Radio W4KAZ

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Flotsam and Jetsam

These items washed ashore on the most recent web surf. Not really related to anything I generallylog regarding the KazShack activities, but some of it caught my interest enough to save the links here rather than get lost in the BookMarkMultiverse.

A useful chart of the evolution of storage. It unfortunately omits Hollerith punch cards,cassette storage, the 8 inch floppy, tape drives, or the old mainframe removable spindle drives. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

This is just plain cool, and its available as a kit. The LED Bulbdial Shadow Clock from EvilMadScience. Way cool.

These would just be fun to slap on a jewel case of any program. Originally issued for Vista I suppose, but fun to slap on the kid’s PC games – just to see if they react. Be great back on the floor of tech weenie cubicals too.

DAMN! Somebody stole another one of my ideas. Well, OK, I suppose they arrived at the same mental junction independently, but if I still had access to a welder, I’d have made some already.

A New Mode

Now we just need to figure out how to describe this exciting new mode, whereby QSO’s are logged via skip off the ionized ice trail being left by cosmic truck drivers when their jug gets full.

Pee Skip(PS)? Whiz Mode(WM)?

Stratospheric Truckers’ Urine and Funny Flake mode (STUFF)?

Yesterdays Odiferous Luminous Linear Organic Waste Supply Negated Over World (YELLOW SNOW)?

Amended 9/20: Hah! G4ILO nailed it! Sporadic-P!

Lost Island DX Society

Don’t miss the best source for up to date contesting news available on the internet. The new source for all manner of contest trivial is now up and running at the home page of the Lost Island DX Society. I sure wish I were going to be at Hamvention this year to catch the L.I.D.S. hospitality suite.

2009 – The Ascendency of Idiocy

New Year…..probably not so happy.

80 years of FDR socialism come home to roost in 2009.

Having been a pauper at the start I suppose I’m better prepared for it than most. It has been nice to be so fortunate as to improve substantially upon that meager station in life. The current successful defensive investment strategy will probably prove meaningless once my property is seized by the state. Yet I persist, as hope springs eternal. Is it time to go long again? Is a PE ratio below 8 going to last? It do seem unlikely in a stable market, and one must hedge. The real question is “Is this a stable market?”. My doubts are no doubt clear. 😉

Maybe the glee of having been correct several times will be enough to sustain the family once the actual assets themselves are seized at gunpoint by the neoCommie mob. Maybe it would be best to just spend it all now. Cash everything out and live large for a few years. Eat the seed corn. That goes completely against my naturally frugal nature, but it does seem to be a viable option. The current penalties for early withdrawal may, in hindsight, appear quite reasonable once we get to 2015. Alternatively, what hard asset will hold its value, but also escape the wrath of overzealous or targeted taxation by a failing government infrastructure? Gold coin is so impractical. Buy seed corn maybe?

Time for tea, as the Titanic slips beneath the waves! More Circus, less Bread pleeeeze! 😮

One thing is certain. It will be interesting to watch those who have no experience with poverty cope, their pockets full of hope and very little change. The bottom is completely unfamiliar territory for so many today. Most folks think they have it tough, but “tough” is a very subjective thing. All things considered, I would rather have it “tough” here in one of the wealthiest places known in the history of mankind. It sure beats the crap out of living in a cave in the desert, or a squat in the rain forest. Even the tar paper shack in the sugar cane field was better than that. It at least had screens on the door and windows. It had a door and window to put screen on. Livin’ large, relatively speaking.

What’s up with all the whining about de-regulation? Are there really less regulations than there were in 1930? Than in 1950? 1970? 1990? 2000? People really seem to believe this claptrap, even though every day anecdotal experience is enough to disprove the assertion. More stupid laws that won’t be enforced equally will solve no problems. Are the stupid laws worse than the unequal enforcement?

If it were not for the rapidly approaching demise of “the press”, their new position as the Josef Goebbels wing of the neoCommunist party might be alarming. Fortunately that seems to be a self correcting problem. Good riddance.

I also ponder the reception such ideological radicals as Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin would receive in today’s political environment. Their ideals are so far outside the realm of today’s prominent domestic ideologies that they would once again be quite radical. Would they now be dismissed by being labeled as “kooky libertarians”, and then pilloried in the public square? It seems likely that is exactly what would happen.

