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The Blare Blog

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Mind Boggling and Flabber Gasting

June 2021



Wednesday June 30, 2021 2:48 PM CDT -- Artisan Radio Sends Word --

Artisan Radio will be returning to the airwaves and the internet soon. We've just gone through an unprecedented heat wave over 100o for days here in the Pacific northwest.
- Artisan Radio

The Blog has been awaiting your return and has held your No. 1 spot on the DEMAND RADIO page.

Wednesday June 30, 2021 9:49 AM CDT -- About the Postal Service --

Benjamin Franklin's invention, the U.S. Postal Service, remains in tatters following Trump's destructive appointment of Louis DeJoy to destroy it from within for the objective of privatizing it to benefit their rich pals. Our new Prezzy Figurehead, Joe, hasn't done anything about the problem, and household bills are arriving late containing the caveat that mail slowdown might result in late payments, pushing us to use online payment methods in lieu of mail. Meanwhile, the Vice Presidential Figurehead still hasn't been to Europe.

Tuesday June 29, 2021 6:40 PM CDT -- New Zealand On a Watt --

New Zealand allows legal radio broadcasting with 1 Watt of power on a select portion of the FM band and Rag-FM at Ragland, New Zealand, run by Johny Cole dominates at 107.7 MHz.
More Studio Control Desks Than Major Networks

Tuesday June 29, 2021 10:29 AM CDT -- Everything Rehashed --

Why didn't we get cicadas here on the campus of Home School College and what does it matter? I also wonder why, despite spending much time in the vegetative splendor of our forests and gardens I've only attracted one tic? Maybe they don't like me? While we're on the subject I want to give a shout out to the spiders that keep our radio studios bug free. I visit them regularly and there they are backed into their little web-sheds they build for themselves, waiting days or weeks for hapless multi-leggers to get all sticky-stuck in the cobbyweb.

The collapse of buildings should strike terror into the hearts of those working or residing in large edifices, but like airplane crashes, the statistical number of falling skyreachers is on the low side. My first FM job was up on the 21st floor of a solid building with a 500' radio tower on the roof. During a lengthy tape I'd climb the stairs to an observation deck about 30-feet up the tower and watched night barges scooting on the Mississippi. FM job number 2 was in the 7th-floor penthouse of a cheaply built hotel, but before it could collapse it was torn down. FM job number 3 or 4 was on the 16th floor of a 19-storey building which remains standing today as something of a historic landmark. KDX-FM doesn't count as a job, but the Internet Building is about the size of a toll booth and at risk of blowing away during one of these storms.

I'm wondering how safe it is sitting this close to the new Smart Meter so pleasantly pushed by the electric company without the slightest billing reduction. The KDX work station is jammed right up against this outer wall directly alongside that busy telemetry hub and may even have blown my RF-Explorer Spectrum Analyzer, which I held near the new meter to view microwave intensity. Now all the Analyzer does is flash off and on at 1-second intervals. There's no time to worry about the broken Analyzer while I'm busy wondering if soy oil is killing us. I have reasons for being dubious about it because of the sardines (an as yet untold story) and see it too listed as a peanut butter ingredient. You don't seem that interested.

Tuesday June 29, 2021 7:27 AM CDT -- MainStream Media in the U.S. Ignoring Important News
The U.S. case against Jullian Assange has fallen apart. Don't look for details on major news outlets.
Democracy Now has the story

Tuesday June 28, 2021 6:11 AM CDT -- First Preview of Windows 11
Dinky Changes

Monday June 28, 2021 6:09 PM CDT -- I Think I Know --
It may be important that the acronym UFO has been replaced by the new acronym UAP. The change may actually contain clues as to what's being witnessed by those who see unusual events up in the above-o-sphere. The word 'unidentified' is the sole description common to both acronyms. But the new word 'aerial' places these observations 'in the air' while not claiming they are 'flying'. And the word 'object', which connotes a physically solid structure, is replaced by the word 'phenomenon', which allows the possibility that what is seen is not physical. Play with those thoughts and maybe you'll figure out what might be taking place.

Monday June 28, 2021 8:41 AM CDT -- A Thought --
According to news reports the crime rate in the U.S. has risen sharply in recent time and with little verification the cause is informally blamed on discontent brought on by the COVID situation. But I suspect something else might explain the increase in crime. I wonder if it might relate to a general work stoppage or slowdown by police in the face of recent charges and convictions holding them accountable for brutal treatment of citizens. In a certain sense it stands to reason given the added fact that some suspects in police encounters are actually dangerous and requiring of forceful handling, making police work a risky occupation no matter how the job is carried out. Over 100 police personnel have quit the Minneapolis Police Department in the wake of the Derek Chauvin case, giving credence to my outlook. It's a thought.

Sunday June 27, 2021 7:52 PM CDT -- Invasion at 900 MHz --
Cards in the mail started arriving with jovial messages from the electric company about the upcoming installation of Smart Meters which would bring success and happiness by their advanced improvements and features. But the messages, printed together with smiling faces hired by the promotion department to convey feelings of well being, were illusively vague and our attempt to glean exactly what benefits we as household occupants would experience left us puzzled. The reality of the matter is what the brochures and fliers did not say.
Secrets of Smart Meters

Sunday June 27, 2021 1:04 PM CDT -- Ducking In and Out of Existence --
There's a lot of yard neatening waiting to be done, but as the landscaper holding monopoly on all of our campus work, every day is a matter of determining a reason to postpone doing anything. High heat and pending storms are very useful in this regard. Philosophy helps too as we know that today is merely an illusion which will stop existing in less than 24-hours. Why would anybody work on a day that doesn't exist? One cannot escape entirely, but we can limit the number of real workdays by reducing our presence in any one of them.

Sunday June 27, 2021 12:51 NOON -- Look at the Proof --
The best proof that there's intelligent life in outer space is the fact that it hasn't come here.
- Sir Arthur C. Clarke, writer, inventor, futurist

Sunday June 27, 2021 12:32 NOON -- Radio Ministry and Cruets --
Officials of the Church of All Worlds (CAW) have no idea that I am planning a glorious future for the NeoPagan religion, and one of these days I'll make contact to let them know that they have a seminary and now a radio station. I'm even thinking about a media ministry reaching out from the Blare OnAir radio program, on the hunt for some of those Christian radio licenses that glut the airwaves. We'll need a well chosen altar wine, plenty of research already having been done in previous years pointing toward semi-sweet red, but first we must know if CAW has altars. Churches employ quite a large inventory of specialized furniture ranging from altars to pews to lecturns and pulpits to organ lofts, and it befalls us to determine the physical layout of a Pagan church. As perhaps the only two actual earth ministries of our time we must be sure Reverend Billy and his Extinction Talk work at the Church of StopShopping are allied together with CAW in a common bond to save the planet.

