Matthew Steven - Ham Radio, Antennas, Radio Equipment

Shortest Callsign Service Terminated

Matt — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:55:13 +0000

While there was some interest in my service for short, available vanity callsigns, the reaction from a minority of hams was suprisingly hostile. A few people felt very strongly that it's not appropriate to collect even a miniscule fee for the work I did to produce the service and were fairly vile and pernicious about it!

Flex 3000 Initial Impressions, An Early Flex-3000 (F3K) Review

Matt — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:56:11 +0000

This review gives the story of my initial experience with the Flex 3000, followed by the Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.

A Nod To Turning In Your Contest Logs, Turns Out I Won!

Matt — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:59:46 +0000

Admittedly I've been a little bad about writing ham radio posts lately. Leave it to the ARRL to shock me out of my complacency.

Last year, on a lark, I sent in my log from my participation in the IARU International DX contest. And I thought no more about it until today. Turns out you can win a certificate even if you're the best in your state in a certain category.

I think I'll be posting my logs more regularly, and definitely contesting more this year. Bring the sunspots!

Removing Fiberglass From Skin: Several Techniques

Matt — Sun, 10 May 2009 22:10:51 +0000

Handling an aged fiberglass antenna today I got several splinters of fiberglass in my thumb and forefingers. Since they’re very hard to see I couldn’t tweeze them out. So I washed my hands carefully, rubbing in the opposite direction from which the fibers went in to avoid shoving them in further, and once they were clean and dry I used some tape to remove them.

By Amateur Radio Standards, Cellphones Can Be Unsafe

Matt — Sun, 10 May 2009 22:01:08 +0000

According to the FCC, Amateur Radio operators should calculate their RF exposure regularly to ensure station safety and be in compliance with accepted safe levels.
So I thought, why not do this with my cellular telephone?
Considering that the signal strength declines logarithmically as distance from the antenna increases, having the phone against your head must really give you a full dose of RF power.

Shortest Callsigns and Shortest Morse Code Duration Calls

Matt — Sun, 10 May 2009 21:40:52 +0000

With my recent license upgrade to Extra I decided to apply for a shorter vanity call sign. I soon realized there were a lot of complicated rules involved in selecting a call as well, but after many mistakes I managed to get a good call, AI1P.

Both short in length and short in Morse code so that I could spend a little less time on my cq’s and all transactions. A few dits/dahs will probably add up over a lifetime right?