I’d have to check my logs, but it was something like spring or early summer. Honestly though the solar cycle has a much larger effect on propagation, and right now we’re near solar maximum so things are really hopping. At the beginning of COVID we were just starting to come out of solar minimum.

I haven’t been super active lately, so I can’t comment on how often you’d be able to make contact. But with some coordination it’s definitely doable. Especially if you get some decent metal in the air.

You still have US citizenship? You might be able to do your testing in the USA over zoom and use a reciprocal license, though I haven’t looked deeply into it.

I had a similar but very different experience. At the beginning of COVID my buddy and I got our ham radio licenses.

One of my earliest contacts was a guy in Japan, over 6000 miles away! Nothing between us but some wire strung up in a tree, and a couple of radios. Using the ionosphere to bounce our signals around the world.

So. Stinking. Awesome.

I’ve been hooked ever since.

It’s funny because it’s almost the opposite of your story, you were using the amazing new technology and infrastructure to make the trip. These days we take that very infrastructure for granted.

It’s fun to try doing it with as little infrastructure as possible!

Most of the 24 hour Walmarts and similar stores in my area stopped doing that during COVID, and then never did again. Most close at 10 or 11. I miss going into Meijer at 3am and getting… Whatever I wanted 🤷‍♂️

I feel this deeply. I’ve not been diagnosed, but it’s a problem.

Thanks for the recommendation!

I like the fold concept in theory, though it’s a bit exhausting protecting the screen all the time.

Being able to set the phone anywhere at an angle to take a picture has come in handy super frequently.

If this phone was full price though I think I’d be mad. I baby this screen line no tomorrow, and I’m diligent about keeping my pocket free of any dust and lint, let alone dirt or bits.

I’ve got a tiny scratch in the middle of the fold, and the entire fold area has long tiny cracks forming from folding. I’ve only had this phone for like 7 or 8 months.

My buddies broke in 30 days of buying it, and he had to fight to get it replaced.

Again, I like the idea, and I enjoy using it. But there’s still too many pain spots for me to make the jump. It’ll have to get a lot cheaper or a lot more sturdy before I’ll get another.

I had the original Galaxy Note and loved it. Then I went to oneplus one and loved it. Then I went Nexus 6 and liked it enough. Then I got the first Pixel.

I’ve been pixels ever since. But there was a deal on the Galaxy flip5, $0 up front, $300 over 2 years. I couldn’t pass it up, for the novelty if nothing else.

There’s a lot I like about this phone, but a lot more that I don’t. I’m looking forward to going back to Pixel when I can.

This phone is missing so many standard features, and so many others are locked behind Samsungs walled garden that I refuse to sign up for. It’s just a mess. I’m frequently frustrated.

That looks amazing

I… how… huh? I must try this. I use my rice cooker all the time, but for rice

I used to like the a400, had a few of them in service, but a few years ago I tried another one and it was terrible. Just… Slow… like an HDD. I did some research and apparently they changed something with the nand somewhere along the line. Did a bait and switch. I don’t remember the details but it annoyed me.

I actually needed to buy a budget SSD just today, and I got a BX500. We’ll see how it goes. I know not to expect much from a drive without DRAM, but at least I know that going in.

This happened for me with the scene in one of the new star trek movies where they play beastie boys while busting out of a cloud or something. Idk, it was a really cool scene, but I was mad that I’d already seen it in the trailer. It’s ludicrous. I still complain about it to my wife to this day.

Is there a chart for this?

Thanks, I thought of something even better. Slap Linux on that thing! Wipe the whole drive on “accident”. Linux is way more innocuous than pirate Windows 🤷‍♂️

Go with humility first, you screwed up. Follow it up with a joke about how you discovered a flaw in the configuration of work laptops, and now they can fix it to prevent someone else from being able to do that 🤷‍♂️ I think you’ll be ok

I would also like to know the answer to this

This is funny to me, I can see myself being that person.

Though I took my ft60 to my local (very small) peak, it’s got a tower jam packed with antennas, and I’ve had good success. So I guess my front end wasn’t overloaded 🤷‍♂️

https://youtu.be/2svOtXaD3gg

I don’t know how this hasn’t been posted yet

Thanks, I guess I still don’t understand though.

I see now that watts and therefore kW are rates. So it’s silly to add another rate to the end by appending “per hour”. But what is the time component of the watt calculation? To me it’s essentially instantaneous, even if that’s wrong. Even if that breaks the math, it’s still essentially true on a macro scale. And if it’s instantaneous, or even just close like microseconds, then it doesn’t hurt to apend another rate to the end, does it?

So why not use it? Batteries come with capacities rated in Wh and kWh, and it weirdly still makes sense to me because of my usage rate per hour example in my last comment.

And if we shouldn’t use it, then what should we use?

Is this problem we’re discussing, one that only occurs if you try to get really accurate with the numbers and times? Because for my uses it’s always seemed to work well enough.

Not being argumentative, just trying to learn, thanks

Thank you. My favorite thing, can never not think of it

Maybe it’s regional? They don’t ask for my card in Michigan. But I do need to present it for a few things done at the SOS office. That’s the DMV in Michigan.

Why make it a card then? If it’s meant to be stored as a document then it should be the size of an envelope, or a standard A4 sheet.

I keep mine attached to the envelope sized paper it came on. But it shouldn’t be a card shape, that encourages people to carry it. My grandpa always carried his.