I was aware of the upcoming test but haven't followed it much being at work which means not watching TV and not listening to radio. Our 2-ways at our facility are not Part 73 broadcast, and I don't think Part 90 business or public safety radio services were part of this (wasn't scanning at the time except media 2-ways that were chasing story of a downed airplane in SF bay but it turns out it was a unmanned large balloon). I don't know of any amateur radio groups were involved (I don't think so, wasn't listening to the N6NFI 9 AM Talk Net). And never got any emails or cellphone text (thankfully).
But lotsa debate here on slashdot! I'll throw in my opinion is this test was useful as actual demonstration of nationwide "simulcast" which exercised the feeds to the broadcasters. You can model it but at some point you gotta do some kind of real world test. Now, purpose of EAS is debatable..... disaster is either self alerting ( flood, earthquake, nuclear bomb denotation), there are already other means of alerts i.e. NWS tornado warnings, hurricane evacuations. Or local flashflood alerts but leave that to local authorities as they know (or should) have better knowledge how to get word to flood areas. There is no earthquake warning system except p-wave (or s-wave?) sensors. Inbound ICBM attack is very 20th century and not useful (WTF are you going to do with 15 min warning?).
s. The technician who services it and keeps it running was a sonar technician in a submarine for many years before he got a job working on microscopes. He is very good - logical, careful, and responsible.
I've known couple others that been in the sub service and they are very good. Getting sub service experience means they had to pass courses and examinations, besides weeding out nutzoids they also want best techie talent on board when you are weeks (months?) under the water.
>I assume you mean excluding. Who would bother to record the news and watch it later?
no, I find many newscasts and sports are pre-recorded. Nobody will record and watch it later. I don't watch much this so I probably giving a faulty statistic sample, from what I see is many newscasts appear to be a few hours old in the context. Then while surfing channels and see a football game supposably live from Georgia Tech, sun is almost directly over as players have short shadows. But it is late afternoon here in California.
Someone posted most/. readers don't use TV or radio, but they already are aware of the Nov 9 drill (hey, that's what we all are screaming about right now). Someone else mentioned this is a test, first exercise to see how this works then make corrections as needed (if possible).
I was thinking all this illustrates a paradigm shift. People calling 911 may not do in tradition POTS, many do cellphone (which calltakers are getting a better handle on location), but 911 calltakers (actually these are the real "first responders") need to accept text messaging.
Another paradigm shift is television. 85% of US gets TV from cable but more and more are watching streaming video or youtube (as many of you slashdot people have said current programming is really crappy, i.e. syfy channel). Another thing I'm seeing is a shift away from live television, almost all TV is pre-recorded including news and sports (this may be debatable but that's for another thread). I have experience this with amateur television as all non-hams say they can do the same with their cellphone/iphone cam, and more amateur radio people including those that (used to) do ATV are doing it by iphones (i.e. ustream). Take a look at almost all DVD players have no RF input as more and more people watch movies on DVD, regular stations, OTA, no longer show movies (they used to back in the 20th century). So...... I can see broadcast TV will go the way of REACT (group that used to work CB and GMRS).
Then there is radio but since vast majority of stations are managed by Clear Channel and programming done by some elusive demographics studies (the DJ is dead) so much of the programming is the same ol' crap heard over and over. So like broadcast TV why have it when you can tote your 100,000 songs on ipad (or whatever).
An interesting situation, let's see how this all works out. For some disasters they are self alerting i.e. earthquakes. Some have advance warning i.e. tornados and I would rely on weather radio setup to receive NWS alerts. Tsumani warnings, hurricanes... NWS alerts for those in such regions? Emergency Broadcast System, predessessor to what we have now I believe was instituted for alert in event of nuclear attack which is dated. If one were to occur, it would be like an earthquake, a self alerting system.
Maybe what should be discussed is preparation, do you have supplies to sustain yourself for a number of days? Besides food and water, can you continue deal with taking a bath for two weeks? What about taking a shit? For most live in cities (apartments, condos), you can't flush the toilet (no running water) so where are you going to put "it?"
