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Topics - corq

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1
Huh? / RIP Jimmy
« on: September 02, 2023, 0910 UTC »
https://apnews.com/article/obituary-jimmy-buffett-4295f355b39237f40663d485c4c6d557

NEW YORK (AP) — Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who popularized beach bum soft rock with the escapist Caribbean-flavored song “Margaritaville” and turned that celebration of loafing into an empire of restaurants, resorts and frozen concoctions, has died. He was 76.

“Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” a statement posted to Buffett’s official website and social media pages said late Friday. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.”

The statement did not say where Buffett died or give a cause of death. Illness had forced him to reschedule concerts in May and Buffett acknowledged in social media posts that he had been hospitalized, but provided no specifics.

“Margaritaville,” released on Feb. 14, 1977, quickly took on a life of its own, becoming a state of mind for those ”wastin’ away,” an excuse for a life of low-key fun and escapism for those “growing older, but not up.”

The song is the unhurried portrait of a loafer on his front porch, watching tourists sunbathe while a pot of shrimp is beginning to boil. The signer has a new tattoo, a likely hangover and regrets over a lost love. Somewhere there is a misplaced salt shaker.

“What seems like a simple ditty about getting blotto and mending a broken heart turns out to be a profound meditation on the often painful inertia of beach dwelling,” Spin magazine wrote in 2021. “The tourists come and go, one group indistinguishable from the other. Waves crest and break whether somebody is there to witness it or not. Everything that means anything has already happened and you’re not even sure when.”

The song — from the album “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” — spent 22 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and peaked at No. 8. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2016 for its cultural and historic significance, became a karaoke standard and helped brand Key West, Florida, as a distinct sound of music and a destination known the world over.

“There was no such place as Margaritaville,” Buffett told the Arizona Republic in 2021. “It was a made-up place in my mind, basically made up about my experiences in Key West and having to leave Key West and go on the road to work and then come back and spend time by the beach.”

The song soon inspired restaurants and resorts, turning Buffett’s alleged desire for the simplicity of island life into a multimillion brand. He landed at No. 13 in Forbes’ America’s Richest Celebrities in 2016 with a net worth of $550 million.

Music critics were never very kind to Buffett or his catalogue, including the sandy beach-side snack bar songs like “Fins,” “Come Monday” and “Cheeseburgers in Paradise.” But his legions of fans, called “Parrotheads,” regularly turned up for his concerts wearing toy parrots, cheeseburgers, sharks and flamingos on their heads, leis around their necks and loud Hawaiian shirts.

“It’s pure escapism is all it is,” he told the Republic. “I’m not the first one to do it, nor shall I probably be the last. But I think it’s really a part of the human condition that you’ve got to have some fun. You’ve got to get away from whatever you do to make a living or other parts of life that stress you out. I try to make it at least 50/50 fun to work and so far it’s worked out.”

His special Gulf Coast mix of country, pop, folk and rock added instruments and tonalities more commonly found in the Caribbean, like steel drums. It was a stew of steelpans, trombones and pedal steel guitar. Buffett’s incredible ear for hooks and light grooves were often overshadowed by his lyrics about fish tacos and sunsets.

Rolling Stone, in a review of Buffett’s 2020 album “Life on the Flip Side,” gave grudging props. “He continues mapping out his surfy, sandy corner of pop music utopia with the chill, friendly warmth of a multi-millionaire you wouldn’t mind sharing a tropically-themed 3 p.m. IPA with, especially if his gold card was on the bar when the last round came.”

Buffett’s evolving brand began in 1985 with the opening of a string of Margaritaville-themed stores and restaurants in Key West, followed in 1987 with the first Margaritaville Café nearby. Over the course of the next two decades, several more of each opened throughout Florida, New Orleans and California.

The brand has since expanded to dozens of categories, including resorts, apparel and footwear for men and women, a radio station, a beer brand, ice tea, tequila and rum, home décor, food items like salad dressing, Margaritaville Crunchy Pimento Cheese & Shrimp Bites and Margaritaville Cantina Style Medium Chunky Salsa, the Margaritaville at Sea cruise line and restaurants, including Margaritaville Restaurant, JWB Prime Steak and Seafood, 5 o’Clock Somewhere Bar & Grill and LandShark Bar & Grill.

