schrödinger's dog

Call Sign

I now have an amateur radio call sign: KB1NSX.
Jim on 06.24.06 @ 11:15 AM ET [link]

Fully Licensed

I passed my Technician Class amateur radio license test today, both the written and Morse code sections. I should get my call sign from the FCC in a week or so. The written test is multiple-choice, and is ridiculously easy, especially considering that the FCC publishes the pool of possible questions and answers. The Morse code test requires you to copy about 5 minutes of code sent at 5 words per minute, with a 15 wpm character rate. I missed a couple of the characters, but passed easily. Apparently most people arrive for the test much less prepared than I was.

The Morse code portion of the test is optional for the Technician license, but passing it does give you some privileges in the HF band. The next license level, General, gives you much broader HF access. The guys at the testing site (the Marlborough Public Library) actually tried to talk me into also giving the General test a shot on the same day, but I declined.

There was a lot of confusion among the examiners regarding what privileges a Technician with Morse code credit actually has. Apparently it's pretty uncommon - most people wait until General to take their Morse code test. And it doesn't help that the FCC regularly changes the license classes and privileges.

So the next question is: what to do with the license, other than hang it on the wall. I'm toying with the idea of building a small low-power CW transmitter, and probably buying an old Icom HF receiver to pair with it. I'll have to go through back issues of QST magazine looking for transmitter schematics. I'll also make some rounds of the MIT flea to look for parts.

Jim on 06.17.06 @ 12:39 PM ET [link]

Big Spanish Castle

Here's a very nice optical illusion called the Big Spanish Castle. It's just a color inversion, of course, but the effect is really startling.

But for my money, the best optical illusion I've ever seen is the Checker Shadow Illusion. It's not as whiz-bang as the Spanish Castle, but for sheer unbelievability it can't be beat. I've gone so far as to put the image in a graphics program just to verify that the colors are the same. I still can't believe it.
Jim on 06.10.06 @ 10:31 AM ET [link]

Browns

I've never been much of a fan of brown booze, but lately I've taken a hankering to good bourbon. Labels like Maker's Mark seem to be appreciated by those in-the-know. It tasted OK by me, but I've become fond of a bourbon called Sam Houston from "the Republic of Texas", sold for $19.99 at my local liquor store.

And while most people claim the best way to drink the stuff is "neat", I prefer a single ice cube. As the ice slowly dissolves it completely changes the flavor of the drink - the beginning is nothing like the end. You get a continuously varying cocktail.

Some good web resources are Basic Boozery and Dennis' Whiskey Corner.

Oh, and it should be considered a crime for the Scots to add peat smoke to whiskey. Bleah.

Jim on 06.05.06 @ 08:17 PM ET [link]