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340
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • This prevents spring distortion by effectively creating two shorter spring segments, probably because the pen designer wanted a longer barrel and the mechanical engineer was told to “figure it out that’s why we pay you” and the truth is I have no idea it just sounds plausible enough.

  • Haikus Are Easy.But Sometimes They Don’t Make Sense.Refrigerator.

  • ¿Queue?

  • Orwell:

    In no public or private utterance was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines. Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.

  • Onno, you’re spot-on, we are troubleshooters.

    When I was fiddling with my first self-built antenna last year, the first problem I had to contend with was design selection, then materials, and all the discrete steps through erecting the antenna—which itself posed some issues when at first the mast was too short, and then again when a taller mast attenuated the signal (carbon fiber) if the antenna got too close to the mast.

    The troubleshooting process was always rewarded with the end goal of two-way comms.

  • I had been looking for remote testing since about 2018 because personal circumstances had me moving about quite a bit. Possibly there were some options back then, but I had not been able to find it; Covid certainly made that widely available. As soon as I had discovered it, I booked my appointment and studied/memorized.

    Covid was a tough time for many, and a tragedy for others. I am thankful for folks, like you, who worked during that difficult global time, to ensure access to food went basically uninterrupted.

  • It’s a great algorithm called spaced repetition. I use the method so much I discovered Anki (and its parent site Anki Web) to do a ton of university studies. There’s a small learning curve, but once you get it, you can make all sorts of flash cards with fine grain detail for spaced repetition.

    As for the FAA, once you are past PPL, Sheppard Air is pretty much the golden standard, only there is no space repetition in their system.

  • Are you eligible for a US license? HamStudy.org and study for the Technician’s license. Memorize the answers. Then when you are passing practice exams with a solid 80% or better, schedule your remote exam through the HamStudy website, take it, then get on the air.

    I did my Tech from a beachside resort in the Philippines during the peak of the pandemic.

    You can do it!

  • That’s quite a nice typeface. I find myself torn between serif vs sans; when reading a book it’s so ingrained to expect serif (I switched from Bookerly) that my eyes stuttered a bit when I started Atkinson’s.

    As long as I can get the OTF or TTF files, I’ll try em all. You have any more?

  • Thank you for that suggest. I had taken a peek at it a while ago and it’s too “wobbly” for me.

  • They’re letting the terrorism button cool off a bit, considering its basically not been let up since September 2001.

  • I just added this to my eReader. I’ve been reading a lot lately and while I haven’t had any difficulty, I’m eager to see if it enhances comprehension.

    Good post OP.

  • I had set up this configuration around 2016 and found it a little clunky. I called it a SkyHole. It was great, and now we have the ability to install DNS profiles on most phones, or configure DNS profiles for PCs such that I use a (“free”) commercial provider and get ad blocking which takes care of 99% of the noise, and don’t have to fuss about with maintaining a dedicated device.

  • At this moment, for example, in 1984 (if it was 1984), Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia. In no public or private utterance was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines. Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.

  • My pleasure! Depending on the local topography and your level of motivation, you may consider using a GMRS repeater, if it makes sense. You might keep it at the lodge, or in your vehicle. But it’s value is only realized if your repeater is between you and your friends.

  • This is a great question. There is generally a null point which extends from the top of the antenna such that if you were to point the tip of the antenna at some distant receiver, the signal would be greatly attenuated. It’s not eliminated completely for the same reason if someone is yelling but not facing you; signals can bounce or bleed around and still be intelligible.

    When I think about antennas, I like to imagine a donut: 🍩, the antenna extends through the center and the actual donut is the radiation pattern. This is good for mental modeling, but in application there are more things which influence radiation patterns. It’s still a good start.

    When an antenna is placed on its side, the closer it is to the ground, the more of its energy is directed into the ground (or it may reflect back and nullify signal coming from the antenna), but for handheld radios (which are most likely VHF or UHF), having sufficient line of sight is what’s needed to have the system work properly, and where one needs to occasionally go through walls or other simple obstructions, a little more power can be helpful.

    When skiing as you mentioned, have you been having any difficulty communicating with others in your current setup?

  • I had a fairly “traditional” vision of sitting at the radio in the evening and spinning the dial to make contacts, maybe a net or two, and maybe a ragchew—what about, I haven’t the foggiest. Medical procedures, I think is what it’s supposed to be.

    As I started evaluating the gear I wanted vs the gear I needed, including the gear I hauled up a couple of hilltops in the mountains, I quickly discovered it’s a huge pain to carry the IC-7300 in addition to the telescoping mast, coax, 20aH LiFePo4, and guy wires for the additional 90W.

    I do enjoy making SSB contacts, but what I’ve found is that I really enjoy making the distance, and what I need is a suitable mode on a lightweight, low-power radio and a modest antenna setup. Honestly though I’ll probably still haul up the telescoping mast, as I really like my twinlead j-poles.

    Digital modes are a delight, but doesn’t give me enough of the human touch, and SSB on 10W is tough to cut through pileups. So now I need to add CW.

    I went from desktop rig with permanent antenna to expedient low-power ops in about a year.

  • Everything old is new again.

  • You should give them their erasers back mate