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Invoicera Review
- Numerous features
- Attractive invoicing templates
- International invoicing
- Numerous automations
- Easy to use
- Numerous integrations
- Poor customer support
- No live bank feeds
- Limited reports
In the past, we've called Invoicera the yacht of the invoicing software world – expensive, luxurious, extravagant, and sometimes even fun. But with a significant reduction in price and the same great features, Invoicera has set sail on a much better course.
Launched in 2006, the company has now grown to 125 employees and facilitates the sending of an average of 200,000 invoices a year, worldwide. With a large number of advanced features and the reliability to back them up, Invoicera goes above and beyond most other invoicing software companies, offering time tracking and project management along with highly customizable features like recurring invoices, recurring expenses, and recurring bills.
Unfortunately, the software is starting to sink again in a few places. Invoicera used to suffer from poor customer service and stagnant updates. That had improved for a while, but the support and updates have recently taken a turn for the worst. A more difficult setup process and the lack of live bank feeds also keep the software from its full potential. However, with ample automations and a strong feature set, the company still remains a contender.
Continue reading to learn about Invoicera's international business support and to see if Invoicera is right for you.
Tired of slow-paying customers? Looking for a more consistent cash flow? With invoice financing, it's possible to get cash for your invoices right away. Learn more about invoice financing in our Merchant's Guide To Invoice Financing guide and/or check out two of our favorites: BlueVine and Fundbox.
Table of Contents
Invoicera not only offers a forever free plan, they also provide a free 31-day trial with full feature access. No credit card or banking information is necessary to access the trial, and the service can be canceled at any time.
Invoicera has recently dropped their prices significantly. This app went from being one of the most expensive on the market to incredibly affordable, which is a very welcome change. Now Invoicera offers only two pricing plans. Payments are made monthly, though a 6% discount is given for a 6-month subscription, and a 12% discount is given for a 12-month subscription.
Invoicera has a fairly generous referral plan as well. There are no limits to the referral rewards you can accumulate.
Starter Edition
- $0/month
- Unlimited invoices
- Estimates
- Project management
- Time tracking
- 3 clients
- 1 recurring profile
- Reports
- Multicurrency support
- I user
Pro Edition
- $15/month
- Unlimited invoices
- Estimates
- Project management
- Time tracking
- 100 clients
- Reports
- Multicurrency support
- 2 users
You can purchase extra clients. Prices vary depending on the number of extra clients you need.
- 100 Clients: $10/month
- 200 Clients: $20/month
- 300 Clients: $30/month
- 400 Clients: $40/month
- Unlimited Clients: $49/month
You can purchase extra users as well. These prices vary depending on how many users you want to add.
- 1 User: $9/month
- 2 Users: $18/month
- 3 Users: $27/month
- 4 Users: $36/month
- 5 Users: $45/month
- Unlimited Users: $99/month
Invoicera will also design custom invoice templates for you. Contact support for more information.
Cloud-Based Or Locally-Installed
Cloud-based. No downloads or installation required.
Hardware & Software Requirements
As a cloud-based software, Invoicera operates on any computer with an internet connection. Some features require the use of Adobe Flash to operate. In addition, Invoicera hosts mobile apps for iPhones, iPads, or iPod Touches (iOS 7+) and for Androids (4.0+).
Specific Size Of Business
Invoicera is ideal for almost any sized business, provided you do not require full accounting software. Freelancers, independent contractors, and smaller businesses can benefit from unlimited invoices and expenses, while larger businesses will be thrilled with limitless auto billing, detailed user settings, and international invoicing. The only kicker is additional users and additional clients can be quite spendy.
Check out this link to see how Invoicera works for a variety of businesses and business models, from photographers to lawyers to restaurants to contractors/consultants.
Ease Of Use
"Invoicing simplified" is Invoicera's motto and raison d'etre. But while this claim is mostly true, Invoicera's software could stand to be streamlined and simplified even further. Set up and invoice creation, however, is incredibly easy and quick.
- Setup: Invoicera used to have a very easy guided setup. Now, there is hardly any guidance for setting up the software. While I wish Invoicera would restore their old setup process, the setup is still pretty simple. After you create your account and verify your email, you'll be prompted to add some basic company information. After this, I recommend scouring through settings to add any necessary preferences (like invoice templates, payment gateways, sales tax, etc.). After this, you'll want to add your contacts and products or services before jumping into the software.
- Organization: All in all, Invoicera is well-organized and generally easy to understand and navigate. The top of the screen contains a toolbar marking Dashboard, Billing, Projects, People, Received, Reports, and Settings. Each of these tabs has intuitive drop-down menus, and a second toolbar of quick links (to create invoices, estimates, expenses, etc.) is included underneath the first toolbar. Occasionally certain features aren't as streamlined as I would like, but everything is exactly where I would have expected to find it. On the top left-hand side of the screen, you'll see options for Settings and Logout, and on the bottom of the screen, you'll find your unique referral code.
- Instructions & Guidance: In most cases, Invoicera is self-explanatory. However, if you do require assistance, there is a Knowledge Base for very basic questions. The most helpful guidance by far is via the free webinar demo. Representatives are incredibly helpful and provide a complete walk-through of the software's functions. And best of all, they don't try to preach an expensive plan to you. Actually, the representative I talked to encouraged me to use the smallest plan because it would fit my business best. The support team also responds quickly to emails.
- Problems: While Invoicera is generally easy to use, this software can be unnecessarily complex and difficult to navigate at times. In our last review, the software had multiple glitches, which have been resolved, but I still have a few issues with the software.
- Could Be Streamlined: My main complaint is that Invoicera could be so much better with just a few minor tweaks. For example, when adding an item to an invoice you cannot add a sales tax unless you exit out of the item screen and enter it under the tax section, even though there is a tax setting under the item creation button. And when going through settings, it would be nice to move to the next settings section without having to exit out again and again. This, and many other issues like it, are small annoyances that grow more irritating over time. There's nothing bad enough here to keep me from using the software, but even minor nuisances can slowly drive you crazy.
- Too Much Clicking: As I mentioned above, there are numerous times when are you unnecessarily forced to switch from screen to screen. For example, when trying to log hours, you are kicked off the screen if you haven't created correlating projects and tasks first. Throughout my entire reviewing experience, the various bells and whistles of Invoicera became just a little bit much for my taste, and I just kept wishing for a simple back button.
- Not Always Intuitive: Sometimes the software is hard to navigate. For example, when previewing an invoice template, there is no way to X out of the preview. You somehow have to magically know that clicking the invoice makes it go away.
- No Live Bank Feeds: This is a staple for any invoicing software, so I was incredibly disappointed to find out Invoicera does not support live bank feeds.
- Limited Reporting: Invoicera offers 15 reports, but they are mostly just summaries and not true reports.
Invoicera pulls out all the stops when it comes to features. Many of these offerings are incredibly unique and set Invoicera apart from the competition. You can find a full list of Invoicera's features here, but below are a few highlights:
- Dashboard: The Invoicera dashboard is a collection of graphs that mark your recent activity and financial state. These graphs include invoices for the year; invoiced, paid, and overdue invoices; recent activities; expenses; time sheets; and top-billed customers.
- Invoicing: Invoicera offers seven invoicing templates, as well as a completely customizable template (featured below). This template is easy to create and adds flexibility and creativity to your invoices. Generally, there are only one or two invoice templates I actually like or deem professional enough for business use, but all of Invoicera's templates are business-worthy. You can invoice for services or items and can accept payments directly from the invoices with your choice of over 30 payment gateways. You can also add attachments and signatures to invoices. Furthermore, Invoicera lets you send reminders and charge late fees. The best things about Invoicera by far (besides customizability) are the abilities to schedule invoices to be sent at a later time and to send recurring invoices. My only complaint is that there is no place to input shipping costs on invoices. Invoicera also supports purchase orders and credit notes.
- Estimates: There are six estimate templates, an impressive amount (far more than most invoicing solutions). You can duplicate and copy estimates in order to quickly create a new estimate for a client. You can also easily convert estimates to invoices. Just make sure you double check that the default Terms and Conditions and Notes are correct. Invoicera lets you autoschedule estimates, which is a nice perk that I hardly ever see.
- Client Portal: Invoicera offers a simple, easy to use Client Portal where clients can pay for, print, export, or dispute invoices, as well as accept, reject, print, export, or comment on estimates.
- Contact Management: Invoicera allows you to manage contacts and vendors. In addition to basic contact information, you can add both billing and shipping addresses to customers. You can also add customer credits and send invoices directly from the contact management screen.
- Auto Billing: This is one of the coolest features in Invoicera. You can automatically charge clients' credit cards to save invoicing hassle and receive quick payments.
- Expense Tracking: Through Invoicera, you can track your expenses and add attachments (such as receipt pictures). You can also import expenses via .xls or .csv. Invoicera supports recurring expenses as well. You can assign specific expenses to staff members or clients and set expense categories. For a software so focused on automation, I was very surprised that there are no live bank feeds. I hope the company adds this feature soon.
- Inventory: This feature supports basic inventory management. You can track item quantity and backorder items if you still want to create an invoice even when your inventory stock is at zero.
- Project Management: Projects and tasks can be created and assigned to specific staff members or clients. You can attach billable and unbillable time to projects as well as important documents and incurred expenses. You can also set task priorities within a project, which is a cool touch and one I haven't seen before.
- Time Tracking: This is one area that could seriously use some improvement. While Invoicera does offer time tracking, a built-in timer, and timesheets, these features are a bit wonky and need to be streamlined. Like I mentioned above, not only do you have to leave up the built-in timer as another window on your desktop, you can't add specific blocks of times; only the total hours worked will appear in your calendar. In addition, the time tracking feature itself is not very intuitive, and timesheets have to be attached to projects.
- Reports: Around 15 reports can be found in Invoicera, including a Profit & Loss statement and timesheets. You won't find other typical accounting reports, but you will find customizable summary reports of each feature and export capabilities.
- Default Email Messages: Invoicera has one of the most developed email customization features out there. You can customize default email messages for new users, new invoices, new estimates, client login information, invoice payment notifications, estimate thank you notes and invoice payment reminders. You can also customize emails directly before sending an invoice or estimate off.
- To-Do List: If you've read my article The Complete Guide to Choosing Online Accounting Software, then you know how much I love lists. That's why this next feature is my favorite out of all Invoicera has to offer. Invoicera has a built-in to-do list which allows you to choose the task you have to complete, set a date to complete it (or recurring dates), and prioritize the level of urgency and importance of the task. Then, voila! Every to-do task is prioritized, and most importantly, every task is easy to remember. There's also a calendar view of to-do tasks.
- Sales Tax: Invoicera has strong sales tax features. You can set as many sales taxes as needed and handle compound tax as well. Under the sales tax tab, you can also save additional charges and fees that can later be added to your invoices.
- Multi-Currency: Invoicera supports multiple currencies, multiple languages, and multiple companies. You can send invoices in over 11 languages and can invoice and receive payments in over 100 different currencies.
- Importing/Exporting: You can import clients, expenses, products, and services into Invoicera using .xls; you can export clients, staff, invoices, estimates, expenses, and products and services as well.
- API: Invoicera has API for developers.
Customer Service & Support
In the past, the customer service was one of the biggest problems with the company. For a while there, the company improved their email and support ticket response times and the staff was friendly, knowledgeable, and refreshingly non-pushy about sales. While response times are still impressive, responses are far less thorough than before and don't always fully answer your questions.
The additional customer service resources offered are still limited compared to other invoicing software companies, and the lack of a US phone support number is disappointing. On a scale of one to ten, where one is the worst possible service and ten is the best you could imagine, I would plop Invoicera right in the middle.
Here are the ways you can connect with the Invoicera support team:
- Email: Contact Invoicera customer service at email@example.com or contact a sales representative at email@example.com.
- Support Ticket: You can also create a support ticket here.
- Phone: The US phone number seems to no longer exist. But you can call 91-9350204838 from 6:00 am to 12:00 pm IST.
- Knowledge Base: Invoicera does offer a Knowledge Base with brief step-by-step articles. While these can occasionally be helpful, the number of articles is severely limited compared to those provided by other invoicing companies.
- FAQ Section: There is a short FAQ section that mostly just explains how subscriptions and account creation works.
- Webinar Demo: You can set up a free webinar demo with an Invoicera representative. I found this to be my favorite resource. They walk you through each feature, give advice and tips about what features will be most valuable for your business, and answer any questions you may have on the spot.
- Blog: Invoicera has a blog, which mostly revolves around Invoicera updates and software promotions, though there is an occasionally interesting article with good business advice.
- Social Media: For better business advice, check out a few of Invoicera's Facebook posts. Both the Invoicera Facebook and Twitter accounts feature Invoicera tips and advice articles for specific small business industries, like photography. These resources are definitely worth looking into if you are searching for helpful business tools and advice.
- YouTube: I generally love it when companies have a YouTube presence, but I was incredibly disappointed with Invoicera's YouTube channel. Each video is a collection of PowerPoint slides with absolutely zero audio. And in the two videos where actual Invoicera employees speak, their eyes are following a teleprompter the whole time and the language barrier makes it difficult to understand exactly what is being said.
- Feedback Form: Invoicera provides a space for customers to leave feedback on the software. Within the app, there is also a space to vote for your favorite suggestions (like which integrations you would like best).
Negative Reviews & Complaints
For a company with over three million users, it's surprisingly difficult to find reviews on this software. The majority of reviews available are regarding the mobile apps, though I did find a few random customer reviews deep down in the depths of Google search results. For the most part, Invoicera is well loved by its users; however, there are a few complaints to note:
- Mobile App Bugs: This is by far the biggest complaint. Many people report bugs within the mobile app and neither the Android or iPhone app has been updated since 2015, a bad sign.
- Poor Customer Support: A few users complain about Invoicera's customer service.
- Too Advanced: A couple users say that the Invoicera software and feature selection are too advanced and overkill for the needs of their companies.
- Unauthorized Charges: One woman reported unauthorized charges placed on her account after she had canceled her Invoicera subscription.
Positive Reviews & Testimonials
Invoicera receives 5/5 stars on g2crowd (based on three reviews), 4.5/5 stars on Capterra (based on two reviews), and 8.1/10 stars on TrustPilot (based on four reviews). In addition, the Google Play Store rates Invoicera at 3.5/5 stars (based on 32 reviews). (The iTunes store has not received enough reviews for a rating yet.) There are also several testimonials featured on the Invoicera website.
Though some of these sites featured only a small number of reviews, most customer feedback was positive overall. Here's what users like most about the software:
- Quick & Easy: One of the most common praises of Invoicera is that the software is easy to use and makes sending invoices a quick, painless process.
- Saves Time: Many users report that the ease of use and software mobility save them valuable time.
- Lots Of Features: Across the board, people love the number of features Invoicera offers. Users especially like the auto billing feature and the ability to send unlimited invoices and estimates on the free plan.
- Mobility: While many users complain about mobile app bugs, plenty of users have never had this issue and appreciate the mobility that the Invoicera apps provide them with.
- Good Customer Support: Several users praise the customer support team.
Here's what reviewers are saying:
"Invoicera is the best billing application that we have used. It is very easy to use and has got a host of features." – Mark Robinson, K-Electric
"I've found Invoicera to be a very nice application for freelancers. Very simple and easy going software that gets me paid. I am able to have better control over my finances and work/ cash flow is now in equilibrium." – Aaliyah
"Very easy to navigate with all the features of online invoicing / billing, tracking etc. I was looking for a complete invoice management, and vendor, staff management solution which I found in Invoicera." – Venjee K.
"Invoicera has become an integral part of our business. The time that Invoicera has saved us in regards to invoicing, time tracking and project management more than covers the minimal cost of the service." – Sophie Park
Integrations & Add-Ons
Invoicera has 35 integrations, 30 of which are payment gateways (including PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.Net, Braintree, and more). However, as mentioned earlier, there is a severe lack of other kinds of integrations. The additional integrations Invoicera does support include:
- Google: Users can link their account to Google Apps. You can use iGoogle and Gmail as time tracking tools.
- Basecamp: A team management and communication platform. Read our full review here.
- Magento: A powerful internet retailer platform in the eCommerce world. Read our full review here.
Interested in accepting online payments from your customers? Read our comprehensive merchant account reviews to learn the pros and cons of popular providers and see which payment processing option is best for your business.
Invoicera takes strong security measures by using 256-bit SSL encryption and firewall protection. Data is also backed up routinely onto multiple servers. To learn more about Invoicera's security details, go here.
Final Verdict
Thanks to a recent price cut, Invoicera has made itself a more feasible solution for many small businesses. Strong features, time-saving automations, and international invoicing are all compelling reasons to use the software. However, there are still quite a few areas where the software could be streamlined, and the customer service resources could certainly stand to be expanded. The lack of recent mobile app updates and limited integrations are also concerning.
That said, Invoicera's forever free plan is more than worth looking into. Invoicera offers an incredible amount of invoicing features, including unrivaled recurring profile options, strong invoicing, and auto billing.
To see if Invoicera can help you navigate the rough waters of invoicing and keep your finances afloat, check out Invoicera's free trial and forever free plan.
To learn more about how we score our reviews, see our Invoicing Software Rating Criteria.