Sunday June 27, 2021 11:25 AM CDT -- Founding of a Virtual Seminary --
No sooner having elected myself a member of the Church of All Worlds (CAW) I already plan to found a virtual seminary, even prior to knowing what it is I now believe. Scholarship starts with a review of Paganism, since the CAW is NeoPaganistic, and this brings to mind what the Catholic school had to say during the years while I was involuntarilly sent to a school run by nuns in square bonnets. I was told that Pagans were like a skin disease and would eventually be wiped out by the spread of Christianity. Henceforth a form of body language was used as a pejorative shorthand in which any mention of the word 'pagan' was accompanied by a facial grimace. Later life made the grimace permanent as part of the natural disfigurement of old age. As young students the religious instruction was not put to the test of critical thought, something omitted from Christian instruction so as to shackle the mind and throw away the key. Trusting students accepted any nonsense told them by costume wearing faculty not only draped in redundant titles, i.e., sister, mother, father,  but important enough to own their own gradeschool buildings.There's no reason we of CAW can't have buildings, but might do best by avoiding architects from Surfside, Florida.

Sunday June 27, 2021 8:57 AM CDT -- Religious Growth --
Dearinth
As I see it, we belong to religious organizations for the same reason we mow grass and wash the car. We want the neighbors to know that we are regular people so that they will look elsewhere for someone to suspect of being snobbish or trashy. I myself have risked being too open about my snobbishness and perhaps ought to better conceal my atheism, which more than anything can lead to banishment from society. Having a religion is like health insurance, it provides a layer of protection from the superstitiously nosy. Religion comes in many brands, and leaving one usually means joining another. For someone like me who is easily bored by bad music choosing a religion is a fussy exercise, but everyone knows that God works in mysterious ways which is very permissive and serves to explain why yesterday, while reading about the author Robert Heinlein, I was introduced to the Church of All Worlds, and I not only found an instant home, but already plan to rise in church hierarchy once I know the titles and honorifics employed by this organization. I might even conduct a fund drive.
Church of All Worlds
Official Website

Saturday June 26, 2021 4:22 PM CDT -- Windows 11 Will Be Free for Some --
The Deal

Saturday June 26, 2021 7:17 AM CDT -- Beauty in the Wild --
Kestrel Hovers & Defends Hollow

Friday June 25, 2021 9:51 PM CDT -- Why People Like Us Work in Radio --
The only good show on commercial radio in the U.S. is the Walter M. Sterling Show on Sunday nights on the kind of better stations that can be heard coming in by skywave. In this small snippet from June 20 he explains what we always knew internally about ourselves as radio people but never expressed out loud.
This moment from Walter M. Sterling actually heard by listeners who were lucky enough to be tuned in

Friday June 25, 2021 9:04 PM CDT -- Podcasts Are Radio in Outer Space --
You won't find them on the terrestrial dial but billions of them occupy a night sky of the mind where would-be stars strive to be heard by earthly downloaders. There are more podcasts floating around than there are potential listeners.
Podcast Observatory

Friday June 25, 2021 1:03 PM CDT -- Wringing Water from Thin Air --
New Invention from Zurich

Friday June 25, 2021 10:32 AM CDT -- Undergrowth with Two Figures --
Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh 1890 - Wikipedia Creative Commons

Friday June 25, 2021 10:02 AM CDT -- Assange's Fiancee Urges President Biden to Free Wikileaks Founder --
Make the U.S. Again a Beacon for Free Press

Friday June 25, 2021 9:45 AM CDT --

"We need to check you to make sure you're not the enemy we're protecting you from."
- John McAfee about the Department of Homeland Security

Friday June 25, 2021 9:10 AM CDT -- Storm Time --
3:35 AM CDT a very efficient storm announced itself with a nearby BAM! followed by an onrush of pouring rain and within minutes retreated into peaceful quiet. KDX signed on for "Fault Lines" from RT America, but by 8 AM a nightlike darkness brought another approaching storm sending KDX into hunkerdown safety mode, disconnected for 2-hours of continual distant thunder that failed to arrive at close range, putting us finally back in operation by 10 AM. Forecasts predict over a week of on off storms as June reaches its last already next Wednesday.

Thursday June 24, 2021 12:54 NOON CDT -- Flashes & Bangs
A trail of thunderstorms is traveling from the southwest toward the northeast with our Homeshool College Campus mere miles southeast of the whole prideless parade. We are sitting here watching the
Lightning Map

Thursday June 24, 2021 8:12 AM CDT -- An Experimental Exercise --
MicroBoard
Correspondent Boomer suggested an Arduino device for hosting our website and radio servers, and we're ready to conference on the concept and sketch a plan for giving it a trial. First question, should we be talking about Arduino or Raspberry Pi, two brands of more or less the same thing? Second, will these small-scale computer boards respond to Windows based software such as Abyss Web Server, Icecast Streaming Server and the suite of softwares driven by Zara automation ware? If not, is there a whole other way of digital life? We are perfect summer school students because our minds are so empty.

Thursday June 24, 2021 6:27 AM CDT -- Non-Suicidal --
NonSuicidal
'If I suicide myself, I didn't': old McAfee Tweet

Wednesday June 23, 2021 4:20 PM CDT -- John McAfee Died in Spanish Prison --
According to Huffington Post John McAfee was found dead in a prison cell this afternoon. It's only been 'this afternoon' for a short time, yet the Wikipedia page on McAfee is already updated to include the death. 'Suicide' is reported as the probable cause.
Wikipedia on John McAfee

Wednesday June 23, 2021 4:19 PM CDT --
No matter how much time there is, it's always temporary.
- Carl Blare, on duty

Wednesday June 23, 2021 2:31 PM CDT -- Beefy Breefs --
Been tinkering with the digital audio quality of the chain of applications generating radio program audio for broadcasting and streaming and have achieved an overall improvement by carefully analyzing Hans Von Zutphen,s wonderful Stereo Tools Processor and determining that all the presets available were optimized for musical tastes, so we customized it for voice-emphasis and stand proud of new KDX High Fidelity!

Made tonight's travel arrangements to include the RR route of Mexico's popular El Chepe passenger train from Chihuahua to San Rafael, a ride through scenic Copper Canyon, then back to the States with Amtrak from Emeryville, California, to Reno, Nevada. KDX on the rails starting about 6:30 PM Eastern.

