One More for 2020

 The origin of the term "scissor statement:" Sort By Controversial  It's short, I'll wait.  And don't worry, it really is fiction.  I'm pretty sure.  Or, at least, the main idea was was until some jackasses got turned onto the concept.

I've posted on this earlier, but here I leave it as a warning while we close the door on 2020.  Some snippets of language do not shed light, but rather have been carefully crafted to be divisive.  Think over this past year and you'll no doubt recognize a few.  Keep this in mind, learn to recognize Scissor statements, resolve to avoid their use, and when you hit a rough patch, repeat this mantra: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  No, really, it is just that simple.

On with life.  Onward to 2021!

2020 Year-End Wrap-Up

 OK, we all know that 2020 was a dumpster fire of a year.  Let's move on from all of that though, with the year-end wrap-up of best posts here at the 'swamp.  Ready?  Here, hold my beer, read this:

• January: Winter Field Day!  Wrap (with pics) | Post-Analysis | Results
• February: Dirt Rag hangs it up.  Not the last bad thing in 2020...
• March: Ham Camp #21.  That was a fun weekend.
• April: More Gravel Adventure.  Seems that 90%+ of my riding was gravel.
• May: Book of the Year -- Living in the Long Emergency.  We can all relate.
• June: Album of (last) Year -- JJ Cale, Stay Around
• July: Olivia 8/250 = Old Entish.  Slow talk, baby, slow talk.
• August: Triple Review of some of Greer's stuff.  Go retro or go broke.
• September: Moka Pot Madness.  It's almost espresso, close enough.
• October: Coffeeneuring 2020.  Yes, it overlaps with some other months.
• November: Cleanup from Hurricane Zeta.  Yes, Zeta.
• December: Back on HF.  It's fun to hike with a QRP station on your back.

 Finally, with all the world events, there's been a real run on a 2019 post I made on how to program a particular radio.  I'm not linking that directly; however, here's a link to the post-of-the-year that includes the mentioned link, and much, much more: Radio Programing Round-Up.  Also worth a mention is the Movie of the Year: The Colour Out of Space.  H.P. Lovecraft adapted, yet done right.

Moving on to 2021, expect... something a little different around here.  Probably lighter posting.  More of documenting special events, such as WFD and Coffeeneuring in 2021.  Probably less of "hey, cool article."  The world is changing, and it's time to change here too.

Anyway, here's to a better 2021!  See y'all around.

Back on HF

 Nice afternoon with 60-ish temps and clear blue skies, so I took a little day hike with the FT-817nd and related gear to the old ANER boardwalk / marsh viewing platform.  No bugs today!  Not a lot of contacts either -- 2 on HF and 3 on UHF/FL-SARNET.  Still, it got me out of the house and back on HF.  While there, we saw several barges on the river (one in pic below), a couple of bald eagles, and one biplane.  Pretty outstanding for a little Saturday afternoon stroll.

 

Yes, it is possible to make UHF contacts with the 817's stock rubber duct antenna, but it really helps if the repeater is only a mile away.  

 ps 12/27: Did a repeat of yesterday's QRPxpedition to the same place at about the same time of day, etc.  Snagged CT on 20m and Brazil on 17m.  The ionosphere still stinks, but the 817's a performer.

In Soviet Union...

 ... Hell go to you!

How the Soviets accidentally discovered the 'Gates of Hell', video article at the BBC

Looks like an apt travel destination for 2020.  And maybe 2021 if we don't turn this boat around pdq.

One more, in case you missed it.

 Telescope view of Monday's conjunction, at APOD.

We all just knew APOD would have to put a view like this one up.  Nice to see in person, nice to have the full telescope view too.

Yesterday's Conjunction

 The weather was largely clear, but not the stunning clear you need to really see these things well.  Through binos you could make out two dots, with some fuzz thanks to the high, wispy clouds.  Eh, NASA's APOD covered this better a couple of days ago here.  (no really, go look!)

No volcanoes sighted either.  Somehow though that pic just needs a T Rex somewhere in the background.

So you're tired of wearling a mask...

 Take a look at Gaston Julia's predicament.  Yikes.  WWI left so many scars, some more literal than others.  What a brilliant mind.

Reminder: Tomorrow's Conjunction

 Jupiter and Saturn will appear very close in the early evening sky tomorrow.  This also happens to be the solstice.  Here, read up on it at Scientific American.  It's been nice seeing the slow wind-up to this while out walking or hanging in friends' yards.  But don't forget, tomorrow's the closest approach.

If you miss this one, don't worry, there'll be another along in about 60 years.  Yes, that sounds like a long time, but by astronomical timetables that's only a blink away.

KLEB Streams

 The one that works that is, not the one linked from their web site.  Found via Radio-Locator.  Anyway, the link: KLEB online.

Epidemiologists Surveyed, Give Their Thoughts

 Article at The NYT (yeah, I know...) 

How 700 Epidemiologists Are Living Now, and What They Think is Next

Hey, their guesses are better than mine.

Expect spotty posting over the next few weeks, but things are rolling again here.

OK 2020, now you're just messin' with us.

 Metal monolith found by helicopter crew in Utah desert at the BBC.

Reportedly the ape-men staring transfixed at the monolith while learning quantum field theory scampered away and hid as the helicopter approached.  Well, that's what I heard.

Warp Drives – The News is Good! (or at least, "not impossible, yet")

 Still not there, but here's a 10 minute video summarizing the latest research on the matter, at Backreaction.  It's taking time to get to a functioning warp drive, but this is hard stuff.  It may in the end prove to be altogether impossible, but this hasn't been shown yet.  In the meantime it is fun to watch the progress.

