12/17/2014

Tap, Tap, Tap....Is This Thing On?

Perhaps not the most innovative or insightful opening post on a new blog, but one must start somewhere. Somewhat soon I may just kill off this post, but in the meantime, allow me to explain what am I trying to accomplish on this, my first blog.

There will be no deluge of pictures or videos of my kids; that's Facebook. Micro-thoughts and mini-witticisms won't fly across this screen; that's Twitter. Frankly, I don't totally get Google+, so whatever happens there likely won't be seen here...or maybe it will. Who can say?

The purpose of this blog, as of today, is to help me document my re-entry, if you will, into the radio arts.

I've spent twenty years before the mast primarily working with radio systems on all manner of ships and other odd locales. After retiring from the Navy, I found a great job where I continued to work in the realm of radios and more importantly, I continued to work with the some of the finest folks I have ever met.

As some have no doubt discovered, either in civil or military professions, the longer you work in your field and the better you become at your trade, the farther away you are drawn from some of those things about your field that caused you to fall in love with it in the first place. While I truly enjoy what I do now and find wonderful challenges in it, the fact is that I don't actually see radios much any more, let alone do any troubleshooting or design work. This gap has progressed from a little itch to full blown dissatisfaction, but I had a hard time envisioning a way to solve my problem. What is a frustrated geek to do?

I've toyed with getting my amateur radio ticket for some time; many of us techie types in the Navy were hams, but I never bothered to get the license, and in fact still have not although I'm actively studying. My resurgent interest in radio electronics coupled with my borderline OCD research addiction led me down a wandering path of books, blogs, mailing lists, fora, and podcasts.  The final result is that I've discovered that I want need to build radios and other electronics, particularly with an experimental focus. Reproduction from schematics is where I'll start, but my goal is to design and build rigs that meet my needs and are come from my hands

From my online reading and interacting with other like minded folks, I've come to realize how friendly and mutually supportive a group of people exist in the amateur radio and experimental RF design world. As I progress in my own way in this avocation, I hope to continue this, draw from these folks, and hopefully contribute back to them.

So, this blog has two purposes...to document my technical and philosphic progress in this hobby, and just as importantly, to become another node in the network of amateurs and experimenters.





...oh yeah, and maybe get my amateur ticket at some point so my experimentation isn't limited to designing and building receivers.

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