A Professional Comm Truck

Today I had the good fortune to be invited to attend the United Airlines Family Day event at San Francisco International Airport.  They had a number of exhibits, games for kids, food and entertainment.  But what was most relevant to my ham radio hobby was a display of the SFO Fire department’s Mobile Command truck. Read More …

Whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on!

I live in Northern California, about halfway between the San Andreas and Hayward faults, in an earthquake-prone area.  I’m also fascinated by science and computers. So when I saw the http://raspberryshake.org site, where you could get your own personal seismometer station and network it together with others to form a net capable of locating and measuring earthquakes, Read More …

Astron RS-35A First Mod: Inrush Current

The Astron RS-35A makes a distinctive “Thwap” sound when it is first turned on. This is because there is nothing to limit the inrush of current that initially charge the main capacitor. This inrush can be hard on the power switch. I found this article from the repeater-builder website describing how to install an inrush Read More …