Don't know where you get your information, but I've been an amateur radio operator since the mid-60's and I've never heard of any 'official emergency crew' using CW.
would be ever so nice...
Whatever happened to the Halo project? Satellite sucks, fiber is scheduled to be installed here in 2050.. a mile high access point, just point your antenna up, fly one over the areas between metro (easy access) regions..
in Virginia at least, cars which qualify for Clean Special Fuel (CF) plates are allowed in the HOV-2 lanes with one person on board. Unfortunately, the law which added the Toyota and Honda hybrids to the list allowed for CF plates expires next July:(
But for now I save something between 15 and 25 hours on the road each week by riding HOV for a large portion of my 35 mile (one-way) commute, and that's worth a bunch..
wrong.. they don't want *manned* weapons, they just want weapons. much cheaper to build automated weapons that don't require expensive manned missions for placement and upkeep..
Morse will *not* go away.. there's a small army of serious ops that use CW exclusively, many of us with low (5W) power and/or homebrew or kit-built equipment. I've been a ham for over 35 years and have used just about every mode and method of communication available to us (excepting those that use proprietary secret protocols.. see/. article for September 22, 2005 about bandwidth-based allocations NPRM), and I've never had so much fun as in the last 5 years operating exclusively low-power CW.
Amateur radio keeps me sane during my DC-metro commute daily.. sometimes I join in on 2M, sometimes I'm talking to Europeans on 20. The quality on 2 varies from region to region.. dumbing down of license requirements has resulted in a dilution of the geek factor (and it's all the fault of personal computers)
Unfortunately computing/internet/gaming has been sucking the young geek pool dry. The average age in amateur radio is scarily high, and it's very hard to lure "instant gratification" types from here to there. Amateur organizations have been lobbying the FCC to water down the requirements over and over (at least since the late 60's when I started, and continuing today as the morse code requirement fades away) in order to boost participation and lower the entry barrier.
One way to revitalize might be to require licensing to use the 'net:)
I have to take issue with a couple things...
People treat their cars exactly like they treat their computers.. much to the delight of those that repair them. The have no freaking idea of what happens when they turn the key or press on a pedal, much less have any idea what the idiot lights or gauges on the dashboard mean. The drivers license just says they have some basic understanding of the rules for operating so maybe they won't kill too many people on the road. They often have *no* clue as to required maintenance.
Computers have nowhere near the level of foolproofing that automobiles (or toasters) have attained. I've been around the block a couple times (started with 1802 assembler gigs in the mid-late 70's). We've still got a long road ahead of us to make these machines truly useful for the masses.
How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
It's not broadband, but in most metro areas you can get 1X data service.. equivalent to ISDN, about 115K symmetric and the ground station is a cellphone..
umm.. I realize that the stuff we call physics used to be called magic, but this sounds like hokum to me. There have been a number of people who've pooped out weird "e-h" antenna designs.. the problem is actually getting them to work in real life installation scenarios. Caveat Emptor! (sp)
I was a long-time Dish Network customer until this past christmas.. my receiver (bottom of the line) crapped out and they demanded $80 for a replacement. Turns out the problem wasn't really the receiver but the smartcard, and the gyrations necessary to get them to turn on the "borrowed" smartcard were insane. Given this experience and all my prior bad experiences.. I was also an early Starband adopter, which is another story:)... I abandoned ship. For $99 I got a 40GB Samsung DirecTivo, dual receivers, very nice. I like Direct's user interface better also, although I'm not sure if I'm looking at the normal Direct interface or Tivo's version..
I've got a couple of Brooks Leffer's box kites I bought from him when he had a shop in Annapolis 10 or 15 years ago. He builds a beyotch of a kite.. they're still flying to this day
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Don't know where you get your information, but I've been an amateur radio operator since the mid-60's and I've never heard of any 'official emergency crew' using CW.
would be ever so nice ...
Whatever happened to the Halo project? Satellite sucks, fiber is scheduled to be installed here in 2050 .. a mile high access point, just point your antenna up, fly one over the areas between metro (easy access) regions ..