Two Resources

 Much of what you see in the press regarding covid-19 is bunk, but this ongoing summary from Nature is generally good and trustworthy.  At least, it's the latest science from people doing their level best to get it right.  link to Nature  It's usually updated every day or so – as results trickle out, on no particular schedule.  

The second resource I'm pointing out today is the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME home page).  Their home page has all kinds of links to papers they're producing, but perhaps of more interest here are these direct links showing the ongoing data on infections and deaths per day along with near-future projections under various scenarios.  You can get to most any region of the world via the pull-down menu, but for convenience here are some of the more relevant ones for the usual readers of this blog:

United States | Mississippi | Louisiana | Alabama | Florida

Very convenient to have these, especially when the MSM points to one currently-exploding region of the country and begins, yet again, screaming about doom.  And while some of the projections are a bit pessimistic, the historical data are correct and the seven-day ripple has been mercifully smoothed out.

A Few More Days Off

 Remember what I said a couple of weeks ago about taking a few days off from blogging?  Then following up with a string of posts?  Well, looks like I'll really be taking a few days/weeks/months(?) off now.  Nothing dire, just tired and busy.  No worries, I'll be back, even if it's just for a year-end wrap-up.

Been reading a ton of H.P. Lovecraft lately.  Funny, with the string of storms we've had over the past 15 years, plus the Macondo blowout, pandemic, and general political craziness, Lovecraft's writing is beginning to sound kind of down-home comforting.  House-sized invisible monsters trashing buildings in the neighborhood?  Been there, done that, got the insurance check, moved on.  I really need some time off.

On the good side, the grid power in my neighborhood is up and stable, the yard is all chainsawed out, and there aren't any storms currently headed this way.  OCMS played the Grand Ole Opry last night, that was a fun listen.  (the ionosphere's improving too, so skywave doesn't sound quite so funky)  The weather's in that stunningly beautiful mid-fall blue sky mode for the foreseeable future.  Ya take yer good where ya can get it these days.

See y'all in a few weeks.

Something Good

 Finally, unequivocal good news re corona/covid-19: Covid vaccine is more than 90% effective

"I think we can see light at the end of the tunnel," said Pfizer Chair & CEO Dr. Albert Bourla.

Plans are for manufacturing 50 million doses in 2020, followed by 1.3 billion doses in 2021.

KLEB Lives!

 A favorite little AM station KLEB "The Rajun' Cajun" was near ground zero of last week's Hurricane Zeta, and I was a tad worried about them.  Last Monday though they were back on the air, albeit at low power, likely off a portable generator.  Getting them since has been hit-and-miss up here on the MS coast, but they were coming through fairly well today.  Even though they're at low power for now, it seems probable that the tower survived Zeta and they'll be back at 100% in a matter of weeks.  Funny though, snooping around on the web, can't really find any recent stories on them.  Certainly nothing Zeta-related.

Anyway, they're definitely on the air, and that is an encouraging thing.  Where else do you get songs like Crawdiddy's Momma's Cookin' Gumbo played back-to-back with The Cure's Just Like Heaven?  The variety out of that station is astonishing.

Update 11/10: KLEB's back to full power, and we've got good, normal reception on the MS Coast again.  Woo!

Ken Burn's Country Music Documentary Series

 Yes, you need to watch this, even if you're not a country music fan.  4.5 stars out of 5

Lots of the pre-history, the hows and whys, lots of the early development up from fiddle and banjo music, the radio "barn dance" craze and how WSM's ongoing Grand Ole Opry is the last and greatest of those shows, "Countrypolitian" music, Outlaw Country, etc., the entire 16 hour series (8 2 hour episodes) is well worth your time.  It's through, and I won't try to catalog it all here.

Now for the downsides, which are minor but worth noting.  The country-related genre of Americana music received only one brief mention, where it should have gotten at least 15 minutes' out of the 16 hours.  There may have been too much focus and interview time with too limited a handful of musicians and insiders, but hey, with documentaries sometimes you just roll with the folks who'll take the time and tell the story.  My biggest kick though is that it ends in 1996, and needs another episode to bring us up to the present.  In this nearly quarter-century, country music has taken all kinds of new directions, as has the rest of the music industry, with successful self-produced on-line publishing and a thriving live music scene.  I realize that some people are stuck in the 90s, but this is the 20s folks!

I need to go back through the series with a pen and pad, just to write down music to fetch in the near future.

OK, apart from "needs a ninth disc" it's everything it needs to be.  Recommended!

ps: Watch the extras, especially on the last episode.  The segment on "what one song do you think epitomizes country music?" was priceless.  Surprisingly, there was a pretty fair consensus among the musicians and insiders: George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," closely followed by one of several of Hank Williams' high-and-lonesome tunes.

Movie Review: The Dead Don't Die,

 but the living shouldn't bother.

It looks like this was supposed to be a likable send-up of zombie movies, with Bill Murray ambling around as the police chief in a small town ("A Real Nice Place"), with Adam Driver and Chloe Sevengy (sp? don't care) as his two officers.  Tilda Swinton as usual plays a walking, talking WTF, and the script has her figuratively jumping the shark (no, not literally, and no spoilers here for you).  Along with these four, the rest of the cast of A- & B-ish actors are shamefully underused.

The main trouble here is that the gags don't come fast enough, nor really hard enough.  The self-referential banter about the theme song or "this won't end well" never quite fit.  Furthermore, with the somber, nearly silent background tone it doesn't feel like the comedy that it's trying to be.  So, what's left after that?  Nothing worth spending your time watching.  Maybe the best that can be said is that, at its best TDDD borders on "so bad it's good."  But not quite.

1 star out of 5, just because the actors did what they could with this turkey.  Also, the old Pontiac was kind of cool.  Plus, having "Samuel Fuller" on one tombstone was a nice hat-tip.

