recently picked up a nanovna as well. I am having a lot of fun characterizing antennas and cables. suddenly it’s clear to me why this cheap 144mhz whip on my desk is only useful on a very narrow set of frequencies.
I live on a small remote island. Over the past number of years there has been a boom in heat-pumps here due to government subsidies. A local company appeared and was happy to fill the demand for new units. Eventually the new installs dried up and the company disappeared.
This winter there has been a number of desperate pleas on facebook for people seeking repairs on their heat pumps and split units. Unfortunately, the nearest company who can service these units is a half day ferry away.
Once more start getting thrown out I'll have to pick a couple of trashed ones up and see how hackable they are. I wouldn't be surprised if a good amount of the parts besides the control board ended up being interchangeable just due to sourcing parts from the same suppliers. I'll feel a little more confident in them after that.
It does exist in other forms with WWOOFing, farm stays, etc.. The problem is that while farm work looks simple, there are important skills that need to be developed before a volunteer or guest can be useful on the farm.
For example, my first WWOOFing gig asked for at least six weeks so that I could become somewhat useful and offset the costs of food and shelter.
Living in British Columbia, I had always assumed Bay Area real estate would be astronomical. I found it surprising to see single family detached homes in the Bay Area for $300,000. That's entirely reasonable considering the potential incomes.
Strange timing. I just contributed to Pacific Wild's campaign to save the wolves in British Columbia. Our province recently re-opened the wolf hunt with the goal of protecting caribou populations. IMO reducing the pipeline and LNG explosion in the province would also have a positive effect on the wolf population.
As someone too young to have used gopher://, I'd like to take your comment half-seriously: from a user POV, how is it different than, say, HTTP ? (I believe it occupies more or less the same domain)
It was pretty much a document search system. It was really useful at the time when I was at university as a number of universities and organisations had gopher servers with information not available on the then fledgling world wide web. It was in no way comparable with the web or http. My comment was more nostalgic than anything!
I live in a rural enough community in North America that traditional cellular providers don't see us as a large enough market. A couple of these access points could go a long way towards solving some of our connectivity problems.
@shaddi How would the billing work with subscribers who connect with phones from other carriers?
You would still need to work with the FCC or CRTC to get spectrum to run your cellular network. Once you apply for spectrum, the larger providers in your country will probably bid against you to block it.
Basically this. Spectrum regulations (both de facto and de jure) vary dramatically between jurisdictions. It's definitely a challenge, but not as big of a deal as one might expect, particularly for rural networks.
We don't support roaming yet, so phones from other carriers won't work on our networks. The networks are fully independent, with their own phone numbers and connectivity to the global phone network though.
Definitely get in touch if you'd like to talk more! Many of our customers live in places that sound like where you live.
Presents the reader with a series of patterns which describe well designed regions, town, buildings, decending right into rooms and living spaces. A fantastic read which has provided a vocabulary to describe the spaces I enjoy.
