"Birthright: The Book of Man" – a Dim View of Humanity

Following up on recent posts about Mike Resnick's books Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge and Santiago, I had to jump right in and read his future history collection Birthright: The Book of Man.  In general, I'm a big fan of future history collections: Heinlein's of course, but also H. Beam Piper's, Asimov's, etc.  Resnick's future history however takes a pretty poor view of humanity in general, and it doesn't end well.  He's taken his cues from Europe's 16th thru 19th century colonialism phase, something that we've hopefully moved beyond, and extrapolated that sort of behavior out into the cosmos.  While parts are heroic and inspiring, most of it is an exercise in how not to do things.

To be fair, it was published in 1982, well before the two more recent books mentioned above were written.  Even then Resnick could spin a tale and hold a reader's interest, and that was enough to keep me going through this otherwise grim book.  It does give the background sweep for a lot of his other work (including Olduvai and Santiago), so in some ways that makes reading this almost a prerequisite.  It mercifully comes in bite-sized short stories, spaced millennia apart, so at least it is easy to put down and perhaps even easier pick up again.  Here, here's the non-spoiler Wikipedia entry on it – read and decide for yourself if it's for you.  Myself, I'm glad to have read it, but am also glad to have it in the rear view mirror.

Love it or loathe it, the man can tell a story.  For me now though, it's onward to other works by other authors.

Weather Forecast: Rain This Weekend

So much to do.  Got to change the chain on the mountain bike and maybe the cog set too, start sorting out backpacking gear for an upcoming trip, get at least a little bit of Carnival season in, and sort out a new solar controller – and that's just in my spare time.

At least taxes are off to the accountant and contact log is off to the Winter Field Day people.

Back to that solar controller, the idea is to start using a 3 pound LiFePO4 battery when car camping / field radio operating, instead of hauling around 80+ pounds of lead-acid deep-cycle batteries.  Of course LiFePO4 batteries need a different charging profile than lead-acid and hence an entirely different controller (no free lunch) and either system will still need another 20 or so pounds of solar panel and wiring.  But to knock 80 pounds off of the load I have to haul out to the truck makes it worthwhile, even practical.  Field testing will commence within the month, so stay tuned.

So much to do.  In a way, a rainy weekend is an asset these days.

Not my radio, not my battery either, though I do have nearly identical gear.  Picture shamelessly stolen from the Bioenno site.  Obviously not mine, because somebody got outside on a sunny day.  Those only happen on weekdays around here.

Noteworthy Items from Apalachicola

Driver nabbed in Brownsville hit-and-run   Good.  Throw away the key.

Controversy surrounds Innerarity's Claim   Skullduggery, the War of 1812, and my neighborhood.

Bleh, rainy day here.  Think I'll quit avoiding sorting out my 2017 taxes.  Just as soon as I finish procrastinating.

Winter Field Day 2018 Wrap-Up

WFD 2018 is done!  Well, technically it ends at 1pm CST tomorrow, but I'm done.  With the pouring rain, I just stayed home and used the permanent antennas out in the yard.  But, never being one to take the easy route, I went with the FT-817nd 5 watt radio and – just because why not – ran it on Eneloop Pro AA batteries.  Throw in the speech compressor, and it all came together pretty well.  The results were good without being overwhelming: 14 contacts total, spread over 80, 40, & 20 meters, with both voice and digital modes on each band.  Throw in the bonuses for operating QRP and on emergency power, and it'll total to a middlin'-respectable score.

Two lessons were learned.  First, the speech compressor makes voice communications viable on a QRP radio, even in the current crummy ionospheric conditions.  Not great, but viable.  In a real pinch I'd still want 100 watts, but for just going hiking and playing radio 5 watts is now fine.  Second, using the speech compressor crushes the AA batteries even faster (after which I switched over to the main solar power system, so it still counts as aux power for WFD purposes).  The prior test's three hours on AA batt power is now down to two.  Once again, you can see that there are no free lunches.  On balance though I'd rather make contacts for two hours than try in vain for three.

Well that was fun, if not the backwoods hike I was hoping for.  Here's to better weather next year.

ps 1/28: With 45 minutes left, bagged one more contact on 2 meters.  Just pointed the beam west and gave a shout on the the FM simplex calling frequency, hoping to maybe find somebody in Slidell, and a guy from Maryland happened to be driving by on I-10.  It goes to show that you never can tell, but keep trying anyway.

It Only Rains on Weekends, Part 3

And Winter Field Day starts in three and a half hours.  So does the rain.

