Quote of the Day

Bruce Pearl is selling his house. His quote is priceless.

Pearl said Monday that the property was "clearly my dream home", but that he needs to downsize. "Now that I'm not the basketball coach and may not be doing quite as much entertaining, it's bigger than what we need," he said.

Emphasis is mine.

Via Josh Ward

2M J-Pole Antenna Give-away

Hamuniverse.com/KB9VBR 2 Meter J-pole Giveaway - free including shipping to any US licensed ham. Details are here. You have to send an e-mail to enter and the drawing date has not been announced (red flag?), so you will have to check back on the website. I'll post when I see a date.



Via eHam.net

The Winds of Winter are Coming

George RR Martin has made it big time!


Via Foxtrot

Machine Gun Clips

Tonight when my daughter was eating her chicken noodle soup, my wife was picking out the celery pieces, because the little one doesn't like them. It reminded me of when I was little and my parents got me and my brother to eat them by calling them "machine gun clips." I guess the curved shape reminded us of an AK-47 we had seen on TV or in a movie. Silly, huh? I know. They should have called them "modern sporting rifle magazines."

Baofeng UV-3R: Softcase

Richard, PA5RR, has found a softcase for the UV-3R on ebay. I'm not a fan of cases for my HT's, but I know lots of people are, so I'm glad there is a UV-3R specific solution.

Baofeng UV-3R: Mellow about Yellow

So much for getting a yellow one soon... per a comment from Chris (NH7QH Radio Supplies, LLC / www.baofeng-us3r.us) in my post about a US UV-3R reseller:

"I will be bringing in the color units soon with the exception of yellow not passing QA."

Oh well. Maybe a red one then?

Poor Larry

I have read Larry Correia's first two Monster Hunter books and was thinking about getting the new one, Monster Hunter Alpha. I got an e-mail from Amazon and based on the description, I know I must have it (see image below).

The Motherload of Ham Radio Study Guides

Based on a comment from KD0BIK about his plan to start studying for his Extra license, I tracked down the course information.

Check out this download link from SouthCARS - for each license course, they have all the documents in one convenient place. For example, the Extra Class course has the questions pool, the syllabus, HF Band Chart, Diagrams for the test, All Ham Band Chart, and KY6V's "Let's Start with the Basics" document. Oh, and there are 12 podcasts of the actual class in case you missed any or cannot listen during the live event.

Between the ARRL Extra Class License Manual and all the free resources, I have no excuse for sticking with the General License.

KG-UV6D: Coming soon to Australia

So are the Aussies ahead of the game? Andrews Communications Systems has the KG-UV6D on their site with an estimated shipment of August 20.

He lists the specs as:

Superior crossmodulation, intermodulation rejection and strong signal performance guarantees far less received interference compared to all other amateur radios!
Commercial quality and commercial performance, too!
Excellent 0.18uV sensitivity across the 2m and 70cm bands
5W output 144-148MHz (2m), 4W output 430-450MHz (70cm)
High/low output power levels
128 memory channels
Digital FM broadcast band radio
Dual or single frequency display
Dual watch receive; continually checks VFO A and VFO B freqs. Each VFO accepts VHF or UHF
Priority scan in VFO mode and memory channel mode
Dual (V/U) squelch set levels
Dual repeater offsets selectable
Multi-function scanning
Single key for repeater reverse
Repeater offset; 0-69.950MHz
Voice annunciation
CTCSS rx/tx included (50 groups).
DTMF encode included!
DCS (105 groups)
VOX function
7 frequency steps selectable
Battery save mode
Busy channel lockout selectable
Low battery voice prompt
VFO or computer programmable
Wire cloning function
Includes Li-ion 1300mA/h @ 7.4V battery and AC charger
Optional accessories (in blue) just arrived in latest shipment...
Speaker-mic A$29
Li-ion 1300mA/h battery A$29
USB-only programming cables A$29 each (inc. mini-CD)
Car cig. lighter charger A$12
SMA-F to UHF-F (SO-239) adaptor A$15
"AA" battery dry cell case A$15
Leatherette carry case A$19.

KG-UV6D: Evolution of the KG-UVD1P

Ed at Wouxun.us has had a note published for a long time (see pic below) that "2.5 KHz Tuning Step Soon To Be Added." And, now Steve, the moderator of the Wouxun Yahoo group, has this to say:

"Wouxun seems to be finalizing an enhanced version of the KG-UVD1p, a KG-UV6D. The current UV 2 and 3 models are generally considered as slight variations of the UVD1p model including slight case cosmetics and/or a software feature or two. Having a chance to see the draft manual of the new model a couple features come to mind. The KG-UV6D, among other features, includes the 2.5khz frequency step, 199 channels, and boot up message ability. The case form factor is very similar to the current model.

I am not certain of the expected release or availability dates for this new version. Perhaps one of the "Ed's" wants to chime in."

Emphasis is mine to point out the changes. Anyone surprised that we would see this before the mobile?