FCC Investigating Whether Cuban Government Is Jamming HAM Radio (vice.com) 60
HAM radio operators in Florida have said that Cuba is jamming radio frequencies that prevent them from communicating with operators in the country since anti-government protests began last week. Now, the Federal Communications Commission says it has started an investigation into the issue. From a report: "Too many people around the world are fighting uphill battles to be able to use technology to expand economic opportunity, express themselves, and organize without fear of reprisal," an FCC Spokesperson told Motherboard. "The FCC is committed to supporting the free flow of information and ensuring that the internet remains open for everyone. We are assessing these reports in conjunction with our field agents and communicating with the Department of State as this issue develops." The Cuban government has notoriously controlled communications on the island; until recently there was little internet connectivity in the country and during the protests the government has taken steps to shut down the internet. Cuban exiles living in Florida and other parts of the country often use HAM radio to talk to the mainland.
Are you going to tell them. . . (Score:5, Funny)
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Oh come now, this is obviously radio transmission of the old Amiga "Hold And Modify" screen format. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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No, actually... I think we can get through this without anyone pressing the point at all.
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Error was made by VICE reporter (Score:2)
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The rest of the world prefers to call it amateur radio.
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I'm one of those old curmudgeons who thinks they should have kept the GNU/Morse licensing requirement.
Jamming Ham? (Score:2)
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Get yourself a pair of coconut halves and go ask in Camelot where they eat ham and jam and spam-alot.
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Sounds good, what's the recipe?
"Ham Jam" really sounds disgusting....I would expect the recipe would go something like: "Take ham and water and put in food processor. Process until smooth. Can as per equipment directions."
On the other hand, there is at least this [watleyreview.com] to make it moderately appetizing, though the process of getting there sounds almost as disgusting as "ham jam."
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"Ham Jam" really sounds disgusting.
I've had bacon jam. It was pretty tasty.
Re:lost the middle east war (Score:5, Insightful)
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I'll bite - how?
Developing weapon systems isn't trivial. It's not like there's a lot of commonality between a Nissan Sentra and an M1 Abrams.
Developing doctrine for using weapon systems isn't trivial either. And teaching people to repair same, and supply chains and...
Yeah, militaries are hard to do right. And if you don't do it right, you find yourself replaying 1940 France....
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It's easier to stockpile million dollar smart bombs if you don't keep using them to blow up $50 tents in wherethefuckisthatistan.
Re:lost the middle east war (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll bite - how?
By not spending trillions blowing up other countries and their citizens and using a small fraction of that in training and upkeep.
Developing weapon systems isn't trivial. It's not like there's a lot of commonality between a Nissan Sentra and an M1 Abrams.
The only weapons we can't test, either in training exercises or just live-fire ranges, are our nuclear weapons.
Developing doctrine for using weapon systems isn't trivial either. And teaching people to repair same, and supply chains and...
Doctrine for using weapon systems can easily be developed through theory and training, and do you think things don't break while training with them? I don't know what you're talking about with the supply chains thing. The same supply chain is used regardless of how the weapon was used.
Yeah, militaries are hard to do right. And if you don't do it right, you find yourself replaying 1940 France....
Yes, militaries are hard to get right, but you do not need to use them constantly in war to do so.
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In theory you can develop weapons systems through theory and training. In practice, not so much.
Several historical examples: Between WWI and WWII the US Navy got rid of torpedo launchers on cruisers - doctrine was developed that we didn't need them. In the opening months of the pacific war with Japan in WWII a US heavy cruiser squadron met a lighter Japanese one in a meeting engagement. The US cruisers got badly mauled - the Japanese got off with no damage. The Japanese had torpedoes of course.
Operation
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I... - war teaches lessons that you cannot get in peacetime. Ever.
If it takes a war to improve weapons and doctrine, then so be it, improve what you've theorized in peacetime in battle when the time comes. I'd rather lose a battle and a few lives then have a never ending war costing trillions of my tax dollars and hundreds of thousands of the lives of my fellow service members.
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When I joined in 1989 there were still repercussions from all the slashing Carter's people had done.
And yet nobody invaded.
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Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are a waste of money. They are slow and easy to sink. The Chinese already demonstrated that they could take out a carrier if they want to using a vastly cheaper submarine when they "accidentally" surfaced a sub in the middle of the US carrier group. [warhistoryonline.com]
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Great quote, except there is no proof he ever said that. It is part of a collection of spurious quotations that were incorrectly attributed to many of the founding fathers. https://www.monticello.org/sit... [monticello.org]
Hams are going to retaliate (Score:4, Funny)
Cuba will regret this. Hams will swarm out of their bases in Florida and Arizona, bingo markers held high, Rascal scooters festooned with oxygen tanks, piling onto their mighty Prevost attack buses to head for the nearest Cuban consulate. Many of them have military experience in the great battlefields of the world: Normandy, Iwo Jima, Chosin Reservoir, Hurtgen Forest, Guadalcanal. They have buffet forks and they know how to use them. Take that, Stalin, or whoever it is now!
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Take that, Stalin, or whoever it is now!
Khrushchev
Re: Hams are going to retaliate (Score:1)
Never been a ham but the old man taught me morse when I was seven; I know the type well.
Re: Hams are going to retaliate (Score:1)
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Look up "Ham Sexy" on Facebook
Or not, and leave that as a question best left unanswered.
What's the FCC going to do? (Score:5, Informative)
What's the FCC going to do, send them a strongly-worded letter?
Re:What's the FCC going to do? (Score:4, Funny)
What's the FCC going to do, send them a strongly-worded letter?
Exactly, they'll put together a list of frequencies Cuba is not allowed to jam. :-)
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Re: What's the FCC going to do? (Score:1)
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Yes. And another one every year. And 15 years later, they'll disappear the culprits, just like they did with Billy Crowell, WB6WBJ - "World's Biggest Jammer".
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Cuba's a member of the ITU. They may ignore their treaty obligations of course, but as I understand it those require them to cooperate with an investigation into interference.
The Cuban government... (Score:1)
Jamaica? (Score:4, Funny)
The source of the jammin' could possibly be coming from Jamaica... /They hope you like jammin' too.
anti-government protests= state department fuckery (Score:1)
anyone paying attention to modern history knows what the fuck is going on.
"Ham Radio" -- HAM is not an acronym. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: "Ham Radio" -- HAM is not an acronym. (Score:1)
The Internet? (Score:1)
Ham radio is not the internet.
We're fucked.
Re:The Internet? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:The Internet? (Score:4, Informative)
But you can get the internet over ham. I use a Pactor 3 modem tied to an Icom 802 ham radio. USB plug into an old Toughbook CF-C1 running navigatrix version of Ubuntu. Batch download of pages (no surfing), weather files, emails, etc are slower than one is used to at home but doable.
Do Slashdot editors know anything about "HAM" (Score:3)
For what it's worth.. (Score:2)
Amateur radio operators would know (Score:2)
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Is this more than academic? (Score:2)
What amused me (Score:2)
was this:
"Too many people around the world are fighting uphill battles to be able to use technology to expand economic opportunity, express themselves, and organize without fear of reprisal," an FCC Spokesperson told Motherboard.
Right, America???
At least no "woodpecker" (Score:2)
What's the use? (Score:2)