There also was a Broadway-bound jukebox musical, “Escape to Margaritaville,” a romantic comedy in which a singer-bartender called Sully falls for the far more career-minded Rachel, who is vacationing with friends and hanging out at Margaritaville, the hotel bar where Sully works.

James William Buffett was born on Christmas day 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and raised in the port town of Mobile, Alabama. He graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and went from busking the streets of New Orleans to playing six nights a week at Bourbon Street clubs.

He released his first record, “Down To Earth,” in 1970 and issued seven more on a regular yearly clip, with his 1974 song “Come Monday” from his fourth studio album “Living and Dying in ¾ Time,” peaking at No. 30. Then came “Margaritaville.”

He performed on more than 50 studio and live albums, often accompanied by his Coral Reefer Band, and was constantly on tour. He earned two Grammy Award nominations, two Academy of Country Music Awards and a Country Music Association Award.

Buffett was actually in Austin, Texas, when the inspiration struck for “Margaritaville.” He and a friend had stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant before she dropped him at the airport for a flight home to Key West, so they got to drinking margaritas.

“And I kind of came up with that idea of this is just like Margarita-ville,” Buffett told the Republic. “She kind of laughed at that and put me on the plane. And I started working on it.”

He wrote some on the plane and finished it while driving down the Keys. “There was a wreck on the bridge,” he said. “And we got stopped for about an hour so I finished the song on the Seven Mile Bridge, which I thought was apropos.”

Buffett also was the author of numerous books including “Where Is Joe Merchant?” and “A Pirate Looks At Fifty” and added movies to his resume as co-producer and co-star of an adaptation of Carl Hiaasen’s novel “Hoot.”

Buffett is survived by his wife, Jane; daughters, Savannah and Sarah; and son, Cameron.

___
AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton contributed from Los Angeles.

2
https://www.insideradio.com/free/fcc-warns-portland-church-to-shut-down-pirate-fm-operating-under-its-steeple/

They may be finding God at the Eastside Free Methodist Church in Portland, OR but it is also where field agents from the Federal Communications Commission are facing a bedeviling problem: pirate radio.

The FCC says its Portland, OR-based agents tracked an unlicensed FM station operating on 90.5 FM to the church on 139th Avenue. It appears field agents did not come across anyone at the site, however, and that may be due in part to questions about whether the church is even open any longer. Some postings online say the Eastside Free Methodist Church has gone dark for good, raising questions about whether it is the church members – or someone else – that is using the space.

Nevertheless, under federal law because Eastside Free Methodist Church owns the building, it is potentially on the hook for enforcement action related to the pirate station. The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau is giving the property owner ten days to respond to the warnings with any evidence they may have, showing they are no longer permitting pirate radio broadcasting to occur on their property. The warning letter to the church also points out it could face a penance of more than $2.3 million in fines.

It is the second Oregon-targeted pirate action to be released by the FCC in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the FCC proposed an $80,000 fine against an alleged pirate operating in La Grande, OR. The FCC says Thomas Barnes was the man behind a pirate station operating on 100.5 FM since at least 2018. Under FCC rules, Barnes has until mid-April to decide if he wants to pay the penalty or file a request that it be cancelled or reduced.

The FCC says it logged its first complaint regarding the eastern Oregon pirate station in 2018. It dispatched Portland, OR-based field agents to investigate, and they tracked the station on 92.3 FM to Barnes’ former residence at the Orchard Motel on Adams Avenue in La Grande. After speaking with him, the FCC says it became apparent that Barnes was the operator of the unlicensed stations. At the time, he agreed to voluntarily surrender his transmitter to the agent.

But a year later, in April 2019, the FCC received a second complaint stating that Barnes was again operating a pirate radio station in La Grande. They tracked the station, again on 92.3 FM, to Barnes’ new home on Jefferson Avenue. He agreed to voluntarily surrender another transmitter to the agent.

Both times the FCC notified Barnes that he could face severe penalties, including substantial monetary fines, for running a pirate station. But that apparently was not enough to discourage him. It received a third complaint about another pirate station in La Grande in March 2022 that agents again traced back to Barnes’ home. This time Barnes’ wife, Rebecca, voluntarily surrendered two transmitters.

Barnes then took to Facebook where he posted a video admitting he was operating a pirate station and that the FCC could not stop him unless it “locked him up.” He then signed-on another station at 100.5 FM. Digging deeper, agents also discovered that Barnes had uploaded over 30 videos to his Facebook account admitting he ran a pirate station.

