I can't believe how many of my fellow hams fail to appreciate the danger in this kind of post-crisis breastbeating.
This kind of event helps to show that the hams aren't just sitting on 'valuable real-estate' in the EM spectrum.
If the cell phone networks were overloaded while the ham channels were not, then the obvious solution (to anyone but a ham) is to take some of that underutilized ham spectrum and give it to the needy cellular networks!
The needy cellular networks were off-air because they were too infrastructure dependent. Interestingly enough, the emergency services are well trained in what they do, but that doesn't leave much room for knowing their communication systems (which often don't work so well during major emergencies). Hams who have been in one of the emergency nets are trained to make the best use of communications (keep messages short and share the frequency).
All the technology that you quote apart from satellites requires considerable infrastructure that simply doesn't work or is overloaded during an emergency. Satellite terminals work very well in open country, but they don't like high buildings. A friend of mine had a portable INMARSAT terminal to provide emergency communications. He had to go onto a roof to use it. LEO (Iridium-style) is better, but it still has problems amongst the 'canyon walls' formed by high-rise buildings.
You accuse hams of being stuck in the past. Please remember that the hobby is tightly regulated by the FCC. The fights to even get packet radio accepted took a lot of time.
Yes, the training aspect that you mention is important, but the ability of amateurs to provide emergency support is probably still their best justification for the EM spectrum they occupy.
We know how our radios work so when they break, we can fix them quickly
A few years ago this may have been true, regrettably these days the construction of modern tranceivers is not ammenable to tinkering. However, I agree with your other points.
in many parts of the world such as Africa and India. Even the Plain-old-telephone service sometimes has to use HF to bridge the gaps. Microwave works ok when you have enough repeater stations, but HF can bridge the distances better.
It is one of those things that radio amateurs do on a regular basis is to go up on top of hills and try to communicate - this means they tend to have gear that works on 12v on know how to make the best out of propagation.
If this code was in BSD, wasn't it explicitly covered by the settlement with AT&T?
Note that the AT&T version of this code is also probably old enough to appear in the Lyons book. Whilst that doesn't do anything for copyright, it sure nukes the idea of a "Trade Secret".
However, if you can strap the phases to earth, hopefully, any attempt to power them up while you are playing will trip a breaker. Some boxes are wired such that this is relatively easy.
Hundreds of customers like and use SCO's Unix products.
This is rather a small number. I think that "hundreds of customers" like and use Linux in one small city alone. SCO systems are not high-value so those hundreds means in reality, a very small revenue pot. If we deduct for BS those hundreds probably count in reality for almost a hundred, a minute installed base.
Yes, this sounds like a rant but there are a lot of specific accusations in the parent. It would be interesting to seem them disproved. If they can't be, it raises a lot of legitimate questions.
With long distance lines, we are normally talking about 400KV or so. How can the AC -> DC -> AC conversion be handled efficiently enough for serious power transmission? If we used DC, what could the long distance transmission voltage be reduced to?
I thought the reason that AC was chosen (apart from DCs ability to fry elephants) was the ability to self-quench any arcs formed by switches opening. DC is otherwise great for transmission, you can move more of it down a cable than the same voltage AC b ut it isn't so easy or efficient to transform.
If we have to use AC, it would still be better to use a higher frequency. The AC bus on aircraft is 400Hz, which means smaller and more efficient transformers.
What is natural - supernovae are definitely a natural occurring incidents, albeit somewhat disasterous. Particles may also be formed during cosmic ray showers, god's lineac certainly packs some punch.
The transuranics (and abnormal isotopes) we see on earth are usually the result of artificial action - reactors or accelerators, but others do naturally exist, perhaps not at this moment on earth though.
Your telephone wire is protected by regulations that force the phone company to maintain a basic service. As the ADSL modem and voice wires are combined at the exchange end, they might as well run the routers off the same generators as the ADSL line termination cards. At your end, it is down to you to find power for anything beyond a basic telephone.
