Notices by Bruce Perens K6BP (bruceperens_k6bp@mastodon.radio)

There are no soldiers here, and the only change to water going from Northern to Southern California is that some pumps were brought back on after three days downtime. There is still lots of water available to Southern California, no more or less than previously.

@vk6flab - It's sort of apples and oranges, because Australia was in effect an independent nation, as was Canada, but they only did the final legal process in 1986 and 1982 and are still constitutional monarchies, but it's mostly symbolic. Kim Campbell (briefly PM of Canada) told me when we met around 1999 that the Queen of England was the head of state and not her. I think

I've iterated on the Post Open Operating Agreement and am pretty happy with it for now. It is now split into a definitions document and a general terms document that will be included by reference in other Post Open agreements, and the actual agreement. There are wizzy click-to-define terms. This would be a good time for review it if you wish to have input.

Lawyers are still reviewing the Post Open License. It will be brought up to the standard of the newer documents.

https://perens.com/static/OPERATING.html

I will give a 25-minute talk "M17: Today and Tomorrow" during the Digital Voice forum at Orlando Hamcation. For the other half, Mooneer Salem will speak on FreeDV and its digital voice autocoder, which takes over the functions of CODEC and MODEM with machine learning.

... technological power and manufacturing base is.

California Secretary of State admitted an independence measure to collect signatures, it will probably make the ballot. It might well pass.

Imagine if that passed. It would be the world's 4th largest national economy. Leaving with 1/4 of the old country's food, and they might have to pay a tariff. The taxes California pays to subsidize red states would be gone, and they'd have to support themselves. And if there was a fight, well, you don't really want to go up against where so much ...

I need a font for legal documents that has serifs and kerns small caps well (I have font-kerning: normal in CSS3). "You" should have kerning between the "Y" and the "ou" in small caps. Any suggestions?

I have published a first draft of the Post Open Operating Agreement at
https://perens.com/static/OPERATING.html

These terms are a proposal and there is a lot of work yet to be done. Please comment.

@vk6flab @AJ9BM @KA7O - I can't recommend an SMA port saver on a VNA, it's going to add reactance.

@vk6flab @AJ9BM @KA7O - My semi-pro VNA came with a tiny torque wrench for repeatability in SMA connection, I think that would increase wear. I do notice that the cable internet techs torque those F connectors down severely or they hardly work at all.

Found on Amazon: this product adapts a BNC female connector to be another BNC female connector. Someone was not clear on the concept.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DP4KG522

A reminder that California pays 4.72 Trillion dollars in Federal taxes per year. If anyone wants to put _conditions_ on Federal aid, I think it's time for income tax to go through the State.

I'd accept the US taking over Greenland if we could have their government instead of ours.

First ever video of a meteorite striking the earth, complete with sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0-DemC939I

If you'd like to read the truth about California fires, it's here:
https://gavinnewsom.com/california-fire-facts/

I finally found an earth anchor that I'd trust for my remote site, where the ground is a mix of sand or soil and collapsed lava tube. They have this with 30" or 48" rods:

https://www.tiedown.com/manufactured-housing/earth-anchors/pid407/black-painted-cross-drive-rock-anchor-model-mra-with-30-in-rod/

This is Al Gore, 19 years ago, telling us about the fires, floods, and super hurricanes that were coming. What if we'd all believed him?

@ftg - This fellow has done a credible study: https://www.aa5tb.com/efha.html
and he has references at the end.

Apparently 0.05 wavelength is the length necessary to provide the correct impedance. I believe that their impedance is correct and their SWR is sufficiently low, but I bet the radiation resistance is horrible.

Like those small loop antennas that are really only 5% efficient, you can still work the world.

,,,
This is going to cause RF feedback when you go to run digital modes with their low-voltage audio input. And it won't work as efficiently as it could.

I just checked out an end-fed antenna for portable low-power HF ham radio. It has no counterpoise, the instructions don't even talk about a counterpoise, and the designer warns that if you use a "ground grid" you may detune the antenna!

I looked at another brand, and it's the same. That one is sold by DX Engineering.

Electrically, there _must_ be a counterpoise. What is it with these antennas? It's the shield of your feed-line, your radio, everything connected to your radio, and you.

...