In its decision to slap Barnes with an $80,000 fine, the FCC said his conduct was “intentional” and he “had been warned multiple times since 2018 that his conduct was illegal, but he nonetheless chose to continue to operate without authorization.”

3
North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6930 USB 0151 UTC 12 OCT 22
« on: October 12, 2022, 0200 UTC »
01:57 Unsure of spacey ethereal music title, feels Brian Eno-ish

SIO 212 From Winter Park, FL

4
General Radio Discussion / Kevin Miller, KM6AU, "Al Fansome"
« on: May 07, 2022, 2126 UTC »
Kevin Miller, KM6AU, passed away May 5th 2022, from cardiac complications following a stroke. He is survived by 4 brothers and 2 sisters, and his longtime domestic partner, Lori Easterly.

He enjoyed the more esoteric radio hobbies, including “DXing” shortwave pirates, beginning his love of radio as a Caltech student making CB contacts via 70’s-era Tandy walkie-talkies. He never tired of hearing "weirdness" on the bands.

Kevin graduated from Caltech with a BS in Engineering in 1979. From home automation systems in the early 1980’s, to Industrial Control Systems and highway toll system infrastructure, he enjoyed a long engineering career, retiring in 2009 to move to Florida. Kevin was keenly curious to learn about this fabled “Florida man,” and inquire if he could apply for membership to this elite and fearless group.

He loved a variety of cats, big and small. He enjoyed the many friends and contacts he made at Winterfest, the radio forums, IRC WUNCLUB, and HF Underground Discord chats.

To his internet forum friends, he was simply the mischievous  “Al Fansome,” and he will be dearly missed.


5
This is project to rebroadcast/relay Radio Free Europe to censorship-impacted areas in Eastern Europe:

Quote
With Moscow silencing foreign media in Russia, threatening to send reporters to jail and censoring all war information, objective outside information is critically needed not only for Russia, but also for Ukraine and surrounding countries. 

Such content, produced by the U.S. government-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is being disseminated on the internet and on TV. But these Russian, Ukrainian and English language programs are not being distributed through the simplest technology that skirts censorship and internet shutdowns  -- shortwave radio.

The parent agency of VOA and RFE/RL, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, has decided not to air such transmissions (unlike the BBC). As these programs are in the public domain, we plan to air them live and on tape delay by purchasing air time on commercial shortwave stations in the United States and Europe. These powerful transmitters (with hundreds of thousands of watts and large antenna systems) can easily reach Russia, Ukraine and the rest of Eastern Europe where millions and millions of people still have shortwave radios. These potential listeners   will be alerted through social media as to what frequencies and times to listen for these critical programs.

At this stage, organizers have started a fundraiser to buy airtime to get the content closer to Ukraine and Russia and affected regions, in response to Moscow's censorship and crackdown on dissenting opposition views and media organizations.

However, for other interested parties who have means to re-broadcast to the region, I am assured "All VOA and RFE audio/video streams are considered in the public domain" and that radio enthusiasts with means to disseminate RFE broadcasts near Russia / Belarus and affected regions would be encouraged to participate. 8)

For those interested in donating, more information is available here: https://fundrazr.com/61xi2e?ref=ab_6B5fU6_ab_5dr1kVXCscG5dr1kVXCscG

More information regarding this project is expected to be announced Monday, March 7th.

6
Began deep in my noise floor in FL at SINPO 21122, improving.
Sea Shanty Songs, many yo-ho-hos

SSTV at 0856 UTC that I did catch...

SSTV  @ 0905 UTC:





Thanks, Skippy!

Edit: corrected for UTC consistency.

7
North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6960 USB 0216 UTC 7 NOV 2020
« on: November 07, 2020, 0218 UTC »
SIO 323 from Winter Park Florida.

0216 UTC - "We just disagree"
0217 UTC - Bluesy guitar music I don't recognize

8
0515 - Convoy - CW McCall

0520 - ? - George Thorogood

0524 - ? - Johnny Cash

SIO 323 from Winter Park, FL - Rough due to local noise floor, great audio fidelity when I can hear ya!

Thanks OP!