Recovered, but...

 Finished the chainsawing and yard clean-up yesterday,

The Giant Pile of Debris

and the electricians showed up yesterday to touch up on Monday's electrical repairs, so now the dryer works,

but in the meantime, sometimes you've just got to do the wash.  Besides, how else would you find out that the dryer circuit's not properly hooked up?  Nothing finds a dead dryer circuit like a washing machine load of damp laundry.  Eh, the weather was nice, sunny & dry.

Still waiting for the cable internet service to return, but the end of the street that comes in on is still oak limb salad.  Just glad the AC power supply comes in from the other end of the street.  So, recovered and taking a day or two off.  Think I'll take a bike ride around BSL today and take in the sights.  And now this:

How 2020.  Well, that roulette wheel is still spinning and I've got a few days to catch my breath.  Think I'll make good use of them, starting with another cup of coffee and a bike ride.

A Few Days Off

 Just a few.  Well, maybe more than a few.  I'm still dealing with a few items from Hurricane Zeta – nothing bad, just dealing.  And I'm tired.  Really tired.  And you don't want to hear about the little chores and snafus that make up a hurricane's aftermath.  So I'm taking a few days off.  It may stretch into a month or more.  Don't worry.  At very least, I promise a year-end wrap-up, but I intend to be back and blogging much sooner than that.

Coffeeneuring Stop #7: Henderson Point Park

 Last Wednesday, I wrote "What could be more 2020 than sneaking in a coffeeneuring trip with a hurricane bearing down on the area?"  How about coffeeneuring in a declared disaster area following Hurricane Zeta?  With MRE coffee of course...

1. where: Henderson Point Park, Pass Christian MS

2. date: 11/1/20

3. what: French vanilla cappuccino (instant, in a bag, heated w/MRE heater)

4. ride details: CX bike, 70F-ish clear blue fall day

5. distance: 11.5 miles round-trip

Continuing with Disaster Week here on the MS Gulf Coast, after chainsawing for a good chunk of the morning, I drove to the National Guard distro point at the farmer's market to restock on ice.  I didn't need the case of MREs, but the only question the guys working there asked was "How many people?"  "Two."  [turns to shout]"Two!" and four guys run up with the standard load-out, throw it in back of the truck, and move along don't slow down the line.  [rolling out]"Thanks!"  "No problem!  Next!!!"  Eh, won't have to hunt for groceries before next week, and the ice is much appreciated while finishing out the remaining fresh food in the house.

But back to the coffeeneuring.  I had to peek into one of the MREs, not having seen a standard one in fifteen years.  Hm, what's this?  French vanilla cappuccino in a mix-and-drink bag?  That's going in the jersey pocket for this afternoon's ride.

On to the ride.  Today's destination is a half-mile from this year's stop #4, but on the bay side of Henderson point, at the little park tucked next to the Bay Bridge.  Downright cozy, it seems a world away from the windswept Gulf-facing point.  Families were out with the kids on the playground, burning off pent-up energy.  Another group was down on the beach under the bridge salvaging lumber off a washed-away dock.  I took a seat on some of the larger debris, and added water to the coffee bag and the heater...

 

 

While waiting for the cappuccino to heat, I snapped a couple of pictures of the mouth of the Bay of St. Louis, including the Hwy 90 and train bridges...

And then raised a toast to another successful year of coffeeneuring...

For instant coffee in a bag, it was surprisingly good.  None of the synthetic or metallic tastes usually associated with instant mixes.  The new MRE heaters are a big step up, and had things tasty-hot in just minutes.  The drink was a little sweeter than I'd usually go for, but that's just me.  Frankly, it was a good cup of coffee, and much appreciated after a week like this one.

On the way back, I snapped a pic of the park pavilion:

It seems to have made it through Zeta without a scratch, though the rest of the park was looking pretty rough.

And that wraps up the 2020 Coffeeneuring Challenge here on the MS coast.  It has been different this year, to be sure, and it will always be outstanding in its weirdness.  Looking forward to next year already, which will assuredly be quite different: less solo, more social, and lots more coffee-shop-with-walls.

Circling back to the One Good Thing theme for this year: Right after I got home, the electrician called and said he'd be here first thing in the morning to get my power hooked back up.  Truly the one good thing I need!  Funny how these things work out.

In closing, here's a pic of the beach bench where Stop #1 happened last month:

Hm, yeah, that was quite a storm.

Coffeeneuring Stop #6: Waveland's Ladner Pier Pavilions

 With a hurricane on the way (but not here yet), what else to do but take a ride along the beachfront down to the Waveland Pier at lunchtime.  We'll get back to the hurricane part in a minute.  But first...

1. where: Garfield Ladner municipal pier pavilions, Waveland MS

2. date: 10/28/20

3. what: chicory cafe au lait with half&half

4. ride details: CX bike on a blustery pre-storm day

5. distance: 4.6 miles, with another 3.8 miles added on by riding along the beach toward downtown, in sort of a T-shaped route.

What could be more 2020 than sneaking in a coffeneuring trip with a hurricane bearing down on the area?  Well the window boards were all up, the yard objects were all stowed, and the cars were moved away from the trees.  Time to ride off some pre-storm jitters.

So here I sit, typing on my little laptop by the light of a battery lamp, linked to blogger via the phone's wifi hotspot.  Ugh, soooo much cleanup to do.  Second-worst storm I've been through, a distant second to Katrina.  Got to find an electrician tomorrow... and get the chainsaw running... so much stuff to do.  Time to upload pictures and hit the rack.  Main thing: everyone's OK.

Coffee, and listening to storm news...

 

Not too rough, yet.  Water's only up about a foot.  I hear it topped out in the neighborhood of 10 feet.

