@qrper mentioned in his recent video how some hams like to make antennas. Guilty as charged. It was only last night that I finished my new linked dipole. But sometimes I want to operate with a vertical. Putting radials on the ground has worked […] [Original post on social.makerforums.info]

I just discovered that the "prefix group name" option for #freecad VarSet properties was removed a couple months ago. That feature was such a wonderful affordance for reducing typing and now it's gone. I missed the discussion when it was being axed and it makes me very sad. It looks like "I […]

If I don't force-close my morse code drill app, sometimes it just starts playing even if I'm nowhere near my phone. Often sitting a good distance away charging in the middle of the night. The author of the app has looked for and failed to find any logical cause for this problem. It's a google […]

I now need to find all those online profiles where I have described myself as an "inactive" pilot and remove the word "inactive" from them. After a hiatus of a dozen years, I just passed both the ground and air work portions of a flight review, and once again have a current "license to learn." […]

In #freecad, what can I do from the UI and from Python macros to cause all the topological naming links to be recreated in the current shape? I have a Part Design Body that for which I can mark it to recalculate and then recalculate and it's fine, but if I modify a driving parameter trivially […]

This is a new and dire development in the ongoing American constitutional crisis. The voters, Congress, and, yes, the U.S. military must all now be more vigilant than at any time in our modern history. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

To replace my lightweight linked dipole antenna for #POTA I am iterating on a #FreeCAD design for a winder that works with wire that shouldn't be bent sharply around the edges of a more typical winder. This design allows either figure-eight or […] [Original post on social.makerforums.info]

20m from NC seems to be open only to MA this afternoon... After 20 minutes of fruitlessly calling CQ on my 40 efhw deployed in an inverted V, I switched to my 33' random wire deployed as a sloper. All my QSOs so far have been MA. And not many of those. I'm at a 2fer and still not getting a lot […]

So Trump thinks that sedition carries the death penalty. Seditious conspiracy is a Federal crime (18 U.S.C.§2384) that carries a 20 year prison term, not the death penalty, and can include conspiring "by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States". Gee, can […]

WPRI: RI judge intervenes after ICE wrongfully detains Superior Court intern "Multiple sources told Target 12 that Rhode Island sheriffs earlier noticed someone taking photos of the intern inside the courthouse and in Superior Court Judge McBurney’s courtroom […] [Original post on ai6yr.org]

#uspol #ice #iran #refuge #refugee

Orlando Sentinel: Sanford grandfather, born in refugee camp, nabbed by ICE after 70 years in U.S. "...Paul John Bojerski was born to Polish parents in a German refugee camp a year after World War II ended. His family legally emigrated to the United States in 1952 when he was five. More than […]

@FreeCAD I wonder if it would be valuable to have a more structured way to evaluate additions to the addon manager? Maybe use GitHub issues? Or did things change and I also missed it? Question: > Looks nice one to have, I will try when I am on pc. > Why not in addon manager? Answer: > Mostly […]

I decided to support something for which the only support mechanism is "buymeacoffee" with a monthly donation — so I created a login at buymeacoffee, and now it won't let me go any further without creating a page with my photo, name, link, and a short […] [Original post on social.makerforums.info]

Y'all posting your aurora pictures... There are times I wish I spent more time back up north! Meanwhile, I'm glad I got my ham radio fix yesterday hunting a little bit of POTA, because the CME was responsible for more than the aurora... https://solar.w5mmw.net/

I love that Elecraft let me do my own warranty repair on my PX3 panadapter. They agreed that a part was broken and offered me an RMA. I asked if I could replace it myself, and they just sent me the part. This is so refreshing a change from our disposable, no user-serviceable parts inside general […]

RE: https://social.makerforums.info/@mcdanlj/115525717290589240 I just published source code for my new very lightweight, command-line-only alternative to WaveLogGate. Since I wrote it in Go and can't name things well, I am calling it WaveLogGoat. I'm now using it to link my IC-7300 to WaveLog […]