9
Bacon, BBQ, Beef, And More / Spicy Thai Meat Salad (Low Carb edition)
« on: January 11, 2017, 2225 UTC »
Code: [Select]

1 medium cucumber, peeled and sliced thin
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thin
2 green onions, chopped
15 fresh mint leaves, chopped
Handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 stalk's worth of lemon grass paste
1 squeeze of sriracha sauce
1 teaspoon honey #can be subbed with Stevia/Splenda dissolved, to offset sharpness of lemonjuice
1 package soy/shirataki noodles, drained, rinsed, and cut into 2" pieces
1 lb pan-grilled tender steak, such as ribeye, cut into 1" x 1/4" pieces
Toss all together while meat is still warm. Serve immediately Serves 3-4 as a main dish.


Derived from recipes in "Keo's Thai Cuisine" and "Practical Thai Cooking".

10
Amateur Radio Sleuthing Pins Down Source of Strange RF Interference

TAGS: ARRL Lab, ARRL Lab EMC, cell phones, Director Kermit Carlson, licensed radio service, public safety, Specialist Mike Gruber
08/09/2016
Police in Evanston, Illinois, contacted the ARRL Lab, after an apparent interference source began plaguing wireless vehicle key fobs, cell phones, and other wireless electronics. Key fob owners found they could not open or start their vehicles remotely until their vehicles were towed at least a block away, nor were they able to call for help on their cell phones when problems occurred. The police turned to ARRL for help after striking out with the FCC, which told them it considered key fob malfunctions a problem for automakers, although the interference was affecting not just key fobs but cell phones, which are a licensed radio service. ARRL Lab EMC Specialist Mike Gruber, W1MG, believes the FCC should have paid more attention.

“This situation is indicative of what can happen as a result of insufficient FCC enforcement, especially with regard to electrical noise and noncompliant consumer devices,” Gruber said.

Evanston authorities worried that a serious situation could develop if someone were unable to call 911, putting public safety at risk. They also were concerned that the RFI could be intentional and indicate some nefarious or illegal activity. Given the seriousness of this situation, Gruber contacted Central Division Director Kermit Carlson, W9XA, to ask if he could look into the matter.

On June 2, Carlson met with an Evanston police officer, her sergeant, a local business owner, and the local alderman, and he quickly confirmed that the 600 block of Dempster Avenue in Evanston was plagued with an odd RFI problem. Carlson determined that the problem prevailed along a set of eight on-street parallel parking spots in the downtown commercial district of the North Chicago suburb.

Carlson employed a Radar Engineers 240A Noise Signature Receiver and UHF Yagi antenna to survey the affected block. Since key fobs typically operate at around 315 MHz and 433 MHz, he looked on both frequencies. The survey identified several noise sources in the affected block, but in particular a strong signal in the middle of the block. The interference source turned out to be a recently replaced neon sign switching-mode power supply, which was generating a substantial signal within the on-street parking area just across the sidewalk, between 8 and 40 feet from the sign.

The problematic power supply interference also disabled Carlson’s cell phone when he was within a few feet of the device. Carlson anticipated that further investigation would show that the harmful interference could disrupt licensed radio services in close proximity. The troublesome transformer was not replaced, but the building owner agreed to turn off the sign should problems arise.

Carlson called the Evanston case “a particularly alarming example of radio interference,” especially since local authorities considered it a public safety matter. “This situation demonstrates the electromagnetic compatibility problems that are evolving in an atmosphere of noncompliant, unintentional RF-emitting devices,” he said.

A return visit to the area with calibrated antennas and equipment capable of measuring the radiated signal strength with quasi-peak detection is planned for later this year. Since the initial visit, several other instances of unexplained key fob malfunctions have been reported in the Greater Chicago area. — Thanks to Kermit Carlson, W9XA, and Mike Gruber, W1MG

12
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/28/north-korea-defector-radio

North Korean pirate radio: homemade devices deliver banned broadcasts

Foreign programmes aim to spread information inside the secretive state. But listening is considered a 'crime against the state' and can carry the death penalty.

JH Ahn for NK News, part of the North Korea network
Monday 28 July 2014 00.00 EDT

“This is the living proof that North Koreans are strongly intent on learning about the outside world,” says Kim Seung-chul of North Korea Reform Radio, which produces daily broadcasts for North Koreans to "encourage the development of independent public opinion inside the country."

“Those who live near China may buy Chinese radio, but those who don’t have to contact the local ‘underground radio-maker,’” said Kim, a former engineer who now heads the small radio operation from Seoul, which broadcasts news and commentary. As he speaks, he holds a basic North Korean radio made from wood.

“There are some people who make a living out of making the homemade radio like this one,” he says.

This particular radio reached Kim through North Korean defectors who brought it over when they came to South Korea in 2013, having purchased it from an underground radio merchant five years ago. The name and identity of the radio maker is unknown.

Plated with woodblocks on six sides, the radio weighs about 1.5kg. Despite its outdated appearance, the radio had most of the functions common to radios available in other countries.

One of the defectors who had used the radio is Park, who escaped North Korea last November.

“I have been listening to North Korea Reform Radio and other outside radio stations since 13 years ago,” said Park, who uses an alias because he wishes to remain anonymous.

“Frankly, the ideological education in North Korea is so strong that many people including myself could not believe the content of the outside world radio,” he said of his first experience listening with the device. “I was once certain that this radio signal was sent by someone who was trying to deceive us.

“But this radio played a strong role in motivating me to escape North Korea. My friends and I used to regularly listened to NKRR and other radio programmes inside [an] underground hideout.

“Many told me to quit listening to those radio signals and start making money for myself. But with the help of this radio, I finally decided to escape the North.”

Radios are permitted in North Korea as long as they are tuned to only receive transmissions from government radio stations. Foreign journalists are usually portrayed as liars seeking to destabilise the regime.

Those who listen to foreign broadcasts take a significant risk. Under North Korean law, "listening to unauthorised foreign broadcasts and possessing dissident publications are considered 'crimes against the state' that carry serious punishments, including hard labour, prison sentences, and the death penalty," according to Freedom House.

Trying it out, NK News staff could easily connect the power to the radio, adjust the volume and change the frequency by turning the module attached to the radio. Though the functions were easy enough for anyone to learn in five minutes, the hardest part in operating this radio was finding the right frequency.


Unlike most modern radios, which can easily find frequencies with the assistance of digitally projected numbers on a screen, this handmade radio provides no visual aid. The radio, therefore, leaves users to depend totally on delicate hand skills to turn the manual module in tiny movements. Kim said once the defectors found the correct signal, they would keep the frequency module in place and not touch it, as it was far too tedious to find the same signal again.

The second difficulty was extending the internal antenna to catch a strong signal. As the radio only has a short internal antenna, North Koreans are required to wire the antenna to an external signal amplifier in order to catch a strong signal. This means that this radio is not a portable device, as it always requires a connection to an external device to make it audible. Once the connection to the external antenna is made, though, listeners may catch strong radio signals coming from all over Asia. NK News staff could listen to many Korean radio shows and even a radio signal from Japan.

The third problem was its low volume; it was hard to listen to the radio using the original speaker attached to the radio. In order to make it loud enough to be audible, we had to detach the original speaker and connect with the external amplifier. But for the defectors who owned the radio, the low volume had not been much of a problem, as they were forced to hide and listen to it extremely quietly only during the night (usually from about 11pm to 1am).

Information is very carefully controlled in North Korea, but foreign radio broadcasts are not the only medium delivering outside information to North Koreans. South Korean TV dramas smuggled in on USB sticks and DVDs are very popular, as are the laptops many use to play them. Mobile phones are also allowing some North Koreans to make illicit phone calls to people outside of the country.

A version of this article first appeared on NK News – a North Korea focused specialist news site

13
FCC: Blocking Wi-Fi in hotels is prohibited
Marriott asked the FCC to please let it block Wi-Fi. The hotel gets a firm answer.

by Megan Geuss - Jan 27 2015, 4:10pm EST
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/fcc-blocking-wi-fi-in-hotels-is-prohibited

On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission issued an “Enforcement Advisory” stating that blocking W-Fi in hotels is unequivocally “prohibited."

MARRIOTT TENTATIVELY BACKS OFF WI-FI BLOCKING PLANS
But still really, really wants to force guests to pay for in-room Wi-Fi.
"Persons or businesses causing intentional interference to Wi-Fi hotspots are subject to enforcement action,” the FCC bluntly stated, referencing a dispute between Marriott and its customers who said the hotel chain had blocked their personal hotspots to force them to pay for Marriott’s Wi-Fi services.
"The Enforcement Bureau has seen a disturbing trend in which hotels and other commercial establishments block wireless consumers from using their own personal Wi-Fi hot spots on the commercial establishment’s premises,” the FCC wrote. "As a result, the Bureau is protecting consumers by aggressively investigating and acting against such unlawful intentional interference.”

