I think once you escape the system you don't find games or other distractions enjoyable anymore. When you're fully actualized and are capable of "going your own path", satisfaction then comes from making things and trying to improve the world. That is if you don't want to have children, as is the case with me.
I think we've been conditioned from childhood to get a job, work for the corporate world and chase material goods. All of those further the interests of those in power.
Update: Wild foraging, living with nature, moving to another country, or doing what hunter gatherers did. Running your own business. Camping out in the wild, while still making money from something. There are so many other options, you need to be creative about it...
Anyway @NoMoreNicks I've flagged your post and I'm closing this HN account down (by deleting the password)....
But we have things like the Raspberry Pi, which are very low cost and completely open to tinkering. Add a keyboard and clip-on display then you have a tiny but capable development machine, in a smartphone like form-factor.
Such as tracking you every moment of your waking life. How modern technology has become so evil, looking back. Nowadays every device we have is clearly spyware, from the point of view of 1999.
You could alter the video timings on the Jornada a bit, by writing to the video chip registers directly. That would slightly improve its abysmal contrast ratio.
I had one running NetBSD together with a Cisco Aironet 350 PCMCIA WiFi card for wardriving purposes. With the driver for the WiFi card patched to enable monitor mode. Had two different antennas, a quarter wave dipole, which I made myself, and also an Andrew QD-2402, a 16dBi antenna (!) that could receive WiFi APs from more than 20km away, when on high ground.
You could even develop software on it, compile programs with GCC, write Perl scripts to do various things, e.g. automatically scan for and connect to open access points as you walked around town. I think that script even tested if the access point had Internet access or not, and blacklisted ones that didn't. Worked really well, there were so many open access points back in the day. Also had the "links" / "eLinks" web browser, that was text only.
And you could also overclock the bus to the Epson video chip, to allow for faster display updates. The video chip had 2D acceleration, I might have written an XFree86 driver for that, but cannot be sure about it.
I also wrote a flashing tool for the WiFi card, that let you alter the regulatory domain settings to enable full 100mW power output, and also change the MAC address stored in Flash. I think I have the source code to that somewhere...
It's just so amazing to see that the functionality of that enormous WiFi card has now been shrunk down to a tiny QFN chip, an ESP32.
It would be quite a lot of fun to make such an AI operate on the CB band, supervised and in compliance with the regulations, as a joke. A bunch of hams would quite easily freak out, hearing amateur style operation complete with valid sounding callsigns, that don't actually exist.
But we have to be really careful we don't really use a valid amateur's callsign there.... We don't want to spoof someone, which might be illegal. Again this all needs to be double checked that it's 100% in compliance with the law.
Anyway I'll take my ranting over to places like 4chan, rather than continue to spam this site.... And I'll continue to remain 100% within the law.
I don't really care if it's embarrassing or not. As long as my actions are entirely legal, anything pretty much goes. Encouraging people to install regulatory approved powerline networking adapters is completely legal. As it's likely I'm not the only one outraged about this here, the idea to do that might spread. If that happens it won't be secret anymore.
And we have the right to freedom of speech, to get emotional, angry, and even irrational when we see outrageous punishments being dished out by the government, for people being persistently rude on the radio. Especially so when we hear of other people supporting such draconian punishment.
And even more so when large parts of the amateur radio community agree with these punishments and also behave like they are the radio police and have the right to threaten those who might break the rules. When I see other people threatened in that manner it really strikes a nerve with me, and I vent publicly on the forums in response, as I'm doing here.
And if I want to think it's like a sit in protest then it's my right to do so. Under human rights, freedom of conscience and freedom of thought. I might be wrong about thinking that way, but I have the right to be wrong, to be incorrect. As long as I don't break the law.
It's like sit in protesting climate change, or a particularly bad corporation who pollutes the environment, the blockades are going to cause a nuisance for other people not involved in it, but again these protests are legal. This is how change happens.
Many of these amateur radio stations might pose a health and safety hazard to nearby homes. Having thousand watt power levels in residential neighborhoods, while legal, might not be safe for people, especially children. And the amateur community in general turns a blind eye to that. So yet another reason for protesting. Actually, in that case I feel lobbying to get that prohibited might have a better chance of success.
