Yaesu, SGI, and the Indy 500...index that, Google.

Blogger has a new interface and I'm not sure how much I like it. It's been the obligatory long amount of time between posts, so here's a new one.

This week I purchased a Yaesu FT-817ND portable HF radio. What's that? It's a battery powered amateur radio that works on the world bands. I've wanted for a while and it didn't make sense to me to buy one in Hawaii because the radio is limited to 5 watts of output power. It takes significantly more than that on an average day to reach past Hawaii if you live there. I've got the radio on my desk here and have been playing around with different bands trying to get used to its interface. So far I like it. The radio is designed for portable use. So much so they call it the backpacker radio. For me, I'll probably carry it on to the back porch, to parks, and on trips.

In computer news, I purchased an SGI O2 on eBay. I feel mentioning it on a blog is fitting given the age of the system and the decrease in blog popularity. Maybe I'll turn this blog in to stories about using the O2. I had an O2 about 12 years ago and over time a number of other SGI systems (several Indy workstations, an Octane, a Crimson, others). That was the phase where I was interested in learning about other computing platforms. I always found SGI systems nice and fun. IRIX may leave a bit to be desired, but it does work. The system I have has the 200Mhz variety of the R5000 MIPS processor. It does have 1MB of secondary cache, which seems to help quite a bit. The O2 that I had 12 years ago was a 180Mhz R5000 and it had no secondary cache (I think, maybe 512K) and it was significantly slower than the one I have now. I have 256M of memory and a 36G disk. Also the A/V board, O2 camera, and a very well maintained case. The system requires a PS/2 keyboard to boot, though you can disable that requirement after setting up the system. Since I want to use it as a workstation, I needed a PS/2 keyboard. A USB to PS/2 adapter will not work here and the O2 will appear to hang on boot. Fear not, the system is just expecting a real PS/2 keyboard. eBay to the rescue again. I was able to buy an unused SGI keyboard (same model that shipped with the O2 systems originally) for $15, only it is a German layout model. No problem, I can touch type.

Lastly, at the end of this month I will be taking my parents to the Indianapolis 500. My dad has never been and has always wanted to go. We have tickets and are going to brave the sun for our chance to see cars going really fast. Taking my fast lenses along with industrial grade ear plugs and sunscreen. Pictures after the trip.

Spring Is Here

While living in Honolulu, I frequently mentioned that seasons were one thing I missed about New England. Just this week we ended winter and started spring. Now it was a rather weak winter, but the season changeover is still noticeable. To me, the plants seem to have life to them now. And that tree in front of our house is dropping things on the car again and I thought to myself, "oh right, I remember this from last year."

The temperature outside has been great this week. Weather.gov is saying it will rain this weekend, but I'm hoping today stays nice.

Spring also has that idea of spring cleaning. I've put some old electronics and radio gear up on eBay. I've found some more, just need to take pictures and make eBay pages.

FUDCon Blacksburg - Amateur Radio Frequencies

FUDCon Blacksburg is approaching. There will be a number of amateur radio operators there, so I thought I'd try to coordinate some simplex frequencies we can all use at the event. I'll be on the following:

223.500 MHz - the 1.25m band national calling frequency
927.500 MHz - a 33cm band simplex frequency
146.520 MHz - the 2m band national calling frequency

The only 220 repeater I could find in the area is currently offline. I could not find any 900 MHz repeaters in Virginia. I've been told 146.985 in Roanoke is a reasonable 2m repeater to use, though it gets crowded. If anyone has any suggestions, please comment.

In the extremely unlikely event that someone else shows up with 220 or 900 gear, I'll have those two bands linked at the event. That way users of those bands will get a double dose of silence.

New Alinco Dual Band HT Available

I have been waiting for this since it was announced at the Dayton Hamvention this year. Alinco has released the DJ-G29T dual band handheld. The price is $349.95 and both Universal Radio and Ham Radio Outlet are accepting preorders. Universal Radio says it should be available for shipping by December 27.

What is the significance of this radio? It is the first commercially produced radio specifically for amateur radio operators that covers the 900 Mhz band. Huh wha? Amateur radio operators have operating privileges on a wide range of bands in the radio spectrum. Not all bands have ready-to-use equipment that you can purchase. For example, if you want to operate on the 10 GHz band, you'll be building a transverter and antenna. If you want to get on the 144 MHz band, you can buy any number of handheld or mobile radios from many companies. 900 MHz is gaining popularity, but until this Alinco radio came out, we had to purchase used commercial gear and modify it for use on the amateur radio bands. Not always easy and not always possible with the gear you bought.

Most users on 900 MHz have commercial Motorola or Kenwood gear. At least the ones I have talked to. I have Motorola and love it. It's a pain to program, but that's not something I do often to care about. With the Alinco radio, I will have a radio I can program directly, something that is common in the amateur radio world.

