On This Last Day of Hurricane Season

Here's an article, A Shining Moment for Ham Radio, briefly describing the role radio played and is still playing in the aftermath and recovery from Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina, along with links to three much longer podcasts.  In fact, you can find the entire 'Helene Chronicles' (including the above article) at The SWLing Post link here.  Speaking as a radio operator, FCEM volunteer, and someone who's been through a lot of hurricanes, I'm still amazed at how vital ham radio turned out to be and how well it all worked.

Anyway, go and read, and be thankful this Thanksgiving weekend for the good things.  Here's one:

BTW, if you're interested in getting your amateur radio license, here's a how-to link.  You've got time to get this done before the festivities resume next June.

Why I'm No Longer Allowed in the Kitchen

ps, The Next Day:

Wilderness Missing Persons Cases Adequately (if imperfectly) Explained

There's a whole genre of books and podcasts centering around people going missing in wilderness areas, popularized by the "Missing 411" series of books and late-night paranormal radio interviews.  It's mildly (very mildly) worrying stuff for a person like me, who often goes hiking, backpacking, or mountain biking alone.  Deep down you know there's really nothing out of the ordinary going on, and yet late at night while listening to ghostly AM talk shows alone in a tent miles from anywhere and yet very near something called the "Bigfoot Trail" (real name, really), the mind does wander.  (graphic from Vecteezy)

I've never wanted to take the time for a thorough dive into what's going on with this, and fortunately now you and I don't have to, because Joe Scott does it for us over at his vlog: The Missing 411 Mystery Has a Solution.  You Won't Like It.  (just under 30 minutes, but you can skip parts)  TLDW:  There are a variety of reasons why people disappear in the wilderness.  Sometimes people go missing because they want to, or sometimes because other people want them to.  There are plenty of holes and rivers to fall into, never to be seen again.  Finally, when you're in nature, you just may involuntarily re-join the food chain.  All totaled, it's enough to explain nearly all of the documented cases.  Macabre, yes, but woo-woo, no.  And highly, highly unlikely to happen to you personally.  Knock on wood.

Busy Lately

And I'll probably stay busy all this week too.  In the meantime, Foxtrot has put up a Thanksgiving Archive of past years' cartoons.  Enjoy!

So Much for That One

It looks like the Storm Formerly Known as Sara has rained out over Central America:

I still twitch a little bit about these late-season storms.  Hurricane Kate in 1985 – on Nov. 19th! – was particularly bad, and late October Hurricane Zeta in 2020 was just plain unexpected.

ps, mid-afternoon:

Good to see.

Across Franklin County via 80m

I knew it would work – it's only about 26 miles and just over the horizon – but until you actually get it to work, it's best to assume that it doesn't work.  A friend in the Carrabelle area just put up a low 80m dipole (i.e., NVIS sky-warmer), and I've got that 21' zepp stretched horizontally over a rooftop at my place downtown that sort of tunes 80m – the new grounding system has helped a lot – so we had to test this potential link.  Works great, 25 watts was enough to make the hop, and 50 watts cleaned the signal up considerably, so check that box, 80m (i.e., near 3.9 MHz) works well enough for cross-county comms off my tiny zepp.  Good to know, good to have tested and made work.  Will test further this week with the North FL Phone net.

Inset: propagation wheel showing the best bands for this hop.  Surprisingly, 30m looks good here too, but that's digital-only (counting CW as digital), and we were using voice.  As usual for NVIS work, the real answer is 80m by night and 40m by day.  Be sure to click to embiggen the image, because squinting that hard would be ridiculous.

Green line is the short path (26 miles), red line is the long path (24,000 miles).

That accomplished, I dialed over to WSM to listen to the Grand Ole Opry and ran smack into Old Crow Medicine Show's short set.  Not having checked the schedule, that was a treat.  Later, dishes done and while reading the manual for the FT-710, I flipped on WSM again to maybe pick up the Opry's second show, and there they were again.  Second helping!

Wonderfully Dark Humor

Wonderfully dark humor, over at the three-a-week web comic Johnny Optimism.  It's about a wheelchair-bound boy and his dog and the odd characters in the hospital where he seems to not so much live as to merely pass time.  One in particular sticks in mind, from last February:

Yeah, they're all kind of like that, though often not quite as funny(?) as this example.  Enjoy.

No, Really, I'm Good on Gear

However, if you're shopping for the mountain biker in your life, you could do a lot worse than these two lists over at Singletracks online magazine:

• Under $100
• What they really want

But seriously, I'm all full up on gear at the moment.  Though I do have to thank one nephew in particular for this Lezyne multitool for my recent birthday.  (still need to pick up a few threaded carts however)  The more I fidget with the thing, the more impressed I am by it.  That was a true surprise, thanks!

