Do you Need 5 Volts ?

I needed 3 volts to power my newly acquired memory keyer that keys CW into the propagation beacon. The keyer came stock out of the box running on a 3 volt watch battery and if you use the keyer as it was intended for the battery would last over a year or even longer. My beacon transmits 24/7 and draws current 100% of the time. At first I soldered two AA batteries together (don't try that at home) to get the 3 volts and this worked perfect, but looked like sh** with the wires hanging out from the very small keyer case to the AA cells. A nice battery holder from Radio Shack would look slightly better but the wires still would be hanging out and looking sloppy. I slept on it and the next morning while looking in a few cigar boxes for a connector I seen the answer to my voltage nightmare,  It was a USB charging adapter. I really did not know the exact output voltage but the voltmeter was used and it stated it was 4.8 volts. I think these things are rated at 5 volts but this one is slightly shy of that. OK you say, I thought you needed 3 volts ? I wipped out the ol' soldering iron and dug out a resister and diode and in short time they were installed. A nice connector was installed on the case and low and behold my beacon is on the air and even looks good. ..... Listen on 28.299.5

Nobody knows Morse Code do they

Click to  Enlarge

It started out with a old ID-O-Matic that I was using to key CW into my beacon transmitter. This unit went crazy and could not be repaired. I found that the ID-O-Matic was out of production, so what now. I needed a memory keyer that would repeat what was programmed in memory. A question was posted to a propagation beacon forum and in short time the answer came. It was the Ultra PicoKeyer. An order was placed and in just a few days it arrived. It comes in kit form, but it only took me 1/2 hour to complete the asimally. It took longer to program the beacon message into it than it did to build it. This was a deal that you must read and follow the directions to the letter. It is ready to go on the air just as soon as I can find a battery  holder for 2 AA cells. If you have a transmitter that has no built in keyer you may find the Ultra PicoKeyer is for you. It also serves as a very good code trainer. See the web page here.
http://tinyurl.com/k8uc5fc

Thanks Giving 2014

What a great day, I woke early about 5AM why ? I'm nuts I guess. I turned on the cop radio and made coffee. I thought 40 meters may be open on JT9 for DX, but after working a few state side QSOs and no DX I switched the Kenwood TS-590 on and called CQ with 100 watts SSB. I had a couple of rag chews with some guys in N.Carolina and Pennsylvania. Now I made anough noise to wake the wife and she made a very nice bacon and egg breakfast. A little later lunch was put in the oven and I went back to Radio Central down the hall. A few more QRP JT9 QSOs were had on 10 meters into Europe. 10 was not too good today unlike a few days ago but still you can make a few contacts. It was cold and a few snow flakes were falling outside. I had a few things to do outside but you know how it is, I did not do them. While waiting for lunch I watched a movie on TV and just as it was over lunch was on. After a great lunch with just my wife and I  I pushed back in my ol' easy chair and well, my eyes closed for over an hour. Betty and I watched another movie togeather. After the movie I made a few more state side contacts on SSB and again a few QRP JT9. This days activity may sound very ho hum but to me it couldn't have been better. Thanks Giving 2014 was great.... Back to the grind tomorrow .... Jack

Riley Hollingsworth on Ham Radio Now

A Pep Talk from Riley Hollingsworth on HamRadioNow

Thanks to my good friend Jerry KC9HYL for alerting me to this video.
It is about one hour in length so wait to watch when you can listen/see all of it. Several points that Riley made sure hit home with me. Click the below link and enjoy.
http://tinyurl.com/ltevsfs

Just thinking back

A few years ago A very good friend James Furiya and myself took a trip inside the Jefferson Proving Grown, now called Big Oaks. James (Jimmy) has now passed away but not forgotten, He loved as I do taking photos. He would email one of his favorites to see if I would approve. Sometimes I would crop or lighten then return it for him to approve. I miss him. Here is a photo from his collection.

This is one that I took on our Big Oak outing:

See all of my and some of his in my public photos HERE

Avast Free Antivirus 2014

This is a very bad company to deal with.
Just trust me - never deal with Avast.
There Web Page

CPL. JOHN C. BISHOP Comes Home

Veterans Day 2014

Cpl. John C. Bishop Still Photos

Cpl. John C. Bishop Video Tribute

The Edmund Fitzgerald 6/8/58 - 11/10/75

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was an American Great Lakes freighter that sank in a Lake Superior storm on November 10, 1975, with the loss of the entire crew of 29. When launched on June 8, 1958, she was the largest ship on North America's Great Lakes, and she remains the largest to have sunk there.
Read More

Gordon Lightfoot Sings - Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Tuesday, November 11 Veteran's day 2014

If you have served in the military no matter what branch or when you are invited to South Ripley High School Versailles, In. Wednesday November 12th at 8AM for breakfast and program.

I have attended this program for the past several years, all I can say, "Don't Miss It".
 ............ Jack

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day

I'm Old School

Post Deleted -
Only one view of this post and because of so many typos and mis-spellings I have deleted it. Thank you to the single person that read it.

Photo from:
http://www.telliquah.com/schoolhouse.htm