 

I wonder what Zeta clocked in at when it finally hit the MS Coast?

afternote, 10/29: Gusts to 104 recorded here in town.  I believe it!

Next Monday: 100 Years of KDKA

 KDKA in Pittsburgh has a decent claim to being the first commercial broadcaster, and while these things are always murky, it is absolutely not in doubt that they first began broadcasting on November 2, 1920.  Stumbled across this article about their early studio and transmitter hardware today, and if you want more history here's their Wikipedia page.  Lots of nice grainy old B&W photos of tube amplifiers and wind-up record players – one with what is likely the first electric phono pickup.

It's an odd thing, but when I lived in Pittsburgh I can't recall ever listening in on KDKA.  Lots and lots of WRCT, but no KDKA.  Eh, I was busy with other things.  Way busy.

Side-story:  Some years back I met an old gentleman who had grown up in Pittsburgh, and been in his teens circa 1920.  Being young and technically-minded, he built a crystal radio to tune in the then-new KDKA.  He related that people in the neighborhood were fascinated by his device, but they didn't quite understand what was going on.  Word got around and people who barely knew his family were dropping by, asking to have a listen at this mysterious gizmo.  One old matron tucked the earpiece to her ear, listened, made some strange faces, listened again, slammed the earpiece down on on the desk, shouted "I still don't believe it!" and stomped out.  My, how times have changed.

Anyway, I'll bet that they're planning something interesting and cool next Monday evening.  Don't have a clue as to what, but on their 100th birthday they've got to have something planned.  Will definitely try to tune them in via skywave.  Remember, 1020 AM, a good half-hour after dark.

Coffeeneuring Stop #5: Washington Street Pier

 Yet another coffee shop without walls, today's coffeeneuring ride was to the Washington Street pier & boat launch area.

1. where: Washington Street pier fill, Bay St. Louis MS

2. date: 10/25/20

3. what: cafe au lait, chicory coffee w/ half&half

4. ride details: CX bike on a cool (~70F) morning along the seawall

5. distance: 3.8 miles round-trip

Another beachfront landmark.  Sat on the rip-rap, sipped a couple of cups, and read for a bit.  Then pedaled home and had lunch.

Rip-rap, coffee, bike.

View looking east, toward Henderson Point (see stop #4).  Pilings are from the old Bay ferry, which ran for a couple of years while the new bridge was being constructed in the aftermath of Katrina.  Pelican!

Spooky October Picture

 From today's NASA APOD.  It's a computer simulation of the distribution of dark matter in a large section of the universe.  Not exactly real, but it is carefully constructed to show the result of hypothesized interactions.  If it looks spooky, it's because the universe can be a pretty spooky place – if you look at it the right way.

Coffeeneuring Stop #4: Henderson Point

 Continuing out theme this year of "coffee shops without walls but near water," here's today's lunchtime stop just across the bridge into Harrison County.

1. where: Henderson Point, Pass Christian MS

2: date: 10/23/20

3. what: cafe au lait, chicory coffee & half-and-half

4. ride details: CX bike on a day before a cool front blows in

5. distance: 12.0 miles round-trip

Another favorite turn-around spot, here on the Gulf side of Henderson Point.  It's about the prettiest section of beach on this end of the MS coast.  It's still relatively wild and secluded after being scoured clean by Hurricane Katrina.  There are a few new houses around, but a lot more foundation slabs can be seen, if you know where to look.

Looking west, back toward Bay St. Louis.  You can see town's waterfront over the back wheel and top tube.

Looking southeast toward Cat Island.  Can't really see it from here though, elevation's too low and the island's over the horizon.

A Mixed Bag in Space

 Just finished reading A Hole in Space, a 1974 short story collection by Larry Niven.  Don't know why I'd never read, or even heard of this one before, because back in the '80s I burned through just about everything he'd written up until then.  So, how was it?  Mixed, with everything between C+ to A.  There's a classic Louis Wu story in there (There is a Tide, which I'd read long ago), a very noir-ish story about a criminal gang using flash mobs to pull off their heists (the enabling technology is a little different than cell phones however), some bribery mixed with game theory, an alien contact story where a bartender saves the Earth, why pure theoretical physicists can't be trusted with alien hardware, etc.

It's a good way to spend a couple of evenings.  Really wishing he'd get an English edition of Protector out on Kindle though.  My copy's packed up, and it just feels like time to re-read it.  In the meantime though, it was nice to stumble across a previously unknown collection like A Hole in Space.

The CitiCar: Truly Awful

 Article at Wikipedia and some hilarious video at youtube.  

People look back at the 70s with nostalgia, but it is hard for anybody who was there to get past leisure suits and CitiCars and the like.  OK, there were a few things like punk rock and and the VAX-11/780 that were pretty good, but for the most part the 70s were about shutting down the Apollo program and building junk like the CitiCar.

Coffeeneuring Stop #3: Cowand Point

 At yet another coffee-shop-without-walls, here's a late morning stop along the Bay of St. Louis.  

1. where: Cowand Point, Bay St. Louis MS

2. date: 10/17/20

3. what: black-black coffee, brewed from espresso beans

4. ride details: CX bike on a mid-70s October day

5. distance: 7.4 miles round-trip

One of those perfect mid-October days just after a cool front blows through.  I had another place in mind, but while zipping by on the seawall I spied this one and quickly turned around.  About the time I settled in with my cup, I knew why this place felt so familiar: it's reminiscent of a favorite fishing spot in Florida where the alligators have taken over.  Hm.  The odds of having a reptile encounter were low, being in town and with the cool weather and all, but it was a definite possibility so I finished my cup and didn't stay for a second.  Beautiful spot though.

Satellites Miss Yesterday

 Article at space.com: Phew! 2 big hunks of space junk zoom safely past each other in near miss

Not that I'm disappointed or anything, but a Kessler cascade would have been right at home in 2020.

