_ _ _ _ _ __ ___ __ _| | _____ (_) |_ | |_ ___ __ _ | '_ ` _ \ / _` | |/ / _ \ | | __| | __/ _ \/ _` | | | | | | | (_| | < __/ | | |_ | || __/ (_| | |_| |_| |_|\__,_|_|\_\___| |_|\__| \__\___|\__,_| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-05-23 Saturday = Another week mostly spent (when not working or fulfilling domestic duties) tinkering with FreeBSD. I've got my main laptop working nicely with FreeBSD. I tried using i3 window manager again for a while, but prefer (feel more at home in) DWM, so I built a new version, just tweaking colours mostly, on FreeBSD, and also re-wrote my various "DWM Blocks" scripts to use FreeBSD's tools to obtain battery level, WiFi info, ethernet IP address, time, date etc..... I like it. I've been tinkering away with a script to monitor the battery level and send on-screen notifications, and ultimately trigger a shutdown. I don't know if it's an underlying poor calibration of the battery data (in BIOS?) but the data from APM and ACPI queries is a bit misleading. Battery reported percentage charge drops smoothly over time to around 10-15%, then drops dramatically to 6%, then drops steadily over the next 30 minutes or so until 0%... Then stays alive & running for at least another 30 minutes on 0%... There seems to be an issue with how the ACPI mechanism deals with the lower charge levels... but there's always at least 1/2 hour more runtime after reaching 0%. I'm going to try the "recalibrate the battery" method I've read online Fully charge.... remove charger and run on battery until fully discharges and laptop "dies" - ie turns off by itself due to totally exhausted battery, not due to any OS-driven power manager Fully charge.... repeat several times to "teach" the BIOS/ACPI what the true charactersitics of the battery are, and hopefully get a more accurate reporting of state of charge and expected run-time... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-05-16 Saturday = I've spent most of this week tinkering with FreeBSD on my Dell laptop. I decided to move to *BSD after getting tired of Linux's ever changing nature. The final straw was that even when I used Devuan - to escape the horrors of systemd - I found the latest version "Excalibur" would crash randomly, where the previous version was stable. "Excalibur" also brought in the many other changes in Debian 13.... and I decided to jump ship and escape. BSD seems to me to be a more "pure" UNIX environment - developed from real UNIX roots, and less prone to the endless tinkering of the multitude of Linux distributions. FreeBSD was my choice for the laptop, and so far I'm loving it. It is easy to administer. It has all the packages I want for "normal life" and tinkering is simple, and fun. I even installed FreeBSD on a Raspberry Pi3 I had lying around, and it's on my LAN, as a "headless" server to test things with. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-05-07 Thursday = I've been making steady progress on re-building the gopher hole. I also had a look at my "phlog aggregator" script as I'm not happy about how it handles the occasions that a phlog is "unreachable". I want the aggregator to skip testing for changes, and therefore to skip falsely saving a "current page md5sum" for a non-existent server. I added a test of whether a particular HOST could provide a response to a gopher query and then only continue with the rest of the script - to make a md5sum hash of the phlog page - if the server is actually serving gopher. The script first does a "curl" of the root of a particular phlog's server. It counts the lines in the reply and only continues with the rest of the aggregator script if the line count isn't "0". If it's "0" we skip this host and move to the next. At the moment "The Wandering Geek" phlog is not accessible, and now my aggregator skips it. When it returns it'll be checked. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-05-06 Wednesday = Something happened to my VPS running this gopherhole... It crashed and then wouldn't reboot. So I thoght it easisest to simply build a new one from scratch. I re-installed a fresh copy of Debian 12 (Bookworm) and I'm slowly putting things back to normal. Sadly I don't have a full recent backup of all the contents of the gopher hole, which is a lesson to me, at least! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-05-04 Monday = Watches.... After wearing the little CWC G10 for a few days I got the urge for a "real" mechanical watch again. I've recently worn my Damasko for an extended period, until the recent switching around I've been doing, so I thought I'd swap to my relatively new Seiko Turtle this time. And I've made a watch rotation log [0] gopher://g4slv.cloud/0/hobbies/watches/rotation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-05-03 Sunday = I've been thinking about "old-school" gopher and reading various opinions on the use of "type i" information lines on gophermaps. Some people say they are "not originally part of the protocol" and are being "abused" to make web-like sites. Well... without the "type i" a gophermap can only contain selectors to other documents, files, resources and menus(gophermaps) and not display any other information. So I've put my "user-space" gopher allocation online at [0] gopher://g4slv.cloud/1/~g4slv This is a stripped down version of my main gopherhole, with all gophermaps modified to remove all "type i" lines. I even modified by phlog aggregator to suit this new environment. Will it be better - more pleasant, easier to maintain - or will it just be needlessly plain and difficult to read simply for the sake of "authenticity to the first RFC"? I'll keep them both and see how I feel *** UPDATE 2026-05-04 *** I don't like this stripped down version. There's no scope for adding helpful text in a menu of selector-links. And... since the UMN Gopher client understands "i" type then I'm happy to continue using them. What I'm not keen on is the use of gophermap as an acutaul item of text - so that it's possible to add "hyperlinks" in the document. If that's what you want to do, then why not use Gemini (or even a website)? The upshot is that I'll continue my basic use of Gopher without the artifical restriction of avoiding "type i" menu items. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-05-02 Saturday = Phlog aggregator! I retrieved my original project of a phlogroll aggregator from the old VPS that first ran my gopherhole and tweaked it to run on the new VPS. I now have an automatic list of changed gopher pages, from a list I maintain of phlogs etc. The changes are detected by comparing md5sums of the page as it appears "now" and the md5sum as it appeared when the aggregator last ran. Newly changed pages are added to a list of updated phlogs. I've got it running via crontab, initially at mid-day (UTC) but I'll change it to a better time of day - or perhaps every 6 hours? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-04-30 Thursday = Watches... I've been flip-flopping between watches recently. For about 6 months I wore my Damasko DA36, on its super-engineered bracelet. Then I tried the Casio GA-B2100 "Casioak" for a while - including using the Casio app to sync via Bluetooth. Then I went back to the Garmin Instinct 2 (Solar) and re-installed Garmin Connect on my phone. But I still struggle with the idea of feeding Garmin all my data 24/7. My wife and I both have CWC G10 "military" watches. She stopped wearing hers when she also got a Garmin Instinct 2S (Solar) last year. But she's not happy with it, either - but just because it's too cumbersome and she doesn't use ANY of the Garmin Connect synce'd data. So it's rather pointless. She decided this week to switch back to her CWC G10, and I was thinking the same too... but both had dead batteries. I ordered 3 new "Renata 371" from Silvermans on Sunday and they arrived this morning. We both have our CWC G10 back on the wrist. It's a rather small, quartz watch, but the lume is GREAT and it's very very comfortable to wear on an olive green NATO. I think I'll wear this for a while until the urge to switch back to the Damasko comes over me again. Radio... Dusted off the old Vibroplex Bug (Champion model from ~1962) and answered a CQ call from LY2PX on 30m. A short rubber stamp QSO, except that Willy contratulated me on my "nice CW fist" - which is unusual to hear, especially when using a bug! I felt rather rusty and rushed and made more mistakes than I should have - nerves of a live QSO. Still - a bug is *much* mode fun than a robotic electronic keyer! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-04-29 Wednesday = Radio... I've had 2 QSOs on 30m CW today. Lars : SM6LRX and Olle : SM6HCI First CW QSOs in around 12 months, and first QSOs using iambic paddles for several years. In the last few years I've been using only straight keys (for slower QSOs up to around 18wpm ) or Vibroplex bugs for most QSOs above that speed. Using paddles again is a little confusing to my muscle memory - mostly it's okay, but I get thrown occasionally when I expect to be able to make a long dash with the "dash" paddle - on a bug it's easy to vary the length of dashes but it's impossible on electronic keyers. Will I continue with the paddles? Jury's out on that one. I will continue with CW though, it's the only mode I feel comfortable using for "non-digital" communication. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-04-28 Tuesday = Gopher... Have been trying different gopher clients over recent days. I have used: UMN Gopher Phetch Bombadillo Lynx Sacc VF-1 (and Kristall on X, but that doesn't count) Today I decided to take a better look at VF-1 and I really like it once I've got used to its mode of operation. It's very easy to use despite its slightly quirky (compared to Lynx etc) nature. Once you get into the swing of VF-1 it's really easy to navigate and read gopher sites. I'll keep trying it as I dig deeper into gopherspace. But so far it's a nice alternative client to phetch - especially after discovering "set color_menus true" option! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-04-27 Monday = Radio wise... I installed a small Anytone "Smart CB" rig in my van and an antenna on the rear roof bar. It's been "widebanded" and has all of 10m FM available (even has the 12m amateur band - but I suspect there's no FM in use on there!) I plan to monitor 29.6MHz FM calling channel in the hope of hearing / working some European/UK stations via Sporadic E once the summer begins. 