THE LITTLE PEOPLE LOG
Where life is
beautiful all the time.
Since 6/20/06
I wish I were Art Bell
All the
different Little People Network stations that checked in on 3765 kHz the week
of 12/09 – 12/15, our RECORD for one week.
KN6Z, KD7BCW, NZ7J, N7EN, W5HO, KE3KR, NR7Q,
AG7G, K6MJD, W6FE, KB5B, W7LW, K6HTM, AF7J, W7LNG, KI6U, AE6FG,
WQ6I, AD5SU, KT0DD, N6NP, K6AII, KE7BBX, WJ6Q, K7PSK, VA7MJS, KG6TT, AD9DX,
AA8KB, AD7HP, KF7J, KC7ZNA, WA7PZR, K6LDO, VE5ANB, K6ZSR, N7TH, W7RU, K6FEJ,
WB7EUH, AF6D, KG6TT, K7PRS, WG6K, WB6GGY, KO6QK, WY8I, W7KOL, K6PIC, KF6VOM,
XE1HDD/W6, AD7HP, KF7J, KB1UM, WY8I, WA7CO, KE7GET, NO5I, KC0HLX, W1VO, VE7AYQ,
AF6D, WC1E, WA6DAC,
W7ZCX, K6USY, KD8CFU, N7FDI (Echolink/Cross
band). Sixty-three
different stations, not counting the blues or non-extras, smashing the old
record of forty-four.
Barney Hall of Fame: Ben KD7BCW, Eric
W7ZCX, John W6FE, Cary KD7KAU, Mike VA7MJS, Mike KB1UM, Duane AG7G, Joe KO6M,
Bruce W6RAT, Terry KB5B, Chuck KE3KR, Moody WQ6I, Bob AF6D, Mike AA8KB, Conrad
N7EN, Randy KC7ZNA, Gary ZL3SV, Mark K6FEJ, Mark K6MJD, Larry W5HO, John K7PRS,
Gregg AE6FN, RoboLon KE7BBX, Dave WA6DAC, Bruce
N6THN, Gary W6FH, Kevin K7TST, Art W6OBB, Kevin AD8Q, Iain K6IAM, Bob K6MIT,
Tom W7PD, Keith KD7KZV, Stan WG6K, Mike AD5SU, Phil WB6GGY, Bob K6AII, Adam
AF6ME, Greg W6EZV, Buddy W7JPL, WJ6Y John, W7HW Duane, K7JRL John, N7MAL Mal,
WY6L Dean, WJ6Y John,
Ham Radio Heaven: W6NZA
Art, Dave WA6DAC; Eric W7ZCX; Terry KB5B; Diane N7TNP; Buddy W7JPL; Orv K6UEY; Ben KD7BCW. Who’s
NEXT???
The Little People Regulars, past
and present:
|
KN6Z Glenn “Steward
of the Realm of Art Bell” San
Diego |
|
KD7BCW Ben “The Horizontal Ham” Salem, OR. |
|
K6AII Bob “Ready to Rumble” Rancho
Cucamonga |
|
AF6D Bob “Big Bear Bob” Big Bear |
|
N7EN Conrad
“Mr. Normal” Gilbert, AZ. |
|
W6EZV Greg “The GREEN Entity” Burbank |
|
W6FH Gary “Mouse Buddy” Nevada City |
|
AG7G Duane
“The Antichrist” Yuppyville |
|
WB6GGY Phil “Yosemite Sam” Twainhart |
|
W5HO Larry “HO” New Mexico |
|
W7HW Duane
“Hot Water” Silverton, OR. |
|
WQ6I Moody “Moody” Claremont |
|
WG6K Stan “Fat
Head” Aptos |
|
VR2HF Dan
Hong Kong |
|
N6LN Jack “I Ball” Palos
Verdes |
|
W7MAL Mal “Malcontent” Bullhead City |
|
WAE6OF Paul “Clear Channel” Bakersfield |
|
K7PRS John “Porta John” Redondo Beach |
|
W6RAT
Bruce “Rat” Coos Bay, OR. |
|
KR7RR John Arrr! “Captain” Safford,
AZ. |
|
N6THN
Bruce Vacaville |
|
KB1UM Mike “Music Mike” Seattle |
|
|
|
|
Flying Dish video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl4OuRvxzMY.
Friday Aug 12?
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, K5GCB, W6MVM, K6AII, KB1UM
As usual I’m writing about this QSO so long
after the fact, that I can’t remember what happened. I think I reported on my trip to our local
fair. I got a report from Mike KB1UM on
his band. He has a couple of new
members. I axed Moody WQ6I if he was
going to host the next WARFA retreat, but I guess no fucking way. Some of us saw a few Perseids
meteors, so we compared notes on that. I
gave a report on my EME project. As of
this writing (not necessarily as of the QSO date), the EME hole is dug. All eight feet. I have built an A-frame over it, and using the
A-frame and block and tackle, I lowered the footing into the hole. I still need to lift it out again and rig it
for the concrete. The telescope pier has
arrived, so the hole for that is also ready for concrete. When I get the EME footing rigged, I’m going
to call in the concrete truck and fill both holes. We discussed the movies 2001 and 2010. And we discussed the LIGO gravity wave
observatory.
Tuesday
July 12
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY, W6MVM, N6YW, AG7G
It was cool working Billy
N6YW again. We talked concrete. Steve W7CI, the Giver of the Dish, recommends
seven cubic yards of concrete in which to sink my EME tower footing. That’s 30,000 pounds of concrete to hold up
1500 pounds of EME mount, at only seventeen feet. So we unanimously voted that that much
concrete is rediculous. So far I can’t
get anybody to dig me a hole.
Construction companies just aren’t interested in hauling big machines
far into the boondocks, just to dig a little hole. I’m really fucked, because it’s too big a
hole for a shovel. Well, somebody at the
local hardware store gave me a lead for a local backhoe artist. I’ll try his number.
There has been progress on
the optical project. A mexican with a
jackhammer dug me a 4.5 foot-deep hole.
I’ll fill it with concrete and three J-bolts, to which I will secure the
telescope pier. Then I’ll mount the
scope on the pier, and build the observatory around it. The pier and scope have been paid for and
ordered, but the customized pier will take a month to get here.
Wed
July 6
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY, W6MVM, WQ6I, N6RC, K6AII
I don’t remember much about this; as usual I
am writing long after the fact. We
talked about Hacienda Heights, J-bolts, my stagnating EME project, and sailing.
Mon
June 15
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY, WG6K, AI6NA
As usual I’m writing this WAY after the
fact. My brother died May 24, and I’ve
been very busy taking care of what’s left of him, and arranging the
funeral. But all that’s done, as I write
this, on 6/20/16, the tenth anniversary of this page. Three Thurmans
down, two to go. My mom and I will carry
on. The night we had this QSO, we talked
about whiners on 3840, and Moody WQ6I’s visit, which I hope gave them some
ease. There was some gun talk. We were talking about fun and dangerous guns,
and the shit we used to do with them. BZ
and I are in the pic on the WARFA retreat page, but I don’t remember all those
people behind us. John K7PRS met BZ for
the first time at WARFA, and he was quite taken by her. He paid her a nice compliment on the air,
which I passed on to her. She is always
so flattered and humbled when someone says something nice about her (Awe,
shucks.). WARFA wife Norma is having
some medical diagnostics done, and we wish her the best. Then Stan WG6K dropped in. What a surprise. So Stan and I went deep into the game, after
most everybody else had signed off or dozed off. We talked long and hard about observatories
and concrete, but somehow Stan wound up explaining to me about where Russia get its fruits and vegetables.
Sat May 14
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY, K6HZH
When I checked in I brought everybody up to
speed on my fascinating life. Mow woes,
for example. Oh, no, not mo’ mow woes! Yes, mo.’
I’ve got the new mower deck installed, but there is a little piece of metal at
the end of a spring that needs to stay in its hole, but it’s popping out from
vibration. When that happens the drive
belt disengages from the motor. It’s
obviously not normal. I think I have a
solution, but John Deere does not make things easy. It’s tough going trying to service one of
their contraptions. This place is so
overgrown, especially this year with all the El Nino rain,
that I gotta get going, and get mowing. On the bright side, because the authorized
John Deere service center inconvenienced me initially by sending me an empty
housing instead of the complete deck, they have made me a straight exchange,
meaning I get a 1000K deck for 600, the price of the empty shell. No mow woes on that score. Dismantling of the observatory
continues. My buddy Dave, the seller and
I performed a risky maneuver today, getting the 500 pound dome track off of the
top of the building. Yikes, it was
hairy, but we got away with it. The
AMGEN Tour bike race is coming through our town (Jamul) Sunday. It’s America’s answer to the Tour de
France. They will pass a few hundred
yards from our house. I guess I’ll go
down to the road and snap a pic. I also
talked about our upcoming concert. Phil
WB6GGY remarked that I was especially loud tonight. He axed if my loop was as high as Art
Bell’s. I think Art’s is 75 feet to my
65. I mentioned that Art has two loops
at different heights, so we went on to cuss and discuss what he gains from the
second loop. K6HZH Fred is the new kid
in town. He’s in Buckeye, AZ.
Sun May 1??? Workers Unite?!
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, AA8KB, K6AII, W6MVM, KB1UM
I don’t know when this fucking QSO was. I just don’t fucking know. I didn’t date my notes. I mostly remember a long, monopolizing
conversation between me and Music Mike KB1UM, about music theory and the
interviewing I was involved with, for a new ensemble director at our
college. It was a three Mike night: Music
Mike KB1UM, Captain Mike W6MVM, and Marxist Mike AA8KB.
Wed April 27
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY, AA8KB, K6AII, VE3HR
When I checked in the gang was talking about
hot peppers. I love ‘em. I love to feel the burn, and I don’t mean for
old, cranky jews. I axed how the WARFA roll call went, but I
guess they didn’t do it this night. John
K7PRS gave me a tip on a Science Chanel series on dark energy. Tuesdays. Time unknown. I gave a report on the relocation of my new
observatory. I put a check in the mail,
but after five days the seller has not received it. If he hasn’t gotten it by Monday, I’m going
to cancel the check. Thirty buck
fee. There was also some masturbating
over a certain DX Engineering receiving array.
A vertical array that performs like a beverage.
Sat April 23
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY, N6CKF, K6AII
When I checked in the gang was trading stories
about shooting, and how it used to be so easy to just shoot rabbits around
town. I gave a report on the cute little
observatory I am buying from a ham who lives near my
mom. It’s only 8 x 8,
and will fit in one corner of the concrete slab outside our garage door, with
room enough left to park our two cars. I
am planning a separate concrete slab away from the driveway, on which to
eventually place the observatory. John K7PRS
thinks I should have the cement truck pour the concrete for the slab on the
same visit that it pours the concrete for the EME-tower footing. That will be cheaper, but may to too complex,
logistically. I also outlined my plans
for my summer home-astronomy-research project.
I want to publish a paper on the results. I am currently preparing for publication a
paper derived from my ancient astronomy-thesis.
I still have the best data in the world on EG Serpentis,
at least of that I’ve seen published. My
old astronomy-research advisor, now retired, is going to co-author the paper
with me. That’s good, because the SDSU
Astronomy department will then pay the page charges. It’s very expensive to publish in a
scientific journal. The paper has to
satisfy the referees and the editor, and then YOU have to pay on top of it all.
We went on to talk about circuit simulation software, and teaching Jerkoff’s
Laws in the classroom.
Wed April 17
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY, N6LN, AA8KB, K6AII, KB1UM
I gave a report on my busted John Deere
riding mower. We talked about a rich
Russian who is going to sponsor a robotic mission to Apha
Centari. And
that led to talk of the search for ETI.
Just as I was signing, Mike KB1UM checked in. We talked about hiring conductors, which I’m doing.
Th April 7
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, KW6M, WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY
This is a QSO that happened, but as usual I’m
logging it so late, I can’t remember anything about it.
Sun April 4
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, K6AII, W6MVM, KB7TG
This is a QSO that happened, but as usual I’m
logging it so late, I can’t remember anything about it.
Fri Mar 18
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY, N6RC, W6MVM, K6SI
Well as I write this (3/25) it’s been a whole
frigging week since the 3/18 QSO. I take
notes on our QSOs automatically, I’ve been doing it so
long. But then I don’t write it up. I gave the Dish Update, as usual. I’ve drilled all the holes, ruined a lot of
drill bits, but the steel cutting and drilling is over. The footing and mount are bolted together for
the time being, but of course they will have to come apart so I can sink the
footing in concrete. Mike W6MVM and I
talked about flying out of Gillespie Field here in San Diego. Mike finally sold his plane for a boat. There was some Disney talk, but I can’t
remember what it was about. We talked
about Shatner and Star Trek. So back to
the dish, everybody weighed in on how much concrete I need surrounding the
footing. Some say more than the seven
cubic yards recommended by Steve W7CI, the giver of the dish. Some say seven is already overkill. Some say guy it, some say that is more
overkill. Mike brought a whole new level
of sophistication and complication to the debate. He used to write software for use in
designing concrete structures. Ken K6SI
gave me a tip-off on a 432 Mhz
amp on ebay.
I’m not ready to spend any money on 432 Mhz equipment until I see this mount standing upright
and all motors running, and that the mount moves as it should in altitude and
azimuth. It has been just about one year
since the first trip to Sierra Vista to size up the dish. On that trip I fucked up my shoulder and it
has taken a year to heal, mostly. As I
type this I am holding my elbow close to my side because my shoulder hurts when
I type. It hurts because today I
re-fucked up the shoulder. I was doing
some bench presses, part of my usual exercise routine, when I heard a sickening
crunch coming out of my shoulder.
Something gave out. We’ll see how
long this takes to heal.
Sat Mar 6
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY
I just know I’ve missed reporting on some
QSO’s somewhere. Anyway, tonight I
reported on my drill bits. I bought some
titanium nitride bits and tried to drill holes in the steel footing that will
be bolted to my EME dish mount. The
nitride coating comes off too easily, and drilling just one hole dulls the bit. I also made the mistake of not using cutting
oil. So I spent twice the money on a
cobalt steel set of bits, and of course I got some cutting oil. Things went much better, but after six holes
or so, the bit was dull. So I’m going to
have to get a bit sharpener. If I was a
bit sharper, I’d have gotten a bit sharpener when I got the second set of
bits. I can still drill holes with the
smaller bits, then widen them with the larger dull
bits. I also talked 432 MHz exciters and
amps with John K7PRS. He gave me some
suggestions on getting some 432 MHz experience, before diving into the deep end
with the giant dish. There are other
preparations I need to make as well, that John consulted me on. All this I can be doing while I am waiting
for my neighbor to dig me a deep hole.
Wed Feb 24
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, W5HO
I was just a drive by, tonight.
Mon Feb 15 (I
think)
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY, NB6TE, W6FDC, W6MVM, W7UA
This QSO is so old at the time of this writing,
that I have little idea of what happened.
We talked about the big Yuma Ham Fest, but I did not make the
scene. It was cool hearing from Pat
W7UA, again. One of the new stations,
Jim NB6TE or Dale W6FDC, remarked that 3636 is what ham radio is supposed to
be. Well said.
Fri Jan 29
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, WQ6I, K7PRS, KB1UM, K6AII, W6PDL
Wowee wow wow, I can’t believe I haven’t had a 3636
QSO in two weeks. Actually, I think I
just didn’t write anything in two weeks.
Everybody was talking about the Yuma Ham Fest. I mean the whole fucking band is buzzing over
it. They got places to eat in Yuma like
the Golden Corral. I can’t wait to get
out there Feb 19. John K7PRS axed me
about the candidate new planet, but of course I knew nothing about it. Apparently the motions of some bodies far
outside Pluto’s orbit are suggestive of the presence of something massive, like
ten times the Earth’s mass, pulling on those bodies. John axed for an EME report, so I updated
him. I’ve picked the site for the deep
hole which my neighbor has promised to dig, and which will be very inviting for
a very stiff tower section. Then
conversation turned to how I would access the dish and feed after the dish is
on the mount. We decided on scaffolding,
as opposed to renting/buying a cherry picker.
We met a new friend tonight: Dale W6PDL in Coarsegold. He used to work
for JPL. He’d be a natural for our
group. Fascinating fact: BZ and I went to see the da Vinci exhibit at
the San Diego Air and Space Museum. It
is an exhibit of models of machines and devices, built according to designs by
da Vince. I highly recommend it if you
come to San Diego, or if the exhibit visits your town.
Sat Jan 16
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, K7PRS, WQ6I, KB1UM, N3CKF, KB7TG, WB6GGY
So, we had this QSO. I can’t remember what it was about. Jeezus, do I have
to think of EVERYTHING?!!! My amp was
arcing, mysteriously. The SWR was
jumping up. I gave it a good long test
the next day, but could not reproduce the problem. And that’s all I remember. Tell ya what, I’ll
give ya an EME report: It was quite a wrestling
match, but I managed to shove the tower section that will serve as the footing
for the mount, into the tower section serving as the mount. One section telescopes into the other. I talked to my Earth-moving neighbor today
about digging the BIG HOLE for the footing.
Steve W7CI recommends the footing be sunk in seven cubic feet of
concrete. I think I’ll cut the footing
off at about three yards long, so a hole 2 x 2 x 3
yards ought to hold more than enough concrete.
Steve used no concrete in his hole (no jokes, please), but the mount was
guyed. Wanna
hear more shit about my fascinating life?
Ok. I got a good deal on propane,
recently. We are currently paying
$4.62/gal. from San Diego Proflame. We just stuck with this company when we moved
in because the seller was using them and they were already in place. We didn’t have to think, we didn’t have to do
anything, and that’s easy. Too bad we
didn’t call around and do some pricing.
