@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

W6KME

@W6KME@mastodon.radio

Ham Radio and emcomms, musician, tinkerer. CVARC, VCARC, VCARS, Instructor, ARRL VE and ARES/ACS. Ventura County BORED Net and µField Day Administrator. Dedicated to helping hams (including me!) get on the air as often as possible.

Also @w6kme, @w6kme, @w6kme, @w6kme

http://theborednet.net
https://www.patreon.com/W6KME

#hamradio #amateurradio #discworld

I'm searchable via tootfinder. #fedi22

GNU STP. De chelonian mobile.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

W6KME, to random
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

A Long Covid story

I've met so many people since I had covid, most of my ham radio friends in fact. And most of them don't see me as disabled or sick or struggling. I recovered enough to do some wonderful things.

What they don't know is what I was before. That guy is gone. I was a world-class jazz trombonist. Now I'm maybe average, and the phone no longer rings. Now I carry piles of notebooks to record every thought in hopes of retrieving it later. The mental fight is all day.

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

My point is this-I am an incredibly lucky person. INCREDIBLY. Over a million Americans got as sick as I was and did not survive. I am surrounded by friends and family and world-class health care and research (mostly because I'm a valuable data point now, but they do try and help.) I am not complaining.

But this was not the flu.

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

I don't know how much of my memory was lost to the strokes, because all I can see are the holes. They're always there in my field of mental view. Just empty. I've cried a lot over the things I know must be in those holes.

I lost the ability to read music. I forgot morse code. I lost years of my past in chunks.

I'm very good at compensating, so people don't see all of this. I've learned how to produce events on a small scale. I have a lot of fun, and I love my life and the people in it.

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

Where is this going? People are thinking it's over. "We lost a lot of people, but you adapt and move on." That million families that lost a loved one...they'll "get over it" (bullshit.) But for everyone who died, how many are like me? How many will fight-forever-with the effects? What happens when these people get tired of being swept under the rug by half the people in the country? Or more often are called liars by those people?

How much is this going to cost our civilization in the long run?

ai6yr, to random

If you are feeling lots of protons today, you are not alone. 😂

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@AE4WX @ai6yr I had SOTA plans today, but someone wants to come along who isn't in hiking condition, so we're playing POTA instead. At my latitude, I'd expect this storm to give some pretty sweet propagation until the noise climbs. A little while ago I was talking to someone on 10m SSB in Missouri from Cali, and someone joined the conversation from France.

I never plan radio time around solar weather reports. I usually check them after I'm done to see how they correlated with what I heard.

ai6yr, to cycling

Hmm, methinks my 1980 era tires are no longer good. I was wondering why stuff stopped rolling smoothly.

Something trying to pop out elsewhere on the other tube
Yet another bubble forming on s tire

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr @bud_t It's taken decades for the racing world to understand what the engineers said all along...wider tires are LESS drag overall on anything but a perfectly glass-smooth surface.

All cyclists know that skinny tires give a rougher ride. Every whack to your ass represents energy removed from your forward motion. A taller sidewall loses far less energy over every bump.

Save those 19s for the velodrome, not the road.

W6KME, to random
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

The older I get, the more I regret all the people I've lost.

It's gotten so bad that I've quit leading hikes.

W6KME, to random
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

One of my clubs (CVARC, the one in Conejo Valley) Has a Morse Code Group. Last month we wrote Morse-themed Haikus. This month we played Morse Bingo. I love how entertaining the goofiest stuff can be.

ai6yr, to H5N1

UNMC: "There’s no question H5N1 bird flu has ‘pandemic potential.’ How likely is that worst-case scenario?" https://www.unmc.edu/healthsecurity/transmission/2024/05/07/theres-no-question-h5n1-bird-flu-has-pandemic-potential-how-likely-is-that-worst-case-scenario/ #hpai #h5n1 #pandemic #birdflu

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr Anybody in the food industry who says they are surprised by current events is a bald-faced liar.

ai6yr, to delhi

Massive traffic accident on the 101E (south) in Calabasas, multiple cars involved, at least one vehicle on its roof, other vehicles off the side. (no doubt as a result of the intense rain band moving through).

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr I know you agree with this, so I'm not nit-picking...the rain didn't cause this. It fell on my car all night in the driveway and my car didn't flip over, not even a little bit. It was drivers, not rain that caused the crash.

Maybe I'm just old and grumpy, but it does feel like the percentage of drivers who do not modify their driving to suit conditions has risen over the years. Modern cars are so good that they tend to get away with it until they don't, in more dramatic fashion.

douglasvb, to random
@douglasvb@mastodon.social avatar

Massive line at my local REI. I've got a few returns so I guess I'll wait.

It's interesting to see how REI has slowly drifted from its roots. My parents have a very low digit membership number from the early 70s in the greater Seattle area. I grew up in REI sleeping bags and tents.

They still have good outdoor gear but there's an awful lot of lifestyle stuff in the store now. And some of the good deals don't exist anymore.

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@douglasvb My local REI has a giant mural of several sea kayakers. They don't carry any true sea kayaking gear any longer, and certainly not in the store. As you say, it's mostly lifestyle items, with enough "hardcore" outdoor sport gear scattered around to make shoppers feel like they're one of the cool kids while buying their $40 coffee cups.

I get it; you have to make money. But it's no longer a true co-op of people combining their buying power to get the stuff Big 5 won't carry.

ai6yr, to random

Hmm...

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr I never found the lutefisk booth today. Disappointed.

