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THE BLARE BLOG Spring/Summer 2019

Center of the Bla Bla Galaxy

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Sunday June 30, 2019 9:07 PM CDT -- Seeking Data
The Wi-Fi audio sender/receivers we've been test driving have been traced to a birthplace in China, Soyo Technology Development Co., Ltd., whose product sheet gives a few notable conditions: the minimum order quantity is 5-tons, but luckily the Hong Kong distributor didn't require the same. Also, the last line of Product Description says: Indeed convenient to use and "complete idiots handle". The ultimate in "custom made".

Sunday June 30, 2019 7:09 PM CDT -- So-Called Reality
David Lynch always takes attention away from whatever's going on.
It's a good idea to go out there once in awhile
The whole day today was spent in here completely oblivious to whatever "reality" might have in store out in the avenues, we've gotten really deep into all this Wi-Fi technology and have been charting all the local access points and noting their operating channels with observations as to what happens when we turn-on this Wi-Fi Audio Transmitter we've been talking about. As with anything, further questions keep arising and we now realize that a SDR (software defined radio) will provide that final glimpse at the 2.4 GHz spectrum that we're exploring. As of this time we lack a frequency chart for the channels occupied by our audio system which are different than the basic Wi-Fi computer channels, and a SDR ought to let us view the situation.

Sunday June 30, 2019 1:48 PM CDT -- Bear in a Honey Spill
Bears love honey and it would be a very happy bear that came upon a honey spill. Or, for any one of us it would be fun to be bear in a honey spill, if not not somewhat sticky. Anyway I was searching YouTube for a tutorial on how to achieve something like the Android Wi-Fi Analyzer that would work on a Windows computer. It all has to do with figuring out how to wedge our TP-WIRELESS Audio System into the crowded 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band. This morning our stay at Channel 12 was twice interupted by a solid audio silence of about 20-seconds, suggesting that someone else was operating right on top of us, so we advanced to Channel 13. Taking a look at our USB Adapter we're able to see local traffic but nothing about the channels in use at any given time. That's when the honey spilled on the information super-highway and we found the XIRRUS Wi-Fi Inspector which gives all the techy data including channel number and zone location, putting us fully in charge of Wi-Fi spectrum management here at KDX Worldround Radio. The formula? Get into the radio business and then figure out how to be in the radio business.

Sunday June 30, 2019 9:15 AM CDT -- Mush Mesh
One-hour ago we were splashing in the executive rest room prior to opening the website and radio station, inventing ways to run behind schedule. Some twiddling of the AM FM dial went between brushing teeth and combing hair, the preachers were spreading lies in that mush-mouthed way of sounding proudly dumb they probably learn at theology school along with all the artificial knowledge. Or maybe they just skimp on dental maintenance in favor of their jet. "Constution don't sayz nothin' 'bout sepration church a state, that jus a lay they tellus kepp god outa guvmuh." Then, only moments later, hair only half-combed, KDX is on the web and we come across the inspiring story of NYC Mesh.
Mesh Meh

Sunday June 30, 2019 9:03 AM CDT -- How to Stay Civil While Discussing America's Child Concentration Camps
Goes Like a Conversation with Bob Fwordly
"We have a right to protect our borders", he said.