I am switching to a little independent outfit called San Diego Propane,
selling the gas for 2.84/gal. The latter
company gets much better reviews online than the former. That doesn’t surprise me, because our current
company has let us run dry twice, and we are paying them to keep us
filled. So, I’ve been paying six to
eight hundred dollars every six months or so for propane, and I’m going to
enjoy seeing that go down to around four hundred.
Sat Jan 16
Loop Report:
160 meters
The loop has done surprisingly well on
160. The reason I say surprising, is
that it has been nothing to jerk off about on 80. It is somewhat better than my vee, but with signals around like those of WQ6I and K7PRS,
I am not the stand out that I am on 20 and 40, and now on 160. I attributed the somewhat disappointing
performance on 80 to its meager 1/4 wavelength height. But on 160 it is only 1/8 of a wavelength
high, yet compared to the other signals around, I’m a blowtorch, judging by the
signal reports I am getting. After my
first visit to the Century Club Net on 1926 kHz, they practically made me sign
in blood that I would return for their late show that same day, and again
Saturday. Why does the loop smoke on
160? I guess if I really want to be sure that it’s
the size and loopy-ness of the loop that really matters, and not my location or
soil or devotion to Art Bell or something, I should put up a 160 vee for comparison.
Friday Jan 15
Jamming
little girls
Friday afternoon I was working a new General,
on twenty meters, Eva KG5JKL. A darling girl of thirteen years. She wants to be a marine like her dad and
brother. On this afternoon Eva and her
dad were trying to rack up as many QSOs as possible (in one day, I guess). Eva had dismissed within sixty seconds each,
most of the stations who called her, but naturally she wanted an extended QSO
with KN6Z. I hadn’t even played the Art Bell
card (yet). Well, a lot of people
waiting to call Eva were getting tired of our little chat, so they started
snoring and jamming. I was just
appalled. Horrified,
really. OMG, it was just
awful. It was like 80 meters. I had no choice but to release Eva to those
animals.
Tue Jan 12
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, K7PRS, WQ6I, W6MVM, K6AII, KB7TG
When I checked in I got us on track and on
audio testing. I was switching my amp
back and forth between the cw and ssb
settings. Nobody could hear any
difference that they could be sure of.
In fact Mike W6MVM and John K7PRS were looking at my audio on their
scopes, but they couldn’t see any difference.
We covered tonight’s WARFA. I
thought it was a good one. Conditions
favored WARFA. There was also a lot of
discussion of the jammers and their psychology.
John wanted the poop on my EME project.
I did an azimuth motion test today, using the back-up gear box. It was a success. It’s time to drill the bolt holes required to
couple the footing (to be sunk in concrete) to the mount.
Th Jan 7
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, K7PRS, WQ6I, W6MVM, KB7TG, WB6GGY WI2R, K6SI
The big news tonight is this cool new guy we
met, Ken K6SI. He lives in Johnnie,
Nevada -- a ghost town 20 miles north of Pahrump. Check out his QRZ page. He has published articles in QST and the ARRL
Handbook, and his receiver design made the cover of QST in 1960. I hope he joins us often. It was really fun talking to him. He has wide-ranging knowledge, and will fit
in perfectly with the rest of the 3636 Virtuosi.
Th Jan 7 8:00 a.m. PST
DX Report
I would not normally be up at this insane
hour, especially during winter break, but it hailed here last night and that
woke me up, plus the cat knocked over a computer monitor, which also woke me
up. After all that hell/hail I couldn’t
get back to sleep, so I turned on the radio.
Twenty meters was open. The Loop
worked S57S in Slovenia, OE8SKQ in Austria, and 9K2NO in Kuwait.
Wed Jan 6
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, K7PRS, WQ6I, W6MVM, AA8KB,
KB1UM
We talked about all the water falling out of
the sky on So. Cal.
And we talked a lot about music.
Mike KB1UM reported on his mini mag loop. It gets out.
Tue Jan 5
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, K7PRS, WQ6I, W6MVM, AA8KB
Routine QSO. WARFA review.
I’m not inspired to write. So there.
Monday Jan 4
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, K7PRS, KB1UM, WQ6I, W6MVM, K6AII, AD6SL, KC8BTR, N6RC, WG6K
Lots of fun tonight, and lots of quality
people. We met a new friend, Dick N6RC. I’m going to nick name him “time
constant.” Jeff KC8BTR in Ohio was
back. Our good bro Kevin AD6SL was in
the circle, too. We really covered a lot
of ground tonight, and had a lot of laughs.
Hard to recount everything, without it sounding like it’s all about me
(which, of course, it is). My roof
leaks, so we discussed the repair I had done, and roof leak-ology in
general. We talked about my slick move
trying to cut wood with my chainsaw chain on bass-ackwards. Of course I gave the EME report. The new gearbox is bolted in place, but there
is an alignment problem. The output
shaft of the gearbox is not coaxial with the drive shaft of the mount. So I expounded on my solution. I think it’s going to be alright. Moody WQ6I was doing a lot of fucking around
tonight with his station and his audio.
The subject switched to music, as in performance, and a lot of people in
the gang tonight contributed. Lots of musicians in the group. There was a lot more covered, but I just
don’t remember it. John K7PRS pointed
out that the moon is 1/400 the diameter of the Sun, and the Earth-Moon distance
is 1/400 of the distance from Earth to Sun.
These two facts are why the Moon can just perfectly block the Sun in the
sky during an eclipse. Imagine a long
skinny triangle with the Sun’s diameter as the short side of the triangle, and
the pointy vertex of the triangle just touching Earth.. Now draw a line anywhere inside the triangle, that is parallel to the short side and touches
both long sides. That short line could
be the Moon’s diameter. You now have two
similar triangles (one inside the other), and the ratio of the lengths of the
two parallel lines (e.g. the ratio of the Sun’s diameter to the Moon’s
diameter) will always be the same as the ratio of the distance from the vertex
to the short line (e.g. the Earth-Moon distance), to the total length of the
triangle (e.g. the Earth-Sun distance).
As the Moon spirals away from the Earth, it’s diameter will no longer be
able to reach from one long side of the triangle to the other long side. When that happens, the Moon will appear too
small in the sky to ever completely block the sun. Long ago, when the Moon was close to the
Earth, it was fatter than the skinny triangle, and during an eclipse it blocked
more than the Sun’s diameter.
Monday Jan 4
Continued
Missouri
Women
The other day I was working a couple of
stations on 160, WA3PBL in Pennsylvania and N0VHN in Missouri. N0VHN told me they have TONS of women in
Missouri, but only a few. Heh, heh. I believe
him.
On a DX
note:
Here for your entertainment pleasure, I
present an email exchange with Comrade Mike AA8KB. He heard me working some EI’s and G’s on
3799.5 or something. I axed those guys if
they watched the Rose Parade, in Europe, or if they even knew about it. They ignored me like I was from another
planet. Or at least
speaking a language from another planet.
Mike was listening:
Glenn,
I enjoyed your QSO with the UK guys.
I have to go and look at my phasing stuff - something's probably twisted, but
close to the ground, most likely, before I can get on.
Yes, George & some of those guys are "blinders-on DXing".
NO idle chat about fucking parades and flowers. ESPECIALLY
George. HE is the boss, and he demonstrates his objection by not talking
to whoever is breaking the rules... UNTIL he gets to know
you.
It took me about 9 months to get to be - effectively - "one of
them", so I don't usually get passed-around like a cheap piece of DX whore
anymore.
There are some very cool people (Dave, Beth, Tony etc.), but they usually get
on later. Dave knows who Annie Mac is. His kids listen to her every day.
If you come back around 12:00 - 1:00 AM Your time,
they talk to NZ, then Australia, IF they are lucky.
OMG, that's funny, Mike. I've talked to
those guys three times now, but I guess I'm still just a cheap piece of DX
ass. Maybe I can kiss-ass my way in to the "in" crowd,
eventually. No Tournament of fucking Roses for me YET.
Thanks for the insight. Good luck with your antenna.
73,
Glenn
No!
You got the wrong idea. First, you're thinking like a man.
If you want to be Rose-Queen, you need to think like one.
Look, they already find you highly-desirable because of your location. You need
to get on frequency and work it with your 6 ass. Play hard to get... give
wildly inconsistent reports... you've been through the drill, only from the
other side.
Maybe I shouldn't have said "drill" but they're working Mitsu in Japan now. Really good
conditions. I have to go fix a loose connection.
Sun Jan 3, 2016
Our
Fascinating Life: New Year’s Eve
We -- The Punk KN6Z and BZ-- planned on
driving on New Year’s Eve up to our fav restaurant, Duke’s, in Huntington
Beach, then on up to Pasadena to cruise Colorado Blvd to check out the party
scene and all the crazy people camping in the gutter waiting for the Rose
Parade to start, and then south to Disneyland to see-in the New Year. We left in my wreck, but didn’t get far. A piece of plastic hanging from the
undercarriage was dragging on the ground, so we returned home and hopped in
BZ’s wreck for the trip, but we didn’t get far.
We discovered both our cells were near dead, but BZ’s cell charger in
her car didn’t work, so we returned home to get my charger out of my car. Third try, we got a lot farther. We stopped in the little downtown village of
Jamul to get some rum to smuggle into the Mouse. BUT I DIDN”T HAVE MY WALLET!!! Fuck, it was still in my wreck, back at the house,
twenty minutes’ drive away. We couldn’t
leave it because it had my Mouse pass and all kinda
shit I needed. So back we went. We got my wallet and left the house for the
FOURTH time. We stopped again in town
and got the rum. Now we were late. Duke’s would be very busy by the time we got
to Huntington Beach, and it was getting so late by now that we knew we’d be
hungry long before we got there. Well,
it just so happens that Duke’s has opened a new location in nearby La Jolla,
which we had not tried. We were not impressed with the menu we saw
online. But we were in a pinch, so we
drove as far as La Jolla, and stopped at the local Duke’s. The atmosphere is fabulous. It really feels like the restaurants in
Hawaii. We’ve been to a few Dukes, and the
atmosphere at the La Jolla location is one of the best. The food was very good, but the menu was just
not up to Duke’s Huntington Beach, Duke’s Malibu, or Duke’s Waikiki. But, on the whole, IT WAS A BLAST. Unbelievable view of La
Jolla Cove and the Pacific Ocean.
I ordered a Lava Flow and spiked it with my Mouse rum to turn it into an
actual alcoholic beverage, otherwise it’s hard to
tell, or to get drunk. We were really
glad we tried this new Duke’s. All the
mistakes and delays had a nice silver lining.
We finally got up to Pasadena, but the Colorado Blvd scene was a
disappointment. There just were not that
many people. Was it the cold? Or the predicted cold? Was it worry about
ISIS attacks? Was everybody at Moody’s
house? Man, it was eerie how little shit
was going on. So we cruised a bit and
then headed south for the Mouse. I put
my little rum stash down the front of my pants to impress the gals around the
Mouse Park, and we walked right on in.
We spiked a bottle of Coke, and took it on the Haunted Mansion
ride. We were drunk by the time we
exited the ride. The Haunted Mansion has
a Christmas overlay. Really
odd. We were getting hungry
again, so we had a second dinner at a New Orleans Square restaurant. The park was packed, so when we were done
eating, we took up a position near the park exit to see-in the New Year. We wanted to get outta
Dodge at the stroke of midnight, before the parking structure got
constipated. At midnight fireworks went
off and lights flashed and shit happened.
We got our asses quickly to our car, and were all the way back to Jamul
in just two hours. It was a large carbon
footprint New Year’s Eve, that included a lot of
overeating and drinking.
Sun Dec 27
The New
Oxford Circle 3636
“The Punk”
KN6Z, K7PRS, WI2R, KB1UM, KD7SKK, N6VOH, WQ6I, W6MVM, K6AII
Good QSO tonight. A lot of varied players and
subject matter. We met some new
friends tonight: Barry N6VOH in L.A. and Bruce KD7SKK in Idaho. Phil WB6GGY’s son, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel
somebody, is coming to San Diego in a Gulf Stream aircraft. He and his crew are going sailing next
Saturday in one of Capitan Mike W6MVM’s yachts.
BZ and I are invited. It’s going
to be COLD. I don’t know if I can talk
BZ into this. She hates the cold, for
one thing, and besides that she is afraid of risking her life in one of Mike’s
leaky tubs, out in open water. She also
only pees in five star bathrooms, and Mike might only have a bucket for her on
his rusty bucket. We had some laughs
tonight, especially over Music Mike KB1UM’s QRPooper
and QRPee-er.
I think his QSL cards should be squares of toilet paper. And I think Mike needs to get more fiber, if
he needs to install a rig to pass the time in the bathroom, instead of passing
turds. John K7PRS brought up the Elser Mathes Cup http://www.amateurradio.com/the-pursuit-of-the-elser-mathes-cup/. We discussed that. Earth-Venus-Earth has already been done, on
2.4 GHz. Anyway, I’m going to need a
bigger dish if I am going to win the Elser-Mathes
Cup. From the bile, venom and vomit of
the WARFA jamming earlier tonight, issued this, my new moniker: “The Punk
KN6Z.” I embrace this appellation, as it
makes me feel young, younger than an Appellation Spring. In fact, The Punk made the big time, I
think. I think I heard myself on a
WARFA-jamming recording.
Tue Dec 22
23:15:00 UT
Loop DX
Report
5/9 into The Gambia
on 14.182. 12/22/15
11:15:00 UT.
Friday Dec 18
The New
Oxford Circle
KN6Z,
K7PRS, K7JRL, WQ6I, AA8KB, W6MVM, W2HF
FCC enforcement was the subject de jour. There was a lot of counting of chickens. We also did some speculating on the latest
retirement of the great Art Bell. We had
a new station on freq tonight: Alan W2HF in
Kansas. And we also had a bootlegger
making some coments.
Thursday Dec 17
The New
Oxford Circle
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, K7JRL, WI2R, AA8KB
Tonight we went up band and worked some EI’s
and G’s. That was fun. We then returned to 3636 and talked about
cutting-to-size the spare section of tower that Steve W7CI gave me, with my
cutting tool. It’s not a BIG TOOL, but
it is hard, and powerful for its size, so we shall see what it can do. And we talked chainsaw blades and sharpening
of same.
Report on
KB1UM and WQ6I eyeball QSOs
Tue Dec 15 I drove 2 ½ hours up the I-15 to
Moody WQ6I’s QTH. He has a fabulous
station, and his StepIR is awesome. His shack has a Yaesu
side with the best of Yaesu, and an ICOM side with
the top of the line ICOM gear. And he’s
got even more stuff stuffed in the cracks.
He showed me a chronicle in pix of his Cooba
trip. I enjoyed that very much. In Cooba, you drink
mojitos, or you don’t fucking drink. And flan. You eat a lotta freakin’ flan. We drank coffee and gossiped about other
hams, the way you obviously just can’t do on the air. Moody showed me his crazy laser light
Christmas show that he is trying to project on his house. I did not take home any heliax. I wanted 7/8 inch at least, but he had very
little of that.
About 4 pm I headed west to Pasadena and
visited some favorite haunts. The fence
around Pasadena High School was open, so I went in and took a nostalgic walk
around. Then I headed to the North Woods
restaurant on Rosemead. It’s a Pasadena
tradition for me. I grew up eating
there. It has not changed. Amazing. Finally I got on the I-5 south to Music Mike KB1UM’s mom’s
place. Laguna Hills, south of
Disneyland. Traffic was bad, and I was
pooped by the time I got there. I’d been
in the car a long time that day. It was
good to see Ruth again, Mike’s 93 year-old mom.
She’s bright and vigorous and looks great for 93. Mike showed me the latest edition of his
book, How to Diagnose and Fix Everything
Electronic. 60,000 copies sold. He showed me the translations into Chinese
and Polish. Hard copies, ready for the
shelves. Impressive. Poland needs a book like Mike’s. Three guys to screw in a
light bulb? Boy, do they need
Mike’s book. His mom has a book out that
he co-authored, about how to get work in TV commercials. Both Mike and Moody are part of very talented
families. Moody’s personal success and
that of his kids is well known, but what’s really great is that Moody is a god
damned Most Excellent High Priest of the Holy Royal Arch Masons. Jesus H. Christ, you gotta
be shittin’ me Moody.
I want Moody to get me an entry-level position as a High Priest in his
organization. It’s beneath me to work my
way up, and I’m just not gonna do it. I want to start out as high priest. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mike and I sat
down and listened to a song I like by Jon Anderson and Vangelis, the chords for
which I can’t find, except for a software “guess” at the chords, available from
the website chordify.com. It was fun
watching and listening to Mike puzzle out the chords, just by ear. Miraculous. I’ve been having fun playing the song. Here it is, complete with phony planets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYQ7jtFAvBI. We also had some fun gossiping about
hams. I was whipped (no, not by BZ) when
I got home. I was all over So. Cal. last Tuesday.
Sun Dec 13
The New
Oxford Circle
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, KC8BTR, AD6SL, N6YW, KB7TG, ZL1API
I’m writing days after the QSO. I lost my notes. Upon puzzling over where they might be, I
suddenly felt the urge to riffle through a sheaf of astronomy papers written by
my students. Sure enough, I had thought
so much of one student’s paper on Saturn’s moon Titan, that I scribbled call
signs all over it. So, anyway, Sunday
night we made some new friends. ZL1API
John got through, but only by dint of the LOOP.
Nobody else could hear him well enough.
KC8BTR in Ohio joined us for a little while. And our old bud Kevin AD6SL made the
scene. He has only recently discovered
my youtube videos, and said he enjoyed them. Something came up about Embry Riddle, but I
don’t know what. It’s been too
long. There was some talk of radio
telescopes. Mike KB1UM is visiting his
mom in So. Cal., so as of Sunday, I was contemplating driving up to see him,
which I did, reported above. It was cool
hearing from Billy N6YW. I need to make
the New Oxford Circle log entry right after the QSO, so I can remember what the
hell went on, but it’s always late, and I’m tired, and I always promise myself
I’ll get to it the next day, but I don’t.