BakerRL75, to random
@BakerRL75@m.ai6yr.org avatar

@ai6yr For the files…

https://www.aol.com/alabama-station-disbelief-200-foot-171925469.html

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@BakerRL75 @ai6yr My gut feeling is that said radio station may not have been entirely current on their bills, and the tower and gear were removed by debtors. I'm not sure I buy the story that the station was unaware either. Interesting that the FCC denied their request to reflect their broadcast onto their other transmitter.

ai6yr, to random

Oooh, cool, @w6kme says there are ham radio operators on Conway Reef this week.

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@gtw @ai6yr It IS a Fiji call, but a separate DX entity. This is only the third time it's been activated. I figure, get it in the log before the sea swallows it for good!

ai6yr, to advice

Beekeeper's advice for the day: It's springtime, which is swarming season. If you do not want to have to deal with bees in your walls, make sure to either seal up or put mesh over any exterior hole in your house (especially your eaves and siding), particularly holes that are about penny to thumbtack sized.

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr If a bee can get in, so can an ember. Seal that sh*t up!

ai6yr, to random

Weather prep task for the day: did more work filling a thermal gap between my kitchen and the outside (note to self: you should have trusted that little voice that said "maybe you should insulate that before the contractors come, because they might not be so careful to insulate that spot").

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr To everyone who keeps a first aid kit in their car...those adhesives go bad a lot faster.

ai6yr, to earthquake

Hmm, was that an earthquake? (Update: USGS says it was)

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr Looks like it. Didn't feel it here though.

ci40671680 for people filling out DYFI forms. Don't forget that it's valuable data if you didn't feel it also.

ai6yr, to gardening

Another volunteer oak tree coming up in my backyard! Already have one (now about 15 feet tall), letting this one grow as well to provide some shade. We've had massive fatality of the 200 year old oaks in our neighborhood, and although they do reduce areas you can garden in, the shade and habitat is useful and appreciated.

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr If you look at many of the surviving oaks, especially the giants, you'll see large fallen limbs or signs of such. Like many tall trees they have to move water a great height essentially by suction, and if there is too little water, cavitation occurs. They typically don't recover from this, and everything uphill of that spot dies. Limb drops are common during drought years and may even hep the tree by shrinking it during hard times. Sometimes, however, the tree collapses catastrophically.

ai6yr, to Cats

ScienceAlert: "Mysterious Link Between Cats And Schizophrenia Is Real, Study Finds" https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-link-between-cats-and-schizophrenia-is-real-study-finds

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr Without a causative link, you've only got statistics, not science. And their statistics are admittedly quite shaky and vague.

If you can't make a definitive point with statistics, you don't have any point at all, just a vague correlation.

Their headline goes from vague speculation to outright lie. Not a good look for whoever "ScienceAlert" is.

ai6yr, to windows

Replaced a single pane, 1978-79 window with a very, very expensive modern equivalent. Why? Heatwaves. Lots of them in the future. Don't know how much it will help... but better than what was there before.

U factor of 0.26, SHGC 0.16

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr Can Confirm that modern windows are DRAMATICALLY better than the old stuff. All the insulation in the world can't keep up with a few dozen square feet of single pane glass.

ai6yr, to delhi

First major eclipse traffic jam starting... Kerrville to Dallas, I believe. Big eclipse event in Kerrville... people going back to their hotels in San Antonio?

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr Not that anyone asked, but residents of Kerrville call themselves Kerrverts.

ai6yr, to random

Ah, Billionaires privatizing space (with sonic boom) tonight.

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr You wanna know why all these billionaires are obsessed with space? Because guillotines need gravity.

ai6yr, to delhi

Missed this post from yesterday from CHP Moorpark... "Six separate crashes within 5 minutes snarled traffic on US-101 NB on the Conejo Grade heading into Camarillo during this mornings commute. Original cause? One car with a flat tire in the center divide. That caused this chain reaction of crashes"

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr Do you ever wish they would put the real cause of crashes in their report/call notes? All of these were caused by driver error, not by the car in the center divider.

ai6yr, to random

A+++ contracting and painting work!

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr There's a right way and a wrong way to do these hinges...the wrong way will break your fingers, and the right way isn't hard. Remove the tension from the spring first, scrape off some of the paint, screw the hinge in, add tension as needed. Usually you'll need an allen wrench and a nail. Plenty of YT vids out there showing the details.

ai6yr, to random

🙄 $365 coffee machine. Also lazy journalism, looks like what you'd copy/paste from a press release here. Your review should not be marketing copy (IMHO). https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/12/home-coffee-brewing-aiden-machine-fellow/

Constructed from high-quality materials that are both aesthetically pleasing and long-lasting, Aiden is designed to be a staple in the kitchen for years to come. This commitment to quality materials not only enhances the user experience but also aligns with ecological sustainability practices by reducing the need for frequent replacements — and if something does need repairing, you can get spare parts easily.

W6KME,
@W6KME@mastodon.radio avatar

@ai6yr I've been sending event announcements and other promotional stuff to small newspapers for years, and they often get printed as an article, not a calendar item. And even major media has accepted produced "news" for a price since the concept of "news" was first imagined. Used to be a drinking game years ago, having a drink every time Hal Fishman on Channel 5 read a news item that was not even a thinly veiled advertisement.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • JUstTest
  • mdbf
  • Durango
  • thenastyranch
  • ngwrru68w68
  • InstantRegret
  • DreamBathrooms
  • modclub
  • magazineikmin
  • Youngstown
  • everett
  • ethstaker
  • slotface
  • rosin
  • anitta
  • kavyap
  • osvaldo12
  • GTA5RPClips
  • cisconetworking
  • provamag3
  • khanakhh
  • tacticalgear
  • cubers
  • Leos
  • normalnudes
  • megavids
  • tester
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •