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Cake day: August 17th, 2023

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  • This. But I will say that during Hurricane Ian, direct hit, my 2m/70cm radio was very useful. Local group is extremely active. Messages to family/friends were passed on until someone with a phone would make a call for them, passing traffic. Hearing the updates of power, gas and aid in what areas was a huge help that news stations just couldn’t give at the speed it was given over radio. Radio operators were stationed in hospitals as backups for first responders and in shelters.

    On a day to day basis? Not very useful unless you go HF. Then it’s expensive, even with “cheap” equipment. You don’t have to buy a $5k Kenwood but you’ll still be spending a lot.

    TH-9800 and a X50 antenna 25ft in the air gets me 20 miles+ crystal clear. Florida, very flat. ~$300 not including coax cost. A $30 baofang and a slim Jim jpole thrown over a tree branch is enough to hit my local repeater though.

    On a fun note that same baofang radio I’ve used for listening to ISS broadcasting to a elementary school and Russian SSTV, decoded with Robot36 on android, pictures from ISS.





  • The Lightbringer series by author Brent Weeks.

    The type of “magic” in this fantasy series is unlike any other that I know of. Light can be split by some people into it’s individual colors, 1st book is The Black Prism, and those colors are able to be used/cast in a physical form with each color having specific properties and effects on the person that has the ability to use that color. Green is wild/free, red is anger/impulsive and so on. The prism, god chosen representative, is able to use all colors without limits. Murder, spies, politics, love, plot twists, magic…it’s got it all.

    The reading is fairly easy and the story is easy to follow. This is, I think, the 4th time I am listening to the series. All of Brent Weeks books have been good…but something about this series is great.