10m FM is the first band I operated on when I got my call in 1983. I picked up a cheap CB converted to 10m and had a great time on that band. I was still at school and couldn't afford a real HF rig, nor the parts and tools and test equipment to build my own. I had an HF receiver (AR88D) so I was able to continue my SWL hobby, and I had my 10m FM "JWR M2" with a dipole pinned to my bedroom wall so I was able to do some "hamming". Happy days! There was quite a crowd on the band in the north-east of England in those days, and always someone to talk to. I don't know what I'll find now - certainly no local stations in Shetland that I'm aware of. I also set up my Kenwood TM-D710 V/UHF mobile rig in the shack and this allows me to do cross-band repeat between 2m and 70cm. This gives me access to the local repeater from a UHF handie anywere I'm in range of the house. I had a QSO - the first in quite some time - through GB3LU repeater this afternoon via my cross-bander, while walking the dog. Still no sign of any activity on Olivia mode on 60m/5366.5kHz. I've called CQ many times, and heard nothing. I'll keep trying. I guess I should have a look on the mainstream bands. Heard quite a few of the IARU DX Beacons on 14.100MHz CW, so 20m has been open. No sign of any digimodes barring the pestilence of the various JT modes. *** I had a PSK31 QSO on 30m with EW1EA, Gena in Minsk at 1748z *** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-04-26, Sunday = I spent some time yesterday on the radio shack setup. I now have: HF Radio (SSB & CW): FT-891 HF Radio (Digimodes) : IC-7200 VHF FM (Local repeater etc) : TH-D710 I stripped down & cleaned my Bencher BY-1 paddles for CW. In recent years I've concentrated on Vibroplex Bug keys for CW. I'll get round to getting them up & running later, but in the meantime I've got my old BY-1 paddles back in service. I'm a bit rusty with iambic paddles, after 100% bug use for the last few years. For Digimodes I've hooked up a Raspberry Pi4 to the USB port of the IC-7200 and can run FLdigi in a VNC session from a laptop anywhere in the house. I tried "ssh -XC pi fldigi" and although it works I find it better to use VNC - the remote VNC session remain (with FLdigi running) when I disconnect, so I can reconnect at will and pick up where I left off. I put back a 2m/70cm colinear on the garden fence to allow me to access the local repeater (GB3LU) on 2m. I'll start to update my QRZ.COM pages (one each for GM4SLV and G4SLV). I'm going to use G4SLV exclusively from now on. I read the new licence conditions document - so many things have simplified in the UK. No need to indicate a "portable" or "mobile" station with "/P" or "/M" - although you can if you want to, there's nothing to stop you - but it's not a requirement anymore. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-04-24, Friday = I now have my HF antenna back up and 2 HF transceivers connected and powered. There's an Icom IC-7200 which I plan to used for datamodes and a Yaesu FT-891 that I'll used for CW. I may also try some SSB on HF and even some FM on 10m if there's any propagation. I've also added Echolink connectivity to the Allstar node, using GM4SLV-L (Node 886089) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-04-23, Thursday = Well... I got my Allstar node running (node id 481483 / G4SLV) I also got Pi-Star DMR hotspot running. My TH-D72 Analogue handheld is working and also my Anytone 878 DMR handheld. My DMR ID is 2354429. I've dragged a couple of boxes of stuff from the shed - HF transceivers and power supplies. I need to clear my desk and set them up. And put up my HF antenna again. And for Gopher - I've decided to stick to hosting gopher myself - and I've got a new VPS just for this - instead of migrating to tilde.pink The new VPS will just be used as a gopher server and I can now separate gopher from the server running my web wiki. I still own the "g4slv.cloud" domain so I've made the new gopher maching be "g4slv.cloud" I've got the new VPS set up, gophernicus and fingerd running. All systems go! Now I need to start paying attention to the gopherhole's content, layout etc.... a work in progress ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-04-22, Wednesday = Looking around Gopherspace "going down the gopherburrow" I came across the gopherhole of Lucio "LFA" - I'd found one of his excellent articles linked on another site. He has some interesting stuff... and then I looked at his list of "Gopher Holes I Enjoy" and I found **my own burrow** "John's Vademecum" on his list! Wow! This is the 1st evidence of a connection in gopherspace! ...... Last night I dug out of storage my Kenwood TH-D72 V/UHF handheld radio and the Allstar hotspot ShariPi. I planned on getting back on Allstar. But the handheld battery was flat, so I dug out the Kenwood charger... plugged it it... Almighty BANG. RCD for the house ringmain tripped. Charger = U/S. I'll put this plan on hold for a while. But I think it's worth persuing. All my ham radio kit has been stored in an unheated shed over winter - and now I'm wondering how much has survived! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-04-21, Tuesday = I've resurrected the Dmenu notes mechanism, with auto syncing via rsync. This will make publishing stuff a little quicker. I've also started trying to make both gopherholes contain the same stuff, while I decide which one to keep long term. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 2026-04-21, Tuesday = Geting the gopher hole(s) fixed up after a winter of neglect. I've got my original sef-hosted one (g4slv.cloud) back up - the phlogroll auto-aggregator needs attention, and is shelved for the time being. I've started putting things in the tilde.pink gopherhole, I guess eventually they'll be mirrors of each other - and I'll have to decide what to do with them. I also need to decide how to approach my web blog & wiki [0] https://g4slv.info/dokuwiki I might stop the blog there and just post blog-like stuff on gopher. But then again... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~