It’s been quite a while since I updated this blog, so a great time to post an update on some projects and interesting items I’ve bumped into on the Internet.

First, an update on a concept called White Rock Hams that we started over three years ago with a mention on this blog. It’s since turned into a real club with many activities and a pretty good following with over 30 members. We’re using groups.io for all of our messages and files, and hamclubonline.com for official club stuff. Both of these tools have been extremely useful in keeping members informed and active. You can follow all of our exploits at wa5wrl.org which is the vanity call sign we were able to snag from the FCC.

In Internet news, I am just about ready to pull the plug on Twitter. I was a very early adopter personally and helped get my Fortune 500 employer back then on board. Since Musk has taken it over, it’s become quite a dumpster fire and I’m not sure how much longer I can stand it.

I’m spending more of my time now on Mastodon. I like that it’s federated and non-centralized. Sort of feels more like the way the Internet was supposed to be in the first place. It’s not owned and run by a tight group of billionaires. If you’d like to join us, take a look at joinmastodon.org. Scroll though the servers and pick an interesting one, or just use mastodon.social like many folks do. You’ll find a lot to like, including authors you’ve probably seen previously on Twitter. And, if you’re a ham, choose mastodon.radio! Don’t sweat about the server choice, though, since they all connect together. Once you’re on, you can find me at @n5csu.

I’m getting a kick out of my hamclock running on a little inovato computer. This device has become a must-have for active hams that use the high frequency bands.

I’d like to give a shout out to the website blogs.radio, a great place to find updated blogs by ham radio operators.

That’s about it for now. I’m composing this using Word on my iPad via microphone for the first time, then pasting into WordPress. It’s so much better than my two finger typing.

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