Sun Dec 6
KN6Z,
KB1UM, K7PRS, WQ6I, K6AII
The New
Oxford Circle
The gang was working on Moody WQ6I’s audio
tonight, so I just had to jump in. I
can’t resist audio testing. Moody
sounded fine, then he twisted some knobs, and we told him he still sounded
fine, and then we were done. I reported
on a very expensive episode with my diabetic cat. When BZ and I returned home Saturday night
from December Nights in Balboa Park, we found the cat was having a
seizure. We took her to an emergency
bend-over animal hospital, and found out her blood glucose was only 28. She seems back to normal now, $1300
later. She’ll have to spend a day at her
regular vet getting a glucose curve, so her insulin dosage can be decided/adjusted.
That will be a few hundred more.
And I reported on my band’s big concert Wed night. We set a band record for ticket receipts the
last concert, and about matched it again this concert. Moody wanted a new estimate on when my EME
super-station will finally be on the air.
Last spring I estimated two years, and I think I’m on schedule. I’d say eighteen more months. The gear box problem is solved, as described
elsewhere. Moody reminisced on his Barbados
EME adventure. He says his group did 10
meter EME, but John K7PRS is very skeptical, and thinks it must have been 6
meter. Moody and John want me to try
high power ten gig EME with my huge dish, and fry the
universe. We talked about the late
asshole composer, Alfred Reed. My band played his
composition, Russian Christmas Music, in the last concert. It’s probably the asshole’s finest work. I’m not going to divulge why Reed is an
asshole, or who thinks that he is. Moody
has some 7/8 inch heliax that he might sell me. I’m going to need that shit for my EME
station, so if Moody is anxious to see that station on the air, then he better
sell me that shit. And he’d better sell
it cheap, cuz I’ve poured most of my money into
desperately sick old cats. I discussed
some music notation with Music Mike KB1UM.
There is a mysterious accent mark I am trying to figure out. Thought for the day: There is a big article in the latest issue of Science News, about the vagus nerve, but
no mention of ludomania. Well, is it not self-evident by now that over
activity of the vagus nerve is the clear cause of ludomania? That was
obvious to me the first time I ever even HEARD of the vagus
nerve.
Thought of the
Day (Thanksgiving Nov 26):
Orv K6UEY
(SK) was likely the reincarnation of Thomas Hobbes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes.
In his book, Soul
Made Flesh, Carl Zimmer quotes astronomer Seth Ward, who around 1651
recalled about Hobbes that “if anyone objected against
his dictates, he would leave the company in a passion, saying, his business was
to teach, not dispute.” That was Orv to a tee. He
didn’t want to argue with your ignorant ass.
He was willing to teach you if you had enough sense to try to learn from
him, but if you were too dumb to learn, or thought you knew better than he did,
he would not debate your dumb ass. I
wonder if Hobbes/Orv has taken up residence in a new body yet.
Tue Dec 1
The New
Oxford Circle
KN6Z, WQ6I,
WB6GGY, K6AII, K7PRS, KB1UM
I’m really late in reporting this. I’m not even sure if this shit really went
down on Tue night. Whatever night it
was, it was talk of Thanksgiving leftovers.
Wowee wow wow,
people were still eating leftovers the Tuesday after Thanksgiving
Thursday? Maybe this QSO was not
Tuesday. Well, it was Tue, but only
nominally. It was fun talking to Music
Mike KB1UM, after a long hibiscus. He’s
got his antennas back up, and was he ever loud tonight. Mike wanted to hear about the music my band
was going to be playing for the concert Wed Dec 2. Russian Christmas Music was one of the
pieces, by Alfred Reed. Probably Reed’s best work.
Reed was actually one of Mike’s music teachers long ago. Reed is also long dead. Mike says Reed was a weirdo. For videos of Mike’s duo in performance, just
search on youtube for Sweet Street Jazz.
Sat Nov 28
The New
Oxford Circle
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, KB7TG, K6AII, K7PRS
Everybody was checking out by the time I
signed in. John K7PRS and I cussed and
discussed DC motors for a while. He gave
me some more thoughts on my EME project.
Tue Nov 24
The New
Oxford Circle
KN6Z,
WQ6I, AA8KB, K7PRS, W6MVM, KB7TG
Tonight we exchanged weather reports, as
usual. It’s getting a bit wet around
here. I gave the EME update, of
course. Dynamic Marine Machining got the
big beveled gear and metal plate off the front of my back-up gear box. That stuff was in the way of everything I
need to do with that gear
box and EME mount. The
gear and plate were just rusted on tight to the drive shaft. The machine shop soaked it with some kind of
rust solvent. Anyway, the back-up gear
box is ready to go. We cannibalized the
prop pitch motor off the old gear box, for the “toothed” armature shaft that,
happily, fits the “toothed” hole input of the new gear
box. So I have a ready-made way to drive
the new gear box, and the shaft, being the very same used with the old gear
box, still of course fits the adapter that couples it to the photocopy machine motor
which Steve W7CI has been using all along.
The mounting holes on both gear boxes match, and so do the output drive
shafts. So I’m ready to rock. No adapting necessary. I’m going to put the new gear box in place,
drive it for now with the photocopy machine motor, and get busy drilling and
chopping the spare tower section Steve gave me, which I will sink in concrete
and use as a footing for the mount, and this run-on sentence can now end. John K7PRS was very impressed with the movie,
The Martian. We talked about it with Capt
Mike W6MVM. I thought using the Mars
spacecraft to get a free return to Mars, enabling a “quick” rescue of the
astronaut, was a cool idea. The related
concept of a “Mars Cycler” was discussed in Buzz Aldrin’s autobiography, which
I read. We talked a bit about the
practicality of such a cycler. Capt Mike thought it would be more practical to slow the
massive ship down and re-accelerate it, rather than to try to re-man and
re-supply it while it’s screaming like mad around the Earth. Well, Buzz thinks it’s practical, and so do I, and I just can’t believe that anybody has the gall to
contradict me. Moody WQ6I was way down
in the mud tonight. We could barely hear
each other. Very weird
conditions. A jammer jammed out
the empty frequency with trucker music just as we all signed off.
Sun Oct 9
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K6AII, AA8KB, K7PRS
We talked about the huge WARFA night,
tonight. I listened to 3908 from 9:00 to
9:30, and there were just ungodly long gaps with no jamming. I think I only heard jamming about a fourth
of the time. Marxist Mike set a personal
record for WARFA check-ins. 3846 got
more jamming, apparently. Capitano Mike
W6MVM won his boat race, the first of four.
The Hot Rum run. We talked about today’s very poorly prepared
students. Poorly
prepared for everything. Moody
WQ6I axed me if I had any regrets now that I’ve been living in the boondocks
for a couple of years. I said the
advantages of having room for an Art Bell loop and giant EME station, and dark
skies for astronomy, far outweighed the disadvantages -- the most obvious of
which is being a half hour from the frontier of civilization.
Sun Oct 4
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, W6MVM, WB6GGY, K7PRS, KB7TG
We briefly covered WARFA tonight. WARFA is still rockin’
150 check-ins/week.
I checked into WARFA earlier, then went out on
the driveway to make my observations of RU Ophiucus,
and listen to the rest of the net. The
WARFA-Jamming Corps sounds like it’s down to, like, one guy. The multi layered jamming of old I haven’t
heard in a while. I brought John K7PRS
up to date on my testing of the EME mount.
The azimuthal motion test was a success, but ended in the hopeless
seizing up of the gear box. Steve W7CI
warned me that it jams up, but until I tested it under load, it didn’t
jam. So I am going to have to take it
out (again) and replace it with the spare gearbox that Steve gave me, but
adapting the spare gearbox is going to take some work. Welding, drilling through thick steel, and
other unpleasant shit. I also need to
obtain, or have made, a spline to fit the input of the spare gearbox. I got a good tip on a machine shop from
part-time San Diegan, Mike W6MVM.
Sun Oct 25
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
WB6GGY, K7PRS, WQ6I, W6MVM, K6AII
We had fun tonight, but I can’t remember
why. I checked in, but was left out of
the loop for several rounds. Finally
Moody WQ6I remembered I was there, and gave me a chance. We got involved once again in the dish
project. My neighbor brought over his
fork lift and cherry picker. We lifted
the mount with the fork lift and got the cherry picker in position. I want to hang one end of the mount from the
cherry picker so I can test the azimuthal motion. But the bottle jack that raises the cherry
picker arm is not beefy enough. It’s a
six ton, but for the torque we are going to need (40 inches times 1500 pounds),
I am going to have to upgrade to a 20 ton bottle. Then I think I’ll be fine. The mount will rise a foot or two, hang for
testing, and then sit back down on the 8 x 8’s.
All this fork lift service is free.
I remind the reader that my neighbor lifted the mount off of the flat
bed for me, no charge. He also helps us
out by scraping our dirt driveway smooth with his dozer. Mike W6MVM is coming down to San Diego for
the Hot Rum sailboat race. He has
invited BZ and I to hang with the cool yachting crowd
and ride along on his 38 foot racing boat, drinking wine the whole way, then
getting drunk after the race, on rum drinks.
Mike is also getting some IHY boxes for one of his rigs, so we have some
fun fun fun in store, audio
testing. Good WARFA tonight. I don’t think there were more than two
jammers. There were some long dead
spaces where Marxist Mike AA8KB could check in anybody on the Moon with ease.
Sat Oct 24
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
WB6GGY, K7PRS, WQ6I, W6MVM, KB7TG, AF6D
Everybody was pleased to hear from Bob AF6D
tonight. He reports that daughter Rachel
is still doing well. Bob is having
severe pain, but has cut back a lot on the dope anyway (I appealed to him that
he return to me the unused portion for a full refund.). Bob is back with his on-and-off main squeeze,
Susan. He’s very happy with her, at
least for now. Bob expressed his
heart-felt appreciation for the welcome back he received from the Collective. Hurricane Patricia came up in conversation,
and Bob gave us a short update. I
reported on my travails here in the back country. A flying critter chewed through another
pulley line on one of my masts. So the
antenna has fallen thirty feet or so at one spot. I’m going to have to lower the damn mast to
fix it. Lowering and raising one of the
loop masts is an all day ordeal. I also
reported on my failed attempt to jack up the dish mount with a bottle
jack. Too tippy. The mount fell off the jack. I need to start getting used to operating 432
MHz. Steve
W7CI gave me some yagis, and Bob and John K7PRS gave me some advice
on building a phased array.
Wed Oct 21
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
WB6GGY, K7PRS, WQ6I, W6MVM, K7DV
Everybody was signing when I checked in. Signing was in fact all I had in mind,
anyway. Jackalope
“Dry Vagina” Dave K7DV was on freq earlier looking
for me. Sorry I missed him.
Friday Oct 16
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
WB6GGY, K7PRS, K6AII, WQ6I
Tonight I really wanted to hear from El
Cubano WQ6I. He had quite an adventure
in Havana and surroundings. He was
mobbed repeatedly by adoring fans – SWLs – who wanted to know if he, El Cubano,
was really God King of WARFA. El Cubano
stayed at the Hotel National de Cuba. The best in town, naturally.
El Cubano I’m sure would settle for nothing less. Cuba is apparently a communist paradise. Everybody gets $20/mo., free. No charge, comrade. El Cubano saw some jazz shows and ate great
food. The emphasis is on hordeurves. He says
the restaurants try to outdo each other’s hordeurves. El Cubano enjoyed (I guess) caviar, on more
than one occasion. Some aspects of the
communist paradise are primitive, apparently.
Internet access is not easy, and it’s expensive. But everybody get $20/mo., so who cares? Besides hordeurves,
another constant is rum. Rum at every meal. El
Cubano really enjoyed his outings to the country, including a trip to a cigar
making operation. He brought home some
cigars. He tried to bring home some
bottles of fine liquor, but those crazy communists took the booze away from him
at the airport. I very much enjoyed El
Cubano’s account of his fantasy trip to a forbidden land. John K7PRS told me that Jacklope
Dave and Hot Water have been on 36 recently, and that they axed about me. I haven’t been around much. I hope I get a chance to reconnect with
them. John and I spent some time discussing
options for the next step in my journey toward inevitable EME stardom. He and Steve W7CI really want me to come up
with something better than the photocopy machine motor Steve has been using to
drive the dish in azimuth. It’s fine for tracking the moon, but it’s all slow all the
time. Slewing the dish to a new target,
such as the star in the news recently with giant alien structures orbiting it
-- towards which I want to transmit a signal of hostility and warning not to
come here and fuck with our planet -- would take a long time.
Sunday Oct 4
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z, WB6GGY,
K7PRS, KB7TG, N6LN, K6AII, AD6SU, W7KDL
Well tonight we talked a bit about my recent
salvage job in Sierra Vista. Not the
dish, but the other junk. There’s an
inductor John K7PRS would like me to find somewhere in some tuner I got in the
pile of stuff, and give it to Capt Mike W6MVM. I already have a tube that I am supposed to
give him. Jack N6LN checked in and
wanted an update on the resurrection of the dish. I’m testing motors and the gearbox. John gave me a recommendation on how to
lubricate the gearbox: through the bunghole.
When I’m satisfied that all the stuff I can test, works, I’m going to
have my neighbor dig me a big hole and I’m going to sink the mount deep in
concrete. I get the impression Jack
doesn’t want me to fart around and be timid for too long, he wants to see that
mount upright. We met a new friend
tonight: Dick W7KDL. He’s some kind of
laser technology designer, retired. He
should fit right in with the broad array of accomplished people on 3636. I told him how nice and sane and accomplished
we all are. Our level of personal
achievement is exceeded only by our humility.
And we also met an old friend tonight: Bike Mike AD6SU. He’s about to make his yearly get away from
Williams, AZ. to Texas. A ham down there
croaked and Mike got the SK’s 20 meter Step IR and a tower for cheap. He’s got to climb the sixty-foot tower
tomorrow and get the antenna down. I got
a call from the Entity W6EZV. He saw my
announcement on this page, about Ben KD7BCW’s death. He wanted to know when it happened, so I
filled him in.
Sunday Sep 27
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, K7PRS, KB7TG, KB1UM, N6RBR
Well tonight the big news was the WARFA
Retreat, and Jack N6LN’s apparently stupendous Rasperry
Pi presentation. It sure was a knock out
with John K7PRS. The Entity W6EZV
brought his ten inch telescope, and everybody had a look at the moon. We talked a bit about the lunar eclipse. I watched it while I tested the motor and
gearbox that I acquired from Steve W7CI, as part of the huge EME installation
he gave me. That photocopy motor just
screams, and I just let it drive the hell out of that gear box. It’s like a 6000 to 1 gearbox, and after an
hour of screaming along, the output gear had not gone round even once. Steve says the gearbox binds up sometimes,
and that I should use something else. He
actually gave me a spare, but using it has its own problems. Anyway, I have so far observed no seizing up
of the gearbox. That’s why I was running
it for so long tonight, I want to see if it really
does get hung up. We talked about the
postal poop kit I got in the mail from Kaiser.
I had a flexible sigmoid five years ago, and after that they stopped
sending me the postal poop kit. I have
been expecting the flexible sigmoid Nazis to contact me, since it’s been five
years, but instead I got the fecal blood test.
Am I going to get out of the flexible sigmoid? Mike KB1UM told us about a nightmare
colonoscopy he once had. He was in
terrible pain, despite the sedation.
They had to finish him off with a cat scan, which they charged him
for. His procedure was supposed to be
covered. I was getting pretty worried we
were going to finish out the evening WITHOUT talking about buttholes. This one was a close call. Mike normally prefers to keep this kind of
stuff to himself, because he has class.
I have none, and make no pretense to having any. The gem of my latest trip to Sierra Vista is
free use of (with an option to buy) John’s cherry BT1500A balanced tuner. It’s never been used. I haven’t tried it out yet, because its
balanced nature will necessitate the routing of ladder line through the window,
and that’s a pain in the ass. And the
late Orv K6UEY always said you just can’t do it. It’ll make him roll over in his grave if I
bring ladder line into the house. And I
just hate upsetting the dead.
Wed Sep 16
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
KB1UM, WQ6I, WB6GGY, K7PRS, K6AII
I was tooting my horn and listening to the
gang tonight, so I finally decided to jump in to say goodnight, but as so often
happens, it got out of hand. Others
joined in, and a QSO that was about to end found new life. I axed Music Mike KB1UM some questions about
musical notation. I reviewed the
upcoming Sierra Vista trip with anybody who was interested. We talked about Cuban music with Moody WQ6I,
and how he’s going to kiss up to Clint Eastwood at the Monterey Jazz
Festival. Duane AG7G broke my heart when
he said Art’s show on 5085 tonight was really boring. How could it possibly be boring? It was about ghosts. Moody might be killed soon, and he told us he
would haunt us if we didn’t come to his funeral. I told him I would come to his funeral, but
that I still wanted him to haunt me. I
want him to haunt me when I’m having a long session of constipation on the
crapper. I want his voice to come out of
the toilet and scare the shit out of me.
Sun Sep 13
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
W6MVM, WQ6I, KB7TG, K7PRS
The first signal heard on freq
tonight was a recording of the chopped up voice of one of the 3636
regulars. I expected we’d be jammed by
that recording tonight, but it stopped.
It wouldn’t have been much of a problem, anyway. Most of the gang blew us off tonight. Fuck them.
Moody WQ6I and Mike W6MVM had a perfectly nice QSO all by ourselves. But
actually, it didn’t stay that way. Just
as we were all signing, Mike KB7TG checked in, and so did John K7PRS. So I retract my “Fuck them.” It never happened. Moody attended the ARRL SW division
convention and talked to some powerful people.
The tsunami is right around the corner.
