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I've always been fascinated with electronics and 2-way radio communication. Some of the geeky kids in electronics class were licensed radio operators as teenagers. My uncle got a license while he was in the NAVY and could send and receive messages on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!
The difficulty wasn't the rules and regulations, for me, it was the code. You need to comprehend 5 words per minute to pass the exam.

Before radio communication, there was the telegraph. A device where wires strung for thousands of miles could carry faint signals from station to station. A device called a key was tapped on and a speaker on the other end captured clicking sounds. Inventors around the world were beginning to use this device and inventor Samuel Morse devised an alphabetical system of varying spaced clicks. dit and dah is the easy way to describe the sounds. dits were short and dahs were long! This was knows as Morse Code.

Wireless radio communication, didn't have voice capability in the beginning. Radio receivers could only detect clicks and Morse Code was used to send and receive message over the air. It worked so well, that a watt of transmitting power could be heard half-way around the world.
Receivers became more elaborate and voice communication became possible. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) maintained that radio operators be proficient in Morse Code to get licensed.

My friends were using Citizens Band (CB) radio where the FCC allowed people to use low power 5 watt radios for voice communication and no testing was required for licensing. The CB radio was only good for a few miles. That lead to bigger antennas, more power and the ability to talk farther/further. It was a hobby I had for at least 10 years.

Not far from my home is a county park and in a fenced area is an antenna farm of many different sized antenna arrays. I rarely see any cars at the compound until one day last week, about 20 cars were out front. They were having a BBQ for an open house to attract new members.

I was curious and stopped in to ask a few questions.
It's been years since I talked on a 2-way radio and since then, the FCC (realizing new membership had fallen off) no longer required the operator to be proficient in Morse Code.

I still have some vintage ham radio gear. Two of the transceivers were fully restored by a technician 5 years ago. Do I want to do this?
Groan... I'm living in a condo and not allowed to mount an antenna on the roof.
All this to talk to a bunch of guys my age who discuss their radios and the money invested in this hobby.
My thought 5 years ago was to sell the gear I have and not bother with amateur radio.
Maybe I'm of the same mindset today.

Jay Leno had a bad accident with one of his cars while in his garage. There was some sort of fire from the gasoline that exploded. His left side of his face was burned. Jay Lena himself put out a brief statement saying he's okay.

The Deauville Hotel on Miami Beach was built in the 1950's and the place for many famous moments in history.
When the Beatles came to Miami Beach, they stayed there and recorded the shows for Ed Sullivan TV show. President John F. Kennedy was there and celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones and Sammy Davis Jr. performed there.

It was time to go... The building was in violation of safety codes at a cost greater than it's value to renovate, so the owner hired a demolition team to level the structure.



Yahoo carried the Associated Press news. Link:

I used to live about 5 miles from a US Coast Guard base at an airport in Miami that hosted a yearly air show. You could see the best of the best from vintage air ships to the Blue Angels who do precision stunts.
There was another yearly air show in Fort Lauderdale about 25 miles north of me and they would takeoff from the same Miami airport, head east (over my house) to the beach and north to Fort Lauderdale. At different times during the day, at least 20 aircraft would fly out and back from the same path.

My interest in attending air shows dropped off when a high percentage had accidents, usually with pilots and sometimes crashing into the spectators. That was enough for me. If I wanted to see one, I'd wait for a TV show about it.

I've got a vacation to Dayton, Ohio coming up next week and will probably visit the air museum... again. 80% I've seen before and the I-MAX 3D theater is the main attraction for me.

One of the model air fields is sponsoring a 'War Bird' scale model event this weekend... Some of my friends went and one guy actually gave a flight demonstration of his scale Huey Helicopter complete with authentic looking details down to the rivets and working doors, machine guns and blinking lights.

I usually don't hear about crashes on Air Shows, but one happened this weekend in Texas. I was baited by the cover story showing photo of several jets in formation. Well, it wasn't them. What did happen is a smaller aircraft crossed the path of a WWII bomber, clipped it's tail and both aircraft ended in a fiery crash.

Twitter link:


Original story:


Veterans Day Air Show footage of the crash:

Famous for smashing watermelons in his standup routine. Gallagher with his Sledge-O-Matic would entertain. If you were in the front row and didn't wear a rain coat or cover yourself with plastic, you'd be getting a watermelon shower.

Having suffered several heart attacks over the years, he had been in hospice and died of organ failure.

I really think it's a gemini thing Any others who truly understand the zodiac and the similarities amongst those given under a certain sign? Since I started my research on the zodiac years ago, the traits have become so clearly noticeable in different personalities

Let's keep this BIG RED WAVE GOING!!!

It looks like Elon Musk is doing the back-stroke after abruptly firing thousands of Twitter employees. Rethink that, you might actually need some of those programmers down the road. Twitter members are spoofing by changing their Twitter handles and pretending to be other people... like Elon Musk. Oops... Hate tweets are again on the rise. Free speech? Kathy Griffin's account got suspended for mocking Musk.

Tropical storm Nicole will become a hurricane striking Florida Thursday morning. I was able to reschedule my flight a day ahead of the storm. Close call...
Governor DeSantis in preparation, declared a state of emergency in 34 counties.

I have an old Samsung notebook running Windows 8 with 4g LTE wireless service. My plan was to take that with me on my vacation. After charging the battery, it worked for a few seconds then stopped working. Dead is a good description. Shopping for a replacement, I found another Samsung product that supports 5G. Unfortunately, none of the stores within 50 miles have stock. I can get it directly from T- Mobile but they cannot guarantee next day shipping in time, so I'm having it sent to my brother's house and I'll set it up to work there.

Last week, I read that Paul Pelosi is expected to make a full recovery... long recovery process and convalescence is the new prognosis. Obviously, it sound like the first was playing things down. Depending on the outcome of the mid-term elections, Nancy is on the fence of retirement. (Should she say or should she go, sung to the Clash song)

Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes on trial for seditious conspiracy also appears to be on the fence with regard to blocking Biden's certification, but not storming the Capitol.
Stewart, you can't have your cake and eat it too! It's not rocket science, to block Biden's certification, you'd have to storm the Capitol.

It appears Aaron Carter did himself in. Dead at 34, a troubled young man.

There's more, I'm sure...

I've never lost my car in a parking lot... with the exception of it being towed once. So... it technically, it wasn't lost. I parked in a plaza and walked across the street to meet a client who was moving to a high-rise on Miami Beach. The plan was to go to lunch in one of the restaurants at the plaza. On my return my car was gone. I'm told the vendors get a commission when they turn people in as they use the free parking to avoid paying for valet parking.
It was business and my boss reimbursed me. He came to drive me to the yard where towed vehicles are held as hostage. Explaining them the situation of meeting someone to return to eat did no good. It was $100 to get my car back. Bastards...


Blog # 70,700