This is one place government officials do not discuss, do not acknowledge it exists, etc. Yet there is this immense desire by people wanting to know what's going on at this place. This gives opportunity for creative people to say there are space aliens freeze-dried from the Roswell crash. OK, prove them wrong. You can't, only thing that can be done is debate among different groups. Unless US govt declassify the area, permit tours, photos, etc. but until then Area 51 remains a good place for conspiracies, movie plots, whatever.
maybe not, maybe so. However, HST has advantage of grabbing headlines outside realm of astronomers with interesting observations. It reminds some of us "flatlanders" to look up and out and wonder.
Regarding spies.... from 1960s Mad Magazine: When we want to gather information on other countries, we employ intelligence agents. When another country does the same to us, we accuse them of using spies.
I did a search for "asteroid mining" at http://www.sti.nasa.gov/ and below are couple documents. I remember seeing in a 1979 STAR abstract journal documents titled "asteriod retrieval" but when I searched for that sti site I saw a lot of non-pertaining listings. Probably a bit too late to capture this month's flyby unless the USAF has a secret spacecraft ready to fly (yeah the old plot used in movies since the 1969 "Marooned").
Extraterrestrial materials processing and construction
Online Source: Click to View PDF File [PDF Size: 14.6 MB] http://hdl.handle.net/2060/19790021033
Author: Criswell, D. R.
Abstract: Applications of available terrestrial skills to the gathering of lunar materials and the processing
Publication Year: 1978
Report/Patent Number: NASA-CR-158870, REPT-713-488-5200
Catastrophic Events and Mass Extinctions: Impacts and Beyond
Online Source: Click to View PDF File [PDF Size: 21.2 MB] http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20010007049
Abstract: This volume contains extended abstracts that have been accepted for presentation at the conference
Publication Year: 2000
Report/Patent Number: LPI-Contrib-1053
I knew someone added the Bruce Willis tagline. There was two asteroid impact movies at that time, the one with Bruce Willis and the other (forgotten?). Kind of like in 1964 there was two movies on nuclear attack by rouge aircraft, Dr. Strangelove and (forgotten?). Movies that were successful didn't try to be serious and dramatic, they delibritely went over-the-top with character actors.
Those forgotten movies were Deep Impact and Failsafe.
First US president, George Washington, was a military engineer which is why Engineers Week is held same week as Washington's birthday (though now President's Day). Though engineering held a different stature as it does now.
Speaking of engineering, I talked with someone from Romania and he said during before collapse of communism in east Europe, engineering was preferred major for college students. His father had a technical kind of job, like everyone who was employed by the goverment. After fall of "Iron Curtain" (Berlin Wall) preferred study was business. This person, a child during Cold War, is now a bartender for Princess Cruiselines (Sapphire Princess ship). As you guessed, whole family moved from Romania in the 1990s.
My foreign friends often ask my why the US only has two viable political parties. Could it be that because in the courtroom there are only two sides, and our politicians couldn't wrap their heads around a system that works differently?
damn, perhaps that is why only two parties (plaintiff and defendant), good observation. Actually very insightful analysis. (hey, rest of you mod this guy up).
In a physics class I asked the instructor is there something in our brain that resonates from chalkboard squeals? He thought probably so, kind of like that Tacoma bridge incident. A math teacher used to get excited when the boards were cleaned by custodian, "Yes! We can now break this in" as he would grab a new piece of chalk to use on that dark green board. Then there were some erasers extra wide so not take too long to wipe the board. What about a pocket defense system that blasts high dB levels of this chalkboard sound against muggers? I used to wonder about rigging up something like that.
Speaking chalkboards, another of those things us old people talk about that 20-somethings ain't got a clue what these are. We now have whiteboards which have their problems (i.e. someone grabs a Sharpie and covers a whiteboard with their discussion. Poor smucks on following meeting get screwed).
