Author: Tommy

I've been messing with some scripts lately that fill a couple of online niches for ham radio. Most of the visitors to Neodux might not find them very useful, but I'm linking it here for posterity and to explain to any visitor looking for ham radio information what they can find.
http://n5dux.com/ham/
At the moment I have 3 tools up. First is a script that fetches the number of ham radio licenes issued in a given month and saves the data in an XML file. I then parse the XML files to create a table or graph. (Just nice to know for anyone curious.)

Next is a dynamic image that will create a map for any ham trying for a "Worked All States" award. It colors in states as you check them off your list. (This was one I made a couple of years ago, but I thought it should be included.)

Lastly, I have a notification script. When you take your FCC test, you have to wait for the FCC to post your information in their database. Rather than hunting it down yourself and checking daily for any news, you can put your name on the list to be notified and the script will shoot you an email when your name is posted.

I hope any ham-visitors find them interesting and useful. That is all.

update: I just added a second color to the WAS map. States listed with the verified tag, will turn green. This is to denote the states from which a QSL card has been received.

I found this article over at PhysOrg.com talking about this year's change in Daylight Savings Time. Normally, DST occurs on the first weekend in April, but this year we'll begin on the 2nd weekend in March. We'll also end differently too. Rather than "fall back" on the last weekend in October, we'll end on the first Sunday in November.

Why are we changing? Well, it goes back to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 where we decided to conserve energy by time-shifting our days. Which isn't much different at all from the original reason we adopted DST in the first place. From what I remember from some long-past history lesson, we adopted DST to conserve energy sometime back around the Great Depression (although that link might not be proven, it's just what I remember). The whole notion of getting up earlier to get the day over with one hour earlier would have reduced energy consumption at night for all those who stayed up late. According to wikipedia, in 1976 the US Dept. of Transportation concluded that DST saves the US 1% of the national energy consumption. (It doesn't sound like much, but I'm sure it's a substantial dollar amount.) On the otherhand, I'm pretty sure we've become more of a 24/7 global society than we were back when we started DST, so it's quite possible that the savings aren't nearly as high. history>
The article highlights some issues with the time change. Remember this is a US policy change, not global, so when we "spring forward" there will only be a 4-hour difference between GMT and EST instead of the 5-hour difference normally. Confusing enough? Think about any consumer devices that aren't linked to the national clock or some time setting service. It could be trouble for some people.

The article is likening it to another Y2K, and I agree. It'll be hyped by the media one day, but will fizzle out in reality.

I got the coolest Valentine's gift today (from my Valentine). Jennifer bought me the SIR-JVC1 Sirius satellite radio tuner for my car stereo. Back when I got my stereo, I found out there were several adapters I can get. You can choose from the standard CD changer, an iPod dock(KSPD100), Auxilary input (Car PC?), an XM tuner or a Sirius tuner (SIR-JVC1).

Notorious has had Sirius for a while now, and I've always enjoyed listening to it when I'm in his truck. Coupled with the fact that the local broadcast stations either play ghetto rap, Top40 and/or Nickelback; I was growing tired of the radio. I wasn't really exposed to new music very often, so my music collection was going stale. To top things off, sometimes the stations out of Shreveport aren't very strong and I can barely hear them. I had told Jenn I wanted Sirius, and at the store the other night I pointed out the adapter I would need for my car. I installed the system over the course of this afternoon, interspersed with my classes, and activated it around lunchtime with a one-year subscription.

I mounted it under the passenger seat and routed the cables under the carpet so it's out-of-sight/out-of-mind. Needless to say the music selection is awesome, and, like you always hear, the sound quality is amazing for being a radio signal.
That's all for now, going for a drive!

I finally figured out why I couldn't get XBMC to stream Frontline shows anymore, it turns out PBS has changed the URL of their media server from a static IP to a real hostname. The script was originally written to use the static IP, so I fixed it. I also noticed they changed the URLs slightly so I allowed the script to handle that as well.

If you have XBMC running on your Xbox, make sure you're running a relatively recent install. (The one on Slayer's won't cut it.) You can grab the script and extract it in your XBMC/scripts directory. Once you run the script it will grab the listing of all of the Frontline episodes available on the web along with a description of that episode. (This isn't to say if you don't have an Xbox you can't watch Frontline, the videos are made to stream to your PC, it's just more comfy to sit on the couch and watch them!)

Update: I've submitted my updated/fixed version to xbmcscripts, and it has been posted. You can download it here, or just grab it from my files sections here: pbs-v.0.2c.zip.

Today I received my diploma from Lee College. I realized at the end of last semester that I had completed my Associate of Computer Science degree by completing the one class that I don't think they've ever offered at Lee: Data Structures. If they did, it was never as hard as it was here at LeTourneau. I'm tempted to go on a rant here about sub-par "higher education", but I'll hold that for another time.

It was kinda funny in completing it. It was almost by accident that I remembered this class would finish it. You see, when I was just about done at Lee, they told me that class wasn't being offered that year - not semester, year. They said if I took some other classes that it might be offered the following year, if there was enough interest. What? Wait a year, and then there might be a class?! (remember this was pretty much the only class I needed to finish...)

I quickly packed my bags and headed to SFA to go ahead and "get on with life". I figured if I could take the class at SFA, I would, and continue working towards my Bachelor's in the meantime.
Things didn't quite work out that easily and I lost some ground in transferring, so I was back to square one when I got to SFA. About the time I was to do Data Structures, I was offered a position at AMD. The next time I had a chance, was the summer of the wedding. No problem, I'll take the class at LeTourneau.
Again, I was set back by the differences in curriculum, so it wasn't until just last year that I could take Data Structures. (Maybe if I was still at Lee, I'd still be waiting?)

At any rate, no matter what happens, I can always fall back on this to seperate me from being a total failure. Not that an Associate's is such an accomplishment, but it's more than some.