From the Audio DesignLine Newsletter of 12/29/05:
Power a radio by the heat generated by a lantern seems like an unlikely proposition. But this is exactly what a product from UK-based Navitron does. The unlikely product is unique in the marketplace……Read the article.
This looks like a cool gadget to me, although the company’s website does not [...]

I don’t normally make New Year’s resolutions, nor do I suggest that others make them, but with the imminent change in licensing requirements (i.e. the elimination of the Morse Code test), here’s one suggestion that I will make. I would like to suggest that every Fist member find a ham in their club or community [...]

From Hank K8DD, via the Fists mailing list:
RUFZ 3.2 - The ultimate free training software for the advanced CW-operator
Just saw this on the CQ-Contest reflector. This has always been a DOS program - Now there is a Windows version that works very well! It is new and may have some bugs, but I have not [...]

EE Times recently ran an interesting article on cognitive radio. I think that some of the ideas in the article could be applied to amateur radio. For example, wouldn’t it be cool to have a radio that monitors beacons on say 10m or 6m, and then alerts you when the bands are open? It seems [...]

If you need more evidence that ham radio is becoming an old man’s hobby, you need look no further than the latest WorldRadio Subscriber Survey. The magazine polled 1,600 readers; 1,237 replied.
The first thing that jumps out at me is that less than 5% (4.5%, to be exact) of the respondents are less than 45 [...]

Thanks to Boing Boing for pointing me to the article, “Ten most needed circuits for the DIYer” on DIYLive. The ten circuits include an audio amplifiers, RC lowpass filter, and power supply.
DIYLive looks like a very cool website for ham radio types. A quick scan turned up other articles that hams will find amusing [...]

Thanks to Steve W3HF via the SolidCpyCW mailling list, here are two pointers to Morse Code fonts:

This one has just the dits and dahs.
This one has both the dits and dahs as well as the letter they represent.

They’re .ttf files, so they should install on both Macs and PCs.

In his latest Michigan Section News, our Section Manager, Dale WA8EFK writes:
The Michigan Net, QMN, celebrated its 70th Anniversary this autumn. Founded in late 1935 by members of the Detroit Amateur Radio Association, QMN is the nation’s oldest spot frequency traffic net and is responsible for a number of innovations in public service communications.
Before QMN, [...]

I’ve always thought there should be more activity on 30m. I’ve even proposed the idea of starting a 30-30 club that would promote the use of 30m, just like the Ten-Ten Club does for 10m. Well, it appears that someone in FISTS is thinking along the same lines. Here’s an announcement for a new operating [...]

Got all the gear you need? Then, have your significant other buy you a Morse code watch for Christmas. It’s a bit on the pricey side, but think of all the fun you’ll have at club meetings being the CW geek.