Saturday June 29, 2019 9:54 AM CDT -- Wi-Fi Reference Section
Wi-Fi Definition
Wi-Fi Technical Information
Wi-Fi Direct
Video/audio Senders
GFSK Modulation
White Spaces
These are some of the tangents visited this morning while tending to our TP-WIRELESS TP-WT02 Wi-Fi Audio Sender/Receivers. We'd been using Channel 30 to relay KDX audio to our AM & FM tranmission sites, but noticed some popping, fizzing, buzzing and drop-outs, indicators of interference from other Wi-Fi in the neighborhood, so we switched to Channel 31 and all was smooth, but curiosity pulled us into a morning of trial and error, starting way at the beginning on Channel 1, which ran well for awhile, but soon became riddled with interference. Switching to Channel 12, we noted that both AM and FM transmitters lept into over-modulation due to heightened audio levels. Adjustments were made to bring modulation into bounds, and performance has been excellent moving into the day, providing time to explore the links posted here. Becoming aware that these Wi-Fi transmitter/receivers utilize GFSK modulation, a small naming ceremony was held with cracker & cheese snacks, putting us right now on KDX-GFSK12. Other factoids-- Wi-Fi audio direct is strengthier than Bluetooth, a much weaker method of sending/receiving audio/video. There are some frequencies and activities in the Wi-Fi bands relegated for licensed amateur radio, but much of it falls to FCC Part 15, the bible for legal, unlicensed, low power intentional radiation.

Friday June 28, 2019 7:52 PM CDT -- The Wi-Fi Neighborhood
Scrolling down to June 20 we mention that the Wi-Fi Transmitter WT02 is not larger than the receivers, as the picture seems to show, but is exactly the same size. The WT02 offers 31 stereo channels on the 2400~2483MHz band in very excellent quality. From a single Wi-Fi  transmitter we are able to distribute the audio from KDX Worldround Radio to 3 different receivers, serving 3 AM and 2 FM transmitters. Whereas computer Wi-Fi from the surrounding area shares the same space with its 14 channels, in the event of interference we are able to move to a channel away from computer traffic and are very pleased with the results.

Thursday June 27, 2019 8:48 PM CDT -- It Was Between This and a Range Extender
Man Buys Hisself an Iconic Radio Station

Thursday June 27, 2019 4:23 PM CDT -- More Than You Need To Know
There's no reason anyone would wonder what goes on day after day on our streaming radio station KDX-OGG, and that's normal because of the plethara of time-spending opportunities on and off the web, so let's talk about it. A good starting point is the KDX Schedule page which is adhered to somewhat, but exceptions often happen. In recent weeks the server has been closed while outwaiting frequent storms, and when we finally get back to operation the schedule not only runs late but delays the next days programming eventually leaving a backed up situation that exceeds that of rail service in America. Another game changer is the occasional late availability of some programs necessitating that we skip ahead to catch up later. Probably the most whimsical changes in plan result when owner-listener Carl Blare takes the reins and decides he won't listen to any more factual information and wants to piddle with non-verbal sounds, sometimes music other times our Grand Tower Clock which vends Universal Time by the minute in a cheap imitation of WWV. This week I've been repeating the 2nd Symphony by American composer Howard Hanson which, when I first discovered it in 1959, was so deeply impressive that I listened to it continuously for most of a year. By coincidence the SymphonyCast program this week happened to feature Hanson's Symphony No. 4, subtitled "Requiem" written following the death of his father. It was necessary to hear the work about four times until I realized what Hanson was saying in his music and am forever spellbound by the depth of it. Maybe we'll do a Blare OnAir episode to share the discovery. Anybody who's still reading this is entitled to $1,000.

Thursday June 27, 2019 1:45 PM CDT -- Gong Lessons
Concerto for 80" Symphonic Gong
Advanced Gongs
Beyond Gongs

Thursday June 27, 2019 5:48 PM CDT -- Sage Brush
Some things make no sense at all
Until you figure out why they happened,
Then they make perfect sense.
-- Carl Blare on a sweltering summer afternoon

