Week 3 2012

This week’s bit of fun:

How to fail a breathalyzer

Monday Andy and Mick set up a Kenwood TS-2000e for us to have a play with. Most members present agree that this is the best all round rig for training and club use that our budget could stretch too. I will work with Derek to purchase one of these and a power supply this week. We should then have a station on Monday nights.

Wednesday Colin and I recorded another episode of the ICQPODCAST, this is episode 98.

My friend Chris lent me a DVAP Dstar Access point which I have been playing with most of the weekend. After the initial setup it worked well with my Icom ID-E880 and many contacts were had over the weekend.

Sunday Colin released the latest episode of the ICQPODCAST

Series Five Episode Two of the ICQ Podcast - G-QRP Limerick Sudden 40m Receiver has been released.

News Stories include:-

• Earth Station for Sale
• New 60m web site
• ARRL achieves fund raising goal
• KG4, Guantanamo Bay
• UK amateurs experience echo phenomenon
• Danish presidency of EU callsign
• Student D-STAR satellite to launch in 2012
• The new VHF-UHF band plan - 4m in Ireland
• QRP to the ISS
• Special callsigns for UK radio amateurs during 2012
• New Clubs and Training section for RSGB website
• Cuban Amateur Radio regulations modified
• Call of Titanic will go out again

Your feedback and Colin (M6BOY) reviews the G-QRP Limerick Sudden 40m Receiver.

The ICQPOCAST can be downloaded from http://www.icqpodcast.com

Week 2 2012

This week’s bit of fun:

It's so nice to have a handyman around the house

As found on the internet

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Monday I tested a couple of ATU’s for Colin. The MFJ unit worked fine however we did open it and check all the screw were tight. We found the inductor switch needed tightening but apart from this all works well.

The second ATU was a Yaesu FC-707 which had metering problems. The two diodes in the metering circuit go leaky and need replacing.

I did try and do some HF operating but the bands were dead. Our best contact was Reading, only 50 miles away.

Thursday was club night for Sutton and Cheam Radio Society. We had a talk on contesting which was very interesting. This was followed by a discussion on various radio topics. All in all a good night out.

Saturday I soak tested my repaired valve radio which is working well but still needs a few things din before its perfect.

Week 2 2012

This week’s bit of fun:

Life in the Australian Army...

Text of a letter from a kid from Eromanga to Mum and Dad. (For Those of you not in the know, Eromanga is a small town, west of Quilpie in the far south west of Queensland )

Dear Mum & Dad,

I am well. Hope youse are too. Tell me big brothers Doug and Phil that the Army is better than workin' on the farm - tell them to get in bloody quick smart before the jobs are all gone! I wuz a bit slow in settling down at first, because ya don't hafta get outta bed until 6am. But I like sleeping in now, cuz all ya gotta do before brekky is make ya bed and shine ya boots and clean ya uniform. No bloody cows to milk, no calves to feed, no feed to stack - nothin'!! Ya haz gotta shower though, but its not so bad, coz there's lotsa hot water and even a light to see what ya doing!

At brekky ya get cereal, fruit and eggs but there's no kangaroo steaks or possum stew like wot Mum makes. You don't get fed again until noon and by that time all the city boys are buggered because we've been on a 'route march' - geez its only just like walking to the windmill in the back paddock!!

This one will kill me brothers Doug and Phil with laughter. I keep getting medals for shootin' - dunno why. The bullseye is as big as a bloody possum's bum and it don't move and it's not firing back at ya like the Johnsons did when our big scrubber bull got into their prize cows before the Ekka last year! All ya gotta do is make yourself comfortable and hit the target - it's a piece of piss!! You don't even load your own cartridges, they comes in little boxes, and ya don't have to steady yourself against the rollbar of the roo shooting truck when you reload!

Sometimes ya gotta wrestle with the city boys and I gotta be real careful coz they break easy - it's not like fighting with Doug and Phil and Jack and Boori and Steve and Muzza all at once like we do at home after the muster.

Turns out I'm not a bad boxer either and it looks like I'm the best the platoon's got, and I've only been beaten by this one bloke from the Engineers - he's 6 foot 5 and 15 stone and three pick handles across the shoulders and as ya know I'm only 5 foot 7 and eight stone wringin' wet, but I fought him till the other blokes carried me off to the boozer.

I can't complain about the Army - tell the boys to get in quick before word gets around how bloody good it is.

Your loving daughter,

Sheila

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Monday: Our first radio play session of 2012 in the Banstead scout hut. A lot has happened over the Christmas period and it was great to catch up with friends.

