Finderding

So you might decide you’d like to boost your signal above the legal power limit with an linear amplifier – not something I would recommend, but you might alternatively try to improve your local distance range with a good antenna design and placement The CB Superbowl channels and chatter is fun to dial in and listen to, but I mostly listen to Channel 19 if there is a storm in the area. I’ve spent a few late nights listening to shortwave and CB radio when there’s nothing interesting on local AM or FM stations. So if you have a CB radio or a shortwave receiver you might want to check out more than your local radio stations.

What really took me back to what one might refer to as a much simpler time before the Internet became such a major influence on our daily life is 26.96500 to 27.40500 MHz, basically the 11 meter band (CB Radio). You might hear some really weird conversations, but you might hear some interesting things too, like information pertaining to travel, road hazards, or weather conditions. I’m actually more intrigued by the versatility the CB radios still present today as an alternative communication medium in areas where cell phones and internet access are limited. I have radios that I can get weather updates on, but I can also get weather information from other CB users on channel 19 who might be reporting road conditions first hand, and some CB radios have a weather channel built in that scan the National Weather Service.

It’s not that I’m getting desensitized to the never ending negative narrative, I’m basically just tired of the nonsense other people feel the need to push onto others. Waiting to see what the new crop of Chromebooks and OS updates have in store for this year are worth the research time. I use the Linux terminal for basic troubleshooting (nmon, traceroute, htop, tcpdump) and avoid the Play Store apps for anything more than a basic setup. You can conform – follow the crowd and run Windows as your business orientated daily driver operating system, or you can opt into the creative world of Apple products.

I do like hot black coffee anytime, but I like it especially well on cold winter nights when I’m traveling out on a dark road or here in my shop. I depend on them to get me through the dark hours and they remind me that even if I’m a long way from home, I have a little bit of home with me. I usually bring my coffee from home, but I have on occasion stopped by a gas station or coffee shop to refill my thermos when levels are low and there is still a long way to go. I know people are very opinionated and some very upset about a lot of what we are seeing in the news recently, but for the most part I think it’s just a lot of noise that isn’t very productive unless you count fear and stress as productive enterprises.