Back to the articles, this one item just makes my collarbone ache:

Ninja MTB Turbo Kicker Jump Ramp – in case you know of any ninjas in need of a good swift kick?

Can you believe that it's been ten years since the infamous collarbone incident?  My, how time flies... when you're flying over the handlebars.  So if you're tempted to give somebody a "Ninja MTB Turbo Kicker Jump Ramp," you might also consider a gift certificate to:

Take if from the ones who know: The pros shop at ACME.

ps: Some goodies for the gravel biker set as well.

Academic Translator

Dead-on.

As a matter of fact...

On Monday I wrote "Well, that's it for 30 years of bikes.  As far as the doctors' bills, I've probably spent more on those than the hardware shown here, but I'll spare you the details."  This evening I totaled things up, and as a matter of fact...  they're so close that it's a toss-up.

Not my clavicle – I have a healed break, but no plate.

Hey titanium's not cheap, whether it's going on your bike or being implanted into your jaw.

ps: Above image from this article about continuing mountain biking into your 70s.

On This Election Day...

... it is good to reflect upon this  September 2016 BBC article, Vote rigging: How to spot the tell-tale signs

It originally focused on a crooked election in Gabon, but hey, look around.  You may recognize some of this in your very own country.  Six points to watch in the article, to which I'll add one more:

• Voting machines that are easily tampered, and that use closed-source software.  There is no reason whatsoever for insecure machines running mystery meat software to still be in use after the questions that have continually arisen since the 2000 presidential election.

And there you have it.  Go vote, and may the greater of two evils lose.

Thirty Years of Mountain Biking

Sometime this month I'll cross the thirty year mark of riding mountain bikes.  Let's take a look back over the main line of bikes – there have been several other beaters, gravel, etc. in there, but let's keep this post somewhat in size:

1995 Trek 820

Oddly enough, having bought this bike in November 1994, I hadn't realized that this was a 1995 model.  The photo isn't of my actual bike, it's a pic from the Trek catalog.  Mine was the sage color in the inset, a much cooler color than the blue/black fade shown.  It was a good start, but there were a lot of plastic-y bits on the drivetrain and brakes that didn't hold up for the off-road mayhem I was committing (mostly on my own body as I learned to ride off-road).  Good around-town bike though.  In about a year it got upgraded to:

1996 GT Karakoram

This is the bike I really learned to ride on, and ride it I did: first race (shown), Crested Butte, Moab, Homochitto, Oak Mountain, etc.  Then about a year and a half later, a screaming deal on this bike crossed my path:

1995 Trek Y-22

It was new/old in a shop in north Alabama, and actually starred in that shop's TV ad.  A real looker, I raced it into the state's top ten in my age/skill class in 1997.  Fast, but it was always a looong bike for me, and I had some spectacular crashes on it.  On a whim while out car shopping in 2000, I test rode the next bike.  I wasn't looking for a bike, but it fit so well:

2000 Trek STP 200

Now this was the bike.  By the time I was done with it thirteen years later, the frame and the cranks were the only original parts, having gone through two forks, five wheels, several complete brake sets, and a half-dozen drivetrains.  With 1.5" of extremely simple rear suspension, it was all the cush needed in the local woods trails.  The only bike I ever raced to first place, in an adventure race at Chicasawbogue in 2001.  Still, technology marches on, and at some point "repairs" become more of "restorations" as the NOS parts bin drew empty of good 26" ceramic-rimmed wheels for the V-brakes.

2013 Specialized Epic

More cush for my aging back, disc brakes, 29' wheels, and a new generation of components that could be maintained.  It was a weird beast, kind of tall for its 4" of suspension, and a somewhat awkward in tight trails.  It had one of those transitional geometries, while the bike makers were getting the new 29" wheels sorted out.  I only raced it once, never really went on the road with it to exotic trails, but I did get 10 good years' use out of it.  The last real ride on it was the 2023 OMBA Epic 50 miler – very fitting for a bike of this name.  Again, parts obsolescence caught up with that one-off rear suspension, so I move on to:

2022/2023 Giant Anthem

Geometry sorted out, this 29er fits and carves like the 2000 STP and rolls even better.  Tons of new tech on this bike: 1x12 drivetrain, dropper post, tubeless tires, and carbon fiber everywhere.  Parts supply train updated, this'll probably be viable for a decade or so.  It was a true dream ride in this year's OMBA Epic.

Well, that's it for 30 years of bikes.  As far as the doctors' bills, I've probably spent more on those than the hardware shown here, but I'll spare you the details.  Onward to the next 30 years.

