Cory Hamasaki's DC Y2K Weather Report V2, # 10
"March 4, 1998 - 667 days to go." WRP66
(c) 1997, 1998 Cory Hamasaki - I grant permission to distribute and
reproduce this article as long as this entire document is reproduced in
its entirety including this notice. I do not grant permission to
a commercial publisher to reprint this in print media.
As seen in
USENET:comp.software.year-2000
http://www.elmbronze.demon.co.uk/year2000/
http://www.kiyoinc.com/HHResCo.html
Please fax or email copies of this to your geek pals, especially those
idiots who keep sending you lightbulb, blonde, or Bill Gates jokes,
and urban legends like the Arizona rocket car story.
If you have a Y2K webpage, feel free to host the Weather Reports.
Don't forget- April 2, 3 1998, Geek Out.
Project Dumbass needs you.
In this issue:
1. IRS Geeks to get bonuses.
2. Ham stuff
3. Projects Dumbass and Outreach
4. The FAA, what a joke
5. CCCC
----------- Another IRS Hallucination ---
You know I'm the king of cluelessness, well, last night I had a double helping
of vanilla ice cream and some extra spicy bean chili, woooaaahhh, ohhhhh,
here's my dream...
Wednesday, March 4, 1998, New Carrolton Federal Geek Slave Quarters -
Hey you, Geek! Mr. Rossotti wants to talk to you.
m-m-m-m-me? The skinny, pasty geek knocks over his diet dr. pepper and starts
for Rossotti's office.
As he's waiting, another geek, tears steaming from his eyes, his T-shirt
hanging out of his jeans, rushes from the boss's office.
...AND GET SOME DECENT CLOTHES, the voice booms out, NEXT.
The pasty geek, hands trembling, enters the chamber, the same chamber in which
Mr. Rossotti read the riot act to the IRS's ex-CIO. SIDDOWN.
yesssir! the geek squeaks out.
I'VE CLEANED HOUSE AT THE TOP, NOW IT'S TIME TO TAKE CARE OF YOUSE GEEKS.
gulp.
I DEMAND THE BEST. THIS WILL BE THE TOP AGENCY. he picks up an walnut from a
bowl on his massive desk, OR I WILL KNOW THE REASON WHY. and crushes the
walnut in one hand. IS THAT CLEAR?
I EXPECT PROFESSIONAL, TOP QUALITY WORK FROM MY GEEKS. the geek glances over
at the double headed chopping ax on the wall.
I EXPECT A LOT. he reaches into his desk, pulls out a wad of 100 dollar
bills. ...AND I GIVE A LOT.
YOU DID A GOOD JOB. HERE'S A ROSSOTTI REWARD. he throws the bundle of money
at the geek.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. the geek looks at the bundle, it's six thousand
dollars.
I EXPECT MY GEEKS TO BE WELL TRAINED, CHECK OUT http://www.share.org,
YOU'RE GOING THIS AUGUST. THEY HAVE THE BEST TECHNOLOGY TRAINING AVAILABLE AND
THEY HAVE AN OPEN BAR AND PARTIES EVERY NIGHT. Rossotti is smiling.
YOU ATTEND THE TRAINING AND THE PARTIES. WE WORK HARD AND PLAY HARD HERE.
NOW GET BACK TO WORK...
....AND GET SOME DECENT CLOTHES.
and the pasty geek, tears of joy streaming from his eyes, rushes out of the
office to tell his family the good news.
Yes, another clueless, completely made up story about life in the federal
city; Washington DC, the place where the mayor, a drug-crazed ex-con, draws a
salary of $90,000/year to lead the city back to colonial times.
But can it be, will federal geeks at the New Carrolton slave pens get 10%
bonuses? Hundreds have quit. There's work to be done and a highly regarded
technology manager is at the helm. Can he pull it off? If it happens, it
will hit the news in a couple days.
----------- What's a Ham ---------------
The FCC will issue you a license to operate a radio transmitter on HF and VHF
(and above frequencies). There are several license classes with different
exam criteria. The exams provide nominal assurance that you know how to
operate a radio transmitter without violating international laws, interferring
with other radio services, or injuring yourself.
This requirement arises because the ham license gives you incredible
privileges. This includes high power operation. In the ham world, 100 watts
is low power and can reach around the world. The novice license is restricted
to 200 watts but all other licensees can crank up the power to 1,000 watts.
While other radio services use 'channels', that is transmitters and receivers
fixed to specific frequencies with few controls, ham equipment is fully
frequency agile.
Ham equipment is extremely varied, capable of a variety of modes in addition
to voice and morse code. But here are the basics:
You must know morse code to operate on the HF (high frequency or international
range bands). Without morse, you are limited to VHF only and for most people,
this means 2 meter FM voice. The Technician Class license is an example.
