Ria's Ham Shack

 Well, it's 2024 and lots has been going on. In particular I write regularly on Substack . I also have the radio show on WRMI Legends - Sundays at 10PM ET on WRMI 5050kHz. Also available wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

 I'm wrapping up the preliminary series on coax connectors. Reason being that I want to cover a few more topics, and also get a few other pieces in which can get me to do some more in-depth topics. So enjoy the last one, for now... I talk a little about my wardriving days, and wifi antennas. Remember - ham radio is a cool hobby, but it's not the only hobby radio out there! I used to be (and still am!) very much enthused by experimenting with license-free radio services. There is a certain crossover with those that I'd like to cultivate both in my  videos and in the community.  Next I'm going to cover using Linux and MacOS in the hamshack. Should be fun. :)

Yesterday, I noticed a lot more people began viewing my videos. And I figured I got linked somewhere in the ham blogosphere, as my friend Dick Norton likes to call it. I checked the usual suspects, including QRZ, Southgate (who has linked me before, thanks!), Twitter and other places. Then someone commented that hackaday led them here. A-ha! Mystery solved! Anyway, here is the post from hackaday, linking to my video: https://hackaday.com/2020/11/23/coaxial-connectors-starting-with-the-pl259/ My sincere thanks to Jenny List for writing the article. If you're new to the party, come and join the fun over on YouTube: https://youtube.com/RiaJairam Be sure to like and subscribe, and tell your friends. But more importantly, watch the videos. You may learn something! 73 Ria, N2RJ

Well, it's been awhile, but life got in the way.  But I'm back!  What am I up to these days? To begin with, I'm creating videos on YouTube, with the purpose of educating hams and non-hams alike about amateur radio and other technical topics. My goal with these videos is to encourage more people to become radio amateurs but also to encourage people to learn technology. Stay tuned...

On August 19, at the invitation of John, W2HCB, President of The Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club (GSBARC) and EC/RO for the town of Babylon, NY , I visited the Fire Island Lighthouse to help them activate the lighthouse for International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend (ILLW). They have been an amazing and active club for many, many years and I was all too happy to visit. The lighthouse itself is an amazingly pretty sight to see with some of the most beautiful and absolutely pristine seashore in this area. I took a tour of the lighthouse, and climbed all the way to the top. I also met up with two of my YL friends - Caryn, KD2GUT and Salli, K2RYD. I operated SSB and CW and many were happy to work me. GSBARC absolutely rolled out the red carpet. They met me, shuttled me to the light from Robert Moses Field, and even gave me a personal tour of the lighthouse. The drive from NNJ wasn't too bad at all. I used to actually go out to Long Island quite a lot when I was a contract p...

One of the things I'd like to touch on here is that my opponent and his friends seem to think that the message that "contesters and DXers are elitists" is a winning strategy with the ham radio public. For the record, I am a very avid and active DXer and contester. I have 324 countries confirmed (326 including deleted), 9 bands DXCC including 160 meters and DXCC challenge at the 1500 level. I also have numerous contest wins, both on my own and on VHF with Andrea, K2EZ who owns and operates a Ford Explorer rover. Interestingly enough, my opponent is also a DXer and contester. In fact, he is even on the DXCC honor roll. This means that he is in the top 10% of DXers worldwide in terms of new countries worked. Wow. It takes a lot of dedication to do that. He's also a member of the Order of Boiled Owls of New York, a well known, but small contest club. So as it turns out, he's one of us, and in some respects more elite than I am. I sincerely don't get why he g...