indiboi.com

“The pioneers of a warless world are the youth who refuse military service.“

Well, ultimately it turns out that my computers were just too “modern” to work with the FCC’s Universal Filing System, hah! The browser requirements are something like Netscape 4 only or IE in windows between 4 and 5.5 or something silly. Not a single browser that I had would work as you need to have the very first version of java… and of course once I finally get in I see how ridiculous and archaic the whole online form is: meaning, there is absolutely no reason that they should have been using java in the first place… hell, a regular ol’ php or even god forbid an asp or perl form would have worked beautifully and also allow any browser to use it. Just another example of the feds being duped into something ridiculously idiotic and most likely overtly too expensive for the purpose. I’d point it out so that everybody could go look and laugh, but you need a FCC Registration Number to get into it, so… anyway.

The reason I’ve been fooling with this is so that I can get a license for gmrs which was issued to me yesterday morning. General Mobile Radio Service is kind of like FRS (Family Radio Service) on steriods. While a vast majority of the GMRS radios operate on the same output level of FRS (500mW), GMRS allows upwards of 4W of output power. This translates into the capability to communicate over quite a distance as compared to the 1 mile operative and 2 mile theoretical range of FRS. I have two sets of radios, one set has 1.8 watts of output power and my other “cute” set of radios is the normal 500mW type. GMRS also allows for quite a few more channels to be used, which helps eliminate interference in more congested areas.

It is a little funny how you can buy gmrs radios right next to frs radios at walmart, target, etc… but to use them legally you need a license. So one would think that it isn’t a big deal, and the likelihood of getting caught is probably pretty low; however, if for some reason you are caught, the fine is in the $10,000.00 range… so I figured it was just best to be legal about it all, plus it wasn’t terribly expensive and I get an FCC Callsign for my “mobile station” lol. So it’s a little like grown up secret agent time, hahah. Of course though, technically speaking, anyone using my gmrs radios would need to be licensed on their own if they’re not already covered in my license, so in a way that’s kind of annoying… but they could always get their own radio that is certified for FRS only (which is pretty inexpensive really) and all would be kosher.

I was thinking about you this morning. I often do, but today was different. I don’t know how to talk to you without being angry, it’s not that I’m angry with you, but with circumstances; the circumstances that we control and also those that we do not. I always just assume you know how important you are to me because for some reason it doesn’t seem appropriate. I see all of this… and I don’t always remember why. I remembering holding you night after night, and wanted to be back there.

I don’t know if I will ever understand how I feel, the uncertainty proves a difficult barrier when I want to open up. I know the life we dream about is out there waiting for us… and every unorganized conspiracy against us is only proof of how important it is to get there, for the first time or again… and every part of me knows we’ll succeed.

Here’s a little bit of an FYI, when the FCC indicates that their web services are under “Degraded Performance” they really mean that they aren’t working at all. All of their online services, with the exception of one that is listed as offline and another that isn’t used until “filing season”…. well, all of them are under a “Degraded Performance” advisory. *Sigh* I really wanted to get this taken care of today, but I guess that isn’t gonna happen.

Leave it to zilla to have me falling off my chair from laughter…