To make the radio more appealing, Alinco added support for the 220 MHz band. 220 has seen more users than 900 and there are an assortment of club repeaters around the country. Still not as popular as 144 MHz or 440 MHz, 220 is at least a band that will give the radio user more likelihood of finding a nearby repeater.

The radio also supports crossband repeat, which could prove interesting in some use cases.

I have grown interested in the uncommon VHF and UHF bands in amateur radio and Alinco came out with a dual band radio that covers two seldom used bands right now. I love it. Interested in VHF and UHF but tired of 144 MHz and 440 MHz, try out some new bands with this radio. Also, consider buying it to encourage more manufacturers to cover bands other than 144 and 440.

European Work Vacation

It's been about a week, but Karen and I are back from 15 days in Europe. I was there for a week of work in Brno, Czech Republic. We split the rest of the time between Vienna and Innsbruck in Austria. It was a really fun trip, wish we could have stayed longer but after 15 days we were ready to get back home. I've posted photos over here, more to follow. There are no Brno photos yet because I was working while in Brno, Karen got to see sights. Still going through photos to upload.

Visit to Atlanta

I was recently in metro Atlanta for several days. My sister was getting married and I helped out with different things. It was great to see everyone.

Karen and I were exhausted by Sunday. She left earlier than I because we bought tickets at different times. I had time to burn, so I met up with Logan in Atlanta and we got some food and hung out for a while. I wanted to go to El Torero, the restaurant we started going to every Friday night at Georgia Tech. We started doing that in 1997 and there is a group continuing to go these days. It has been years since I'd been.

Unfortunately, El Torero is closed on Sundays. Something I forgot. They Chick-Fil-A'ed us, so to speak. Fortunately there are plenty of similar Mexican restaurants around Atlanta, so we found the next nearest one that was open and went. Los Toros in Decatur.

Out of pure coincidence, our waiter at Los Toros was Luis from El Torero. Luis had been our regular waiter starting in 1997 and then after many years he left and we got a new regular waiter. Luis immediately recognized us and asked what was up. He told us he'd moved away from Atlanta and then came back and El Torero didn't have openings so he found one at Los Toros. Here's a picture of me and Luis:



Upon seeing Luis, I immediately fell back in to my usual order from the old days: sweet tea and a combination #4. Luis' response, "always the number 4, eh?" Damn right.

Logan found the situation entirely hilarious and noted that I seem to be a magnet for odd coincidences. Maybe so, but it sure is entertaining.

Logan also shuttled me to the nearest convenient parallel dimension...err, Apple Store...to buy an iPad 2. Yes, I have an iPad 2 now. It's fun on planes, what can I say?

Want Wireless Broadband Service At Home?

Broadband, 3G, 4G, WiMax....too many terms and acronyms. What do they mean and what's actually available in my area?

In the ever-expanding wireless Internet industry, 3G quickly became outdated, and 4G service is now the best available option. For some, this is frustrating, because as soon as they purchased coverage with a 3G network, something better came out. However, it is a simple reality that wireless Internet connectivity is how most of us will connect to the Internet in the future, as more and more areas, and more and more devices, become covered. That said, many people wonder which company to sign with when upgrading to 4G; people want to be careful to choose a company that they can rely upon and grow with in the future of wireless Internet expansion.

There are two leading competitors in the United States 4G industry: Verizon’s LTE service, and a similar service called WiMax offered by companies like Clear Wireless and Sprint. While both services bring you the fastest available wireless Internet over a broad range of areas, there are a few differences between them when it comes to coverage packages and pricing options. When you compare Clear Internet WiMax 4G and Verizon LTE 4G, here are a few of the key differences that you may want to focus on:

• Typically, Verizon’s LTE service is slightly more expensive; however, this is in part because with LTE service you can purchase a package based essentially on how much use you will need out of your wireless connection. The different packages all have different monthly prices. By contrast, Clear’s WiMax service generally has a simple base package price that is generally slightly cheaper than most Verizon LTE packages.

• Many people feel the need to use a 3G/4G combination of services, which enables your devices to switch automatically between the two wireless networks depending on availability. Verizon LTE service includes this feature automatically, in most cases. However, with Clear WiMax you will need to pay a small extra fee in order to receive this type of combination package, which can greatly improve the convenience of your Internet experiences.
  

Ultimately, the two wireless services are quite similar, and, again, both will bring you reliable high speed Internet over a range of different locations. However, the above listed points illustrate some of the most notable differences between the two services, and can be helpful when comparing the two to see which network best suits you. There are plenty of detailed comparisons with specific pricing information available online, and on both companies’ websites. Be sure to do adequate research before signing a contract with one or the other, as your wireless provider will have a lot to do with your Internet usage for the duration of the time that you are with them.