dieter wrote:

I'm not a fan of Ford policy-wise, but all politicians are "opportunist." I prefer to call it pragmatic. He's shown the ability to swim upstream and say/do the right thing when it really matters. I don't really care what his motivations are, I'm just glad to have him looking out for us (to the limit of his abilities) at pivotal moments. 
Never thought I'd say that.

I kind of have the same view politically about Ford. No fan of what he's done with the Greenbelt, or the Science Centre, etc... But he absolutely understood what needed doing to (1) address the anxiety and threat around Trump and (2) get reelected with a strong majority in the process. Tariffs / State 51 was THE issue across Canada, including Ontario, and he and his team understood that and met the challenge. High profile media appearances and state visits in the US during the campaign were crucial and helped seal the deal. He not only campaigned for the Premiership, but he behaved like a Premier - and, frankly, outperformed the Prime Minister in that role.

Seems quite possible that the tension between Ford and Poilievre, that's got Jamil Jivani's knickers in a knot, is Ford angling for the top job. The moment might come sooner than expected, with PP losing his seat. With the Cons still strong federally, Ford might be exactly the leader they need. Will the Cons undergo a civil war in the process? Certainly there are multiple and in some ways quite different kinds of Conservatives vying to set the agenda. It's gonna be interesting.

I'm no fan of Ford, politically. For many reasons. But I think he's been making astute and timely moves. He's nowhere close to the galaxy of stupid, and the persona he projects (I don't know him so I can't say what he's truly like) is likeable.

paterson1 wrote:

In the car this afternoon and I heard Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen twice.  I hear it all the time on the radio and can now add this to my list...

Roy Thomas Baker, who produced it, and other material for Queen and other bands, died Apr 12 and the news just came out today...


 

paterson1 wrote:

This isn't a question really if Global should or shouldn't.  Broadcasters wouldn't normally be deciding who or who can't advertise on their station.  As long as the product or company is legal, and nothing hateful or anything libelious or in bad taste is promoted any broadcaster wouldn't likely turn down the advertising.  The station should point out to the advertiser the risks involved, and the fact the ad could give them publicity that they don't necessarily want, or even hurt their product. 

A mother and daughter company has been advertising on CP24 about moving your business to the US.  The ad starts off with something like "are you tired of paying high Canadian taxes.."  The ad shows the two in the nice warm weather on the beach sipping a cool beverage and commenting how easy it is to move.  To me this ad is inappropriate at this time, but was CP24 or Bell wrong in running it?  Not really.  I am sure the station and the company involved has heard an earful from people both upset with the commercial but they have also likely heard from a few considering a move. 

Sometimes an ad tells me I don't want to do business with the advertiser.
 

RadioActive wrote:

They have to in order to endure the endless fading out of a signal just before the station IDs itself. If I only had a loonie for every time it's happened to me over the years... 

Timely fade-outs happen more often than not. On that I kid you not.

DXers have to laugh because we have so much good material to work with.

The shortwave pirate WMFQ is one example. Stands for Where's My Fucking QSL? Inspired by a few DXers who routinely and rather rudely complain about mailing reception reports and not receiving QSL cards or letters (confirming the reception as legit).

Inspiration also comes from the handful of known DXers who have made up reception reports, looking for station QSLs, based on reports submitted to DX club bulletins by others. Wonder why a DXer in Italy has a card from a low-power 'graveyard' station in Arizona? Good question. The only thing truly identified in such cases was the identity of the "DXer" making the claim.

Once, when an Ontario station was signing off for good in a move from AM to FM more than a decade ago, I acted as QSL manager for the engineer. I received one report with a cassette tape that was completely blank on both sides. I actually listened. The report was from somebody on the west coast of the US who reported hearing it on a very rudimentary set-up. I knew who sent it and was not surprised. In this case, three guywires shy of a safe transmitting antenna install.

There was the Canadian DXer who claimed to have heard a very rarely if ever heard station from Latin America on a boombox.

Sometimes a few DXers will gather around the same DX table up in some godforsaken shack in coastal Newfoundland or northern Canada, and stuff just happens. Once, I heard a buy-and-sell program and called the station and was put on air. I had, of course, pre-alerted the other DXer present at the table that the station was coming in strong and they should tune it in immediately.

Once, with the audio left without headphones

mace wrote:

Saul wrote:

mace wrote:

Any chance you could post some photos of your DX setup? It is probably quite impressive considering some of the stations you have received.

Not until October, unfortunately. I dismantled the main antenna. Or, rather, it dismantled itself in the recent ice storm. I put it away, given we're unlikely to have power for a week or more. The generator also failed due to a limb damaging a pipe leading to the propane tank. It's a SxxxShow up there. South antenna still up but it's a small one, it's folded up, and I'm taking it down too. They're basically 20x20x30 inch triangles made with 14-gauge insulated copper wire and an amplifier etc... nothing complicated or expensive.

Hopefully your antenna system is repairable. What receiver or receivers do you use?

Only actual damage is the north wire pole bent and needs to be replaced. I will need to re-do the south antenna as it's old and badly corroded. It might have a few years left but I don't want it to snap in an ultra-cold January, so I'll work on the two of them in the fall.  AOR 7030Plus.