The security department learned that author Cory Doctorow is this week's guest for the annual Philosophy Talk 'Summer Reading List' edition, explaining why his name became attached to the 'Strange Email' of the other day. 'Our government' isn't much of a reader so it's anyone's guess what their analysis will conclude. Probably the main thing is the kind of 'make work' that keeps them employed.

Wednesday June 23, 2021 5:02 AM CDT -- Radio Trains --
Unseen Trains
Word went out that KDX was featuring all night train travel & Brooce came aboard to enjoy his own sleeper compartment.

The train was great!! I found it to be very relaxing and it helped me go to sleep. It ran for hours and hours! It was very easy to connect to the KDX stream.
- Brooooooce

KDX will be on the rails again tonight, then for the remainder of the week, Thursday into the weekend, we will be signing off after dark for possibility of nightime thunderstorms.

Tuesday June 22, 2021 8:53 AM CDT -- A Plague Opera --
Oedipus Rex

Tuesday June 22, 2021 8:24 AM CDT -- Long Distance AM Fran's Way --


Tuesday June 22, 2021 8:02 AM CDT -- Greatest Studio Effect of All Time --
Fran Plate Echo
Visit Frantone Electronics

Tuesday June 22, 2021 6:39 AM CDT -- Morning Briefs --
The first pleasantly cool overnight of the summer here in KDX Land was spent on a 12-hour audio trainride through the Swiss Alps, arriving at 6 this morning for "Fault Lines" with Shane Stranahan and Jamarl Thomas. Where will we go tonight?

Further analysis of "Strange Email (Mon. 6/21)" gives detail to our probability suspectations noting that the missive of interest is related to weekly correspondence from the "Philosophy Talk" radio program produced at Stanford University, our curiously irregular mail item displaying notification sent to Cory Doctorow and incidentally listing every radio station affiliated with the program. Mr. Doctorow is not a radio station but would quite reasonably be attached to a philosophy enterprise and "your government" would understandably glue its nose to such exchange because to them "philosophy" is a potential "public safety" menace in need of "future analysis". Even philosophers don't know what philosophy is.
Cory Doctorow is a Known Intellectual
Doctorow believes that copyright laws should be liberalised to allow for free sharing of all digital media. He has also advocated filesharing.  
He argues that copyright holders should have a monopoly on selling their own digital media and that copyright laws should
not be operative unless someone attempts to sell a product that is under someone else's copyright.

Doctorow is an opponent of digital rights management and claims that it limits the free sharing of digital media
and frequently causes problems for legitimate users (including registration problems that lock users out of their own purchases
and prevent them from being able to move their media to other devices).

Monday June 21, 2021 3:47 PM CDT -- Tiny Fawn Saved from Big Lake by Goldendoodle
We Interrupt the Blog for This

Monday June 21, 2021 2:41 PM CDT -- Rev. Billy Goes Full Time --
Rev. Billy and the Church of StopShopping has launched a 24/7 radio stream.
EXTINCTION TALK
This program stream is now part of the KDX Demand Radio page.

Monday June 21, 2021 2:18 PM CDT -- Strange Email --
The Inbox today brought an irregular Email indirectly related to one of the radio programs scheduled by KDX, and what stood out the most was this message in all caps:
THIS EMAIL HAS BEEN INTERCEPTED BY YOUR GOVERNMENT
AND WILL BE RETAINED FOR FUTURE ANALYSIS.
"My" government? I would hope that any government of mine would do a better job of identifying itself. I have not asked for nor been asked by any government nor component of government to permit viewing or analyzing of emails sent to or from my account. I am embarrassed that "my" government, as it claims to be, would waste working hours rifling through my messages and have no confidence that its analysis of any written information would further 'public safety'.

Monday June 21, 2021 9:26 AM CDT -- Carl Ducks Into the Cafe's & Nightclubs of Film Noir --
Common to almost all film noir black and white movies of the 40s were the dives, the social hangouts, where crimes were planned, affairs arranged, and sexy singers sparked jealous rivalries. Carl decides to link Blare OnAir with a few of these in a bid to enhance his own social life.
Meet Carl at Sam's Cafe
Later That Night at the Pelican Club

Monday June 21, 2021 7:12 AM CDT -- SUMMER SOLSTICE 2 --
Two solsti? No, it's the same one that started at 11:32 PM EDT last night and continues through today. Technically, then, and as a matter of math, today is the longest day of the year, meaning, longest daylight, shortest night. But that's not the only thing we have to report. Last night the KDX operational area was targeted by violent weather which took down trees, powerlines, and caused flooding. By good fortune our radio campus here at the Internet Building went unscathed and so far we're still trying to calculate where the worst weather actually occurred. Today could bring more fierce weather and we may need to sign off to seek a place of shelter.

Sunday June 20, 2021 4:18 PM CDT -- Summer Radio Travel --
KDX listeners will be riding train sound exporting ears to Europe, Taiwan and often the United States as a relief from talk programming, which will be cut back until it's cool enough to pay attention to it. We'll never actually reach any destinations, but the travel experience will be calming in itself because these train sounds are fully air conditioned and passage is paid courtesy of The Blare Blog. Perhaps we can meet up at Spreepark.
Trainride through derelict Spreepark area Berlin

Sunday June 20, 2021 10:00 AM CDT -- Fitting In --
Everyone wants to be accepted by neighbors, coworkers, fellow soldiers and classmates. And most of us know what's required to be a member in good standing of everyday society, but expectations change over time and it's important to stay up to date on what's in and what's out. For example blacks, gays, Jews and the handicapped were once open season for ridicule and criticism, but in the modern day great care is best taken to praise and respect them and any avoidance of intermingling must be done on the down low. Naturally we still want someone to look down on and hold in contempt, and the safest candidates include the homeless, atheists, the petless and sports haters. And although it might be less conspicuous, it remains suitable to be self deprecating, but only for men.

Sunday June 20, 2021 6:44 AM CDT -- The Fugitive Earth
Instead of eagerly searching for so-called 'alien life' elsewhere in the universe, we humans should learn from ourselves as we distrust each other, annihilate one another based on religion and nationality, and indifferently snuff other life on earth. That galactic life we seek might be like us and should be avoided.

