As of 9/1/03, I have started what is called the community chest. This is really out of the desire
to see that the kind people who donate can see their donation is used to directly support this site as well as provide a place to show ongoing
costs and credits.
My whole reason to even have a donation link in the first place is really to maintain everything that has been put into place already when problems arrive (as they always do with electronics running 24/7) and/or
improve the system further. This includes the hosting costs, and general upkeep of the computers, receiver, internet, and antenna. It was not (and is not) intended to pay back the thousands of dollars that have been invested
in all the initial start up hardware and licensed control software. I do not intend to have it pay for the ISP as long as I can maintain a reasonable speed for my personal use. I have had to increase the upload bandwidth at an additional $10.00 per month to sustain a decent encoding speed without buffering. Currently the system uses 3 computers.
One runs the VisualRadio (tm) server. This is the heart of the system and runs the control software that connects directly to the new Icom R-75. It also runs the
chat server. The 2nd computer runs the Windows Media Encoder software as well as the audio feed to the www.smeter.net audio server. The 3rd computer runs the
SSTV software for live automated uploading to the site.
I really want people to feel this is their site. I continually work to improve everything as long as I feel the cost will justify the listener needs.
Thanks to everyone who has donated and continues to support this site. I've been doing this tuner for over 3 years now and don't have any intention on stopping it. It gives me great pleasure that it is considered
one of the most popular and best user controlled online tuner sites (http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Internet_and_Radio/Online_Receivers/) and has been
featured in major articles in both Monitoring Times and Popular Communications Magazine.
Previous Online Radio Donators (before I kept track of the amounts): Paul (w7mag),Kathryn(tlms),Beth(wc),Lynn & Johnny, Marsha(LV), eaddie, Carol Cureton, Marsha O'Neill, Karen(w6asa),
Ronnie Jones, Robert(mrxyz), Randy(kc7zna), Lynn Hijazi, Daniel Guetzkow, Patricia Ray, (My apologies if I missed anyone but the previous records were somewhat cryptic so let me know if I missed you.) Thanks for supporting this system!
9/5/03 Live365 Monthly $-16,95
Balance $-16.95
9/5/03 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
Balance $-21.90
9/15/03 Donation from Greg M. (Thanks!) $50.00
Balance $28.10
9/15/03 Donation from John W6FE (Thanks!) $25.00
Balance $53.10
9/18/03 Donation from Kathryn (tlms - Thanks!) $100.00
Balance $153.10
9/19/03 Paypal receive fee for current donations ($175) $5.98
Balance $147.12
10/1/03 Live365 Monthly $17.45
Balance $129.97
10/1/03 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
Balance $125.02
10/14/03 Donation from Evelyn Brudnicki (Thanks!) $20.00 (Paypal receive fee $.88)
Balance $144.14
10/15/03 100 ft Dedicated coax for inverted V antenna for online tuner only $29.99
Balance $114.15
11/2/03 Live365 Monthly $17.36
Balance $96.79
11/2/03 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.98
Balance $91.84
11/13/03 Donation from Ron Jones (Thanks!) $50.00 (Paypal receive fee $1.75)
Balance $140.09
12/2/03 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
12/2/03 Live365 Monthly $17.36
Balance $117.78
1/2/04 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
1/2/04 Live365 Monthly Fee $16.78
Balance $96.05
1/6/04 Donation from Gary McGough (Thanks!) $10.00 (Paypal receive fee $.59)
Balance $105.46
2/2/04 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
2/2/04 Live365 Monthly $17.50
2/15/04 Secondary Antenna Construction materials in case of failure of primary antenna (Feedline, Wire, Connectors, ground wire, insulators)
$24.30
Balance $58.71
3/2/04 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
3/2/04 Live365 Monthly $14.36
Balance $39.40
3/19/04 Donation from Ron Jones-W5AKA $50.00 (Thanks Ron!) (Paypal receive fee $1.75)
Balance $87.65
3/21/04 Donation from Carol Cureton-W0OYL $25.00 (Thank You Carol!) (Paypal receive fee $1.03)
Balance $111.62
4/6/04 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
4/6/04 Live365 Monthly $15.73
Balance $90.94
4/15/04 Replace online tuner underground deteriorating coax with LMR400 Direct Burial (80 Feet) $64.15
Balance $26.79
5/1/04 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
5/1/04 Live365 Monthly $15.04
Balance $6.80
5/4/04 Donation from Bernard Doyle $25.00 (Thanks Doyle!!) (Paypal Receive Fee $1.03)
Balance $30.77
5/4/04 Donation from Greg Martens $10.00 (Thanks Greg!!) (Paypal receive fee $.59)
Balance $40.18
5/13/04 Donation from Kathryn-tlms $100.00 (Thanks as always!) (Paypal receive fee $3.20)
5/13/04 Donation from Christopher-KU4A $10.00 (Thank You Chris!) (Paypal receive fee $.59)
Balance $146.39
6/1/04 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
5/1/04 Live365 Monthly $15.02
6/11/04 Purchase of UT-106 Digital Signal Processor (shipping) $129.00
Balance $-2.58
6/11/04 Donation from Evvy Garrett $2.58 (Thanks Evvy for getting us out of the red!)