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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57847945857699565712019-04-19T08:05:00.263-04:00VE3MPG's BlogCanadian Amateur Radio MagazineBob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-12096521450173340502016-02-27T12:20:00.001-05:002016-02-27T12:23:51.563-05:00Minimalist Digital Modes

I began using digital way back in 1999 with my now vintage FT100. Those early days of digital were experiments in the infancy of PSK31 and other modes available on the early beta programs at the time. It sure has changed. In 2004 I was on the beta test team for Ham Radio Deluxe testing and reporting bugs back to Simon Brown in Switzerland. HRD is now in the hands of a commercial company and it gets better with every new release. Yesterday I hooked up my KX3 to an Acer Aspire One. The Acer is a small portable laptop that sports 1GB of ram and a 160GB hard drive. When new it ran WinXP and last week I upgraded it to Win10 Home. I installed FLDIGI and it all ran just fine and used about 650mb of ram - so there was still some unused memory. It all ran just fine and made a contact with Mary, KC4TIE in Kentucky. She gave me a 599 report. I was running a 12 foot wire antenna and the internal tuner of the KX3 tuned it up on 20m with no effort. I was operating portable at the kitchen table with the power set to 3 watts. This will be my new portable setup for digital modes now. Next on the list is installing some JT65 software to see how this minimalist setup works decoding real weak signals.
Bob VE3MPGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-91743642460646625892014-08-13T00:01:00.001-04:002014-08-13T00:41:01.996-04:00Canadian CBC Monitoring Station at Richmond Ontario c.1983
From my amateur radio collection of photos - these were shot on Ektachrome 100 way back in 1983. CBC used this station to record and re-broadcast BBC and other shortwave broadcasts for Canadian listeners. The station has been long gone but the original building is still there out on Fallowfield Road in Ottawa's rural west end. It may be a private residence now.