And if it does become prohibited, we don't need to fine offenders $24,000, the FCC can get a warrant, and come in and seize their equipment instead, if they don't stop when requested.
When you start hearing about $19,000 fines for a single incident, it's no surprise you feel like wanting to encourage people to get those nice, perfectly legal, Comtrend powerline networking adaptors. With that manufacturer being fully approved, and happening to be one of the worst offenders. Not surprising one bit.
Those threats incite disobedience and rebellion. Meanwhile hams complain about being shut down because their 800 Watt linear amplifiers (11:14 into that video) are interfering with insulin pumps. Not giving a damn about the victim, and even blaming the victim.
And I will continue campaigning about such injustices in society, not only limited to amateur radio, using my legally protected right to freedom of speech, while fully staying within the law.
" If on the other hand you thought you'd be a smart alec and jump on the bands to say hello or to wind up the Amateur community, then according to this link…
You could be fined $10,000 as an initial fine, and then multiple fines of $7,000 for each infringement. So it can get expensive very quickly.
You can also be sent to jail — particularly if you cause harmful interference to services such as Fire, Police etc.
And for those who believe you won't get caught, bear in mind that the Amateur Radio community are quite capable of easily tracking down anyone who screws with the licensed bands, and passing that information on to the FCC along with evidence such as recordings or logs of transmissions. "
Let's come up with some more ideas: Can we train an AI to imitate amateur radio operators???? That sounds interesting... We can capture large chunks of spectrum in one go, identify channel frequencies and train on everything simultaneously....
High power ham radio has also been found to interfere with medical equipment, such an insulin pumps, apparently a ham got shut down over this. Although it's somewhat the fault of the pump manufacturer there. Another potential reason to prohibit it.
Just have a look at the comments in the video, that says everything about the ham radio community. Not all of them of course, but there are so many individuals with that mentality.
The video shows him having an Ameritron AL-811H, which is an 800W linear amplifier. I'm not surprised at all it's affecting her insulin pump, with those power levels being emitted just 3 doors down.
By the way, it's really worth watching the ending of that video... My God.
I think maybe it shouldn't be legal to operate high power amateur stations in built up areas, due to health and safety concerns?
That there might be enough people out there, once they are aware of the very high power levels used by amateur radio operators, that might absolutely not want this going on, because they have children around, and they don't want these extreme power levels inside their homes.
These hams are so willing to police people potentially intruding on their bands, but that's there's a chance that their very high powered signals, which are intruding onto nearby homes, are putting peoples' children at risk. I think we don't really know the full risk of it is right now, that the debate's out on it?
And it's worse than 5G microwave signals, because those are dramatically attenuated by the walls of the home. Which is not the case for amateur radio, which uses much lower frequencies, especially HF.
In the UK they have already passed legislation regarding EMF safety for amateur radio stations.
He wanted to use the Baofeng radios on license-free FRS frequencies and got so much shit for that. He very much sums up how I feel about it. As long as it's programmed for the correct frequencies, who cares?
It's not just some operators, it's a large part of the ham community that's bent on policing "intruders" like that. I don't really care what other people think about my actions here. We can all have different ways we protest this issue, as long as it's lawful.
I'm just hoping that there's a tiny chance that idea might spread. As one of the many ways of fighting back against these draconian measures, without breaking the law. And I'll continue to come up with more entirely legal ways of countering this.
While I don't personally think it's hazardous to health, some people do believe that having a multiple hundred watt transmitter in the neighborhood might have health effects, and it could be especially harmful to small children. Lots of people used to complain about smart meters, and those are only 1 Watt at most, which is tiny by comparison.
Or even better, refuse to participate in the ham community and find something else to do, as the guy in the YouTube video does.
There's nothing illegal about installing powerline networking adapters. Doing that to protest the absolutely outrageous fines being dished out there. And that so many radio amateurs support this kind of punishment for relatively trivial behavior, that has caused no physical harm to anyone. It's like a sit in protest, to disrupt it, without breaking the law.
