A fascinating movie seems to be released very soon. It's titled "A Late Quartet". The caption says as follows;
"Members of a world-renowned string quartet struggle to stay together in the face of death, competing egos and insuppressible lust."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226240/maindetails
A quartet is the most stable and perfect style of music performance. Four voices compose a cosmos. Nothing unnecessary nor lacking. The trailer of this movie features Nr16 Quartet of Beethoven, I believe. It sounds great.
The actors or actress seem quite amateur for string instruments. But they are playing nicely. According to the trailer, the cellist seems to be suffering from Parkinsonism. There seems to be a crisis in the couple of the members. It is most plausible for a quartet of aged players. I would like to see how he and the rest of the quartet struggle for such a problem.
I am looking forward to watching this movie soon. I should install the display and DVD player in my room...
10/30/2012
10/29/2012
A drive on the Reiheishi Highway to Nikko
Today, after finishing a chore in a city north of here, I drove up to Nikko, the area famous for the shrine deifying the first Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa who started the era of Edo in the 17th century. Nikko is further north of here located among mountains.
A road named the Reiheisi Highway leads form south to Nikko. They say some religious missions have been sent to that shrine on regular basis. The name of this Highway means that. There are beautiful cedar trees along the road in some portion of the Highway. They are hundreds years of age.
I used to work at a hospital in Nikko as a part time doctor when I became a doctor in 1980s. Sometime, I ran this road on the way to and from that hospital. In the winter, the road was often frozen and slippery those days. When I finished my duty for a whole day at the hospital early in the morning, I used to purchase freshly baked bread for souvenir to my family at a bakery near the hospital and hurried to the dorm at the med school hospital. It has been sometime since I drove there.
I forgot bringing my camera. In stead, I found this video clip in Youtube. It was taken in a morning early in spring. There was sunray shining through those cedar trees planted on each side of the road. It looked almost the same today even though sunray came in from the opposite side. It was late afternoon today. Not much traffic exactly in the same way as this video shows.
Ieyasu Tokugawa was deified by his family and the government because such a being to unite the people was needed for governance of the country. There have been examples of such deifications of leaders all over the world in the history. Politics necessitates such deification anywhere as well as any time in the history. So is it applied to the present world. I was thinking of such a thing listening to the hollow address of our Prime Minister at the Congress through a radio program. We don't need a dictator but a real leader. In the world populism dominates, is it possible for us to have a real leader? It is not the problem of the capability of the leader candidates but rather a question on our side. Could we evaluate a leader properly and esteem him as a real leader?
WW SSB Contest 2012
It has been a fabulous conditions on the bands this week end. Not much activity on CW made me watch around the WW SSB Contest.
For several years, I haven't heard all of the SSB portion of 15m has been full with contesters on Sunday morning. 10m was also very active with the contesters spreading up to 28650KHz. This might mean we are on the height of the sun spot cycle. On 40m, I barely heard any East Coasts. It might be a coincidence or not but I have heard only very few calls known to me.
In Japan, there were pretty many guys in the contest. But again there were only few I knew. A remarkable change was that there were very few university clubs participating it. So far as I heard, only JA3YBK and JA7YAA were pretty active. Of course, because I have listened the bands only for limited time, there should be the others in it whom I have not accidentally heard. It has been some years since I heard JA7YAA last time. It was an unexpected pleasure for me. The university clubs used to be very active in major contests and was a cradle for new comers in ham radio in Japan. It is important that the clubs are activated for whatever.
There were much activity from China and Indonesia. Chinese operators were mostly not experiened in contesting. But in a few years, they would be a big party making world top score. It sounded they had had difficulty to work with NA, especially, East Coast. The window opens only for a short while, I know from the experience of operation as XU0JA in 1991. Is it a rainy season in SE Asia? There should be a lot of static noise over there as well.
Feeling a bit sad that there were only very few familiar calls in the contest, I still gave a dozen of them a call and my number on 40m before switching off the gear.
For several years, I haven't heard all of the SSB portion of 15m has been full with contesters on Sunday morning. 10m was also very active with the contesters spreading up to 28650KHz. This might mean we are on the height of the sun spot cycle. On 40m, I barely heard any East Coasts. It might be a coincidence or not but I have heard only very few calls known to me.
In Japan, there were pretty many guys in the contest. But again there were only few I knew. A remarkable change was that there were very few university clubs participating it. So far as I heard, only JA3YBK and JA7YAA were pretty active. Of course, because I have listened the bands only for limited time, there should be the others in it whom I have not accidentally heard. It has been some years since I heard JA7YAA last time. It was an unexpected pleasure for me. The university clubs used to be very active in major contests and was a cradle for new comers in ham radio in Japan. It is important that the clubs are activated for whatever.
There were much activity from China and Indonesia. Chinese operators were mostly not experiened in contesting. But in a few years, they would be a big party making world top score. It sounded they had had difficulty to work with NA, especially, East Coast. The window opens only for a short while, I know from the experience of operation as XU0JA in 1991. Is it a rainy season in SE Asia? There should be a lot of static noise over there as well.
Feeling a bit sad that there were only very few familiar calls in the contest, I still gave a dozen of them a call and my number on 40m before switching off the gear.
10/24/2012
Clem W1EVT
Clem used to be the only East Coast I could hear with my wire antenna in 1960s. I could not forget his wobbly signal on 40m coming over the north pole. Since I came back on the air in 1980, I had had good QSOs with him at first as NY1N and then as W1EVT again. I used to try visiting him with Bill K1YT in Stow when I stayed at Bill's home in 1991. But we could not find out the entrance gate there! Numerous high towers were standing there. Ladder lines were coming into his home. But no entrance found there.
For the past several years, I have not heard him on the air at all. He used to show up on the air in the long path season but never came through here in any season for these years. However, on 10m this morning, I met Don K1DC who told me he had met Clem in eye ball a month ago. Don used to be in Boston area and moved dwon to Ala. a year ago. He seemed to have met Clem at some ham convention over there in Mass.
Don told me Clem was now 93 years old and was not very active on the radio. But the big arrays of his antenna are still working OK. Clem told him he was cooking by himself. Clem used to work with Uda at MIT who had invented the Yagi Uda antenna system with Yagi. He has been a person of testimony for the development of ham radio. I really hope him to live long and to operate radio if possible.
It was good to know about Clem from Don this morning.
For the past several years, I have not heard him on the air at all. He used to show up on the air in the long path season but never came through here in any season for these years. However, on 10m this morning, I met Don K1DC who told me he had met Clem in eye ball a month ago. Don used to be in Boston area and moved dwon to Ala. a year ago. He seemed to have met Clem at some ham convention over there in Mass.
Don told me Clem was now 93 years old and was not very active on the radio. But the big arrays of his antenna are still working OK. Clem told him he was cooking by himself. Clem used to work with Uda at MIT who had invented the Yagi Uda antenna system with Yagi. He has been a person of testimony for the development of ham radio. I really hope him to live long and to operate radio if possible.
It was good to know about Clem from Don this morning.
10/21/2012
The reason for the shorties
The reason why the shorties are so prevailing on ham radio seems interesting to me. Even more than interesting to me because it is related with how to enjoy radio and with the way of my life itself.
I can not help pointing out that there is a liking not to be related with others so much but to enjoy as many QSOs as possible. Of course, we should admit such as QRP operators should go on in the sorty style owing to their limited set up. But it is an exception. The basic trend is to get satisfied with making as many QSOs as possible.
It is like in contests or DX pile ups. Contesting and DXing might be leading to the prevalence of this QSO style. They might learn to work with others as short as possible. Reports and promise exhchanging QSL cards are good enough. More than that should be too much. It might seem cool to get QSOs finished as short as possible. I am sure this trend is the same as contesting and DXing. The latter is strengthening the trend as well.
