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Flying Rockmite or Operator Down Below? It's All Relative

Covid has hit the house. We're all doing as well as can be expected, but as a result KD0FNR rockmite station control has moved down a floor. The Flying Rockmite is paying dividends, even grounded at the house.

So! I set out bulidng a CW version of N6MTS's open headset interconnect standard with the thought of building a better antenna-mounted 'Flying Rockmite'. Relativey though (special and general) teaches us that well, it's kinda obvious, all things are relative. Consequently, when I tested positive for COVID, after a day of being completely down, I sent out an order for a 25 foot CAT-5 Ethernet cable. It arrived today. I'm back up and around a bit, so I went up to the kitchen where the Rockmite is sitting on a table, and unplugged the short cable used in the original prototype:


I plugged in the 25 foot cable to the rig, anchored the cable to the table with a copy of The Kingdom of Copper, picked up the headset/keyer, and then toodled back down to my bedroom where the cable was waiting, hanging in the air patiently, for me just outside the back door.




I attached the cable to the keyer. (I guess it's more of a cozy keyer now? Maybe I should have anchored the cable with an Agatha Christie or Maureen Johnson cozy mystery? I digress.) T



he 11 year-old and I immediately tried the radio out working remotely from my room, and???


The little rig is up and running!


References:
I originally heard about the standard on the really fun podcast, Ham Radio Workbench Episode 167.


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