In a recent blog post, EE Times editor Bill Schweber notes the passing of Norman Edmund, the founder of Edmund Scientific, and speculates on whether or not it’s easier now to be an experimenter/hacker/DIYer than it was years ago.

Those who say it’s not point out that years ago we had magazines, such as Popular Electronics and Electronics Illustrated, companies like Heathkit. They also point out that it was possible to disassemble TVs and radios for the parts and use them for your own projects.

Schweber, however, thinks that it is easier today for hackers and experimenters. He writes that  those magazines may be out of business, but we now have access to “countless user groups, informal forums, and blogs” on the Internet.

One thing he failed to mention was the hacker/maker groups that have sprouted up around the country. Here in Ann Arbor, for example, we have a group called Go Tech that provides support for hackers and makers of all stripes. You’ll find groups like this all around the U.S.

I tend to agree with Schweber that while the environment has certainly changed for experimenters, it is definitely better. What do you think?

Yesterday, on Google+, I saw a post with a link to a post on the Eastern MA (EMA) Section website that reported that presidential candidate Mitt Romney had “dissed” ham radio. Since I’m not a big fan of Mitt Romney, I immediately sent out a tweet on this. Almost immediately, Brian, N1FIY, replied, asking if I had noticed that this post was more than six years old.

Ooops. I hadn’t noticed that. My bad.

We swapped a few tweets about this, and he noted that not only was this old news, “Within a week, he did a followup that reversed his stance.” Now, I felt really bad about this, especially as other hams had already begun to “re-tweet” my original message.

I suggested that we both contact the EMA Section Manager, Phil Temples, K9HI, and we did. I told K9HI that I thought that leaving this post online was unfair without also posting Romney’s reply. Here’s how K9HI replied:

I can appreciate your point of view. Nevertheless I don’t believe the story should be removed. Romney did say those damning things, and it wasn’t until his office was confronted by the Eastern MA ARES leadership that one of his representatives apologized on Romney’s behalf.

We went though this retraction business with Alan Pitts, W1AGP at ARRL Hq. during the last presidential election/primary. Alan said he was fielding lots of phone calls and inquiries about it. I pointed out to Alan that even *if* I were to remove the story it’s been archived by all of the major search engines like Google and Yahoo and reprinted by many other non-Amateur Radio web sites already.

73,

Phil, K9HI

p.s. — There was a very long reply comment/discussion thread that accompanied the original story. It probably *did* mention the “retraction” by his staffer. But the rhetoric was so heated that a decision was made to remove the entire discussion thread.

In my opinion, that’s really not a very satisfactory answer. I am not a Romney supporter by any stretch, but it’s really not fair to leave that story up on the EMA website without also printing the retraction/apology.

That’s the story from my point of view. My apologies again for being so quick to tweet old news. I will certainly be a lot more cautious about this next time. This was certainly  a lesson for me on how Tweets can take on a life of their own.

Another interesting thing to consider is what impact this flap will really have on the campaign. It did generate a little controversy in the ham radio community, but did it really hurt Romney at all? My guess is no. Those that jumped on this story would probably not have voted for Romney anyway. Even so, I do feel bad about making this mistake, and promise not to do it again.

I’ve had a donation box on my blog (www.kb6nu.com) for a year or so now.  Every once in a while, I actually do get a donation. Yesterday, for example, someone sent me $20 via PayPal.

This got me thinking that I should find some way to thank these donors. Now, I’m a big NPR fan, so my first thought was to give them a tote bag or a coffee mug. Tote bags and coffee mugs are expensive, though. That’s why you only get them for something like a $100 donation to an NPR station.

Instead, I’m going to send this sticker to anyone who donates $5 or more. They measure 4.25-in. high and 5.75-in. wide and would be perfect for the bumper next to your ham radio license plate or the bulletin board in your shack.

The 2012 WA1KPD Old Tyme Radio Calendar is available for free downloading from WA1KPD’s Boat Anchor Collection website. It features great old photos like the one of W1FET at right. My question is how many hams operate in a suit and tie?

This is the new logo for Yaesu Musen.

In a letter dated 12/27/11, Jun Hasegawa, president and CEO of Vertex Standard, has announced that the company is ending its four-year-old joint venture with Motorola. The letter states,

…we have decided to transfer the Vertex Standard LMR business to Motorola and focus on Amateur, Marine and Air-band business. The effective date for this reorganization will be January 1, 2012.

Other details include:

• The name of the company will revert to Yaesu Musen.
• The company will be wholly-owned by the founder’s family.
• The name of the operation in the U.S. will be Yaesu USA, and there will be no change in management or in address and phone numbers.

I love this YouTube video. It’s a great mix of images from old catalogs and newer images.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

And, here’s a recent recitation of the classic “Ham’s Night Before Christmas.”

I recently became a Dr. Who fan when I stumbled up the latest several reincarnations of Dr. Who on Netflix. I quickly worked my way through the episodes of the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors.

If you know anything about Dr. Who, you know about his Sonic Screwdriver. On the show, this fine bit of alien technology seals doors, hacks into computers, and may even drive screws.

Now, you can get this replica of the 11th Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, as well as several earlier models, from ThinkGeek. They’ve got a bunch of other Dr. Who stuff, too. Great stuff for the geeks on your holiday shopping list.