I was at AU-8912 Woopi Back State Beach, north of Coffs Harbour on Saturday, 17 January 2025. I started on FT8 on 15 meters and then went to phone on 40 metres.

A while back Pilot Pete on MacGeekGab mentioned problems with time tracking with UTC and local. This is great. You can put a widget on your iPhone or iPad Home Screen with local, UTC and your home time zone. And you can have multiple widgets from the one app. It’s on the App Store as World Clock and it’s from the makers of Cheetsheet. And you can customise it to the Nth degree. 12 January 2025

At the end of 2024, I obtained my foundation ham amateur radio licence. It's been a great year. I have learned so much, discovered so many new things and have been amazed at what I can do with the convergence of computers and radio. I've also met some great people right around the world. I was familiar with high frequency (HF) voice transmissions from my shortwave radio listening or DXing days in the 1980's.

I love SDR Control for Icom but had been using WSTJ-X for FT8 due to its interaction with GridTracker. Previously, it was possible to connect GridTracker to SDR Control for Icom using Loopback from Rogue Amoeba (as per the SDR Control for Icom online manual). The developer of SDR Control for Icom, Marcus Roskosch / DL8MRE, advised this week in response to a support inquiry: …

I have been a Pop Clip user since early last decade, and it's one of the first things I install on a new Mac. It was developed to give Mac users the same cut-copy-paste functionality and look and feel of the iPad and iPhone. Over time, it has expanded to do more things, as was alluded to in this week's show. You'll love it. Get it here. Note: I had to photograph the Mac screen as the options went away on a screenshot. 11 December 2025

For years, Apple sold thin and light HDMI video cables. They were great quality and reasonable value for money. But they were only up to 2k resolution and didn’t do Dolby Atmos. I also remember paying well over usd100 (aud150) for a “Monster” HDMI cable for my Apple TV Gen 1 in the naughties. And that was 20 years ago! …

In a recent Mac Geek Gab, Dave Hamilton spoke about Comply earphone tips.  I have had a hate-hate relationship with my new Beats by Dre Power Beats Pro 2 (PBP2), purchased for USD250 (AUD400). I really didn’t like them. They were uncomfortable, tinny and would fall out of the ear (drum?). I wasn't alone, according to this article. …

One of Australia, indeed the world's best amateur radio enthusiasts and communicators, is Hayden Honeywood (@VK7HH). Very simply, he does interesting stuff in plain English, well presented. He's putting together a course for people interested in Amateur Radio, and he sought feedback from his Patreon subscribers. Here's what I sent him. Hi Hayden, well done on everything you are doing. It is awesome. 

To Mac Geek Gab - November 2025 In last week’s show (#1115), a listener asked about bookmark management. To me, bookmarks are like my garden, they’re either unattended and not of much interest or get wildly out of control. These days, all of my bookmarks are in folders in the Safari Favourites Bar (View > Favourites Bar). Safari is the only browser that supports the Favourites bar on iPadOS (it is not supported in Chrome, Firefox, or Edge).

Twelve months ago, I got my amateur or “ham” radio licence. It’s the best thing I have done in recent years. I am having lots of fun, the brain is challenged, the technology is boggling, it’s got m…

A determined father (Matthew McConaughey) risks everything to rescue a dedicated teacher (America Ferrera) and her students from a raging wildfire. In…

On Oct. 8, 1945, Raytheon Manufacturing Company filed a patent for what’s now a staple kitchen appliance in hom...