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.

A Halloween Jump Scare

Just when you thought it was safe to take down the window boards:

Yeesh.  At least the Gulf's cooled down a good bit:

Hurricane season is not over until it's over,  officially on 1 December but really... at New Year's.

A Creepy Tale for This Halloween Evening

The Voice in the Well, by Justin Patrick Moore over at his site.

Yeah, it's about everything you'd want or expect for a good ghost story on Halloween.  At around 1300 words (unlucky 13! and a hundred of 'em!), it's a quick read.  Enjoy your shortening days.  I mean, shorter daylight and crisp autumn weather, not, um, you know, the other meaning of that last sentence, but take it either way you wish.  Boo!  Scary, huh?