Category: Opinion

JS8 Ragchew vs. Heartbeat

Post Updated 9/9/21 to address comments both here and on Facebook that had some great points! Updated again 12/28/21 so as to avoid quoting an on air QSO. While monitoring JS8 on 40 meters I saw a QSO in progress that seemed to be going nicely, a long “rag chew” in the works. You can …

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Receiver Build Gone Wrong: Proper Troubleshooting and Accepting Failure

Last night I wrapped up the build of my QRP Labs Receiver project and fired it up. I’ll give more detail about the project itself when it’s done, but as the title says, it didn’t go right. In fact, I destroyed the receiver with the flip of a switch! Rather than expound on it here, …

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JS8Call: Another “Zombie” mode?

Before anybody accuses me of a clickbait title, please examine the following comments taken from the JS8Call Facebook group: Over and over again Hams are disappointed with JS8Call because they have the impression that it is a “Zombie” mode, where the majority of stations are automatic, and that human to human QSO’s aren’t as common. …

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Why Windows 10 is my Desktop OS of Choice

In the comments section of a recent Hackaday.com article about some Windows 10 updates, there was a lively discussion taking place regarding the merits of using Linux instead of Windows 10. Many sung the woes of how awful Windows 10 is, how bad the updates are, and how switching to Linux saved them in some …

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DSB Digital: Friend, or Foe?

I recently became aware that there are companies selling Double Side Band radios for use on digital HF frequencies (FT8 specifically) on 40m, 30m, and 20m. In this post we’re going to take a look at what these rigs are, what they were originally designed for, and then you can decide whether these should be …

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How To Stress Yourself Out and Accomplish Nothing

At 10 years old, I was just like I am now, but smaller, a lot less comfortable with myself, and I didn’t have a cool hat. I was in the 5th grade, and there was a science fair coming up at school. I’d done somewhat well in the 3rd or 4th grade science fair, and …

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