This whole concept of contracting is like outsourcing, looks good on paper as it saves costs. Then politicos can brag how they are reducing costs because there are less govt workers (though there are a zillion more contractors), i.e. NASA or number of troops overseas (much of those positions replaced by contractors). Only advantage of contractor is it is easier to fire someone than a civil servant. Don't think unions are all powerful and all members have juicy benefit plans and pensions (they don't). Now people like to say how much better contractors are at saving money (uhmm, J35 fighter has doubled cost in past five years and its contractors have a lot of political power like lobbyists and work less regulation than before so don't blame govt people. Oh, did you know the J-35 began as CALF, Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter?).
Others say contractors are good because it is private enterprise, you gotta work hard to make it successful unlike govt which don't have to make profits or deal with customers. However, pretty much all federal contractors have only one customer, the federal government so they are government. I see almost all these companies could never compete in the "real world." And those that do work in the real world are highly dependent on government contracts. Which I think is why federal spending has skyrocketed because it is the only big thing in town, as all other industries have collapsed.
There was a time when becoming a police officer or working some other govt position was considered low pay (especially NASA civil service in the 80s). Right now it looks really good because all other middle class jobs have collapsed. But even for them salaries and bennies are dubious.
At least what I know unless they changed the specs recently. Legacy airliners lower cabin pressure equivalent to 6,000 (or to 8,000?) feet but 787 will have higher cabin pressure so you will not be as hypotic. Of course 6K is not much but recent transcontinental flight where I had to do a lot boring spreadsheet work, it was difficult keeping "awake." With less O2 to my brain, that was a loooonnnnnggggg flight.
Some people are more impacted by lower O2 level, I know someone who cannot handle Lake Tahoe very well. OTOH having a cocktail on a long flight, and when your brain is not getting the O2 as it normally does, you can "get ahead of the crowd."
For airline travel in general, it's fun to watch the old movies: Stewardesses in mini-skirts, go-go boots, bouffant hair, thick makeup. Passengers smoking and drinking, open overhead bins so items dump on you when aircraft does barrel rolls. I can do without the open bins, smoking and drinking. I miss the stewardesses though.
Incidently the only pressurized vehicle that flew with sea level pressure was the Space Shuttle.
There are those that forecasted 2008 economic collapse but those in responsible positions, i.e. Alan Greenspan and Suze Orman, chose to ignore and continue to dupe ordinary people to make themselves more wealthier. Real crime is these people are doing the same crap again and again.
To paraphrase Ronny Cox in Robocop: "The ED 2009 would have given us maintenance and parts contracts for years! Who CARES if it works?"
How come Ronny Cox plays bad guy roles, i.e. disruptive senator in Star Gate One? Other day I watched Tom Hanks' "From Earth to the Moon" series that was on HBO in 1998, kind of surprising to see him playing a role not of a bad guy. I think he portrayed North American executive saying to others they should not withhold any information in regards to the Apollo One fire. Ronny Cox also played one of the guys in "Deliverance" (the one that played the guitar and later killed by the hillbillies).
On subject of this forum, so what if a federal agency has several email systems. Not such a bad thing, diversity in ways provides survivability such as certain virus can take down an entire email system if a large agency has just ***one*** system. Besides Dept of Ag is in the business of Ag. I remember years ago when NASA rolled out their ODIN system and with lots of hoopla, even had their own "mission patch" like this was a new spacecraft. Who gives a s***? It's all just desktop office tools.
I'm mainly on my Gripe Of The Month but I sure wish there was some little sliver of spectrum besides this for us commoners. I guess all the Corporation$ have hijacked the good stuff. Though there is white space here and there, though need to either spend lotsa bucks on RF equipment or design/build your own (last option time consuming).
I have asked this same question. I get two responses: Either "google it" (a bankrupt answer as all stuff I find online is really simplistic or just aggregetes of vendor sites trying to sell crap) or a long discussion from "a expert" of all kinds of things about wireless stuff (but never telling me what I need to know).
Other day at a group of companies displaying tools to prevent network and computer virus/malware/etc. I asked one of them a book he would recommend on networks. He said enroll in community college class. It's low cost, you get experience, you get assistance, you can ask questions.
