2021

Radio Activity

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Hi all. I recently read a good idea on a Facebook group I belong to : 146.520 National Calling Frequency. The post was : “Lets try to generate some activity on the National Calling Frequencies and celebrate Christmas, or what ever holiday you want to support this winter. At 17:00, 18:00 and 19:00 on December 23, and December 24,call CQ for anybody wanting a Christmas QSO. We can do this on 146.52, 223.500, and 446.00 to generate activity. If nobody answers that is how it goes, but hopefully we can get some activity if everybody gets on the air and calls out it might be surprising in the activity that we can generate.”

This sounds like a great idea to me. I will call when I can, depending on work and will wish people a happy holiday season.

The Feast Day of Saint Krampus

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Sigh. Yup. I bet you thought that the title of this post would reflect the contents. Nope, you were wrong. You may have noticed that I do not post on any specific day or keep to a schedule. I have my reasons. I am not really a fan of people who talk just to talk and post just to post as some seem to do. If I don’t have anything to say I tend to keep quiet. Some folks write in an almost religious manner, practicing an arcane ritual to exorcise their inner demons. Me, I take my inner demons out for regular exercise and walkies. When I started this blog it was to be a newsletter for a club with articles and topics of interest to radio enthusiasts but the club did not “officially” approve of it. Their loss. As for silence, I can work a whole 12 hour shift without saying a single word. In any event, have a Happy and safe Krampusnacht!

Requiem

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It has been a tough week. Last weekend I got word that a friend/coworker had a bad stroke. I was informed that he was in the ICU and non-responsive. Yesterday I received word that he passed on Friday. Part of the tragedy is that he was 35 years old. After a tough life, he was finally getting his shit together and things were looking up. Then he was struck down. I guess we all need to face up to our mortality. He is already missed. I am not publishing his name for privacy and respect.


Requiescat In Pace

The Edmund Fitzgerald

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I have been listening for the past several days to try and work the Special Event station commemorating the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. This afternoon I found them on 7.052 working CW. I was able to work them. I am happy! Information on the event can be found on qrz.com under the callsign of W8F.

Veterans Day and other stuff

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Hi all. First a shout out to all the vets out there. Thank you for your service.

I would like to change the subject a bit and put in a plug for FISTS, the International Morse Preservation Society. This is a group of ham radio operators dedicated to using Morse Code (CW) on the air. The club promotes fellowship and mentoring. From their webpage:

“FISTS is a well established and recognized CW (Morse Code) organization in the world of amateur radio. Founded in 1987 by Geo Longden, G3ZQS, it now has a world-wide membership in the thousands and growing daily.What FISTS wants to accomplish.

       1. To further the use of CW on the amateur bands.
2. To encourage newcomers to the CW mode.
       3. To engender friendship within the membership.”

Their webpage is http://www.fistsna.org. They hold activities on the air such as sprints and other contests. Best thing of all is there is no dues! You can join online.

Now for something a bit more different, a 1970 film promoting ham radio from the ARRL and posted on Youtube:

Something to Ponder

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Find your true self

Use your strengths and weaknesses

Care about others

Keep your own self true

Just be alert

Only trust in you

Each day is a new beginning

Bring something to the table

Identify toxic influences

Destroy nothing unique

End things in a timely fashion

Never not learn from failing

Queens and Princesses

/ KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Here is a thought I had today. Most of the fairy tales we know and love involve princesses and queens. A certain company that I will not name makes big money off of the movies and merchandise associated with these stories. Think about this: the princesses are all kind, and good natured and faultlessly good. The queens are warped and mean and totally evil. Wait a second …. don’t princesses become queens? Do these wonderful princesses evolve into the epitome of evil when they ascend the throne? The plots of these stories revolve around the evil queen trying to destroy the good princess. What if the queen had received an instinctual or intuitional premonition that the princess will become evil when she becomes a queen and the “evil” queen is trying to save the world from a princess that turns evil? Wouldn’t that make the queen “good” for trying to eliminate “evil”? Food for thought, people.

COVID and Chemtrails

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It is widely believed that the Governments of this world are spraying their populations with chemicals and germs from high flying planes. If you do a search on the web you will find a plethora of pages about this subject. Some of them offer proof of this and some debunk it. It is a mixed bag. Here is an example of a webpage: https://stillnessinthestorm.com/2020/02/the-united-nations-exposes-chemtrails-100-proof-we-are-being-poisoned/

I have a simple proposal. Since the infrastructure is in place to perform this, why don’t we all contact our congress critters and insist that they use this to spray us all with the COVID vaccine. This would eliminate the need for egregious mandates and “vaccine passports”. If they are already spraying us with malicious chemicals, why not, by popular demand” spray something beneficial? You can find contact information for your politicians online. Let’s get this rolling!!

non timetis messor

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A wise person once said: “Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana”. Does time really exist or is it just a subjective way for us to delineate our lives? My cats are not concerned with the passage of time. They eat, sleep, and play on no set schedule. When I make beer I am aware of times such as boiling for at least 60 minutes, fermenting for about 2 or 3 weeks, a week or 2 to carbonate, but is that anything near reality? To the yeast, fermentation is done when it is done. The beer will only carbonate as fast as conditions such as ambient temperature allow. There is no hurry, no sense of necessity. With ham radio, I keep track of time as a reference. I note down what time my contact started and what time it finished. I do no worry about how long it takes to establish a contact. I just call until someone answers. Maybe that is why I am not into contests … too much pressure of time involved, trying to make as many contacts as possible during a limited timeframe.

Oh well, enough for now. I am going to go back to frittering my life away harmlessly. Namaste, y’all.

A Confession!

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I like goldfish (Carassius auratus). Some in the aquarium hobby would see them as common or plebian, but I like them. Don’t get me wrong, I like all kinds of tropical fish such as plecos and corys and neons, but I have always had a soft spot for goldfish. I actually prefer the simplicity of the common types. I rescue feeders from pet stores and give them a chance. Right now my biggest is about 4 inches. He started out black but has since turned gold.

I do like the fancy ones, the orandas, moors, reiku, etc, but i prefer the simple little comets and feeders.

Here is a picture of one of my tanks. The picture quality could be better but it was taken with my fone and fish tend to move around.

There is a simple pleasure I derive from watching them swim around. It is relaxing and has an almost therapeutic virtue to it. More nonsense to come later.