I repeatedly told that it was a problem of balance. It is getting imbalanced. Some contests are being held all over the world almost every week end. Now a 10m contest is going on on 10m while AP Sprint is on all bands at present. Contesting and DXing are fun events for hams. Those activities are getting more and more planned as there are less general activities on the air nowadays. Some clubs are trying to maintain the members' activities with those events. Awards are the same kind of thing to arbitrarily stimulate activities of hams. But They won't give us the real pleasure communication gives us, I believe. Contesting and DXing are the peripheral events in ham radio activities, even if not the least things, in my point of view.
Another point I should clear is that the hams might not have "room in mind" to enjoy onversations. Time wise as well as psychologically. In conversation, we should have mental energy to get involved in the others. Haven't we lost that kind of energy even when we are ready to operate radio? And aren't we too busy at the other things than communication on the radio? The others behind the head phone and the keyer must be a kind of automatic replying machine. I am feeling that way sometimes. I am trying to pull the big switch in such a case. It is not good for me as well as the others to carry on QSOs without any interests to the others.
As John 9V1VV has clearly demonstrated in his comment for the previous post, there are too much pauses and silences in QSOs. I really would like to fill my mind with good conversations.
I can not help pointing out that there is a liking not to be related with others so much but to enjoy as many QSOs as possible. Of course, we should admit such as QRP operators should go on in the sorty style owing to their limited set up. But it is an exception. The basic trend is to get satisfied with making as many QSOs as possible.
It is like in contests or DX pile ups. Contesting and DXing might be leading to the prevalence of this QSO style. They might learn to work with others as short as possible. Reports and promise exhchanging QSL cards are good enough. More than that should be too much. It might seem cool to get QSOs finished as short as possible. I am sure this trend is the same as contesting and DXing. The latter is strengthening the trend as well.
I repeatedly told that it was a problem of balance. It is getting imbalanced. Some contests are being held all over the world almost every week end. Now a 10m contest is going on on 10m while AP Sprint is on all bands at present. Contesting and DXing are fun events for hams. Those activities are getting more and more planned as there are less general activities on the air nowadays. Some clubs are trying to maintain the members' activities with those events. Awards are the same kind of thing to arbitrarily stimulate activities of hams. But They won't give us the real pleasure communication gives us, I believe. Contesting and DXing are the peripheral events in ham radio activities, even if not the least things, in my point of view.
Another point I should clear is that the hams might not have "room in mind" to enjoy onversations. Time wise as well as psychologically. In conversation, we should have mental energy to get involved in the others. Haven't we lost that kind of energy even when we are ready to operate radio? And aren't we too busy at the other things than communication on the radio? The others behind the head phone and the keyer must be a kind of automatic replying machine. I am feeling that way sometimes. I am trying to pull the big switch in such a case. It is not good for me as well as the others to carry on QSOs without any interests to the others.
As John 9V1VV has clearly demonstrated in his comment for the previous post, there are too much pauses and silences in QSOs. I really would like to fill my mind with good conversations.
10/20/2012
10/19/2012
As a probable peasant descendant
My ancestors must be peasants somewhere in old ages. I could concentrate in gardening and farming in the garden. My old genes might make me feel that way.
In a corner of the garden, after having cut and pulled the weeds and their roots, I plowed the ground to make a couple of small farms. Very tiny but good enough for my purpose. Kneading the neutralizing chemical and the compost into the soil there, I have planted the seeds of spinach in the farm in front. Cabbages may be planted in the back one later.
I have felt vivid myself in the garden since my forties. I had not been interested in gardening/farming at all. It was my father who took care of the garden those days. Gradually, I have taken over his work, even though I could not do it perfectly at all.
At the time of the nuclear power plant being blasted last year, I was eagerly caring for the lawn at another portion of the garden. I felt the plume bringing the radioactive substances here might endanger our lives from its base. Fortunately, it turned out not to be too bad in this area. I could not, however, forget the feeling that our being itself was in peril at that time. I have become strongly against the nuclear power usage for any purpose then. It might come from the instinct within me as a probable peasant descendant.
Anyway, it is good for me to work in the garden under shining sun.
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