John Lithgow's greatest role, in The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8th Dimension
You have cable? Must be nice. All I can get is satellite, and this post probably won't even go through because of all the jerks on direcway :(
in Virginia at least, cars which qualify for Clean Special Fuel (CF) plates are allowed in the HOV-2 lanes with one person on board. Unfortunately, the law which added the Toyota and Honda hybrids to the list allowed for CF plates expires next July :(
But for now I save something between 15 and 25 hours on the road each week by riding HOV for a large portion of my 35 mile (one-way) commute, and that's worth a bunch ..
wrong .. they don't want *manned* weapons, they just want weapons. much cheaper to build automated weapons that don't require expensive manned missions for placement and upkeep ..
Morse will *not* go away .. there's a small army of serious ops that use CW exclusively, many of us with low (5W) power and/or homebrew or kit-built equipment. I've been a ham for over 35 years and have used just about every mode and method of communication available to us (excepting those that use proprietary secret protocols .. see /. article for September 22, 2005 about bandwidth-based allocations NPRM), and I've never had so much fun as in the last 5 years operating exclusively low-power CW.
A bunch of NM hams are running a special event station at the site all day today. Details at http://www.zianet.com/qrp/Special/TRINITY_PR.jpg
got sny more of that crack, buddy?
Amateur radio keeps me sane during my DC-metro commute daily .. sometimes I join in on 2M, sometimes I'm talking to Europeans on 20. The quality on 2 varies from region to region .. dumbing down of license requirements has resulted in a dilution of the geek factor (and it's all the fault of personal computers)
from a day or two ago? read today's article on QA :)
of course, his replacement might be even worse ..
Because you want to learn some skills besides hand-eye coordination?
Unfortunately computing/internet/gaming has been sucking the young geek pool dry. The average age in amateur radio is scarily high, and it's very hard to lure "instant gratification" types from here to there. Amateur organizations have been lobbying the FCC to water down the requirements over and over (at least since the late 60's when I started, and continuing today as the morse code requirement fades away) in order to boost participation and lower the entry barrier.
:)
One way to revitalize might be to require licensing to use the 'net
move your stuff to the next "permanent" media
wow, that's a scary thought .. Giuliani outlawed *dancing* in NYC!
I have to take issue with a couple things ...
People treat their cars exactly like they treat their computers .. much to the delight of those that repair them. The have no freaking idea of what happens when they turn the key or press on a pedal, much less have any idea what the idiot lights or gauges on the dashboard mean. The drivers license just says they have some basic understanding of the rules for operating so maybe they won't kill too many people on the road. They often have *no* clue as to required maintenance.
Computers have nowhere near the level of foolproofing that automobiles (or toasters) have attained. I've been around the block a couple times (started with 1802 assembler gigs in the mid-late 70's). We've still got a long road ahead of us to make these machines truly useful for the masses.
How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
It's not broadband, but in most metro areas you can get 1X data service .. equivalent to ISDN, about 115K symmetric and the ground station is a cellphone ..
umm .. I realize that the stuff we call physics used to be called magic, but this sounds like hokum to me. There have been a number of people who've pooped out weird "e-h" antenna designs .. the problem is actually getting them to work in real life installation scenarios. Caveat Emptor! (sp)
I was a long-time Dish Network customer until this past christmas .. my receiver (bottom of the line) crapped out and they demanded $80 for a replacement. Turns out the problem wasn't really the receiver but the smartcard, and the gyrations necessary to get them to turn on the "borrowed" smartcard were insane. Given this experience and all my prior bad experiences .. I was also an early Starband adopter, which is another story :) ... I abandoned ship. For $99 I got a 40GB Samsung DirecTivo, dual receivers, very nice. I like Direct's user interface better also, although I'm not sure if I'm looking at the normal Direct interface or Tivo's version ..
I've got a couple of Brooks Leffer's box kites I bought from him when he had a shop in Annapolis 10 or 15 years ago. He builds a beyotch of a kite .. they're still flying to this day