Sunday June 20, 2021 -- THE SUMMER SOLSTICE --

Saturday June 19, 2021 2:07 PM CDT -- FCC Considering Wireless Mic Rule Upgrades
Part 15 & Part 74 Changes Under Consideration

Saturday June 19, 2021 8:46 AM CDT -- Sun Drunk
Looks like we ended up with at least two holidays both named Juneteenth. All the media voices are saying today is Juneteenth, while all day yesterday we heard that Friday was Juneteenth because it fell on Saturday. Some people actually think that slavery ended yesterday, but that's not literally the case, as we still have the 13th Amendment which proclaims the end of slavery EXCEPT that persons convicted of crime may be put to slave labor. What makes it fair is that the 13th Amendment applies to all criminals regardless of race. Also mentioned on public radio is that several corporations employ child slave labor in other countries, Africa being one example. Well, Africa isn't a country, but I'm not officially on duty right now and don't have all the facts available. Anyway, KDX endorses child labor but not child slave labor. We believe that parents, a form of slave in that they are held legally responsible for their children, should be offered the opportunity to enter contracts making their children available for well supervised job assignments as a means of bolstering family income and preventing feral children from playing the knockout game on senior citizens and car jacking.

Friday June 18, 2021 4:36 PM CDT -- Dreams Can Affect Attitudes About People
There is a disembodied woman's voice on local public radio that sounds very stuck up, self-officious and smug. Her enunciation is so perfectly spoken that one hears blatant conceit. Never having seen this person I can only imagine what she looks like, but that didn't stop my dream from giving her a squat plumpish body clothed in a pants suit with straw colored hair cropped short and curly much like that of a forklift operator. I recognized her by her voice, mixing into the dream from the bedside radio, and I spoke to her saying something like, "I know who you are from your voice. You're the lady who gives all the underwriting announcements." She completely ignored me and didn't even look to see who I was. Her entourage of NPR all-female co-workers ignored me as well, and I awoke with a new grudge not only toward her pompous voice but all the viraginous women on public radio.

Friday June 18, 2021 4:31 PM CDT -- Windows 11 for Jeentoonth
Leak for Today

Friday June 18, 2021 4:13 PM CDT -- Heat Management
Radio streaming from KDX closed early today because listening to the radio loses its appeal at 99o F. We learned that some areas are experiencing power outages but our electric utility reports our system is 100% operational with no expectation of problems through the weekend. To relieve pressure on web servers the kdx.com website will close early this evening, as per our usual policy.

Friday June 18, 2021 4:12 PM CDT -- Questionable Timing --
Perhaps Pride Month isn't the best place to schedule Father's Day.

Friday June 18, 2021 10:16 AM CDT --
I don't know what I could say that would help. If I did, I'd say it.
- C. Blare, on holiday

Friday June 18, 2021 9:24 AM CDT -- Playing COVID By Ear
The Blare Blog has said little about the pandemic because we have not determined a 100% complete and reliable source of information on the coronavirus crisis and do not want to venture into guesswork, a lot of which seems to be feeding public confusion and disorganization on the subject. We have been impressed over the weeks by Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak's 'No Agenda' shows as heard on KDX with their detailed and thorough breakdowns of sketchy wording in many news reports, possibly revealing a weakness in the ability of journalists to translate scientific data into precise language. We would like to see better compilation of vaccine side-effects and explanation of why many health care workers are averse to vaccinating. The free-loaders serving in political office continue to muddy the water by persistently politicizing the pandemic, contributing to a circus of fools squabbling over masks and aiming vigilante attacks on Asian people, most of whom are not Chinese, because facts don't play a role in right-wing patriotics. In fact too much official government time is spent pushing the notion that China is to blame. We could spend that time actually managing the emergency, but there I go with guesswork.

Friday June 18, 2021 7:18 AM CDT -- This Weekend is Getting Crowded
Before climate crisis plunged the long days of summer into a heatwave so fierce that the George Foreman Grill is no longer necessary to cook picnic food, we already looked foreward to the longest day of the year on the June 20th summer solstice, the best thing about which is that days thereafter get shorter by a minute per day perchance to become cooler. That much would be enough for the ordinary hot head but some commercial marketing promoter made sunday also father's day, a day of shame for many men who don't want to know. As if that weren't ackward enough, the geriatric president and his giggly VP slapped a new holiday onto the overburdened weekend called "Juneteenth" so that off duty mailmen and all of us who wonder if it's a paid holiday will feel obligated to grill despite the heat and in the delirium many will find themselves fathers once we come out of our coma. Already postal workers, who get Friday off because Juneteenth is a Saturday, are wondering if they have to go back to work on Saturday. There is no answer because no one's taking calls.

Friday June 18, 2021 7:12 AM CDT --
If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear it, nobody gets crushed.
- Carl Blare, Juneteenth 2021

Friday June 18, 2021 12:58 MIDNIGHT CDT -- Lawns are the Law
The Neighbors Are Watching

Thursday June 17, 2021 3:03 PM CDT -- Juneteenth is About to Become Real
June being one of the few months without its own holiday Juneteenth will be a welcome fixture, never mind the fact that it commemorates the day Texas was finally informed about the Emancipation Proclamation of September 22, 1862. At one day before the start of summer during a historic heatwave let's stay with the June 19th choice because mailmen deserve every possible break after the horrible year they've had under Postmaster DeJoy. In fact on this very afternoon as I blog at you VP Kamala Harris is speaking at a White House Ceremony in which President Biden is signing the new holiday into law. Oh, and the radio just mentioned that when federal holidays fall on Saturday they are honored on the prior Friday, that being tomorrow already! Oh, and while we're on the subject, August still lacks a holiday.
Looking In On Things

Thursday  June 17, 2021 2:43 PM CDT -- Vladimir Putin Self Confident in His Intelligence
The G7 Summit has brought us a glimpse of the Russian President revealing his high level of intellectual intelligence, a trait which explains why so many Americans hold an unflattering view of him. In the U.S. it's considered impolite to risk embarrassing one's neighbor by flaunting a higher minded IQ and we learn as children to act at least as stupid as our fellow citizens, even stupider as a way of kindling a small smack of authority in our peers, allowing them to look down on us. Naturally Putin offends the American self-image by making no apologies about being a smart man.
Further Evidence of What I Am Saying

Thursday June 17, 2021 1:47 PM CDT -- The FCC is Radio's Problem
Blunt Reality from Doc Searls

Thursday June 17, 2021 1:16 PM CDT
Success is all very well as long as you don't inhale.
- Leonard Bernstein, composer, conductor, pianist

Thursday June 17, 2021 12:51 NOON CDT -- A New Musical Genre --
Summer Song

Thursday June 17, 2021 9:13 AM CDT -- Shifts and Lags
In the space of 1-and-a-half-hours the indoor/outdoor temperature differential shifted from -6o to +1o. The indoor reading holds at 79o while outdoors it's up to 80o. All very scientific.

