Good morning, and Happy Earth Day.

Linkage

There were lots of QSO Parties this weekend and I managed to avoid them all. Looks like AO-109 has gone suborbital. I like crystal radios and I cannot lie. If every day was Christmas, we’d all get sick of it. POTA, same. Nice to see John, EI7GL hitting his stride with the latest (#0004) newsletter with an emphasis on radio experiments & the VHF bands.

The latest edition of CheeseBits included a random link to a video of a guy touching a hotdog to an AM broadcast tower. Stupid? Yes, let’s just call it a PSA and move on. Colorado State University (CSU) hurricane researchers predict an active Atlantic hurricane season (June 1 to November 30) in their initial 2024 forecast. The US Federal Aviation Administration is updating its launch license requirements: if you’re launching something designed for reentry, you’ll need a license for that, too. Before you launch.

Production of some models of Z80 processor – the chip that helped spark the PC boom of the 1980s – will cease in June 2024 after an all-too-brief 48 years. August 9th - 11th - don’t miss the International EME 2024 Conference, happening near Trenton, NJ (in Ewing). Council denies ham radio tower extension. Do you copy? A look at North Carolina Emergency Management’s Comms rockstars.

Cogitation…

50 Years Later, This Apollo-Era Antenna Still Talks to Voyager 2 DSS-43 is the only antenna that can communicate with the probe.

Republicans introduce spectrum pipeline bill that favors high- power licensed use. New bill requires at least 1,250 megahertz of spectrum between 1.3-13.2 GHz be auctioned for full-power, licensed commercial use within the first six years of the laws eight year life span.

An owner of a Tesla Cybertruck said his vehicle turned into a giant brick after taking it on a routine visit to the car wash. It started working again after a complete reboot. Another customers asks, “if Tesla goes out of business will their vehicles quit working without continued software updates?”

The share of US voters who say they are highly interested in the upcoming presidential election hit a 20-year low at this point in the election calendar, per an NBC News poll. Well duh! Watching these two clueless old farts fumble their way to November is about as interesting as monitoring the Web cam in the cafeteria at the senior center…