Cable companies have some obligations too as regards emergency broadcast capability (at least they did in cold war times). It should work if you can find power at your end. However, if you share your cable connection (i.e., an apartment block), the building distribution amplifier might not have emergency power.
This has been known since the last major blackout, but it is easier to learn to fly a plane than to work out the critical areas of the grid, after all, it is clear that the power companies don't - and they have the plans!!!
My jibe about the power companies is because they should have been able to isolate the problem by forcing a blackout on a small proportion of their customers.
Actually, it did quite well - the power cuts only came when the energy costs went up after privatisation. It was more profitable to sell the Gas to Germany, than to run generators locally. The problems is that the power stations were CHP, providing district heating too. When they were cut, then everyone got cold.
In Soviet Ukraine, that was another story (Chernobyll).
You are right to flag the importance of the area. Unless a person has knowledge of Australasia, I don't think they have any idea of the importance of Auckland. All Wellington has is the government and WETA.
In economic terms it was a disaster, and I really don't know why the problem lasted for so long. If the other power lines couldn't take it, why didn't they use phased power cuts.
One thing that can help is to fine a monopoly service provider for each day they do not provide the service. Forget the fact that there is a loss of income from downstream consumers, this obviously doesn't help focus their minds. Privatisation can only work when there is responsibility and making them pay will help to concentrate their minds.
It's not quite correct, but basically, they're saying that these other things don't exist unless we try really hard to make them exist in a laboratory.
All existing naturally ocurring heavy elements are the result of ancient supernovae. It is quite possible that these new elements already exist around other supernovae, which whilst catastropic, are definitely natural. It is just that none was around when the earth coalesced.
I heard a couple of nuclear plants had to be shut down because the outer walls of the containment went over 50C and hardly suprising with outside temperatures up to 40C anyway. This is the operating limit, so they played safe (after trying to fight it with fire hoses to cool the walls).
I live about 20 miles away from some big wind farms. No worries there about the birdies. They see something big and they stay away. Wind power is more expensive (capital costs, not running costs) but it can be marketed and sold at a premium.
Hydroelectrioc power may screw up the river system but hydrothermal isn't a major issue. However it helps to be somewhere with hot enough ground.
No, micropower generation is actually interesting. WIth modern technology, synching isn't really a major issue. The grid itself is a problem because power is wasted during distribution. This is why although you are right about the economies of scale, they have to be weighed against transmission costs.
Unless the total is over $5000, the FBI can't be bothered. Even then, they would probably say that this is just a civil law issue.
OT but relevant, its amazing what the DMCA criminalizes, but if you want to fight back, it then is alwways your dollar. The point is that if if you hit a major commercial user of Linux for less than their lawyers cost, then they are more likely to settle.
Whilst the North Pole may become a polar sea or ocean, I can't see that happening without a lot of other stuff melting, as other people have observed.
In particular it would probably mean the disappearence of snow from the alps and possibly some other mountain ranges, possibly including the resorts in the US and Canada. Essentially, it means if I want to ski, then I had better do it on water!!!
Seriously, there are many alpine valleys which do not make enough from farming, so instead they rely on an influx of winter sports enthusiasts. The summer hikers don't seem to come in the same quantities and many don't spend as much.
In more 'primitive' societies, the size of a woman's pelvic girdle is an indicator of whether she can properly birth a child without requiring medical assistance. Biological selection has been active so women now use their backsides for fat storage, thus incrasing the apparent size. However that fat is also intrended to be a reserve to again help bear children. Child-bearing-hips is not an insult, it is a qualification.
In many parts of the world, men still select, whether conciously or not women on child-bearing ability. This is not a new trend, if anything the newer 'fashion' preferring women to look like children is recent and perverse.
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All the technology that you quote apart from satellites requires considerable infrastructure that simply doesn't work or is overloaded during an emergency. Satellite terminals work very well in open country, but they don't like high buildings. A friend of mine had a portable INMARSAT terminal to provide emergency communications. He had to go onto a roof to use it. LEO (Iridium-style) is better, but it still has problems amongst the 'canyon walls' formed by high-rise buildings.