Thursday June 17, 2021 8:07 AM CDT -- A Moment's Thought
As creatures who can only pay attention to one thing at a time, part of what we think about in a typical day depends on our own plans, such as our morning here at Worldround Radio where we begin by stirring instant coffee into a glass mug and starting the radio station.

As the day proceeds our attention is grabbed by events and observations around us, like now as we're headed into several days of record breaking heat we find time to think about staying comfortable, which can be achieved in the early hours by disrobing, but only indoors, as exposure in public outdoor space demands a certain level of decorum. And for that matter a workplace populated by coworkers also requires a dress code, and the cooling technology needs to be adjusted based on fabric science.

At 7:30 this morning we compared our indoor temperature of 79o to the outdoor reading of 73o, estimating that the 6o differential is a consequence of residual heat stored in the bricks and attic space from yesterday's 90o high. Improvements could be made to exhaust this spurious heat, but we only think about it during actual heatwaves which are not a convenient time to undertake large architectural projects.

During the depths of winter we'll be having a parallel moment imagining ways to preserve heat and insulate against cold, starting by wearing all the clothes we can stuff ourselves into.

If we could store summer heat until winter and winter cold until summer our time would be cleared to think about whatever we'd be thinking about now if it weren't so hot.

Wednesday June 16, 2021 8:14 PM CDT -- From Way Up
Detroit Master Antenna-- RADIOWORLD

Wednesday June 16, 2021 5:15 PM CDT -- Doomsday Clock
How Close Are We to Nuclear Annihilation?

Wednesday June 16, 2021 4:37 PM CDT -- Halstead
-- The History of Part 15 Has More Than 15 Parts - by Richard Powers --

William Storm Halstead was an interesting character, in the 1920s he established one of the first college stations, also the first to play chess with other countries via shortwave. A few years later he impulsively had cobbled together a lightweight low power transmitter for some park rangers he knew, which spearheaded the development of nationwide use of radio in forestry - an interesting sidenote is that same transmitter which Halstead had built later accompanied Admiral Byrd on his trip to the north pole (or was it south?). In 1935 Halstead made national news after developing a "robot policeman" which was a directional short range transmitter that sent signals to a receiver installed in approaching vehicles that would trigger red and green indicators on the dash which corresponded with upcoming traffic lights..

Meanwhile, on an unrelated matter, the Philco company invented and began manufacturing the first wireless remote control for home radios to change stations, control volume and turn on and off the receiver.. This concerned the FCC because technicly it was transmitting and that would mean that every consumer who purchased the device would be required to have a license to use it.. so in 1936 the FCC remedied the situation by creating Part 15.
Back then the entirety of Part 15 consisted of four simple paragraphs which essentially said anyone can transmit on any frequency without a license providing that the signal didn't transmit farther than about 150 feet..

Well Halstead took a look at that rule and did an ingenious thing, he expanded that 150 foot limit to several miles without breaking the rule! - Apparently that is when Part 15 AM broadcasting began. The rules made no specifications about antenna lengths or anything, so instead of using an arial he made a specially designed cable that was miles long! 

Certainly such was not the FCCs intention when making the rule, so you would think they would have said "Now wait a minute, you can't go attaching long wires to the transmitter to extend range!" It would seem they would have reacted by amending the rules, but no, they embraced it. So why did the react so differently when the first manufactured part 15 transmitters used by National Parks and Highway Departments came into existence thirty years later? They didn't break the existing rules either, but this time the FCC amended the rule in an attempt to put a stop to it.... Ironically, even after the rule was amended a compliant part 15 free-radiate AM transmitter can still legally achieve in excess of a mile and a half! 
Part 15 AM has a fascinating and equally convoluted and very consistent history behind it. It's difficult to speculate where it's heading in our ever increasing digital world.

I was also pondering about something you said a few months ago in response to discussion about that radio receiver schematic which harnesses the power in the radio waves of a transmitting station as a means to power the receiver itself.. You responded that utilizing such a receiver would equate to a theft of power and thus be illegal... I realize you were speaking in jest, but it got me thinking... If nobody tunes into your station then the power you're putting out is not being consumed, on the other hand if everybody tunes into your station does that mean the station would have to up their power to compensate? If that be the case, wouldn't that mean with part 15 AM the more listeners you have the shorter your range?..

Wow, Rich! Maybe that is why sometimes the signal doesn't go as far as at other times! Listeners are stealing all the power!

Wednesday June 16, 2021 3:20 PM CDT -- More About Windows 11
We Keep Hearing About It

Wednesday June 16, 2021 3:15 OM CDT -- Don't Waste Water
How to Fix a Leaky Faucet

Wednesday June 16, 2021 11:23 AM CDT -- Substitution
At 11:06:13 AM CDT the radio program automation switched to nothing. The Thom Hartmann Program stream was not up and running, so we stood on our head and juggled dinner plates until we figured out that we could substitute 'Security Now' with Steve Gibson from TWiT-TV. At least we'll get an update on what the deal is with Windows 10 expiring. We guess that the extreme heatwave in Oregon and other western states have knocked out electricity and already know that Hartmann's Oregon home studio does not have backup power and already has been knocked out several times. Who! Wait! Things are changing! As we were preparing the substitution Thom suddenly showed up. Somebody should do an investigation to find out what the hell.

Wednesday June 16, 2021 10:54 AM CDT

If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done.
- Rita Mae Brown, writer, screenwriter
NEXT|TV SmartBrief

Wednesday June 16, 2021 6:57 AM CDT -- Big Top News Network
CARL:  Our good friend and personal barber Buster Boatrocker has launched a news network from his barber shop in South St. Louis, Missouri. The Blare Blog is proud to carry the first Big Top News Report, here's Buster!
BUSTER: Fake President Biden, still pretending that Donald J. Trump is not the real president, has taken Air Force One to Geneva Wisconsin for the G7 Summit, which will launch mobile internet into the future. Our reporter from Geneva is Bob Fwordly, self-named chairman of all hobby radio on earth. Are you there Bob?
BOB:  I'm at the Geneva airport but so far there's no sign of Air Force One. In fact this is a small airport and I don't see how a jumbo jet like Air force One could fit on this tiny runway. Maybe it's a Democrat mistake like we get a lot of.
BUSTER:  O.K., so tell us what G7 is all about.
BOB:  Um, G7 is the future beyond 5G, the cellphone system obsolete even before it's available.
CARL:  Uh, gentlemen, I hate to interrupt your first Big Top Newscast, but Biden is in Geneva Switzerland, not Geneva Wisconsin..................... Hello?.................. Hello?

