THE BLARE BLOG
Spring/Summer 2019
Center of the Bla Bla Galaxy
JUNE
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.
Sunday June 30, 2019 9:03
AM CDT -- How to Stay Civil While Discussing America's Child
Concentration Camps
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
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
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
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.
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.
Monday June 24, 2019 9:09
PM CDT -- Caught in Disagreement
Monday June 24, 2019
10:59 AM CDT -- Directly to the Range Extender
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.
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
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.
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
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
Wednesday June 12, 2019
-- WE INTERRUPT POST-EXISTENCE TO BRING YOU NEWS THAT'S HAPPENING NOW!
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.