KIX-OnlineLinks to amateur (ham) radio goodies on the web

Every now and then, a little gem comes along, something that just works right.

I recently stumbled on a piece of software called “WorkedGrids” by Bertrand Zauhar, VE2ZAZ.  This software, of course, is geared towards those of you in the VHF and up crowd.  Satellite, VHF/UHF/Microwave sidebanders and such.  Bertrand describes it as:

WorkedGrids is a Windows application that displays a map showing the amateur radio grid squares contacted and logged in using a third-party logging program. WorkedGrids uses colors to display information on a per-band basis. Up to four bands can be displayed concurrently.

As you can see by the image on your right, there are plenty of color coded grid squares telling you how you worked a station.  Swell stuff really!  Being a “1 call”, I thought it was neat that the image he uses on his site was centered right on my area.  Some of those spots are indeed hard to work, but I digress…….

The beauty of this software is it’s not “logging” software, it’s really QSO mapping software.  You use your logging program of choice.  If it doesn’t have a similar feature, you can export your log and then load it into this program and Voila!  All set.

System requirements:

Operating System: Any 32-bit version of Windows from Windows 95 to Windows Vista. Most likely 64-bit versions of XP and Vista as well, but untested so far.
Minimum CPU Hardware: Pentium-Class CPU, preferably Pentium-II or faster for quicker map refresh.
Display: 640×480 or higher resolution, 256 colors or more.
Disk usage: 1MB
Typical RAM usage: < 10MB, varies as a function of Map window size.

So why not give this gem a try?  You can find it at:

http://www.ve2zaz.net/WorkedGrids/WorkedGrids.htm

Every now and then a ham will do something so darn kewl, I just have to post it on this site.  Today….. we have one of those projects.

I (like many hams) have spent tons of time just messing around with Google Earth.  I love geography and it is truly a gem to play with (I clocked myself at four hours once and didn’t even notice it).

Many of you hay have seen apps that use Google Earth in various functions (many DXpeditions use it to plot their travel to the DX destination, NORAD does their NORAD Santa, to name a few).  Well, Andrew, ZL3W has created a great little program to help you convert your logs ADIF file, to MSExcel and then to a KML file that can be used to plot your QSO’s – REALLY SWEET!

From Andrews writeup on “Tools4science”:

Andrew ZL3DW build an application which converts ADIF to Excel and then Excel to KML file. This plots your worked Callsigns (if the Maidenhead grid or field is known) on to Google Earth.

In Google Earth, you get a yellow pin showing the callsign. If you click on the pin you get QSO details and zoom into the grid square.

73
Andrew ZL3DW

Pretty neat.

To give this a shot, just point your browser to the following URL:

http://www.tools4science.de/ext_services/DF0OH/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=20&MMN_position=33:15

Here’s a quick one for all you Windows 7 and Vista users.

I found this while browsing the windows gadget gallery a few days ago and started playing around with it.  It is truly a very neat and useful gadget.  My new laptop has plenty of resources, so it’s easy to keep it on the desktop 24/7.

From the Windows gallery:

A simple gadget to give you QRZ search and N0NBH propagation data in a gadget. For Ham Radio and Amateur Radio or Shortwave Listeners

If you’d like to download and give it a shot, here’s the link:

http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=4a810dd2-e59d-4493-935e-0993d61b3bca&bt=1&pl=1

If you know of any neat Windows gadgets, please post and comment below.

Today’s post will be a quickie.

DL5SWB has a neat little program for calculating Toroid values.  I don’t know why some programs on the web get such a huge following and then a gem like this goes by unnoticed.

Ferrite, iron, air….. doesn’t matter.  Good little calculator.

http://www.dl5swb.de/html/mini_ring_core_calculator.htm

If you look around, you’ll find some other neat programs on the site (they’ll be featured here in the future).

If you know of any neat gems like this, comment below and I’ll post about it in the future!

Just thought I’d drop a note on a neat little tool I found online.  I was working on a project at work and needed to find the values of some resistors.

Yes, I know, I know.  A real geek would remember all kinds of cute phrases (some illegal in many states, especially the southern ones).  However, I stink at memorizing that sort of thing and why use the paper calculator when there are many neat programs available.

I was going to post some online calculators, but then came across this gem (the workbench computer isn’t on the network).  Besides, who really wants to be online all the time to look up a simple resistor color code?

As the image on the right shows, this program will do 4 and 5 band codes.

It can be found at:

http://www.mbarron.net/Resistor/

I know there are tons of these types of programs out there.  Especially for portable devices.  If you have one you’d like to share, comment to this post.