I mean, it was right around the corner a year ago, so it must be REALLY
close now. The end is near. The tsunami will wash away the pestilence
plaguing WARFA as surely as the Red Sea caved in and washed away Pharos’s
jammers. We did the WARFA post
mortem. The usual recordings were heard
during the net, but the many live voices heard recently were MIA. Perhaps getting bored. Is the entertainment value of jamming WARFA
unlimited? Maybe not. Moody is going north to the Monterey Jazz
Festival in just a few days, then he’s coming back down for WARFA for a few
days, then he is off to Cooba. He’s going to be drinking Mojitos and dancing
the Mambo, the Tango, the Conga, and the Cha Cha Cha for, like, three weeks.
Moody is going to be MIA for a fucking month. John and I discussed the upcoming Sierra
Vista convergence. We need to cheer up
our buddy Steve W7CI, who recently lost his wife, Nancy, and wants to load up
my rental van with junk.
Th Sep 10
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
K7PRS, WB6GGY, W6MVM, WQ6I
John K7PRS got a new puter. The fix-it men couldn’t give him anything
more detailed on his previous puter’s repair than
that it needed a new mutha board. They can’t repair it at the component
level. We talked about sultry Linda’s
sweltering onslaught on the Southwest.
She really let loose on us this afternoon. A God damned thunder shower. She really dumped on us. New temp records have been set around here
the last three days or so. We were
talking about AC and our power bills. My
power bill is high, cuz we’re cranking the AC
continuously. The long dimension of the
house runs north-south. The broad
east-side of the house is shaded by trees, but the broad west-side cooks
unshaded in the late afternoon, with the indoor temp still climbing as late as
5 pm. We all agree I need awnings for
the west side. Capitano Mike W6MVM has a
new 7800. He was fucking around with it
tonight, and Moody WQ6I was helping him with the menu, or some shit like
that. I was listening to some
bellyachers elsewhere on the band a few days ago, whining about all the cool
shit Moody owns, the enjoyment of which they will never know. Now they will be whining about Mike’s cool
7800. John and I finished off the
evening talking about the upcoming trip to Sierra Vista. There was some really lame jamming
tonight. Barely
audible. Recordings jamming, in
contrast to the shitty music this same jammer has been playing lately.
Mon Sep 7
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
K7PRS, WB6GGY, W6MVM, K6ORJ
It was getting late when I checked in and I
just wanted to say hi to the gang. Moody
WQ6I blew us off tonight, because he was at a film festival. He’s so artsy fartsy. He probably thinks he is too high booty for
3636 anymore. Capitano Mike W6MVM was
fishing all day today around Kennedy Meadows, and he actually caught a
fish. Mark K6ORJ was on his way home
from work and was pretty tough copy here.
John K7PRS and I discussed our upcoming rendezvous at Steve W7CI’s
house. I’m going to bring a truck, and
Steve is going to load me up with shit.
Some might say that I’m already full of shit, and certainly don’t need
any more. Anyway, some of the shit may
be valuable, some worthless. Then John,
Steve, Kathy, my buddy Dave and I are going out for mex. Steve is
quite fond of Becky and I think he’d rather see her than Dave. The big WARFA Retreat was discussed. The entire band is just abuzz with
anticipation. Jack N6LN is going to do a
presentation at WARFA, on the subject of little computer boards called
Raspberry Pi’s. And I guess on
Arduino’s. I’m sure that would be worth
the trouble to go see. When he starts
talking I should start a competing talk on Orange Pi’s, a cheaper, single board
alternative. Speaking of WARFA, Sunday
night I gotta give it to the jammers. All the rabble were
there. All the
name rabble. The Iron Lady actually
conceded. Resigned
early. Wowee
wow wow.
Nowhere on the band will you find a more wretched hive of scum and
villainy than on 3908; Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Though she closed the net early, Kathy did
let me in through a crack in the door just before she slammed it. WARFA looks on me with special favor. I always get to check in. Even when the net is
closed. Even on nights when there
is no net.
Wed Sep 2
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, AA8KB, KB1UM, VE7MTI, W6MVM, VE7GBO, KF6QPY
I guess the most exciting thing that happened
tonight was the spectacularly weak, spectacularly lame jamming. There was some really weak hissy jamming, and
some guy babbling in a falsetto voice, who wasn’t strong enough to cover
anybody up, and who didn’t enunciate clearly enough for anybody to understand
him. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say
it again, you just can’t get quality jamming anymore. Canadians were on freq
with us tonight: Bob VE7MTI and Tod VE7GBO.
And we met Miles KF6QPY in San Bernardino. He’s been listening and admiring for a few months, and finally decided to introduce himself. Mike KB1UM and John K7PRS and I talked a bit
about antenna problems. Mike put a 10 K
ohm resistor across the feed of his antenna in order to make a continuity test,
but then ran full amp power up the transmission line and vaporized the
resistor. There was practically nothing
left. Just a carbon
trace shorting the legs of his antenna.
So Mike’s advice to the ham community is this: don’t do that. I kept trying to sign off, but new topics
came up. Mike and I got off on a music
jag. I talked about the music my band is
playing this semester. Moody WQ6I
reported that Phil WB6GGY is healing up nicely.
I’m very glad of that. The bodies
are piling up and I don’t want to have to start a second line of Ham Radio
Heaven.
Sun Aug 30
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, AA8KB, KB1UM, AF6D, K6AII, WG6K, KB7TG
Bob AF6D threw out a couple of calls, but
nobody answered him, including me. I was
busy at the moment, and the rig was not tuned up. Never heard any more from
Bob. We talked a bit about
tonight’s WARFA, of course. Stan WG6K
joined us tonight. That’s a rare
pleasure. Stan went sailing with his son
today. I was practicing scales on my
trombone while listening to the dysfunctional QSO, although tonight the
dysfunction was difficult to detect. But
I’m sure somebody was pissed off. Bob
K6AII, John K7PRS, and Stan got into an interesting exchange about buying shit
from China, IC’s for example, and the problem of “counterfeits.” I was confused by the term. Counterfeits are chips that apparently
actually do something, but not necessarily what you want them to. They aren’t just studio props.
Sat Aug 29
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, AA8KB, KB1UM, WI2R, K6AII, KG4SMP
When I checked in I axed for congrats on my
sixtieth birthday. Happy
birthday Michael Jackson, Duane AG7G, and me. So, I did get some congrats. I described the bend over dinner I had with
my family tonight at Island Prime on San Diego’s Harbor Island. No birthday sex tonight – wrong time of the
month. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been on
the air. We made a new friend tonight,
Frank WI2R. Tough
copy. Mike KB1UM wanted an update
on my projects, so I gave him the lowdown on the astronomy project, the EME
project, and the concert band project.
In fact Marxist Mike AA8KB, Mike KB1UM, and Bob K6AII really started
grilling me on my photometry project.
They were surprisingly interested.
It’s something that seems to me would be so dry to listen to. It’s just a bunch of technical shit, without
all the wonder of the heavens. Mike
KB1UM wanted some advice on the water pipe he is using for a ground. He’s afraid lightning will strike it and
break it and his house will be flooded.
He was axing us if we thought lightning could break a pipe. I googled the question, and found instances
where lightning did break or damage pipes.
I don’t like the whole idea of grounding to pipes. I pounded an eight foot copper rod into the
ground outside my shack window. The
lightning can just go there. Stay out of
my house. I do need to sink some
lightning grounds for the many loop masts I have around the property.
Wed Aug 26
Ben KD7BCW
died this morning. Bob K6MIT called me
this morning with the sad news. Ben
emailed me July 12 informing me that he had liver cancer. Rest in peace, Ben.
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
K7PRS, WQ6I, WB6GGY, AG7G, N6LN, KB1UM, KG4SMP, AD5SU, W6MVM
Our dear friend Ben KD7BCW SK was the subject
on and off, tonight. Mike KB1UM is
interested in the Icom 706 Ben had for sale. I talked to him about it on the phone. Bike Mike AD6SU struck like lightning
tonight. We haven’t heard him in a
while. He is currently in Williams, AZ,
his summer hide out. His shack took a
direct hit by lightning, which took out a couple of his radios. He says the 80 m wire was hit. The coax had a hole burned into it about every
ten to fifteen feet. The coax was lying
on the floor of his shack. It whipped
around and hit a grounded terminal strip, and that’s how the current got to his
radios, which were shut off. Quite a story. We met
a new friend tonight, Bill KG4SMP in TN.
Seems like a nice guy, and we invited him back. Jack N6LN axed me for an update on my EME
station, which I gave, and John K7PRS wanted an update on the saga of my
disabled student who by law must somehow be accommodated in my class. The prop pitch motor I was hoping would turn
my EME dish has a grounded actuator, and is unsalvageable without the needed
rare parts. I doubt I’m going to fuck
with it any more. I’m going to continue
with Steve W7CI’s method of turning the dish with a photocopy machine motor,
leaving the prop pitch motor in the power train, but inert. But Steve has that motor jury rigged, and I
don’t understand it. I’ll have to
consult him. Captain Mike W6MVM was on
his boat at Shelter Island here in San Diego.
He was unusually strong. He’s so
close I don’t normally here him very well with the loop, which is a low angle
antenna.
Sun Aug 23
Ben KD7BCW
Liquidation Sale
Ben has an ICOM Pro in very good condition
and is axing $1000. Ben also has an ICOM
706 with some “problems,” but the control head is in perfect shape. $100. Ben would also like to unload 80 feet of Rohn tower at $50 per ten-foot section. He has other shit that goes along with it,
such as the tilt base ($150), house brace ($75), hazer, thrust bearings,
etc. I hope a few of you cheap cock
suckers will help Ben out. Why don’t you
no good stingy bastards let some moths out of your wallet and give good ol’ Ben a break. If
Ben had a free EME station for the taking I’d be first in line to help out our
dear old friend, Ben KD7BCW. This blurb
puts me in the mood to start my own swap net.
I want to trade Art Bell memorabilia, photos of Art, books about, and
by, Art, and recordings of Art on ham radio and broadcast radio.
The WARFA
Report
I finally made the big time and heard my
voice on a WARFA jamming recording.
Duane AG7G (also on the recording) recently was remarking on the
“adversarial” climate on 3636, which remarks I had to relay to stations who
could not hear him. Apparently the editor
of the recording thought Duane sounded more like he was complaining,
bellyaching or whining, and so in addition to Duane’s voice and my voice on the
jamming recording, a crying baby can also be heard on the recording. The jammers left 3846 alone tonight, at least
while I was there. 3908 got more action,
but checking in with Mike AA8KB was no problem.
Moody WQ6I announced on air that long time WARFArian
Don W6KAT is now a silent key. Our
sweetheart and tower of strength, Kathy KJ6KMK, was
quite overcome when Moody made the announcement.
Friday Aug 21
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
K7PRS, WQ6I, WB6GGY, AA8KB, AG7G, K6AII, W3CKF, W6SQ, N6LN, KB1UM
There was some exciting talk about Art Bell’s
show, but in the end nobody was sure if he has a show or not, or how you can
hear it. I’ve been keeping the gang
updated on my disabled-student saga.
Somebody wanted more of that, so I gave it. John K7PRS wanted the scoop on how butterfly
nebulae manage to lie down flat in the galactic plane, but I could throw no
light on the subject. I’ll have to read
up on it. The subject of plague came
up. Not the plague on WARFA, but some
other plague. I’m typing this too long
after the fact to remember.
Wed Aug 19
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
K7PRS, WQ6I, WB6GGY, W6MVM, AF6D, AA8KB, AG7G, K6AII, VE7MJS
I was out on the driveway working on my
astronomy project tonight, and listening to 3636. I started pooping
out and came inside to wind down and go to bed.
But I did check in with the gang. We talked about a disabled student
problem I am facing. I’ll skip the
details here. Lightning struck when
Canadian Bacon Himself, Mike VE7MJS, checked in. Wow, talk about a blast from the past. We have six Mikes: Marxist Mike, Captain
Mike, Canadian Bacon Mike, Bike Mike, Music Mike, and Montana Mike.
Sun Aug 16
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
K7PRS, WQ6I, WB6GGY
Wowee Wow Wow, WARFA just keeps bombin’
away, huh? They have averaged about 50 check-ins per net through July and August. They were operating at
about 55 check-ins per net just prior to the crash of 2013, when their
numbers dropped to a third of what they had been. They are now practically back up to full
strength. Well, besides WARFA, the other
big news tonight was my arcing sparking problem. Turns out one side of my ladder line had
broken free of the loop. So, I fixed it.
Fri Aug 14
KN6Z,
K6AII, KB1UM, K7PRS, WQ6I, W6MVM, WB6GGY, AG7G
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
Tonight we all got caught up on the
accomplishments of Mike KB1UM. Mike is
working hard on the second edition of his how-to-fix-everything book. His first edition sold 60,000 copies! That’s why his publisher wants more. Shit, nice going Mike. I wish I could write something that 60,000
people would want to read. I guess I
could write the definitive Art Bell biography.
Mike has also formed a jazz duo with a female singer, and they are
playing small gigs around Castle Rock.
Mike axed me about the Meade ETX-90 telescope. My scope is a Meade, and I think you get a
lot for the money. I think he should buy
the scope. There’s a used one he knows
of for only $150. Duane AG7G came on and
had something to say about the Broncos/Seahawks, but I can’t remember what it
was. That got Moody WQ6I and I talking
about the multi team, multi stadium wheeling and dealing going on in LA between
the Chargers, Rams, and Raiders. I had a
serious sparking problem in my rig tonight, as I have recently, and had to keep
shutting off the amp.
Wed Aug 12
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
K6AII, K7PRS, WQ6I, W6MVM, AE7HZ, W6SQ, WB6GGY, KK7HO, KB1UM
Holy shit, I haven’t written a thing on this
page for TWO MONTHS. Tonight’s QSO was
like the Little People of old. Sizeable crowd, some token jamming, and no bickering. I congratulated Captain Mike W6MVM on his
engagement. As in
marriage. Mike has been doing
some major electrical work on his boat.
We made a new friend, Bill W6SQ in WA.
And we barely heard mobile Larry AE7HZ in OR. I was having some arcing problems
tonight. Tim KK7HO runs an AL-1500 as do
I, and he told us about an arcing problem of his own, and his solution. It involved removing some spark-gap tabs in
the amp. I brought Mike KB1UM up to
speed on my latest adventures overseas, and on rebuilding Steve W7CI’s EME
station. Mike thinks I am out of my mind
for taking on this 30-foot dish project.
In fact I hurt my shoulder battling with the thing in early May, and the
shoulder still hurts. It’s been x-rayed,
but nothing is obviously wrong. My
amateur medical diagnoses is Post Traumatic
Arthritis. No MD has ventured a diagnoses, but I have been offered a steroid shot. What I want is NARCOTICS, pain or not. I wish I could get Kaiser to give me an
expensive MRI. I’d sure like to know if
there is cartilage floating around in that joint. I took the dish’s azimuth motor in for rehab
today. It’s a 1949 prop-pitch motor, and
it needs new brushes. The jamming duty was
apparently handed off to a really lame jammer, because by the end of the
evening, it was laughably weak.
Mon June 2
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
AD6SL, AG7G, AF6D, K6AII, K7PRS, WQ6I
I heard John K7PRS and Bob K6AII lamenting
that neither had a schematic for the AL-1500.
Bob OWNS a freakin’ AL-1500. What kind of engineer loses his manual? It just so happens that I have an AL-1500,
and I KEPT my manual. So I am going to
make copies and provide these guys with the AL-1500 schematic. Bob AF6D was most unkind to Duane AG7G
tonight, at least when he first heard Duane on freq. He called him a fag and some other shit. He told him to go back to 3840. Wowee wow wow, it was really, like, well, just awful. Like what Gandalf said to the Balrog: “Go back to the Shadow!” At any rate, they were getting along just
fine by the end of the evening. A few
people suddenly went QRT, so something must have happened to trigger that, but
I don’t know what. Bob AF6D was
mimicking the voice of Bob K6AII, and fooling Duane into thinking he was
talking to the genuine Bob K6AII.
Conditions were poor, and it was hard for Duane to tell who he was
hearing. Before you call the FCC, let me
add that Bob AF6D never identified as K6AII.
I might have informed Duane that he was being had, but I also thought
that Duane might be on to the joke and might be just playing along. I remember years ago, some notorious 80-meter
idiot, “Timmy,” now dead, was trying to make a fool of me. I was just playing along, waiting for my
opportunity to make a fool of HIM. Well,
some even bigger idiot on freq was spoiling my fun by
trying to warn me of who Timmy was and what he was trying to do. Everybody wanted to talk about the Dish
again, so we thoroughly covered that topic, AGAIN. Our old buddy Kevin AD6SL was on freq, and he is very interested in dish shit, so he
deserved to be clued in on the adventure.
BZ and I are making the penultimate trip to Sierra Vista this weekend to
make final preparations for Dish transport.
We had a rattlesnake in the yard yesterday. It had a lot of red in its markings, so I
believe it to be a Red Diamond Rattlesnake.
You’ll all be pleased to know that I didn’t grab at it this time. It was about the same size as the little muther fucker that bit me years ago. The cats were looking at it through the
window, and man did they want to get out there and kick its ass. The snake story led to general questions
about our animals, including our chickens.
Bob wanted to know if I’ve ever seen them fucking. That’s not how Bob put it, but Bob is more
refined than I am. Basically he was
asking what the hell chickens look like when they’re fucking. I’ve never seen it, but I bet it looks
ridiculous. Grady, the rooster, is in
there doing his sisters, Fluffy and Wait-for-me. The conversation continued to deteriorate as
it usually does, until everybody was looking up youtubes
of interspecies preversions. The only time we’re not fighting is when we
are joking about bodily functions, genitalia, jerking off, sexual preversions among animals, etc. That shit is the lowest common denominator,
and there everybody is happy together.
Friday May 29
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, AA8KB, AG7G, WB6GGY, N6LN, KB7TG, KB1UM, AE6OF, K9ZLU, WQ6I,
KK6JED, K6ORJ
We managed to avoid a meltdown tonight. There was a good deal of discussion on the
June QST article about transmission lines and baluns. We discussed my RF problem on 20 meters. It gets into my IHY boxes. I don’t have the problem if I bypass the IHY
boxes. John K7PRS recommends copper foil
from my ground bus to the ground rod outside.