Dinosaurs & Kids

 And no, this isn't some Jurassic Park tale.  Boy, 12, discovers rare dinosaur skeleton at the BBC.

That is cool.  Imagine his start-of-school-year essay: "What I Did on My Summer Vacation"!

Halloween is On the Way

 ...and here's a good take on Screamin' Jay Hawkins' I Put a Spell on You.

While we're at it, Halloween is the night for pirate radio.  More here.  How-to primer here.  Be ready.

Coffeeneuring Stop #2: North Beach Boat Launch

 Just another quiet morning in Bay St. Louis, and time to get out and do the seawall ride again.

1. where: Along the bayfront seawall, all the way at the north end by the boat launch.

2. date: 10/12/20

3. what: cafe au lait, made with Cafe du Monde coffee-with-chicory and a dash of half-and-half

4. ride details: CX bike on a warm, even hot, early October day

5. distance: 11.8 miles round-trip

This seawall route has been pretty much my stock lunchtime ride for this middle part of 2020.  The whole coffeeshop without walls concept is working out really well this year.  Here, have a pic of some pelicans perching just offshore in the Bay; as always, click to embiggen.

Then I came home and took the window boards down.  They'd been up since September 14th(!) when two hurricanes that made a run at the area in one week.  The combination of storms, rain, and yet more storms worked together to keep them up until a sunny day had everything dry and conducive to taking them down and putting back in storage.  Hopefully they won't have to go back up this year, but this is 2020 so who knows?

Shortwave Antenna: Vertical or Horizontal?

 This is a question that has circled around on the fringes of my consciousness for years now, but one that I've never quite found time to test.  And it is a simple question: When using a random wire antenna with a portable shortwave receiver, is it better to string the wire vertically or horizontally, or does it even matter? Mostly this is a question when out camping, because arranging a 19' wire vertically is usually a good bit more involved than just stringing it out along some nearby bushes.

Before going any farther, I want to point out that this is an exercise in ordinary backyard shortwave listening with relatively inexpensive equipment.  There are many, many better-engineered and more costly solutions to the technical challenge of shortwave scanning, and this does not address any of those sophisticated approaches.  This is for the person who opens up the box and wonders about the best way to hang the included long-wire auxiliary antenna.

Equipment:  Tecsun PL-660 SW/AM/FM/Air Band receiver, with its included 19' random-wire antenna.  Internal battery power used.

Conditions & Time: Clear local weather.  hamqsl.com's nowcast of band conditions were fair from 3.5-14.35 MHz, and poor for higher frequencies, with SFI = 72, SN = 26, A = 5, K = 1.  Time was 21:00-21:30 UTC, or 4-4:30 pm local CDT.

Sawhorses spaced ~17' apart.
Radio and notepad can be
seen on ground in front of the
near sawhorse.

Procedure:  Out in the backyard (typical residential neighborhood, well-spaced ~150' between houses, above-ground power lines 125' away), suspend random wire from ground to its full length.  This was achieved using a length of paracord over a tree limb, with the tree trunk ~30' from the radio's location.  With the PL-660's antenna gain control set to "Normal" (i.e., the mid-setting of Local-Normal-DX) and the bandwidth set to narrow, use the receiver's automatic scan function to see how many stations were received.  Make notes of the number of transmissions detected, reception characteristics and quality, and any perceived noise levels.  Re-orient the antenna to a low horizontal position, over two sawhorses approximately 3' high (see picture), and repeat.

Results:  For the vertical antenna orientation, 32 stations were detected between 5959 – 15730 kHz.  Nearly all were intelligible, with those at the lower end more steady and those a the higher end much more variable in strength.  For the horizontal antenna orientation, 21 stations were detected between 9265 – 1570 kHz.  Similar overall signal quality was heard for the received stations in either antenna orientation.  More noise was noticeable at the lower frequencies between the stations for the vertical antenna orientation.  However, this was significantly below the received signal levels, and not an issue in the overall listening quality.

Conclusions & Discussion:  Suspending the wire antenna vertically worked better, especially at the lower frequencies.  Getting a wire up 21'+ vertically is usually not as convenient as stringing it horizontally, but it may be worth the extra effort, depending on the location, campsite, nearby trees, etc.  The overall conditions were typical for fall camping weather, with fair-to poor radio propagation conditions, so this result should be broadly applicable for how SW portables are often used.  This result may change with propagation and radio noise conditions, both for atmospheric and local noise sources.  Testing will continue as propagation conditions improve with solar cycle 25 getting underway.

-------

Addendum, 10/12: While writing this up yesterday evening, it occurred to me that I hadn't tested the PL-660's built-in whip antenna.  This comparison is important, because sometimes the wire antenna is too cumbersome to deploy.  So, how does the whip antenna compare?

Conditions & Time: Overall, very similar to yesterday.  hamqsl.com reports fair conditions from 3.5–14.35 MHz, and poor for higher frequencies.  SFI = 72, SN = 26, A = 3, K = 1.  Same time of day as yesterday's testing.

Procedure: Repeat of yesterday, with the whip antenna added to the test.  The whip was oriented vertically.

Results: For the vertical 19' wire, 31 stations were found by the auto-scan function between 2380 – 15770 kHZ.  Electrical noise was low but audible in the 3 MHz region, fading to none at higher frequencies, and not a significant source of interference with any stations.  For the horizontal wire, 15 stations were found between 9265 – 13630 kHz.  Electrical noise was barely audible.  With the whip in use only 1 station was found.  Switching the antenna gain to its DX (most sensitive) setting, 6 stations were found.

