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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 12h

#dxpedition #hamradio #ft8 Just worked another remote Dxpedition station. Wallis and Futuna Islands, way out in the Pacific in the Samoa area. -08 signal out there, not bad for 20watts! fw.dxpeditions.org

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

#80s #newwave #kyyx Kids of the 80s should love this mix. Back when our favorite music wasn't just a background jingle in a commercial now. Maybe I'm old, but this is still so good! open.spotify.com/playlist/0Iw...

open.spotify.com

DJ Dovan Skoochies Playlist

Playlist · DJ Dovan · 807 items · 566 saves

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

#sdr #ariss #hamradio Seems the LMR-400 cable does work well. Never got this good from the old location with RG8x. The fancy cable works well with a lot less loss. Image from the ISS ham radio station 437.55 Mhz during this week's SSTV event.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

#adsb #flightaware #sdr Kind of fun to see all the planes in a line for Seatac. From my basement ADSB station.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

#ft8 #hamradio #dxpedition #franzjosefland Got 'em! Just worked the new Russian dxpedition on Franz Josef Land. Fun to see the signal going directly over the N. Pole. ri1fjz.ru/en/

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

#lightday #voyager1 #spacecraft Mark the calendar: Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2026, at 2:16:07 a.m. PST That is when Voyager 1 will be 1 light day (24 light hours), 16.094 billion miles from Earth. science.nasa.gov/mission/voya...

science.nasa.gov

Where Are Voyager 1 and 2 Now? - NASA Science

Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have reached "interstellar space" and each continue their unique journey deeper into the cosmos.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

It's an insult to Jabba the Hutt, but a perfect comparison.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

#astrophotography #astronomy #seestar50 Ok, I gave in. I scoffed at these things at first until I tried one. So many good images I've seen posted by others. Many even better than my $2500 setup, which is an ordeal to set up. This will just align and go in a few minutes. 👍

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

#fransjosefland #dxpedition #hamradio #ft8 Looks like the Russian group of Ham radio dxpedition guys made it to the islands. I worked the last station that was there, so I'll see if I can contact them too.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

#sept11 #US250 #covid Trump has ruined the US250 and 9/11 25th anniversary. We need a COVID memorial day. Remember summer of 2020 when it was 9/11, Pearl Harbor deaths _every_ day for months? Can we ever stop waving the flags and remember the 1 Million dead?

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

#adsb #flightaware #sdr #hamradio I put up my antenna on the roof and got my ADSB receiver up and running again. Providing flight tracking from Olympia area now.

Took a few minutes to change the location to Olympia from Sturgeon Bay, WI. Lots of planes showed up. We'll see a lot military traffic from the local base in Tacoma.

I have one of those free receivers from the FightAware site. The other one on the right is AIS for ships. Just need to get that one up next. Probably see a lot from the south sound area.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Another example of the danger of AI. Absolute crap! There is plenty of diagrams of the real thing that are accurate.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

#obama A good one I saw over on the cesspool of Facebook.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

#hamradio #dxpedition Cool! Just turned on the radio for a bit tonight and worked the latest popular DXpedition on Franz Josef Land. Got a decent signal report from over the pole too. Not bad for about 20 watts. 😀

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

#ozzy #dolly A good one. Not really a fan of country music at all, but Dolly sure was cool and did a lot good with her wealth. Ozzy is still played at 11 on the volume.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

#artemis #moon Fun comparison of two spacecraft from a similar angle.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

#seattletraffic #pnw It’s good to be home again after 8 years in Wisconsin. Driving in Seattle still sucks, and happy to be living in smaller Olympia and don’t need to go to the big city often.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

#iran #war #fucktrump Pretty accurate for what we know/don't know what is going on over there.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

#hamradio Got my deer friends next to my antenna. I have the plastic “flags” on the guy line for them to see and not get snagged. Two babies. 🙂

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

#hamradio #ft8 Cool! I do think I just made my farthest DX contact on FT8. Antarctica! I have worked a different station down there many years ago on SSB. Signal report of -4 is really good too. I'm running 25 watts to a GAP Titan DX in the backyard. Also a few other good DX.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

#cats #caturday It doesn’t take much of a box trap to capture a good sized kitty.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

#hamradio #goes18 #sdr #wildfires A view from my home receiver. The early morning images just after sunrise really show the smoke well. Finally clear here today - for now. Notice the East coast now has the smoke over there.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

#ecommerce #ebay #selfemployment A good Sunday on the Ebay side. A few vintage slot cars, 2 retired Lego sets, and some model railroad tracks. Lately, USPS ground has been the best rate, and the door pickup saves $$ on gas.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

#wildfires #sdr #hamradio The black spots in the image are heat from the wildfires in the IR image. The new fire that just popped up this afternoon north of Mt Rainier can just be seen.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

#hamradio #apt #goes Got my GOES dish set up on the roof. Swapped a DirecTV dish and was able to use the same RG6 cable. Live full Earth images from space 24/7 again. Easy to watch the fires from 22,343 miles up.

This afternoon. As forecasted, the western side of Washington is clearing a bit.

