CAKE: Nov 7
CAKE Crumbs Nov. 7, 2015
Hello friends and neighbors.
It was very good to have Bob and David KG6IRW with us along with Phil W6PK from over the hill and Cap KE6AFE who pops in from time to time. More than enough to stimulate our discussions. Glen KG0T, Kerry K3RRY, and Eric KK6IZY were engrossed in their micro controller development project while the conversation of others ranged far and wide.
Glen had found a RSGB book Entitled World at Their Finger Tips published in 1967. It covered the history of Amateur Radio in the UK and also contained a Chapter on the first 2-way contacts across the Atlantic. We know that our John Reinartz K6BJ was at the US end and sure enough the RSGB book clearly acknowledges his key role. I have written to the General Manager of the RSGB for permission to use this material in my project on the life and work of Reinartz
Ron W6WO showed two USB data logging devices (borrowed from Tom KW6S) for measuring temperature. These will be used to log and display data on the rise in temperature of an Anan 100D under different operating conditions.
Craig N6SBN had to bow out but prior to the meeting had located a well designed site dealing with the topic of HF wire antennas, some of which were quite unusual. This can be found at www.sm0dtk.se/antennas.
Ron posed a semi hypothetical problem which caused some energetic discussion by Glen, Bob, Kerry, Don, K6GHA. David, Peter K6UNO and Eric. Suppose there are 10 independent binary switches in the OFF position that, when switched ON in a certain combination and sequence, will result in a desired outcome. We are unclear what each of the switches do and would like to determine the maximum attempts at guessing what the number of ON states and their sequence will be. Its a very big number well beyond my mental arithmetic. Anyone wanting to try please let us know the answer
What has this got to do with Ham Radio did I hear you say ! Well it might apply to almost any complex piece of software code and could be used determine a metric for the fault liability of a system. It could apply to the design of a User Interface or securing access to intellectual property. The difficulty and expense of testing to guarantee software reliability is unattractive to developers and , as David pointed out, this results in customers detecting problems while providing an excuse for vendors selling a new “improved ” version.
Phil has recently joined the serried ranks of Anan owners in the Bay area and has in mind creating a mailing list dedicated to SDR technologies. Ron likes the idea and if Phil goes forward we might not be spending quite so much time on the subject at our CAKE sessions
Thank goodness our weather has been cooperating as we have not as yet located a regular meeting room for the winter.
Our next sessions are on Nov 21st and Dec 5th most likely at the Abbey. If anyone would like to address the group please let me know and I will do what I can to secure a meeting room.
Turn off your sprinklers
—73 Ron W6WO