ShowMeBlog

CERT class

  My grandson found out today that he is going to start getting un-employment money again.  He will get it until October.  I am not sure if this means that FL did accept the federal money or not.
  Russell is talking about going in the military.  He wants to go in for a number of reasons.  One is that he can not find a job and one is that he wants some of the benefits of going in the military. 

  I put a Joomla! site back up again. I just wanted to pay with the Joomla! software again.  It is a lot of work but it has so much power and if I was a little smarter I could do some pretty neat things with it.

  I am feeling a little better now.  I did not take the Doxazosin Mesylate last night.  I said I was not going to take it anymore but I am worrying about Sunday.  Sunday I will  have my first CERT class and it is 8 hours.  I have to get there by bus without a bathroom visit and then I will be in class for 8 hours and I do not want to be running to the bathroom all the time.

  I am not in CA, I am in FL, but here is a little video that gives you a little idea of CERT training.


 

Ground Observer Corp

  I was a member of the Ground Observer Corp for years.  After they did away with the GOC our post all became weather observers. 
  Now I lived in Kansas City (Missouri) and KC is right in the middle of the United States so I am not sure it made much sense having us watch for Soviet bombers.  Smile

  But I found the following on the Gizmodo site:

“…Here's a transcript of a panel about SAGE that occurred at the Computer History Museum in 1998. I found this passage, about why they couldn't use human spotters to warn of invasions, fascinating:

"And they saw lots of things! [Laughter] They saw airplanes — many of them were civilian; they saw birds; they saw all kinds of things, and most of them they thought were Soviet bombers. I mean, this was a scary period. They would then telephone the nearest air base, which would then have to figure out if this information was worth anything. And pretty much none of it was worth anything. So, it very rapidly became obvious that despite the huge size of this program — there were 8,000 observation posts, and at the peak of the program 305,000 volunteers staffing these things 24 hours a day — the information was pretty much useless. So, commanders just ignored it. For one thing, by the time it had been verified, the bombers would already be there. So, what was the point?

The reason I'm telling you this story is that the purpose of this program was not really air defense. It was public relations. It was saying to the public, "We are doing something about this problem — we see it." At the same time, the Air Force started looking everywhere for ideas from scientists and engineers, and [referring to the slide presentation] now we're restarting, and I'm not sure what's going on.

What's the modern equivalent system that we'd use to defend ourselves against North Korean nukes? I don't know. I just hope its more than just a PR stunt…”

 

   I do not know who was making that statement but I guess it was very funny.  I wonder if there was anyone there to tell the speaker that he was full of shit and did not know what he was talking about.  I wish I had been at the meeting to show everyone that the  clown did not know his ass from a hole in the ground.

  We did NOT report Soviet bombers.  We reported ALL airplanes.  We did not call the nearest air base.  We dialed the operator and said “Aircraft FLASH – Aircraft FLASH” and the operator connected us with Air Defense Command. 

Amateur Radio Month - FL

Staying at home

  I am a lazy slug.  I should be on my way to Skywarn training.  But I just woke up and am here nude in front of the computer checking my email and playing with the design of Facebook.  I do not even like Facebook.
  I do not even have a ham radio right now.  The last HT I had I sold and my plan was to get a new one but I have not had the money recently.  My plan was to get a Yaesu FT-60R.  It is a very good radio and is only $200.00 for the radio and a couple of things you need for it.  Well now Yaesu just came out with a new HT (Handheld Transceiver) and it is the Yaesu VX-8R.  It does everything but cost $400.00 and now I want it.  I am never going to have $400.00 for it. 
  When it comes to geek tech type toys I always want the top of the line stuff and I never can afford those items.  Well not since I retired in 2000 and moved to FL. 
  So my excuse for not going to the training is that I do not have a HT.  Plus the idea of taking a bus, then the rail and then a bus to get to the event in this heat just does not turn me on today.  I would have to repeat the trip home in the afternoon sun.
  I also hate going anyplace broke.  Last month when I went to the doctor’s office I had money in my pocket so after the doctor’s office visit I went to MetroPCS and got a new cell phone ($300.00) and got something to eat.  I walked home from the doctor’s office.  It all took hours but I did not care I had a new toy, my cell phone, and I got to eat out, KFC, and I had a Coke.  It was a great day.  It does not take me spending $300.00 a day to make me happy.  I do think spending money makes me happy.  That is not good. 
  I feel guilty for not going to the Skywarn training.  Sort of like I used to feel when I was in high school and I would not go to school.

Playing with Howard’s Notebook

  I been playing with Howard’s Notebook.  I went to bed about 0030 hours and woke up at 0300 hours and I am still up at 0545 hours.  I started to work on HNB and I am still up.  An old man like me should be sleeping at night.  Smile
  I put a Google map on the Amateur Radio section of HNB.

