A fantastic point I hadn’t considered, new gear taking up more space. I would also try Hell but for the same issue you mentioned. I did SSTV a bit which is kind of neat.
I’ve tried JT65 a bunch on HF with no luck.
That being said, one can probably find similar arguments when phone came into mainstream, and then again when the FCC eliminated the Morse requirements. The truth is it’s all ham radio, and any arguments to the contrary are rejected outright.
To even get on any of the digital modes, not only must one have the licenses, radio, and antenna, they must also know how to pair the computer up to it to get it to function while also understanding atmospherics.
That’s why the adage goes “a fool and their money are soon parted”.
Making it no longer reflective
Indicates the current state of things.
badger badger badger badger badger badger MUSHROOM MUSHROOM
You’re spot on. It also assumes one wants to maintain a particular lifestyle. If those interested in living on passive income can adjust their lifestyle more simply, or choose lower CoL locations (SE Asia, for example) dollars can go quite far.
Some quick math on what this looks like:
Assume $70k median income, this means passive income would need to be $140k. In order to get $140k/yr one would need $4M to draw down at 3.5%/yr and meet that goal.
To get to $4M, using the following assumptions: 20% savings rate (not accounting for inflation, raises, bonuses, etc) per year and a 10%ROR on the index funds would take a little more than 35y.
It takes a substantial amount of discipline to do this. If one could make $70k/y starting the year they turn 18, it could be done by the time they’re 53.
Seems like it’s the first step in transferring control of the internet to the government.
A common misunderstanding, planetary systems are marsupials, they must stay in their mother’s protective womb of stellar gasses until they can fend for themselves.
Bruno Mars’ Grenade. Not just because it was overplayed, but once you notice the sound of the beeping from a commercial truck in reverse (beeeeep beeeeep beeeeep…) you can’t unhear it.
Fell in love with the idea of 1KBWC and couldn’t even wait for the first game to start making some cards.
Apparently Bicycle makes blank playing cards, so I ordered a couple of decks, in addition to a bunch of sharpie markers.
This way we can shuffle them like a regular deck, and the form factor is compact.
That’s One Hot Card was a thermal sublimation ink transfer I whipped up.
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.
It’s mind-boggling how many people raw dog USB ports in public spaces, airplanes, and Ubers.