BrainOut!
The mumblings of a Christian autistic husband, dad, IT guy and amateur radio operator - Will Brokenbourgh / AF7EC
Current Status - 2023-07-24
Kevin
While he doesn't know me from Adam, this nice gentleman named Kevin is struggling with
a serious health concern right now. While it is public knowledge, I will not
reveal his last name or health concern. I do ask that you pray for his quick and complete
healing and that he can get back to living life again.
Kevin
My current desktop
As if anyone gives two cents about what type of desktop I'm running, it's Fluxbox running
on top of Linux Mint (Ubuntu edition) x86_64.
MyCuteFluxboxDesktop
(right-click and view image to see larger version)
Being an estranged father
Life has a way of pulling you down, kicking you repeatedly in the gut and leaving you for dead.
All praise to God above for coming to the rescue when this happens, though! I have nine bio
and non-bio kids, and only three of them are on speaking terms with me. While I've tried
to restart relationships with most of the others, they have their varied excuses as to
why they want me to leave them alone.
Being a believer in Christ Jesus is not easy. Jesus warned us that the world would hate us if we followed him, and it's true. When some of your kids and family distance themselves or cut themselves off completely from you for what you stand for, it can be painful. I will continue to follow Jesus, though, and will continue to dislike what God dislikes. I cannot be a two-faced person and pretend to be okay with lifestyles and choices that are clearly against God.
I absolutely love each and every one of my kids, but as they are all adults now, it's up to them to reject the garbage the world has put on them and seek God without compromise. And if they don't? I will continue to love them but also have a sad part in my heart for the kids who are no longer in my life. I will continue to pray that they someday understand the truth and will forgive me for whatever real or fictional things done in their lives.
Amateur radio stuff
After putting up my homebrew
random-wire antenna, I have made exactly one-half of a contact on HF.
It was with KJ6M in California and was quite by accident! I was testing my SW-3B CW-only
(Morse code only) transceiver on 30 meters and heard him call back, albeit very faintly
and with much QSB (signal fading in and out). I tried to do a QSO (conversation)
with him, but the QSB was so bad that I couldn't make out much of what he was saying.
I'm so used to no one answering me that I truly was surprised when he answered me, so I guess I was in shock, too. I looked him up and he didn't have an e-mail, but thankfully I was able to write him a letter and let him know what happened. He kindly mailed me my first QSL card! A QSL card is a post-card sent from the person you had an on-air conversation with and many people treasure them, while others poo-poo them because of the 'environment'. I was very grateful to receive this QSL card from him. I'd share a pic of it but don't have his permission to do so.
I really would really like an HF radio that I can do voice with. My little SW-3B is great for CW, but I can't do voice with it, and my uBitX v6 is just not up to the task. Maybe one day I'll get a new or used budget CW and voice HF transceiver, like a Xiegu G90 or maybe a Yaesu FT-818ND, but that seems so far off right now. House and car repairs take priority. God does provide for us, but I would be irresponsible to purchase an amateur radio when that money should go to get our out-of-service car running again after one and a half years. For now I'll just have to keep trying with CW and hope I can afford a rig with properly working voice someday.
I've been able to hit Reverse Beacon Network spotters about 400 to 500 miles away with my current QRP (low power) setup, but I think my antenna should be doing better. I have purchased some inexpensive parts to make a new UnUn with a proper 9:1 ratio and pre-made plastic enclosure. I know, I know, my silly wooden one was just so darned cute but I really want to have a working station and be able to get farther than 400 to 500 miles. I regularly see folks like Kevin K0KLB (not the Kevin above) hitting way better distances with QRP than I have, so hopefully a better UnUn will make the difference.
Software development
I have not been too active lately with software development. I usually work on SpiritVNC-FLTK
when there's an issue or feature I want to add, but it's been relatively stable except
for quirks that appear to be from libvncserver / libvncclient. The main developer of
that library has said that he's too busy with his day job, so I just have to ride it out.
I could get coding on libvnclite, but reading and implementing the RFB protocol
is not exactly child's play unless you're Einstein!
Well, that's all for now. Nothing terribly exciting going on at the moment but sometimes
that's a good thing!
God bless you, and thank you for reading!
About me
First and foremost I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. After that, I'm a blessed husband,
father and grandfather. I do remote computer work for a living although it's mostly
part-time. I'm an amateur radio operator - AF7EC. When I'm not working on the endless
list of house and car projects, I like to tinker with electronics, like to listen to
shortwave and write software (mostly open-source) in C, C++, Python and Free Pascal. I
usually run Linux as my main operating system but sometimes I'm forced to endure
Windows 11 for gaming with my son or testing software. Overall, I am a big nobody, but
always willing to share about Jesus and all that God has done for me and my family.
Comments
(No comments yet)