Ham Radio schematics

[UPDATE: I've graduated to Win 2000 since 2005, so I now tend to be about 5 years behind the times, instead of at least 10 years behind the times! Now maybe I can start thinking about getting a cell phone!...
2008 UPDATE: I now have a cell phone. But no Pager, IPod, Blackberry, Bluetooth or DSL/Satellite Internet Access. I guess I'll never catch up ;-( ]

And now that I've resigned myself to being a Windows user, that suits me fine, too. Now if they would only stop modifying HTML and Java and Flash and all that other crap that causes my IExplorer to work well last year but not so well this year [FireFox to the rescue!].

You'll notice that this website loads pretty fast because the emphasis here is on text information rather than glitter, sizzle, and cartoons. Well, except for this page, with all the pictures.

Anyhow, being someone who can't afford the Latest and Greatest, but often having enough change to buy a few goodies from Radio Shack, I, like most hams, have accumulated what we guys lovingly refer to as a Junque Box (well, mine is not really all in a "box" as much as it is sort of randomly distributed all over my basement) of parts and goodies which allow me to tinker and "play" when I get the hankering - brainstorming on some minimalist radio circuit and lashing it together to see if it will work.

Why am I not on the air as much as I'm tinkering with toy radio circuits? Well, if some of the hams reading this don't mind my saying so, the manners of many of the people using the bands these days leaves so much to be desired that I often find more pleasure in futzing around with "minimal" QRP [low-power] ham-band transmitters and receivers, as well as good-old AM broadcast receivers, than in getting on the air anymore. I like to "rag-chew" mostly; seems like the bands consist of Nets, frantic-paced Contests, and DX, where "you're a 5-9" is the only thing the participants want to hear in a slam-bam-thank-you-ma'am radio exchange, even when you're cranking out 1/10 of a Watt into a coat hanger and you know damn well that Akhmed from Zanzibar couldn't possibly be hearing you that well!