Wednesday: Colin and I recorded the latest episode of the ICQPODCAST This is Episode 97, its getting close to episode 100.

Saturday: I spent some time trying to get a computer program to work with little if any success. This problem has been bugging me for weeks and I’m like a dog with a bone with this type of problem. Its not going to beat me.

Sunday: I spent the afternoon renovating an old value (tube) short wave receiver. I made one good radio out of two however now I have a fully working mode it should not take too much time to fix the donor radio.

Colin released the latest episode of the ICQPODCAST.

Series Five Episode Two of the ICQ Podcast- Wolfgang Philipps - W8DA Android Apps has been released.

News Stories include :-

• Yaesu supports 4-FSK digital radios
• Yaesu Musen
• Go back to school - DX University
• US feedback for 60m band plan
• GB80PW for the Practical Wireless 80th year
• New DV-RPTR modem board
• RSGB Commonwealth Century Club Jubilee Award 2012
• UK Propagation charts for January 2012
• New data mode crosses Atlantic on 136Khz at the first attempt
• USA HF Spread Spectrum Experiment
• 43 years of 73 Magazine online

The ICQPOCAST can be downloaded from http://www.icqpodcast.com

Your feedback and Ed Durrant (VK2ARE) interviews android app author Wolfgang Philipps (W8DA).

Week 1 2012

That First Condom...funny

I recall my first time with a condom. I was 16. I went in tobuy a pack of condoms at the Chemists.

In those days it took a lot of guts to go in a store and ask

for that kind of item because everyone in town knew me and there was no doubt the young lady (I think her name was Sharon) knew what they were for.

She was working behind the counter. It was late and the pharmacist had already left.

Sharon could see that I was really embarrassed by the whole procedure. She handed me the package and asked if I knew how to wear one. I answered honestly,

No, not really.

So she unwrapped the package, took one out and slipped it over her thumb. She cautioned me to make sure it was on tight and secure.

Apparently I still looked confused. So, she looked all around the store to see if it were empty. It was.

Just a minute, she said, and walked to the door and locked it.

Taking my hand, she led me into the back room, unbuttoned her blouse and removed it. She unhooked her bra and laid it aside. Do these excite you? she asked without embarrassment.

Well, I was so dumb-struck that all I could do was stand there with my mouth gaping open and nod my head. She then said it was

Time to slip the condom on.

As I was slipping it on, she dropped her skirt, removed her panties and lay down on a desk. Well, come on, she said, We don't have much time.

So I climbed on her. It was so wonderful that, unfortunately, I could no longer hold back and KAPOW! I was done within a few moments.

She looked at me with a bit of a frown. Did you put that condom on correctly? she asked.

I said, Sure did, and held up my thumb to show her.

She then beat the shit out of me...

Women have always been hard for me to figure out.

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Not much to report this week. Started back to work on Tuesday a after the long holiday break because I didn’t win the National Lottery.

I have been working on computer thing most of the week producing a stats server for internal use on the ICQPODCAST.

Hopefully I will get some radio playing next week.

Week 0 2012

This week’s bit of fun:

This says it all

Pythagoras' Theorem: ............................................24 words.

Lord's prayer:....................................................... 66 words.

Archimedes' Principle: ............................................67 words.

Ten Commandments: ..........................................179 words.

Gettysburg address: ............................................286 words.

US Declaration of Independence : .................... 1,300 words.

US Constitution with all 27 Amendments: .........7,818 words.

EU regulations on the sale of CABBAGES:.....26,911 words.

This is what you call passion fruit!!

NO WONDER SHE HAS NO TEETH !

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Not much to tell about this Christmas break apart from being ill and not able to do much.

Colin and I did manage to record the first episode of series five of the ICQPODCAST.

Sunday Colin released our first podcast of the new year.

Series Five Episode One- Powered SWR Meter Kit of the ICQ Podcast has been released.

News Stories include:-

• Amateur Radio Balloon crosses the Atlantic
• Radio Ham's invention seeing wide use
• EU threat to Amateur Radio kits
• 137kHz German signal received in Alaska
• Hams do their bit after disaster
• Australia to trial limited higher power
• Ofcom - 3400 MHz licence exemption
• Amateur radio operators to host kids day
• Beacon Maps and Beacon Spots
• Raspberry Pi moves towards production

Your feedback, Martin reviews a Power SWR Meter Kit.

The ICQPOCAST can be downloaded from http://www.icqpodcast.com

I would like to wish everyone a Peaceful and Happy New Year.