With 2 meter FM, a 100 dollar directional antenna in a good location, you can
communicate over a 50 to 100 mile range on a consistant basis. Occasionally,
you will be able to talk to stations several hundred miles away. A
representative synthesized 2 meter FM transceiver, the 50 watt IC-2000H is
under $300. It includes a 118-174 mHz scanner.
As long as the repeaters are up, you can communicate over the same ranges
using a handheld transceiver.
With a higher class of license, such as the General Class, you can operate on
the HF bands using SSB (single sideband voice) and talk around the world
depending upon variables such as your location (it's good to be on a hill),
type of antenna, power, and band conditions. A 13 word per minute morse exam
is the key to the General Class.
The IC-707, 100 Watt SSB/CW/AM HF transceiver includes a .5 - 30 mHz shortwave
receiver. The IC-707 is under $800 ready to operate on a car battery. An AC
power supply is another $250.
HF antennas tend to be large and expensive. Simple runs of wire, 66 feet, 32
feet work well for shorter ranges, one or two thousand miles. Direction
antennas, Yagi's, quads, tribanders, or log periodics will improve your
station's performance. A basic directional antenna is about $500
including a support mast, small rotator, wires and cables.
Low power, 100 watts SSB, is adequate for these shorter distances but stations
that regularly work around the world have kilowatt amplifiers available.
If the end of civilization scenario plays out, an HF transceiver like the
IC-707 will allow you to talk from Oregon to Florida and keep the lines of
communication open. On VHF, the IC-2000 will reach out to the horizon and
just slightly beyond on a regular basis.
For more information:
http://www.arrl.org follow the links to the stores and the FCC.
If you are near Washington DC, check out Electronic Equipment Bank in Vienna
Virginia. I buy all my ham gear from them. They also sell SWL receivers and
scanners but VHF ham equipment like the IC-2000 comes with a scanner built in
and HF transceivers include all band SWL receivers. Dick at EEB has a nice
catalog with pictures and specs of all this stuff.
------------ Power and Operations --------------------
Referring to the two sample transceivers above, we're looking at about 100
watt-hours per hour of operation, average draws of 10 amps and 15 amp peaks at
12 volts. VHF (2 meter) FM draws much more power per transmitter watt than HF
SSB. The reason is that FM is a continuous duty cycle and SSB is very
intermittent. SSB draws little power between spoken words. In either
case, the smallest gas generator will supply enough power. With a good bank
of batteries, you might get by with running the generator only once a week.
For solar, a panel that produces an amp/hour will let you operate the station
for an hour a day. A two or three amp/hour panel array gives you more of a
safety margin.
Given power, ham radio will provide reliable communications in the following
conditions:
0-10 miles, line of sight, VHF FM, handhelds, $200 each.
0-100 miles VHF FM, 50 watt transceivers, $300 each, directional antennas or
repeaters.
0-1000 miles HF SSB, 100 watt multimode, solid state transceivers, $800 each,
simple wire antennas.
0-Worldwide HF SSB, as above with 1 KW amplifiers, $2000; larger antennas,
$500 and up.
All types of stations are available new or used from reputable stores.
Ham gear has been all solid state for the last 20 years,
it is extremely reliable. Some ham gear is military spec field communications
equipment.
With the exception of repeaters, the communications systems described above
are one station talking directly to another with no third party involvement.
For VHF operation, the minimum license is the Technician. For HF SSB, the
license required is the General Class.
There are digital network modes, these include RTTY, AMTOR and AX.25 using
radio modems. There is also radio fax, video, and other varieties of
specialized communications. In the post-Y2K world, voice and CW will probably
be the fall backs.
The construction and operation of the station assumes that you can measure,
cut wire, solder, and understand basic electronics, radio procedures, etc.
Ham radio, even VHF FM, is not like using a cell phone or CB radio. Take a
look at the vendor offerings on the web. These things are bristling with
knobs, buttons, controls and modes.
All ham communications are open, in the clear, and should not be encrypted.
There are prohibitions against providing common carrier services. These rules
will certainly be waived if there are no common carrier services.
--------------- getting started ---------------
The ARRL, their URL is listed above, has information on licensing, vendors,
products, and operations. Contact your local ham club; they can help you
study for your license, set up your station, and prepare for emergency
operations.
One of the justifications for allocating valuable radio spectrum to the
amateur service is having trained radio operators and stations in each
community, equipted and ready for emergencies. Hams are aware of this
and hold exercises that simulate operations under emergency
conditions. There are clubs and interest groups dedicated to
emergency preparedness.
If you have a shortwave receiver that can receive SSB, Check out the
action on 14.200-14.300 mHz days and evenings. 7.200-7.250 mHz evenings.