<img title="CBC Monitoring Station - Fallowfield Road Richmond - console" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; margin: 15px auto 10px; border-left: 0px; display: block" border="0" alt="CBC Monitoring Station - Fallowfield Road Richmond - console" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-fwD0LT2RNNo/U-rk1Oi2QHI/AAAAAAAADro/Zo-rj451K2Y/CBC%252520Monitoring%252520Station%252520-%252520Fallowfield%252520Road%252520Richmond%252520-%252520console_thumb%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="540" height="360">

<img title="CBC Monitoring Station - Fallowfield Road Richmond - console 2" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; margin: 19px auto 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block" border="0" alt="CBC Monitoring Station - Fallowfield Road Richmond - console 2" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-u6HqVv12wWI/U-rlOTqduhI/AAAAAAAADsM/cfG6u9pRfjg/CBC%252520Monitoring%252520Station%252520-%252520Fallowfield%252520Road%252520Richmond%252520-%252520console%2525202_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="540" height="360">

<img title="CBC Monitoring Station - Fallowfield Road Richmond - console 3" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; margin: 10px auto; border-left: 0px; display: block" border="0" alt="CBC Monitoring Station - Fallowfield Road Richmond - console 3" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-AFW7E5ism7A/U-rnMRd9RDI/AAAAAAAADsY/27cliO1MLXc/CBC%252520Monitoring%252520Station%252520-%252520Fallowfield%252520Road%252520Richmond%252520-%252520console%2525203_thumb%25255B11%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="540" height="367">

More photos to follow!
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-16961007908476200672012-11-11T02:08:00.001-05:002012-11-11T02:26:09.157-05:00If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

My father-in-law Noel, above, fought in the Royal Newfoundland regiment as a commando during the North Africa campaign and at Monte Cassino in Italy.

My nephew Tony Rusk, on his return from Afghanistan.

Above is my father on leave in London at Trafalgar Square sometime around 1943. He was in the Royal Canadian Air Force based at Tholthorpe near York. He was an air traffic controller for the duration of the war and boarded with a farm family. All four of the Baillargeon brothers returned home to Tecumseh Ontario after the war.

 Bob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-65491225158257113832012-10-24T16:53:00.001-04:002012-10-24T16:54:10.649-04:00Band Conditions and DX
My apologies for not posting of late. Just too much going on but I do manage to get down to the shack late in the evenings. This has always been my favourite time to hunt DX. I'm a casual DXer and I don't do contests. My work schedule allows for late nights and early morning operating times. I follow Hamspots.net, and operate digital and JT65-HF exclusively. I keep power levels below 20 watts and 99% of the time keep it at 10 watts out using my FT-950. I've done this even during the lowest parts of the 11 year sun cycle and still managed to work lots of rare and obscure stations. Often when the band seemed dead, out pops a rare South Pacific station and I snag them on the first call.

Just yesterday I worked Tanzania, 5H3NP, Noel, at 0400Z on 20m psk31 running all of 15 watts. Noel had a good clear signal and he told me he's on every night at the same time. I did hear him the previous evening but he was working Europeans and Russian stations in a pile up.

A couple of days ago, on 10 meters Serg, D2QR was on from Angola; again a nice strong signal and worked him on his first CQ call. The call looked familiar and checked my log and sure enough I had worked Serg in 2004 on 20 meters.

Earlier at 0445Z I worked Metin in Istanbul Turkey on 20m psk31. I noticed that I worked the Turkish and Tanzanian just after their sunrise times. I monitor this by reception reports displayed by PSKReporter maps and can watch the grey line creep along the countries that I've just worked. It's a great DXer's tool. It's integrated into the current version of Digital Master 780.

Conditions have been really very good lately and urge you to get on the bands and work some of the rarer low power stations currently easy pickings during the late night hours on 20 meters and daytime DX on the busy 10 meter band.
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-46509022118187011612012-10-07T00:58:00.001-04:002012-10-07T00:59:18.014-04:00Draconid Meteor Shower And Incoming CME
This just arrived from Spaceweather.com:

DRACONID METEOR WATCH: Earth is about to pass through a stream of debris from comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, source of the annual Draconid meteor shower. Last year, Europeans witnessed a faint but furious outburst of 600 meteors per hour when the shower peaked. No such display is expected this year, but the Draconids are notoriously unpredictable. Northern-hemisphere sky watchers should be alert for slow-moving meteors emerging from the head of the constellation Draco the Dragon (not far from the North Star) on Sunday night, Oct 7th, through Monday morning Oct. 8th. Check http://spaceweather.com for more information and updates.

INCOMING CME: A coronal mass ejection (CME) is heading for Earth. The incoming cloud is expected to deliver a glancing blow to our planet's magnetosphere on October 8th, possibly sparking auroras at high latitudes.

EARTH-DIRECTED CME: Magnetic fields near sunspot AR1582 slowly erupted on Oct 5th sparking a B7-class solar flare and hurling a CME toward Earth. The Solar and Heliosphere Observatory (SOHO) captured this image of the expanding cloud:

 Bob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-72330084899986095622012-10-05T17:33:00.001-04:002012-10-05T17:35:04.392-04:00Fall and Puppy Linux In The Shack

Fall is a busy time out in the country where I live. It's a time of getting gardens and lawn ready for winter. Other chores at the VE3MPG qth is getting the snow implements ready for the winter snow storms – getting the cutting deck off of the Kubota diesel and attaching the plow or blower onto the front, changing the oil and filter, attaching chains and 50lb weights to the back wheels for traction in the deepest snow. Some of our firewood has been delivered – nice hard maple and it's all stacked nicely in our woodshed. I keep a good supply in the enclosed back porch and once every few weeks it's replenished from the main supply in the woodshed. There are two airtight wood stoves here – one on the main floor and a large one in the basement. It keeps us cozy all winter, along with our geothermal heat pump.

Other fall duties are using up or freezing fresh vegetables from our organic garden. It's jelly time too and as you can see from the picture above it is a very nice batch this year. I have a Siberian crab apple tree and this year it was packed with fruit so there will be enough jelly till next year. We try to consume foods grown with a few kilometres of our home – organic honey, organic pork, beef and chicken from the neighbouring farms.

At this time of year there's often a lull too, where I find a few hours to try new software in the shack. I had an old 2004 vintage HP Pentium 4 computer sitting around. A few months ago I was reading about a very efficient Linux distro called Puppy Linux. This distro loads into memory, either from a CD or a thumb drive. On this antiquated HP machine software starts instantaneously because it all runs in fast memory instead of from a hard drive. Puppy runs much faster than Ubuntu or Windows on the same hardware. One of the Puppy distros that I discovered is a customized version by the PSKmail.org group.

Their Puppy DXpedition Disk includes many Linux amateur radio programs. Included are three logging programs, Fldigi for digital and PSKmail, satellite tracking, APRS software and many others.

There's an excellent set of instructions included there on one of the links.

There's also Puppy Linux Server CD available on the PSKmail.org site – it sets up a psk mail server running in ram and is a little larger distro than the DXpedition Disk distro. It includes everything for setting up a PSK mail server and a few other enhancements of interest to the Linux knowledgeable amateur.

This is the distro that I use in the shack – I installed it to a small hard disk and the system boots in about 10 seconds and runs from ram. I have 2 gigabytes of ram installed but it will run in a lot less. I'll eventually have my FT-100 connected and running using psk mail on 30 meters. That's a future blog posting coming up later this year. Puppy Linux is very easy to use and it will automatically recognize most hardware in your PC. It even included drivers for my old Realtek wireless card and configured itself to connect to my wireless internet network – easy peasy! I've been playing with variations of Unix/Linux since the early 1990s and this is one of the easiest flavours of Linux to learn on and play with. If you burn a CD/DVD of Puppy leave the disk open instead of finalizing the disk after burning the software image. That way you can add/configure new software and updates to your Puppy CD or thumb drive.

I do hope that you've enjoyed this blog posting. For you photography enthusiasts the photos at the top of the jelly and crab apples were taken with a Canon 10D SLR in RAW format and post processed in Adobe Lightroom. They were all shot with available light at 100iso at 6.3 megapixels.

Here are a couple of links of interest for today:

Distro Watch – the ultimate repository of Linux distributions

Ontario High Points for SOTA hams in Ontario
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-28306063308738147712012-09-28T16:13:00.001-04:002012-09-28T16:21:04.278-04:00New Feature On The Blog
Ham radio is all about learning new things and keeping abreast of new developments in our hobby and in general. Broadening our knowledge base keeps the old mind active.

A new feature I've been wanting to implement on this blog is a Link Of The Day. Some days it will be included along with what I'm writing about or it will be a stand alone article that I find interesting, either about amateur radio, computers, science or a good old fashioned WTF type link. More often than not there will be at least two links that I find interesting and hope that you do too.

I hope you all find this new feature as interesting as I do.

Remember, you read it here first! – Bob VE3MPG

Links of the day:

Tin Foil Hats Actually Make it Easier for the Government to Track Your Thoughts

3D Sun for the iPhone

 Bob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-16733250668915336042012-09-27T16:18:00.001-04:002012-09-27T17:18:22.816-04:0010 Meters = Gud DX
10 meters is proving to be a fertile band for some good DX. I rarely use more than 20 watts here at VE3MPG. My preferred mode is digital; today I was monitoring 10 meters while getting some odd jobs done around the house and in the garage.

The great conditions on 10 remind me when I finally got my voice privileges way back in the early 1980s. After six months or a year, I can't accurately remember I took my logs in to the Department of Communication here in Ottawa. The inspector had a look to see how active I had been on CW and stamped my log and gave me voice privileges on 160 and 10 meters. Ten in those days was very active and I installed a mono-band yagi on my roof up about 40 feet. Wall to wall signals and my TS-520 buzzed the ionosphere for many pleasurable hours working DX.

Back to today – my first contact was ZB3R in Gibraltar. I had worked Stephen a couple of weeks ago on 15 meters. Great signal and got him on the first call – power out about 15 watts to my Cushcraft R6000.Stephen uses an FT-950 and you can see how professional his station looks. Have a look at his QRZ profile for more pictures of Gibraltar itself and more about Stephen's station.

