By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

This week, Surfin’ discovers a techie surprise under the Christmas tree.

Hams get techie gifts during the holidays and I have received my share over the years. Usually it is something on my wish list, like the Yaesu FTdx560 transceiver that I received from my family circa 1970.

If there is nothing techie on my wish list, I can expect to find nothing techie under the old aluminum Christmas tree. That was the case this year, so I was very surprised to receive a techie gift from my daughter Hayley.

Unlike the usual techie gifts -- which end up somewhere installed in my ham shack -- my latest techie gift was clothing, a “Techno Hoodie” from Old Navy. It is a zippered, fleece-lined hooded jacket with a difference: The right-hand pocket contains a machine-washable headphone plug, and the drawstrings of the hood contain headphone cords and earbuds.

The intention of the Techno Hoodie is to be able to use an MP3 player and not have to deal with the inevitable headphone cord tangle that occurs wearing a non-Techno hoodie while using an MP3 player.

Ham I am, after checking out the performance of the Techno Hoodie with my iPod, I swapped the iPod with selections from my collection of handheld ham radios and I was very pleased with the results.

By the way, another source for these MP3 hoodies is HoodieBuddie.

Until next time, keep on surfin’!

Editor’s note: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, enjoys the unusual in radio. To contact Stan, send e-mail or add comments to the WA1LOU blog.