Seafood Festival!

Official start is TODAY!  Here's the site: https://www.floridaseafoodfestival.com/  Just click through and do your own digging around for the event schedule, etc.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the parties (2!), the fried & smoked mullet dinners, and seeing Mark Wills – a Grand Ole Opry member – play on Saturday evening.  Ought to be a big weekend.

Hurricane Helene, Western North Carolina, and Radio

Worth a look: Thomas Witherspoon's Helene-related blog posts over at The QRPer:

 https://qrper.com/tag/hurricane-helene/

At over a month's worth of material (and counting), it's a considerable body of reading.  There are however many worthwhile disaster- and radio-related lessons in these posts, most importantly about the value of community.  Take a few minutes this weekend to skim through these.

Winter Field Day Commeth

OK, at the last weekend in January it's nearly three months out.  Any yet, it still comes and it is high time to start thinking about the event.  Also, the rules for 2025 have been posted here.  The notable changes from last year are:

1. Event times have changed, and the event has been extended beyond 24 hours.  Start time is now 11am EST Saturday and runs through to 4:59pm EST on Sunday.  This really stretches things into Monday if you're out camping, although nothing says that you can't leave early. 
2. Location do not have to remain fixed during the entire event.  This could be due to safety, weather, or other considerations.  Sensible, especially in the frozen wastelands north of I-10.
3. Objectives (previously called bonuses) are now multipliers.  More on this below.
4. Several objectives have been added, and these are pretty cool.  Again, more below.

On to Objectives.  How these are used is a little ambiguous from the writing, though I'm sure that it's perfectly clear if you've been doing Ham Contest Math(tm) since 1938.  I'll assume the multipliers are additive, since multiplying by 1 gives you the same number back.  Also, note  that if you don't get at least one multiplier, you could end up with a score of zero?..?  Or do you automatically start with a 1 and add multipliers from there?  But don't worry, it's no big deal to get at least one, so it's effectively a moot point.  Anyway, here they are:

• Operate away from home, x3.  Entirely reasonable, kind of the reason for this being a "field day."
• Operate 100% on alternative power, x1.  You're not really in the field if you're still on grid power.
• Deploy multiple antennas, x1.  Necessary anyway if you're going to work HF and VHF/UHF.
• Make an FM satellite contact x2.  Probably not this year, yet again.
• Make a SSB or CW satellite contact, x3.  Even harder of a probably not.
• Send or receive at least one Winlink email, x1.  Very sensible from an emcomm point of view.
• Copy the WFD Special bulletin, x1.  Also fits with the emcomm theme, and very cool.
• Operate on at least six different bands, x6.  This is huge!  Something of a challenge too.  I wish it was incremental, i.e., add one multiplier for each band worked.  OTOH, putting in the 6 bands = x6 step function puts some heat and challenge on the operators, so that makes sense.
• Use multiple modes, x2.  Voice, CW, or digital, pick any at least two.  Gets an operator out of a rut.
• Operate QRP, x4.  I've done it before, and it is a worthwhile challenge.  However if I'm going to work any VHF/UHF in the woods of north FL, QRO is the only path forward.
• Operate six continuous hours during the event, x2.  Show that you've got the butt power to stick with the radio in a real emergency!  Bathroom breaks are not mentioned in this, so set up with a convenient bush within radio operator earshot.

As for Category, it's effectively the number of operators or the number of radios, whichever is lower.  This opens up the possibility of dedicating the FT-710 for HF, while a re-programmed FT-857d is set to scan calling frequencies on 6m, 2m, & 70cm.  Having a dedicated VHF/UHF scanning radio massively increases the probability of contacts on those bands.  It's something that I'll have to explore in the coming months.  OTOH, this may end up being a club event and there could be several operators.  We'll see.  Single or multiple ops though, either way a VHF/UHF scanning radio is probably going to happen.

The other intriguing miscellaneous rule is that (and I quote) QSOs (i.e. contacts) may be solicited during the event only over RF.  This seems to imply that rounding up friends on the local repeater to make simplex contacts for contest points is legal.  Unless otherwise informed, I'm going with this.  Similarly, if you're having a contact on 2m and ask if the other person wants to try 6m, that seems OK too.

Anyway, lots to look forward to here.  I hope the weather cooperates this year!  I've worked WFD from home (2018, 2022, learned something each time), and I've worked WFD from a sealed-up tent while a passing cold front raged outside (2020, packed & hiked out in pouring rain), but the best way is to have sunshine with lows of 40F and highs of 60F for the weekend.  We'll see.