What is exciting is consider an amateur radio repeater on a balloon with the balloon, gas, and payload sized just right for a neutral buoyancy at a really high altitude (i.e. 110,000 ft). Then let it drift and see how many ham radio contacts can be done over large areas of land (like for amateur satellites and ISS). There have been high alt balloons carrying repeaters but they usually go up and kablammo, balloon pops and it's all over. Think of getting a balloon to survive the UV enough to get around the world! CNSP is working on a floater (one of their flights in Nov did that, it happened by accident and they want to replicate it). Though only can carry a gps/aprs but maybe.... pack a 2m repeater.
136,545 feet! That is 1515 ft more than previous amateur balloon altitude record held by Cornell University at 135,030 (though I don't think Cornell belongs in the amateur catagory but they used amateur radio as secondary freq). Cornell's balloon was a three-story tall zero pressure techology balloon. CNSP is led by amateurs: They have to pay for everything out of their own pocket, and all have day jobs (lead guy services swimming pools for a living).
It was exciting to watch it keep going and going, breaking the 130K mark, getting closer to Cornell's, watching the packet transmission (also on aprs.fi) and see that transmission of 136039 (nine more feet for 1st place!), and it kept going. No more transmissions after 136545, Stratofox http://www.stratofox.org/ had couple vehicles and a airplane, they estimated from predicted path where it may be and guessed correctly at Manteca. Saw one packet burst at ground level and found it in someone's backyard (they were helpful in retrieving it). It almost landed in a swimming pool.
The ***highest*** balloon was done by the Japanese (University of Tokyo or Japan) at 172,000 feet. This balloon was huge, they had tractors and cranes and truckloads of gas to fill it. Obviously very expensive, much out of the amateur catagory.
That article at wired.com and I was talking to someone that worked military and other similar (now retired and living in France), he mentioned we have a problem when our embassies have to be fortresses. If you have a home in a neighborhood that has to be a fortress and protected by "goons" then it is you that has a problem and not the neighborhood.
Slashdot Mirror
I was aware of the upcoming test but haven't followed it much being at work which means not watching TV and not listening to radio. Our 2-ways at our facility are not Part 73 broadcast, and I don't think Part 90 business or public safety radio services were part of this (wasn't scanning at the time except media 2-ways that were chasing story of a downed airplane in SF bay but it turns out it was a unmanned large balloon). I don't know of any amateur radio groups were involved (I don't think so, wasn't listening to the N6NFI 9 AM Talk Net). And never got any emails or cellphone text (thankfully).
But lotsa debate here on slashdot! I'll throw in my opinion is this test was useful as actual demonstration of nationwide "simulcast" which exercised the feeds to the broadcasters. You can model it but at some point you gotta do some kind of real world test. Now, purpose of EAS is debatable..... disaster is either self alerting ( flood, earthquake, nuclear bomb denotation), there are already other means of alerts i.e. NWS tornado warnings, hurricane evacuations. Or local flashflood alerts but leave that to local authorities as they know (or should) have better knowledge how to get word to flood areas. There is no earthquake warning system except p-wave (or s-wave?) sensors. Inbound ICBM attack is very 20th century and not useful (WTF are you going to do with 15 min warning?).
s. The technician who services it and keeps it running was a sonar technician in a submarine for many years before he got a job working on microscopes. He is very good - logical, careful, and responsible.
I've known couple others that been in the sub service and they are very good. Getting sub service experience means they had to pass courses and examinations, besides weeding out nutzoids they also want best techie talent on board when you are weeks (months?) under the water.
no, I find many newscasts and sports are pre-recorded. Nobody will record and watch it later. I don't watch much this so I probably giving a faulty statistic sample, from what I see is many newscasts appear to be a few hours old in the context. Then while surfing channels and see a football game supposably live from Georgia Tech, sun is almost directly over as players have short shadows. But it is late afternoon here in California.
Hanger 18 in Arizona? Probably not, that state is very anti alien.
Someone posted most /. readers don't use TV or radio, but they already are aware of the Nov 9 drill (hey, that's what we all are screaming about right now). Someone else mentioned this is a test, first exercise to see how this works then make corrections as needed (if possible).
