Nice store Rick. Enjoyed reading it. I for one never did give up on the black boxes. Still have all 5 of them. Going back to the first one (PK-232MBX) that was about 1986 or 1987. I even still have the G3PLX board for Amtor when I jumped into that band wagon. That was my first non RTTY digital mode. Using a Kenwood TS-520 (no S or anything) and still using that 520 with both the 28 machines.
My main HAM computer still runs DOS 6.22 with no sound card. does every thing I need it do, running TNC's, controlling the satellites antennas and the FT-847. I use a dell laptop with the 2 sound card modes that I do operate (HELL & MT63). Never did take a liking to PSK-31. Like a ARQ QSO? You can find me on almost any evening sitting on 7078.9 center frequency. Andy - next time you fire up on MT63 let me know. Sorry I missed you the other night. John, W0JAB At 11:10 PM 3/2/2008, you wrote: >It is precisely because of the sound card that we no longer buy >expensive boxes, cards, etc. > >When I got back into ham radio in 1980, it was not long before I found >that I enjoyed the digital modes. When I moved from our first farm back >to the "city," I was very surprised to see one local ham who I had known >when I was first licensed back in 1963, who was operating RTTY ... but >on VHF! I had no idea such a thing was done. We had a regular local >group with a regenerative repeater. Most of us used very simple TU's >along with homebrew loop supplies to run our Model 15's, 19's, 33's, >etc. I made a homebrew XR chip design I think I have discussed before, >that was really only decoding one tone on RTTY to my Model 15. > >Then enter the computer and everything changed. I used a number of >different types of interfaces, including the Commodore 64 MBA-TOR >software, the Kantronics UTU, the AEA CP-1 plus the BMK-Multy software. >Then I had to make the big decision. Would it be HAL or SCS? I went with >HAL, and spent what would today be probably around the price of the SCS >boxes. HAL had serious problems trying to clone Pactor with their first >attempt with the P-38 card. It never worked right for me as it would >link and then drop the link with no warning. They kept promising they >would fix the software and I was basically being an Alpha tester for >them as they sent several "updates." But they never worked for Pactor. >Clover II was OK, but even that mode could not handle the weak signals >that we now can handle with sound card modes. I eventually gave up on >them, returned their defective digital hardware/software solution and >only was given back 80% of my money due to their "restocking fee." >Needless to say HAL is NOT on my list of approved vendors! And since I >had sold all my other equipment to partially pay for the HAL product so >digital HF modes were off line for a number of years. > >It was not until sound card modes became available that I ventured back >into the digital HF world. In the meantime, packet radio had peaked and >was dying out as a networked system. Today things are quite amazing to >me, considering the quality of freely available software (not just >digital or even ham software, but in general with the movement to free >and open source) and the new modes. It is the best time ever for those >of us interested in this kind of technology. You never run out of things >to do. > >As far as corn, we stopped growing it some years ago, although our small >150 acre farming operation does have a corn base. There is still some >subsidies for that but with the markets the way they have been, there is >no LDP anymore for corn farmers. Judy, N9LGV, and I still handle a small >number of dairy heifers each summer on what is now a strictly grazing >farm. Even at the peak, we generally have no more than 100 head of dairy >cattle here during the grazing season. > >Typically we will have some very small weaned calves that do require >grain as well as pasture, then some breeding age heifers, and we do >promote bringing in dry cows if they are not close up which as you >probably can imagine is a problem with shipping. We no longer direct >market our specialty beef products to the public, but of course we have >them for ourselves and family. We do still sell a few pumpkins and >berries, that sort of thing, but no farmer's markets anymore. We have >worked out a pretty good arrangement for pasture based farming and if >you or others stop by we are always happy to give you a tour. I have had >several dairy farmers stop by that I have met via the internet >discussion groups (I still co-moderate the Grazersedge yahoogroup) and >one was from Washington and most surprisingly one was from NZ. So you >never know who you might be able to meet in person someday:) > >73, > >Rick, KV9U