I seem to vaguely recall a DXer named Jay North.

It looks like the exhaust pipe on our septic system...

I've been up in the Kawarthas last couple days. Has there been much or any coverage of the significant damage done from 1-2 inches of ice accretion over a wide swath from at least as far west as Orillia/Barrie through well east of Peterborough, north from well south of Lindsay to well north of Haliburton area? (And maybe even beyond that?) I've seen very little actual coverage and people I know in Toronto tell me there's been next to none. Phone lines are down and power is out just about everywhere, with restoration in many places a week or more away. It's like thousands of low-level tornadoes struck the area, in terms of the consistency of trees and lines down within this area. Even in Peterborough! I saw multiple cases of people stranded in rural homes, unable to get their cars out due to fallen trees and clusters of wires. Cell service has also been surprisingly spotty and at times non-existant. That really surprised me, particularly because of the push to move everything online and digital, from payments to service provision. Both during the ice storm and in the days afterwards. It was meteorologically extreme up there; long-time locals telling me they'd never experienced anything like it. And I've certainly never seen anything quite like it. I drove yesterday from Kawathas to check on other properties north of Buckhorn in Trent Lakes and also in Peterborough, then drove back to TO last night through the latest round of freezing rain (I stopped through the worst of it for dinner to wait for the changeover to actual rain). Every ten minutes on the one, 680 News repeated the same generalized warnings about freezing rain eventually turning into rain without giving any actual details about impacts beyond Toronto and *parts* of the GTA. Even though they are a ticker-news format and the signal reaches well beyond Toronto. I could get no real sense of timing as to where it was snowing, or if it had switched to ice pellets/freezing rain, or to rain. With no cell service

These are WTRX 1330 and WWCK 1570 (and 107.3 translator). Both in Flint.
The clip is worth listening for anyone interested in radio. Nice reminisce.
I gather 1700 KBGG Des Moines IA has also gone off.
Not sure if they'll end up on the market for sale or if the licenses will be deleted.
I've heard all three in Kawarthas.

Aytononline wrote:

I took the survey, the same as in years past. My only issue is with the wording of some questions ( this happens with all surveys questions that i answer.). I'm against the gas tax, but I'm infavour of cleaning up contaminated land, doing something about our garbage and making sure we never dump any contaminated products into our rivers lakes or even the ocean.
So for the environment question I had a hard time answering the question. If the question was leaning toward the gas tax, or other issues.
The same would go for some of the other questions.

I think it's hard for these things to calculate or measure nuance. Just because someone opposes a gas or carbon tax does not nessarily mean they oppose dealing with climate change. Could in fact be the total opposite. A strong environmental advocate might quite reasonably see  taxes as licenses to pollute and thus ineffectual. Or someone might want immigration restrictions not because they want to curb actual numbers or keep people out but because they have concerns about other aspects of immigration such as the concentration of immigrants in large cities or because they might see negative impacts on, say, the availability of doctors or housing.
 

Scarboroughbluffsradiof99 wrote:

PBS is probably the leest comunist network in the states.
Trump should shut down msnbc and free speach tv.
Free speach tv is the most far-left you can get, seconded by the huffington post.

Is this post for real?

mic'em wrote:

This poses a question for Musk, is it better to be considered a communist than a nazi ? 

Fun question!    though I think they'd position themselves as anti-Communist. However you spell whatever they might possibly be, it comes out opportunist.
 

RadioActive wrote:

I'm not sure if this aired on Sportsnet, but it happened during one of the final Blue Jays games of spring training on Friday. And it apparently made it to TV screens somewhere. Was Canada included?

Fortunately, these things don't happen often. Call it a "flash" in the fan - er, pan.

MLB fans spot flasher behind home plate on live TV broadcast of Blue Jays-Phillies game

Wonder if he was escorted out and over to mar-o-lago for a plum position.... maybe an ambassadorship?

Skywave wrote:

The even frequencies in the extended band (1620, 1640, 1660, 1680 and 1700) are primarily assigned to the United States.  The closest station is WDHP in Frederiksted, Virginia. It operates at 10 kW day and 1 kW night.  Any legit station must identify call sign and city of license as close to the top of the hour as possible.  If you don't hear a station ID, then maybe it is a pirate.
Given the high frequency, almost at the low end of the shortwave band, you can expect some daytime skywave reception.

WDHP is in the US Virgin Islands, not Virginia. So one of the farthest from ON, actually. I have heard it - in fact I stumbled upon it unexpectedly when it was first testing many years ago. It comes in occasionally during good southerly conditions. There are 1620s in Nebraska, Florida, Texas, California and Washington State. Also some Rebelde outlets in Cuba. Some weak ones in Mexico. Also lots of micro-powered highway info and public service stations (I've heard from IL, OH and elsewhere). Before the X-Band came along, 1610 and 1620 were hot for pirates, especially in the NYC area.
 

In Kawarthas, CKTB seems pretty much normal. It's now just prior to sunset. Weak Philly (Black Information Network) underneath on south antenna. But that's normal.