  I been playing with it.  If it works out I may put it on a page for for the map and that data. My concern is that the page may load slow with the map on it.
  But it is pretty neat.  I put it on the ham radio page so I can post SkyWarn training, meeting locations, training, testing, hamfest and the field day events. 
  There is SkyWarn training tomorrow.  I bet I am the only ham at the Skywarn training that does not have a radio.  I am not sure if I can afford to order one this month or not.  I will act like I just left my radio at home. Smile

DVT Transition Brings WWL to toronto

“Analog shutoff, atmospheric conditions spur phenomenal distant-market reception for New Orleans, other local stations

By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/15/2009 7:07:07 AM MT

DTV Transition: Continuing Coverage

One of the early findings from Friday's analog turnoff was that some stations which had switched their digital signals from UHF to VHF, such as ABC-owned WLS Chicago and WPVI Philadelphia, were now experiencing reception problems. But there were also reports from broadcast engineers of freakishly good VHF reception on Friday, for both analog and digital signals, with stations being picked up in distant markets hundreds of miles, or in some cases even over 1,000 miles, away.

For example, a Canadian viewer 75 miles north of Toronto who had been watching Ch. 4 out of Buffalo, WIBV, found an unusual replacement for that station when it signed off at 9 a.m EST Friday--Belo's WWL New Orleans, still broadcasting on analog Ch. 4.

"She called the station, and said, ‘I live in Canada, but I'm watching your morning show in my house with an indoor antenna," says Belo VP of technology Craig Harper. "So our GM in New Orleans, Bud Brown, sent her a bunch of tchotchkes--WWL mugs, t-shirts--for being our furthest viewer on the last day of analog."…”

  It is an interesting story in Broadcasting & Cable. 
I did not know about “Nightlight” stations.  I guess a major city has one station that just broadcast a screen for people to tell them about the change.  I guess they just broadcast at night.  They are going to do it for two weeks.
  That would make it pretty neat for “DXers” that want to see what stations they can pick up now.
  

GlobalTuners

  I made a video for YouTube but I do not think people will be interested in it.  Hams might would be interested but I think we already know about the site.

News Media Missing a Big Story

  It is not that I just do not want to admit that I was wrong…  smile…
I think that the news media is missing a number of big stories that have to do with the switch to digital TV.
  If I was in the news media I would be doing a number of different stories.

  #1  I would check and see how many people on the Southern border of the United States are now watching only TV from Mexico.  They would be  Spanish speaking people, poor, living on the border of Mexico.  
        Another story harder to cover would be how many people, in Mexico, used to watch U.S. TV stations that were broadcasting in Spanish but now they can not get them and watch only their own TV stations.
  #2  On the border with Canada a little different story…How many people in the United States that did not make the switch or can not for some reason are now watching TV from Canada.
         In addition there is a story that the news media in Canada might want to cover and that is how many TV viewers have they lost.  That would be people in the United States that could get TV stations in the United States and Canada but since they had to switch to digital they can not watch the TV stations in Canada.
  #2   The other story how many Americans, United States citizens, turned on their TV sets on the day the switch took place and did not find only static but found TV stations from other nations?
          I am not sure how good conditions were on that day for “DX” reception but I bet a lot of people found they were getting very distance TV stations.
          Many years ago when I was a kid back in Kansas City and TV had not been around very long…The few TV stations in Kansas City did not broadcast 24 hours a day AND on Sunday because it was the Lord’s Day they would start broadcast late in the morning…I think it was 10 or 11 AM.  I would be up and I should have been going to Mass but instead I would often turn on the TV set that just had simple rabbit ears on it and I would turn to the different VHF TV channels.  I would pick up TV stations from all over the United States, Canada, Mexico and even Cuba.
         Just think of the story now…  Cubans living in FL wake up on the day of the tv switch here and turn on their TV set and find they are watching a TV station in Cuba.
         I think these are stories.

Looking for an AM/FM TV band radio that will get DTV audio

“I'm looking for a AM/FM TV band radio that will get the new DTV

audio.  Lots of stuff called digital radio receivers but that doesnt

mean they're setup for the new TV audio signal. They use the word

digital to mean digital tuning versus the old manual tuning.

I'm not sure anybody's selling  a DTV radio receiver.   So put the

HNB clan to work on finding me a DTV receiver with AM/FM and WX band

would be a bonus.

I'd guess Sony or Sangean will have one soon if not already.  The

nomenclature is tricky since most radios are termed digital now and

the new tv signal is called digital so big confusion factor.

Dick”    Leave a comment here for Dick or post an email to me and I will forward the email to Dick.
             hnbbs@usa.net

The end of Television

  I was 9 years old when Jim and Betty, my father and mother, took me to a event someplace in Kansas City.  They were showing something new called television.  There was no TV in Kansas City but a station was getting ready to start broadcasting.
  We got a TV set and had it waiting in the living room for the first TV broadcast.
  WDAF-TV began broadcasting on October 16, 1949.  We saw television for the first time.  

  In a few days that sort of television will come to an end.    On June 12th old analog TV will end and the transition to digital TV will take place.  Thousands of people in FL have little portable battery powered TV sets, for Hurricane season, and they will no longer work. 

  I wish I had a old TV antenna on the house.  On June 12th when analog TV ends here in the United States I would like to see what I could pick up on the TV set.  My guess is that I could pick up Cuba and some other nations broadcasting TV.

  I was 9 years old when I saw my first TV broadcast.  I am 68 years old now and the old “analog” TV will come to an end and we will be in the days of digital TV.