A Couple of Neat Techniques

In the past few days, I've stumbled across some neat tricks that are worth passing on.  Both of these apply to ham radio, but the first one also applies to any 12v wiring (cars, boats, etc.) that uses blade fuses.

Using an extra blade fuse as a fuse puller, very short at 1:21.  Once you've seen it you'll recognize the utility of this type of fuse's design, despite its non-obviousness.  One of those tidbits of knowledge that should but doesn't get passed around, I guess.

Setting microphone gain and speech compression using an external power meter, starting at the 6 minute mark (but you probably should watch the whole thing).  I sort of knew of this, and you can do this after a fashion with only a transceiver's power meter, but it was always so poorly documented.  It's much clearer how to do this once you've seen it in this video.

All for today.

My Year So Far

So far I've stayed ahead of events, but still it's been hectic.  No, I won't elaborate further.  It might give that pilot a heads-up on which direction to start turning.

Dumping My ARRL Membership – For the Time Being

This one kind of hurts to post, because the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) has done a lot of good for amateur radio over the years.  They've been our lobbying representative, have published a pretty good collection of technical books, and put out a decent monthly magazine, and many-many other things useful for ham radio operators.  There was a time when I would absolutely not been without a membership.  However, lately internal drama has taken the shine off the organization, and I am loathe to re-up.  Coughing up a million bucks in ransom to restore their antiquated database last summer didn't impress me much either.  It's not the dues money (though the fees have gone through the roof), it's more that I don't want to support the incompetent drama queens running the show.

My membership just expired at the end of last year, and in the months running up to then I was simultaneously receiving renewal notices and reading blog postings such as this one and forum discussions like this.  I kept deferring the decision, but time has run out and so has my patience.

So I'm out – for the time being.  If the ARRL can sort out their socks, I'll be back in a heartbeat.  But they seem to have been taken over by bean counters, they're not listening to members, and so the only remaining constructive thing to do is to drop out.  It's a pity that there isn't a competing organization out there.  We'll see what 2025 brings.

'Forbidden Area' Adaptation on Playhouse 90

Last October I blogged about reading Pat Frank's novel Forbidden Area, and mentioned that there was a TV adaptation written by Rod Serling.  Found it, at long last!  Link.  (note: doesn't play on Safari, works fine on Firefox)

It's... eh.  The super-genius female lead in the novel gets demoted from being a key member of the Enemy Intentions Group to merely its secretary, and finally has a dramatic meltdown in the arms of Charlton Heston.  The central cause of why the B-99 bombers keep blowing up is tipped off way too early.  There's some two-fisted drama in the last 20 minutes that hasn't aged well.  Apart from all that, it's a decent adaptation of the fair-to-good source novel.  At an hour and a quarter length, it's probably time better spent than on what's in the theaters these days.

Garden of Eden Trail on New Year's Day

Lots of people out for the hike.  Perfect New Year's Day sunny & cool weather.  Beyond that, not a lot to add from the original post about the place.  It was a nice way to start the year.