HamAlert
HamAlert is a system that allows you to get notifications when a desired station appears on the DX cluster, the Reverse Beacon Network, SOTAwatch, or PSK Reporter. You can receive alerts via Email, Push notification, SMS or URL GET/POST. You can also filter spots by various criteria, including:
- DXCC (both actual and callsign home DXCC)
- Callsign
- IOTA group reference
- SOTA summit reference
- WWFF division/reference
- CQ zone
- Continent
- Band
- Mode
- Time and days of week
- Source
- Spotter callsign and DXCC
Furthermore, you can set limits on the number of alerts in a certain time period so you don’t receive duplicate spots, but are still notified if for example the station changes to another frequency.
This looks like a very cool service. Thanks to Manuel, HB9DQM.
A simple guide to fuse replacement
See how the FCC works
Yesterday, I saw a Tweet that mentioned that the FCC was live-streaming a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting. I tuned in and found it very interesting. It turned out to be a presentation on antennas, and how advances in antenna technology might affect FCC rulemaking.
You can find a record of this meeting and of previous meeting on the Archived Events page. Where available, there is a video recording of the meeeting. (As I write this, the video of the TAC meeting was not yet available.)
In addition to the TAC meeting, archived events that might be of interest to amateur radio operators include the Seventh Meeting of WRC-19 Advisory Committee and the Forum on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
A simple guide to fuse replacement –
I was living in a rural community in Oklahoma when I came across this idea the first time. I was looking at a used truck some years ago, and discovered a .22 long rifle cartridge used as a fuse in an emergency. There is was, in the fuse block along with the rest of the fuses. Apparently someone had a problem out in the boonies and they only had some .22 ammunition to put in there. Much later after it was forgotten, I came along and found it. There it was, but not all of it – there was no bullet, and it looked like the area at the case mouth was burned. The rim of the cartridge was not struck so at some point this was a live cartridge that was stuck in the fuse block, and it got hot enough to cause the powder to ignite, which pushed the bullet out. Since it was not confined in a barrel/chamber, this probably occurred at a low pressure once the current made the metal hot enough. The funny thing is the bullet was never found – it probably popped out not long after it was put in there, and the truck actually worked with the brass in there in place of an actual fuse. I don’t remember what circuit it was plugged into, but other than a bit of carbon there, this apparently caused no problem.
Seeing this picture gave me quite a chuckle. The fact that it worked and apparently for some time without the wiring burning up was amazing. I would not advise doing that, but it worked on a ’65 Chevy pickup.
I didn’t buy the truck – his bullet-fix was a warning to me that other “home remedies” might have been used to keep it running in the past.