Shack Talk: PowerMaster II Wattmeter / SWR Meter

Noise Blanker Andy, K5PO, looks at the PowerMaster II, a highly accurate, high-speed digital wattmeter and SWR meter produced by Array Solutions.

Have you used this piece of equipment? Let us know what you think of it...

Ham Hijinks On The Move!

It is with great surprise and wonderment that we announce that our satirical Ham Hijinks news articles at www.hamhijinks.com are actually being read by a few people. To say that we are giddy is an understatement. But wait, there's more!

In the past month, Ham Hijinks has gone international! Here are some of the places we have shown up:

• Translated to French on radioamateur.org (Merci beaucoup, Phillippe!)
• Translated to Ukrainian on the Ukrainian Radioamateur QRP Club forum.
• Translated to Spanish on the Unión de Radioaficionados Españoles website.
• Translated to Russian on the RadioJourney website.
• Featured in Wireless Dispatch from the Emergency Amateur Radio Club in Honolulu.
• Featured in The Wobbly Oscillator, the newsletter of the Cuyahoga Amateur Radio Society.

We thank them for including us! If you would like to use any of our Ham Hijinks humor, just let us know. We're happy to share and would like to link back to you! Contact us with the details.

The Noise Blankers Go To Green Country

The Green Country Hamfest in Claremore, Oklahoma, is one of the best hamfests in the region. It has a large venue, good forums and is well-attended. This year, there seemed to be fewer tables and we're hoping that's not a trend. Claremore is a 1.5 hour drive from our part of Northwest Arkansas, so it's an easy trip. It's become an annual trek for us, as has going to the Joplin and Ft. Smith hamfests.

This year, we enjoyed the company of Bill KØDEW and Mike WB9M. They are putting on the ARRL Midwest Division Convention in Lebanon, Mo., on November 8 & 9, 2013. Nathan KF5OQB (soon to be K5KAC) joined us, as well.

Sensing a good promotional opportunity, we took these Ham Hijinks flyers with us and dropped them on the entrance table. It remains unclear if anyone actually picked one up.

 

Some observations:

• The spurrious emissions coming from the men's restrooms were quite impressive. They really should put a door on that facility. 
• Fist bumping the chocolate fountain at Golden Corral is frowned upon. We were, however, very impressed with the mil-spec heavy-duty sneeze guard in front of the fountain.
• Bill and Mike each bought weather stations.
• Nathan purchased what we think is either a big heat sink or a VHF amp of some sort. It wasn't labled, but it was CHEAP! It has a really neat-sounding throw switch. We're not sure what the switch does (it wasn't labeled, either).
• Once again, no one in our group won a door prize.

It was truly an epic ham radio day - we went to a hamfest, had lunch at a Golden Corral and one person in our group was recovering from surgery. That's how it's done.

HAMFEST SCORE:  9 out of 10 *
*Score would be a 10 if we had won a door prize. Keep that in mind for next year, Green Country.

(L to R) Kevin K5KVN, Nathan KF5OQB, Andy K5PO, Gary WBØRUR

 Check out that mil-spec sneeze guard!

March Meeting Minutes

The Noise Blankers Radio Group met on Tuesday, March 5, 2013, at Buffalo Wild Wings in Rogers, Arkansas.

Present were: WBØRUR, K5KVN, K5PO and K5OY. The meeting was called to order by WBØRUR. Then:

• WBØRUR ordered 12 traditional wings, traditional sauce, and french fries. He showered after the meeting.
• K5KVN ordered a chicken wrap and reported that he felt healthy as a result.
• K5PO ordered a dozen traditional wings, half chipotle BBQ and half jammin’ jalapeno. He spent 10 minutes after the meeting washing his hands.
• K5OY ordered 12 boneless wings, mild sauce, but received hot sauce. He excused himself from the table three times to towel off in the restroom.

(The record should reflect that K5OY also ordered a vegetable boat, which in no way offset the caloric intake of the boneless wings.)

The meeting immediately adjourned and the membership entered into “social hour.”