Looks like I'll be operating as a "1 Home" station this year.  At least I can do it QRP and on Alternate Power, and it'll be nice to have the 80 meter antenna tonight.  Results and pictures later.

Oh and mountain biking tomorrow?  Pfft, the trails are going to be a swamp.  Good weekend to work on taxes.

One I'm Going to Read Again & Again: Santiago

It's a space western, it's a long winding tale, it's a myth of the far future.  Some people compare it to the old Firefly series.  That was a space western so of course there are some similarities, but other than being in the same genre they don't have much else in common.  In a way the story it most brings to mind is Casablanca.  Anyway, just wander over to the book's page at Amazon and read the samples, then dive in.

Funny thing, I'm already looking forward to re-reading it in a year or so.  That seldom happens.

ps: Here's a recommendation on Resnick's Seven Views of Olduuvai Gorge here at the blog last month.

A Speech Compressor for the Backpacking Radio

As discussed in a recent review of the Yaesu FT-817nd qrp radio, five watts...  it's not a lot, so every trick in the book needs to be employed to help it along.  Digital modes like PSK-31 generally get through at low power, but it'll take something more to help along voice communications.  Well, speech compression is a pretty powerful trick.  Here's here's how it works:

And here's what it achieves:

Last weekend one arrived from SOTAbeams, and in testing everywhere from 80 to 20 meters, it works as promised.  Previously I hadn't made more than a couple of voice contacts at 5 watts, but augmented with this device it was fairly easy to knock out conversations from FL to PA to AZ.  It weighs hardly anything, and bumps the FT-817nd up to being a practical radio for voice comms.  At almost exactly 1/3rd the all-in weight of a similar 100 watt radio, this makes a big difference for backpacking.

Movie Review: Darkest Hour

Some liberties were taken with the facts in this biopic of Winston Churchill in 1940, to the degree that part of the closing paragraph of a recent biography of Marie Laveau comes to mind:

As a mirror, Marie tells us more about the era from which she is observed than she does about herself.

And that is precisely the problem with Darkest Hour.  It colors the events of 1940 – when Great Britain's back was hard against the wall and some of her leaders were considering a peace treaty with Nazi Germany – with a wash of today's emphasis on popular leadership and blurted-out sound bite rhetoric.  Instead of the morally resolute statesman who was willing to listen to and consider his opposition's views, he is depicted as a vacillating politician who is only convinced his path is right after a bracing interview with random Londoners on a brief Underground car ride.  Hm.

Now having bashed this film in about the worst way possible, I have to note that there are some redeeming aspects.  The desperate situation Britain, and indeed all of Western Europe, faced is shown in a manner that Americans frequently under-appreciate.  The casting, acting, sets, wardrobe, and special effects are all top-notch.  Finally and best of all, Gary Oldman's transformation into Winston Churchill is truly astonishing and fully credible:

By all means, go see this film if you can't wait, or see it at home if you can.  But keep in mind, this is a story told from a current film industry viewpoint.  Try to see past that, and enjoy the rest.

Overall rating: 2.5 stars out of 4.

Bonus linkage: What's Fact and What's Fiction in Darkest Hour, over at Slate.  From a historian at Case Western, this will help you sort things out.  Probably worth a read before you see the movie.

Bethel Trails are Still There!

Though I had not ridden them since October, between weather, other activities, and deer season.  But deer season ended last Wednesday, so I was out there.  A lot of other people had the same idea, and it was good to run into some old friends.  Here are a couple of pics for evidence that the trails are still there.

Nothing out of the ordinary, but it was a nice day.

Route 650: Americana Music Stream

Our old friend WSM 650 AM Nashville now has a second music stream, Route 650, and it is very good.  Less... today's country, more of what country music was prior to 1960 and where that has branched off into newer music that's generically called "Americana" these days.  Think string bands, backwoods barroom rockers, heartfelt acoustic music – on the edge of country music, but not stereotypically country music.  Here, read WSM's description, it's better than I can manage.  And give it a try.

Now if they'd also broadcast on shortwave, it'd be just about perfect.  Imagine listening to this music around a campfire in the middle of nowhere.  That would be something.

So, you've got a frozen pipe, do you?