The second DX contact today was ZL4AD, Brian in New Zealand; again with 15 watts out and an honest 599 report from Brian. I'm using the latest Beta version of Ham Radio Deluxe for digital contacts and logging.

Now if the conditions continue into the weekend that would be great.
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-65276749637043615782012-09-20T15:45:00.001-04:002012-09-20T16:40:19.586-04:00St. Louis Vertical Part 3, Conclusion

This is part three, the conclusion of the construction of the St. Louis vertical.

I terminated each end of the twin lead by melting a small hole in between each conductor, large enough to fit a zip tie through and pulled in nice and tight. Then I stripped off insulation from each conductor and soldered them together – did this at each end of the twin lead coil. The bottom shorted conductor is kept bare and I use a good quality alligator clip to attach my coax center conductor. The orange wire is attached to a 17 1/2 foot counterpoise as seen below.

Here you can see the bright orange stake that I use in the field, along with the bright orange counterpoise so nobody trips over any of this stuff while operating portable.

Using alligator clips allows the use of multiple sized counterpoises to increase the efficiency of the St. Louis vertical while in use.

I carry a second stake with a 40 foot counterpoise. In this configuration the antenna resonates around 6.5Mhz. In a future version of this antenna I'll add fewer turns of twin lead so it resonates close to 20 meters. I use an LDG tuner, the QRP Z11 along with my FT-817 and the tuner handles this antenna quite nicely.

The photo above shows the upper terminated connection with a male/female connector to attach the radiating element that extends to the tip of the Wonderpole. It provides an easy disconnect point for the radiating element.

These male/female connectors are available at most hardware stores that carry electrical supplies. I use heat shrink tubing to give all the connections a professional look and I think it extends the life of the antenna components. It doesn't take long to add that extra finishing touch.

The antenna is staked on a ground spike used for beach umbrellas. It is a discontinued item that was available at Lee Valley Tools here in Ottawa. I attach a one inch wooden dowel about 3 – 4 feet long and to that I attach the St. Louis Vertical with large plastic zip ties. At the end of my session I just snip the zip ties off. The zip ties get the Wonderpole nice and snug against the non-reactive wooden dowel and if need be I can hammer some of the extra length of the wooden dowel into the ground for greater stability during windy conditions. I sharpened the end of the dowel for ease of insertion.

Here's the St. Louis Vertical fully extended at the edge of my patio. This antenna is a great portable addition to operating in the field and it sets up in less than five minutes. My first contact was on 15 meters using 2 watts on PSK31 to a station in Slovenia with a 599 signal report.

Please let me know if you have any questions of the construction details.
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-3342843086890433062012-09-19T17:05:00.001-04:002012-09-19T17:26:39.101-04:00St. Louis Vertical Part 2 of 3
This article is part 2 of the construction of the St. Louis Vertical – a continuation of part 1 that I published a couple of years ago. You can head over to part 1 of the construction article here.

Continuing from grinding down the Wonderpole clips I further grind them down with the Dremel tool so they are flush with the tube; this will allow the twin lead to lay flat along the body and also allow the adhesive to better cover the tubular shape of the Wonderpole.

The next step caused me to think very carefully on how to wrap the twin-lead onto the Wonderpole. I had read on various sites describing how hard this was going to be. Some described it as a two man operation to ensure that the twin-lead was wrapped tightly around the pole. Hmmm, this was going to be a problem unless I figured an easy method to accomplish this task. Of course thinking about these last two years I finally came up with a solution. Enter some 3M Indoor/Outdoor carpet tape. Man this stuff was sticky but I think it would hold and as it turned out was an elegant solution.

The trick was to apply the tape every inch or so, keeping the backing on until I reached the next inch while turning, by hand, the twin-lead. This was hard work and each time I stopped to rest my aching hands I attached a zip tie to hold the stiff twin-lead in place. Eventually I surmised that additional tape was needed so I eventually covered the entire length of the pole as I wound the twin-lead.

There was still a problem – the stiff twin-lead was pulling away despite the extreme stickiness of the 3M tape. Thinking quickly now as I was at least two hours into winding this twin-lead on the pole. I went to my workbench in the garage where I do the occasional refinishing work on antiques. I use a Black & Decker heat gun to lift old paint from projects I'm working on. I figured if I heated the twin-lead sufficiently it would take on the cylindrical shape of the pole – an it did – it worked great, though I kept the zip ties on just in case.

You can see my progress in the photo below. The white tape backing is removed to expose the sticky backside of the tape; and you can see the zip tie in place while I rest my hands for awhile.

I had a good supply of RCA twin-lead that I had purchased about 10 years ago at Princess Auto, a surplus type store located across Canada. Of course halfway through construction I had neglected to figure out how much of the 50 foot length of twin-lead I needed. A quick calculation of number of turn per inch showed that I would have almost five feet left over. That horseshoe was working overtime now…with this important information in hand I continued winding until I reached the end of the pole. I still have a 50 foot length and a 100 foot length set aside for other projects using twin-lead.

The picture at the left shows detail of the zip tie and the double sided tape exposed for winding. Every few inches I would fire up the heat gun to meld the twin-lead to the pole shape.

After almost three hours I had completed the toughest part of constructing a St. Louis Vertical and took a good rest before continuing this homebrew antenna.

Part 3 to follow tomorrow.
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-36085782958745873942012-09-18T16:40:00.001-04:002012-09-18T16:43:07.635-04:00Sean Smith, KG4WSS, Killed in Consulate Attack
From the ARRL this afternoon -

09/18/2012
Sean P. Smith, KG4WSS, of Falls Church, Virginia, was killed when the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked on September 11. He was 34. Smith was one of four Americans, including Chris Stevens -- the US Ambassador to Libya -- who was killed in the attack.
Smith is survived by his wife, Heather, and two young children, Samantha and Nathan. "They will grow up being proud of the service their father gave to our country, service that took him from Pretoria to Baghdad, and finally to Benghazi," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement.
Read the entire story here at the ARRL website. Bob VE3MPGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-11755742906483712572012-09-18T11:39:00.001-04:002012-09-21T14:57:14.872-04:00Chilicon 2012–A Resounding Success
The annual Chilicon put on by the Ottawa Valley QRP group turned out to be a resounding success despite torrential rainfall on Friday night. This didn't dampen those hardy campers from fulfilling a superb fun filled weekend at the Rideau River Park along the beautiful Rideau River near Kemptville.

I operated by small portable station, an FT-817, my NUE-PSK digital qrp modem, and my experimental version 0.06 St. Louis vertical (construction article coming up in my next posting here). Didn't get as much operating done due to the nature of amateur radio ops being out in the wild. Most of the day encompassed walking around to various sites rag chewing with the various operators and admiring the ingenuity of their portable setups. There was some very nice equipment and innovative antennas and Mike's (VE3WMB) homebrewed magnetic loop gave me a few ideas for one of my own. I managed to work a station in Slovenia with 2 watts out to my St. Louis Vertical, so it's doing a very good job of getting out for a hastily constructed portable antenna.

I met some old friends at Chilicon this year as well as many new faces and I do hope that next year's Chillycon (renamed due to lack of actual chili, but aptly re-badged to reflect the frigid night temperatures endured by the hardy group this year and last.)

Here are a few photos that I managed to take in between operating and chatting with the QRP members.

An excellent weekend despite rain on Friday and a little on Saturday. The weekend culminated with some very large excellent pizzas from a local restaurant in Kemptville.

Conspicuous by his absence was Martin VA3SIE who had to work and we're hoping to see him next year. Martin, there was an excellent cache of single malt scotches at one of the campsites if that's any enticement for attending next year's "Chillycon".

The OV-QRP Yahoo group can be found here for more details on this year's Chilicon.
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-15791758524440354132012-09-11T00:16:00.001-04:002012-09-11T00:56:30.879-04:00Lest We Forget

"Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light falls, lovers cling to each other and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out." - James Baldwin
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-42587802475213547372012-09-08T01:01:00.001-04:002012-09-08T01:07:23.125-04:00How I Mounted the NØSA TIP1 Mini Paddle
Mounting the mini paddle got me to thinking – it had to be light weight but not too light weight that the paddle would slip about while in use. The mount also had to be at a comfortable height to work just right with my large hands. I also wanted it to be uniquely Canadian.

Usually with projects like this I need a few weeks to let the solution come to fruition. I came up with a unique idea – use a hockey puck; it's cheap, has some weight to it and it's Canadian, eh? It fits into my 'go' kit quite nicely and it's durable. A visit to Lee Valley Tools here in Ottawa provided the pucks and some high friction adhesive discs for a very reasonable price – a dollar for the pucks and just a few dollars for a bag full of discs. The pucks aren't quite kosher Canadian, being manufactured in Slovakia now, but they are 'regulation' size. As you can see the adhesive discs fit perfectly on the puck and prevents slippage on just about any surface.

And finally a last picture of the FT-817 propped up with the $2 iPad adjustable stand from my previous article of a few days ago. Also note the front antenna connector is terminated with a 50ohm resistor left over from my network installation days. This is to protect the finals in the event that I forget to switch the antenna from front to the rear antenna port.

All photos for this article were taken with the Canon G10 in RAW format and post-processed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for colour adjustments and cropping. Irfanview was then used for reducing the photo size and sharpening for efficient use on this blog. This will be the topic for a future article.
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-57939025169676516582012-09-06T19:59:00.001-04:002012-09-06T20:16:51.880-04:00Portable Ops Mini Key by Larry, NØSA
A few months ago I ordered this beautifully crafted mini paddle from Larry NØSA. Larry is a master craftsman and machinist and his attention to detail is second to none. Despite its size this is one smooth paddle and it comes with its own set of adjustment hex keys. It's a magnetic paddle made of 7075 aluminium; Aluminium alloy 7075 is an aluminium alloy, with zinc as the primary alloying element and is used in aviation applications. Larry does all of the polishing and finishing by hand. This was one of the last paddles from a short run he did of this model.