Thursday June 27, 2019 11:20 AM CDT -- The Boomer Report
Hi Blare Blog! I saw your blog start up again earlier this week, then I went back on a couple of nights to read what was written, to reply, and the website address doesn't resolve, seemingly off line. My feeling was that the storms came so quickly that there wasn't time to set up an away message. No complaint here, just one of the foibles of how things are on the net that I found funny since I was foiled twice.
Carl Replies: Let me share a secret known only to our team of website engineers. KDX has two URLs and they have their differences. The main address is kdxradio.com and the secondary address is kdx.hopto.org, both of which open the KDX Website if the server is currently online. But if the KDX web server is offline the main URL (usually) defaults to the KDX Parking Page which contains a notification of the site status, while the secondary URL gets lost in cyberspace and starts apologizing.
I've seen those wi-fi wireless audio senders for a while, and some of them even have video. A long time ago I tried a system from Linksys that sent the computer's audio to a receiver through wi-fi in the router, a way to hear hi-fi audio on a stereo system, with RCA output jacks. The Legacy has his AM transmitter out in the yard fed by Bluetooth, and that gets his transmit antenna away from the house so it gets out better. I like your idea of a ten foot pole, with the transmitter and antenna adding another ten feet to make 20, which seems like a manageable height in a yard or garden, putting your transmitter in the middle of the area to be served. It could be a self contained 'pod' with wi-fi and solar or battery. My thinking has been for a long time that the shortie 3 meter stick antenna doesn't do well by other objects, especially near buildings, like by a house, unless it can be on top of that house. It seems worthwhile to at least try a system that's separate from home power and grounds, and in that way it will be like listening to a real station from 'out there' that you're not right on top of.
Tha Dood in West Virginia does it in a way, by having his Talking House with external ATU on a barn. The source of AC power would be in common, but it seems separated enough to be almost like its own entity. I saw the first real picture of the new Talking House ATU, sent in by John Meow to your blog, and it looks nice, externally speaking. Good things to think about.
-- Signed Boomer

Thursday June 27, 2019 10:52 AM CDT -- Solar Cell Improvement
Scientists Find

Tuesday June 25, 2019 7:53 PM CDT -- The best nation in the world is procrastination. - said by Carl Blare

Tuesday June 25, 2019 11:10 AM CDT -- Erectile Function
The first thing I thought about when the Range Extender V 2.5 was announced from I.S.S. (Information Station Specialists) was that KDX doesn't need the 3K+ foot range promised from mounting it on a 20-foot pole. Our transmitters are carefully controlled to efficiently provide radio coverage on our garden campus so I can hear favorite programs while landscaping and there's no need to be heard further away. Which doesn't explain why I selected a precise location for such a pole at a perfect distance from the back wall to be reachable by the included 25' coaxial cable. Also why this morning I checked YouTube for flag pole instructions and see many promising videos about 20-foot telescoping poles and D.I.Y. poles. Once the Range Extender is mounted the AM antenna reaches another 10-feet imto the air, but does not require red F.A.A. blinking light and could provide a mounting place for a martin house, assuming purple martins are not extinct.
Touch it with a 10-foot pole at YouTube

Tuesday June 25, 2019 9:23 AM CDT -- Camping and Concentrating
Congresswoman Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez talked about Trump's concentration camps on the U.S.-Mexico border and the right-wingers have been flapping. Thom Hartmann talked about this the other day on his progressive radio program as heard on KDX Worldround Radio, recalling that the German word for "concentration" refers to "gathering something or someone of a particular category all together in one place". In our case refugee children are gathered together in chain-linked dog-pens without soap, tooth brushes, towells, matresses, or blankets. For my part I wonder why we'd use the word "concentration" in today's cyber-world in which everybody is afflicted with attention-deficit disorder caused by the refresh-rate of computer screens and by now most readers have lost their concentration on this Blog entry, and even I, Carl Blare, as the blogger, am having trouble staying on topic. As far as separating children from refugee parents is concerned I wonder why it's not referred to as kidnapping and as the children are sent around and records not kept isn't it child trafficking? But concentrate. We're talking about camps.
For further word we take you to Boing Boing

Monday June 24, 2019 9:09 PM CDT -- Caught in Disagreement
FCC Chairman Pai Doesn't Agree with NOAA or NASA
"This time I'm telling the truth", he may have said.

