So, you're having a bad week already?

 

No you're not.  At least, not in comparison.  Get back to work.

WFD 2024: An Attenuated Outing

With wet & nasty weather forecast for Friday and Saturday with clearing and cool on Sunday, I chose the path of dry comfort and decided to forgo the camping trip and just operate QRP with the FT-817nd from a picnic table at Wright's Lake for the last few hours on Sunday.  Altogether, it was far better than dragging home a pile of wet tent and damp gear.

The rules have changed somewhat for 2024.  There are no vast tubs of bonus points for the various outdoor/disaster related themes (alternate power, outdoors & away-from-home operation, etc.).  Rather, this year there's a simplified point system (1 point phone contact, 2 points for digital keyboard contacts, 2x multiplier for QRP operation) and a set of seven Objectives:

1. Operate 100% on alternative power: Check, with a solar panel no less.  See left side of pic.
2. Operate away from home: Check, at Wright's Lake.
3. Deploy multiple antennas: Argh.  Did all ops on the EFHW QRP antenna.  Would've picked this one up if I'd just screwed the rubber duck antenna onto '817, it was right there on the table.  Interesting twist on the rules: they only say deploy multiple (i.e. n > 1) antennas, not actually make a contact.  So call CQ a couple of times on 70cm and check the box?  That seems a little... gamer-ey.
4. Make a satellite contact: Nope.  Maybe next year?  I keep saying this...
5. Operate on at least six different bands: Nope.  40, 20, 15, & 10 were open (mostly).  160 & 80 are primarily nighttime bands (and good luck with QRP power levels there), and VHF-up simplex is always a long shot here in NFL.
6. Send and receive at least 1 Winlink email: Nope.  Maybe next year?  I keep saying this...
7. Operate 6 continuous hours during the event: Nope.  Squeezed it all into the last 4 hours.  Better than nothing.

So, 2 of 7 Objectives, and a big 12 contacts – 8 phone, 4 digital.  Still had fun.  Maybe the weather'll be dry next year.  I really don't like a big tent having to dry out in my living room.  Looking on the upside, last year would've been 5 of 7 objectives (1,2,3,5,&7), so knocking them all out of the park next year is entirely possible.

ps: Log submitted to WFD's site.  Another year, another foray into the world of frozen operations.  Even if it was a dry & pleasant 60F on Sunday.

Weird of the Week

Two weird things crossed my path this week:

• Wild Apples: The 12 weirdest and rarest Macs ever made at ArsTechnica.  I've seen several of these in person, and while they were sort of interesting (some with unique features of dubious utility), they were seldom worth the asking price.  Mostly these are associated with the early-to-mid-1990's flailing seen prior to Jobs' 1998 re-entry at Apple.
• The Frenzy about the weirdest continent that never existed, Lemuria, at Atlas Obscura.  Sometimes name-checked on late night radio, but seldom actually explained.

So there they are, things that may have crossed your consciousness without explanation sometime in the vague past, now well explained.  Onward.

What the hell were they thinking?

Weather's Looking Soupy for WFD

I think the camping trip's a scrub.  Will go up to Wright's Lake mid-morning on Sunday, operate through to the 2pm EST (1900z) stop time.  Probably be down at the tables near the lake, in the day-use area.

Eh, still gonna be fun.

Get Yer Red/Blues On!

Your red/blue 3D glasses that is.  Today's APOD is a spectacular view of the Apollo 17 CM from the LEM.

You really ought to keep a pair of red/blue 3D glasses handy at your desk.  If you don't, you miss a lot, like a whole extra dimension.  Don't be a Flatlander.

Bill "Sauce Boss" Wharton Plays the AYC

Last night, so if you weren't there you missed it.  Anyway, a mighty fun time was had by all.  I remember seeing him play in the FSU student union back in the 80's, then at the Biloxi Crawfish Festival in '06.  He was good then, and has only improved with time.  What's more, his whole stage act is great.  One minute he's belting out blues edging on blues-rock, then the next he's doing a snake oil salesman impression to promote his hot sauce (see merch table), then he's back to stirring his gumbo pot – with a bowl for everyone (long as it lasts) when they wind down for the evening.  Great listening, great fun.  Go see him if you can!

Links: Sauce Boss main page | Tour Dates | Apalachicola Yacht Club page

OSIRIS-REx Sampler Unlocked

Three and a half months along, NASA has unlocked but isn't quite into the asteroid sample canister.  Slow and steady progress though, and they're not inclined to make rash mistakes.  Two takes on the progress so far: Science Alert and CNN.  What's been found so far in the dust on the outside of the canister?  Water-bearing clays and carbon, both major components in a box-mix for making life.  Stay tuned.

Terry Bisson, R.I.P.

Not a lot to say, beyond this obit.  I really enjoyed They're Made Out of Meat and TVA Baby.  (BTW, the gargoyle in New Orleans is real.  I've seen it.  Picture at right.)  Onward.

Winter Field Day, Right Around The Corner

Stay tuned for details and updates, but the current plan is to do this at Wright's Lake again.

Posts about last year's WFDxpedition to Wright's Lake: one  two  three  four

Official WFD web site here.

Bike Helmets, One More Time

It's a new year, it's been a while, and this guy gently explains why he used to not but now always:

OK, enough.  On with the day... and the new year!

New Year's on Zulu Time

There was a New Year's party last night I was invited to, with an interesting twist: the new year was rung in on UTC/Greenwich/Zulu time, i.e. 7pm EST.  Festivities commenced at 6pm, and a few minutes before midnight Zulu, we dialed in the BBC's World Service via the web and listened on an iPad linked to a Bluetooth speaker.  A year end wrap-up story concluded, the news announcer dryly mentioned that it was midnight and hence now 2024, then the bells of Big Ben chimed.  Everyone toasted the new year, and the party disbanded shortly afterward.  I was comfortably asleep on the sofa by 10:30, though several others were off to various other New Year's parties.

The hosts and I originally had wanted to listen in via shortwave, but the schedule out of Ascension Island's West Africa transmitter, which we can sometimes receive here, unfortunately did not cover the midnight time slot.  Probably just as well.  Once we started discussing what it would take to receive those signals, I don't think the hostess was all that keen on my proposal to set up a wire antenna in their front yard and run coax in through a window.  Had it been possible though, it would have been very cool.