OneCardboardBox

Played DX a few times, but the only part of the plot that never fully makes sense to me is Maggie Chow:

• She is an MJ12 plant who knows JC is Paul's brother, but doesn't know he's a fugitive? Or she does know he's a fugitive but doesn't call her MJ12 guards to take him out?
• She sends JC to the police station on a mission to steal information, but then the information incriminates her. Why? JC even asks her what she expected to happen.

Not so much a plot thing, but I also find it strange that she runs up to fight JC in Versalife with just a sword and no armor. It's the least threatening fight in the game. I know the people in Hong Kong say she used to do Kung Fu movies, it would have been cool if there was some allusion to that during the fight.

Just moving in to our first home, and I'm very excited to have the freedom to set up a permanent HF antenna.

I'll probably build a sort of fan dipole and run it along the side of our property. That's the only place long enough to fit. However, the power lines for the neighborhood run over part of our backyard. I'm not worried about my dipole being too close to high voltage power (it won't be) but I wonder if the AC frequency can cause interference on certain bands?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/9321551

I'm really intrigued by digital modes. Stuff like JS8Call seems really cool, and I want to get into it.

I don't have any HF equipment. SSB isn't very interesting to me, so I was thinking of getting a digital-only transceiver and saving some money. I think it would be cool to take a small QRP box with a laptop or raspi, and do digital mode Pota with it.

I've seen the QDX which looks exactly like what I want and seems to get good reviews. Any others that I should be aware of?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/9321551

I'm really intrigued by digital modes. Stuff like JS8Call seems really cool, and I want to get into it.

I don't have any HF equipment. SSB isn't very interesting to me, so I was thinking of getting a digital-only transceiver and saving some money. I think it would be cool to take a small QRP box with a laptop or raspi, and do digital mode Pota with it.

I've seen the QDX which looks exactly like what I want and seems to get good reviews. Any others that I should be aware of?

I'm really intrigued by digital modes. Stuff like JS8Call seems really cool, and I want to get into it.

I don't have any HF equipment. SSB isn't very interesting to me, so I was thinking of getting a digital-only transceiver and saving some money. I think it would be cool to take a small QRP box with a laptop or raspi, and do digital mode Pota with it.

I've seen the QDX which looks exactly like what I want and seems to get good reviews. Any others that I should be aware of?

I like coffee. I like Star Trek.

I've had a mild interest in the raktajino, a Klingon coffee drink commonly consumed in DS9. I've looked up a few fan theories and fan recipes. I haven't seen any references to a canonical recipe, so I get that there's a bit of fun and personal preference involved.

The only thing I don't understand is why raktajino is commonly claimed to be made with liquor. On the one hand, I understand why Klingons might want a stiff additive to their caffeine. However, the context in which characters on DS9 drink it does not suggest the presence of intoxicants. I recall at least a few occasions in which bridge officers, while on duty, drink a raktajino. Surely even synthol is not OK when you're on shift for Starfleet.

We're 3 game sessions deep into a Vampire the Masquerade chronicle. I've just heard from one of my players that they feel like they've put a bit too much of themselves into their character, and they're starting to get uncomfortable with it. As such, they'd like to roll up a new char sheet and bring their current character out of the game. We've talked a little bit about whether they want their character to die, or to permanently leave the party, and that's still up in the air.

This is my first time as GM, and I'd like a few pointers on how to work with this. From an "off the table" perspective, I've already had a conversation with this player about what their needs are. I'm confident that the overall game is still fun for them, and that this isn't about any player-player dynamics.

From a narrative perspective, I'd love to hear how others have dealt with this before. In the past 3 sessions, I haven't had the chance to bring out the kind of enemies who could kill a PC outright (bloodthirsty elders, second inquisition deathsquads, conniving underlings). I don't want the player to have to go through several more sessions with a character they dislike just because it would have more punch further down the line.

Granted, I'm new to ham, but I haven't seen a DIY j-pole like this with an element in the middle tuned for a different band. All the diagrams I've seen show that the 1/4 wave element (the parasitic element?) is supposed to cancel out the bottom part of the 3/4 wave (driven?) element.

At first I thought the 70cm band element was just for running a second coax connection that you'd swap between, but it has no connections. Furthermore, my reading on j poles says that they're supposed to be sensitive to metallic stuff around them, so an extra element would seem to interfere.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/7646743

I'm just getting into ham (my technician exam is tomorrow night), and I'm looking for ideas on starter kit.

For now, my interest is in making contact with a friend who lives ~10 miles away, as well as other amateurs in the county (there's a repeater ~2 miles away). This friend needs to reapply for his license, but he has a mobile 2m/70cm transceiver from his old call sign. Eventually, we'd like to get into digital communication between our houses.

Even further down the line, I think long distance HF sounds cool, but that looks like a money pit I'm not quite ready to dig just yet.

I don't want to set up any crazy antennas just yet, as partner and I are house hunting. This also means we could end up more like 15 miles from my friend, depending on what we find.

I was wondering if anyone here could suggest beginner's equipment for my goals. I'm ok to spend a bit more on systems that are still useful if my interest in ham expands beyond these initial requirements.

I'm just getting into ham (my technician exam is tomorrow night), and I'm looking for ideas on starter kit.

For now, my interest is in making contact with a friend who lives ~10 miles away, as well as other amateurs in the county (there's a repeater ~2 miles away). This friend needs to reapply for his license, but he has a mobile 2m/70cm transceiver from his old call sign. Eventually, we'd like to get into digital communication between our houses.

Even further down the line, I think long distance HF sounds cool, but that looks like a money pit I'm not quite ready to dig just yet.

I don't want to set up any crazy antennas just yet, as partner and I are house hunting. This also means we could end up more like 15 miles from my friend, depending on what we find.

I was wondering if anyone here could suggest beginner's equipment for my goals. I'm ok to spend a bit more on systems that are still useful if my interest in ham expands beyond these initial requirements.