Archive for January, 2008

This guy must be really stupid…

January 10, 2008 at 11:45 am · Filed under Uncategorized

I just got this email (to my ham radio account, which isn’t used for anything personal or financial…). It wasn’t even addressed to me specifically, contains a misspelled word or two, and the punctuation is terrible. Oh, I’m sure this must have really come from PayPal – as if I’ve never seen one of their emails (sent to the only account I have associated with PayPal). Wow. This guy must be really stupid. I tried to do a reverse-lookup of his number, but he’s at least smart enough to keep his information unlisted. I did forward this email to his phone provider, though. I bet they know who he is. Maybe they can have a little talk with him.

PayPal Security Notice

 The credit/debit card you have on file with us is suspended.

To update your billing information please call the security departament at : 509-591-4214

Case ID : 97456688
Account ID :83320775885

If you choose to ignore our request your account will be suspended .

								

			
				

				
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KK1X

			
				
 
				January 10, 2008 at 8:25 am 
				· Filed under Ham Radio								

			
				

									
It’s my anniversary, of sorts. Two years ago today I was assigned the Amateur Radio callsign of KK1X by the FCC. I petitioned for it, and paid a fee (otherwise Amateur Radio is essentially free). This call replaced my old KB1HDO call. The call KK1X was previously held by a fellow named Lionel, but Lionel passed away (in ham terms, his “key went silent”) in 1998, and I found the call to be available after doing a lot of digging around in archives.

								

			
				

				
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Happy Birthday, PL

			
				
 
				January 9, 2008 at 4:22 pm 
				· Filed under Uncategorized								

			
				

									
It’s my little sister’s birthday today. Happy Birthday, Honey.

								

			
				

				
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Holy CRAP! The radio works!

			
				
 
				January 8, 2008 at 5:32 pm 
				· Filed under Ham Radio								

			
				

									
Those of you who are truly fans (OK, all one of you) might remember that I asked for a radio kit (the Rock-Mite) for Christmas. Well, my brother-in-law Art drew my name in the Secret Santa list, and bought the thing for me.


I had some time off between Christmas and New Year’s, and I built it. It’s finally encased in an Altoids tin (the preferred radio enclosure for the QRP crowd), and it actually works! I haven’t made a contact on it yet, but it does put in a booming signal to my “big” radio, an Icom IC-756Pro.


Here’s a picture:


dscn0824.jpg


I even bought it a toy – That aluminum block to the right is a KK1 “straight key” from American Morse Equipment which also came as a kit. When I get a few bucks ahead in my “war chest” I’m planning to buy the KK2 paddle kit to go with it. This isn’t to say that I really know Morse Code all that well, but I’m practicing and getting better.

								

			
				

				
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