Close behind it in the "want" factor stakes is the new KeebDeck from @arturo182 at @solder.party - an open-hardware soft silicone keyboard for space-constrained projects, and it's *cheap*. Like, really, really cheap […]

I followed @AF0AJ's lead to build a simple stand-in for WaveLogGate. I wanted a simple, low-memory-use, command-line-only version that just forwards the radio settings to WaveLog. I decided to build it in Go to enable building standalone binaries for many platforms with no dependencies on the […]

I have colorized my dual-operator CW #POTA script and turned it into a cheat sheet with an example on the reverse side, centered so you can print it duplex and cut it out if you like. * Dual-OP-CW-POTA-Cheat-Sheet.pdf if you just want to print * […] [Original post on social.makerforums.info]

In my #HamRadio #POTA adventure today, I got my inverted-V linked dipole caught in twigs today and it died. The silicon wire winds easily around a tight radius, which is nice for putting it on the winder, but also winds around twigs easily, and that […] [Original post on social.makerforums.info]

Doing a dual operator CW #pota activation QRP now from US-6888 with Brantley K4CBW — hunt us now for double credit on 15m 21.030.5 🤞 "CQ POTA DE KZ4LY ES K4CBW" and we'll both give you an RST and a park!

Tonight, I'm drilling morse code POTA in Morse Walker with simulated callers at 22–30WPM, and I think for the first time I copied a 2x3 at 30 WPM on the first hearing ("WG0KTQ"), and copied some shorter 30WPM calls on the first hearing in 2-way pileups. Not reliably though, not even reliably […]

Cool $10k bounty: https://bounties.fulu.org/bounties/ge-refrigerator-water-filter-replacement

Meta, Meta, Meta. So Meta. This Reuters report is 🔥 "Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show" "Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, documents seen by Reuters show. And the social media giant internally estimates […]

I finally got around to watching the latest Practical Engineering video about concrete, right after reading an article about how they are repairing runways at KRDU, one or two concrete slabs at a time overnight, with just enough curing time to support takeoffs the next afternoon. 😮 […]

I decided to try to participate just a little in this weekend's #hamradio ARRL sweepstakes CW contest to stretch my tyro skills. In a busy contest, I decided to set up not1mm and configure my radio for sending from a contest logger to try to reduce wasting time with nervous keying failures. Took […]

Today's #HamRadio #POTA (Parks On The Air) adventure. Absolutely gorgeous, couldn't-be-better fall weather on a Saturday, so that it was a little surprising that we found parking space and that all the picnic tables were empty. Used my spiderbeam […] [Original post on social.makerforums.info]

I know that sentencing kids to tooth decay is small potatoes compared to lots of the rest of what this administration is doing, but this still makes me angry. (Yes, I know, if we removed all processed sugars from our diet, that would also address tooth decay in a substantial way, but also let's […]

There are plenty of #hamradio CW operators who, as a politeness, greet you by name when you have a QSO, even a POTA QSO. But they also see "Michael" and send "Mike" because "Michael" takes a long time to send. I get it, "Mike" is shorter, but... _I just don't go by "Mike"_ I _do_ go by "MKJ' — […]

Melissa's turbulence was so rough that a "hurricane hunter" flight had to abort. NOAA aircraft flying through Melissa recorded winds of 220 mph just a few thousand feet above the ground. Meanwhile, ground-level wind speeds were measured at 160 mph. Melissa is now Earth's strongest storm of […]

In the Skyraider II crash in Oklahoma the other day, I hadn't previously seen this angle showing the stop sign. I guess they did eventually come to a complete stop! (Everyone on the ground and in the plane was OK, thanks to a driver with a dashcam […] [Original post on social.makerforums.info]

We had a surprise opportunity to go to the beach this weekend, near Southport NC. I have the weird preference to sling my hammock under the house, between the clotheslines, instead of sleeping indoors. Half camping? I use a big rubbermaid box as my […] [Original post on social.makerforums.info]