I just happen to have some. We
met some new people. K9ZLU
up around San Bernardino running vintage rigs, for one. KK6JED we could barely hear. Paul AE6OF we could hear, but we couldn’t
understand his distorted audio. Jack
N6LN updated us on his wireless temp control project, for his swimming
pool. He uses an Arduino and a raspberry
pie. Jack and Mike AA8KB were busting my
balls for not measuring the input impedance of my loop. For what frequency? I operate the loop over all of 80, 40, and
20. The impedance is going to be
favorable at some frequencies and unfavorable at others. I worked 3DA0TM in Swaziland tonight, on
20. The Loop rocks.
Thursday May 28
The
Dysfunctional Collective
3636
Harmony is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, AA8KB, AG7G, WB6GGY
Some people gave each other some straight
talk tonight. Everybody bailed after the
feel good talk was over, so I spent some time talking to Mr. Bad Guy AG7G. We talked about radioactive nuclei,
asteroids, Disney World, Florida, asshole Canadians, strawberry rhubarb pie,
and some other shit. And we talked about
BZ’s and my 18th anniversary of not being married. That’s Friday May 29. That was the date of our first date. Salad is a taboo subject on 36 from now on. Keep your roughage talk to yourself. Do not mention salad, fiber, hard turds, soft
turds, or any related shit like that.
Art Bell
Celebrity Loop: Final Report
All 1200 feet of wire are now in the air and
on the air and operational. The
comparison vee has been relocated to the center of
the loop, taking advantage of an available mast which is no longer needed for
the Loop. There had been some concern
previously that the vee, which used to be only two
feet from the Loop, was coupling with the Loop, making the vee
a poor standard for comparison. The vee is now at least 100 feet from any Loop wire. 80 meters: inside 500 miles, the Loop is
sometimes better than the vee, other times the vee is better. It’s
close. Outside 500 miles, say out to
Marxist Mike AA8KB, the Loop is consistently an S-unit better than the vee. 40 and 20 meters: the Loop beats the vee by at least two S-units
for all distances.
Dish
Update
BZ and I will be spending June 5/6 with Steve
W7CI in Sierra Vista, AZ, making final preparations for transporting the pieces
of the dish and the 2300 pound mount. I
mainly need to talk to Steve about some of the workings of the motors and other
hardware in the mount. Then at some
point this summer my next door neighbor is going to drive me out there with his
truck and mega flatbed trailer and we are somehow going to smuggle that thing
home. Maybe we can take his fork lift
with us. If not, I will have to hire the
crane again.
I haven’t
been writing on this page lately because I can’t FTP pix anymore. I don’t know what the problem is, but it’s
kind of sapped my enthusiasm.
WARFA REPORT Sat May 16
Saturday afternoon I dropped off BZ and her
mom at the cruise ship terminal here in San Diego. They are taking a local cruise up the coast
to Avalon, SF, Victoria BC, and Vancouver.
They are flying home from Vancouver on Memorial Day. I had shit out a
few little balls of fire that morning, from a recent overload of chili sauce
recently, but the volcanic activity seemed to have calmed down by the time BZ
and I picked up her mom. After I dumped
them at the dock, I headed north for WARFA, and the volcanism started again. It was very insistent, so I go off the
freeway almost before I got started, and pulled into a 76 station. Well, the men’s room was locked, and the
clerk informed me that some guy had left the key locked in the restroom. Shit.
Or DON’T SHIT! So I walked across
the driveway to a MacDonald’s. A guy got
out of his car and headed in ahead of me, and sure enough, he went straight
into the restroom, which I discovered had only one stall, and started shitting
his brains out, which is what I wanted to do.
Mother Fucker.
Well, across the highway was an ungodly public-park-shitter, so I
decided I’d just have to face that. Once
in the car, the seismic activity relented, so I drove over to my mom’s house
instead, and shit my own brains out at her house. There was smoke coming out of my ass when I
was done, so I took advantage of the shower right next to the cracked and
smoking toilet. That done, I headed once
again for WARFA. I stopped in Pasadena
for a nostalgia tour, and dinner at my favorite North
Woods on Rosemead. I got to WARA around
eight, but nothing was going on at the usual camping area. The WARFA station and goings on were going on
in the rec hall. I snuck in quietly and
sat down. Moody was addressing the
crowd, who were rapt, awed, slack-jawed. After a few minutes, Moody noticed me
slumping in the back, and acknowledged me.
I caught some of the music. A
young lady, very good on guitar, played and sang to us her own
compositions. Then a gifted young man
played the HELL out of the upright piano.
He can’t read music, I found out from him later, but his ear is
enough. Both of those marvelous young
musicians are somehow blood relatives of Moody WQ6I. I axed Moody about this, but I didn’t really
understand. I don’t doubt they are Moody
relations. Moody’s family is very
talented. But I just couldn’t fucking understand what the hell Moody was talking
about. They are either nieces and
nephews, or cousins, or grandchildren, or something. John K7PRS showed me a great article in the current
QST, on the problem of figuring out how much of your amplifier output power
actually gets to the antenna. The
analysis was aided by modeling software.
The results discussed were very sobering. So I studied that article for a long time, in
the mostly empty rec hall, while the two musicians who performed earlier just
jammed with each other for fun. Incredibly good improvisation. One starts playing something, and the other
complements it. Real
time. After the jam session, John
and I discussed the QST article. There
were other hams at WARFA I hadn’t seen in a while, including Dave WA6UHA. And I had my first eyeball that night with
Phil WB6GGY. I didn’t even know who he
was until John introduced us. One of the hams there that night pooped his pants on the way to
WARFA two years ago. I had
forgotten that episode. He didn’t have
any clean clothes with him. He had had
some kind of intestinal ailment, and it overcame him. It’s odd that he should recount that story on
the very same day that I had had a series of episodes of shitting
out of brains, and a very close call on the freeway, myself. I love writing shit about shittting,
and talking shit about shittting. And the little aforementioned coincidence
provides even more excuse to do so.
Monday May 18
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, AA8KB, AG7G, N6LN
We did another review of WARFA. I interrogated Moody WQ6I on how the young
musicians at WARFA were related to him.
I don’t really get it. Mike AA8KB
said I had 10 dB on Moody. WARFA Tom
remarked Sunday night on how loud I was.
Moody made the same remark the same night. Coincidentally, I have finished enlarging the
Loop. It is now 1200 feet around, vs 800
feet previously. Mike AA8KB posed a
question for the group: can a magnetic field be used to pull the cap off a
bottle without modifying the cap. We
decided that it can be done. Why the
hell not?
Sunday May 17
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, AA8KB, AG7G, KB7TG, K6SP?
All I can remember is some talk about Thorium
reactors. It would take ten hours to
read all the websites debunking Thorium reactors. Some guy calling himself K6SP checked in, but
apparently he was borrowing somebody else’s call. When he was challenged, he sounded suspicious. Dirty.
Sunday May 3
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, AA8KB, K7ORJ, AG7G, WB6GGY, KD7KAU, AE6OF
I’m reporting on this, like, two weeks after
the fact, and I just don’t give a shit any more. We talked about the Dish project, of course,
and Steve, Dish benefactor. I met
Steve’s Tucson bud, John W7 Big Bowl Movement.
John showed me pix of his incredible EME installation. I wonder if John poops all the time. In the WARFA report, above, I discuss
poop. John is reputed to be illiterate,
but it could just be a rumor. He
apparently never lets anybody catch him reading, if he indeed does any. Duane AG7G expounded on ham fests, and how
stinky they are. The hams stink. John K7PRS took exception to that. His experience has been different. Hams that poop their pants stink.
Th April 20
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, AA8KB, K7ORJ, AG7G, AE6OF (squawk, squawk, growl, growl)
It’s time for another assault on the DISH, so
I brought the gang up to date on that.
We talked some astronomy. Solar
system astronomy, and telescopes. Marxist Mike is very excited about Saturn’s
appearance in Scorpius. He’s trying to
take a pic. My students took pix of the
Moon through telescopes at school tonight.
And we talked rigs and audio and sushi.
And we talked about the hot girls at my school who are too hot this time
of year and are stripping down. Duane
AG7G wanted to know just how short the skirts get. I told him I need a micrometer to measure the
hemline to butt cheek distance. And we
marveled at WARFA’s skyrocketing check-ins total. Not only is there new blood, but people from
long ago are coming back. And there was
ever so much more. And our dear friend
Paul AE6OF checked in late, thanks to Moody WQ6I’s good ear. Paul, you sound like two horny tomcats
fighting in the middle of the night. If
you are going to be a ham radio star, you gotta do
something about that, dude. You gotta git you some Art Bell
audio.
Sun April 26
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, KD7KAU, K7PRS, W6MVM, KB7TG, W6PHO, AE6OF
I didn’t stay in long tonight. Have to get up early Monday. Moody WQ6I axed me about the Dish schedule
during WARFA, so I reiterated that for the Collective tonight. Moody and John K7PRS want me to bring my base
trombone to the WARFA retreat in May to add that fat brass sound to the
band. Base trombone is a VERY fat
sounding horn. WARFA had 51 check-ins tonight.
WARFA has scored over 50, pretty consistently lately. John reports that there are a lot of new call
signs. Moody and I talked grits. I had some fabulous grits at a Creole
restaurant in Downtown Disney Saturday night.
The group has four Mikes now: Marxist Mike, Montana Mike, Music Mike and
Captain Mike. Paul AE6OF came limping
in, buzzing and squealing tonight. We
barely copied him, but you made it, Paul.
Tue April 21
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z, WQ6I,
WB6GGY, KD7KAU, KF6RM, K7PRS, W6MVM, KD7SKK, AE6OF, VE6XX, VE7MTI, N6LN
Dish talk.
Nobody’s tired of it yet. We met
a few new people tonight who were lucky enough to stumble onto us. WARFA went well tonight. 53 check ins. We strained to hear/understand Paul AE6OF,
but nobody could copy a word. So I can’t
make you the star tonight, Paul. I
improvised a song about Art Bell and played it over the air, but “I love you, Art
Bell” were the only lyrics I could come up with. Toward the end there was some environmental
bellyaching associated with oil and recycled-plastic decking. And some shit about desalination and the
Gibbs Free Energy.
The Gibbs free energy is the energy available to do work. Some energy released in a chemical reaction
is wasted in just increasing entropy.
Sun April 19
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, KD7KAU, KF6RM, K7PRS
Dish talk.
Yeah, sorry about that. John K7PRS recommended I get a machine called
a cut off tool. OUCH. I’m not sure I want one of those. But apparently cutting mine off will expedite
the DISHmantling.
And we talked about Cary KD7KAU’s weird Savannah cats. They are a monstrous hybrid of some
kind.
Wed April 15
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z, K7PRS,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, K6ORJ, KD7KAU, AG7G
Cary KD7KAU just retired, so he says he’ll be
on freq with us frequently. Otherwise it was just more dish talk. I was pooped tonight having performed a
concert with the college wind ensemble earlier in the evening. Duane AG7G has been away, I guess, and wanted
to get caught up on the DISH. I told him
I thought it would take one more trip to finish dismantling, and an additional
trip to get some very necessary coaching from the Giver of the Dish on how to
make those motors and mount move. The
motors are in moderately poor shape, as in FUCKED UP. And I want to talk to the Giver about the
feed. When all that’s done, I will
schedule the crane once more, and drive out there with my neighbor who has a
big truck and a 35,000 lb capacity flatbed
trailer. So I guess three more
trips. The Art Bell Celebrity Loop has
been shoved off the front page by this madcap dish adventure. The last of the supporting masts for the Loop
is UP. Now I just have to add the 400
feet of additional wire and the Loop will be done. 1200 feet.
Mon April 13
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z and the usual gang.
I’ve been most remiss in logging the Bored
QSOs. I can’t remember who was in on
this night. All we talk about lately
when I check in is the DISH.
Mon April 6
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
K7PRS, AA8KB, KB1UM, WB6GGY, AE6OF, WQ6I, KF7RM
Paul AE6OF wants some God-damned
recognition. He sees his call listed in
this blog, but nothing is ever said about his contribution to the QSO. Well, Paul, dude, it ain’t
personal. Most of the
time nobody can understand you.
Your audio is unintelligible.
Now, on this night, I could understand most of what you said. So I’ll pay you some lip service. Paul axed me about building or somehow
obtaining an “observatory,” but I didn’t know if he was talking about an
optical telescope, or a radio telescope such as the dish I am acquiring; or a
building with a dome, either for the optical scope or the radio dish. I really didn’t understand him, but not
because I couldn’t make out what he was saying.
Paul also wanted to know the status of the dish project, so I gave him
the lowdown. So, Paul, there you
are. You are the star and sole subject
of tonight’s entry.
Sun April 5
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
K7PRS, AA8KB, K7ORJ, WB6GGY, W6PHO, WQ6I, AF6D, WI2R, KB7TG
As usual, when I checked in, everybody wanted
the latest on the dish project. I’ll be
returning to Sierra Vista in two or three weeks to finish DISHmantling. And a couple weeks later I’ll truck it all
home somehow. My neighbor has offered to
drive me in his truck to SV, pulling his 35,000 lb
flatbed trailer. I’ll rent the crane
again, load up the shit, and haul ass home.
My neighbor wants to dig me a deep hole with one of his big machines,
and help me fill it with concrete and rebar.
He’s got mixers and rebar all ready. And a huge auger and back hoe. There was quite a bit of talk tonight about windoms and baluns and
hole-digging theory. The final mast
required to enlarge the Art Bell Celebrity Loop is rigged and ready to raise. Once it’s up,
I’ll string the remaining 400 feet of wire and the loop will be done at
last. It will be 1200 feet, as big as I
can make it. I can then focus my
attention on the EME superstation project.
I want to be the Art Bell of San Diego EME.
Wed Mar 25
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
K7PRS, AA8KB, K7ORJ, WB6GGY, AG7G, W6MVM, WQ6I
It appears the dish mission is scrubbed. I can’t get the crane scheduled. I keep pestering the company, but the crane
op just won’t return my calls. It’s
likely he knows I’m a ham, and just won’t deal with dorks and weirdos. Tonight the gang talked about the
blitzortung.org lightning site I give below.
And we speculated on the air disaster currently in the news.
Tue Mar 24
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
K7PRS, AA8KB, KF7RM, K7ORJ, WB6GGY, AG7G, W6MVM, KB1UM, N6YW, K7JRL
I didn’t want to dominate the QSO again with
dish dishcussion, but people wanted to talk
dish. So I dished it out. As new people checked in, I had to redo the dishcussion. We dishcussed what paperwork I’m going to
have to file in order to get permission to relocate the bird’s nest that’s
crammed into a little nook in the tower.
We talked some about the recent air-disaster in the news. The really big news is that WARFA Billy N6YW
has moved from Venice to Tucson. He left
his woman of seventeen years, and is now with his high school sweetheart of
thirty-five years ago. Then people
started talking about what sorts of astronomical objects I can observe with the
dish, such as quasars. And that led to
accretion disk physics. Then the next
thing I knew, we were on to politics and presidential candidates. Marxist Mike got some grilling on the
subject. I talked Marx and Hegel and the
spread of socialism worldwide, with Mike.
Mike turned us onto this cool lightning site: http://www.blitzortung.org/Webpages/index.php?lang=en&page_0=30. And if you are a religious professional who
has decided it’s all just bullshit and now you are in crisis and don’t want to
have to flip burgers for a living and need a support group, check this out: http://clergyproject.org/. Somehow after a brief sojourn into atheism,
we got back into Marxist theory, and various other systems and philosophy.
Mon Mar 23
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, AA8KB, WB6GGY, KB7TG
Another brief
hullo. I got
in pretty late and people were checking out.
Sun Mar 22
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z, WQ6I,
K7PRS, AA8KB, WB6GGY, N6LN, W1WY
Just a brief
hullo. I was
just in after an ass-kicking drive from Eloy, AZ, and I was pooped.
Th Mar 19
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, AA8KB, KF7RM, KK7HO, K7ORJ, AF6D, WB6GGY, N6LN
I hijacked the QSO tonight and forced
everybody to talk about my attempt this week to DISHmantle
W7CI’s 700 lb 30-foot dish, mounted 16 feet
high. I’m insane.
Tue Mar 17
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, AA8KB, KB1UM, K6AII, KF7RM
Tonight was all about my DISHmantling
mission coming next week, Spring break.
Mon Mar 16
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, AG7G, N6LN, AA8KB, KB1UM, K6AII
The opening gambit was fusion, but I can’t remember
why. Then right on cue, Duane AG7G
started talking thorium. Then Music Mike
KB1UM had to answer some questions about pot-growing laws in Colorado. We also helped Mike with some antenna
tests. Gutter vs sloper. What great names for a pair of fighters,
eh? Gutter and Sloper. WARFA
was reviewed. Sunday’s count was
55. Wowee wow wow. And then we
spent a lot of time talking about dead Nimoy, Spock,
and Star Trek.
Mon Mar 9
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, K6ORJ, AA8KB, AG7G, KF7RM, N6LN, K6ORJ
When I tuned in Duane AG7G was leading a
riveting QSO on repeaters. Attention
quickly shifted to my 30-foot dish salvage project. Then there was a bunch of shit I can’t
remember. Umm, then John K7JRL brought
up the breast milk ice cream story of three years ago. And we couldn’t contain our excitement about
Art Bell’s new podcast show, coming in July.
Sun Mar 8
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, K6ORJ, AA8KB, AG7G, KF7RM, KB7TG, K6ORJ, KB1UM
We talked about big dishes tonight. I’m considering acquiring a 30-foot dish for
432 Mhz EME. John K7PRS turned me on to a source. I may have to round up some illegals to help
me with this thing for cheap. Marxist
Mike AA8KB debated with John K7PRS over whether the Arecibo Puerto Rico
1000-foot dish was ever used to detect Moon-reflected leakage of Soviet VHF/UHF
transmissions. John thinks it’s the
stuff of the Art Bell show.
