No Soup For You!

Nothing to post tonight as I'm working on my Drake.
Oh wait....I just posted....never mind...nothing to see here....

Emergency Comms

I'm writing up a little piece on what to use, and how, for communications after TSHTF. Basically, what things will work reliably for both short-range and long-range radio communications. In the event of a natural or man-made disaster you can pretty much bet your a$$ that the cellphone system will go down, so how do you tell your family and friends you're OK?

YUMMY!

I can't take the credit for these (I'n not that creative!) as I grabbed them from one of the boards I regularly post on.
Enjoy!

Train Wreck coming??

One of my buddies sent me this today:

Important Announcement
Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil, plus the condition of the economy, The Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off.
We apologize for the inconvenience.

To which I responded:
Hmmmm...."Turning It Off" would imply that it's not the _real_ light at the end, but more like the old joke about it being the headlight of an approaching train.
And seeing that we're headed towards a major 'train wreck' with all the idiots running things, it must be their way of preventing us from seeing how close it really is!

Just another one of my random musings.....

ARRRRGH!

Well, four hours after I started a "simple" Ham radio project, I'm still not finished.
I volunteered to set up a West Coast "Satgate" to capture packets from the International Space Station (yep, it has Amateur Radio gear onboard) and put them out on the Internet. I have a radio that's not used much that I can dedicate to this, and a persistent Internet connection. So, just connect everything together, download some software, configure it, and sit back. Pretty easy for a grizzled old radio/computer guy like me, right?
WRONG!
Setting up the hardware was a snap....I've been involved in Amateur Packet Radio since the early 90's, have a lot of 100% functional gear just laying around, and had that part of it set up and running smoothly in about 30 minutes. So, I download the software, install it, and the first time I fire it up it gripes that the "AGWPE" packet engine isn't running, and it needs it to run. WTF? I have a HARDWARE TNC, so why do I need a soundcard-based packet engine running?? Oh, well, get the AGWPE packet software downloaded and set up. It decodes and displays packets using the soundcard just fine after I run a cable from the audio out of the radio to the line in on my Ham PC. Start the other software again, and it's happy seeing the packet engine running. Go to the "modules" section, and there's NO satgate module listed. Huh....thought I downloaded the *full* package....Back to the Internet and grab some more modules. Unzip them in the correct directories, and restart everything. DUH! Tells me now I need the "PRO" version to do what I want. OK...more downloads and installation. RATS....it won't let me run it until I register it, which requires a donation. Now the guy that writes the software is pretty cool, and the software looks to be good quality, so I PayPal him the required amount of Euros, and now I'm waiting for the registration info to get here.
Wonder what else I'll find after I get the program registered?
Anywhoo....was going to do this "little" project and then pound away on the Drake receiver I've been restoring....AINT gonna happen tonight!

Linux at SCALE 7x

Went to the 7th SCALE Linux expo this morning at the LAX Westin Hotel. I've been going there since they started, and it's always good to see old friends and meet new ones. I went by the Electronic Frontier Foundation booth several times as I roamed the floor, and decided to join. Lo and behold, the guy manning the booth was one of my Ham Radio buddies! For those that don't know about the EFF, I've added a link to them on the Link-O-Rama. Besides just writing to your congress critters about the alleged "Fairness Doctrine", I suggest you go to the EFF and read about their fight to protect BLOGGER'S RIGHTS. Yep, there are subtle provisions in the bill to CENSOR the Internet. Imagine that....censorship in the USA! Guess it goes along with being legally robbed by the tax man to support people too damn lazy to work for a living. You can sign up for a free email feed, and join for the piddling amount of $25, fully tax deductable. Well, at least it is for now, until The Messiah decides to look into their tax-exempt status!
It was fun to see how far Linux has come since I started using it in 1995. Particularly the multimedia stuff, which could always be a little dicey, and the wide range of business-type applications that are out there now.

Hello, Radio.....

Finally got my high-pass filters from ICE. I live a few miles away from a 50KW powerhouse, and it really hammers the front-ends of my receivers. Well, the ICE filter works wonders! My noise levels have dropped, and all of the funny squawky noises have disappeared.
I can't operate on 160 anymore, but then I don't have a proper antenna for that band, anyway.

Some Things Just Need to be Said: Flatmobile

You've just GOT to check this one out!

Some Things Just Need to be Said: Flatmobile

Nothing Much Happened Today.....

Well, at least not in my own little world!
Pulled a bunch of data files off an ancient laptop running Windows95 ( ! ) at work so we could save some configuration files we need for a piece of equipment. I wound up pulling the hard-disk out, and using a USB adapter to grab the files. It beats fighting with Win95's somewhat spotty USB support for external devices.
*Finally* cleaned my pistol from the Sunday class. I know, I know....I should have cleaned it Sunday night. I gave it a wipedown with a Birchwood-Casey "Barricade" cloth...kinda like the Wet-Nap cloths you get from KFC, but didn't do the "Field-Strip-and-Clean" until tonight. I was shooting Fiocchi 230gr FMJ, and man, is that stuff DIRTY. It makes good "practice" ammo, as besides being cheap, you get a lot of "practice" clearing malfunctions! Out of the 200some rounds we fired, I had 5 or 6 stovepipes, one failure-to-feed, and one double-feed, so besides doing the drills the instructor was calling out, I was doing the "Tap-Rack-Flip-Drop-The-Mag-And-Replace-It" dance. It was interesting seeing the newer students freaking out when they had malfunctions, and the instructors running around yelling "RACK IT, RACK IT!" and "DROP THE MAG! DROP THE MAG!". Some of them got kind of rattled, and some of them did exactly as told. One of the drills in the TAC-I class I'll be taking next month is how to clear your pistol of Type 1 and Type 2 malfunctions, and it'll be interesting to see if I've improved from the first time I took the class, when I was all thumbs! Hey, we ALL start somewhere, and I'm no exception. I got a compliment from one of the instructors about how smoothly I cleared the pistol and got back into the "fight", so I guess I learned something from the previous classes. At least I don't get shook up, forget what to do, and then freeze. Having a non-functional firearm, at the time you most need it, would NOT be a good thing....

Obamamerica: Pelosi is a nut job and wants more of your money!

Now this gets me REALLY pissed. Who the H3LL does this libtard thinks she is? The second coming of Karl Marx?
Looks like it's time to start stuffing it all under the mattress so the freaking EVIL SOCIALISTIC LIBTARDS can't get their greasy, greedy paws on it.
NOBODY is going to "redistribute" MY wealth without my explicite permission!
PERIOD!

Obamamerica: Pelosi is a nut job and wants more of your money!

Montana Shows They've Got A Pair!

Courtesy of David at The War On Guns.
http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m2d16-Showdown-under-the-Big-Sky