http://reboot.fcc.gov/reform/systems/spectrum-dashboard allows you to see who owns that frequency you've been listening to. Or that one that's spitting out spurious emissions. Nicely done, FCC.

I got my first real ham beam.
Bought it at the HRO.
Built it 'til my fingers hurt.
'was the Spring of 2-0-10.

Me and some guys some guys from SCERN
had a club a we tried real hard.
Bob led and Charles played Brass
I always knew we'd go far

When I look at it now
That li'l beam goes forever
And if I had the choice
Ya - I'd always want more

Ok, Ok, I need work on my parody lyrics. Should also state that this is my first _commercial_ beam.

We've seen pics of ball-lightning. This is a video of space lightning. Actually, it would be better name extra-planetary lightning.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/04/first-video-of-extraterrestria...

From the Wired article:

The Cassini spacecraft has captured lightning flashing in a cloud on Saturn’s dark side in a first-of-its-kind video.

Due to most broadcast television stations moving to UHF, some 4m frequency ranges have been freed up.

Excerpt from 70mhz.com which has been following the coverage:

NPR reports that a sixteen year old has won a worldwide science fair project by solving the problem of underground communication. Basically, he is passing data on LF. Tests were done at 946' below the surface. Read the article for the full details.

Below is an image of the antenna:

I guess the internet is really as reliable as its intended design. I believe amateur radio can provide more access, especially in rural areas, but as populations become more urbanized, wireless access becomes a simple method for the masses to communicate. Dozens will hear dozens of welfare reports on the NTS. Thousands will see a tweet.

Attached is a post to QRZ regarding the crisis in Haiti.

I first saw light being used for communication by Mr. Wizard on Nickelodeon. Dom Herbert modulated a flashlight and directed the beam to an old reel movie player. The sound was reproduced from the player's speaker.

Over the years, I've thought about using lasers and CDS cells to perform the same feat. I wasn't alone. Several groups of hams are experimenting in this territory.

The best sites I've found are:
http://modulatedlight.org/optical_comms/optical_index.html
http://www.carolinaflashers.org/
http://modulatedlight.org/optical_comms/mountain_bounce1.html

I love APIs! Looks like OpenAPRS has one. If you're going to go, go big! Might as well incorporate it in into a Blackberry app.

http://dcc.openaprs.net/

The last QTH was supplied w/ several decades old trees that made perfect attachment points for wire antennas. The new QTH, not so much. I was spoiled by the Alpha Delta DX-LB. It's going to take some creative engineering here. While researching the options, I came across the "No excuses" 160m vertical.

If the 746Pro is ever back on the air, we'll see how it performs.

http://www.k6mm.com/pages/ant-v160.html

Being locked in irritates me. With most other digital modes, if the radio can demodulate the signal, the data can be pulled out of the audio signal. D-star boogers up this idea. There are benefits to it, but it means buying a new rig. A new radio I can handle. The part I don't care for is that the radio is stuck using the AMBE vocoder. Why couldn't they have put the vocoder into an FPGA that can be reconfigured down the road when the next greatest thing comes along? I don't want an OS on my computer that I can't customize nor do I want a radio that's locked down.