Revised Conclusions:  Adding to yesterday's conclusions, the whip antenna functioned but was vastly inferior to the wire antenna in either configuration, even with the gain set to DX.  Today's results with the wire antenna were, unsurprisingly, very similar to yesterday's, given that the ionospheric and weather conditions were nearly identical.  Noise was not a factor in receiving for any of these antennas or configurations, but did noticeably increase for the vertical wire antenna.

Coffeeneuring Stop #1: South Beach Blvd

 In true 2020 style, started out close to home, just a simple bike ride down to the beach to sit on a walkway bench and enjoy a couple of cups.  With Cruisin' the Coast going on, the mean streets of Bay St. Louis are no place for bikes this weekend.  Well, at least not for any distance, not out of the neighborhood.  On to the particulars:

1. where: Corner of Beach and Ramoneda, Bay St. Louis MS

2. date: 10/11/20

3. what: home-brewed Columbian, served black out of a thermos

4. details: warm, clear day in the wake of a passing near-miss of a hurricane; CX bike

5. 2.2 miles round-trip

Soaked up a few early fall rays while sipping Columbian at a convenient bench on the boardwalk just down from my house.   Finished a Larry Niven sci-fi short story from the early 1970's, The Last Days of the Permanent Floating Riot Club, which somewhat accurately predicted flash mobs and a criminal gang making organized use of the chaos.  Very 2020, and even though the enabling tech is different, the human psychology is spot-on.  Didn't quite get a sunburn, but got all the sun I needed – or could stand.  Note to self: bring a hat next time. 

ps: For 2020, my coffeeneuring week will run Saturdays thru Fridays.  Started a day late!

The Berlin Candy Bomber Turns 100

Read up on this fascinating and cheerful bit of U.S.-German history at Wikipedia.

The world needs more Gail Halvorsens.  Happy Birthday, and many happy returns!

The Replacements, Explained (sort of)

 Medium-length article at some music blog.  It's Friday and this hurricane season has been a nail-biter.

Eh, Coffeeneuring '20 starts tomorrow.  That's something to look forward to.

Thought for Today

 "The fundamental principle of science, the definition almost, is this: the sole test of the validity of any idea is experiment." –Richard P. Feynman

 All I got for today.  Maybe more this weekend, but that's all I got for today.

Kind of funny, kind of cute. But mostly disturbing.

Two preschool teachers bring their professional skills to debate moderation, as seen at the BBC.

Beyond saying "funny, yet disturbing," this is presented without further comment.

Paridoxically, This is Good News

 Tests reveal silent [coronavirus] reinfections in hospital workers.  It's the September 28 post, you may have to scroll down and around a bit.  It's worth it, it's short.

Corona reinfection?  On the face of it, that doesn't sound very good, and it is true that no reinfection is  what we'd really want.  However, there is a silver lining.  It's a slightly different strain, so OK, viruses are gonna mutate and reinfect, anybody who's gotten more than one cold in their lifetime knows that.  Here's the good news though: the fact that these are  asymptomatic cases means that these hospital workers weren't slammed by antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) on reinfection. 

ADE was a remote but real possibility, something that could make a good-but-not-perfect vaccine completely backfire.  With this news though, it seems that if the possibility of ADE was remote before, it's now remote-squared.  Additionally, the fact that only a couple of cases have shown up means that there is likely some cross-protection between slightly different versions of the virus.

It's all very preliminary, but I'll take any good news on this topic that I can get these days.  BTW, these brief daily updates from Nature are one of the best sources of real news on the matter that I've found.  No sensationalism, just a bite-sized bit of the latest science.

Happy Coffee Day!

 Not much else to say – pour yourself a cup and enjoy.

More later, maybe this weekend.

Coffeeneuring 2020: One Good Thing

 Every year this event has a theme: "Eight is Great," "The Best of Intentions," etc.  Well this year we all need One Good Thing, and so that's this year's theme.  Anyway, this year's rules (which are much the same as previous years') and the kick-off post are here at Chasing Mailboxes.

Past years' misadventures can be seen here: 2019  2018  2017

A Good Finish for the Last Two Weeks

 Pretty much for the month too for that matter.

What a Difference 22 Years Makes

 1942: XB-29 first flight.  Maximum speed: 357 mph.  Service ceiling: 32,000 ft.

 1964: XB-70 first flight.  Maximum speed: 2056 mph.  Service ceiling: 77,000 ft.

Compare and contrast.  That is all for today.

As the World B^HTurns...

 ... and as 2020 grows even more 2020-ish, it's good to see some good things still around:

A London coffee shop is charging $64 for its premium brew -- here's what it tastes like

Rainy Saturday here, with a storm still milling around in the Gulf.  Don't think I'll be taking down the window board just yet.  Time to go brew a very-much-not-$64 cup of coffee and fiddle with this newly-mandatory Blogger interface.

A Slight Change in the Weather

    

What a difference a week makes.  Water should be back down in a day or two.

Lillies for Hurricanes

They always pop up in the yard this time of year.  I'll probably plant a few more for luck in the coming year.  As always, click to embiggen.

Coffeeneuring Returns for 2020

A tad busy watching this year's "S" storm (can't remember the name...  why not "2020-S" etc. for a new naming convention?), so here's a quick bite of good news: 

Coffeeneuring returns for 2020!

Read all about it here.  And expect maybe something more creative in a post later in the week.

Something Bright and Colorful

Ugh.

Also, Blogger's gone back to breaking the interface.  Let's see how much longer this whole blogging thing lasts.

The Pre-History of MFJ

MFJ is a medium-sized electronics manufacturer in upstate Mississippi, making products primarily geared toward ham operators and shortwave listening enthusiasts.  Started by a graduate student making filter boards in his spare time, it has become a remarkable success story.  It could well be the only sizable U.S. consumer electronics manufacturer that has thrived since the 70's.  