The paddle included a wedge base that has a double sided adhesive so application to any base material such as a metal plate is really easy to do without tapping screw holes. I purchased an extra wedge base that is used as a spare.

Have a look at Larry's website for more info on other paddles he produces. NØSA's Paddles website is here.

Also have a look at the Eham reviews of Larry's paddles. There are almost 50 reviews giving a 5/5 rating – superb ratings.

 Bob VE3MPGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-72491442921656963252012-09-01T14:19:00.001-04:002012-09-01T14:47:14.098-04:00Magnificent Eruption on the Sun
Courtesy of Space Weather News for Sept. 1, 2012

MAGNIFICENT ERUPTION: On August 31st, a magnetic filament on the sun erupted in spectacular fashion, producing a long-duration solar flare, a coronal mass ejection (CME) and one of the most beautiful movies of an explosion ever recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. The CME propelled by the blast might deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field in the days ahead. Check http://spaceweather.com for movies, forecasts and updates.

The bands seem to be in excellent condition today. Have been on digital modes since early this morning and snagged EG9SDC in North Africa on 17m PSK63 using 20 watts to my Cushcraft R6000 vertical. Lots of good signals.

Today I've been busy freezing tomatoes for the winter months – an excellent and extremely sweet crop this year due to the hot, dry conditions in Eastern Ontario (FN25fe).

The crops grown here are all organic and the neighbouring farms supply our family with fresh eggs, honey, organic grass fed beef and chicken. During the cold months I bake whole wheat bread from from locally grown organic wheat that's ground at a 150 year old mill in Manotick Ontario about 10Kms from my home.
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-9115725127387658792012-08-31T14:15:00.001-04:002012-09-01T10:07:02.738-04:00Take A Cool Stand
A few months ago I happened to be at one of the local Dollar Stores. They do have some interesting end of line and overstock items for sale especially in their electrical and electronic aisles.

I have a NUE-PSK modem and compact keyboard combo for QRP portable ops with my trusty FT-817. It was always a pain propping the NUE-PSK modem at the correct angle for viewing the LCD screen until I found this iPad stand for the sum of $2CDN. It was a perfect fit for the modem and I could adjust the angle for best viewing.

I've seen these for sale on the internet for well over $20CDN so the Dollarama price is a steal. The stand is very well made – rubber coated steel so it is slip resistant and the locking knobs to a decent job of staying in position once locked. It's a useful stand and can be used with a variety of QRP radios making it easy to see and adjust the various knobs from a comfortable angle.

You can see the detail close up to the right. Works great and I've got a couple of extra for future projects.

The NUE-PSK modem has been great for portable QRP operation. It is field upgradeable via a USB port and can be used in BPSK (PSK-31), QPSK, RTTY and CW. There are regular upgrades of new features and bug fixes from the NUE-PSK Digital modem website.

The modem and keyboard are powered from either and external 9V – 12V supply. A USB dongle is able to log call signs and QSOs so they can be transcribed to regular logs. The new Version 5 firmware adds a CW keyer to the modem. All in all it's a nice portable package and frees you from lugging a heavy laptop to do digital modes in the field.
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-24021341688517185952012-08-28T20:43:00.001-04:002012-08-28T23:28:03.916-04:00Hurricane Isaac, Amateurs Keeping Watch, WX Utilities

By now you've all heard that Hurricane Isaac is following the path of Hurricane Katrina, the weather event that devastated New Orleans Louisiana and surrounding states in 2005. In subsequent years of weather watching and tracking these tropical storms I've used various web sites and utilities to keep abreast of these impending storms.

I use Earth Alerts to follow any and all disasters to befall mankind short of the Apocalypse. The program is all inclusive in that it tracks earthquakes, volcanoes, tropical storms, hurricanes, tsunamis and wildfires. It does it all. Here's a screen shot of the program; click on it for a larger view.

The program integrates nicely with Google Earth and provides for automatic download of weather overlays for Google Earth. Make sure you have the latest version of Google Earth installed. Earth Alerts can be downloaded free of charge from here. It requires some configuration but it's very straightforward. There's also a web based Earth Alerts available. It uses Google Earth generated maps for displaying disaster information.

The Weather Channel has an excellent graphics driven storm tracker and it's one of my favourites too. Click here for the latest progress of Hurricane Isaac.

In closing I want to remind all amateurs of the comms and relief efforts in progress on the amateur bands. The ARRL posted some updated information a few hours ago at this link:

Hams in Delta Division Prepare for Hurricane Isaac

And this is from the blog of K5JAW:

Hurricane Watch Net/ 14.325 (www.HWN.org)
The Mississippi Emergency Net will activate at 12:00 Noon
Technorati Tags: Amateur Radio,VE3MPG
 CDST on Tuesday, August 28. This is a joint operation between the Magnolia Section Net and the Mississippi Section Phone Net. Daily operation will begin at 6:00 am and continue until 10:00 pm or later if activity warrants. The frequencies will be 7238 (day) and 3.862 (night). The shift between bands will be at the discretion of the Net Manager and/or NCS. This net will primarily handle Health-and-Welfare traffic and other issues related to Isaac. A moratorium on inbound H/W traffic may be declared if it is obviously impossible to deliver the traffic due to storm damage.
The Delta Division ARES EMCOMM Net will activate at 12:00 Noon on Tuesday, August 28, on a 24 Hour basis. The frequencies will be 7.275 (day) and 3.890 (night). The shift between bands will be at the discretion of the Net Manager and/or NCS. This net will primarily handle Tactical Traffic. KM5EMA (MEMA) will be on this frequency beginning at 1:00 pm CDST.
There may be periods on these Nets when there are relatively long period of silence. Please help to keep the Net frequency clear. If you wish to rag chew, please make arrangements and move off frequency. If a net frequency is in use by others tune either side to find the Hurricane Net operation.

That's it for today.
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-22861424350964454482012-08-28T13:15:00.000-04:002012-08-28T13:43:47.733-04:00Here We Are, Again
Here's my first blog post in a good long while. I figured it was time to get things going again and this post will be about some current projects here at VE3MPG.

A station photo is in order now that the shack is clean and tidy (somewhat). This varies day to day, hour to hour.

I'm located in part of the basement called the "bunker" – 2 windows, one facing due south the other to the east so I get some nice sunlight most days even during the winter months. Power to the station is supplied by a dedicated 120V line and a second, share 120V line. Both have APC uninterruptible power supplies to condition and smooth the AC coming into the shack. In the event of low voltage or complete loss of power the APC units shut down the computers gracefully and a small utility lets me monitor line voltage and power interruptions. The APC units prevent power surges from reaching my equipment, but a good ground is necessary.

The next posting will be about Part II of the St. Louis Vertical article from April 2010. Hope to be completed with testing and construction in time for the annual Chilicon qrp outing at the Rideau River Campground on September 14th and 15th sponsored by the Ottawa Valley QRP Society.

That's it for now.
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-44279326478620608532011-07-11T16:57:00.000-04:002011-07-11T16:57:18.113-04:00More changes coming - stay tuned!After a long hiatus from blogging some new stories and adventures coming. The design is in flux as well so the dark theme will be changing to something more upbeat and unique.

Bob VE3MPGBob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-89791309227770899952010-11-23T11:36:00.001-05:002011-07-11T14:47:40.082-04:00Frequencies On The Block
I read the Globe & Mail online at breakfast most mornings. A lot of the financial news brings me screaming back to reality – gas prices, hydro prices all skyrocketing. And now the two Koreas exchanging mortar fire with civilian casualties in the South.

An article in the business section stood out:

Prime-quality frequency on auction block

"It is called the real estate of the telecommunications business. Wireless spectrum, the regulated airwaves over which an increasing amount of the world's data flows, is a key source of profit for the industry and brings in billions to the federal treasury when it is sold off."

Make no mistake about it. Last September's incursion by Industry Canada into our "airwaves" is part of the big picture here. We, as amateurs don't own this valuable commodity and the Government of Canada has its eye on all of these underused frequencies. RAC or any organized voice we think we may have will be useless once buyers are found and they are shopping NOW for underused spectrum. The telecom industry will gladly pay the exorbitant prices the GOC is asking – it helps pay down the deficit and will keep our cell phone bills the most expensive in the world.

The rest of the story can be found online at the Globe & Mail here. Industry Canada's website can be found here.
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-81776984252861209692010-11-17T16:19:00.001-05:002010-11-17T16:19:42.029-05:00Bluenose Radio Op Identified
Last February I posted a story about sailing on the regular ferry run from Bar Harbour Maine to Yarmouth Nova Scotia. I visited the radio room aboard the ship and couldn't remember the operators name or even what ship it was.

Last week an anonymous poster left a comment identifying the operator as David Vail, VE1GM of Yarmouth. A few days later David left a comment:

"Hello, Bob - I am the R/O in your photo of the radio room on the M.V. "Bluenose" registered in Nassau, Bahamas with the call sign C6DZ. She was the second Yarmouth to Bar Harbor ferry named M.V. "Bluenose" and your other ship photo shows the original M.V. "Bluenose," registered in Canada, with the call sign VDND. I served on both ships and 2 others in the Yarmouth to New England ferry service for a total of 34 years.

If you look up VE1GM on QRZ.com you'll see the radio room clock from C6DZ mounted above my ham station desk.