Here's what to do, courtesy of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

In case that link ever goes away, here's the TL:DR version:

1. Cut off the water supply to your home.
2. Relieve any pressure.  Open faucets connecting to the frozen pipes.
3. Warm things up, gently.  Flames or high heat can crack pipes.
4. Check for leaks.  Listen, look, etc.  Check the water meter for motion.
5. Contact a professional.  There are also temporary repair kits in the meantime.
6. Contact your homeowners insurance agency promptly.
7. Resolve to drip your pipes the next time.

Movie Review: Kong, Skull Island

On one hand, the action never lets up, the effects are stunning, and it has enough story line to move it along.  The star-studded cast helps too, and most of the actors were well-chosen for their roles.  On the other hand, this is just one big, dumb, over-the-top summer popcorn muncher.  (So why'd they release it in March?)  Somewhere near the start it looked like it might turn out to be pure B-movie goodness like the original Predator, but then things got a little too cute.  A lot of it was nonsense or had plot holes you could toss Kong himself through, seemingly to wedge in one more special effects shot.

Oh never mind, it's just a big dumb summer blockbuster wannabe about an oversized ape on a horrific island.  Watch the trailer and decide for yourself.  It pretty much gives the plot, introduces the main characters, and shows all the cool scenes, but with a pace and wit that's missing from the movie itself.

Somehow it feels like 2017 will be remembered as the year that CGI effects jumped the shark.

Hard to Believe

A second snow in one winter is a rare occurrence.  So is cold like this:

That big number makes no sense at all.

What the hell is that stuff?  Twice this year?

I'm going to go brew some more hot coffee and wait for this horror to pass.

A Good Day Along the Seawall

Pic from today's late-morning ride:

It's just a snapshot, but still... it'd be at home on a Jimmy Buffett album's liner notes.

It Only Rains on Weekends, Part 2

Deer season ends on Wednesday, so guess what the forecast is for next weekend.

Uh-huh.

Of course anything can and will change between now and then.  Will just have to be ready to ride the trails as gaps appear in the weather on Saturday or Sunday, and have the bike all tuned up before then.

Somehow This Keeps Happening

Show me an exception and we can discuss how that exception proves the rule.

Winter Field Day Cometh

In just two weeks.  In case you're wondering what this is all about, it's an excuse for people to go out into the winter wonderland of the last weekend of January and play radio.  Here's the Winter Field Day Association's web site, and here's an informative podcast that'll tell you all about what some guys are going to do up north of I-10 where it snows and and sometimes even other forms of frozen water fall out of the sky.  (I hear that they have different names for all the types, but I wouldn't know much about that.)

So what am I planning on doing?  Can't really say at the moment.  Depending on people and weather, this could turn one of several ways.  About all I can guarantee is that it will involve either an FT-857d or an FT-817nd for the radio.  That, and the damned pack is going to be a good deal lighter than last year's.

In the meantime, you can catch up on the frozen fun, RF burns, and general mayhem at the above-mentioned web site a podcast, or at this blog's recap of WFD-17.

Time for a Review of the FT-817nd

As hinted at earlier this week, six months' use of a little Yaesu FT-817nd has yielded enough insights for a blog post.  Bottom line up front: It walks and talks like its big brother the FT-857d, with the two major differences that (1) it has 1/20th the output power, and (2) its all-in pack weight is 1/3rd of the 857's, at 4.5 lbs.

Now, 1/20th the power (i.e. 5 Watts) doesn't sound like a lot, and truly it isn't.  However, it is plenty to have effective communications using digital modes (yes starshine, that includes CW), and when the ionosphere is a good mood you can occasionally manage a voice contact too. (ps: there's now a fix for this; see bottom of post)  There's an entire sub-hobby within ham radio called "QRP" (the old Morse shorthand for "reduce your power") that generally sets 5 Watts as the upper limit.  Think of it as guys who bring fencing foils to broadsword fights and win, just to more fully enjoy the experience.  Here's a recent book explaining the compulsion, Minimum QRP.  Strangely, the author shares his name with Spiderman – with less power comes less responsibility, I suppose.

Back to the weight issue, my full-up field-ready kit (radio, tuner, coax, antenna, battery, & misc. cables) weighs almost exactly 9 pounds less than the analogous kit with the 100 Watt FT-857d.  That is an enormous difference in a backpack.  What's more, the 817 fits into a Camelbak.  Admittedly it's a larger Camelbak MULE, but it's still easily bikeable or hikeable.  That's where the 817 really shines.  The actual dimensions are 5.3"x1.5"x6.5" vs. the 857's 6.1"x2.0"x9.2".  That's less than half the volume, and in a small pack it makes all the difference.

