heliosj's news, thoughts, geek stuff, and more...

First, after a quick Google search, I realize I'm the last person in the industry to know this was possible, but I figured I'd share what I discovered a few moments ago nevertheless.

I had my mobile phone voicemail setup so if I called my voicemail from my mobile phone, it would just let me right in without a password. I always assumed that it relied on the unique IMEI code to determine if I was calling from my phone, but it doesn't. On a whim, I called my cell phone from another phone while spoofing the caller ID (to that of my mobile number) and it let me right into the voicemail.

Needless to say, I have the password option enabled now.

I only tested this with AT&T, maybe other carriers are a little more secure.

A friend of mine used to listen to digital modes via my HF radio stream. The way he accomplished this was by simply looping soundcard output back into another soundcard. That process always bugged me because it seemed like a perfectly good waste of a soundcard. :) So I came up with this... These instructions presume you're running Linux, have Fldigi and mpg321/123 installed.

Is this what we want to see in ham radio?

The Cypress Chapter, an official Ten-Ten International chapter, who is also hosting this years annual convention has consistently been promoting a political agenda. Right, left, or otherwise, is this what we want to see in ham radio? If a person considering perusing a ham ticket came across this site, they may be turned off regardless of their political point of view. Some people simply do not like partisanship in any form. And if they happened to have a liberal point of view, they may feel as if they're excluded from TenTen, Cypress Chapter, and the hobby in general.

I had the audacity to express my concerns about this political agenda posted on the chapter's website and my membership from the organization was summarily revoked. There's no information about how many chapter members "voted" on this removal nor are there are any provisions in the bylaws requiring a quorum of any sort. Thus I can only assume my removal was done by executive decree. Do I care that my membership from this chapter was revoked? Not in the least, but the notion that a popular contesting group which accepts paid dues would continue to endorse this chapter is rather troubling.

I moved my site to a new server, streaming audio and all...

Let me know if you all notice any issues.

Hey folks! This is some details about my ham shack... If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I'm never shy about talking about my ham shack. :)

Location: Casselberry, FL, USA - EL98iq
Primary Antenna: Alpha Delta DX-CC Fan Dipole @ 35ft, Inverted Vee

- The Logbook

- Picture Of My Ham Shack

Confessions of a know-nothing ham...

I admit it. I'm a woefully ignorant ham. I say this not out of pride, but concern. I was first licensed in 1994, but as a “Tech No-Code”. Admittedly, I was 13 years old, so the rule change did allow me to get my feet wet, but that's all she wrote despite my best intentions. 13 years old soon became 16 years old --- school, cars, money, and other such things were a higher priority. The rigs went in a box and the dreams of working real DX like a real ham disappeared.

Update 02-01-08 - (later in the day) - An e-mail from Mark Butler, the assistant city manager in Altamonte Springs.

Mark T. Butler wrote:
> Jeff,
> Yes, BrightHouse requested an Altamonte Springs Police officer accompany
> one of their technicians to XXXXXX XXXXX Avenue this morning.
>
> The City of Altamonte Springs does not charge a user fee for police
> services.
> Mark

Woot. I'll be a participant in this years 2007 Amateur Radio Field Day. I've been off the air for many years, though recently upgraded my license "ticket" to General class. I'm going for the Extra class this weekend.

The Kenwood TS-480SAT is my new radio. Don't know all the ins and out yet, but I've talked to Zurich, Germany and all around the US on it... with great signal reports.

Hey all,

Sorry I haven't been around much -- working a bunch on Asterisk stuff, woot. :)

I just wanted to update everyone on my Linux desktop choice. I actually went back to FC5 a few weeks ago. After having to wait hours and hours for Gentoo updates time after time, I just decided my machine needs to be more functional than that, especially now that I'm gainfully employed.

Gentoo is great, and will always have a spot in my heart, but I need my box to work all the time without stopping to compile hours/days worth of updates and FC5 can do that for me.

That's it for now. Maybe I'll be back more this weekend. I have a lot on my mind lately.