Yet their arguments are still timeless. Not bad for a bunch of non-technical barbarians from the edge of the frontier, despite their personal failings. I should be so lucky.

They did foresee the end of their experiment in personal liberty, but they left no indication of how long they thought it might actually last. That is now an un-answerable question, but one that is fascinating. Once America is just like every other socialist shithole or tinpot dictatorship across the planet, the experiment is over. Will the experiment ever again be resurrected? I suspect not, as human nature seems to be drawn to lording over one another. The historical precedent on that is clear – the experiments in individual liberty are damn few and far between.

Adam Smith would be tarred and feathered today. Too “mean spirited”.

…and thus the ideological solipsism shall end. This is to be the one and only political diatribe ever to “grace” this area. It is now to be henceforth and evermore an ideology free zone…. at least until the lights go out permanently. At which point it is all moot anyway.

psssst!…….George Bush killed the dinosaurs!

WKAZ, W4KAZ – Not Quite The Same.

During IARU a QSO with a WV ham apprised me of the fact that “my callsign” was already being used by a broadcaster in the Charleston area. So, curiosity led me to find 107 KAZ. As luck would have it, you can also listen to their stream via the web. The link is a javascript so I can’t link to it from the blog, look for “Listen Live” at the top of the right sidebar.

They also have an AM affiliate, but the AM side doesn’t have a stream that I can find. Its unlikely I’ll be able to DX them with my radio either, as they occupy 680, the same frequency as 50kw WPTF. I’m only about a mile away from WPTF’s antenna site, so once again poor KAZ is overwhelmed by the high power Big Dawgs. WKAZ is only allowed 244 watts at night – WPTF’s HARMONICS are louder than that!

Cool. If I ask, I wonder if they will send me some promo material? I guess not, because W1KAZ, W2KAZ,….W0KAZ might all ask for freebies too.

Sunspot Sale At Dayton Hamvention

Well, that sounds like a good idea. I need some 10m ‘Spots, but I don’t want any used Cycle 23 ‘Spots from the flea market. I want to get some brand new Cycle 24 ‘Spots from a reputable vendor inside. Be careful not to let them pass off any 15m ‘Spots on you as 10m ‘Spots. It’s like picking a puppy – the 10m ‘Spots are more active.

Don’t forget the Solar Flux!

😉

2008 Poisson d’Avril FaUXpedition a Success

The 2008 Poisson d”Avril expedition completed contest operations at 24:59z on April 1st, 2008. We ended the expedition with over 6,666,666 points, making 6,666 QSO’s on 3.666mc.

The score would have been much higher, except for the repeated calls we heard from “UP5LID”, Borat, and “UP8OM”, who kept signing their calls on our frequency for some reason. We kept trying to work them, but neither station would respond to our contest exchange to them.

Wolfgang, DX4ME, promises to join us for the 2009 Poisson d’Avril FaUXpedition

Poisson d’Avril Contest DXpedition

Okay, I’m really getting excited about the 2008 Poisson d’Avril FauxExpedition to Sri Lanka. This has been a extraordinary effort on the part of many in the international community, and seeing it all come to fruition is truly exciting. Our travel commences immediately. Look for us on the air.

A PVRCNC “Night Before Christmas” de Will, AA4NC

The following poetic adaptation is by Will, AA4NC. I’m just preserving for posterity.

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through PVRC,
Not a creature was stirring, on CW or  eS eS Bee;
The antennas were strung from the chimney with care,
In hopes that some sunspots soon would be there;

The contesters were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Top Ten scores danced in their heads;
And 'QPL with his Orion, and I with my FT,
Had just settled down for a QSO on 40,

When on the bottom of the band there arose such a clatter,
I tuned the VFO to see what was the matter.
Into the pileup I flew like a flash,
Fired up the amp, sent a dot and a dash.

Continue reading A PVRCNC “Night Before Christmas” de Will, AA4NC

They Seem Innocent Enough…..

Every year, Thanksgiving week coincides with the beginning of a mass migration that is a pestilence upon mankind. Taken as individuals these migrants are benign. They travel no great distances in their migrations, yet they do tend to congregate together in an unseemly manner. All year long they bide their time, picking the worst possible moments to make their vertical pilgrimage. There are those among us who make a great fuss over their inherent beauty, right up until the moment that they show their true nature. Continue reading They Seem Innocent Enough…..