The statement is a definitive one. The FCC fined Marriott $600,000 in October for blocking customers’ personal Wi-Fi hotspots at a Nashville, Tennessee, branch. Although Marriott paid the fine, it remained defiant and filed a request for rulemaking with the commission, asking that Wi-Fi blocking be permitted. Marriott’s reasoning was that it could better manage the security of its own network if it blocked unauthorized Wi-Fi broadcasts. But critics like Microsoft and Google filed petitions countering that logic. In January, Marriott promised that it wouldn’t block its customers’ Wi-Fi, but the company also would not rescind its request for rulemaking from the FCC, perhaps hoping that a favorable decision could legitimate its practice again.

The FCC’s notice today settles the issue, at least in the short term. "No hotel, convention center, or other commercial establishment or the network operator providing services at such establishments may intentionally block or disrupt personal Wi-Fi hot spots on such premises, including as part of an effort to force consumers to purchase access to the property owner’s Wi-Fi network,” the FCC wrote today. "Such action is illegal and violations could lead to the assessment of substantial monetary penalties.” The FCC has the authority to regulate airwaves, and it has maintained that Wi-Fi goes out over an unlicensed band of spectrum that does not belong to any particular company.

14
http://io9.com/a-magician-used-the-first-pirate-radio-station-to-troll-1681527405

A Magician Used The First Pirate Radio Station To Troll A Scientist

Everyone knows Marconi was one of the world's most disagreeable scientists. What they don't know is he was surrounded by people nearly as disagreeable as himself. And that a famous demonstration of his "wireless" was taken over by a magician-turned-skeptic-turned-pirate.

In the early days, radio was treated with open skepticism by many. Oh, everyone agreed that radio waves could be sent through the air, but few agreed on the details. Guglielmo Marconi, who had worked out the first practical radio transmitter, made a not-so-very-good name for himself ruthlessly transforming his radio from a novelty into something that could send messages from across oceans.

In doing this, Marconi made a lot of enemies, although some of those enemies he did not deserve. As soon as he had demonstrated how revolutionary a business radio could be, other businesses sprang up, often run by people claiming that they had more of a right to the technology than Marconi did. One of the people who went into the radio business was Nevil Maskelyne, who also happened to be a magician.

Maskelyne was also a scientist, and inventor, and a skeptic. He was one of that class of magicians who loves magic when it is obviously fake, and hates it when it purports to be real. He debunked spiritualists and lampooned flim-flam artists, and he had decided that Marconi was just such an artist. Part of this was the fact that Marconi refused to conduct open and public tests of his technology. Given his competition, he can hardly be blamed for that. But Marconi deserved some of the skeptics' scorn. He covered up failures and even made false claims. He claimed, for example, that "wireless signals" could not be interfered with. The messages encoded in a wireless signal came through to their receiver confidential and complete. To back that claim up, he hired revered scientist and engineer John Ambrose Fleming.

One night, Fleming gave a lecture at the Royal Society, during which he would receive a message in morse code on his wireless set. The message was to come from a remote island, just at the end of a lecture on radio technology. Fleming got up and gave the lecture, calm and confident. The technician behind him saw the radio spring to life. It typed out, in code, a number of limericks about a "young fellow from Italy." Then it started in with some Shakespeare. As the lecture went on, the crew behind Fleming received more and more insulting messages. Someone had hijacked the radio. The technician, trying to be subtle, scanned the crowd and saw a confederate of Maskelyne, but there was no way to stop him without disrupting the lecture.

The pirate signal stopped just before the end of the lecture, and the real message came in. Fleming, hearing about the incident later, felt hugely insulted, and sent out an open letter condemning the "hooliganism." At that point Maskelyne gleefully pointed out that, if what Fleming had claimed about radio's confidentiality was true, there would have been no way to interfere with the radio signal. Fleming had disproved his own claims.

Images: John Ambrose Fleming (1919) The Thermionic Valve and its Developments in Radiotelegraphy and Telephony, The Wireless Press, Ltd., New York, p. 216, fig. 126.

[Sources: Thunderstruck]

15
A gift for nosy neighbors who think that your antennas are giving them colon polyps... from reddit's /r/amateurradio

https://pay.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/2oyyn1/a_gift_for_nosy_neighbors_who_think_that_your/

Bonus content: scroll down to the actual early Amazon review comments on the device for some comedy gold.

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