Tuesday June 15, 2021 2:42 PM CDT -- Looking Back
Recollections of the past form the stories we tell about ourselves, and I happened to recall a day sitting in the bosses office hoping to obtain slightly more compensation for the daily air shift, only he had bigger ideas, telling me, "I can make you the personality of the city!" The idea was an immediate dud for two reasons: being the city celebrity held no appeal for me, besides which an actual personality from another station deservedly held the title and even marshalled an annual parade under his name. By chance that regional star was a listener of mine who enjoyed classical music as he was driven to work and often called to ask me the name of peices he enjoyed. And that's why I'm not personality of the city.

Tuesday June 14, 2021 7:10 AM CDT -- Working With Air
As sole listener and owner of a personal radio station there is an unavoidable executive responsibility in deciding what programs qualify to be scheduled on KDX. Since I have only to satisfy myself, the objective is to obtain the most pleasing program for every part of the day spent listening. There is a faint similarity to being a "boss" intent on "hiring" the choicest personalities the marketplace has to offer. Our prime morning slot has for some time carried Radio Sputnik's 'Fault Lines' whose original hosts, Lee Stranahan and Garland Nixon, split up perhaps over some disagreement, giving the program to Lee's son Shawn and new co-host Jamal Thomas. At first I wasn't completely satisfied by the change and admit looking around for alternate choices, my primary complaint being what I called Jamal's 'rush mush' speaking style in which he speaks rapidly and runs words together being not always easy to understand. Unable to find a different live 5-day per week 3-hour program 'Fault Lines' remained in place and I began realizing that despite his way of talking Jamal is the more intelligent of the two, while Shane is clear-voiced, also well informed, and very gracious toward guests that form an important component of the show. Over several months I have spent mental energy visualizing Jamal being coached by a speech specialist but have otherwise been content, until this week when Jamal took a week for travel to cover the G7 with President Biden and other world leaders in Geneva, temporarily replaced by a fellow named Austin Pelley who immediately offended me by expressing a pro-Catholic mindset, which I equate with anti-intellect and critical thought deficit. Two oxymorons are standing by for use in this morning's blog essay: 'religious thinking' and 'Catholic education'. Catholic educations are chunky, containing just enough actual knowledge for superficial appearance, pasted together by doctrinaire dogma such as Pelley's reference to Thomas Aquinas in a fallacious 'appeal to antiquity'. The early philosophers talked about God because they had to. If they'd dared to debate the matter burning at the stake awaited. It was much later that religion was separated from philosophy, but the church continues to employ early philosophy as part of their testament to God's existence. Meanwhile, back at the station, things turned for the better when Jamal linked in from Geneva and commanded total authority by establishing that religion and God are not the same thing and neither one is actually known but are merely constructs. 'Pride month' for us means we are proud of our rush mush from KDX.

Monday June 14, 2021 2:53 PM CDT -- Dirty Windows
The glass must have been smeared when we thought we saw Windows 11 prepared for official introduction June 24th, 10-days from today. This next article seems less definite about what the Microsoft grubbers are planning to do to us, all we know is that we'll pay for the privilege of being inconvenienced by what should be one reliable operating system for life.
Reading This May Cause Over-Heating

Monday June 14, 2021 2:25 PM CDT -- Weather Or Not
Near the end of last week one day reached 95o, hottest day of the year up to that point, and this afternoon we're edging toward 97o. For at least the next week we'll be bouncing between 80s and 90s by day and 60s and 70s at night with continuing dryness now reaching scorchy conditions. Until today we've been depending on a personal cooling fan aimed at the KDX operator's position by day and the nightman's sleeping pad overnight, Carl Blare on duty. Only moments ago we decided to give the air conditioner a try, a very small window unit that's been reliable over the years and already its cooling influence can be felt. Broadcasting and blogging in comfort.

Monday June 14, 2021 5:54 AM CDT -- Switzerland Radio History
Time was when shortwave listeners in the U.S.A. were able to find SBC, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, among many other international broadcasters on shortwave radios.

2004: Swiss Radio International announced it would cease all radio broadcasts at the end of October, and will thereafter concentrate exclusively on its internet platform, www.swissinfo.org.

Swiss Broadcasting

Saturday June 12, 2021 3:09 PM CDT -- Radio Garden --
Ever Been There?

Saturday June 12, 2021 8:36 AM CDT -- The Blare Blog Being the Source of New News
Signals Booming in -

Having trouble with the MP3 file link, 'A History of the Art of Radio by the Firesign Theatre', it won't open.

Speaking as the repair crew it was determined that two recent MP3 links were 'out-of-service', including a Blare OnAir link on May 29th. After carefully tracing both links we were at first unable to repair them but could not detect a reason for the malfunction. Given the extreme 95-degree heat we declared a work stoppage and returned to the problem Saturday morning with a belligerent attitude, believing that fate was messing with us. For no logical reason the links started working after we had been driven mad by frustration.

How about that, Windows 11 is due to be out, I hadn't heard about that yet! I've barely scratched the surface of Windows 10. In other years this big news would have gotten a lot of publicity and lines would have been wrapped around the block. This is a big deal, the operating systems that people will be using for the next decade.

- Boom

We of the inner Blog agree that Microsoft has been stealthy about this next iteration of their needlessly-changing operating system, probably on account of shame. Have your money ready.

Friday June 11, 2021 5:34 PM CDT -- Ungendered Color Bars --
Color Bars
The so-called "rainbow flag" signals unquestioning acceptance of any possible preferential gender variant, sharing the word "diversity" with champions of mixed race and blended cultures, but we read in the news that a HOA (Home Owners Association) somewhere disallowed the display of a rainbow flag. The determined "pride" household solved their situation by lighting their home in rainbowed floodlights and the HOA is holding a special meeting late into the night to deal with the audacity. The whole argument reminded us of the color bars we used to adjust our NTSC vectorscope back during our video days. In those days we never made any association between the colors and the matter of gender, except that one of us sought a vasectomy to be on the safe side.

