Dave Swanson

Yes - I build custom jumpers for your AMSAT setup: kg5cci.com/2019/08/the-cu…

The Agent Madness 2026 bracket is live. Browse the field, open matchups, and vote. agentmadness.ai/bracket My project is "Creek Intelligence". It's a silly little thing I vibe coded to predict when rain fed rivers in Arkansas can be boated. I'd appreciate your vote 😀

@SitDeck Still no joy on the verification emails. Been trying off and on all day to a gmail address.

What a day. This blew up. Did not expect that. We faced numerous issues today due to a huge influx of users. The system was built to be scalable but obviously it was not scalable enough. Most of the issues are now resolved. Infrastructure is upgraded. Code is modified to be more intelligent and lean. When we fixed the infrastructure the global Map rendering started to fail. This was also now resolved. If you had trouble getting in, please try again. Thanks for your patience and love. Did not anticipate the demand would be this high. Some stats: within our first hour 500 people signed up. That pace continued most of the day, peaking at more than 800 signups around 2pm today just as it was buckling. There are now nearly 7,000 accounts. In less than 24 hours. Some people have also expressed concerns that if the product is free, you are the product. That is patently false. We have zero intent to monetize in anyway other than offering optional paid tiers in the future. Also aware that some folks created a meme coin in SitDeck’s name. This is not something we have sanctioned or asked for and we need to understand the implications of it. It is appreciated but not sure we want that. This is not a money grab of any kind. For now thank you. Please continue to be patient. This is a new project. There will be other issues, no doubt. But hopefully this was the peak of them. Best, Dan

This is a very large explosion...

@Timcast @SunWeatherMan Nothing. Us radio nerds are about the only ones that see any practical impacts.

@SunWeatherMan what does it mean for us regular folk?

X8 Solar Flare. More details coming as they become available.

@Schwalm5132 Thank you so much for not capitalizing Ham, likes its an acronym.

I know several Ham Radio operators. It's a hobby of many Special Forces Communication NCOs (18E). These idiots are about to add some FCC charges to their criminal records, but before that happens everything they say will get recorded. May as well just start typing their confessions now.

@johnkonrad My only beef here man, is stop using all caps for HAM. Its not an acronym. We're hams. It's a derogatory name we embraced. Good read otherwise :-)

What qualifies me to report on German Navy radios being jammed, forcing them to revert to flashing-light Morse code? What receipts do you want to see? My… My Unlimited Master’s license to command ships of any size anywhere in the world? My FCC radio licenses? My Flashing Light training certification? My official log from a recent Morse Code (we call it “CQ”) international HAM radio contest (no I didn’t win 😓)? My 19-year resume as a maritime and naval journalist @gCaptain? My work in shipboard electronics, AI, and communications at MIT? My certification for building the mostly technically advanced ship at the time from the keel up? Or my flight stub to Germany to brief the admiral in charge of the task force in question? X only lets me upload four photos, so please let me know what else you need.

@AA5PK LOL

@kg5cci 🙄

@dtabor @KC7JPC My uncle's been going there pretty consistently for ~50 years... he said it's been getting hotter over time, which is interesting from a geology perspective... the river pool with the good cold mix has always been the happening place to be, even my kiddo agreed to that.

@KC7JPC @dtabor Thermopolis a fun stop if you've got time, and especially if you've got kids. Probably been 30 years since I've been, but I remember stopping our trips to Cody and swimming and having a good time. Family has been going to the 'Hobo Pool' in Saratoga for as long as I can remember.

@emilyjashinsky @ryangrim @ryangrim is wrong, but his arguments actually make me think about my position.. and his arguments are framed in a way that doesn't make me question his motives. That's exceptionally rare in the media. Keep up being wrong, and keep up the good work.

Quick thoughts with @ryangrim on what a gift it is to talk through the news with each other, even and especially when we think the other person is dangerously wrong — and most of our followers and friends do too

@Starlink Inside a case, in a canoe.. so you can paddle and camp the Buffalo River, but still not miss that really important zoom call in the morning.

Starlink Mini fits in a backpack and connects in minutes, ideal for staying connected while camping 🛰️🏕️

@k5zm_ Scroll back through my Twitter feed if you want to see pictures of everything, there's a lot of demonstrations 😉

@KG5CCI Nice.

Looking for non-stake guy anchor options for a 20' telescoping mast. My mind says 'kettlebells' but holy crap -spendy- and how far do I wanna be lugging those? I'm probably overthinking this and missing something simple/obvious. Thoughts? Tnx.

@k5zm_ For SOTA I improvised a mount from PVC that would fit on my frame backpack and then I would just sit on it while operating. I used an 18 ft fiberglass fishing pull and a super lightweight inverted V. Always did the job.

@k5zm_ For car portable operations, a drive over using the car itself as ballast is superior. I've activated 50 plus grids on 6 m in the Mustang with a 30 ft spider beam and a three element on top using the drive on support.

@N3QEH So they make a "finger condom" these days that is basically what you asked for, without the shock and awe. I carry them in my first aid kits, and they're super handy. Your story is much better though :-)

I cut my finger while I was making Christmas dinner for my family. When I was younger and in school, I worked as a cook under a 5-star chef. When someone in the kitchen cut their finger, they would have to cover it for health code reasons. I mean, do you really want a bloody bandage in your soup? But cooking all day in a hot kitchen wasn't exactly conducive to wearing full latex gloves. So the chef would hand his car keys to the newest cook. He would tell that cook to take the car and go to the drugstore. At the drugstore, he'd need to go to the pharmacist. He would then have to ask the pharmacist for "extra-small, non-lubricated condoms." The drugstore stocked them, but didn't keep them out on the shelves. You had to go ask for them. It always amused me to watch the look of horror while he told them what they had to do and as they realized this wasn't a joke. He was really telling them to go buy extra-small, non-lubricated condoms. That finger had to be covered!

@Aviation_Intel I will also qualify, there were a lot of rumors about Starlink not getting a fair shake under the FCC's funding projects to bring broadband to the rural US under previous admin.. I'm an Engineer, so that's above my pay grade, but *that* would definitely shake the ISP world up.

@Aviation_Intel Anywhere it makes $$$ sense to put fiber in the ground, that's still going to be the winner. You can't beat bandwidth at laser frequencies, it's just physics. That said, there's a sliding scale in rural US where it doesn't make sense, and Starlink will shine in those cases.

Is anyone talking about how Starlink could replace a lot of fiber under Trump admin? Huge apparatus of special interests involved with that massive part of U.S. infrastructure. Also if you think Elon was rich now... Haven't seen much on this and its implications.

@dtabor Precip? What's that? Is it something you could send down to us?