Hello Computer

To quote Mr. Scott's encounter with an old computer, "Keyboard. How quaint."


Via Alphecca

Wouxun KG-UV8D: Win One

Win one here.

Xiegu X108

So take all this with a grain of salt, because it is just a couple of pictures and a title... but it is from the X1M guy. I figure I'll post it, so we have more eyeballs looking out for it.

"X108 - 20W portable shortwave transceiver"

Wouxun KG-UV8D: 2.5K Steps

BuyTwoWayRadios has the updated KG-UV8D with the 2.5K Steps. They are also including a free 2600 mAh battery upgrade for $159.99 (free shipping.)

Retirement

Well, you guys let me down. Of the 100,000,000 purchases of Ham Radio for Dummies Kindle book that I needed for you to make, so I could retire... you were 999,999,997 short.

And the worse news is the price has jumped back up to $13.99.

Oh well, maybe next time.

;)

Thanks to those who did use the link!

Underemployed and Overqualified

When you put it that way, maybe I will just start saying I am employment-challenged. Some choice quotes:

“There’s no such thing as overqualified, only ‘I can find a job I prefer more’.”

First of all the word “overqualified” should be stricken from the dictionary. Overqualified implies a person with one set of skills is inherently too awesome to do a job which relies on a different (subjectively lesser) set of skills. If you’ve got your head in the clouds it makes sense. If you’ve lived in the real world you know it’s utterly untrue. 

“Overqualified” is an idea which should be killed with fire. It’s a failure of reasoning that crawled from the gaping maws of pinheads who should know better. Nitwits that tend to confuse “someone who can make more money doing something else” with “radioactive”. They also confuse “we treat employees like scum and they crawl on their hands and knees to escape us” with “all those employees that ran screaming from our little hellhole were overqualified”.

So, I'm still looking for a job and I have in my mind what that job should look like. I've struggled with the whole idea of being overqualified - part of the problem is ego (which is basically what the Adaptive Curmudgen is talking about), but on the flip side, I have been passed over for a job because the employer thought I was overqualified and would bolt for greener pastures. They came to that decision after three face-to-face interviews and having at least a couple of unsolicited references provided on my behalf. (Speaking of opposites, there are a lot of jobs where I am underqualified despite twenty years of experience, two masters degrees, and several certifications as I'm not as hands-on as I once was.)

I find there is much less stress when I think in terms of what will make me happy regardless of being under or overqualified:

- staying in Knoxville
- interesting work
- being surrounded by nice people
- not a sweat shop
- opportunity for growth and development
- a good salary and benefits

My desire to stay in Knoxville is the biggest hurdle in finding the right job. Fingers crossed that I will find the job here for which I am qualified and will give me a chance at being happy.

Ham Radios for Dummies - Kindle Version $1.99

You can get the Kindle version of Ham Radios for Dummies for $1.99 on Amazon.com.

There are several other inexpensive titles covering the Raspberry Pi, Arduino, etc. that hams might find interesting as well.

(As usual, if you purchase using my link, I will get paid something through the Amazon Affiliate program. So if about 100,000,000 of you would purchase the book through my link, I could retire. Thanks in advance!)

Via Lifehacker

Game of Thrones OpSec

An isolated computer - no network connectivity. I wonder how many WordStar 4.0 viruses there are out there?

Baofeng UV-5R: Change Requests

Mike (W9MDB) is talking with the factory and asking for several changes on behalf of the user community. I always like to see how the manufacturers respond. I don't expect them to meet every demand, but when they do share the reasoning behind making the change or not, it helps me understand their technical abilities and business perspective better:

#1 Bug – The [Exit] key sends DTMF "0" instead of "D".

#2 Bug -- The mic jacks seem to be a very common problem.  The contacts will stay open preventing the internal mic from working.  Apparently due to some material around the jacks which melts in heat and will clog up the contacts.

#3 New -- Need to the ability to disable the VFO/MR button so the radio can be truly Part 90 compliant.

#4 New -- The ability to turn off the lower display (2nd VFO) completely -- and the A/B switch – for simple Part 90 operation scenarios

#5 New -- Get the “real” firmware revision level – maybe using the “9” key during power on?

#6 Bug – When scanning MR channels that have R-CTCS tones there is not enough time allotted to allow them to lock on the lower frequency R-CTCS tones

.#7 New – Allow the alarm to be completely disabled 

#8 Bug – When SAVE is not OFF and ABR > 8, the broadcast FM radio will have a pulsing noise after returning from being interrupted by a received signal.

#9 Bug – The enable/disable VHF TX and UHF TX features do not work#10 New – MDF-AB – OFF,FREQ,NAME – OFF means the display is left alone, FREQ means selecting a channel with [A/B] will force the selected channel to display FREQ and the other channel to display NAME.  NAME forces the selected channel to NAME and the other channel to FREQ.

Antennas

First, from Roberta X's trip to Dayton, I love the models in this picture. But wait there is more... they are functional for 2 meters! Check that link for other pictures from her trip. Also, hop over to her other blog for a look at some of her "key" findings at the hamvention.

Another antenna seen via @gregmalcolm on Twitter. Unfortunately, I don't have the infrastructure for a hair-tenna.

Just saw this at Dayton #hamvention. That's an actual working antenna! pic.twitter.com/UpOUGBtkrJ
— KD8QGM (@gregmalcolm) May 17, 2014