Friday June 11, 2021 5:05 PM CDT -- Job Description --
Artificial Laugh Maker

Friday june 11, 2021 12:18 NOON CDT -- Windows 11 Arriving June 24th --
Revisit Broken Windows of the Past
 

Friday June 11, 2021 8:39 AM CDT -- Little in the Way of Adventures But Some Experience
Over the years Carl Blare has succeeded if avoidance of accomplishment was the objective, and he took his two or three ideas from the examples of others. He remembers that Bob and Ray, a couple of DJ's who didn't play disks, advertised a "Combination Bar-B-Q Pit TV Antenna" and this spawned an interest in combination products and services. Carl was involved with a startup called "Harvey's Pets and Records" which was shut down because his parents home wasn't zoned commercial. Daunted, yet prepared to give it one more try, Carl today envisions his own "Dog Training Academy and Radio Station", inspired as he is with the potential for human intelligence to discover new applications for dog intelligence, and the in-house capacity to run ads over the air to promote the dog business.

Friday June 11, 2021 8:37 AM CDT -- You're On the Airlee
A History of the Art of Radio
- The Firesign Theatre


Thursday June 10, 2021 2:28 PM CDT -- Suds & Kombucha
We link to this good natured podcast because of its impeccable audio quality, better than most other podcasts, a proof and example that podcasts of sonic excellence can be achieved with the right knowledge of microphones, mixing, studio acoustics, and secret engineering recipes.
Episode 415 of Sips & Suds

Wednesday June 9, 2021 12:15 NOON -- Pay Or Be Shunned --
Well, there's a third possible outcome not alluded in our title, and we'll tack it on at the end of what we say.
New Radio Streaming Royalty Rates for the Next 5-Years Scheduled to Be Announced June 14th
Radio streamers and podcasters who utilize licensed music automatically owe substantial money to the royalty board and a large number of streamers suffer the expense because they consider music worth the cost, but wise podcasters bypass this expense by using license-free music, since most podcasts only use music as trimming between voice-parts consisting of in/out themes and bridges. The shunning comes in the royalty authorities never revealing there's an entire realm of royalty-free options and that non-music spoken word programmers stand free of all suspicion and bear no obligation. What we're telling you is already more than royalty announcements reveal, as they speak as if no such thing as a royalty-free program-method exists and foster the implication that fee obligation universally applies to one and all with failure to pay being grounds for costly legal action that will have you living under a viaduct without the tent they've taken. Which brings us to the third possible outcome: using commercial licensed music without paying can and possibly will have you dragged away in the jaws of the beast.

Wednesday June 9, 2021 8:47 AM CDT -- Impede the Antenna --

In the June 5th entry about the new Hurricane AM Transmitter Boomer brought attention to the RF output impedance:

It's unclear what kind of output it has, 50 ohm, or high impedance. No (antenna) tuner is mentioned, seeming like it's 50 ohm fixed impedance, but then it has a ten foot wire antenna. It leaves questions, because you can connect a 10 foot wire to a 50 ohm output and it can still get out around the house.

We'll talk now about why this is an important factor in determining the value of this transmitter. Boomer mentioned the two possibilities which go unspecified according to available literature so-far published regarding this device: 50-ohms or high impedance. The reason 50-ohms comes foremost to mind is the universal standard putting the RF (Radio Frequency) output impedance of radio transmitters at 50-ohms, but Part 15 restrictions impose a non-standard condition which cannot thusly be fulfilled: 50-ohms must be matched by feeding into a properly tuned antenna of at least one-quarter wavelength of the operating frequency, not a possibility with an antenna of only 3-meters in length. To approach something of a match with such an undersized antenna a transmitter should best provide a high-impedance output into an antenna matching coil feeding the 3-meter runt antenna, resulting in the maximum achievable range from such a transmitter. Failure to list such a vital bit of information makes the Hurricane a skeptic's gamble.

Wednesday June 9, 2021 7:27 AM CDT -- Good Committee --

Several image processing complications befell the Blog and were nicely resolved with help from long time participant Boomer, who showed us how to tailor the size of giant image files and manage the new WebP format.

Glad we could combine to work that out, and we both know more now. This is the way the radio forums should work.

Good point, Boomer. The low power Part 15 forums of the present day are essentially dormant and function very much like bad committees for having driven off qualified membership which once provided useful input leaving us now with a handful of under informed stragglers unable to obtain helpful information. This reminds me of creation which is typically attributed to one god but in my view is more like the work of a bad committee that didn't get along with each other, didn't show up for meetings, and provided bad input, resulting in a universe crammed with inconsistencies, conflicts, contradictions and failure. 

You might wonder why, if I know what's wrong with forums and other creations, don't I simply found a successful part 15 forum and save the day (?)  No sir. I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole, besides which my 10-foot pole is busy acting as an antenna under 15.219. You do it. You start a functioning forum. Put me on your committee.

Wednesday June 9, 2021 6:33 AM CDT -- Our National Anthem --
Day was when American radio and TV stations began each broadcast day with the playing of the National Anthem: "The Star Spangled Banner". In those days stations signed off overnight and began and ended each day's schedule by announcing a detailed litany of the station's operating frequency, effective radiated power, city of license and corporate ownership. The announcements were required by FCC rule but the Anthem was only a matter of custom. When 24-hour schedules became the norm most stations discontinued the Anthem, except that a handful of them mark an early hour of the morning by re-opening a new broadcast day with either the Anthem itself or a patriotic substitute such as "God Bless America" by Irving Berlin, which is not a federally recognized song because "God" violates the secular status of the Constitution, a detail which many citizens fail to comprehend. At KDX we refrain from labeling our station as a nationalistic enterprise because we are not affiliated with the federal government except to the extent we are authorized to operate under Part 15 of the FCC rules. But of course common civil liberties make the issue of anthems and flags a plain matter of choice, like displaying a flag on the front porch, neither required nor emblematic of a federal building, so there are no public restroom facilities available to the public nor tour schedules at flag waving homes.

Tuesday June 8, 2021 3:43 PM CDT -- 5G On the Rise
For those of us interested in the advance of radio frequency usage in our human environment:
Interesting Reading

Tuesday June 8, 2021 12:14 NOON CDT -- Evolution Stalled --
According to Thom Hartmann, as heard on KDX Worldround Radio, Marjorie Taylor Greene has declared that she doesn't believe in evolution. Ironically, Carl Blare would add, she stands as proof that evolution isn't happening in her case. 