I was thinking all this illustrates a paradigm shift. People calling 911 may not do in tradition POTS, many do cellphone (which calltakers are getting a better handle on location), but 911 calltakers (actually these are the real "first responders") need to accept text messaging.
Another paradigm shift is television. 85% of US gets TV from cable but more and more are watching streaming video or youtube (as many of you slashdot people have said current programming is really crappy, i.e. syfy channel). Another thing I'm seeing is a shift away from live television, almost all TV is pre-recorded including news and sports (this may be debatable but that's for another thread). I have experience this with amateur television as all non-hams say they can do the same with their cellphone/iphone cam, and more amateur radio people including those that (used to) do ATV are doing it by iphones (i.e. ustream). Take a look at almost all DVD players have no RF input as more and more people watch movies on DVD, regular stations, OTA, no longer show movies (they used to back in the 20th century). So...... I can see broadcast TV will go the way of REACT (group that used to work CB and GMRS).
Then there is radio but since vast majority of stations are managed by Clear Channel and programming done by some elusive demographics studies (the DJ is dead) so much of the programming is the same ol' crap heard over and over. So like broadcast TV why have it when you can tote your 100,000 songs on ipad (or whatever).
An interesting situation, let's see how this all works out. For some disasters they are self alerting i.e. earthquakes. Some have advance warning i.e. tornados and I would rely on weather radio setup to receive NWS alerts. Tsumani warnings, hurricanes... NWS alerts for those in such regions? Emergency Broadcast System, predessessor to what we have now I believe was instituted for alert in event of nuclear attack which is dated. If one were to occur, it would be like an earthquake, a self alerting system.
Maybe what should be discussed is preparation, do you have supplies to sustain yourself for a number of days? Besides food and water, can you continue deal with taking a bath for two weeks? What about taking a shit? For most live in cities (apartments, condos), you can't flush the toilet (no running water) so where are you going to put "it?"
This is one place government officials do not discuss, do not acknowledge it exists, etc. Yet there is this immense desire by people wanting to know what's going on at this place. This gives opportunity for creative people to say there are space aliens freeze-dried from the Roswell crash. OK, prove them wrong. You can't, only thing that can be done is debate among different groups. Unless US govt declassify the area, permit tours, photos, etc. but until then Area 51 remains a good place for conspiracies, movie plots, whatever.
maybe not, maybe so. However, HST has advantage of grabbing headlines outside realm of astronomers with interesting observations. It reminds some of us "flatlanders" to look up and out and wonder.
Regarding spies.... from 1960s Mad Magazine: When we want to gather information on other countries, we employ intelligence agents. When another country does the same to us, we accuse them of using spies.
I did a search for "asteroid mining" at http://www.sti.nasa.gov/ and below are couple documents. I remember seeing in a 1979 STAR abstract journal documents titled "asteriod retrieval" but when I searched for that sti site I saw a lot of non-pertaining listings. Probably a bit too late to capture this month's flyby unless the USAF has a secret spacecraft ready to fly (yeah the old plot used in movies since the 1969 "Marooned").
Extraterrestrial materials processing and construction
Online Source: Click to View PDF File [PDF Size: 14.6 MB]
http://hdl.handle.net/2060/19790021033
Author: Criswell, D. R.
Abstract: Applications of available terrestrial skills to the gathering of lunar materials and the processing
Publication Year: 1978
Report/Patent Number: NASA-CR-158870, REPT-713-488-5200
Catastrophic Events and Mass Extinctions: Impacts and Beyond
Online Source: Click to View PDF File [PDF Size: 21.2 MB]
http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20010007049
Abstract: This volume contains extended abstracts that have been accepted for presentation at the conference
Publication Year: 2000
Report/Patent Number: LPI-Contrib-1053
I knew someone added the Bruce Willis tagline. There was two asteroid impact movies at that time, the one with Bruce Willis and the other (forgotten?). Kind of like in 1964 there was two movies on nuclear attack by rouge aircraft, Dr. Strangelove and (forgotten?). Movies that were successful didn't try to be serious and dramatic, they delibritely went over-the-top with character actors.
