Brian Lambert's Weblog

Sat, 22 Nov 2003 06:45:05 GMT

Switched to TypePad. Radio sleeps with the fishes. Not much new there, but, now that I'm moved into the new house, this will change.

73 de N1IK, Brian

Fri, 23 May 2003 17:53:10 GMT

Wow.

Fri, 23 May 2003 17:15:12 GMT

<rant>
As if we needed more proof that RealNetworks are the most obnoxious software company on the face of the planet, today they announced that they are going to be distributing porn from Playboy. What a bunch of assholes.

I guess there's no money they'll leave on the table.

Over the years I've had their crap software installed on several of my machines, but I've always had to remove it because it is just so damned obnoxious. Kind of like ICQ got to be. Recently, I tried a couple of months of the RealOne SuperPass to get access to their DIRECTV-like "music all the time service". What made me decide to not continue the service? Well, their player kept stealing a number of file associations for multi-media files. Every time I re-associated these files with Windows Media Player, some number of minutes later, RealOne's player would steal them back! Plus which, every time I launched a multi-media file, their player took a really long time to load the file. Windows Media Player would load the same file instantly. Spyware? You betcha.
</rant>

73 de N1IK, Brian

Wed, 21 May 2003 06:28:48 GMT

Today was pretty exciting. Worked some DX (F6DMQ killer signal from France and R1QQ with a great signal from Russia), had a great day at the office, and saw that the foundation was in and the forms stripped on the new house. Our current house goes on the market tomorrow, so we're on rails now!

Moving is hard, though. Every moment seems to be filled with something new to think about. Thank god summer is here and we'll have the distraction of the lake. Here's a picture of Long Island. The docks sticking out on the left our where our condo is.

I've finally made my decision for an HF antenna system at the new house. I'll be installing a SteppIR BiggIR Vertical, ground mounted with radials for 40M-10M, and 80M and 160M dipoles that I'll make myself.

Then there's the AMP. I need QRO. And I think I'm going to buy a QRO.

When the dust settles, I'll get started on getting a tower in. My sense is that I want to install a Tennadyne T6 or a SteppIR 3 Element Yagi at 50' or so on a self-supporting, crank-up tower (perhaps US Tower).

And I did some awesome work on my Amateur Radio software project this evening.

Ah, life can be fun. What a full day. Time to have an adult beverage and take a swim.

73 de N1IK, Brian

Wed, 14 May 2003 17:21:00 GMT

I think we've all experienced the effects of cosmic rays on our software, but Sudhakar Govindavajhala (his first name is a good fit) has taken things to the next level. Pretty interesting article.

Tue, 13 May 2003 15:07:46 GMT

Ah, new hardware day. The happiest day of the year. Paul turned me on to the Nokia 3650, and after reading up on it, and GSM, I decided to get one. Wow, it's super cool. I especially like the built-in camera. It'll be fun to be able snap pictures on the go.

I'm a Nokia fan anyway, and this takes mobile phones to the next level. Too bad it doesn't have .NET on it.

Text me here.

73 de N1IK, Brian

Thu, 01 May 2003 05:14:49 GMT

I've been working on my N1IK.COM website late this evening. Man, I forgot what a pain in the neck HTML tables are.

After messing around a bunch, I've decided to build the entire site as an ASP.NET Web Application, with GridLayout. Why not, it's a website for my friends, my customers from Ham Radio Outlet, and for the Amateur Radio community, so there's really no need to get all concerned about cross browser compatibility.

I think I’ve come up with a layout that works and is simple enough for someone of my graphical abilities to build. I’m pretty good with Photoshop, but I can’t build a fancy, mitered website all by myself. (Need Paul for that!)

The website will eventually contain:

Brief BIO of myself for people who link to the site from QRZ
Shack pictures and shack equipment list
On-line log (transformed from XML)
Software download of the CW Trainer program I'm working on
Comprehensive set of Amateur Radio links

Should be fun to put this all together over the next year or so! In the meantime, visit eHam.net and learn more about Amateur Radio.

73 de N1IK, Brian

Wed, 30 Apr 2003 08:23:04 GMT

I just realized that in a couple of weeks I will have been licensed as an Amateur Radio operator for one year. Wow, where did the time go? The older I get, the faster the years seem to go by.

Amateur Radio is a wonderful hobby. It truly is. Over the last year, I’ve learned more new things, had more fun and made more friends than I ever thought possible. And there’s so much more to do. This is just the tip of the iceberg!

Next year is the “Year of CW” for me. My goal is to be able to “run”, at least moderately well, in a CW contest next season. In order to do this, I will need to feed WriteLog a steady diet of 599’s.

73 de N1IK, Brian