Hamfests

Radios and Stuff

by W4JDH
I talked about ham radio digital voice briefly in my immediately previous post. Well, I’m gonna talk more about it today. As the last post implied, the digital voice mode I have the most experience with is definitely D-STAR. At this point, the standard is well over 20 years old, and other arguably better digital ... Read More

Retrospectives

by W4JDH
In the second post in my portable networking blog’s history, I talked about the WB4HRO Digital Repeater System I was managing at the time. This was my first “real” sysadmin experience, if I’m honest. It also taught me a lot about networking and the state of servers as it went along. This all started in ... Read More

Future Travel Plans?

by W4JDH
While I’ve discussed considerations regarding travel, I have not talked about actual travel destinations. I’m going to mention a few in this post. First on the list is Tybee Island, Georgia. Tybee Island is a barrier island on Georgia’s coast which used to be a 5ish hour drive from where I used to live. The ... Read More

Future Travel Considerations, Part 2

by W4JDH
I touched briefly on electronics in the last post. Okay, maybe not so briefly, but I think I should do a better job of surveying what I’d be carrying and what charging I would need. Current potential devices (as of Oct 2025): – Personal laptop (Acer Swift X) – while I believe this will charge ... Read More

Future Travel Considerations

by W4JDH
I wrote a post on Pocket Networks yesterday about solo travel considerations related to the project chronicled on that blog, and I mentioned that actual deepdive into the actual onebag travel bit would be on this blog, so here we go. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to attain true “onebag” status where all ... Read More

The Convention Conundrum

by W4JDH
Here’s a scenario: you’ve found a {convention|hamfest|trade show|conference} you want to attend, have a hotel picked out, and have your method of transportation picked out. What you don’t know, though, is if you want to leave out Sunday evening or Monday morning. This was the scenario I ended up with in 2005 when it was ... Read More

Mobile Connectivity +α

by W4JDH
Earlier this week, I read on TmoNews.com that T-Mobile was making another promo on their webConnect (aircard) service. I had cashed in on a promo plan towards the end of last year for $50/mo instead of $60/mo, but this one is even more awesome: “Overage Free” rate plan for $40/mo. What this means is that ... Read More