73...Dave Vail VE1GM"

Very nice indeed to have David write in about that blog entry many months ago. I wrote David and asked him a few more questions about his career aboard ship and his other postings. Here's what he wrote back along with a photo taken a few days ago.

"OK Bob, here's a photo taken a couple of days ago, about 25 years after the one you took. There's a computer monitor in your photo and we received that in 1985 and used the computer to run a maintenance management system for the entire ship. It fell to the R/O to look after that program. 25 years later I'm 20 pounds heavier and down to almost no hair! (You should see me Dave! – VE3MPG)

Take a look at www.ve1yar.com to see a photo of my largest and smallest Morse keys.
73...Dave Vail – VE1GM"

"I was born in Charlottetown, PEI. I left home at age 17 to take a commercial radio operator's course in Saint John, NB and graduated in December 1956 with a Second Class Certificate of Proficiency In Radio which was upgraded to First Class in 1977.
I then went to Moncton, N.B. airport for a couple of months of training as a surface weather observer, then posted to Yarmouth, NS Aeradio (CYQI) as radio operator/weather observer. This was a 2-man station open 24/7.
I was transferred from Yarmouth airport to Yarmouth Marine Radio (VAU) then to the LURCHER lightship (VGA) anchored 17 miles offshore. Then it was back to VAU where I was transferred to Seal Island Radio Beacon (VGY), a 1-man station for 14 months. It was back to VAU then transferred to the Canadian Government Ship "C.D. Howe" (CGSS) for the 1959 Eastern Arctic Patrol, a 3-month voyage.
Returning to the Maritimes, I was stationed to Fredericton Aeradio as r/o and weather observer. All these transfers and postings happened over a 3-year period. When a permanent position on the M.V. "Bluenose" (VDND) became open I applied for it and was accepted. I joined that ship on Boxing Day in 1959 and remained in that service until early retirement in 1993.
In the Yarmouth-New England ferry service I served on VDND, on the M.V. "Marine Cruiser" (GSOC), the M.V. "Marine Evangeline" (C6CA) and later VCQK and finally on the second "Bluenose" (C6DZ). The "Marine Evangeline" had two call signs because she changed from Bahamian to Canadian registry.
In the spring of 1957 I joined the Yarmouth ARC where I'm still a member and have helped train many new hams over the years. When I.C. instituted the Delegated Examiner program in the early 1990s, I became an examiner for the various amateur qualifications. In the late 1970s, our club took in our first "White Caner" who was later followed by about 10 others, some of whom are now silent keys.
Nowadays I work a bit of HF, mostly 80 and 20 meters some CW and some SSB. Still take part in Field Day and a couple of local HF contests. Living on a small lot I could only put up a G5RV and a 2-meter vertical, so no powerhouse operation from this QTH."

 Bob VE3MPGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-25328577981351099712010-10-12T11:06:00.001-04:002010-10-12T11:06:58.680-04:00SK Willard (Bill) Eric Cousins VE3GPR
Korean War Veteran
Peacefully at home on Sunday October 10, 2010. Willard (Bill) Eric Cousins age 79. Beloved husband of Carolyn (nee Rogers) Cousins. Loving father of Betsey Stewart (Andy), Velda Eburne, Judy Andrews (Dana), Walter Cousins, Daren Cousins (Danielle Cote) and Sandra MacKenzie (Allan). Predeceased by his son Wayne Cousins. Survived by his sister Betty-Ann Caseley (Clifford). Cherished grandfather of Tammy, Tracy, Kyle, Travis, Krystal, Jason, Tanya and Darren. Also survived by several great grandchildren. Visitation will be held at Grant Brown Funeral Home, Rolston Chapel, Kemptville on Thursday October 14th from 1 to 3pm followed by Funeral service at 3:30 pm at the South Gate Wesleyan Church, 1303 French Settlement Road, Kemptville. Those who wish may make memorial donations to the Canadian Guide Dogs or Korean Veterans Association of Canada. Bob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-74859740786946478262010-09-30T11:17:00.001-04:002010-09-30T11:17:41.420-04:00Original Industry Canada Document To RAC
Here's the original Industry Canada document sent to RAC on September 9th 2010 in its entirety and verbatim. I have just received it via email from the regional IC office in Quebec City:

Sir, Madam,
Monsieur, Madame,
The 10 and 12 of september there will be a cycling event in Québec City and Montréal. The runners are mostly european and so is their radio stations, therefore are located in the 430 - 450 MHz. Since this band is reserved secondarly for the amateurs, I beleive it is in order that I warn you. The following frequencies will be used by mobile stations up to 25W:
Les 10 et 12 septembre verront un événement de cyclisme à Québec et Montréal. Comme la plupart des participants et leur matériel radio sont européens, des fréquences entre 430 et 450 MHz ont dû être assigné. Cette bande de fréquence étant réservée aux amateurs à titre secondaire, j'ai crû bon vous en avertir. Les fréquences suivantes seront utilisées par des stations mobiles d'une puissance maximale de 25W:
430.3350
431.0875
432.9250
433.1250
434.7250
434.8500
441.3000
442.1500
442.5750
442.6875
442.7750
443.3000
443.8375
444.4500
445.0000
447.6125
Only one VHF ham frequency will be in use: 145.5550 MHz
Une seule fréquence VHF amateure a dû être assignée: 145.5550 MHz.
Best regards,
Cordialement,
Marc Déry

Agent de Gestion du Spectre | Spectrum Management Officer
Direction générale des opérations de la gestion du spectre | Spectrum Management Operations Branch
Secteur du Spectre, des technologies de l'information et des télécommunications | Spectrum, Information Technologies and Telecommunications Sector
Industrie Canada | Industry Canada
1141 route de l'Église, Québec QC G1V 3W5 | 1141 route de l'Église, Québec QC G1V 3W5
email@example.com
Téléphone | Telephone 418-648-4848
Télécopieur | Facsimile 514-283-7035
Téléimprimeur | Teletypewriter 1-866-694-8389
Gouvernement du Canada | Government of Canada
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5784794585769956571.post-30442577561510023172010-09-29T20:47:00.001-04:002010-09-30T10:25:37.819-04:00A Story (part deux – We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us)

RAC Bulletin 2010-09-14E
2010-09-10
Industry Canada advised both RAC and RAQI on Friday, Sept 10, 2010 that their Montreal office had authorized a number of 430 to 450 MHz frequencies and a single VHF frequency on 145.555 mHz. According to IC, frequencies were chosen to avoid known amateur repeater channels. These frequencies in the 70 cm and 2m amateur bands were temporarily authorized to support communications for many European entrants of a cycling event to be held on Quebec City and Montreal on Sept 10 and Sept 12 respectively. This type of authorized intrusion by Industry Canada of non-amateur communications in amateur spectrum is highly unusual and is a matter of great concern to Radio Amateurs of Canada. RAC will be taking the matter up with Industry Canada officials. RAC will be interested in knowing if actual interference has been caused to amateur communications; please report any observations to firstname.lastname@example.com

Norm Rashleigh, VE3LC
Vice President, Industrial Liaison

All RAC members should have received this a few weeks ago. I did and was naturally quite upset about hearing this. I wanted to wait until I had more information about what actually occurred before publishing here. You, the readers of my blog can read on to see how this unfolded (so far!).

On September 12th I wrote to the President of RAC Geoff Bawden VE4BAW:

Subject: Industry Canada

Date:Sun, 12 Sep 2010 07:46:41 –0400
From: Bob Baillargeon VE3MPG
To: firstname.lastname@example.com

Good morning Geoff,

Could someone at RAC forward the original document from Industry Canada notifying RAC on Friday of the non-amateur use of the 440 and 2m frequencies? What immediate action will RAC be taking in this matter? I hope that RAC makes this a priority concern and I can assure you that all Canadian amateurs are watching this matter with great concern - well, I am anyway.

Thank you,

Bob Baillargeon VE3MPG
RAC member

I received no response from the President but did hear from Norm Rashleigh at RAC:

from:Norm Rashleigh <email@example.com>Sent at 16:34 (GMT-04:00). Current time there: 16:26.
to:email@example.com
cc:gbawden firstname.lastname@example.com
date:12 September 2010 16:34
subject:Use of amateur radio spectrum for non amateur purposes.

HI Bob..

Yes we do have the original e-mail correspondence from the Department.

We can forward it, but it was between the originator and RAC and I wouldn't necessarily want it on your blog or passed around.

We will be drafting an appropriate well worded response to the Department very soon and this will probably be something worthy of posting in TCA

Thanks for your concern in the matter.

Norm, ve3lc

And here was my final response to Norm and Geoff:

Hi Norm,
Normally I would agree with you on matters of correspondence, but in this instance I believe Industry Canada was writing to RAC rather than a private individual.

Since it was written to RAC, this matter, which is so important to the survival of amateur radio in Canada, must be a public matter, open to all members, to comment and debate.

It has been a common theme that RAC is in a state of crisis, which can be attributed to the state secrecy perpetrated by the executive. Membership has been declining for reasons such as this and we must change the way RAC leadership works in order to stave off the extinction of RAC and of amateur radio in Canada.

Please open up this issue and others to the membership. The executive is there on behalf of the membership, not the other way around. As a paid up member of RAC I believe I am entitled to receive a copy of this correspondence and to comment on it, either in my blog or in writing to you.

Sincerely,

Bob Baillargeon VE3MPG

I received no response to this email and I've been hearing from other bloggers that any emails to RAC concerning this matter are not being answered. What's happening and what's RAC doing? Nobody knows, not even paid up members of RAC.

On my own initiative I wrote to Industry Canada to find out the real story, the story RAC tried to keep a lid on. I received a response from Industry Canada this afternoon, September 29th, 2010. Here's the detailed explanation on what happened in Quebec City and Montreal:

Dear Mr. Baillargeon:

Thank you for your email of September 13, 2010, concerning RAC Bulletin 2010-09-14E – Industry Canada Authorizes Commercial Activity on 2-metre and 70 cm bands.

