tomfanning (u/tomfanning)

tomfanning commented on Fred Dibnah shows how to erect a chimney scaffold at 200 feet (1982) [video] youtube.com/watch?v=w3ma9... · Posted by u/stevekemp

trebligdivad · 3 months ago

Fred Dibnah videos are my goto for showing people heavy local English accents; it's rare you hear one that heavy any more, but they can be local down to only a few miles.

tomfanning · 3 months ago

> it's rare you hear one that heavy any more

With respect, this is nonsense.

tomfanning commented on Why does FM sound better than AM? johndcook.com/blog/2024/1... · Posted by u/zdw

kees99 · a year ago

> (...) use AM where you can hear both overlapping transmissions at once

Yes. Assuming signal strengths for both are comparable. Say, within 20 dB of each other.

> (possibly garbled if carrier wave was off)

Nah. If both stations have sufficient energy fall into receiver's bandwidth window (IF filter for analog receiver), no garbling. If one of stations has carrier sufficiently off to fall entirely outside IF, only other will be audible.

You are probably thinking about SSB, where two stations with carrier offset indeed produce weird sounding interference.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-sideband_modulation

tomfanning · a year ago

In SSB there is no carrier transmitted. Two SSB stations on top of each other sounds exactly like two microphones mixed.

tomfanning commented on The first amateur radio station on the moon arrl.org/news/the-first-a... · Posted by u/Stratoscope

tecleandor · 2 years ago

Any recommendations for a substitute of the included antenna? Either a base or a portable.

tomfanning · 2 years ago

DIY: slim jim, J pole (https://m0ukd.com/calculators/slim-jim-and-j-pole-calculator...) or quarter wave ground plane (https://m0ukd.com/calculators/quarter-wave-ground-plane-ante...). A slim jim made from 450 ohm ladder line and rolled up for storage, hoisted into a tree by a cord, is a favourite. A NanoVNA will help a lot while building any of these.

Commercial portable: Nagoya NA-771 (beware clones)

Commercial fixed: Diamond X30, X50 or V2000 colinear.

With any upgraded antenna on a receiver with little filtering like the Baofeng, you may deafen it into hearing no wanted signals if operating it in an RF-hot environment.

Don't transmit without a licence.

tomfanning commented on The Adventure Radio Protocol qrper.com/2023/11/what-is... · Posted by u/Stratoscope

baz00 · 2 years ago

I don't know about that. I don't know anyone, at least here in the UK or Europe, who even uses digital anything other than mashing in front of WSJT-X all day. On 2m/70cm, it's all voice still.

tomfanning · 2 years ago

That’s a pretty narrow perspective. From both the perspective of HF and VHF/UHF.

For HF there’s all sorts of digital stuff going on. Check out FreeDV for a Codec2-derived digital voice mode. We are also doing packet radio (yes, AX.25, still built into the Linux kernel) with BPSK/QPSK modems on HF replacing the 61 year old Bell tones- see https://wiki.oarc.uk/packet:ninotnc#experimental_new_modes_f...

I recently stood up this site to support and track the re-emergence of the / redevelopment UK packet radio network- which is utilising VHF, UHF, a geostationary satellite, as well as HF. https://ukpacketradio.network/

It’s not my bag but I see a lot of VARA going on too.

There’s a lot more going on than just WSJT-X.

tomfanning commented on Simple exercise to eliminate gastroesophageal reflux (2022) ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... · Posted by u/drones

adamgordonbell · 3 years ago

Jumping off this topic.

I have GERD. It sucks. Reducing alcohol seemed to help a bit. A daily pantoprazole pill for it really seems to work, but has side effects.

What should I try? What has worked for you?

tomfanning · 3 years ago

Speak to a specialist about the Stretta procedure. Application of RF energy to the lower esophageal sphincter in a short outpatient procedure. More effective than PPIs, but less so than fundoplication, which is much more invasive and permanent.

tomfanning commented on Wi-Fi over Coaxial (2006) wifiovercoax.mcleodnet.co... · Posted by u/jamesy0ung

jakedata · 3 years ago

For houses that have coaxial cable tv runs to many rooms it would be great to find a 75 ohm f-connector wi-fi antenna that you could just screw onto the wall plate. You would need to match impedance with the WiFI device at the other end but the result would be reasonable WiFI in whatever room you want while the ugly blinkenboxen remain in the basement. Rather than use splitters it would be best to use one cable per antenna. Something to ponder while staring at my basement parts bin for sure. edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_over_Coax

tomfanning · 3 years ago

Even ignoring the impedance mismatch, loss in typical 75 ohm coax at 2.4GHz is going to be something like 0.5dB per metre. Far worse again at 5GHz. That's going to add up quickly.

tomfanning commented on Fritzing is an open-source electronic design tool fritzing.org/... · Posted by u/memorable

tomfanning · 4 years ago

Someone once told me "Friends don't let friends use Fritzing".

tomfanning commented on Show HN: I built a website to find nearby cafes to work remotely from workmode.co... · Posted by u/frizkyK

ascar · 4 years ago

What kind of law would prohibit you to block out cell signal in your own building?

tomfanning · 4 years ago

An entirely sensible one which prohibits you from preventing an emergency call being made in case of fire, injury, crime etc.

tomfanning commented on AudioTransmit – Transmitting data between computers using audio x86matthew.com/view_post?... · Posted by u/lelf

tomfanning · 4 years ago

Wheel successfully reinvented :)

Nothing stopping you setting up a whole AX.25 network between multiple machines using Dire Wolf [1] and the built-in AX.25 [2] (a derivation of X.25) support still in the Linux kernel. You get a proper network interface that shows up alongside eth0. Nice short instructions at [3]. Just don't hook it up to radios unless you're appropriately licensed. Speakers and mics only.

[1] https://github.com/wb2osz/direwolf

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AX.25

[3] https://g7vrd.co.uk/ax25-direwolf-linux

tomfanning commented on Crash: China Eastern B738 near Guangzhou on Mar 21st 2022 avherald.com/h?article=4f... · Posted by u/qb

tomfanning · 4 years ago

It would be better for everyone if this were deleted.

u/tomfanning

KarmaCake day152May 13, 2014View Original