Scanner owners should monitor 146.52 and scan 146.610 to 147.000 mHz NBFM.
I am not convinced that Y2K will bring down civilization, I have renewed my
license and am putting my station back on the air.
Two books that you should consider for your Y2K survival library are the ARRL
Radio Amateur's Handbook or Bill Orr's Radio Handbook. The survivalist
nut-cases are fixated on tactical communications, vox-talkies; here's a DC Y2K
thought for you, something I live by... a strategist will beat a
tactician every time. A strategist is thinking, planning, living 2-5
years out, a tactician is fighting to recover from last year's mistakes.
Ham radio is strategic communications. You have 673 days to build your
strategic communications system. HF SSB.
---------------- Project Dumbass ----------------
The essense of Project Dumbass is to save the especially dumb public
pronouncements of Y2K denial, save them until the right time and then rub it
into the face of the denial-head. We have lots of excellent current Project
Dumbass candidates, the bozo who said that nuclear missile launch controls
could not possibly have a Y2K date problem <where is he now?>, the pilots and
air controllers who said, no, no way there would be an air traffic control Y2K
problem. <KLM, FAA, 308x, GPS, hahahaha, you dumbasses, come to me so I can
whack you with my rolled up Dilbert poster.>
I might start up a Project Dumbass webpage, I won't list the names, even I'm
not that cruel, I will list the quote and the time and date. That's fair
game. ...for historical interest.
The point isn't to humiliate the past dumbasses, it's to educate and
enlighten current and future dumbasses. In that sense, the dumbasses of the
past are providing a valuable service, and if we learn from our past mistakes,
we can make a better tomorrow... Project Dumbass is really Project Prometheus
and the dumbasses should have pride in their contribution.
---------------- Project Outreach -----------------
C.s.y2k has become noisy but it's also become inbred. It's time for Project
Outreach. An excellent example is Jay's speaking to his PTA.
Others have reported on teaching classes. I've mentioned this before. Put
together a one hour talk on Y2K, collect some solid background material, last
year's Newsweek is good, and volunteer to be a guest lecturer from industry at
a college, possible classes are business management, computer programming,
computer security, software engineering. Give the professor the handouts a
week before the class so the students can read the assignment. Present your
information on Y2K, tailored for the class, lecture for part of the class and
have a Q&A.
Leave the professor with 3-5 questions suitable for an exam. You've done a
bunch of work for him, given the students some solid exposure to the issues.
Other outreach efforts include radio talk shows, cable TV, guest speaking at
community groups and even places like senior centers. For senior centers,
please don't terrorize granny and gramps. Tell them that Social Security
started early.
----------------- Geekout 1998 ---------------------
April 2, 3. Show your Geek solidarity by not working on Thursday and Friday.
Geekout is not a strike, not blue-flu, it's a time for Y2K geeks everywhere to
turn out the lights in the slave quarters. Take two days of well deserved
vacation or some sick-of-it leave. Visit with fellow geeks, some DC area
geeks are going camping in West Virginia.
Rototil your Y2K victory garden, clean and wax the geek-mobile, take the kids
out of school and make it a big geek and little geek family day at the mall.
Go to EEB in Vienna, Virginia. buy some books or even better, a scanning
2 meter FM handheld transceiver. Dick's got lots of terrific radios. My Visa
card gets itchy just thinking about his store.
Or do what I'll be doing, going to the doctor for the old-guy's physical
exam; you geekettes and she-geeks can skip down a few lines, I need to talk
mano-a-mano here... are they gone? Close the door, OK, listen guys, the guy
who helps me with Oracle databases just had his 'PR*ST*T*' operated on, it
was cancer. I know, I know, my doc has HUGE hands too, fingers like bananas,
like cucumbers. And yes, if he finds something and if they have to
operate, there's a chance that little-willy isn't going to be as energetic as
we'd like.
But that's a lot of if's; so if you're over 40 and haven't had that experience
in a couple years, well, it's time. It's sobering when a guy who
works with you tells you why he's taking a few weeks off. Anyway, the
geekettes have it just as bad, they get pinched and poked even worse during
their physicals.
I spoke to him the day after his operation and a couple days after that. I
was having lunch at my desk, he's fine but he wanted to talk... ...sliced
it open, look for something like a spaghetti tube through a little
meatball, clip the spaghetti, pull it out of the meatball and throw the
meatball away, then take a small tube and stick it through the spaghetti
and stitch it up so it stays together, I've got this bag, I've got to wear
for a few weeks, hopefully only a few weeks, so I'll be wearing loose
pants. ...ah, ah, ah, thanks for sharing, and I'm having trouble
finishing my lunch.
