For more than 80 years the beeps and tones of the National Research Council (NRC) time signal have connected Canadians at exactly 1 p.m. ET. But as of Monday,, October 9, 2023, CBC Radio One audiences won't be listening for the beginning of the long dash — they'll have listened to the end of it. Variations of the daily message and the "pips" that sound along with it have played over CBC's airwaves since Nov. 5, 1939 — forming a link that connects Canadians from coast to coast to coast. CBC and Radio-Canada have announced they'll no longer carry the National Research Council (NRC) time signal. Monday marked the last time it was broadcast, ending the longest running segment on CBC Radio.
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- Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Posted: 08/226/2024
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Anyone who caught one of the Emergency Action Notifications (EAN) transmitted by the US Air Force on the HF bands remembers this phrase.But not many know how the EAN is actually used by our military. This re-creation of a Minuteman III Launch Control Facilitliy (LCF) in Utah provides a realistic view of what happens when an EAN is received by a missile control crew, 60 feet under... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Posted: 04/93/2024
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If you're a long-time ham you might know what the smeary figure-8 pattern is....Back in the Novice era, many used crystals purchased from suppliers like JAN Crystals who purchased large quantities of military surplus crystals and reground them for the ham bands. That's why they were cheap, but also why you couldn't get a specific frequency as they'd grind by a formula and is long... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Posted: 01/22/2024
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Ron K5HZ has been building equipment since he first got his ham license in the early 60s, and while he has other transmitters, all it took to build a new one was finding a "free to good home" power transformer at a hamfest. It also gave him a chance to try using a couple of Compactron tubes that had caught his eye - the 6T10 dual pentode and the 6GE5 beam power pentode that was d... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Posted: 12/364/2023
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If you build almost anything electronic, chances are good you've purchased parts from DigiKey Electronics. But did you know that DigiKey - now one of the world's largest electronics distributors - started out as a ham radio company?"More than 50 years ago, a digital electronic device designed to generate uniform Morse characters and spaces was made available for sale by amateur radio enthusi... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Posted: 12/341/2023
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