As you get older time sure does seem to fly past and once you retire (in my case) time seems to be moving at a warp speed. Both my wife and I just can't believe how fast each week Friday is upon us once again. In a few weeks, I will be the ripe old age of 65! Funny when I was in my 30's I thought 50 was old. Now in my 60s' I'm looking at the late 70's as being up there age-wise. I have been blessed with good health all my life. I have never been in the hospital overnight, had zero major illness and my overall health is considered excellent. For this, I am very thankful and never take my health for granted. 

Since this is a special birthday year I thought I would buy myself something nice ham radio related. Now I am retired and on a fixed income so there is no Elecraft K4 in the picture for me. I have a great Icom 7610 and I very much enjoy CW contesting. I have been toying with the idea of operating single operator 2 vfo or SO2V as it is called. The Icom 7610 allows me to operate its VFO A and B on the same band or on separate bands. This is very handy for contesting and I have tried it and became frustrated as you only have one VFO knob on the 7610 and if you forget to select VFO B and spin the dial you lose your VFO A spot. The idea with SO2V is that VFO A is your run VFO and VFO B is your search and pounce VFO. What I needed was a separate VFO physical knob that operated VFO B. 

Icom has the RC-28 and it always seemed a bit pricey to me but heck it's my big 65th so I took the plunge and purchased it. All Canadian dealers had the RC-28 on back order and the U.S. dealer had the Canadian dollar (and a few other reasons) and the shipping cost was just too much to spend. I did read on some of the IO Groups I follow of operators purchasing them on eBay from sellers in Japan. I looked into it and they were in stock also with shipping, and tax and the cost of the RC-28 it was basically the same cost as the Canadian dealers who were out of stock.
I ordered it and in less than a week it was at my door, brand new in a sealed Icom box. Happy Birthday to me! In my next post, I will be revealing my adventure connecting it to the Icom 7610!
 

Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Chris Howard (M0TCH), Martin Rothwell (M0SGL), Frank Howell (K4FMH), Bill Barnes (WC3B) and Leslie Butterfields (G0CIB) to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and the episode's feature is Using a Noise Bridge.

We would like to thank Mike Rosenberg N9YB along with our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

• Combined Technologies Help Astronomers Fight RFI
• Get Ready for Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio
• Broadcast Students Get Schooled in Amateur Radio
• Microsoft is retiring Skype
• QRP Silent Antenna Tuning Unit with Built-in Noise Bridge
• British Science Week – will you be taking part in an amateur radio activity?
• ARDC to Host Community Meeting
• Satellite SO-124 FM Repeater Now Active

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

Ham College episode 122 is now available for download.

Technician Exam Questions Part 9
T2C – Public service: emergency operations, applicability of FCC rules, RACES and ARES, net and traffic procedures, operating restrictions during emergencies, use of phonetics in message handling

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George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

Hello and welcome to Episode 573 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts talk with Sebastian Delmont, KI2D, about his Ham2K Portable Logger (PoLo) project. Topics include the code, applicable platforms, installation, configuration and use of the application. Also discussed are future upgrades, easter eggs, often missed features and much more. Thanks for listening and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 202 is now available for download. A review of emergency power sources. W5SLA Winter Field Day activities. Icom’s new small business radio package. A highly effective noise blanker. Canarduino Christmas goodies arrived. And more… Download YouTube
George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.