Federal District Court Judge George Bourquin grants a writ of habeas corpus to block the deportation of a non-US citizen accused by the government of being a “Red.” (This occurred in 1920)

I bought an inexpensive mini-PC that came with Ubuntu pre-installed. That's fine, but I have no interest in running that; I want to run Fedora. Preferably Silverblue. But every attempt I've made to install Silverblue ends up with the error `the commmand 'ostree admin --sysroot=/mnt/sysimage […]

@hamchallenge #HC43S I've published several 3D printable designs for #HamRadio, all designed with #FreeCAD. My favorite is my single-paddle key system which I use regularly. I own Kent and Putikeeg keys, and still use my own creation most. I even […] [Original post on social.makerforums.info]

Today's SYP (Support Your Parks) #HamRadio #POTA #QRP CW adventure had limited time, so I wasn't sure I'd actually stay for 10 QSOs. But then I discovered that park US-3859 Johnston Mill State Nature Preserve had no failed activations recorded, so […] [Original post on social.makerforums.info]

New #hamradio country for me tonight! Thanks @M0TTQ for taking my call! It was kind of noisy this side of the pond, but still better than the US west coast from my QTH right now. Got a successful activation today for the activator side of #supportyourparks weekend. I think I might have gotten […]

Today I Learned that Google Docs is very insistent that `a/path/to/anything/whatever.json.gz` should be rendered as "a/path/to/anything/whatever.json.gz" — turning the literal "uuid.json.gz" at the end of the path into a link to a fake TLD. I'm having to do a lot of "break link" extra clicks […]

We have been proclaimed to celebrate #columbusday here in the USA and my mind immediately turns to the oatmeal (which is also what I ate for breakfast.) https://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

Drilling for #amateurradio #pota, I cranked the Morse Walker noise up to "heavy" and was surprised when I heard only one caller when the counter said I had two. The other was literally lost in the noise. When there was only one caller at 30% volume with "heavy" noise, I just couldn't pull a […]

Today is my "hamiversary" — Today last year, the wheels at the FCC turned and I was awarded the #AmateurRadio call sign KZ4LY. Today I celebrated by going to park US-2755 after work and doing some QRP CW #POTA. I was in a hurry and missed […] [Original post on social.makerforums.info]

Today's #hamradio adventures... My oldest and I went to do #pota together. He's a technician, and 10m was mostly dead where we were, except for a booming SSB QSO with California to a club doing the CA QSO party, so he didn't get his 10 today. I started running CW QRP (5W) on on 17m, but there […]

The ARRL has a long online text band plan which they have condensed for HF into _The Considerate Operator's Frequency Guide_ which is not really in a convenient form to print and carry with you into the field when operating portable #HamRadio […] [Original post on social.makerforums.info]

Years ago, I saw someone say "My love language is removing tracking links from URLs that I share" and it has lived in my brain rent-free ever since. Today I realized that if a site I like and want to promote isn't yet on the fediverse, changing `utm_medium` from (say) `email` to `mastodon` […]

In a desperate attempt to deflect attention from the Epstein files, Trump has ordered the release of the _Earhart_ flies, hoping people aren't smart enough to tell the difference between two last names ending in "E." […]

Today's 5W QRP #HamRadio #POTA activation of US-4857 Jordan Lake Educational State Forest was fun radio therapy. Successful QSOs on 30 meters, 20 meters, and 17 meters. Ironically, I set up a 40m end-fed half-wave antenna, and then only _one_ of the […] [Original post on social.makerforums.info]

DX Engineering invited John Robert Stratton N5AUS, ARRL West Gulf Director, to give more details about **why** this new attempt to give #hamradio similar rights already given for broadcast antennas (the FCC's Over-the-Air Reception Devices, or "OTARD", rule) has a real chance to pass this time […]

Whether one agrees with Comey's politics is no more relevant right now than whether one likes Kimmel's jokes. This isn't about substance to Trump. He's going after them as trophies, as a demonstration that if he can take them down, the rest of us better not cross him.