Al's Blog-o-Sphere

It didn’t take long before I took the next step in my Amateur Radio career. The Novice license was a one-shot deal: it was not renewable back then. (It is no longer offered today, but had become renewable later on.) It lasted two years and you either upgraded or quit.

The next step up the ladder, at the time was General Class. It gave you the whole enchillada, every band, every mode, full 1kw power. To get it, you had to pass two tests: a 13wpm Morse Code test and a written test on theory and rules.

After only about six months, I was more than confident with the code. The theory would take some study, though. Another friend, Mark Christensen, was thinking of taking the General as well and we began to study and plan. Mark was a year younger than me, but we knew each other from school and had followed the same path beginning with crystal sets etc. Mark had his drivers license and before we knew it, we were driving to Buffalo and the FCC office in the Old Post Office Building, which is part of the ECCC Campus now. Continue Reading…

I don’t know how it snuck up on me, but somewhere in the preparations for Field Day recently, I realized that it’s my Fortieth year as an Amateur Radio Operator.

There is no guarantee that it would be a life-long hobby, but in most cases it usually ends up being that way. Once you’re in, it’s easier to stay in than to let it lapse and start from scratch again. I’ve stayed licensed through dry spells where I have had no activity at all to times when I was very involved with the hobby. I always seem to be interested enough to follow what is going on, the politics and the technology of the hobby, both of which have changed a lot – and not all for the better – since 1969.

I really don’t remember when or how I got interested in Ham Radio. Somewhere about 5th-6th grade, I found a book in the library on electronics and built a crystal radio. I remember my father taking me to Buffalo to an area on Main Street that had several raqdio parts stores and we went from one to another with our list of parts. Little did I know that I would one day work in one of those stores. Continue Reading…

I decided not to build a high-gain UHF TV antenna. I looked into it and while it’s an interesting project and something I may still do, the materials would have cost me more than buying a new antenna, if I did it the way I want to do. That says something for the principle of cost reduction due to mass production.

This is what I ended up with. The top antenna, a Antennas Direct DB4, is pointed nearly south to pick up the Buffalo stations in the southern hills. The stations in Grand Island are only 12 miles away and come in with a rock-crushing signal no matter where you point the antenna. You might be able to get a null off the side if you needed to cut them out, but it would take some careful aiming.

The antenna below that, a multi-element corner-reflector yagi from Radio Shack, purchased in the 70’s, but never used outdoors, is aimed at Toronto. Specifically at the CN Tower. Almost every TV station in Toronto is located on the tower, or within a mile of it. That’s just about line-of-sight. I’m sure if they cut down every tree between my house and the escarpment, about a mile away, I could see the CN Tower from my roof. I know it can be seen from an overlook at a park in town on the edge of the escarpment.

Continue Reading…

The return of the Lockport Molson Canal Concert Series is about a month away and the promoters released the schedule and lineup of entertainers on Wednesday.

As usual, there is a lot of fuss about the headliners, and has brought in a bunch of top-name acts that will undoubtedly have the square behind Ulrich City Center packed again. You’ve probably already heard the names and most of them were no surprise; they were almost all leaked/announced on the individual bands websites and show schedules.

But, unlike most of the local free summer concert series, they have also released the local or regional performers who will be opening for the headline acts. I think this is great as it gives the fans of the local bands some notice, give the bands themselves time to promote their appearance and in the end, brings even more people to the shows. Since the openers play first, this means more people get there early and probably stay longer which translates to more business for the vendors and surrounding businesses. It’s such a no-brainer, that I don’t understand why venues like Artpark and Thursday at the Square don’t put more emphasis on this.

So, let’s look at a few of the local bands: Continue Reading…