Those forgotten movies were Deep Impact and Failsafe.
First US president, George Washington, was a military engineer which is why Engineers Week is held same week as Washington's birthday (though now President's Day). Though engineering held a different stature as it does now.
Speaking of engineering, I talked with someone from Romania and he said during before collapse of communism in east Europe, engineering was preferred major for college students. His father had a technical kind of job, like everyone who was employed by the goverment. After fall of "Iron Curtain" (Berlin Wall) preferred study was business. This person, a child during Cold War, is now a bartender for Princess Cruiselines (Sapphire Princess ship). As you guessed, whole family moved from Romania in the 1990s.
My foreign friends often ask my why the US only has two viable political parties. Could it be that because in the courtroom there are only two sides, and our politicians couldn't wrap their heads around a system that works differently?
damn, perhaps that is why only two parties (plaintiff and defendant), good observation. Actually very insightful analysis. (hey, rest of you mod this guy up).
must have been frustrating, too bad business schools don't have guest speakers like you sharing this situation.
yep, I meant to say F-35 (which certainly isn't affordable nowadays). thanks for the catch.
In a physics class I asked the instructor is there something in our brain that resonates from chalkboard squeals? He thought probably so, kind of like that Tacoma bridge incident. A math teacher used to get excited when the boards were cleaned by custodian, "Yes! We can now break this in" as he would grab a new piece of chalk to use on that dark green board. Then there were some erasers extra wide so not take too long to wipe the board. What about a pocket defense system that blasts high dB levels of this chalkboard sound against muggers? I used to wonder about rigging up something like that.
Speaking chalkboards, another of those things us old people talk about that 20-somethings ain't got a clue what these are. We now have whiteboards which have their problems (i.e. someone grabs a Sharpie and covers a whiteboard with their discussion. Poor smucks on following meeting get screwed).
This whole concept of contracting is like outsourcing, looks good on paper as it saves costs. Then politicos can brag how they are reducing costs because there are less govt workers (though there are a zillion more contractors), i.e. NASA or number of troops overseas (much of those positions replaced by contractors). Only advantage of contractor is it is easier to fire someone than a civil servant. Don't think unions are all powerful and all members have juicy benefit plans and pensions (they don't). Now people like to say how much better contractors are at saving money (uhmm, J35 fighter has doubled cost in past five years and its contractors have a lot of political power like lobbyists and work less regulation than before so don't blame govt people. Oh, did you know the J-35 began as CALF, Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter?).
Others say contractors are good because it is private enterprise, you gotta work hard to make it successful unlike govt which don't have to make profits or deal with customers. However, pretty much all federal contractors have only one customer, the federal government so they are government. I see almost all these companies could never compete in the "real world." And those that do work in the real world are highly dependent on government contracts. Which I think is why federal spending has skyrocketed because it is the only big thing in town, as all other industries have collapsed.
There was a time when becoming a police officer or working some other govt position was considered low pay (especially NASA civil service in the 80s). Right now it looks really good because all other middle class jobs have collapsed. But even for them salaries and bennies are dubious.
At least what I know unless they changed the specs recently. Legacy airliners lower cabin pressure equivalent to 6,000 (or to 8,000?) feet but 787 will have higher cabin pressure so you will not be as hypotic. Of course 6K is not much but recent transcontinental flight where I had to do a lot boring spreadsheet work, it was difficult keeping "awake." With less O2 to my brain, that was a loooonnnnnggggg flight.
Some people are more impacted by lower O2 level, I know someone who cannot handle Lake Tahoe very well. OTOH having a cocktail on a long flight, and when your brain is not getting the O2 as it normally does, you can "get ahead of the crowd."
For airline travel in general, it's fun to watch the old movies: Stewardesses in mini-skirts, go-go boots, bouffant hair, thick makeup. Passengers smoking and drinking, open overhead bins so items dump on you when aircraft does barrel rolls. I can do without the open bins, smoking and drinking. I miss the stewardesses though.
Incidently the only pressurized vehicle that flew with sea level pressure was the Space Shuttle.
