The IQ^2 Debates

If you're tired already of the Trump-go-round of this coming election season, check out the Intelligence Squared debates.  More to the point, here is their back catalogue of past debates.  Site navigation there is a raging pain in the ass, only made worse by Ariana Huffington's picture rotating through on the front page, but trust me that there is much worthwhile content buried down in the archive.

Yes, there is an Australian-based IQ^2 debate series, and possibly others as well.  These aren't quite so pointed at U.S. issues, so I seldom listen to them, and don't have the links at hand.

More on Solar

On the heels of Wednesday's post about solar-powered radio transmitting, yesterday a friend sent this link to a blog post from a fellow who's gone quasi-off-grid while living in Los Angeles.  Only quasi, because most of the energy intensive things in life – cooking, heating, cooling, transportation – he has merely outsourced.  Naturally, he follows up with a defense of his outsourcing.

While I agree with almost none of his specific choices – soylent?  bleh, forget it man, I need red meat – I agree with his decisions to follow them.  In many ways, he seems to have applied Pareto's principle consistently and thoroughly.  Possibly to the point of idiocy as well, but then that is his problem, his life.

He did blow some of the math, but still got the gist of things right.  For starters, his storage battery is about 3x undersized.  He'll figure out that part in a year or so when he's wrecked it by over-discharging on a regular basis.  Or conversely, he may have enough battery but 3x the panel he needs, in which case he's a little poorer but will be OK.  His blog post is vague on the numbers.

Either way, he's sort of a nut who can't do math worth a crap.  But it is an interesting read, and it does show what is possible.  If anything, it is a high-tech version of what Phil Garlington has pulled off.

Today's Slashdot Quote

"It is better for a civilization to be going down the drain than to be coming up it."  –Henry Allen

I am not exactly sure which Henry Allen said this, but he does have a point.  Trouble is, some civilizations are so mixed up that they don't know if they're coming or going.

Got nothin' else today.  Hot weather, hard work, and a house to clean up after two weekends' worth of household engineering projects.  Getting on toward time for a small Summer break.

Solar-Powered Radio Comes of Age

KEZW, Denver CO, 80% solar powered:

Articles here, here, and here.


KF5SQF, Bay St. Louis MS, 100% solar powered:

Articles...  We ain't got no stinkin' articles.

Anyway, solar powered radio: All the cool kids are doing it.

NPR Series on "Ten Years of Recovery and Reflection" on Katrina

Here's the link.  I'll be watching over the next month as stories are added.  So far, two articles on New Orleans and one on Pearlington.  Good to see some news on, oh say, where Katrina actually hit.

Ten years.  Bleh.

Initial Notes on the 6BTV Vertical Antenna

Things have finally come together on this thing.  So far it's all working well, but relative to my existing antennas the results are ambiguous.  With 16 22 gauge ground radials, all bands tuned easily: 10, 15, 20, & 30 have SWRs < 2 across the bands, right out of the box.  40m took a few minor adjustments on the telescoping sleeve, but is < 3 from 7.0 to 7.275 MHz, and with a little bit of autotuner persuasion it will reach up to the 7.3 MHz band edge.  So that is a success.  On 80m... after trimming the whip extension down do 16.5", SWR is < 3 from 3.810 to 3.880 MHz, for a relatively narrow 70 kHz bandwidth.  The autotuner stretches things out to nearly 200 kHz, which is perfectly useable.

As for performance, the vertical seems to have legs on 30m with PSK31.  Last night I was able to receive three stations in eastern Europe, and had a conversation with a guy out in Oregon, both things that the low dipole has never managed.  OTOH, it may have just been band conditions.  I did have a conversation with a group in the Jackson area on 80m to compare performance with the low dipole on that band, and the vertical came out the loser by a factor of 30 dB.  No surprise there, because that 150 mile hop is best done with NVIS off of a low dipole.  No comparisons yet on 40m.  10 & 15m sound a bit more noisy than on the A99, but those comparisons will have to wait for daytime.

So if anything, this vertical is a step up on 30m, and may yet prove to be a step up for DX on 40m as well.  It is certainly a compact, functional antenna.  Its footprint, ~1 sq ft when raised, and 25 ft length when lowered, is much much smaller than the 80/40 antenna's 85 ft length and its pain-in-the-rear 4 guy-lined center support mast.  I strongly suspect that when the summer lightning noise fades and the ionosphere improves this fall, this vertical will prove its worth.

As a side note, on 30m the predictions for the vertical are for a step up in performance:

which is noticeably but not overwhelmingly better than the low dipole's modeled performance:

But that's just rough modeling, and reality may be quite different.  With time and a bit of patience, we shall see.

Taking a look at winter propagation on 40m, things look much more promising.  Here's the vertical's predicted performance:

vs the same for the low dipole:

Again, we shall see.

ps: If you're looking for one of these for your very own, DX Engineering has them.

Starting August on a Good Note

Wrap it up, I'll take it.

Antenna agonies today with the new 6 band vertical.  Lots of filing and fitting.  Multiple runs to the hardware store.  Slaving over a hot soldering iron.  Looks like the end is in sight, though no doubt there will be significant tuning and tweaking.  Pictures and performance reports will be along in the coming days.