Tag: Ham radio

FUD

I found the preppers’ net. Tuesday – Saturday at 0100UTC on 3.86000. Things that are going to bring down society in the near future:

  1. Ebola virus which is going to mutate to being communicable in airborne form
  2. The D86 virus making the rounds could mutate into something much more dangerous
  3. El Niño which is going to bring a colder, wetter than normal winter and disrupt energy supplies

They’re all super prepared! Are you??

Hub ‘n’ spoke hilarity

I love the ol’ hub and spoke paradigm [1] for transporting things places. I mean, seriously, it is the most efficient methods of routing in that all points can be connected with the (number of points) minus one routes. All points can be reached in no more than two jumps. Totally efficient.

Except when it isn’t. For example, a shiny bauble I ordered is being shipped from Commerce City, CO (Denver) to Council Bluffs, IA. The shipping manifest so far looks like this:

Location Date Time Activity
Des Moines, IA, United States 05/30/2014 11:15 A.M. Arrival Scan
Omaha, NE, United States 05/30/2014 8:41 A.M. Departure Scan
05/30/2014 7:18 A.M. Arrival Scan
North Platte, NE, United States 05/30/2014 3:17 A.M. Departure Scan
05/30/2014 2:19 A.M. Arrival Scan
Commerce City, CO, United States 05/29/2014 9:35 P.M. Departure Scan
05/29/2014 7:24 P.M. Origin Scan

Now, then, the damn thing passed through Omaha at roughly the same time I was driving to work. I probably passed it on the Interstate. Council Bluffs is exactly the same thing as Omaha as far as UPS is concerned. Dump the damn thing off the truck here and get it on a delivery vehicle so I can play with it!

Instead, it traveled on to Des Moines. It’s probably on its way to Kansas City now, from which it will be shipped to back to Omaha where it will be removed from the truck this time and delivered to me. Hopefully. Perhaps it will make yet another trip around the Midwest first. Or maybe it will go off visiting the Southeast. I hear it isn’t too humid out that way yet.

All of this is really just a whinge because I want my shiny bauble now, not Monday. Why couldn’t they have just thrown it off the truck while it was here? If it was just passing through, don’t tell me about it on the package tracking page.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoke-hub_distribution_paradigm

A New Address?

Just finished applying for a vanity call sign from the FCC. Here’s to hoping KD0INM becomes N0FEZ. Figured a new physical address is all the excuse I need for finally pulling the plug on my assigned call sign. I’ve never really cottoned to it because it is often confused with my call sign neighbor KD0INN unless over-enunciated. Besides, it lacked a certain amount of fezness, n’est pas?

I guess, at which time, I’ll have to change the title of the posting category here at 2xSameRiver.

Ham I Am

As of 20090731, I am licensed to transmit as KD0INM by the FCC. I’m completely stoked and will be updating this space with my adventures. Yay me!

So far, then, other than the license I have acquired a used and ever so slightly abused Kenwood TS 530-S. I haven’t yet put it on the air because I haven’t yet put together an antenna or found an antenna tuner. The $4 Special is a refreshing article after all the crazy/scary reading I’ve been doing lately about flying an antenna. I may be giving this a shot next weekend…especially if I can find a decent tuner to interface with my rig. I need more “just do it” and a lot less “ZOMG Horrible!” if I’m ever going to have the confidence to get on the air.