Read about it here at the SWLing Post.

I use their gear on a daily basis, primarily antennas, RF switches, tuners, meters, and the like.  (Strangely, the make very few actual radios.)  They're not built to absurdly high standards, but they do the job and the price is always right.  We need more companies like this one.

All Those Mystery Seed Packs Explained

Probably.  The term is "brushing scam," and no, the receiver isn't the one being scammed (though I still wouldn't plant those seeds).  Here's the article at the BBC.

What a convoluted way of attempting to gin up business.  Even a hint that a company is trying something like that should be a sign to take your money elsewhere.

Man with Electric Flyswatter Blows Up Part of House

You just can't make this stuff up.  Story here.

No word as to the brand of electric flyswatter, but we can probably guess: The Pros choose ACME.

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Warner Bros. is making a few new Roadrunner cartoons!  We'll see if this leads to a new golden age, but in the meantime here's one from last summer to enjoy:

Wow, it's "last summer" already.  Anyway, click the lower right corner to embiggen.

Good News – Perhaps. Probably.

CDC Asks States to Plan for Potential Vaccine Distribution in Late October (NPR)

Even though this has been walked back a little since the initial announcement, even if a covid vaccine is available in say late November, that's still faster than anyone could reasonably have expected just six months ago.

This is encouraging, so long as the antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) question is addressed.  You can read up on ADE here (TLDR: fading/low antibody levels can backfire and actually assist viruses in attacking cells).  Some are saying Yikes!, while others are saying this problem is unlikely, but we're watching out for it anyway.

Either way, I figure there are the Phase III trials plus several million healthcare workers and first responders in line ahead of the rest of us ordinary folks.  Any questions will be long answered before we get to line up.  But, pretty much... yeah, sign me up already.

AAAAaaah!

Just when you thought 2020 couldn't get any worse:
Truck crashes into Bay liquor store[!] at The Sea Coast Echo.

Know Your Wizard Hats

Article at Nerds on Earth: https://nerdsonearth.com/2015/08/7-types-of-wizard-hats/

Not the best site perhaps, but it is a nice little lightweight article.  You take your small joys where you find them these days.

More on the Moka Pot

This article crossed my field of view recently: The Humble Brilliance of Italy's Moka Coffee Pot.  It's short so RTWT.

I really like my Bialetti two-cupper.  Still haven't taken it camping or coffeeneuring, but that day is coming soon, very soon.  (Side note: I wonder if coffeeneuring will officially be on this year?  Regardless of official status, I'm still up for it.)  When tested last year, it worked great with a little alcohol penny stove.

Let's give Mr. Bialetti the Final Words on today's post.

Nothing, but Maybe Something

Hm.  Will keep an eye on the weather this week.  At least, now that it's Monday, the rains have stopped.

WWL and Football Have Officially Jumped the Shark

Outside of Saints football season, WWL has at noon on Sundays in the past broadcast audio from one of the old school mainstream news-panel shows (Faze the Nation or Press the Meet, something like that).  So I tuned in, hoping for perhaps a different viewpoint, perhaps a few insights, or to maybe to pick up something I'd missed during this past chaotic week.

Not today.  Today... a Classic pre-game football commentary show from 2010.

I get it, people are hurting, wishing for some kind of return to normalcy, wanting their old seasonal routines, their old football back.  Still, WWL needs to rise above this.  Present something new, even if it is only speculation about the next football season.  Honestly, I think they can't, because they're having the same problems as a lot of people.

It's terrible to suffer from mental problems.  It's even worse when you broadcast them regionally at 50,000 watts.

Triple Feature: Greer's Retrotopia, Retro Future, and an Interview

This is essentially the same material in three different formats.  Retrotopia is a short didactic novel spelling out the ideas espoused in the non-fiction book Retro Future, and you can get a lot of it in a very condensed form in this linked podcast interview (careful; it's a little tricky to download, and it's a nearly 700 MB .wav file; that's 10x the size it would be in .mp3).

Back to the core ideas alluded to above.  In a nutshell, the claim is that current technology has largely reached or passed the point of diminishing returns.  Increasing complexity, decreasing functionality, and a general non-obvious interface user-unfriendliness have taken hold.

In the novel form, Retrotopia is set in the American midwest about fifty years into the future.  Due to a brief period of unpleasantries the U.S.A. is no longer a cohesive whole, and various regions have re-coalesced into smaller nations.  The protagonist is a trade envoy from the northeastern seaboard nation, which is desperately trying to hang onto a modern-seeming high-tech way of life.  He moves through the novel taking his time to poke around as he, and we, are shown How To Do It the Old-School Way.  Points are made, another catastrophe ensues (Kessler syndrome, a chain-reaction of satellite debris collisions), and while diplomatic visitors from other regions lose their comms and remaining marbles, the residents of the retrotopian Lakeland Republic simply shrug and go about their resilient business.