Monday June 24, 2019 10:59 AM CDT -- Directly to the Range Extender
Direct Link

Monday June 24, 2019 8:40 AM CDT -- Media Medium Meat Veggie-Meat
It's my fault that some reader/viewers saw the pictures of our new Wi-Fi  audio transmitter/receivers shown just above a news brief about the Range Extender from I.S.S. and assumed that the Wi-Fi devices were part of  the Range Extender. It's also my fault that run-on sentences like the one just penned are hard to follow and it's already happening again in this explanation of the situation but the Wi-Fi's are a completely separate news item and came from TP-WIRELESS in Hong Kong, also sometime under the name SOYO. So, the real point I hope to make has nothing to do with either of those two news stories but is an observation about this still new medium known as "blogging" which is not exactly print but is textual nor exactly TV but certainly video-like since we're seeing it on screens. One thing for sure, it's definitely non-linear and can be confusing when thinking linearly. As far as veggie-meat is concerned I've become a big fan and thrilled at how realistic it's become including so-called "impossible burgers" and even simulated cheese.

Sunday June 23, 2019 6:31 PM CDT -- ARRL Field Days
This is the weekend that amateur radio operators gathered in parks, parking lots, backyards and window sills all across 'Merica for the Amateur Radio Relay League's (ARRL) Field Days when HAMs key-up transmitters and reach out on the 7.0-7.3 MHz band for daytime and 3.5-4.0 MHz nighttime. Our correspondent Brooce in Hartford, Connecticut, has radios lining his window sills monitoring Morse Code and SSB (Single Side Band) voice exchanges. Meanwhile, here in the midwaste we've tried several times to overhear something on both our SANGEAN ST-505 and Zenith Transoceanic, but no go for us, so maybe we need a better window sill. At one time we had area HAMs but maybe home owners associations have ordered all their antennas down.

Sunday June 23, 2019 6 PM CDT -- Here's a Description
The Range Extender V 2.5 from Information Station Specialists (I.S.S.) is one of three main components: the AM transmitter which is a Talking House Version 5.0, a 25' length of coaxial RF cable, and a Range Extender Version RE 2.5 Antenna Tuner attached with a stout 10' antenna. This unique combination differs from other FCC certified systems in ways that we'll be discussing in upcoming Blog entries. A 15% off introductory offer is presently in effect, more information available at the I.S.S. website.

Sunday June 23, 2019 5:40 PM CDT -- I Think I Believe or I Believe I Think
We encounter those who fall short of being atheists by declaring the safer path of being agnostic. So they think, but there's really no difference. Sure, atheists "don't believe" while agnostics "don't know",  but probing reveals that neither of them "believe", making any supposed difference somewhat nebulous. Coins don't have three sides and the flip side belongs to believers who "think" there's a supernatural invisible father-figure who gestured all of this into existence and monitors our day-to-day fortunes ranging from football games to handy parking spaces. These "faithful" don't feel it's necessary to prove any of it so long as they "know" it. There's more money in it for radio stations than from commercial ad sales judging from the large and growing number of religious stations, which gives plenty of reason to forget the doubt and just come on board to ride the salvation train.

Sunday June 23, 2019 1:46 PM CDT -- With Prejudice
Well, the actual forecast calls for "showers and possibly a thunderstorm" which proves that it's a good idea to read text carefully. Because of our dread of electric storms we assumed that "100% chance of precipatation" was the same as "100% chance of lightning", but the Lightning Map now shows the thunder activity missing us to the south while weakening. We're expeiencing light rain and calm conditions, so my first prejudice is to "all people who skip over the detail" of the written word. I have more prejudices worth mentioning. These YouTube videos about Wi-Fi subjects are mostly delivered by guys with a multitude of problems. There are the ones who don't speak well and are very hard to understand. The guy who talked about panel antennas had trouble getting his voice to reach beyond his beard, which made his face look like a hideous dirty pubic area with the slit running in the wrong direction. Don't let your family read this. Possibly ingrown mouth-hair caused him to sound mushy and he kept refering to "ADBI mini-panels" but I couldn't find ADBI mini-panels even with advanced search, until I realized he was saying "18dBi mini-panels". Then, for no reason, I began to resent being called "white". I'm not "white". Don't you know your crayons? I am flesh colored! The bigger Krayola sets have a flesh-colored crayon which is not the same as the white crayon. Or, that is, they did at one time... a quick scroll through crayon colors at Wikipedia shows no "flesh". Somebody probably complained that it was "racist", like having a "people of color" crayon would be. There's something in all of that worth resenting, but now I'm back to YouTube videos. Take the ones who don't know how to hook up a microphone and are heard by a camera mic 15-feet away in a reverberant room. Maybe the barometric pressure is causing me to be so annoyed. I've never liked barometric pressure. If I'd posted this at that part 15 forum I belonged to it would already be deleted by their John Bolton imitating moderator. It wasn't the only forum with a problem. They all suffer from similar maladies. But we have a diplomacy policy of never talking about it.