6/13/04 Donation from Ron Jones - W5AKA $25.00 (Thanks as always Ron!) (Paypal receive fee $1.03)
Balance $23.97
6/29/04 Donation from Robert Holmes $10.00 (Thank You Robert) (Paypal receive fee $.59)
Balance $33.38
7/1/04 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
7/1/04 Live365 Monthly $16.14
Balance $12.29
7/19/04 Donation from John - K6LLK $50.00 (Thanks a bunch John) (Paypal receive fee $1.75)
Balance $60.54
8/1/04 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
8/1/04 Live365 Monthly $16.52
Balance $39.07
9/1/04 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
9/1/04 Live365 Monthly $15.89
Balance $18.23
9/11/04 Donation from Ron Jones - W5AKA $25.00 (Thank You Ron) (Paypal receive fee $1.03)
9/11/04 Donation from David Billeci - $10.00 (Thank You David) (Paypal receive fee $.59)
Balance $51.61
10/1/04 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
10/1/04 Live365 Monthly $15.70
Balance $30.96
11/1/04 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
11/1/04 Live365 Monthly $15.70
Balance $10.31
11/11/04 Donation from David Ditlow - $10.00 (Thanks David!) (Paypal receive fee $.59)
Balance $19.72
11/14/04 Donation from Ron Jones (Thanks Ronnie, your the best!) $50.00 (Paypal receive fee $1.75)
Balance $67.97
12/1/04 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
12/1/04 Live365 Monthly $15.88
Balance $47.14
12/6/04 Donation from Julian Topolski (Thank You Julian) $10.00 (Paypal receive fee $.59)
Balance $56.55
12/9/04 Donation from Ohlen Corbett (Thank You Ohlen) $20.00 (Paypal receive fee $.88)
Balance $75.67
1/1/05 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
1/1/05 Live365 Monthly $16.22
Balance $54.50
1/27/05 Replacement of burned out power supply for audio encoder computer $42.48
Balance $12.02
2/1/05 Donation from David Billeci - $20.00 (Thanks a bunch David) (Paypal receive fee $.88)
2/1/05 Donation from Joseph Pistritto $25.00 (Thanks a bunch Joseph) (Paypal receive fee $1.03)
Balance $55.11
2/1/05 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
2/1/05 Live365 Monthly $16.39
Balance $33.77
3/1/05 Raider Soft Private Secondary Overflow Chatroom for 1 year $70.00
Balance $-36.23
3/1/05 Donation by N7JS for half the cost of chatroom. $35.00
Balance $-1.23
3/4/05 Donation by Trish Ray - KI4DVF $20.00 (Thanks Trish!!) (Paypal receive fee $.88)
Balance $17.89
3/1/05 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
3/1/05 Live365 Monthly $16.85
Balance $-3.91
3/19/05 Donation from Jose Joaquin Tejada - $4.00 (Thank You Jose) (Paypal receive fee $.45)
Balance $-.36
3/29/05 Donation from Edward Ritchey - $5.00 (Thanks Edward) (Paypal receive fee $.45)
Balance $4.19
3/30/05 Donation from Annon.- $60.85 (Thank You) (Paypal receive fee $2.06)
Balance $62.98
4/2/05 Donation from Ron Jones - $51.75 (Thanks as always Ron) (Paypal receive fee $1.80)
Balance $112.93
4/1/05 Tripod Hosting Fee $4.95
Balance $107.98
4/13/05 Donation from Carol Cureton-W0OYL $20.00 (Thank You as always Carol) (Paypal receive fee $.88)
Balance $127.10
4/17/05 Donation from Karen Elkins - $5.00 (Thank You Karen) (Paypal receive fee $.45)
Balance $131.65
4/19/05 URL annual name renewal $8.95
Balance $122.70
4/24/05 Donation from Arthur Noel - $10.00 (Thank You Art) (Paypal receive fee $.59)
Balance $132.11
5/1/05 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
Balance $127.16
6/1/05 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
Balance $122.21
6/15/05 Donation from Brad Hein-KB8MNS - $23.00 (Thank You Brad) (Paypal receive fee $.97)
Balance $144.24
7/1/05 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
7-12-05 Donation from Moody Law-WQ6I - $50.00 (Thanks Moody) (Paypal receive fee $1.75)
Balance $187.54
8/1/05 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
9/1/05 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
Balance $177.64
10/1/05 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
10/20/05 Replacement of defective router for servers $49.95
11/1/05 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
Balance $117.79
12/1/05 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
Balance $112.84
12/17/05 Replacement of modem in order to take advantage of higher bandwidth capability $53.20
Balance $59.64
1/1/06 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
Balance $54.69
2/1/06 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
Balance $49.74
2/10/06 Donation from Harry - W4HWD - $25.00 (Thank you very much Harry) Money Order
Balance $74.74
3/1/06 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
4/1/06 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
Balance $64.84
4/3/06 URL Annual Name Renewal $8.95
Balance $55.89
4/11/06 Donation from James - WB5OXQ - $5.00 (Thanks a bunch James) (Paypal receive fee $.45)
Balance $60.44
5/1/06 Increase of broadband speed to accomodate high bit rate and more users $10.00