Alright, that's the plot and the plot devices.  On to the ideas, which are explicitly given in Retro Future.  There's a lot of pointing out what's currently going wrong throughout most of the book, but many of the positive parts are spelled out in the section Seven Sustainable Technologies.  Here they are, with a few comments on the ones I'm on good terms with:
1. Organic intensive gardening.  Incredible strides have been made in this over the past 50 years, to the point where it can be commercially viable (example), or at least worth the effort for a residential food gardener.
2. Solar thermal technologies.  Good thermodynamics here.  I've always though that it is silly to turn beautiful 60 Hz AC sine waves into hot water when free sunlight abounds.  The hitch is that this currently revolves around mostly non-$tandard cu$tom plumbing in$stall$, but that can change as it becomes more common.
3. Sustainable wood heating.  Same comments as #2.  What about air conditioning?  What about it, I grew up without it.  In Florida.  It's no big deal once you acclimate and get used to changing the bedsheets more often.
4. Sustainable health care.  Hrm, that's a big topic for another day.
5. Letterpress printing and its related technologies.  Another one from my youth.  Technologically sustainable, but oh is it hard work.  As a side note, fully a quarter of my undergraduate physics classmates were escapees from their parents' hot-metal print shops, and through grad school and ensuing career I keep running into fellow refugees.  We always share the same gruesome stories of Saturdays spent melting down used linotype slugs, late nights fixing broken machinery, etc.
6. Low-tech shortwave radio.  Yeah, it works well, and it doesn't need a constellation of comms sats.  Takes some education and skill though.
7. Computer-free mathematics.  Here's where Greer steps out of his depth.  Yes, there are lots of useful things that can be done with pencil and paper, and I have done many of them.  However, there are many more useful differential equations where closed-form solutions can be shown not to even exist and numerical methods provide the only solutions available.  Furthermore, for problems that require even relatively small data sets as input, it is frequently impossible to carry them out in a useful computation time by pencil and paper.  For example, weather data assimilation and forecasting fall into this class.

There's also a lot about energy-efficient transportation methods (canals, rail, sail, etc.), but this post is running long and you get the idea.

To sum it all up, both of these books were interesting reading.  Perhaps the fictional presentation or the just-the-facts-ma'am version is better suited to your liking, but either way it's much the same content.  Take a listen to the above-linked podcast in any case to decide if you want more.

It is funny though, the discussion on the local 2m repeater yesterday morning was all about the weird, unusable turns computer software has been taking over the last few decades.  This is exactly the sort of "side grade" Greer discusses in these three works, and it's clearly a problem in today's world.  It's good to see some possible solutions in print.

K+15

... and the world has mercifully moved on.  Pandemic, riots, an election that's being called rigged two months before the actual day, and Hurricane Laura this week are enough to rightly take the spotlight.  Here are this site's links; I'm moving on too.

Hoo Boy.

October just can't get here soon enough.

Mobile Radio Power: One Fuse or Two?

Bob K0NR makes his case at: https://www.k0nr.com/wordpress/2020/03/one-fuse-or-two/

TLDR Version: If you blow the fuse on the negative/ground side, there still remains a current path through the coax ground shield braid and that would be a Bad Thing.  His solution is to only have a fuse on the positive/hot side and to install a substantial chassis ground on the radio.

I tend to agree.  Lots of nice diagrams at the article, lots of well-explained points to consider.

Of course all this is moot for a fully-floating ground plane antenna, but how often do we see those in mobile installs?

Surprisingly Close to the Truth

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/funding
Be sure to read the mouse-over text and to hit the big red button at the bottom for one more gag.

Hm, got a corner staked out already.

Two Special Event Stations of Note

15th Anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina & Rita, Aug 28 – Aug 30
and
Burning Man, Aug 27 – Sep 7

Sort of interesting, both.  You can find full details at the ARRL's page.  (it's dynamic content, will change within weeks; also, you'll have to scroll down some)  Weirdly, I'd really like to get that Burning Man contact in.

Google/Blogger Relents, Decides to Use Functioning Interface

Well that's some good news this week.  I'll probably stay around here now.  Oh man, is the original interface functional and simple to use.  Got the useable stats page and everything back.  Nice!

If you're wondering what all this is about, Google/Blogger has been struggling with a new posting interface/editor all summer.  It didn't go well.  Here're my earlier thoughts on the matter.

3 Hurricane Sites I Trust

This is sort of a re-hash, but I was asked about it today, so here goes:

The best first, the National Hurricane Center:
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov

This site has raw model results buried down in there:
https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/?index_region=at

This site has a meteorology grad student explaining what's going on:
https://www.tropicaltidbits.com
He usually posts once per day, in the evening.  Things are frequently out of date by the next day.

All the rest is media-screaming, designed to induce watching thru the next commercial break.

It's gonna be a bumpy week.

2020 So Far

Maybe have something constructive to say over the weekend.

Silca Pump Rebuild: 32 Years and Going Strong

Strangely, there's not a lot to say here beyond the post title.  Parts are available directly from Silca.  If you don't have one of their basic floor pumps, they'll be happy to sell you one for $99.  As I've pointed out before, this is not a cheap price but then this is not a cheap pump either: 32 years, two rebuilds, and still as good a new, albeit with a nice patina and a lot of fond memories.  But first, a picture:

So what parts did this overhaul require?  The leather plunger washer was the main one, just because it's the heart of the pump.  (Don't forget to buy the required leather oil that Silca also conveniently sells.)  The rubbery washer in the presta chuck; those just wear with every use, and it stacks up over 17 years.  Finally, the gauge.  The old one from circa 1988 was plastic-bodied.  It could flex when smacked on the side, which lead to the clear cover popping off sometime back during the first Bush administration, and eventually to the demise of the internal parts.  It held air nonetheless, but it did necessitate a separate hand gauge (something you should have anyway; strangely, Silca doesn't sell these).  The new one is metal, and there's a fair chance it'll outlast me.  Accurate too.  BTW, they sell a complete overhaul kit or the required bits individually.  I opted for the al la carte route, since the air hose was still good from the last rebuild.

It's noteworthy that everything, and I mean everything, went together smoothly and all seals were air-tight on the first try.  How often does something like that happen on a hard-used third-of-a-century-old piece of gear?  You can get a cheaper – in more than one sense – bike pump down at the big-box store, but this is the real deal, the one you want.

Plug "silca" into the search bar for some of my other impressions of their pumps and customer service.

ps: I still can't get the right font in this crappy new blogger interface.  Will continue with what we've got here for the moment, mostly out of inertia.