I almost thought it would hit the roof, but angled just right to aim at GOES 18.

We have cable TV/Internet so I removed the old DirecTV dish and tossed it off the roof. A nice mount for my radio nerd antenna.

A couple SMA-F adapters and I got it connected to the existing RG6. I hoped to run it to the basement TV coax connector, but just didn't have a signal down there. It is boosted by the LNA in the cylinder, it's powered so I sealed it up well. Withstood several Wisconsin winters, so it should do just fine in Washington.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

#wildfires #washington #climatechange Here it comes....looks like the smoke is knocking on our back door now. 3 days of 90+ degrees and heavy smoke. Get used to it I guess, happens every year now. ☹️

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Our neighbor friends in the backyard eating blackberries. I was able to step out on the back deck and say hello. I hope the 3rd kid is just in the bushes, she has 3 little ones.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

#hamradio I was getting a little concerned that my antenna wasn't working right, but probably just conditions. Bounced a signal to both sides of the planet just now. Confirmed it's working!

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Menasha, WI. Only an hour and 20 minutes from where we used to live. Nope! I don’t miss being so close to that tornado crap. We had one while we were there, but fairly small and north of us.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

#climatechange #wildfires Smoke season is here. I just hope we don't get a wind shift that blows that stuff toward Puget Sound. Canada should tariff the US for this, like Trump did with Canada?

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

#wildfires #washington #smokeseason ....and it appears the smoke season is almost here. Too hot outside to do much also. 😣

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

#jimothy #seattle You know you are a famous animal when you get made out Lego...and a T-shirt.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

#hamradio First test of the new station. The antenna is working well, but 40m is pretty bad on the lower CW end, so I'll have to fiddle with tuning to get the SWR below at least 2:1.

FT8 test. Super easy band to see if you are getting out. First contact was a Ohio, then Oregon.

Sorry for the crappy iPhone photo! Just a GridTracker view showing I could hear and be heard.

Just a simple table for now, but we'll find a nice wood desk in auction that will make this nicer. As usual, the radio station is in the cool basement room. At least in OLM it won't be 49 degrees in the winter. The floor heat in this house works - unlike the WI house in miserable winters.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

#hamradio The Titan stands! Got the GAP Titan DX set up at the new QTH in Olympia. All bands tune up really well, but 40m is giving me a challenge with high SWR on the lower end of the band so that needs some tweaking.

I used 2 trees and a yard stake to guy this thing. Although, winds here are fairly tame most of the time. Wisconsin was always gusting to 30 mph - constantly.

I used the treated wood 2x4 support again. The post hole (about 2.5 feet deep) and gravel dumped in and pounded down works nicely.

Just a few months ago during the April snowstorm of 33.5 inches. Yes, that REALLY sucked. I don't miss snow.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

#olympia Mom and the kids visiting the yard today.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

#hamradio #amateurradio Taking a break from unpacking from the move. Started putting up my big HF antenna. Will be in corner of yard and I’ll guy it to some trees and maybe a stake in the ground. Basement room will be the station

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

#smoke #wildfire #PNW So glad to be back in the PNW. Another reminder of how nice it is here, we don't have smoke like Wisconsin. I'm sure we'll get ours soon enough, but for now it's nice and clear. 3 weeks in the new house now.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

#iranwar #trumpsucks You know you made it when an unfortunate incident caught on camera becomes a meme.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

#lightpollution #satellites #spacejunk Since Brendan Carr the FCC dork who has his head up Trump's ass approved this (I did send 2 of the 12,000+ letters), maybe we need to go direct to the company? Write directly to www.reflectorbital.com and tell them what we think of their stupid plan.

reflectorbital.com

Reflect Orbital

Sunlight after dark

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Stay away from the news for a while, turn it on and always a new WTF surprise!

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

#AIsucks Rant: I've been back and forth trying to figure out a billing issue with Xfinity. I've spent probably close to an hour now with a few simple questions, but hate this AI chat shit, and chatting online when I find and agent is so slow. Can anyone use email anymore?? Please?

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

#olympia Nice sunny evening in our new home city and WA capital of Olympia. Mt rainier is just out of view to the left. So much less stressful than Wisconsin. Glad to be back in the PNW.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

#trumpsucks #magasucks I thought that looked familiar. At least it seems this is AI and not real - yet.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

#airshow #bremertonairshow WTF? We were kind of interested in going to our first airshow in the area. Then saw the prices. Uh....nope. Not that we have access to a plane these days, but they don't even allow flying in either. So much or promoting aviation.

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Cat Daddy Tom @catdaddy-tom.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

#arduino Usually I don't fall for email ads, but I did buy one of these Arduino UNO Q 4Gig units. I've been curious about trying one, but the threat of increasing cost thanks do data center memory hoarding, it was time to jump in! store-usa.arduino.cc/products/uno...

store-usa.arduino.cc

Arduino® UNO™ Q 4GB

Arduino UNO Q 4GB combines Linux SBC power with real-time MCU for AI, IoT, and robotics. 32GB storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Arduino ecosystem support. Buy now!

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