wait to get access. Yes, it was also a chance to see the early formation of the "playground bully" who would go on to be some significant person where nothing changed from his (or her) playground days.
Now I want to explore a potential new simple project. But first I want to connect the playground with a simple ham radio project. Both are rooted in science and scientific principles and even simple objects like swings and seesaws can provide hours of enjoyment. Radios do not have to be complex to fully enjoy our hobby!
I start by suggesting a new project which would be the size of a half a loaf of bread, battery powered, a combo of digital and analog hardware with more than milliwatts for an output. A single band and a bit of trickery with the conversion scheme.
An added factor is that the tepid Cycle 25 is headed downhill so no illusions about 15, 12 or 10 Meters. Certainly 17 Meters maybe given some consideration. Again, no illusions here Cycle 25 sucked! Thank God Cycle 25 is headed for obscurity as I tired of hearing how good it was going to be. Some of those known Cycle 25 Cheerleaders are now silent.
I also want to think about COTS (Commercial Off the Shelf) hardware. Several suppliers come to mind and those include Mostly DIY RF and QRP Labs and of course W1REX with his board adapters for SMD parts. This approach might entice others to build such a rig as this reduces the workload, the need to think (noodling), less BOM's to deal with and bypassing gluing your fingers together.
Without saying more, it would be FT-8 capable using the N6QW Digital Adapter.
Them that know can make it go.
73's
Pete N6QW