The constituent parts of gunpowder are sulphur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate. None of these chemicals are psychoactive in humans.
667
joined 2 years ago
The beauty of agglutination. New words can be created without new vocabulary, sometimes regardless of technological changes. In Esperanto, there is no dedicated word for “cell phone”, but a word is needed to refer to these devices, so it’s “poŝtelefono”, or “pocket phone”.
Well, part of that is owed to the fact they were basically using a speaking code, Cockney.
Translated SetSemanticFocus.
It comes with customizable alarm clock snooze, right? Right..?
That’s got to be a great photo, too!
The tide swings can get pretty large in any season on the bay; there’s also wind-effect tides as well. This photo could be nearly anywhere, my guess is just conjecture from seeing what looks like brackish water and a dilapidated covered dock.
I’m willing to bet somewhere on the Chesapeake.
The device was not an ordinary smart watch made by Apple or Samsung, but a special type that US Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) had mandated the woman wear at all times, allowing the agency to track her. The device was beeping when she entered the hospital, indicating she needed to charge it, and she worried that if the battery died, ICE agents would think she was trying to disappear, the hospital workers recalled. She told them that, just days earlier, she had been put on a deportation flight to Mexico, but the pilot refused to let her fly because she was so close to giving birth.
This situation is still fucked up.
Anecdotally, it has curbed my own use. At first I was a little irritated but quickly realized that the collection of bags at home was an overwhelming waste when 80% of the time I was only carrying 2-3 items, which I can easily hand carry.
Caveat to that, Amateur Extras can use their licenses in reciprocal countries. Details: https://www.arrl.org/us-amateurs-operating-overseas
I’m going to try and hop on 20m in my high-noise floor area (lots of EMI) and try to QSO on 10-12W.
I suppose I should practice Morse code, too.
How about you?
E: Fediverse PSA: Getting your (US) license has never been easier—there is no Morse code requirement! Just memorize the answers to the questions (perfectly legal) and take the test, I did all three of mine online, one of which was from a beach on a Pacific island during the pandemic!
I got it into my head that I would like to see a spherical depiction of my QSOs. Azimuthal and other representations weren't cutting it for me.
I managed to coax an LLM to output my ADIF into a KML so I could better visualize the reach of my QSOs, and I am quite stunned. 20m has almost complete global reach, as you'll see below. Admittedly, on CW it probably does. In these visualizations, the vast majority of contacts are on FT8 20m, but there are a few dozen SSB contacts as far as Indonesia. Usually I made these contacts well before sunrise.
This is a representation of my entire logbook, so any QSO not from the SW US are 10m.
Setup: IC-7300, barefoot, 15m mast, and a 20m twinlead j-pole. Having been temporarily based in a residential area, I had quite a high noise floor from various EMI sources, and could have probably done better with weak stations had my noise floor been lower.
Moving to the west:
More west, Australia prominently visible:
Antipodal view:
Looking toward the east, the west coast of Africa coming into view:
Africa; the lonely QSO east of Madagascar is Reunion Island, got this one on FT8:
You can see a sharp decline in activity about mid-screen.
About 1m 15s remaining:
45s after 1200Z:
Granted, this is the IARU Championship. But that's a lot of people on the radio.
20m at 1500Z.
Side note: for the last three days I’ve enjoyed nearly bottomless noise floors; been making SSB QSOs to Japan, Indonesia, and even Rarotonga. Then–today of all days–the AirBnB beside my house has turned on their aircon and it’s completely wiping out all but the strongest signals. My waterfall looks like college ruled notebook paper:
1830Z Update:
1900Z. This is wild.
Man, what an amazing day which will be long–if not impossible–to forget.
In the late 90s, I observed my first partial eclipse from South Florida. Then and there I decided I needed to see a total solar eclipse. Nearly 30 years later, I made good on that little personal promise. The moment I realized I would be in position to get along the path of totality, I made plans with my spouse to do so. We saved the date and planed the logistics.
I, of course, ensured my radio was packed and fully functional; charged the battery the night before. We left Del Rio, the closest place we could find reasonable accommodations, at 0400L. By 0700L we had hoisted and strung the OCF dipole and we were ready to go in DL98rv, just under the central path of the eclipse on the side of Hwy 131 in Texas just beyond the US-Mexican border.
The Tech section of 10m was silent that early, but I kept calling CQ until I started getting QSOs, pretty much went ten in a row in nearly the same number of minutes once the band came alive.
I had wanted to participate in the research project contest, but the instructions and bonuses were a little overwhelming, but I did manage to make one QSO during totality. On the one hand, I was expecting propagation attenuation, but the QSO I made was over 1,500 miles away.
I've read over and over about experiencing totality. Photos will never do it justice. Words doubly so. If you've ever been on the fence about traveling to see totality–just do it.
Lessons learned or confirmed:
- Get there at least two days before; scout potential setup locations. We scouted several locations with our radio setup in mind. We didn't want to risk trampling on private property, and the OCF antenna (being a 7-band) has nearly a 200' wingspan on its longest dimension. We needed plenty of space while also being considerate to others who would certainly want to see the eclipse as well. We must be good stewards of Amateur Radio.
- Get lodging as near as you can, as far in advance as you can, maybe no more than an hour away.
- Set up at least six hours before C1 (eclipse start).
- Make considerations for food and toilets. I was fortunate that our travel partners had a trailer with a functioning toilet. In my eagerness, I had completely overlooked the requirement for toilets.
- Don't underestimate the value of a radio day checklist.
- A 7-band OCF dipole is absolutely unwieldy for portable ops. I love the mast I've been using, but the antenna itself is a huge pain–and a huge footprint–to get up. For future ops, I plan to go with a monoband. I am planning to make KB9VBR's 10m window line j-pole to hoist on the mast instead.
- Small auxiliary/desk lights or headlamp, red is my preference, for log work before sunrise. I was struggling to get my radio configured and my log setup before the sun came up.
I am eager for your questions and feedback!
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I have no idea. I used a web translator.