And the trail of colourful footprints after
667
joined 2 years ago
Gestures broadly around at everything
It all depends on your reference point. Typically when orbits are depicted for human understanding, they’re given a top-down view. Think like Open Street Maps. It could be depicted on its side, like watching race cars around a race track, but it can result in more visual distortions than a simple top-down view.
Alternatively, if you’re referring to orbits with high inclinations relative to the orbital plane, that also happens. Pluto, for example, has an inclination of ~17°, which is one of the reasons there are theories it was not part of the solar system when the solar system formed.
Depending on your phone OS, iOS supports disabling biometrics if one repeatedly clicks the lock button. But this only narrows the attack surface, and relies on you having the wherewithal to recognize a situation when this needs to be done, or even being in a situation where you’d be able to.
The greatest, even.
Kevin MacLeod’s been providing royalty-free music for probably 20 years: https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html
There is a Stereogram in the image on the TV.
I ordered some blank playing cards so they can be properly shuffled, and stand up to wear and tear.
I also plan to make some cards require incremental destruction in order to be used.
Lots of room here for an interesting game.
The horrors persist, but so do I.
No free meals
Just wait until you learn about companies which pay per diem when traveling.
I had thought the same until we visited Idaho and discovered not only the Potato Museum, but also Craters of the Moon national monument, EBR-1 which was one of the world’s first nuclear power plants, and the stunning rolling hills in the north.
I was kinda surprised at the neat things to see out there.
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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You are now breathing manually.