Dick, WB6JDH and William, K6WHP make a few HF contacts from Hillcrest Park.


While I was in Alamogordo, NM recently, this sign caught my eye.

But it wasn’t what I thought.
Here is the rest of the story.
At Wednesday’s TAG meeting, Larry McDavid showed off a Ruhmkorff coil, which is a very cool (well, actually plasma is quite hot) piece of antique physics demonstration equipment. You’ll be shocked to know that a good time was had by all. You can read a bit more about this device in Larry’s article in the March 2018 issue of Smoke Signals.

Many of today’s handheld radios feature a built-in GPS and other navigation aides. When you are out hiking, not only can you stay in voice contact, you can mark a waypoint at your starting location and use the built-in GPS to navigate back to your starting point. In the case of this image, I had marked the location of my truck in the parking area at Desolation Canyon in Death Valley National Park.

At 9 pm PST 1/26/18 micro-satellite AO-92 made its first pass over southern California with its transponder operational. Here is a link to the audio I recorded of the pass. Recording was made with the built-in recorder on the Kenwood TH-d74a. Antenna was a hand-held Arrow Satellite yagi. Link to audio –> here.

Hmm. I’m not sure how to feel about this.


If you were into radio in the 1960s, 70s, or 80s, you probably remember medium-wave pirate broadcaster Radio Caroline. It was pressure from Radio Caroline and other unlicensed broadcasters operating from ships off the coast of Great Britain that eventually pushed the British government to allow the licensing of commercial broadcasters, eliminating the monopoly previously held by the BBC. This is a reconstruction of Radio Caroline’s shipboard studio with original equipment. I discovered this display at the Cotswold Motoring Museum in Bourton-on-the-Water in England while visiting in 2016.


I never knew Hallicrafters made televisions. I saw this at the Spark Museum in Bellingham, Washington. If you are ever in Bellingham, this museum is worth a visit!

So, what is it? If you know leave a reply.

So who in the club had one of these? If you did, or have ever used one, leave a reply here.