Cover Story
By Ron Walsh
MT's new columnist is not only nuts about boats, but he also loves auto racing. Ron Walsh has worked at the Molson Indy Toronto for 14 years and always totes a scanner. Scanners and racing are a natural fit, but there are a few tricks to making the radio a helpful tool instead of a frustration. Plan ahead before you buy your equipment, and program the frequencies into your radio using a few tricks that will save you time.
On our cover: The TransAm field, photographed by Ron Walsh VE3GO.
By Thomas Marcotte
"Who uses all those frequencies?" Tom wondered to himself a few years ago. There are 760 VHF AM aircraft frequencies, and Tom set out to identify, if possible, all the active frequencies and who used them within his listening radius in southern Louisiana. We think you'll be impressed with the results of his years of logging and research.
By Ken Reitz
Digital and High-Definition Television is gaining impetus as it approaches the date (December 2006) by which analog broadcasts are supposed to be turned off. What will this mean to owners of analog sets? What's the difference between DTV and HDTV? What equipment do you need to receive it? Ken Reitz separates the facts from the hype and sees a promising future.
By Glen Hale
In digital reception you can't get a snowy picture – you either have a picture or you have nothing. Many hobbyists assumed that would be the end of DXing TV, but digital DX is turning up quite frequently. Not only can you get distant signals, but identifying your digital catch is even easier.
By Laura Quarantiello
The Mars Exploration Rovers are two tough little scrappers, but they would be nothing more than metal scrap if it weren't for the line of communication to and from the Rovers that tell them what to do and tells the scientists what they've found. Lest we take this accomplishment too much for granted, Laura Quarantiello reminds us of the obstacles scientists overcame to successfully position two Rovers on opposite sides of a planet that is so far away it takes 10 minutes for a radio signal to reach it.
As John Figliozzi says, "Relax, It's Summer!" So most of our product columns are a little different this month.
In case you are thinking about buying a scanner to take on vacation or you plan to look for one at hamfests, Bob Parnass has some good advice on how to choose a scanner, plus some good operating tips as well.
John Catalano found a FREE software program which, though it's called Ham Radio Deluxe, works just great with a variety of shortwave receivers as well .
Bob Grove discovered a geiger counter kit originally sold by Heathkit is still available. The Monitor 4 Geiger Counter Kit is being made by S.E. International as a kit or preassembled. It still works as good as it ever did and is an easy assembly project.
Jock Elliott wants more than a close-up view of the action; he wants to keep a record of it. So he's trying out the Simmons CaptureView binoculars which come with a digital camera attached .
This month's On the Bench project recounts Mark Fine's experiment with achieving DRM reception, using an unmodified receiver and Dream software .
What's New? by Rachel Baughn, KE4OPD