You accuse hams of being stuck in the past. Please remember that the hobby is tightly regulated by the FCC. The fights to even get packet radio accepted took a lot of time.
Yes, the training aspect that you mention is important, but the ability of amateurs to provide emergency support is probably still their best justification for the EM spectrum they occupy.
in many parts of the world such as Africa and India. Even the Plain-old-telephone service sometimes has to use HF to bridge the gaps. Microwave works ok when you have enough repeater stations, but HF can bridge the distances better.
It is one of those things that radio amateurs do on a regular basis is to go up on top of hills and try to communicate - this means they tend to have gear that works on 12v on know how to make the best out of propagation.
Many years ago, I had both SCO Xenix and later, SCO Open Desktop (which pretended to be Unix). I was definitely *not* a happy customer.
Note that the AT&T version of this code is also probably old enough to appear in the Lyons book. Whilst that doesn't do anything for copyright, it sure nukes the idea of a "Trade Secret".
However, if you can strap the phases to earth, hopefully, any attempt to power them up while you are playing will trip a breaker. Some boxes are wired such that this is relatively easy.
The real issue were multinationals deciding that they didn't need to be in a place with major power problems and quietly relocating to Australia.
Yes, this sounds like a rant but there are a lot of specific accusations in the parent. It would be interesting to seem them disproved. If they can't be, it raises a lot of legitimate questions.
With long distance lines, we are normally talking about 400KV or so. How can the AC -> DC -> AC conversion be handled efficiently enough for serious power transmission? If we used DC, what could the long distance transmission voltage be reduced to?
If we have to use AC, it would still be better to use a higher frequency. The AC bus on aircraft is 400Hz, which means smaller and more efficient transformers.
The transuranics (and abnormal isotopes) we see on earth are usually the result of artificial action - reactors or accelerators, but others do naturally exist, perhaps not at this moment on earth though.
Cable companies have some obligations too as regards emergency broadcast capability (at least they did in cold war times). It should work if you can find power at your end. However, if you share your cable connection (i.e., an apartment block), the building distribution amplifier might not have emergency power.
My jibe about the power companies is because they should have been able to isolate the problem by forcing a blackout on a small proportion of their customers.
In Soviet Ukraine, that was another story (Chernobyll).
In economic terms it was a disaster, and I really don't know why the problem lasted for so long. If the other power lines couldn't take it, why didn't they use phased power cuts.
One thing that can help is to fine a monopoly service provider for each day they do not provide the service. Forget the fact that there is a loss of income from downstream consumers, this obviously doesn't help focus their minds. Privatisation can only work when there is responsibility and making them pay will help to concentrate their minds.
I heard a couple of nuclear plants had to be shut down because the outer walls of the containment went over 50C and hardly suprising with outside temperatures up to 40C anyway. This is the operating limit, so they played safe (after trying to fight it with fire hoses to cool the walls).
Hydroelectrioc power may screw up the river system but hydrothermal isn't a major issue. However it helps to be somewhere with hot enough ground.
No, micropower generation is actually interesting. WIth modern technology, synching isn't really a major issue. The grid itself is a problem because power is wasted during distribution. This is why although you are right about the economies of scale, they have to be weighed against transmission costs.
However, I agree that if the SCO stuff starts exploding in Canopy's face, SCO would be reined in very quickly.
OT but relevant, its amazing what the DMCA criminalizes, but if you want to fight back, it then is alwways your dollar. The point is that if if you hit a major commercial user of Linux for less than their lawyers cost, then they are more likely to settle.
In particular it would probably mean the disappearence of snow from the alps and possibly some other mountain ranges, possibly including the resorts in the US and Canada. Essentially, it means if I want to ski, then I had better do it on water!!!
Seriously, there are many alpine valleys which do not make enough from farming, so instead they rely on an influx of winter sports enthusiasts. The summer hikers don't seem to come in the same quantities and many don't spend as much.
In many parts of the world, men still select, whether conciously or not women on child-bearing ability. This is not a new trend, if anything the newer 'fashion' preferring women to look like children is recent and perverse.