KM1NDY
A Secret Little Adventure Ham Radio Blog
With Love From South Boston: The ARRL DX SSB Contest
You remember that my non-resonant off-center fed dipole antenna runs along a privacy fence, barely 5 feet above the ground, and surrounded by triple deckers right? And then has a 125 feet run of lossy RG8X coax back to my shack’s standard 100 watt HF radio? Not to mention the giant noise floor of living …
Help! I Fell In A Hole! Click Below To See What Happens Next On “SOTA Mount Tecumseh 2025: Winter Bonus Season…”
(And don’t forget to smash that “Like” button, ring the “Notification” bell, and go ahead and subscribe! It would really be just the right type of help I am looking for!) Okay, okay, I’m trolling, I’m trolling. KM1NDY.com has never gotten a single subscriber, never notified anyone, and is satisfied with our exactly zero likes. …
All Hams Need Comfy Slippers, Or, Are Hobbies A Waste Of Time?
Hobbies perplex me. I can be pretty intense about mine. I first put a pair of wheels on my feet when I was in junior high, and have been roller skating ever since. My Grandma taught me how to crochet when I was even younger than that. She would sit and sew a blanket while …
A Personal Record: Winter Field Day 2025
I have done Winter Field Day every year since I became a ham. With a radio club in a rain storm (2020), in a museum train caboose in 0℉ weather (2021), in a severe blizzard in a tent in our backyard (2022), with another radio club in rustic cluster of cabins (2023), at the outbuilding …
Weird Winter Field Day Chores: Melting Down The Loose Ends (& The KX1Q 2025 WFD Gear Checklist!)
Packing up for Winter Field Day was a piece of cake this round, so I spent the last hour burning the frayed ends of the many odd pieces of paracord I have collected over these last six years of portable ham radio. I can barely think of a better way to entertain myself while waiting …
How To Install The Software-Defined Radio (SDR) Inspired Linux Lubuntu Distro Called “DragonOS_Focal” Onto An Old Windows 10 Laptop
I have an old HP ProBook that is not qualified for an upgrade to Windows 11. Some readers may remember I have been dabbling in Linux over the years. And by dabbling, I mostly mean clenching my jaw, hands, and toes, waiting for something to install, and fretting over how badly I broke my computer …
How To Set Up SDRplay RSP2 with GNU Radio
This post is simply to document that the only way I found to connect my SDRplay RSP2 software defined radio receiver with GNU Radio software was by following the instructions exactly on this link: https://github.com/fventuri/gr-sdrplay3/blob/main/WINDOWS.md . I have copied the page and made notes on it below to simplify the process for Windows 10 users. …
SOTA With The Vanquish: My Little Truck Climbed Peaked Mountain (W1/CR-006)
Ok he didn’t. He just happened to be driving the little truck, full throttle, trying to dislodge it from a pile of leaves, mud, and sticks, so he could get back to attempting to crawl it up a log. Like every grown up does. And when he finally reached down to rescue the truck from …
Radio Control: Vanquish VS4-10 Crawler Build, Easy DIY 2.4 GHz Dipole Antenna, & RC Car Transmitter FHSS / DSSS On A Spectrum Analyzer
Someone mentioned working on a remote control battery on/off switch project. Oh boy! What a darn rabbit hole that sent me down. It seemed quite simple to send a radio controlled signal to a relay, nothing novel really. And of course, I liked the idea of an analog device. Perhaps even operating on 27MHz just …