Things have gotten quite busy at work, which is why I haven’t posted anything recently. The spare time I have has gone towards getting ready for Hamcon Colorado, as I have signed up to do two presentations and a few other tasks. Here’s some items that are worth mentioning that spewed out of the internet.
I haven’t seen the new Star Trek movie yet but Saturday Night Live did a skit relating to it. Also, the classic Shatner “Get a Life” skit is out on youtube. Both of these can be viewed here.
Speaking of youtube, the Society for Geek Advancement (huh?) has a video that features all of your favorite geek celebrities. Is “Geek Celebrities” an oxymoron?
The FCC posted some recent enforcement letters concerning amateur radio cases. Go Laura Smith! Included in this list is a nastygram to the idiots at Xcel Energy which is having trouble tracking down power line noise problems in Northglenn, Colorado. As the ARRL section Technical Coordinator, I had some involvement in this incident — all I will say is that it’s difficult to tell whether Xcel is incompetent or just irresponsible. Hard to say.
Speaking of the FCC, they have really gotten caught with their pants down in their analysis and handling of Broadband over Powerline (BPL). Thanks to the ARRL for keeping after them and getting the suppressed FCC documents via the Freedom of Information Act. Here’s a good article about it from an non-ham-radio source, ars technica.
K3NG raised the question of whether it is possible to have a useful amateur radio web site without the trolls and misfits. It seems that qrz.com is attempting to rise to the challenge. Good for them.
I stopped by the DTV.gov site that has information concerning the migration to Digital TV in the US. I was surprised to find that they added quite a bit of detail about when TV stations are switching over. Also, they have an interactive map that gives you estimated TV signal strength in dBm at an arbitrary location. (Yes, real live technical information !)
From the Amateur Radio Fun in the Mountains Department, there is a group planning to create a packet radio link that extends the length of the Appalachian Trail (The AT Golden Packet Annual Event). Sounds like fun to me.
73, Bob K0NR