It's not hams being jerks that's the problem. It's that their threats have the backing of the law. They have many petty rules, which if you break you can find yourself in trouble. With fellow amateur radio operators being the ones notifying the authorities. That's what really riles me up. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20294483
This guy here is being fined $24,000 for what is essentially petty harassment, which is ridiculous.
It's been like this already, for quite some time (!), at lest here in the UK, VDSL2 to thank for that:
https://rsgb.org/main/technical/emc/vdsl-interference-report...
So it's already being jammed, with the noise floor going up, although not to the point of being unusable.
And mental health issues resulting from the soul-crushing school system itself. From boredom in the classroom, and from grading and testing of students. It's a prison environment that children are compelled to attend.
Well, yes because I don't want to be involved in things that are so authoritarian in nature, with draconian punishments enforced by the government for what amounts to being stupid.
I want to be involved with hobbies where you can be more playful and carefree, where the threat of such punishment is not present. Where there's freedom for exploration and experimentation, like the ISM bands, which are what I use instead. Without authorities dictating to you every minor detail of what you're permitted to do or not, under threat of force by the state. And requiring you do identify yourself at all times, or be ratted out by a fellow ham and prosecuted. No thanks.
Also I've been personally threatened by a ham radio operator (in the UK), over me constructing a perfectly legal, non-interfering high voltage power supply. And hearing other people having the same experiences as well, as if hams consider parts of the radio spectrum their "territory". I know myself, and many other people do as well, that the amateur radio community has this authoritarian streak, which is so eager to call out those breaking minor rules. And back that up with threats of prosecution.
Yes, from personal experience, so many in the ham community are very rule oriented, which is counter to my personality and philosophy. That's another reason I want nothing to do with it as a hobby.
And no wonder there's a lack of innovation in the field, it's all tied up with rules and the personalities that thrive in such environments.
Even better if some product came onto the market, that used wideband powerline communications for its functioning, and practically everyone's got one. I think some electric car chargers might do so in the future. That would not go down well with amateurs, at all! When everyone down the street would have, in effect, legal jammers.
MaxLinear have some nice ones, complete with datasheet, it also works in MIMO mode, not for just powerline but pretty much anywhere.
Update: I think solar inverters are causing big problems here already, so it's only a matter of time now as they become increasingly popular. So we can kiss those amateur radio enthusiasts and their utterly draconian punishments goodbye in the long term.
Lobster fishing is usually a large scale operation run by a business. Yes the fines are appropriate for a business, they wouldn't be for an individual though.
If an individual was to be fined excessively over a handful of lobsters, then again it's another example of overcriminalization and it's likely environmental pressure groups behind these laws, and it's completely wrong.
Yes, I agree with you about the secondary users of the ham band, though. I forgot about that one.
In fact in that post, I was actually advocating for the hobby to be phased out, and replaced with some other unlicensed system, given that so much of it's community is in support of such draconian measures and punishments for those who trivially violate the rules.
As I said, it should be consigned to the "dustbin of history" because of the draconian laws surrounding it. The laws have to be changed, or it's got to go.
Makes you want to use powerline Ethernet for everything, which happens to stomp on the HF radio bands. Perfectly legal to install and use, a nice replacement for all those trailing cables.
Yes, civil disobedience is how these draconian rules get changed, assuming everyone does it. Notice ham antennas down the road? Then get some powerline Ethernet adapters, ensure they are fully regulatory approved for the country you are in.
And that is perfectly legal civil disobedience too, which is likely to cause utter hell for that amateur operator, who likely supports this draconian punishment for such a trivial matter.
Of course they are, but fining someone $24,000 for behaving rudely, even repeatedly, on the radio is far far worse. And so many amateur radio enthusiasts support these absolutely draconian punishments, which is damaging the reputation of the hobby.
I think we've been conditioned from childhood to get a job, work for the corporate world and chase material goods. All of those further the interests of those in power.
Update: Wild foraging, living with nature, moving to another country, or doing what hunter gatherers did. Running your own business. Camping out in the wild, while still making money from something. There are so many other options, you need to be creative about it...
Anyway @NoMoreNicks I've flagged your post and I'm closing this HN account down (by deleting the password)....