This is cool: Live View of the Deep Impact Mission to Comet Tempel 1
The image will update every 45 seconds around the impact time, 12:52 AM CDT on July 4.
I put the DSW-2 back in the truck tonight and keyed it up to check it out -- no power out. Another final transistor gone, and I have no idea when this one went.
I think I'll retire it for a while, the last final I put in I burned a pad on the board so I don't know if I even can fix it this time.
Please note this is the old design DSW, the current one has a nice fat power tab final, which should be more forgiving.
BPL is coming to Texas: 79(1) SB21 Senate Committee Report - Bill Text.
Here's a small bone thrown to hams:
The trick, of course, is getting the thoroughly corrupt, in-bed-with-the-power-industry FCC to actually act on an interference complaint.
It is my understanding that BPL systems that radiate in the ham bands are exceptionally sensitive to transmissions in those bands, and that a modestly powered transceiver near a BPL system can completely disrupt it. And, since BPL is authorized under Part 15, the BPL operator has to accept any interference from licensed services. Any interference.
So be assured my next rig will not be QRP, and since it will be mobile, I may occasionally be transmitting near by BPL nodes. "...as little as 2 watts of transmitter power connected to an inefficient mobile antenna caused the system to lock up." So 100 watts should be about right.
The Texas House passed the BPL bill: Save Muni Wireless: Texas House approves telecom bill; TML stops opposition - deadline is Wednesday
The only chance left to kill this bill is the calendar: there were amendments so a conference is required, and the special session ends Wednesday, leaving little time to get a final version on the calendar for a vote.
Also the Lt. Governor has sworn not to let any bills be heard until school financing is done, and they haven't accomplished anything with that.
If the BPL bill fails this session, it will have to be reintroduced in a future session.
I see today that the Texas House amended the odious SB21 Telecomm/BPL/SBC handout bill so that interference complaints may be made to the Texas Public Utility Commission, as well as the FCC.
Well, whoop-de-doo. Since amateur radio is a federally regulated service, the PUC will naturally pass the buck to the FCC. And since the FCC is in the pocket of the BPL industry, you can guess where that complaint will get filed.
As for me, I will continue to rely on that "must accept any interference" clause in Part 15, which the FCC didn't have the huevos to change, as well as the study showing "as little as 2 watts would lock up the system completely". I'm researching schematics for legal limit amps. QRO? Betcher ass!
Harvey Kronberg's The Quorum Report: SENATE INTENDS TO MOVE FOUR BILLS ON THURSDAY
Once the bills are voted out of committee, the Senate will adjourn until Monday. Speaker of the House Rep. Tom Craddick (R-Midland) is expected to appoint a select committee to address the tax issue.
So BPL is here to stay, and ARRL says Texas has the distinction of being the first state to enshrine BPL by legislative fiat.
To top off a truly awful week, what with BPL poised to win approval in the (stupid, corrupt) Texas Legislature, the FCC has decided to eliminate the code requirement for HF licenses.
There used to be quite a few hams who were employed by the FCC (including me, 20 years ago), and the FCC protected amateur radio's integrity with zeal. Those days are obviously over.
Here's the Texas BPL bill, again: 79(2) SB5 Introduced - Bill Text
Here's the only piece of good(?) news for hams:
The big gotcha (catch-22, FOAD, etc) in there is the part that reads "upon notification by a Federal Communications Commission or Public Utilities Commission representative". The FCC's attitude on BPL is "interference? What interference? I don' hear no steenkin interference!". And I fear that PUC's attitude will be something along the lines of "Duh, whut? Whut yew talkin bout? Git outa my office!" So unless you are willing to bring the lightning down on their heads and MAKE THEM DO THEIR DAMN JOBS, successful pursuit of an interference case against a BPL operator might be, shall we say, difficult.