Bloggers blogroll still broken

 

Some of you probably noticed that something is wrong with the blogroll at te right part of this blog. After Mike VE9KK wrote me an e-mail I noticed that it is not updating with new feeds. Mike and others with a "blogger" blog experience the same problem. Unfortunately it is a problem that google has to solve. We cannot fix this ourselves. I hope this will be solved soon.

Online hamclocks for browsers

 Originally the famous HamClock was invented and hosted by Elwood WB0OEW. You could build one yourself and use his software to run on for example a small RaspberryPi. You could also buy a ready to use device. Personally I made my own version a while ago and ran it via Wifi to view it on any computer or tablet. It was a fun project but I loved it and hated it. I never got it stable and as soon as it need an update I had to start the RaspberryPi again. I also barely looked at it actually. Unfortunately Elwood died at the start of this year and his hamclock back end server would stop. Luckily quickly there were several projects to get another back end server online, probabely openhamclock is the most wel known one now.

These days there are also very nice online hamclocks online which work well in your browser. Some are very good usable some are less usable. It's just what you are looking for. I recently made a list of some interesting online hamclocks to use on any computer with a browser and internet connection.

One of the monitors featuring hamdash

Recently I got a few HP Pro 3520 computermonitor with build in computer. They came from my job and they wanted to throw them away. They are not the fastest computers with Intel Core i3 processors and old harddrives. But fast enough to run a linux version with all features on it. Including of course the famous FireFox browser. I tried several linux versions but found Ubuntu the best and the most complete. Since I want the screens controllable with only a mouse I needed an on screen keyboard which is not always an option in every linux distribution but is standard in Ubuntu.

Here is my list of interesting online hamclocks:

https://hamclock.me/

https://openhamclock.com/

https://hamdash.com/

https://dxclock.com/web.html

https://dxlook.com/

Personally I have no room for another monitor, so I want to sell them if anyone is interested. They could be used for anything of course. Not only as a hamclock.

Jesse H. Bunnell Triumph education key

   This is the second in a series of posts about some straight keys I bought from the real estate of PA3BCB Gerard (SK). You can find the first one here. I recommend to view the last photo in that post. It showed my second J.H.Bunnell key in very bad shape. I managed to get it in better shape and it is shining in my shack now. I will not show the step by step process since I've done it in my first post. The nice thing of these keys is that you can completely disassemble them to clean every little separate part. This key looks almost the same as the first J.H.Bunnell key but is different.

   Obvious is the big knob with the flat round beneath it. Did you know that originally this was made to protect the operators from the high voltages and currents when they used keys on spark and tube transmitters. These knobs are also called "navy knobs" after international treaties required spark transmitters aboard ships after the sinking of the Titanic. 

I personalized my key engraving my call just below the button.

  The main thing that is different is the lever. It is made of brass and not from steel like the key in the first post of this series. I was wondering why and I found that this key was only used for education purposes.

It also features a different contact. Not sure if this is silver plated or tungsten. It seems you could get these keys with both type of contacts. This contact is bigger as on the other Bunnell key. The sound is when closing the contacts is also different which is obvious.

I like the feel of this key, I don't really know why. Could be psychological? I really like keying with it and feels completely different compared to the other Bunnell key. Could it be the key is choosing me as its operator? See the Bunnell keys together on the picture. What a lovely couple :-)

And of course I made some QSOs with it already. The first one with AM3MERCE for the video. Then I made QSOs with SV9/S53R and EA4IBF. The last one came back on my call which I made in slow morse to attract other beginner CW operators. 

Update 9-Sept-26: After viewing the video on several computers/phones I realized the audio is not good at all. I deleted the video and tried to amplify the audio in the original file. I hope it will be better now. Recording live morsecode seems not to be easy, like the tone gets filtered out.