Balance $50.44
5/1/06 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
Balance $45.49
6/1/06 Increase of broadband speed to accomodate higher bit rate and more users $10.00
Balance $35.49
6/1/06 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
Balance $30.54
7/1/06 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
7/1/06 Comcast increase speed fee $10
8/1/06 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
8/1/06 Comcast increase speed fee $10
Balance $.64
8/14/06 Donation from Gary McGough - $10.60 (Thank You very much Gary) (Paypal receive fee $.60)
Balance $10.64
9/1/06 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
9/1/06 Comcast increase speed fee $10
Balance $-4.31
10/1/06 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
10/1/06 Comcast increase speed fee $10
Balance $-19.26
11/1/06 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
11/1/06 Comcast increase speed fee $10
Balance $-34.21
11/11/06 Donation from Steven Whiting - $10.00 (Thank You Steven) (Paypal receive fee $.69)
Balance $-24.90
11/11/06 Donation from Ian McSporran - $2.00 (Thanks You Ian) (Paypal receive fee $.38)
Balance $-23.28
11/13/06 Donation from Steven Williamson - $50.00 (Thank You Steven) (Paypal receive fee $1.75)
Balance $24.97
12/1/06 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
12/1/06 Comcast increase speed fee $10
Balance $10.02
On 12/11/06 - it was determined that some repairs and upgrading needed to be done to maintain the reliability on the online
tuner. Anyone who has ever done a 24/7 365 day online tuner can attest to the incredible amount of time, dedication, and cost
that is involved. It's a reason why so many of them don't last and also why many are hit and miss or simply audio encoders.
Thank you for all the generous donations over the years to take off the "edge".
There are 3 full time computers involved in the ongoing operation of the online tuner that have to play in complete harmony.
The audio encoder computer, the control software computer, and the automated PSK31 computer. The fan stopped working on the power supply
of the audio computer a few weeks ago. It was only a matter of time before failure or a fire!!! insued. Here is the old power supply after
the customary sledge hammer. (I always enjoy doing this to broken equipment!)
Fortunately, I had a "parts meal" computer and I was able to pull its working supply and that issue has been resolved at no cost.
The next order of business (and this has been some time coming) was to purchase a robust UPS for both the audio encoder and the PSK31 uploader. The control
computer already has one as it is located in another room. Every time there is a power glitch (and there are many) - the audio
goes down. This is unacceptable and actually may be contributing to failure of parts. I therefore purchased a dedicated 1275 Watt
UPS. I was able to get it for $115.80 which was a great deal for a UPS this size due to an instant rebate of $50. Unfortunately
it has put our community chest in the negative. I will leave it up to you as listeners to determine value of this set up. I'm committed to
running it if you are committed to supporting it. We are going on our 5th year! Here is the new UPS with plastic still attached.
And lastly, in case you haven't seen where 80% of the system is located (in order to keep the wife happy) - here it is (in the storage
room)
Here is the control computer (on the right) along with the reciever you are tuning!
There you have it!! Enjoy and all the best.
12/16/06 Purchase of 1275 W. UPS for audio encoder and PSK31 uploader. $115.80
Balance $ -105.78
1/1/07 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
1/1/07 Comcast increase speed fee $10
Balance $-120.73
2/1/07 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
2/1/07 Comcast increase speed fee $10
3/1/07 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
3/1/07 Comcast increase speed fee $10
Balance $-150.63
3/23/07 Donation from R. Parna (Thank You) $14.95 (Paypal receive fee $.73)
Balance $-136.41
4/1/07 Tripod hosting fee $4.95
4/1/07 Comcast increase speed fee $10
Balance $-151.36
4/12/07 Mail in donation from Chris Hoover (Thank You) $25.00
Balance $-126.36
Final repair of damaged Icom R-75 Receiver (due to front end overload) including shipping/insurance $84.25
Balance $-210.61
Purchase of Antenna Zap Trapper C Protection device $26.95 ($21.95 + $5.00 shipping).
Balance $-237.56
4/21/07 Dontation from John Morris (Thanks John) $20.00 (Paypal receive fee $.88)
Balance $-218.44
NOTE: As of 5/1/07 the increased speed for comcast has been discontinued due to them increasing the overall speed
for the basic price. This will save $10.00 per month. However, Tripod has increased their hosting fee
an additional $5.00 per month to $9.95.
5/1/07 Tripod hosting fee $9.95
6/1/07 Tripod hosting fee $9.95
Balance $-238.34