So go for that screening, I'm going.
OK, open the door, let the geekettes and she-geeks back in. Hey, why are all
the guys so pale.
-------------- FAA ------------------
I apologize to the non-mainframe gear-heads for excessing mainframe-ese in the
following articles.
----------start---------
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 07:38:58 -0500
From: XXXX XXXXXXX <XXXXXXX@XXXXXXX.XX.FAA.GOV>
Subject: 308x Microcode / FAA
FYI for all people out there. The FAA replaced the last 9020E box in
the field last summer. Replacement boxes are 3083's. 50 left in
service, 47 by FAA.
I have some of the core memory (yes, core memory) from the last 9020 on
my desk at home. A whopping 4K worth.
Government concerns with the ATC systems are (from 2nd hand knowledge
only, not my primary area) are switchover times, channel timing (that
code has been really tweaked for performance) and disk formatting.
There is a G3 box currently being tested inhouse to test run the system,
but that just got here.
As for the whys of not upgrading boxes (I run on a 3090-20E w/ 64 MB we
got 2nd hand from FBI), cost cost cost. Nobody is looking at ROI on
these. Someone else pays the environmentals, so it's either pay now or
keep what works. Not my personal idea on management, but that's the way
it is.
XXXX XXXXXX
XX XXXXXX XXXX XXXXXX (FAA)
---------end-----------
Our brilliant FAA management, the same management that blew a billion
dollars on the failed ATC upgrade, or was it more, you know in all the
excitement of seeing mountains of hundred dollar bills fly out the window, I
lost track, that same managment is so d*mn cheap that they are running the ATC
on less than scrap-heap iron.
The 3083 was an entry level mainframe; on a good day, it might wheeze out
5 MIPS. You can get ten year newer mainframes, air cooled boxes that bench 5
times the MIPS, for a few thousand dollars.
Look at what Mr. XXXXXX is running, a discard 3090, an 8 year old box with a
big 64 Meg of memory.
This next one isn't about the FAA but it offers insight into how we got to
where we are
---------start--------
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 16:02:10 -0500
From: "XXXXX X. XXXXX" <XXXXXXX@XXXXXXXXXXXXX.COM>
Subject: Federal procurement
Since the issue of federal upgrades came up, I thought I would
contribute my story:
some years ago a federal agency (won't say who, but all the armed
services would have problems without them) was bidding for
backup/restore software. A big contract, many data centers. The
procurement went on for 5 YEARS!!!
We finally went to a final meeting where each vendor had a chance to
present their bid and answer any technical questions. They had detailed
specs for the product but I immediately noticed that performance was not
among them; they didn't care how long things ran as long as they
eventually got done (sounds like any government agency except for the
"eventually" part).
We lost the bid, but I did ask their "technical" person what they were
currently using for backups. The answer was "what backups?". They
spent 5 years diddling around with no backups for dozens of important
data centers. And we expect them to fix their Y2K problems in less than
10 years? HA!
--
XXXXX X. XXXXX
--------end----------
Sad, too sad for the public. Sad for the geeks trapped in the
tar pit. Sad for everyone. The two stories above answer the questions,
how did we get into this mess? Why aren't the problems being fixed?
--------- CCCC ----------------------
Surviving the war in c.s.y2k
For the most part, I'm trying to stay out of post y2k prediction game. The
technical issues are very clear to me. My priorities are the remediation,
triage, stamping out the last of the denial, and oh yes, fair rates for geeks.
I like to waddle in and duke it out, sumo-style, slapping and pushing,
as much as the next person but when I look into my crystal ball, the
post-y2k world is very hard to see.
It's like the Terminator moovees, the present does not lead inexorably
to one future. We could end up fighting house to house, slapping 30
round mags of .223 into CAR-15's, the scent of cordite drifting down the
street, ducking behind wrecks of SUV's because we waited too long to
make the recall to the farm.
Or, there could be inflation, shortages, brown-outs, power
interruptions, 20% unemployment, all being worked out after 6 months or
so.
Or, it could be even milder, it all depends upon our actions, our
choices.
My advice, and it's worth every penny you're paying, is to watch the
news carefully. I'm not making any lifestyle changes but where ever I
have the choice, I'm making choices that assume that something bad will
happen.
For example, if you ever wanted a weekend country place, if your
great-aunt has been asking for help with her farm, if you've wanted to
take up gardening, if your survivalist nut-case pal has been bugging you
to help him put in a windpower system, if you've wanted to learn canning,
soap making, raise chickens, ham radio, black smithing, maybe this is
the time to try your hand at it... ...strictly because it sounds like
fun, not that you're afraid...
The trick is to avoid conflict, just slide right in.
cory hamasaki only 667 full days left.