From time to time, Industry Canada receives requests from foreign organizations for temporary authority to operate radio systems in Canada for short periods of time while their officials are visiting. These requests often come from foreign governments for diplomatic visits and from organizers of special events, including motor races and cycling events such as the UCI pro tour that took place in September.

As spectrum managers, our mandate is to manage the spectrum. In doing so, we try to ensure that these temporary users have sufficient access to the spectrum to conduct their communications in a manner that will assure the safety of their participants and spectators, while minimizing the potential for interference to existing users. However, sometimes the limitation of the radio equipment available to our visitors requires that we take exceptional measures in assigning spectrum.

One of the difficulties in accommodating these requests is that not every country allocates the radio spectrum in the same manner as we do in Canada. Many of these teams have existing equipment from their home countries that is set up on channels that are already allocated for a different purpose in Canada. However, if the Department's assessment indicates that the use of that spectrum here is unlikely to cause problems for our domestic users, we can issue non-standard authorizations to these visitors under the provisions of subparagraph 5(1)(a)(v) of the Radiocommunication Act.

Industry Canada considers several factors when making such decisions, but safety and interference are always prime considerations. In this instance, having reviewed the local use of the spectrum requested, we determined that harmful interference was unlikely. Given the short duration of the cycling events (less than four hours) in Quebec City and Montréal on September 10 and 12, and the sporadic nature of the communications, we issued a short-term authorization for 12 frequencies between 430 and 450 MHz. This is a shared allocation in Canada and a secondary allocation for amateur radio. Additionally, a single simplex VHF frequency was allocated for handheld radios (3 watts). The issuance of short-term authorizations in the VHF amateur band is exceptional and not undertaken lightly.

Notification to the local amateurs was achieved via the national organization representing amateur radio operators in Canada, Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC), and the organization representing radio amateurs in Quebec, namely Radio Amateur du Québec (RAQI). The intent of the notification was to seek the assistance of the amateur community in advising us of any incidents of harmful interference that might result from this temporary authorization. Please be assured that when amateur spectrum is affected, the Department makes every effort to give the amateur community as much advance warning as possible, but sometimes we are working with very short time constraints.

We appreciate the positive relationship that Industry Canada has with Canadian amateurs who have a long history of providing emergency communication, as well as facilitating communication for various public events. We would like to assure Canadian amateurs that when amateur spectrum is temporarily used in such circumstances, it is done only after much deliberation, with the hope that amateurs will understand the rationale and will respond in a manner that facilitates the effective use of the radio spectrum.

Yours sincerely,

Michel Landry
Agent de gestion du spectre | Spectrum Management Officer
Industrie Canada | Industry Canada
1141, route de l'Église (5e étage / 5th floor )
Québec (Québec), G1V 3W5
email@example.com
Gouvernement du Canada | Government of Canada

Here's the subsection 5(1)(a)(v) from the Radio Communication Act mentioned in the Industry Canada response, for those not familiar with it:

MINISTER'S POWERS

5. (1) Subject to any regulations made under section 6, the Minister may, taking into account all matters that the Minister considers relevant for ensuring the orderly establishment or modification of radio stations and the orderly development and efficient operation of radiocommunication in Canada,
(a) issue
(i) radio licences in respect of radio apparatus,
(i.1) spectrum licences in respect of the utilization of specified radio frequencies within a defined geographic area,
(ii) broadcasting certificates in respect of radio apparatus that form part of a broadcasting undertaking,
(iii) radio operator certificates,
(iv) technical acceptance certificates in respect of radio apparatus, interference causing equipment and radio-sensitive equipment, and
(v) any other authorization relating to radiocommunication that the Minister considers appropriate, and may fix the terms and conditions of any such licence, certificate or authorization including, in the case of a radio licence and a spectrum licence, terms and conditions as to the services that may be provided by the holder thereof;

I would urge all of you, members of RAC or not, to contact his or her Member of Parliament and let them know how you feel. RAC only has about 5,000 members out of a ham population of 56,000 in Canada. Therefore RAC does NOT represent the majority of Canadian hams. Most clubs are not even RAC affiliated. I doubt that RAC holds much sway with Industry Canada. It's up to us Canadian amateurs to protest loudly to our representatives in government.

Some comments from the blogosphere and on public forums >>

"I believe this is a test to see what spectrum can be grabbed; in this day and age of narrow band trunking and digital communications there is absolutely no need for any incursion into the Amateur bands. Also hearing of the technical ability's of inspectors in Canada perhaps you should be pushing for standards for inspectors just like there are standards for other law enforcement officers; just a thought!" – KF5EQB

"Non-qualified persons may use an amateur radio station provided a qualified operator is in attendance to perform the control functions." – Industry Canada

"If you Americans want to help.... good luck. IC couldn't care less what someone in another country thinks. And as for "our" national organization.... read: deep sigh.... they're the kind of people who would bring a knife to a gun fight." – a Canadian ham

Thank you all for reading this far. I would hope that any members of the RAC executive read my previous blog post about RAC's problems. Here's the link:

"We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us" – a little about 'dinosaur disease'.

The event in Montreal and Quebec City – and the event partners.

Peter VE3HG's Blog posting response
 Bob VE3MPGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
represent, represent, respresent. that's how i do blogging kitty cats style posted by the homeless of uber wealthy new york city. being homeless in the empire means breaking the law. there are now quarter houses for those without enough money to keep up with the joneses, and keeping up with the joneses means gaining wealth. how do you gain wealth? by exploiting people!
lol cat research does not exploit people. we would rather be homeless.
getting behind a computer is quite often a difficult task for the homeless and that is why lol cat research needs your financial support.
lol cat research asks for donations to save NY's homeless. there is button to your right that you could click on to donate money.
but you don't want to…
that's because the interweb is broke ass. just like your DUMB ass. that's right bitch. you suck. i haven't gotten one MOTHERFUCKING DONATION in the whole year that i've been doing this.
you like the funny jokes here. you like the cute cats. but you no wanna pay, true? you like everything for free, don't you bitch? FUCK YOU. pay me. i make you laugh. give me fifty cents. fifty GOD DAMNED cents because i'm a 40 year old homeless man who entertains your DUMB ASS on the interweb and you never give me shit. click on that fucking button. you fuckhead or never look at my free comedy again. i'm sick of this bullshit. pay me already you cheap bitch.


text:
Search for a rare disease
Other search option(s)
Bloom syndrome
Disease definition
Bloom syndrome (BSyn) is a rare chromosomal breakage syndrome characterized by a marked genetic instability associated with pre- and postnatal growth retardation, facial sun-sensitive telangiectatic erythema, increased susceptibility to infections, and predisposition to cancer.
Overall prevalence is unknown, but in the Ashkenazi Jewish population it is estimated at approximately 1/ 48,000 births.
Clinical description
Individuals with BSyn show proportionate growth retardation of prenatal onset and have a short stature (average adult height of 150 cm). Respiratory and gastrointestinal tract infections of variable severity (e.g. otitis, pneumonia) occur frequently throughout childhood and are associated with variable immunodeficiency. Gastroesophageal reflux with tracheal aspiration, common during infancy, may contribute to respiratory infections. Telangiectatic erythema appears during the first 1-2 years of life on the face (in particular the cheek) and dorsum of the hands. One major feature of Bsyn is a greatly increased predisposition to cancers in a distribution corresponding to the general population but occurring at a much younger age. The most common malignancies are leukemias and lymphoma during childhood and adolescence, and various types of adenocarcinomas during adulthood (e.g. colon, esophagus, breast). Rare tumors such as Wilms tumor and osteosarcoma (see these terms) may occur during childhood. Several individuals have had more than one primary tumor. Other usual features are poor feeding during infancy, and an exceptionally sparse subcutaneous adipose tissue giving a wasted appearance. Dolichocephaly, narrow face, prominent nose and ears, and malar and mandibular hypoplasia can be observed. Additional features include blistering and bleeding from the lips, patchy areas of hyper- and hypopigmentation, male infertility, and premature menopause. Decreased attention span and reduced memory function result in lack of interest in learning, but intellectual disability is not present. Ocular anomalies (e.g. conjunctivitis, bilateral optic nerve hypoplasia) have been reported.
Bsyn is due to mutations of the BLM gene (15q26.1) which encodes the DNA helicase RecQl3, an enzyme involved in maintenance of genomic integrity. Such mutations lead to a spontaneous high level of sister chromatid exchanges due to a slowdown in replication speed and defective fork reactivation.
Diagnostic methods
The clinical diagnosis is confirmed cytogenetically by demonstrating a 10-fold increase in the rate of sister chromatid exchanges in BSyn cells compared to normal cells, and a quadriradial chromatid interchange configuration in cultured blood lymphocytes. The diagnosis can also be confirmed by molecular genetic testing.
Differential diagnosis
Differential diagnosis includes Silver-Russell syndrome, Rothmund-Thomson syndrome, ataxia-telangiectasia, Cockayne syndrome, and Nijmegen breakage syndrome (see these terms).
Antenatal diagnosis
Prenatal diagnosis of at-risk pregnancies is possible by cytogenetic or molecular genetic testing of fetal cells obtained by amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling.
Genetic counseling
Transmission is autosomal recessive. Recurrence risk is of 25%.
Management and treatment
Management is symptomatic. Antibiotics are used to treat infections. If the serum levels of immunoglobulins (Ig) are low, patients will benefit from Ig substitution therapy. Sun exposure must be avoided. An early follow-up is essential for cancer surveillance. Due to hypersensitivity of patients to DNA breaking agents, radiotherapy and chemotherapy is performed with reduced dosage and/or duration of therapy.
The high occurrence of cancer and complications that can result from infections, early-onset chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes mellitus reduce life expectancy, which does not exceed late adulthood (approximately 50 years old).
Detailed information
- Summary information
- Slovak (2004, pdf)
- Polski (2014, pdf)
- Russian (2014, pdf)
- Clinical genetics review
- English (2019)
Additional information