For accessories, I'm using an LNR Precision EFT-10/20/40 antenna.  It's more-or-less resonant.  Sure, you can tune it perfectly for one arrangement, but pull it down off one bush and hang it in another tree and it won't be quite on the low-SWR-money anymore.  But it's not bad, and an LDG Z-817 tuner cleans that right up.  After that, we've already discussed which batteries to stuff into the radio's internal tray – the black Eneloop Pro AA's.  They weigh in at a half-pound and give 3 hours' operating time, which is plenty for a day hike.  If you need more than that, an external battery like a Bioenno 12AH will give you a weekend's worth of fun for right at 3 lbs of pack weight.  Finally, pop for the Portable Zero side rails.  As you can see from the picture below, they give a lot of additional protection to to the controls, and they cost less than one trip to a repair shop.

Back to the internal battery issue, 3 hours' operation is fine for a little afternoon fun.  However, if you're contemplating serious time in the backcountry and need a VHF/UHF radio to stay in touch, you're probably better served by something like Yaesu's FT-60r hand-held.  It's lighter (0.8 lbs) and has some remarkable automatic-yet-compltely-unobtrusive power saver features that give it 2 to 3 times the useable life on its internal battery at the same RF output level.  Either one will pipe just fine through something like the Jurassic Duck Mk II antenna, and either way I'm getting 20+ mile reach to some local repeaters.

Here, have the pic now; review will continue below:

With tuner.  Faceplate is 5.3" across; you can judge the small size from the BNC connector on the left.

What are other people saying about the FT-817nd?  The biggest gripe seems to be that the receiver isn't state of the art.  It is a 17 year old design, after all, and Yaesu could probably stand to do an update.  Also, there's no digital noise reduction!  That's been standard on most radios for a while.  However, keep it mind that it still clearly receives a lot of stations that its little 5 Watts can't reach back to, so the whole point seems moot.  The youtube channel Outdoors on the Air gives a decent rundown on the newer FT-817nd over the older non-"nd" version here (7 minutes).  What it amounts to is that the newer version includes the 60 meter band and won't run down the internal batteries as quickly while it's switched off.  People are going to moan about the Yaesu menu system.  It's almost exactly the same as on the FT-857d (sans DNR controls of course), and I've said my peace on the matter back here – steep learning curve, after which it's pretty useable.  The nice part about this is that if you know how to run one of these radios, you've pretty much got the other.  Finally, there's the inevitable comparison with the other great hiking radio, the Elecraft KX3.  You can read a complete comparison over at a SOTA guy's blog here, but for me the choice was clear.

It's also worth noting that it's fairly easy to program in memory channels, either manually or by computer.  The procedure for the later was discussed here last summer.  Not bad at all.

So... how's it perform in the wild, really?  Frankly, it's hard as hell to make contacts on voice under the current solar weather conditions, but it's a performer using PSK-31 and that little LNR antenna.  From a frozen tent back in December, I managed to hit from upstate NY to Venezuela and west to AZ, and everything in between on 20 and 40 meters... but couldn't quite reach out to a special event station in CA.  So there, it's a success.  Moreover, on a home base antenna I squeaked out a contact to the Czech Republic with it last summer on 40 meters, so that's a rousing success.  The main thing though?  It weighs 4.5 lbs all-in.  There are lighter radios out there, but none as capable for the money.

Most of all, it's just a lot of fun.  Dialing up Europe on a handful of AA batteries?  Sure!  Fun, that's the main thing.

ps: If you've read this far and are interested in using an FT-817 for voice comms, check out this speech processor post, made since this original review.

Still Around

But it was a hard day of coding, while listening to what else but:

Yeah, chasing rabbits all day.  Even caught a few.  Expect a review of the FT-817nd in the next few days.

Arguing in the "Post Truth" Age

Here's a nice piece on "arguing to learn" vs. "arguing to win" over at Scientific American titled Are Toxic Political Conversations Changing how We Feel about Objective Truth?  It seems that "arguing to learn" really is the only way to have a chance at winning (or at least getting anywhere at all), while "arguing to win" is more akin to "prelude to a fistfight."

Worth your fifteen minutes' read.

Need a New Year's Diet?

Got your New Year's diet right here: Ketogenic Diet for Beginners at Business insider.

Yes, more like this please.  High-carb/low-fat was a lie.

With a few episodes of backsliding along the way, I've been doing essentially this for a little over three years and have dropped 30 lbs without pain or drama.  Hunger-free, better health, automatic weight loss.  What are you waiting for?