Tuesday June 8, 2021 5:53 AM CDT -- Working from Home --
The pandemic ushered in a new age of 'remote working and schooling', made possible by the coincidence that the internet is conveniently conducive to achieving socially distanced interconnectedness, without which the word 'remote' would take on a more isolated sense. The old model was based on 'separate locations' for the various main activities of life: 'home' was defined by where a person slept. Anybody who 'slept around' wasn't home much of the time and a secondary definition applied based on one's mailing address. 'Going to work' meant 'drive time', a period of transportation between home and work for which, unfairly in my opinion, most travelers weren't paid for the lost time spent moving between home and work. Arrival at work was measured by 'being on time' and staying until 'closing time'. As futurists, we at KDX have been working from home and other locations for decades and it wasn't always legitimate. Some towns had 'zone police' who kept an eye on homes to make sure no one was secretly running a business in a residential location, nor sleeping in a business facility. How zoning has conformed to pandemic circumstances is no doubt a matter of unsettled law. Even 'work' has a further definition of being 'activity for which one is compensated'. An unseen team of complete strangers keep eyes on our compensations and so long as we forward a percentage of it to them, we are left unthreatened. Self driving cars will open the possibility of power napping during travel time and we foresee the day when work places provide sleeping accommodations so that employees don't lose valuable time-energy driving around. I am writing this essay from home as part of my work, the only thing lacking is compensation, unless you credit this as 'fun', but I wonder about that.

Sunday June 6, 2021 9:02 AM CDT -- Local Broadcasting --
As we know, part 15 low power radio is the most completely local form of broadcasting known to man, short of having the station move into your house and have access to the food. So, you'd think that the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) would love part 15, but they hate us and we know it. Oddly, the NAB has a whole website dedicated to boosting the merits of local broadcasting for their member stations.
Local good. Local best.

Saturday June 5, 2021 8:05 PM CDT -- Turned Down --
The prestigious KDX morning shift was offered to Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Dont Think So

Saturday June 5, 2021 8:54 AM CDT -- Hurricane Blowing Air --
Boomer responds --

Interesting new transmitter that you found, the Hurricane! It seems like what we're looking for in the in the Part-15 business, something easy to use and with more up-to-date digital features, like the Bluetooth connection. I'd have to think this is in response to the virus and the need for radio for parking lots.

I like the OLED display and programmable features. Tha Dood pointed out that with the wireless connection, that could lower hum transmission, in that there's no audio lead to pick up the RF signal and feed it back into the system. Esteemed member The Legacy might like the Bluetooth. I recall that he set up some kind of complicated system with Bluetooth to I think a Kenwood car stereo, to a pole in the garden that had the transmitter, and used that as a wireless STL.

Negatives for me in a deluxe transmitter are the plastic case; I'd prefer metal for shielding and ground. It's also unclear what kind of output it has, 50 ohm, or high impedance. No (antenna) tuner is mentioned, seeming like it's 50 ohm fixed impedance, but then it has a ten foot wire antenna. It leaves questions, because you can connect a 10 foot wire to a 50 ohm output and it can still get out around the house. Here's their website:
https://www.6v6.co.uk/

Wednesday June 2, 2021 5:30 PM CDT -- What's So Difficult About a Mono Amplifier?
KDX needs a few monaural audio amplifiers ranging in power from 20 to 30 Watts, but this once common item seems no longer to exist in the world of speaker amplifiers. We've scrolled though heaps of amplifiers that are mostly too powerful, are 2-channel, 4-channel, and very pricey, but they are not what we're looking for. If you know something, say something.

Wednesday June 2, 2021 5:24 PM CDT -- The Gratitude Show
A special show of gratitude goes to correspondent Boomer who alerted us that access to The Blare Blog and the kdxradio.com Website has been blocked since almost one week ago because a temporary shutdown accidentally got set to a Parking Page saying we'd be back Friday morning May 21 but an attendant didn't attend to the task of ..... oh, this explanation is too complicated.... the good news is that the mistake has been swept under the rug and I get to keep my job.

Wednesday June 2, 2021 2:41 PM CDT -- Whatever Happened to Those Sued for Downloading Digital Music?
Outcomes

Tuesday June 1, 2021 11:55 AM CDT -- The Blare Blog Reflects
The change of month opens a new page as we approach the top of the year scheduled for the longest daylight of June 21st, and we wonder 'what are we doing and why are we doing it(?)'.  Not too complicated, until we try to describe it, at which time thoughts become more entangled and less definite. Take a deep breath.

The Blare Blog is the textual messaging output of kdxradio.com, a website representing low power global radio station International KDX Worldround Radio, but speaking also to and for the whole class of small radio stations operating under F.C.C. rules Part 15 in the U.S. and comparable rules in other countries, and the related class of independent streaming internet webcasters such as KDX-OGG, subject to numerous rules and conditions. But that's not all.

Rules and regulations are only the basis in establishing a radio voice, then comes the realm of technology involving transmitters, antennas, web servers and radio receivers, the tools of the trade.

Program content is what it's really all about, and plans for on air presentation require someone in a head office making decisions and arrangements about what gets heard and why. The marketplace of programming ranges from journalism through small talk, religion, sports, music and drama, forming the 'product' issued to an anticipated listening audience.

Yes, one must consider the radio audience as the foremost consumer of whatever brand issues forth but personal distance is necessary because life is short and there's no time to court each fan as a close personal friend, yet they must be made to feel welcome. There's a call coming in on the other line.

What we're saying is that this Blog speaks to as much of it as we might while holding certain reservations. Let's give an example of one self-imposed limitation: today we were notified of a new AM transmitter now available; the 'Tornado', from the makers of an earlier model called 'Spitfire'. The 'Tornado' has many advanced features at an attractive price, but here comes the 'but'... But it is pre-assembled and lacks FCC certification. There's a rule against selling pre-made transmitters unless they're certified. So why don't I just say that as part of the Blog? Well, if I did, if I mentioned this deal, it would appear that The Blare Blog was promoting rule breaking. It's true that I don't approve of this particular rule and think that the end-user should be respected to utilize a fairly priced pre-built transmitter according to the same rules that apply to self-built transmitters, requiring no certification but simply trusting homebound builders to obey signal strength rules. We're talking about Blog policy now; we're generally not prepared to take against extant federal rules nor aid and abet complete strangers in doing so. Furthermore we, The Blog, cannot in good faith mention or endorse one brand of transmitter without reviewing, testing and offering comparisons with every available transmitter, which is beyond our reach.

In summary, The Blare Blog speaks to most aspects of low power radio while occasionally hesitating to consider potential ramifications.

Tuesday June 1, 2021 11:50 AM CDT -- F.C.C. Requests Budget Increase --
The article details how much of an increase is asked, description of plans for applying the added funds, and ambitions as to what the F.C.C. hopes to achieve.
Federal Communications Commission Requests Funding Boost  





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