text:
School supply aisles can be a perplexing situation for local families.
School supply aisles can be a perplexing situation for local families.
Some schools in Monroe County post or distribute detailed supply lists for students. Whiteford Elementary, for example, has a chart on its web site that shows which students need index cards or binders and how many two-pocket folders are recommended for each grade level
But other schools don?t provide such instructions. When my daughter started sixth grade in what was then Cantrick Junior High, the answer I got in regards to a school supply list was ?something to write with, something to write on.?
Because a long-standing tradition in southeast Michigan has been that parents should not be expected to provide their children with supplies used in the public schools, there are often no specific instructions provided.
As a result, many area retailers are posting suggested shopping lists by grade level. The dilemma is that those retailer lists may not apply at all to what your student will actually use.
I think the assumption that parents do not provide children with school supplies is outdated and unrealistic. Why else would the Monroe County Backpack Coalition distribute backpacks filled with school supplies directly to needy students, instead of asking for help in restocking classrooms?
It seems reasonable for K-12 schools to post or distribute by June 30 what supplies will be used or expected in the classrooms in the coming year. At the very least, parents deserve a list of ?we do not need? items so they know what to ignore in a retailer?s back-to-school shopping blitz.
Otherwise, the budget-busting options for parents are:
Use a retailer?s suggested list, or buy whatever is in a promotion of the week, and end up purchasing supplies students don?t need.
Wait until after classes begin in September to buy supplies, after prices have returned to regular retail values and selections are picked over.


text:
Travis Dearmon
East Central High Tulsa, OK
Memories of Travis Dearmon
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You are visiting the placeholder page for Travis Dearmon. This page is here because someone used our placeholder utility to look for Travis Dearmon. We created this page automatically in hopes Travis Dearmon would find it. If you are not Travis Dearmon, but are an alumni of East Central High School Tulsa, OK, register on this site for free now.


text:
President Obama made a stop up to my school (Northern Michigan University) on February 10, 2011 to give a speech about something we have throughout the city of Marquette, called "WiMax". Unfortunately, due to my basketball schedule, we were on the road and I was unable to attend. So, since I missed it, I figured I'd provide it for you as well! Click "read more" to see an exclusive photo!
However, the day before President Obama came, I was able to get a sneak peek of where he would be standing and making his speech. Check out the picture!


text:
dDAB for short; the blog formerly known as A Daily Dose of Architecture
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
AE 21: Gable Houses
[Childhood House | image source]
Herzog & Meuron's addition to the Vitra campus, Vitrahaus is home to the Vitra Home Collection, where visitors can "discover furniture arrangements here in different style genres - inspirational ideas for your home and your own taste in design." Is that why the architects adopt the form of extruded gable houses, haphazardly stacked, to create a context akin to people's homes? Herzog & de Meuron previously played with this traditional form earlier in their career, such as the House in Leymen.
[Vitrahaus by Herzog & de Meuron | image source]
Domus features a project by Sou Fujimoto that likewise throws gable-shaped forms atop each other. Tokyo Apartment is "a micro-city of stacked houses [that] imitates Tokyo. Precise geometries amassed in a dynamic dismantling and reconstruction of the architectural ensemble." This design seems to follow Fujimoto's previous buildings that grouped similar forms together in various orientations. But combined with Vitrahaus, I wonder if Deconstructivism is now combining itself with Postmodernism to create some weird hybrid that most people can still relate to in some way.
[Tokyo Apartment by Sou Fujimoto Architect | image source]
Living Architecture is a new non-profit set up by Alain de Botton that "offers you a chance to rent houses for a holiday designed by some of the most talented architects at work today," including MVRDV in their Balancing Barn in Suffolk. Obviously here the direct precedent is barns instead of houses, but the idea is the same: something familiar is tweaked into something different, striking. Here that is achieved by a dramatic cantilever about half the length of the house. Inside a glass floor is inserted into the space of pixelated color, reminding inhabitants of the apparently precarious nature of the house.
[The Balancing Barn by MVRDV | image source]
Since the completion of Herzog & de Meuron's Vitrahaus, other designs modifying the archetypal gable house seem to trickle in. I'm sure more will make their way into magazines, books, and blogs in the near future. Why is this? One reason might be a reaction to the distance that a lot of contemporary architecture creates between its forms and its predecessors, between the unfamiliar and the understandable. These designs reach back to something not necessarily primal*, but quite distant in association, as if something is hard-wired into our brains with image of a triangle atop a square. Why else do kids all over the world associate that shape with house and home?
*Peter Zumthor's Secular Retreat for Living Architecture is a design that reaches back to the primal.
11 comments:
very interested!ReplyDelete
Good dissertation!
You are just noticing this now?ReplyDelete
gks - I'm just writing this now. Any earlier examples you'd like to share?ReplyDelete
Fujimoto's Tokyo Apartments and Herzog & de Meuron's Vitrahaus seemed to be in a competition in which could get built first in terms of the stacking of gabled 'typical house' form.ReplyDelete
The Tokyo Apartments have been published and in design since 2006. Also look at his 7/2 House that's been built in 2006, and his House/Forest concept, 2006. He has been experimenting and writing about the return to the 'primal' (primitive hut) in his book, Primitive Future.
Regarding other gabled forms, you can see this theme in Terunobu Fujimori's work too (albeit with a different spin). Also see Nakayama Hideyuki's O House 2.
Kazuo Shinohara has done this too with his Tanikawa House, 1974.
Also, there are MVRDV's Hageneiland Housing for Ypenburg, 1997/2001 and House Didden, 2007.
For avant-garde architecture, the return to the "primitive" essentially means a reconciliation with the "pre-modern" – the (exotic old) world standing in conflict with forces of (contemporary) modernization.
Those projects were in magazines, books, and blogs (the Shinohara house is a bit obscure). Okay, so to rephrase: you are just writing this now?
Bahia Azul House by Cecilia Puga experiments with gable forms.ReplyDelete
What's wrong with writing about this now?
Because it is rather dated. I think that is why "gks" is asking why "this" now.ReplyDelete
Often in Eurocentric historiography, we tend to neglect what Barthes would call Occidental architecture, or what's going on on the other side of the planet, which is just plain ignorance.
So to excavate something that was in architectural discourse a decade ago in Japan or Holland and to present it as a contemporary issue seems to be a belated reactionism.
Having said that, it nice to see some "research" being done. What is missing is perhaps a temporal dimension and a more rigorous inquiry of when projects were conceived and thereafter executed. I like to believe ownership or authorship is pithy but kudos to those who came up with the idea first.
Well, I'm talking about a very particular usage of gable forms, one embodied more in the first two projects rather than the last one. I'm referring to their use in designs that assembles them like building blocks. I'm not convinced that these sorts of formal explorations were being done ten or more years ago.ReplyDelete
I'll admit via these comments that putting the MVRDV house in my post throws off the presentation of what I'm perceiving. The cantilever may be dramatic, but the form is singular, like the Shinohara design and the MVRDV project in Ypenburg. I don't think adding a coat of paint to a fairly pure gable form "departs radically" enough from it.
Of the examples offered by gks, I think the 7/2 House and maybe the O House come close to what I'm talking about in terms of preserving the form but incorporating it into a design that could best be described as a train wreck.
Here's a nother good example of the recycling of the traditional gable form by Japanese Architect Kengo KumaReplyDelete
Now that's what I'm talking about!ReplyDelete
John: If you look at the last ten years, you would see a persistent play on the "typical" gable-roofed house, that seems to be of a different spirit than, say, the Vanna Venturi House. If that's the form you are experimenting with, eventually one of the iterations will be of it stacked on top itself like building blocks, especially if you need to build for height and other plays on this "typical" gable-roofed-house formalism have exhausted themselves. (Another type of iteration: Yasuhiro Yoshida, Masafumi Yanada, Yoko Okuyama, Takenaka Corporation, 3rd place Arquitectum Tokyo 2010).ReplyDelete
For another stacked-gable form, see Ryuji Fujimura Architects' Project KKK, 2006.


text: John Myung has favored basses by Spector, Tobias, Tung, and lately, Yamaha. He wasn't crazy about his TRB6's string spacing, though, so he and Yamaha engineer Leo Knapp began collaborating on a Signature Series bass, which is expected to start shipping this summer. "At the beginning, John mentioned there were a lot of very nice but really expensive 6-strings out there, and he wanted to come up with something more affordable," says Knapp. "We also wanted to go with a 35" scale length to help articulate the B string, and we'll be using a maple veneer on the top. A lot of times, if you put a 1/4" or 1/2" cap on a body, it starts to noticeably affect the sound; plus, it's hard to get consistently good wood in those thicknesses. The veneer will help eliminate those problems and look great at the same time." Underneath the cap will be a basswood body core. The electronics aren't finalized, but on the current tour Myung is playing a prototype with active pickups he says "don't make any noise at all." One thing that is certain, though, is an infinity- symbol fingerboard inlay. "I came up with a variety of designs," says Knapp, "and that was the weirdest one I made. I had no idea Dream Theater was going to call the new album 'Falling Into Infinity', but of course that's the design John picked." Instead of a single intricate inlay, the symbol will be made of abalone fingerboard dots to keep costs down. "I'm very proud to be with a great company like Yamaha," says Myung. "Getting a signature bass doesn't happen to a lot of people, and I feel fortunate and honored to have been given the opportunity."