Well, Hope everyone had a great Father’s Day. I did. Was with SWMBO, doing chores around the house, and none of my kids called or visited. Pretty normal. Our probably future daughter-in-law did text me and that was nice.

Been kinda sorta working on turning the garage into my new wood shop. Making more of a mess than anything else. Kind of over did it with the $1 plastic bins at The Dollar Store for parts or stuff. Not that they’ll go to waste or not be used; they will, but I kinda did get a lot of them. But, now I get to build more shelves!

Wx has been hot the past couple of days. Mostly been outside rebuilding the (I don’t know what you’d call it) “lattice” (or supports for the chicken wire the peas climb) over the raised garden beds to support my 4 solar panels and get those off the ground. Really looks like the best spot for them with more winter exposure than elsewhere. Unless I want to mount them back by my neighbors and run 500 feet of wire to my shack. Hmmm…

The FCC changed the rules on home antennas and rf exposures. Great. More people sitting in an office thinking they know best for the rest of us. So, if I put out 25 wattts on 144.150 using FM (2-meters) my minimum safe distance (from the antenna) should be 1.699 feet (controlled environment), or 3.800 feet in an uncontrolled environment. (Which the difference/definition of controlled vs uncontrolled is “Admin Speak” and means nothing. ) ie: Controlled vs Uncontrolled: takes into account whether or not individuals are aware of the RF exposure or not. A Controlled Environment is an area where the persons exposed to RF are aware of the exposure and its effects. An Uncontrolled Environment is an area where the persons exposed to RF are unaware of the exposure and its effects.

So, me knowing the effects of rf exposure MY house is a controlled environment but my neighbors can go fuck themselves. Sounds good to me.

Naw, Just Kidding! With the “safe” distance in both environments I don’t think they need worry. And I haven’t had any complaints. Yet. And the numbers get better on HF.

Problem is that if you operate on all available frequencies on all available bands with voice and “digital” then you need to do one of these rf surveys for each of those. That could be thousands for just one day of operation. Well, hundreds. Talking on our repeater: do a eval. Talk on the Shelton repeater: another eval. Voice on 14300: ‘nother eval. PSK on 7.070: again. ad nauseum.

Yet, Amazon can use the 900 and 433 MHg bands for their mesh network. Unrestricted.

Grilled burgers for dinner. Added egg tater salad and baked beans as sides and dinner was pretty good.

So, from the NWS: Showers and thunderstorms likely before 2pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 2pm and 5pm, then a chance of rain and thunderstorms after 5pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 66. Southwest wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

To which I reply: Sure.

But I will unplug my radio’s “just in case.” AND have my camera ready. But, right now, the sun is shining and it’s time to take the dog for our morning walk.

On the “Good News” front: Coffee Lovers, Rejoice! Drinking More Coffee Linked With Decreased Heart Failure Risk. In case y’all wanted to know.

On the “Not So Good News” front: New COVID-19 “Mexican Variant” Identified: Increasingly Spreading Across North America. (same site)

But don’t get me started.

Got out and wired my new solar panel to the battery then the controller (like you’re supposed to) to give them a test before needing them on Field Day. Worked a charm. Started kinda sorta half-assed sprinkling after I got everything spread out; of course.

Re-ripping Avengers Infinity War because the one I have has a glitch about half-way through that I don’t like. Audio/Video sync error. Trying different settings in Handbrake trying to get faster (but quality) rips.

Downloading MXLinux to give it a try. Both the Xfce and KDE versions. Want to try TwistedOS on the Pi but need to buy a Pi4. (Twist my arm!)  I have 6 Pi3’s. Darn it.

There was a call on the radio for the Police to go to a guys home cause he was outside with a gun screaming about the Lizard People.

I thought I was the only one who knew about them?!

No thunderstorms. Bummer.