Sunday June 23, 2019 12:21 N CDT -- Range Extender
The main concern for most low power broadcasters operating under FCC Rules Part 15 in the U.S. is usually range. The quest is to reach as much area as legally possible. A new product from Information Station Specialists (I.S.S.) brings the long hoped-for extension of range with a very attractive device named Range Extender Version 2.5.
Range_Extender
Thanks to correspondent John Mouw in Saint Leo, Florida, for the image. Your carpet has nice nap and good pile.

Sunday June 23, 2019 11:57 AM CDT -- Here We Are if Briefly

Coming up on 12 Noon we just took a look at Lightning Maps to see that KDX and our Internet Building are presently storm free. Yesterday we were shut down for most of the day by a lingering storm, and together with all the air time lost this week due to weather and equipment installation our program schedule is running far behind and we're stretching things to the limit in an attempt ro catch up. Just now the "No Agenda" show from last Friday is finally running, eating into hours usually reserved for equipment maintenance. We may need to shut it down again before the program is over by the looks of the massive storm stretching from just above Dallas, Texas, extending through Arkansas, Oklahoma, into Missouri and aimed straitght our way. Even more likely based on the 100% of thunderstorms forecast by NOAA. During the suspense we are learning about Wi-Fi panel antennas which might be useful for some of the system refinements presently being added and about which we'll be blogging.

Friday June 21, 2019 5:47 PM CDT -- Nowhere To Be Found
The KDX Website and Radio Stream were on forced holiday all day as a result of continuous storms rolling through the mid-Mississippi Valley, and there are more to come. We are not alone among radio stations that close during potentially severe storms. The shortwave station WBCQ in Monticello, Maine, has also learned how much damage to antennas, transmitters and electronics may result from lightning strikes and wind damage, as told by owner Allan Weiner. During these shutdown periods we like to monitor the dial to see what other local stations are doing and sometimes notice them fall victem to the elements, losing their signal sometimes for lengthy times. At the moment we have a lull in the weather but the forecast calls for additional storms through tomorrow.

Friday June 21, 2019 4:48 AM CDT -- The Summer Solstice
The Official Moment of this Summer's Solstice is 11:54 AM EDT/10:54 AM CDT when spring ends and summer begins. Today is the longest day of the year sandwiched by the shortest nights of the year. Our planet earth and star sun manage to do all this very silently, unaccompanied by parades or fireworks, generally unnoticed by the human population. Nature at large is more sensitive and experiences significant shifts as the growing season reaches fruition and birds wrap up their nesting and set plans for intercontinental  migrations. Daytime radio stations have reached their longest operating schedules and look forward to rolling back month by month. Next stop will be the Autumnal Equinox in late September when day and night reach equal length.

Thursday June 20 2019 1:32 PM CDT -- PSA for Amateur Radio's ARRL Field Day 2019 -- Submitted by Tha Dood
Public Service Radio Announcement for ARRL Field Day 2019

Thursday June 20, 2019 10:11 AM CDT -- New STL's (Studio Transmitter Links)
Includes 1-Wi-Fi audio transmitter & 3-Wi-Fi audio receivers now in service at KDX.
Wi-Fi Audio Distribution

Wednesday June 19, 2019 7:49 PM CDT -- Low Power Radio News Briefs
A noteworthy transmitter/antenna combination has been introduced by Information Station Systems (I.S.S.) promising greater range than any such product currently on the market. Be watching The Blare Blog for further details and pictures.