Wed Mar 4
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, K6ORJ, AA8KB, AG7G, KF7RM, KB7TG
Moody WQ6I got some exciting poop about Art
Bell off of Face Book. Art’s making some
moves on possible bumper music for a possible new show. Bumper music is expensive to play. We did a review of the 3840 zoo, and their
antagonists, such as the Sherriff. Duane
AG7G found an OBB chat site: bellgab.com.
That’s about all I can remember.
Mon Mar 2
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, K7PRS, K6ORJ, N6LN, AB8ZF, KB1UM, AA8KB, AG7G
Tonight we talked about REGULATION,
mostly. I’d say it went nowhere but
around and around. It was talk of
government regulation of the internet that got Marxist Mike AA8KB out of
bed. Mike KB1UM checked in, barefoot,
and went BACK to bed. Jerry AB8NF, near
Akron, introduced himself and then blew us off.
We did have some fun talking about the free-for-all on 3908 Sunday,
after WARFA.
Sat Feb 28
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, K7PRS, K7PRS, W6MVM, K7JRL, N6ZZO, AF6D, N6LN, W6PHO/AE, K6MJD!!!
Wowee wow wow, can you believe Fire Marshal Mark
K6MJD dropped in? He’s been collecting
vintage radios. We implored him to join
us again soon. Be a regular, just like
in the good ol’ days of Art Bell. Dave W6PHO/AE is a retired history-prof from
San Jose State, and he just today scored his Extra. Make room on 3636 for one more advanced
degree. Dave creates reality. He likes making things up. That’s his job. He’s an HISTORIAN. I tried to get a great Yuma story out of John
K7PRS and/or Moody WQ6I, but what I got wasn’t worth typing. John’s XYL Kathy gave a presentation at the
Yuma Hamvention. She demonstrated on a
captured WARFA jammer, how to tear a jammer a new asshole. And then she demonstrated it again. And again. John picked up a Motorola signal generator
for $2.00. Big
spender. John, Moody, and Bob
K6AII pigged out at some Yuma all-you-can-eat hog palace called the Golden
Corral. Or maybe it was the Golden
Shower. Moody seemed unsure of the
name. Moody was just gushing tonight
over the best QSO he’s ever heard, on 3740: Stan WG6K vs Duane AG7G on all of
history from the Big Bang through the present, and theory vs reality. Bob AF6D gave a Rachel report, she’s doing
great. CHOC classifies her a “survivor.”
Bob, however, is going under the knife to fix his fucked-up back. He’s getting a laminectomy, and he’s not
looking forward to the long painful recovery.
Kathy got one, and the outcome was apparently marvelous. She’s a new woman. She eats jammers raw.
Tue Feb 17
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, K7PRS, AA8KB, W1YW, AF6D, N6QE, AC0V, K7PRS, KB7TG
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
I dropped in for a little while. I wanted to weigh in on the hammer problem from
last night. Bob AF6D was talking Step IR
and double bazooka antennas. And we got
on the topic of a Myth Busters rip
off show that’s airing presently. I
wasn’t paying a lot of attention tonight, because I was practicing some Percy
Grainger on my horn.
Sunday Feb 15
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, K7PRS, AA8KB, W1WY, N6LN, VE3SQT, VE7UB, AD6SL, K6ORJ
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile
I’m typing this a day late, and can’t
remember what went down Sunday. We
tallied the WARFA score: 82 check-ins Sunday night,
unofficially. Jeezus, what a rout. We had a San Diego County local join us, Jim
W1WY in Pine Valley. I told Jim I was
taking my students to Pine Valley this Friday for our field trip. I haul my huge scope up there. So I invited Jim. I can’t remember anything else about
Sunday. As I type this the Monday night
gang is discussing how to calculate how much force a typical hammer blow
exerts. The problem has been done. Just look it up on the internet. The only hard part of the calculation is
guessing how much time the hammer spends decelerating to zero velocity once in
contact with a nail, anvil, or scull.
Sunday Feb 8
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile.
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, K7PRS, KB7TG, AA8KB, KE4PER, W6MVM, KF4RM, K7JRL, N6LN
We continued the accursed 450 ohm vs open
line debate. It’s really running out of
steam. John K7PRS thinks that open wire
has advantages over 450 ohm, but loss is not one. Not a significant one, anyway. And that’s ALL I’ve been saying. Marxist Mike AA8KB is continuing his
measurements of 450 ohm line loss. I
would sure like to see some data on open wire loss under adverse conditions,
but Mike doesn’t happen to have a bunch of open wire lying around. This shit turned into a really good QSO. Some really smart knowledgeable people on freq examined Mike’s method and results very
carefully. It really turned into an
informative can of worms, at least for me.
Somehow I get the feeling that Karl Marx was against 450 ohm line. Perhaps because it was expensive, requiring
sophisticated materials and manufacturing, and made by the proletariat who
could not afford it, and enjoyed by the bourgeoisie who enslave the
proletariat. And speaking of Marx, has
anyone ever seen Karl Marx in the same room with Jerry Garcia? NO!!!
Think about it.
Tuesday Feb 3
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile.
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, W6MVM, KD6GN, AD6SL, K7PRS, K6AII, AG7G, KB7TG, AA8KB, N6LN
Haven’t been
doing the WARFA post mortem, lately. Getting boring. Last Thursday I tried to make it more
sporting by spotting the jammers ten dB, checking in barefoot, but I got in on
the first or second call. So Sunday I tried
spotting the jammers 20 dB, checking in QRP, but I still got in after a few
tries. I guess Thursday I’ll check in on
my dummy load. We had some fun talking
to Hawaii stations during the post-WARFA net.
We talked to the guy who accepts the blame for bringing Greg K7ZAR to
the Big Island. Greg is apparently
living in Vegas and is bound for Utah.
He can smoke some shit with the Mormons.
Then we talked pot and drugs. Big group on Bored Collective tonight. All the usual suspects,
and more. Marxist Mike cussed and
discussed his antennas with Duane AG7G.
Duane, typically generous, offered to trade rigs with Moody WQ6I, if
Moody’s 7800 is too complicated for Moody to
operate. Carter KD6GN is one of the new
kids. He’s been listening for a while,
and recognizes the quality of the Collective.
He really admires us, and I’m not even sure if he knows we know Art
Bell. I mean, we are Art Bell insiders. Jack N6LN checked in near the end of the
evening. He’s got himself a new
Alpha. He WAS running 600 watts or so
previously, but NOW he’s running full power, and he melted his antenna. Mr. Diplomacy, Mr. Warmth, Mr. Duane,
remarked that we (the Collective) don’t fire enough of his neurons, which is
why he has to have his computer on during our fascinating round table. Then he had the nerve to ax Marxist Mike to
send pix of his antenna. Can you believe
that muther fucker?
I hope Mike’s pix are enough to stimulate Duane’s mighty brain. Duane’s neighbors complain about RFI if Duane
just THINKS too hard.
450 Ohm Window Line, Continued (Oh no, not that!)
Does anybody still give a shit? Did anybody EVER give a shit? Should we go another round? Mike AA8KB says it’s a very important issue. OK, let’s put on the gloves.
The graph Mike offers in his link below shows
that high SWR is no reason to prefer open line to 450 ohm window. At 10:1 SWR, 450 ohm is only slightly more lossy than open wire at
10:1. From the ARRL Antenna Book, the
loss per 100 feet is 0.1 dB for open wire line and 0.16 dB for 450 ohm. You’ll have to do some extrapolating to use
Mike’s graph, because it doesn’t go below 0.2 dB matched loss, but it looks to
me like the additional loss at 10:1 for 0.1 dB matched loss is about 0.50 dB
and the additional loss at 10:1 for 0.16 matched loss is about 0.55 dB. (If you don’t
trust extrapolating, just use the formula that generated the graph. It is easily found by doing some
googling.) Only 0.05 dB more loss for
450 ohm compared to open wire. So there
is only a small additional loss penalty at 10:1 SWR for either 450 ohm or open
wire, and almost no advantage at all for open wire over window line. My loop is 3:1 on all bands except 160. 160 is 5:1 or
6:1. So I totally ain’t
worrying.
But what if you live under water? Like Duane AG7G? The issue then is how does wet 450 ohm do
compared to wet open wire? And I mean
wet as in pouring rain. Foggy wet 450
ohm, or post-rain wet 450 ohm, is not wet enough to matter. I have found data for 450 ohm in heavy rain
(discussed below), but no such data for open wire.
Here is a good link: http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=29985. This guy has made some careful measurements
of loss for 300 ohm twin lead and 450 ohm window line, under various
conditions, in order to settle a few arguments and resolve some discordant
published results. His measured loss for
“wet (such as it is)” window line at 9:1 SWR is less than my own semi empirical/semi
theoretical and fully half-assed guesstimate I made in my semenal
450 ohm treatise, below, for a MATCHED line.
He’s had the same problem I have had with 450 ohm: he can’t get it
wet. He can get it wet if he puts soap
on it, or jerks off on it, and loss does go up significantly for good wetting,
so be careful about operating when it’s raining soapy water. To get 450 ohm to look lossy,
without soap, you have to put it out in the pouring rain. At 9:1 SWR, in pouring rain, 450 ohm line
exhibits around 2 dB loss per 100 feet at 27 Mhz. That’s significant. But how much operating do you do in pouring
rain? And how bad is this loss compared
to open wire in pouring rain? We need
data for open wire in pouring rain.
Now, if your particular application requires
open wire line for whatever reason, then I guess you’ll use it. But if the issue is loss, then in dry San
Diego conditions, I’ll stick with 450 ohm.
Me and Art Bell.
Mike AA8KB
doesn’t agree with me. Can you believe the gall? Below I present his rebuttal to my defense of
450 ohm window line.
You know, I was
into this argument pretty heavily with a guy upstate who used to fix radios.
I threatened to do this test myself, based on a
laboratory that simulates amateur radio transmission line implementation as
closely as possible. This guy and I ended up getting into a pretty serious
fight about Ku-band LNBs instead, so I never followed-through with my threat.
To name only ONE thing wrong with your "conclusion" -- and YOU should
know -- that your assumption of 5.4% mass-change might differ from real
conditions in so many ways due to differences in surface-tension of droplets
forming in supersaturated air vs. whatever the fuck you did.
Do you know that transmission-line loss changes dramatically as the SWR on that
line changes? That alone would rule it out for most people that have well above
a 2:1 right out of the gate. We already know this is the case for you.
http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/Radio/dwg-loss-swr.gif.
So I've already pretty-well worked through a methodology to do this. In short,
I'll put some up out there, and run it a ways, suspending it in the air using
mason (nylon) twine.
I have coax going out there already that I can hook to my scope. To
interface the scope, I'll have a 1:1 isolation transformer, a 520-ohm resistor
will be the load, and I'll measure the RF voltage across the resistor.
I'll be able to use my Tektronix TDS 380 (commercial-class) to measure RF
voltage going in and coming out to within a mV or two
so we can get your misinformation off the Internets
ASAP.
Thanks for the needed bit of inspiration!
By the way, I saw a link on the Internets that was eham
- I think - where there was quite the shit fight over this there too.
Mike
450 Ohm Window
Line, in Conclusion:
In the Sunday Jan 11 entry, below, I
reproduce a report of a measurement made comparing open wire transmission line
loss vs. window line loss. The result
was about 0.1 dB greater loss for window line, at 30 Mhz. Why then bother with the bother of open wire
line?, I impertinently axed. Mike AA8KB made the argument that the loss
will be greater if the window line gets wet from rain or dew, and that old
window line wets better than new. Moreover, “Fuck Ladder Line!” I would point out that while it’s raining,
there is a concentration of falling water in the air around the conductors in
the open wire line, that cannot be ignored. But let’s say it’s stopped raining. I found some ten-year-old window line lying
in the filth beside my mom’s house, exposed to the elements, for ten
years. That window line no doubt carried
the voice of Art Bell, back in the glory days, when Art was the center of all
things and everyone (almost) knew their place.
I cut off a piece of the window line’s plastic insulation and submerged
it in water and let it drip for a minute. It didn’t hold on to much water. Dry, the piece of insulation weighed 12.89 g;
wet, it weighed 13.59 g. That’s an
increase in weight of 5.4%. The density
of water is about the same as most plastics, so we can say that the volume of
water sticking to the insulation is about 5.4% of the volume of the piece of
insulation. The dielectric constant of
water is about 25 times that of most plastics, and dielectric loss is directly
proportional to dielectric constant, so we can say further that water on the
window line insulation will be 25 times as lossy as
the insulation, PER UNIT VOLUME. But the
volume of the adhering water is only 5.4% of the volume of the insulation, so
the water’s contribution to the total dielectric loss is apparently 0.054 x 25
= 1.35. In other words, the dielectric
loss due to the water adhering to the window line is 1.35 times the loss due to
the window line insulation. It follows
that wet window line is going to have 2.35 times more loss than dry window
line. The loss per 100 ft of 450 ohm window line is 0.16 dB. By delta dB = 10 log [(Power 1)/(Power 2)], 0.16 dB loss gives a power ratio 0.96. That is, after the 0.16 dB loss, you have 96%
of your power left. So if we lose 2.35
times more power for wet window line as for dry, we will be down to 100% -
2.35(4%) = 90.6 % = 0.906. 10 log
(0.906) = 0.43 dB loss for the wet window line.
Big deal.
If it’s cold enough that layer upon layer of water can freeze on the
window line (as in the pic above), building up a volume of water on the window
line comparable to the volume of window line insulation, then you’ll get
serious dielectric loss. But unless you
are getting ice on your transmission line, I am unpersuaded that there is much
advantage in using open wire line, even if you live in a rain forest.
If you are skeptical of any of my unsupported
assertions, well then:
1.
FUCK YOU!!!
2.
If number 1 is unsatisfactory, then
I will send you the relevant links.
3.
If you cannot see how I reached
my conclusions based on the links, then I can help with the reasoning or
derivations.
4.
If you STILL cannot understand my
results, please see number 1. Thank you.
Wednesday Jan 28
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile.
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, W6MVM, KK7TV, N6RC
I didn’t precipitate much tonight. I was writing up my 450 ohm defense while I
was listening to the gang. They were
seriously into some deep repair talk.
May I introduce Randy KK7TV in Cave Creek, AZ, and Dick N6RC in Tucson.
Monday Jan 25
The Bored Collective 3636
Impedance is futile.
KN6Z,
WQ6I, AA8K(G)B, K6AII, WB6GGY, W6MVM, KB1UM, AG7G, K7JRL
Mike KB1UM suggested the above modification
to our slogan. I think it is
brilliant. We talked a bit tonight about
the Snowmass repeater. Bob K6AII wanted
to know if Mike KB1UM could hit it. We
had a helluva time, however, understanding Bob’s
pronunciation of “Snowmass.” Phil WB6GGY
was using a stock hand mic and sounding terrible. Everybody took turns telling Phil how bad he
sounded. And then everybody took a
second turn. Talk went on and on about Phil’s
crappy audio and crappy mic. Captain
Mike W6MVM is having some kind of problem with his 6300, and we went on and on
about it. I heard groaning and sighing
on freq, and I knew before he checked in that it was
none other than resident malcontent Duane AG7G.
Duane got fed up with the hardware talk pretty quickly, and declared himself QSY. Shortly
thereafter, ironically, Music Mike and Comrade Mike got onto dueling soapboxes
and slugged it out over the Muslims.
Muslim shit is right up Duane’s alley.
The whole freq revolted, however, and shut
down the ranting about Muslims. The gang
wanted some “fun,” so they went back to the 6300 problem. Tonight’s QSO was strictly tech talk. Flex theory, ALC theory,
mic testing, everything. Bob
wants us to all collaborate on an article about ALC, that
will straighten out the entire ham radio world.
THEN, John K7PRS changed mics and started EQing
and we went on and on audio testing with him.
It was heaven. He was testing a
PR-40 mic, the kind Art Bell and I use.
I then changed the subject to small loops, much smaller than a
wavelength. I axed the gang about the
theory of how these small loops null out signals so well, and what the benefit
is of using inductive coupling. The
answer to the latter was not nearly as straightforward as I expected. All articles I’ve read describe small loops
that are inductively coupled to the rig, but with no discussion of why.
Tuesday Jan 20
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
WQ6I, AA8KB, K6AII, WB6GGY, W6MVM, KB1UM, AG7G, K6TXH,
KY6W
3840 luminaries, Steve “Who appointed YOU net
control?” K6TXH and Don KY6W, joined us tonight. Steve is a big fan of South Pacific, as am I, and I reported to him that I received in
the mail today the original reel to reel tapes of the 1973 Pasadena High School
performance, in the orchestra for which I performed on my trombone. Those tapes have been in a vault for decades,
and I happened upon them on EBay. I also
got the 1974 performance of The King and
I, in which I also blew my horn.
Only a few years’ worth of these tapes are
available, right around the time I was a student. It’s just unbelievable luck that I’ve been
researching old PHS stuff just at the time the caretaker of the tapes decided
to put them up for sale on Ebay. Dirt cheap, too. Comrade Mike and I talked 450 ohm window line
again. My mix of old and new window line
stays dry even when everything else is soaked with dew. Mike says old window line is bound to get
wet, but I can’t get it wet even when I pour water on it. In my next installment I will report my
calculation of the additional power loss per unit length of window line, due to
a few drops of water on the line (and a few drops is
all that will ever stick to my line in the worst case scenario). We did the WARFA post mortem: Comrade Mike
concludes that the jammers are “contained.”
Sort of like the contents of a cat box.
There was some token jamming tonight on the super-secret publically
announced auxiliary frequency. What’s
the point? Is it to let WARFA know that
the jammers are smart enough to find the secret freq?
