Saturday, Nov. 16, 2013 — I can hear it already … “Zed, why in tarnation aren’t you operating the Sweepstakes? How can you call yourself a red-blooded American HAM if aren’t busting your bee-hiney contesting your guts out?? After all, this IS America — land of free and home to QRO contest operating!”
No, no, I may do a LOT of things, but I don’t do Sweepstakes. For some reason, I have never found enjoyment in operating the SS — due mostly to the convoluted exchange required. OK, I know it is based on the radiogram, but c’mon — all we really need to do is exchange 59 and one other piece of information no one is going to remember anyway. Serial number, ITU zone, section/country/planet, whatever. I know getting the information is part of the contest, but if we’re going through the trouble to require passing information as part of the exchange, lets make it relevant to the 20th and 21st centuries.
How about sending a signal report and then the number of unaltered breasts among the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills? Or the number of times one of the members of the cast of the Real Housewives of New Jersey use the work “bitch?” On a more personal basis, how about stating the percent increase you’ve seen in your health insurance premiums under the Not-So-Affordable Care Act? Or the number of times you’ve personally heard the president apologize for the Obamacare website debacle?
The point is that the exchange for the SS — in my view — probably annoys more people than it attracts to contesting. Streamline the exchange and you’ll probably see greater participation. Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.
COMPUTERS? DID I MENTION COMPUTERS? Yeah, I guess I did in the headline … let’s go in that direction since I’ve posted my complaints about the SS contest exchange.
While pursuing a used 22-inch monitor on eBay for my son, I wound up buying a complete PC system for $100. Turns out the PC is identical to the Dell I’m using here in my office, though with less memory and smaller hard drive. Hmmm …
With winter upon us, I spend most of my computer time in our library near our pellet stove. My laptop is an old-but-bulletproof IBM Thinkpad T61; its a great laptop, but it has its limitations — particularly in the display and processor power for gaming applications. But I like it regardless.
I checked out the new-to-me PC and damned if it doesn’t work great! I decided since I’m going to be operating a lot in the library, why not setup this new Dell for my use in the library? I have ordered additional memory and larger hard drive for it, and today I received my articulating wall mount for the monitor.
I have two of these mounts at my shack operating position already; one holds the monitor for my Yaesu FT2000 DMU display, the second is the display for my shack PC I use for digital, contest logging, etc. In the library, I’m going to fabricate a bracket to attach the mount to the exisitng book case to the right of my chair. The computer will be on the floor next to or behind my chair; the keyboard I’ll place on my lap when needed. The monitor will be mounted on the arm, and can be pushed out of the way flush with the book case when not in use. This will reduce or eliminate my need to use my laptop, and actually provide a more finger-friendly keyboard with which to write over the winter. I’m upgrading the video card from 256Meg to 1Gig, hoping this will help game play with Battlefield and Grand Theft Auto, etc. (Hey, you gotta have something to do when the bands are dead, right?!)
The video card is here, the monitor mount came today, and the other upgrades should arrive next week. The bracket I need to fabricate won’t be too tough to make, I just need to make sure it will adequately spread the weight across two shelves of the bookcase. When I get it done I’ll post photos.
My wife isn’t sure yet how all this mess will come together, but she does understand one thing — in our library, I have established a beach head of geeknology: In the corner where my stuff armchair sits, I have my listening post rigs (Hallicrafters SX-130, Yaesu FT-817 and WWII military surplus receive) with a long wire just outside the window and two police scanners on the book shelves. Adding a more permanent PC is the next logical step in this evolution (well, logical to me anyway!). Wish me luck.
73 de KY4Z … dit dit