WFD 2021 Wrapped

 With nice weather today and thunderstorms in the forecast for all day tomorrow, and not wanting to return with a truckload of wet gear, I just treated this year's Winter Field Day as a pleasant afternoon in the Apalachicola National Forest at the Hickory Landing boat launch.  Made about a dozen contacts, most of them digital but some SSB voice, scattered across the 20m & 40m bands.  Also tried 15m & 10m, but they were dead-dead.  Used the lightweight QRP rig, then packed along a bunch of other "well I might use it" crap too.  Even hauling to and from the car, it was too much on the daypack, but it wasn't too far so it all worked out.  Note to self next time: No, you don't need to bring the laptop charger and a spare LiFePO4 batt for a three hour trip to the woods.  Didn't really matter this time though.

Technically WFD runs through to 2pm tomorrow afternoon.  However as previously mentioned, thunderstorms.  Pretty much makes it a wrap, at least for me.

Here, have some pictures:

The river from the campground road.

Artesian well.  Wonder who drilled this one?  And how long's it been running?

The boat ramp.

Another view of the ramp, from farther up.

The gear.  You can just see the feed transformer on the Par EFT-10/20/40 antenna, along with the wire angling upward.  This time out it was pitched as an inverted V, which is how I'd tuned the thing originally. While it's resonant on those three bands, it's kinda narrow on 40.  With the LDG tuner, all of the 40m band is available, along with 15m & 17m -- definitely worth the extra weight and hassle.

Six Minutes of Sci-Fi Horror

 DECOMISSIONED, at Vimeo.  Six Minutes.

Synopsis: A "suitsat," made from radio components stuffed into a decommissioned space suit and launched off the ISS (yes, this has actually been done a couple of times), takes on a life of its own and doesn't take kindly to being discarded.  The station commander's eyes are perfect: first wide-open in wonder at the universe, then wide-open in terror.

Your Good New Fix for Today

 Moderna vaccine seems to work on recent coronavirus variants, at the BBC.

OK, that's enough happy for now.  Back your your regularly scheduled winter gloom.

To Tate's Hell and Back

 Nothing astonishing, just a nice gravel road ride in Tate's Hell Forest to the Dwarf Cypress Forest (earlier blogged about here) and beyond.  Here, have some pics:

That is all for today.  But it was a good day!

The Word on Apalachicola Bay Oystermen & The State of the Bay

Dispatch from Eastpoint: Requiem for an oyster and a way of life at The Times.

It's pretty depressing, but this is how things are rolling out.  Go RTWT.  Things could turn around, but it's going to take time, work, and a fair measure of luck.  The problems are far deeper than a few ecological missteps with the Bay or the double-whammy of a forest fire and a hurricane.

Worth your time: The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society site

 link here

Especially noteworthy is their Dark Adventure Radio Theater series of Lovecraft's stories re-cast as 1930's radio plays.  Dig around and see what you can find.

File it under 'books' and 'scifi,' though many other labels could apply.

Is an AM Sync Detector All That Necessary?

This is "AM" as in "amplitude modulation," not "AM" as in "medium wave broadcast band" (though amplitude modulation is used extensively there, and that's where it gets its name).

Back to the subject at hand, using a synchronous detector is really getting down into the weeds for an increasingly obsolete modulation method.  As a practical matter, on a good radio you'd want to use to use for shortwave or medium wave broadcast reception, I'll say yes.  More on this, including technical details and some discussion, at The SWLing Post.

Coffee: There is NOTHING It Can't Do

 Researchers are using coffee to diagnose Covid-19

That is all for today.

Selling Bikes is Hard

 But when you haven't ridden them in a while, it is time.  Still hurts though.  Here, have some theme music. 

FWIW, you can look them up on the Tallahassee area Craigslist, or just email me.  The items: 1989 GT Karakoram (not posted yet; pic only) | 2000 Trek STP-200 (not posted yet; pic only) | 2009 Specialized Roubaix (Craigslist post)

A Craigslist gotcha that I'd missed is "can't post similar items within 48 hours of each other."  No biggie, and it totally makes sense.  Will roll the other two posts out over the course of the next week.

It's weird selling a bike to someone other than a close friend.  Eh, time to move on.

Also worth reading: Machine Soul

But is the converse true?

 Italian Scientists Find Drinking Espresso Makes You Less Likely to Die: link to pop article, link to journal paper)

Yes, but does drinking espresso make Italian scientists less likely to die?  That's what I want to know.  Seems plausible, will continue testing this hypothesis.  Maybe I should add a dash of Irish whisky, just to be on the safe side.  Stay tuned for results.

Gap Point Trail

 Hiked the Gap Point Trail on St. George Island yesterday.  Mostly it was about getting out and getting some sunshine, exercise, and woods time.  Good to scope out a primitive campsite for future adventures.  Also there was a radio angle to this adventure, both to scout for a Winter Field Day site, and to check if a 5 watt HT can reach the SARNET-FL repeater (yes on the bayside, but coverage is patchy in the dunes -- no surprises there).  Anyway, sights were seen, exercise was had, pictures were snapped.  Success!

Planning: Winter Field Day 2021

 Watchword for this year's WFD: Flexibility.  Haven't settled on an operating location, haven't really given things much thought.  And of course and as always, the weather has veto power on outdoor activities.  But, having tested and used the QRP radio last week, I do need to get the backpacking gear out and start scouting likely spots.  The possibilities abound, time to start weeding through them.  Just as soon as the rain stops.

 In case you're wondering, here's a link to the WFD site.

2021... and.. still here

 No content as yet, but at least the sun rose again this morning.