Sunday Jan 18
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
WQ6I, AA8KB, K6AII, WB6GGY, W6MVM
We talked long and hard about jazz and
super-secret, anti-jammer mini loops. I
can’t remember what the hell else we talked about. I waited too long to write this entry.
Thursday Jan 15
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
WQ6I, AG7G, AA8KB, W6UA, KB1UM, K6AII, K6VLF
We mostly just talked about my dwarf novae
astronomy project. People just kept
axing me questions about it, so I kept talking.
The WARFA post mortem tonight was mostly just a lot of yawning. Sunday, 41 check-ins;
Tuesday, 56 check-ins; this night an estimated 62 check-ins. BTW, where did the jammers go tonight? They started off with a bang, and then just
disappeared like roaches under a bright light.
Did they run off to confession?
Duane AG7G thinks the jammers are getting tired and bored.
Sunday Jan 11
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, K7PRS, AG7G, K6LK, W6SQ, W6MVM, AA8KB
When I got in I guess it was time to talk
Star Trek. How did we get on that? I think Comrade Mike was trying to think of
somebody’s name, and it sounded like “Gary Seven,” a guest character on the
original ST. I mentioned Gary Seven, and
we warped out on an exhaustive trek into Trek.
ST was enough to pull Duane AG7G out of the woodwork. He likes it better than Star Wars. Of course we did the customary WARFA post
mortem. The covered wagons had the
Indians surrounded tonight, I’d say. 41 check-ins, up from the average of 25 that has been holding for,
like, a year. But 41 is nothing
unusual lately. Then John K7PRS and Mike
started twisting my arm to build some open wire line to feed my loop, rather
than the 450 ohm window line commonly used.
What’s the advantage? Here’s a
post from an open-wire-vs.-window-line thread on QTH.com:
I made the measurements
about ten years ago when I worked at Ten-Tec.
The comparison was made
between 6" open wire line with ceramic spacers
every 10', Zo about 650 ohms, and 450 ohm ladder line. Frequency was
65Mhz, the upper limit of the
HP-601. I used a Boonton rf voltmeter
as the detector. Johnson
matchboxes were used at each end to make the
bal-un transition and transform
back to 50 ohms. Identical parallel
250' runs of each were
measured. The difference was 0.5dB
favoring
the open wire, which translates
to 0.092dB/100' difference at 30 MHz.
Poly does two things: it
provides a support/insulation role and makes
the spreaders easily, and as a
dielectric, it slightly reduces the
spacing necessary to get to 450
ohms. The higher the impedance, the
lower the loss. Windowing the line lowers the weight and the
loss -
both the initial dielectric loss
and the 'aging loss'.
Polypropylene is an
outstanding rf dielectric
provided it is not
exposed to uv
radiation which causes it (and most other plastics) to
become brittle which decreases
strength, causes surface cracks which
permit ingress of
contaminants. The brown opaque fillers
added to
prevent uv
deterioration do increase the loss somewhat.
Like many
other things in life, nothing is
simple!
It is difficult to get good
quality 450 ohm open wire line. It is hard
to keep it from twisting
shorted on long horizontal runs. The
ladderline is inexpensive, easily obtainable
at good quality. And it
won't short by twisting.
So what’s the advantage using open wire line?
Mike and Duane and I finished off the night
with Muslims, and if they mostly want to cut off heads and blow shit up. I quoted some data from a Pew Research poll
of 14,000 Muslims over 14 countries. I
guess they couldn’t be devout Muslims, because they mostly don’t want to kill
folks for dissing their bullshit superstition.
Tuesday Jan 6,
2015
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, K7PRS, AG7G, W7UA, AA6SC, KB1UM, K6AII, N6LN
There’s a new kid in town, Stan AA6SC in
Mohave. He’s as sane as the rest of us,
which I hope he takes as a compliment.
Stan has a long history in Pasadena and Sierra Madre, as have I, so we had
a great time comparing notes on our experiences in the area. Stan was talking “microcosmics”
earlier on during the net. He was
relating something he had read on the Quora
Digest. So far I can’t make heads nor tails of what it’s about. I’m afraid the gang told him that I would
have something interesting to say about it.
Duane AG7G did his best tonight to cope with the ponderous and
elephantine “round table” protocol.
Especially sluggish with the big group we had tonight. We did the usual WARFA post mortem. I haven’t updated my WARFA jamming graph,
because the plateau of about 75 check-ins a week has been
holding steady for a long time, but things might be changing. WARFA took 393 check-ins
over the past 13 weeks, vs only 262 check-ins for the 13 weeks previous to
that. That’s huge. That’s 50%.
I warned in my semenal report of a few months
ago that the jammers cannot let WARFA just keep hanging around, or they will
start clawing their way back. WARFA’s
fun can’t just be spoiled, their MORAL must be broken, if they are to be
destroyed. The current trend in
check-ins clearly calls for more jammers, more power, and bigger antennas.
Tuesday Jan 6,
2015
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, K7PRS, K7JRL, AG7G, KD7BCW
We welcomed home Duane AG7G, tonight. He’s been in Hawaii. What a loser.
I bet he had a lousy time. We
also welcomed back Ben KD7BCW to the frequency.
He’s come around twice recently, and we hope he keeps it up. Dave W6UHA sent me an email informing me of
his observations of comet Lovejoy, currently in the constellation of
Orion. Dave I guess is heading off to
China for another fabulous adventure.
What a loser. I bet he will have
a lousy time. We talked to Moody some
about his tonsil exam. He had his
tonsils inspected via LONG PATH, and it really pooped him out. I mean it POOPED HIM OUT. But he got a clean bill of health, and I
foresee we will have him to kick around for a good long time to come. The Emmanuel Goldstein of the 21st
century took a lot of bashing toward the end of the party. Who will be the next boogeyman?
Friday Jan 2,
2015
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
W7UA, WQ6I, K6VLF, WB6GGY, K7PRS, VE7SQ, WJ6Q, AD6SL
I was cleaning up my astronomy mess tonight,
bringing stuff like the laptop back into the shack, when I turned on the rig
and heard Moody WQ6I mention California City John WJ6Q. Wowee wow wow, I had tune up and say hi to John. Well, before I could butt in, Pat W7UA axed
if “that guy” with the well pump problem was around. He had some thoughts about my problem that he
wanted to share with me. So I announced
myself. Pat said he didn’t want to take
up a lot of our time – the same thing he said last night when he wanted to
audio test with us and then spent an hour on it – and then gave an hour’s
dissertation on well pumps, without taking a breath. That brought out all the pump heads with an
opinion. God, I didn’t know there were
so many pump heads out there just bursting to pontificate pump problems. So they all got me straightened out. I didn’t really need all the advice. I discovered last night a breaker was off
down by the well. I reset the three
breakers, but I must have fucked up, because today the well pump repair man
reset the breaker himself, and the pump started. All for only $110.00. Yes, I turned the breakers to the “off”
position before I switched them “on.”
Still, I obviously fucked up somewhere.
I also got some good info from the repair guy, for my money. Since he had the pressure switch opened up, I
had him instruct me on its workings. I
appreciate all the well-wishing from the well beings who wished me well on the
well-being of my well. I thank you
all. And thanks again to pump head Pat. Pat said he laid
awake much of the night last night thinking about me and my well. After all this well-wishing was done, I
finally remembered that I checked in to talk to Cal City John. I axed John about a guy I knew from the
scouts in the early seventies, who was now a practicing dentist in Cal
City. I told John his name and John said
this guy has been his dentist for, like, 35 years. So I told John to pass on my regards. I haven’t communicated with the guy, well,
since probably 1973. Astronomers Bob
VE7SQ and Kevin AD6SL axed me about my RX Andromedae
monitoring project. That turned into
another huge can of worms. They want me
to build a phased array using telescopes.
An optical phased array. Don’t hold your breath, guys. Send me the 7K for the second telescope, and
I’ll think about it. And then somebody
wanted to talk about some gigantic planet or other unidentified object that
recently has been seen crashing into the Sun.
Coast to Coast stuff. I dunno, man, ask
Art Bell.
Thursday Jan 1, 2015
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z, AA8KB, KD7SKK, WQ6I, K7JRL, WB6GGY, K7PRS, K9LPK, W6UA
Well, good ol’ Pat
W6UA checked in tonight axing for a “quick” audio check. Heh, heh. An hour later his quick audio check was
done. We really punished him. Ok, though, I love this shit. It could only have been better if it had been
Art Bell. Tonight’s WARFA was analyzed. Mike AA8KB stands outside of firing range,
and just casts his hook into the battle, pulling out one check-in after another. Mike takes exception to my conclusion that
the high score Tuesday night indicates that the jamming is effective. He argues that his far flung location enables
him to check in stations all over the country.
But I countered that he has been helping out all month, not just on the
clear frequency night. Well, he then
argued that we have had some magical solstice propagation advantage of
late. I can’t control for that or even
quantify it. I stand by my conclusion
that the jamming is effective, i.e., the check-ins count is higher on light
jamming nights. Moody WQ6I added that
some nights when the jamming is bad, the net is cut short. Well, ok, but we don’t have the data on
that. My conclusion is based on
quantitative data that I have, and not all kinda shit
that I don’t have or that can’t be quantified, God dammit. Don’t contradict me or I’ll fucking cut you
out of this web page. My well pump has
crapped out and BZ and I are hauling buckets of water inside to fill the
shitters. God, the well pump fixit men
are soooooo busy around here that it’s hard to get
any help. You have to wait so long for
assistance that backed up turds start tumbling over the rim of the toilet. The gang gave me a range of advice. I walked down to the pump and did discover
that one of the breakers was off. So I
switched it on. At the time of this
writing it has been over an hour since I switched on the breaker, but it has
done no good. Fuck. Happy fucking New Year.
Tuesday Dec 30
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
KK6HWB, N6VNI, K7PRS, WB6GGY, K7JRL, AA8KB, K6AII,
KY6W, W6MVM, WQ6I, KB1UM
I guess the opening gambit tonight was
Capitan Mike W6MVM’s boat. It’s fucked
up somehow. I’m not sure if it’s afloat
or on the bottom. WARFA caught a break
tonight, so we discussed that. Only the
third stringers showed up to meet WARFA tonight, or should I say
“stringer.” Pathetic. Like a single gnat at a pick nick. No passion, no commitment. WARFA decided to extend the net to the
traditional two hours, because QRM was minimal, but the third stringer pooped
out. There was snoring on freq when the third stringer disappeared, and the snoring
went on well after the frequency was abandoned.
Apparently it’s a recording that has been heard before. Forty-nine check-ins. That the count was much higher than the
nightly average reveals two things: 1) The jamming is
effective. 2) WARFA is intact: the WARFA
stations are out there and still interested, but many just can’t get in. As I type this I’m listening to the HHH net
being jammed by CW CQing; no ID, needless to
say. We did a lot of testing tonight of
Music Mike’s rain gutter and sloper. It’s fascinating to hear how the changes he makes affects the sent and received signals
between Mike and the rest of the group.
God, I love that shit. We talked
with Mike at length about piano voicing, tuning, and temperament. The temperament issue is very
interesting. If you tune for the best
sounding chords, then the octaves are not going to be exactly a factor of two
apart in freq (if my understanding of this is
correct). Comrade Mike AA8KB mentioned
high mountains with big telescopes on top, and that got us talking about Mauna
Kea (to the top of which Music Mike has been) and other big mountains and our
experiences at dizzying altitudes. We
met some cool new people tonight, and we hope they come back.
Monday Dec 29
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
KD7BCW!!!, K7PRS, WQ6I, AD6SL, WB6GGY, AG7G
I don’t remember much about this QSO. I do remember the BIG NEWS, though: Ben
KD7BCW on freq. Ben sounds in good
health and good spirits. No more kids on
the way, apparently. Ben is doing some
antenna work. I guess a couple of Yagis are going up.
I wanted to ax for some juicy Art Bell poop, but I never got to it. Ben says that now that he knows where we are,
he’ll be back.
Sunday Dec 21
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, AD6SL, K7PRS, WF7M, AG7G, N0PQK, AA8KB,
K6VLF, KB1UM
When I tuned in, there wasn’t much happening,
but wowee wow wow, a buncha people came outta the
woodwork. We did a WARFA post
mortem. Jack N6LN was reported to have
checked into WARFA. Jamming stimulates
Beverage talk. Comrade Mike AA8KB has a
couple of narrow beam Bevs pointed at So. Cal that shave northern California right off. Larry K6VLF made the Bored scene
tonight. He does VLF experimentation, if
you can believe that. Larry listens to
atmospheric whistlers. We were also
joined tonight by Mark WF7M in WA and John N0PQK in MN. By the end of the night we were still talking
about Beverages and ferrites. Duane AG7G
says they squirm and bite.
Saturday Dec 20
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
WQ6I, W7UA, K6AII, K7PRS, WB6GGY, N6VOH, W7UA, AA8KB
Small talk
tonight.
Antennas, radios. Barry N6VOH was just checking out as I
checked in. I didn’t get to meet
him. Something fun DID finally happen:
audio testing!!! We fixed Moody WQ6I’s
audio. I was pretty lazy about keeping
track of the talk tonight. Happy solstice all you Pagan bastards. I’ll see you in HELL.
Thursday Dec 18
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z, AA8KB, K7PRS, KB1UM, WQ6I, WB6GGY, K6AII, AG7G, WG6K, KG6TT
Fun QSO, but I can’t remember much about
it. I may have had too many Keoki Coffee’s during WARFA. I threw up, barfed up, a quick Beverage
antenna this afternoon. Stan WG6K says
that what I have is not a Beverage, but merely a very low long wire. Whatever it is, the rejection off the sides
compared to the ends is amazing. Comrade
Mike has done some work for me on my Bev, and has sent me the details on how to
upgrade my low long wire to a Bev. Wowee wow wow, WARFA got their
asses kicked tonight. The jammers win
this one. WARFA can’t just stand flat
footed in the middle of the ring and take the pounding. They gotta move and
groove, dodge and weave, float like a butterfly… I.e., use a second freq,
or something. Don’t
just do the same thing over and over.
Relay stations and net control gotta give the
date and/or time every transmission. I
myself was fooled by the recordings. If
you don’t make the jammers work, they will just start the recordings and go
watch TV. The JW attacked again. Luckily, I was in bed again. BZ headed them off once again, and told them
I was “unavailable.”
Tue Dec 16
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
WI2R, K7PRS, WQ6I, K6ORJ, AA8KB, AG7G
The Geminids meteor shower has been raging
lately, and we talked about that. There
was some WARFA talk, but I forgot what is was. Quartzfest http://www.quartzfest.org/php/main.php?Home
is coming up this Jan. Is that a
transvestite on their website? Moody
WQ6I is talking about making the scene.
Talk propagated to topics DX, such as best QTH’s for DX. Duane AG7G was daydreaming out loud about
exotic travel. He was doing some virtual
travel via Googlemaps. Talk on this net inevitably turns to
drugs. So we covered the gamut
again. Nicotine is one of the most
addictive drugs. When nicotine comes up,
you naturally think Mal N7MAL. We
wondered if he was still alive (or still smoking; if one is true, then the
other must be). Judging from QRZ, he’s
alive and smoking. While we were on the
topic of hams, dead or alive, we thought about trying to conjure the great dead
hams, such as Orv K6UEY. Some thought
that some kind of séance within the confines of my loop might conjure him. I got to know Frank WI2R tonight. Nice guy.
I hope he comes back for more.
His signal was really weak, and tough for
Comrade Mike AA8KB to copy. Mike was
somewhat hard on poor old Frank for his shitty antenna and signal, but that’s
ok because Frank’s shitty antenna’s shitty reception protected him from Mike’s
criticism.
Wed Dec 10 (I
guess)
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
WQ6I, AG7G, K7PRS, AA8KB, WB6GGY, KD7SKK
This is another entry long after the
fact. Moody WQ6I informed me that
Captain Mike W6MVM is having trouble floating his boat, so the big boat ride to
see the Parade of Lights is sunk. I
guess if I want to see the parade I’ll just have to stand on the shore like the
rest of the scum. I was axed by somebody
what I would name my boat if I had one.
Art Bell, what else? They said it
had to be a girlie name. Ok, I dunno, how about Tinker Bell? Another famous Bell that I
love. I think it was Duane AG7G
and Comrade Mike AA8KB who compared notes on how they discovered Art Bell, and
how their lives subsequently changed. I
think you could make a heart-warming Christmas movie out of stories like
that. Mike or Duane would be standing on
the edge of a bridge on a cold bleak night, looking down into the rushing water
below, and a ghostly image would appear and remark, “hey, nice audio.” And then they’d have a reason to go on. They would loot the building and loan, and
blow the money on audio gear.
JW Report
Oh, Jeezus, they
came back. The JW came back this past
Saturday morning. I was sleeping very late,
so BZ intercepted them at the gate to our little fenced-in yard. They elected not to open the gate and come to
the front door, but to stand out there calling my name: Glenn, are you in
there? Glenn, God wants us to talk to
you! BZ just kept telling them that I
wasn’t available, and that I wouldn’t be available for several hours, because I
wasn’t getting enough fiber. They
persisted a bit, and then hit the road.
BZ said that they were impressed with me the first time they ambushed me
out on the antenna farm, and that they said, Guys “like him” usually won’t talk
to us. Well, I did NOT talk to them
about their superstition, or allow myself to be drawn into debate over how a
miraculous thing like the oak tree in our yard could happen by chance. I was merely polite to some very nice old
guys. They would have axed me if I’d
read the copy of The Watchtower,
which they left with me on their first visit.
I would not have had the heart to tell them that I did not read it, or
that it wound up in the bottom of the tortoise box. Unless they can advise me on how to get a
better seat in the Fiery Grandstand than Comrade Mike, then I frankly have noooooo bidness with them.
