ARRL Handbook: Cool, but Heavy Reading

Yesterday, I got my engraved hardbound copy of the 2014 (Centennial) Handbook.  It's the Ham Bible, they say, but it's big!

In fact, it weighs in over 6 lbs (2.7 kg). This makes it rather difficult for reading in bed, especially for us geezer types.  (Note for reflection: the actual Bible, as usually printed, is much more user-friendly!)

My solution: upload the CD right away to Google Drive.  (privately) That makes it available wherever I'm likely to be.  And with the Nexus 7, it's quite manageable while reclining!

So apart from the cool-factor of having this tome on my bookshelf, it would be just as well to get my Handbook via Google Drive directly -- or some other network based solution.

(We might ask what it would be like if each chapter of the Handbook had an accompanying online wiki where readers could add their material.  Mixing curated and non-curated content would be a challenge, but a worthy one!)

At right is the classic ARRL graphic (ca 1975) that I seem to carry around in my head.  A very nice portrayal of the then-modern ham!

And strangely enough, it must be one reason while I frequently go up to HQ, and why I'm thinking about the Second Century Campaign.

ABCs of SDR

The new book is out.  It's a concise low-math (almost zero math) description of what SDR (software defined radio) is all about, for the general ham radio audience.

The short message:  It's the main technology at the core of about every HF radio you can buy these days.  If a radio has "IF DSP" it normally has an SDR back end.  Front ends vary, from minimal ("pure" SDR) to conventional, but the digitization and digital signal processing is mostly the same.

Order from ARRL or your favorite bookseller.

Do Not Read!

The latest technology toy here (and supposed moneysaver) is the Amazon Kindle 2. I unsubscribed from my dead-tree New York Times and signed up for the Kindle on-line NYT. I calculate that after 18 months or so, the savings will have paid for the Kindle. We'll see about that.

It has been an interesting experience reading the newspaper as if it was a book. I find I tend to get wrapped up in long stories much more easily than before, and I now appreciate some of the fine writing skills of those ink-stained wretches at the Gray Lady. If I let myself, I can spend hours more every day with the paper.

On the other hand, it would be nice if the Times were a little more careful and intentional about formatting itself for the Kindle. Navigation is not too hard, but many of the cues about which articles are more significant than others is lost. Letters to the editor loom as large at first blush as feature articles. (There is no word count provided, as there is for Newsweek.)

Today's bit of strangeness appears above. An obituary is published under the title "Do Not Publish". If that came out in the print edition, there would be hell to pay, but maybe quality control for the Kindle is an afterthought. I checked the online web edition, which has the correct title.

The K9YA Telegraph

Here's a little plug for "The K9YA Telegraph", an electronically published free magazine about Amateur Radio.

Inside the April, 2008, Issue...

• Etah, Greenland or Bust By Philip Cala-Lazar, K9PL
• The "Magic of Radio" By Kelly Klaas, K7SU
• There She is Again By Scott Laughlin, N7NET
• George W. Leck, W2POC By Bob Ballantine, W8SU
• "Tilted P" By Bud Frohardt, W9DY/m
• Jauhelihapiiras is Meat Loaf By Rod Newkirk, VA3ZBB/W9BRD
• Ham Quips By Dick Sylvan, W9CB

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