Re: Lust for Radio Shack Catalog and Components

Straydog wrote:

<snip>

I sense a degradation of such skills in most of the students I
encounter from the USA.
(which are rare, they seem to be Made In China, mostly).


I've noticed the same thing. As a kid I also read Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, and sometimes Mechanics Illustrated. Fascinating diagrams, blueprints, and how-does-it-work articles. It was stimulating and helped me think, and develop an interest in science (among other stimuli).

The actual science in those magazines, however, often left a lot to be desired.

Today, about the only "think-stimulation" avenues may be in
computer-geek areas, and maybe its only half good (the other half turn into hackers that are responsible for all the computer crime, viruses, trojans, spyware, ete., etc.).

A few days ago, there was a convention of computer gamers in my city. Some of the people who were interviewed on TV were disconnected from reality. Few are interested in games that make one think, so computer chess is out of the question for that lot.


And, Radio Shack is going downhill. You can buy the same junk at Walmart. And, in our throw it away society (unlike also when I was a kid, if the TV set crapped out, you got a guy to come out [and I was always looking over his shoulder], or brought the thing in [one place let you watch the guy fix it right in front of your eyes]). Museums of science and technology where there was handson exhibits were a thrill for me. As a kid, all the ones I went to were free. Today you gotta pay $5-10 for admissions, and another $5-10 for parking (boohisss).

Its all another decline in our society. Kids get no stimulation from such hobbies, and the economy has gone from "fix it" to "just buy another one" and it adds up to more junk for the garbage pile.

And the junk that one can buy has to have more bells and whistles on it. Whatever happened to using telephones to *talk* to people?

And, our
computer hardware and software turnover is obscene. Most of my computers are at least 5 years old. They still work.

This weekend's fun was more work on the high power amplifier that is nearly finished. A pair of 813 power pentodes (5 elements: plate,

<snip>

So, I am happy, and I have lots of little additional "finish-ups" before I move the amplifier to the "ham shack" inside the house from the garage "secret laboratory" where I build this stuff. I'll be taking pictures and put them on the website when its all done.

I spent a few hours this weekend working on my antenna cables. I had a problem with the one for my VHF/UHF antennas as I couldn't make myself heard to someone in the city on simplex early this morning. After I got up this morning, I did some more work on it and I think I fixed it.

Coaxial cables are so much fun....


For guys who might want to get into ham radio, there is a "Ham Radio for Dummies," and the ARRL (at www.arrl.org) to help you. If you want to rummage around in ham radio gear, you have to go to hamfests.

In Canada, we have the Radio Amateurs of Canada:

http://www.rac.ca

The ARRL
lists, in their monthly magazine (called "QST"), a list of hamfests. The fun stuff is always cheap. The expensive stuff is almost always being sold by guys who want too much money for what they are trying to sell.

A few days ago, I saw an ad for a second-hand shortwave receiver and inquired about it. The radio's over twenty years old and had only an analog display. I thought long and hard about it and decided against buying it as, for half as much more, I could get a brand-new successor to that receiver which has a digital frequency display and can do a lot more.

There are a couple other ham radio magazines, just google "ham radio" and click wherever you want to go. Maybe google on "hamfests" and see when the next one near you is coming up. Computerfests never have ham radio stuff, but sometimes hamfests have used computers, too.

There's also the program "This Week In Amateur Radio", which can be downloaded at:

http://www.twiar.org


You need an FCC license to transmit signals. Several categories of license. Needs a code test and written test. Just like everything else, the standards have been cut in the last 1-2 decades. Its pretty easy compared to when I first got licensed some 45 years ago.

We've got a similar licensing structure here in Canada. A Basic certification allows one to operate on frequencies above 30 MHz. In order to operate on frequencies below 30 MHz, one requires Morse code qualification and/or a Basic exam score of more than 80%. My score was enough to get me onto those bands, but I wanted to have my Morse qualification as well.

I looked into becoming a ham off and on since before I was in junior high school. I thought the requirements were too daunting for me. Two years ago, I checked again and saw that those had been relaxed considerably. I studied a few months for the exam and went on the air in January of last year. I passed my Morse code exam nearly two months ago and I'm going to start studying for my Advanced exam shortly.

Industry Canada is the government department responsible for administering amateur radio up here. Commericial broadcasting, however, is regulated by the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission.


Hams are a little bit nuts. They prefer to talk to each other not in person, but with one another only by the use of these complicated & expensive boxes with meters and dials on them.

I've heard some rather loopy conversations on a few ham frequencies.

Of course, pet-owners are
nuts, too. They would rather interact with their pets than other people.

When one considers that the animals often behave themselves better than human beings, it's not so absurd.

Then, weve got some other nutty people...on newsgroups.....

Any questions, I'll try to answer....


.

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