Monday Dec 8
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
WB6GGY, WQ6I, AA8KB, AG7G, K6ORJ, KB1UM, K7PRS, W7UA, K6AII
When I checked in, Mike KB1UM was getting
some advice on lighting protection from John K7PRS and Mike AA8KB. I axed Moody WQ6I if he was still coming down
for the big boat ride with Captain Mike W6MVM, to view the San Diego Bay Parade
of Lights. I guess he’s coming. Music Mike KB1UM told us he once performed
music on a boat that was in a parade of lights in SF, and his band won second
place for live music. I reported on my
dx adventure on 20 earlier this evening.
I worked VU3WIJ. He has an
amazing home brew station. Much of it he
made for CHEAP. He’s got my call wrong
(NK6Z) on his QRZ page. Conversation
moved on to smoking and eating shit in Colorado. Pot talk is gateway conversation to harder
topics, and sure enough, in no time we were talking about LSD and other hard
drugs. We even discussed getting high on
nutmeg. It was a big surprise when Pat
W7UA checked in. He used to check in to
the old Little People Net, before everybody started hating each other.
Wed Dec 3
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
WB6GGY, WQ6I, AA8KB, KK6CJA, KD7SKK, KB1UM, K7PRS
I’m writing this up days after the fact. I can’t remember too much about the QSO. Moody WQ6I has gotten a couple of emails from
a female ham named Kim. She listens and
approves of our little party, but she does not have the spectrum privileges to
join us. Hopefully she will upgrade,
join us, and get bored. I baked the hell
out of some toll house cookies on this night.
I didn’t burn them, but they were just cooked to death. So I compared notes with John K7PRS on cookie
baking. You really need to be
disciplined and take the damn things out of the oven when the directions say
to, gooey and runny though the cookies may be.
Mike KB1UM has lost an important thumb drive that he always keeps near
his computer. It just vanished into thin
air. It’s the stuff of Coast to
Coast. Mike got a couple of musical gigs
for this month. He also needs to get to
work on the second edition of his book.
Or is it a NEW fix it book? I’m
not sure. I still would like to get a
copy of the first book, if he can get it autographed for me by Art Bell. Comrade Mike AA8KB kept me on the edge of my
seat with some recordings of Art Bell on the ham radio, and some old recordings
of Mike KB1UM audio testing. Really old stuff. I
talked some EZ NEC with Comrade Mike.
Mike has the Silver Dick version of EZ NEC, with the 1500 segment
capability, so I guess I’m going to have to get that, or Mike is going to be
looking down miles of nose at me.
Monday Dec 1
The Bored Collective 3636
Resistance is futile.
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, K7PRS, AG7G, K6ORJ, W6MVM
I’m trying out a new name for the net. I made a joke about calling it the Borg
Collective, but John K6PRS made a better joke by suggesting we call it the
Bored Collective. So we’ll see if it
catches on. Mike W6MVM is hosting a
fabulous party on one of his big boats.
It’s going to be Dec. 14. He’s
going to float some of us over to the San Diego Parade of Lights. We’re not going to be in the parade, but we
are going to spectate. Shawn N7TNP, son
of Conrad, checked in and got some unsolicited audio help. I was once again enraptured. Had to change my underwear
several times. Shawn is running
the PR-40 and W2IHY boxes, just like me and Art Bell. We were so busy “helping” Shawn with his audio, that we totally blew off K6ORJ when he tried to check
in. We really can be selfish assholes
when we are having an audio orgy. We
wanted to help Shawn with his dad’s Butternut, but Shawn knew better than to
fuck up both his dad’s audio settings AND his antenna. Shawn is going home to Oregon, and when he
gets some power and a decent antenna, he is going to join the Bored Collective
again. I saw Interstellar recently, and cussed and discussed it with the
gang. We talked movies in general for a
while, and somehow wound up talking about Tyson and Cosmos and Nova. Moody WQ6I has never seen E.T., or seen Nova on PBS. Moody, come out
of your cave. I precipitated in my first
ham radio contest recently: the Sweepstakes.
I didn’t submit a log, because I only had, like, seven stations, and I
didn’t think that was good enough to win, but I did exchange with these
stations all the required info. It was
fun. I might do it again. I was in the high power, single op category. Seven stations isn’t much, but I got them all
in less than one minute, because I have a good antenna. I pooped out pretty quickly, because I am not
in shape for contesting, but my endurance will improve with practice, and I
expect to break into double digits next time.
Friday Nov 28
The Low
Down and High Smellin’ Net 3636
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, KB1UM, K7PRS, AG7G, N6LN, K6ORJ
I listened, enraptured, for about thirty
minutes while the gang audio tested with Mike KB1UM. Then I jumped in. I had to jump in and out because I was making
observations out on the driveway for my dwarf nova project, the photometry for
which I am contributing to an observing campaign. The photometry supports Very Large Array
observations of a number of dwarf novae.
I chatted with Duane AG7G and John K7PRS about my likely vee/loop coupling. I
need to put up a mast dedicated to supporting my vee,
and get it the hell away from the loop, if I am going to A-B the two. Duane discussed his cake baking with
John. Jack N6LN has been contemplating
the people dropping dead around him, and remarked that it is sad and is bumming
him out. Those people have gone on to
glory. Nothing to fret
about. They are with Orv now. And another
treat tonight was a long rehash by Moody WQ6I and Duane, of the history of the
final days of Ramona Bell and the shit that went down with GU around that
time. In fact the post mortem went all
the way back to the days of Orv K6UEY on 3830, and the problems that arose when
Art and GU joined up.
Wed Nov 26
The Low
Down and High Smellin’ Net 3636
KN6Z,
WQ6I, WB6GGY, AA8KB, KB1UM, K7PRS, WI2R, AG7G, N7NTP, KD7SKK, N6LN
We had quite a party tonight. None of the usual friction. I told the gang a concert story. Just before the start of the concert, a
French horn player and his chair and his horn tumbled off the back of the riser
upon which he was sitting. Thank god the
horn didn’t break. Tonight we met Conrad
N7EN’s son, Shawn N7TNP. He sounds just
like Conrad, and just as happy. We did a
lot of antenna testing with Mike KB1UM.
I love that shit. I hope we can
do some audio testing next. Jack N6LN
checked in late. We haven’t heard from
Jack in a while. He had some
recommendations for Duane on what to read and how to better spend his
time. We talked pianos with Music
mike. I axed Mike some questions about
his musical exploits of late. Apparently
he doesn’t want to teach any more, or play the cruise ship gig he had for a
while. There is a lot of communicable
disease on cruise ships, and Mike had more than his share. Mike also doesn’t draw the type of crowd that
buys a lot of booze. Mike is too classy
for that cruise line, apparently. Mike
should perform the type of show that the 80 meter crowd would like, then a lot of booze would get sold.
Wed Nov 19
The Low
Down and High Smellin’ Net 3636
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY, AG7G, KB1UM, AA8KB, WA1OXT, K6ORJ
The QSO tonight was just heavenly. I checked in to touch bases with Moody WQ6I,
regarding the BIG SHEW in Poway this Sunday, and the big feed following. Moody wants to know where exactly to sit for
the best view of my beautiful face. Then
Duane AG7G checked in, and he gave us the poop on his local weather, his
gallbladder, local repeaters, and all kinda great
shit like that. That’s how I knew this
was going to be a great QSO. I just love
that shit. What could be better? Art Bell, that’s what. Moody talked to us about his RV-loop dueling
with Art. Bonnie Crystal told Moody some
secret balun shit to do to his loop, which made him
competitive with Art. Phil WB6GGY said
he has a loop and a Pro II because of Art Bell.
I was just in heaven listening to this shit. Loops and weather and Art
Bell. Moody offered some
fragmentary intelligence on Jim GU, but I don’t know if it’s accurate, so I’ll
leave it out. Mike KB1UM checked-in
running power, and a half-sloper. He was weaker overall on the sloper than the rain gutter. So he AB’d the two
radiators for us, trying different things.
We got into a huge antenna analysis over this. Mike is pretty discouraged that his half-sloper sucks compared to the rain gutter. We all think he should put in a counterpoise
for the sloper.
I told a story about how I was out in the yard working on my antenna,
and making a very important cell phone call.
An impressive looking SUV drove up the long dirt driveway, with three
well-dressed dudes inside. They got out
and seemed very interested in my antenna masts.
I thought they might be from my insurance company, or maybe the power
company. I thought they were going to
give me some shit about my loop. I have
never been so happy to talk to Jehovah’s Witnesses in my life. Anyway, this story got us onto the subject of
religion and creationism. Mike AA8KB and
Duane then turned that into a long argument about Islam. The content was ok, but the fifteen minute
doubles were killing the net. Moody
stepped in and broke it up. Only the
discipline of the round table can protect the net from this sort of thing. Only the discipline of the round table can
keep Art Bell on the table, where he belongs.
So we dumped the Muslims and talked more about the big shew on
Sunday. Duane mentioned something along
the way about the absolute truth of math.
Well, don’t get too comfortable until you have checked out Godel’s incompleteness theorems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del's_incompleteness_theorems. I’ve been lying awake
nights worrying about this.
Now, these JW’s don’t want me to burn in
Hell, that’s why they came to the house to save me. But that whole episode in the yard with these
guys got me thinking about how some kind of Earthly counseling is needed for
the Damned, like me. I’m going down, I
know that, but it has been on my mind lately that I want a better seat in the
fiery grandstand than, say, Mike AA8KB, or Duane AG7G. But how to get that? What will the god I meet be the angriest
about? Would he be more pissed off that
I believed in no god, rather than the WRONG god. For example, what if I meet the god of
Isis? It seems like he would want to cut
my head off, I suppose making me even more dead than I already will be, if I
worshiped the Christian god. Maybe he’d
go easier on me if I just believed in no god.
But who knows? What if this god
thinks that Mike is some kind of wild-eyed Communist? What if this god doesn’t like Commies? Then Mike should burn hotter and deeper than
I, don’t you think? And
how about Duane? He’s some kind
of half-assed Buddhist, I guess. What if
God doesn’t like Eastern religious bullshit?
Then I think Duane will be mucking around down there with Mike. I just don’t know what is going to happen. None of the Damned do. So we really need a Minister of the Damned to
advise us on making the best of a bad situation, and Hell is going to be a bad
situation. What about BZ? She took the JW literature and put it in the
bottom of the tortoise box. Oh, sweet Jeezus. That’s just
in-your-face irreverence. I think she
might be keeping some Bad Company with Mike and Duane.
Tue Nov 11
The Low
Down and High Smellin’ Net 3636
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY, W6MVM, AG7G, KB1UM, AA8KB
I jumped in with a thin film of brandy in the
bottom of a cup, and toasted my grandpa (Roscoe V. Thurman, my dad’s dad) for
his service in the US Marines. I read an
old San Diego Union article about him.
He was highly decorated. And then
I toasted Art Bell and thanked him for his service. And I thanked my dad for HIS service. And Moody WQ6I clanged a bell in honor of my
dad and his dad. There wasn’t a dry eye
in the house. I had the whole day off
today, and Tuesday is normally my heaviest day.
More than half of my teaching hours for the week are on Tuesday. So goofing off all day today was heaven. It’s the closest I’ll ever get, anyway. Ebola and recent Ebola victims and potential
Ebola victims came up in conversation.
Then we started talking about longest running TV series. I guess cuz I
mentioned one of the creators of The
Simpsons is dying of colon cancer. The Simpsons is a very long running
series. Fourteen
episodes. A
match for Bonanza. When Duane AG7G checked in, Captain Mike
W6MVM checked out. Now, I don’t know if
there was a causal connection, but Duane seemed to think so. Comrade Mike AA8KB and I talked about school
and the long strange trip of being raised Catholic. Wowee wow wow, we really went to Hell, didn’t we? Ok, well, maybe not YET. Mike was very surprised that when I was
confirmed, I/we were given the option of taking a pledge that we would not
drink alcohol. I just slumped down in
the pew so the Bishop would not see me blowing off the pledge. I wonder if I had taken it, how much it would
have improved my chances of getting into Heaven. Perhaps my chances would have improved from
0.0%, to 0.00%. Music Mike KB1UM joined
the party, so I read an article about how your chances of prostate cancer go
down the more women that you screw. Mike
is going to be stuck indoors because of weather for a long time, so I suggested
he make good use of the time by fucking his brains out. Keep your prostate empty. Squirt out the carcinogens and crystal
structures in the prostate fluid. Do not
do this with homosexuals, as the benefit disappears, possibly from the trauma
of being rammed up the ass. I’m afraid
Disneyland Anal Pass holders may have an increased risk of prostate cancer. Duane joined in the school daze
discussion. We talked about prehistoric
computer games, such as Lunar Lander. I
liked that one very much. It was just a
command line game, in its earliest incarnation.
Then Comrade Mike and I got into a long and interesting (in my opinion)
antenna modeling discussion.
Saturday Nov 8
The Low
Down and High Smellin’ Net 3636
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY, KD6SL, KB1UM
We talked about my loop, mostly, at least
after I checked in. John K7PRS
recommends a 9:1 balun for my 450-ohm-ladder-line-fed
antennas, because 450/50 = 9. Before I
invest in one of those, I’m going to put the antenna analyzer on the lines and
see what impedance the rig actually sees.
I can’t operate power on 160, because even though the tuner finds a
match, I still hear sparking in the amp.
The 9:1 may be the answer, but I’ve got to investigate further. Kevin KD6SL thinks I ought to stick to
dipoles on 20, because the radiation pattern of the loop on 20 is so flower
petal-like. The loop absolutely clobbers
my vee on 20 in all directions, so I’ll be sticking
with the loop on 20. I would like to
build a three element quad, which would give the loop a better run for its
money on 20. John doesn’t think the loop
could stand up to a beam at 100 feet, but that’s hardly fair. My loop is only 62 feet high. I would like to get on the ANZA dx net some
night with Moody WQ6I, and get some signal reports for use in comparing his SteppIR with my loop.
The loop’s advantage over the vee starts
disappearing fast around 5 MHz, but is still significant at 5 MHz. As the freq goes down, the loop and vee
are both shorter and lower in terms of wavelength. So I am going to try an experiment. I am going to lower the loop significantly,
and see if the loop’s advantage over the vee at 5 MHz
is significantly reduced. If so, I will
conclude that a major contributing factor in the loop having such a small edge
over the vee at 3.5 Mhz, is that the loop is just not high enough. If, however, the low loop is still much
better than the vee, then I will conclude the that the reason the loop has such a small edge over the vee at 3.5 Mhz is because the
1000 foot loop is TOO SMALL. Further, if
the conclusion is that the loop is too small, I will predict that when I add
the additional 500 feet, doubling the enclosed area, that the loop will finally
show a significant edge over the vee at 3.5 MHz.
Thursday Nov 6
The Low
Down and High Smellin’ Net 3636
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY, KB1UM, AF6D, W6MVM, AA8KB, AG7G, K6ORJ
This QSO was really for the birds. I mean, I really wanted to give these guys
the bird. I tuned in, hoping to hear
weather reports, signal reports, Art Bell reports, and other exciting stuff,
but these fuckers were talking about BIRDS!
Wowee wow wow, I’m
nothing if not a bird lover, so I checked in.
I mentioned in passing that the high winds predicted around here, that I
expected would knock my loop around, did not materialize. I also mentioned that I watch the forecast on
weather.gov and like the site very much.
Well, Comrade Mike AA8KB has a huge bone for unisysweather.com. I guess it’s got all kinds of bells and
whistles and power and flexibility. I’m
sure weather.gov can’t do all that shit.
So fuck weather.gov. Be sure you
are wearing your reinforced underwear before you dare to use Mike’s BIG BONE
unisysweather.com. Low-tech Duane AG7G
says he just looks out the window for his weather data. WARFA, WARFA jamming, and the Sherriff came
up again. I guess Duane has pissed off
the Sherriff, and now the Sheriff is monitoring Duane’s “signal levels.” Whoa, Daddy!, has
Duane got trouble now. When the Sherriff
starts watching your signal levels, you are fucked, man. You know you are fucked. I brought up Rolling Stone’s top 100
vocalists of all time. You can find the
list on the internet, but you gotta subscribe to the
mag to get the discussion. Bob Dylan and
Mick Jagger are in the top ten. How is
it that those guys even make the list at all?
Why isn’t Sonny Bono in the top ten, or at least on the list, if Dylan
and Jagger are? Now I am well aware that
Dylan and Jagger are among the greatest rockers of all time, but are they very good singers?
Urethra Franklin was number one.
That’s fine. At least she’s a
great singer. Duane twisted Mike KB1UM’s
arm for some exposition on life in Colorado.
Mike has been working some parties and restaurants, but has no permanent
gig at this time. Mike is dating a woman
from some hell hole called Arvada. It’s
a very long drive from where Mike lives.
Susan will be driving over to Mike’s for their next date, and I hope
Mike prepares well by looking over unisysweather.com.
Sunday Nov 2
The Low
Down and High Smellin’ Net 3636
KN6Z,
WQ6I, K7PRS, WB6GGY, KB1UM, AF6D, W6MVM
Repeaters,
repeaters, repeaters.
That’s why I checked in. But then
the conversation shifted to Mike W6MVM’s new boat-location. I wish he had checked with me on that,
because now BZ and I can’t come down and see free Humphrey’s concerts. Mike’s boat is at a different marina. I reported on minor wind damage to one of my loop
masts, and that deflected the conversation to antennas. Bob AF6D had some questions for the group,
about bazookas. There was tons of
doubling tonight. Jeezus. Mike KB1UM has hooked up with a new
woman. Her name is Susan and he met her
online. That is so romantic, don’t you
think? I hope for some stories from Mike
about romancing Susan. I played an A
minor and an E minor on my guitar, over the air, and Mike named the chords
without hesitation. Bob told us a story
about a guy in the hospital, who had a fifteen inch dick. Nurses were coming around and taking peeks
under the sheet. I don’t know the setup
for this story. Who the guy was or how
Bob knows about him, I don’t know, so if you want the details, or just want to
talk dick, talk to Bob.