Earlier this afternoon we here at KDX Worldround Radio installed a newly acquired Wi-Fi Audio Transmission/Receiver System for distribution of program audio from the control desk out to the various AM FM transmitters serving the campus. We'll be posting pictures and more information about both these stories.

Wednesday June 19 2019 5:49 PM CDT -- Don't Trust Yourself
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of doubts.
-- Bertrand Russell
How Unreliable We Are

Wednesday June 19, 2019 -- Radio Is Only a Medium
When we talk about "radio" each one of us means something different. We, as members of the low power radio community, explore our interest in the radio medium only to the degree that radio holds a fascination for us individually. We hear from those interested only in the equipment: the transmitters, antennas and receivers that make radio happen. Many of the technophiles don't operate actual radio stations, but may only go so far as tinkering with transmitters and radios out of curiosity as to how far they can be heard, using audio merely as a test signal. Of those who program functioning stations the most common content consists of those hit songs fondly recalled from school days at which time their personal musical growth seems to have halted. The playing and replaying of music from youth is an ongoing rumination that continues into seniorhood, but does constitute "content", the "message", delivered by the medium of radio.

The book is another form of medium and no doubt there are hobbyists concerned with the mechanics of book binding; the specialized glue, staples and thread used to combine pages with hard or soft covers, yet with little interest in authorship. Conversely we find novelists and other writers with no particular interest in the printing process, but for whom publishers offer a necessary service.

The Blare Blog looks at media in its fuller plural sense, all aspects considered, mechanisms and contents together amounting to a complete discussion. Our radio service, KDX Worldround Radio, consists of an electronic infrastructure delivering well informed newstalk; a total package of medium and message.

It is therefore stultifying to be advised by onlookers to limit what we say according to simplistic worldviews held by those who criticize but resent or are hurt by criticism. Over the past several years The Blare Blog has been peppered with "words to the wise" as to how we should confine our topics to those suitable for sensitive children who can barely read. From what we've determined these sensitive readers don't exist to begin with, yet are "imagined" by self-certain righteous policy censors who seem to think they represent Fox News. On the "medium" side of the conversation we've been advised to stick solely with technical issues, and on the "content" side we've been advised  that "we must respect the president" and otherwise restrain what we report; practice political correctness,as it were. My answer to the former is that KDX is a complete radio station and includes "program content" in the form of newstalk about which we plan to speak regardless of how cheerless things can be, and to the latter we say ""No, we may not necessarily respect the president" depending on whether he merits respect, nor do we curtsy before indecencies of corrupt patriots.

As a medium, radio is only half of a complete system, the other part consisting of content, and The Blare Blog is here to address the whole system.

Thursday June 13, 2019 -- Net Neutrality Still Matters
Tell You Why

Wednesday June 12, 2019 -- WE INTERRUPT POST-EXISTENCE TO BRING YOU NEWS THAT'S HAPPENING NOW!
Take It Away
Later That Same Day -- Unable to followup on this story.
After posting the above link we realized it was a day old, although if you dig around there are links within it to video recordings of the event. Next, we set about looking for an update on the story but after an hour scrolling through news-sites we see no mention of it. If you happen to run across something, please tell someone about it.

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Sunday June 9, 2019 - Post-Existence

The last thing I remember is that The Blare Blog Expired.

So, how can I be here, looking down from the ceiling, remembering?

This must be Post-Existence, the condition they talk about on radio shows after midnight.

A post-existing condition is a condition that exists after it exists, just like a pre-existing condition is a condition that exists before it exists.

I think we're in Blog Heaven. They might even have radio here. See what you can pick up.


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