There are those that forecasted 2008 economic collapse but those in responsible positions, i.e. Alan Greenspan and Suze Orman, chose to ignore and continue to dupe ordinary people to make themselves more wealthier. Real crime is these people are doing the same crap again and again.
To paraphrase Ronny Cox in Robocop: "The ED 2009 would have given us maintenance and parts contracts for years! Who CARES if it works?"
How come Ronny Cox plays bad guy roles, i.e. disruptive senator in Star Gate One? Other day I watched Tom Hanks' "From Earth to the Moon" series that was on HBO in 1998, kind of surprising to see him playing a role not of a bad guy. I think he portrayed North American executive saying to others they should not withhold any information in regards to the Apollo One fire. Ronny Cox also played one of the guys in "Deliverance" (the one that played the guitar and later killed by the hillbillies).
On subject of this forum, so what if a federal agency has several email systems. Not such a bad thing, diversity in ways provides survivability such as certain virus can take down an entire email system if a large agency has just ***one*** system. Besides Dept of Ag is in the business of Ag. I remember years ago when NASA rolled out their ODIN system and with lots of hoopla, even had their own "mission patch" like this was a new spacecraft. Who gives a s***? It's all just desktop office tools.
thanks for the link. I was too lazy to chase it down but those charts showing balloon size (wow!)
I'm mainly on my Gripe Of The Month but I sure wish there was some little sliver of spectrum besides this for us commoners. I guess all the Corporation$ have hijacked the good stuff. Though there is white space here and there, though need to either spend lotsa bucks on RF equipment or design/build your own (last option time consuming).
I have asked this same question. I get two responses: Either "google it" (a bankrupt answer as all stuff I find online is really simplistic or just aggregetes of vendor sites trying to sell crap) or a long discussion from "a expert" of all kinds of things about wireless stuff (but never telling me what I need to know).
Other day at a group of companies displaying tools to prevent network and computer virus/malware/etc. I asked one of them a book he would recommend on networks. He said enroll in community college class. It's low cost, you get experience, you get assistance, you can ask questions.
What is exciting is consider an amateur radio repeater on a balloon with the balloon, gas, and payload sized just right for a neutral buoyancy at a really high altitude (i.e. 110,000 ft). Then let it drift and see how many ham radio contacts can be done over large areas of land (like for amateur satellites and ISS). There have been high alt balloons carrying repeaters but they usually go up and kablammo, balloon pops and it's all over. Think of getting a balloon to survive the UV enough to get around the world! CNSP is working on a floater (one of their flights in Nov did that, it happened by accident and they want to replicate it). Though only can carry a gps/aprs but maybe.... pack a 2m repeater.
136,545 feet! That is 1515 ft more than previous amateur balloon altitude record held by Cornell University at 135,030 (though I don't think Cornell belongs in the amateur catagory but they used amateur radio as secondary freq). Cornell's balloon was a three-story tall zero pressure techology balloon. CNSP is led by amateurs: They have to pay for everything out of their own pocket, and all have day jobs (lead guy services swimming pools for a living).
It was exciting to watch it keep going and going, breaking the 130K mark, getting closer to Cornell's, watching the packet transmission (also on aprs.fi) and see that transmission of 136039 (nine more feet for 1st place!), and it kept going. No more transmissions after 136545, Stratofox http://www.stratofox.org/ had couple vehicles and a airplane, they estimated from predicted path where it may be and guessed correctly at Manteca. Saw one packet burst at ground level and found it in someone's backyard (they were helpful in retrieving it). It almost landed in a swimming pool.
The ***highest*** balloon was done by the Japanese (University of Tokyo or Japan) at 172,000 feet. This balloon was huge, they had tractors and cranes and truckloads of gas to fill it. Obviously very expensive, much out of the amateur catagory.
That article at wired.com and I was talking to someone that worked military and other similar (now retired and living in France), he mentioned we have a problem when our embassies have to be fortresses. If you have a home in a neighborhood that has to be a fortress and protected by "goons" then it is you that has a problem and not the neighborhood.