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docj

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  1. docj

    Texas

    We're on the coast in Rockport. At least the "real temp" rarely gets to 100. Even a few miles inland the temperatures can be ~10 degrees hotter. That's little real comfort but it makes me feel cooler just saying it! 😀
  2. Luxury is in the eye of the beholder! (and also in the mind of the ad copy writer!) 🤣
  3. Dutch: Hope your recovery progresses well. This getting old stuff can be challenging!
  4. One thing that is usually overlooked in articles about fusion is that it is not nearly as radioactively "clean" as people imagine it is. No, it doesn't produce nuclear waste as a byproduct of the fusion process, but the energy produced by fusion comes in the form of 14.1 MeV neutrons which can "induce" radioactivity in many materials. What this means is that a fusion power plant may become increasingly "hot" over time as it is used which may make it difficult to maintain it. I don't think much effort is being put into this topic yet, but it will definitely be important when commercial power plants have been commissioned. Back a few decades ago there was one proponent of fusion power using Tokamaks who proposed that the plants be built "cheaply" so they can be economically discarded when they malfunction, since they will be too radioactive to service safely. This, no doubt, is a bit of an exaggeration, but it is a non-trivial commiseration.
  5. For many of us smart phones have become vital elements of our daily lives. As Dutch has already mentioned, my phone's Bluetooth is essential in order to adjust my hearing aids. My wife relies on Bluetooth to monitor her blood glucose levels using her Dexcom 6. Neither my Pixel 7 Pro nor my wife's iPhone need recharging during the day despite the fact that I use mine almost continuously.
  6. I have all of our collected family photos stored on OneDrive so our children (and their children) can look at them. They amount to many GB of data. As the grandchildren grew up I know the photos have been viewed multiple times.
  7. It appears that this new law will only affect voter registrations. I don't see any provisions that would affect license and vehicle registrations. I seriously doubt that not having my liberal vote will change the outcomes in any SD election. LOL
  8. Our relatively small metro area (Corpus Christi) has seen a huge increase in the percentage of Amazon deliveries now being delivered by Amazon trucks. In addition, quite a few of the items delivered by USPS are actually being delivered to the local post office by Amazon and then transferred to USPS (so-called "last mile service") One interesting aspect of how Amazon is handling deliveries is that its trucks deliver on both Saturdays and Sundays. OTOH except for this weekend issue the switch to Amazon's own trucks hasn't increased speed of deliveries. Corpus is served by an Amazon distribution center in Houston and almost all items are "two day" rather than "next day" delivery.
  9. The problem is that 5G isn't a single thing using a single frequency band. It actually an encoding and transmission protocol that can use any of several bands each of which has its own performance characteristics. What Chalkie is describing is called "DSS 5G" which stands for Distributed Shared Spectrum where 5G transmission shares some of a 4G/LTE frequency band. In those cases, most of the time, the download speed isn't significantly different from standard 4G speeds. OTOH yesterday I read that Verizon is claiming that ~200 million people in the US have access to "ultrawideband 5G" which it is defining to including both "mm wave" and "C-band" 5G and it is supposed to be a lot faster. I guess Corpus Christi and its metro area don't count for much. I've only encountered one small area where I could see a 5G signal but the 4G/LTE speed at my house was >75 Mbps when I checked it yesterday.
  10. Here's another article explaining why concerns about long-range information theft from RFID cards is unfounded: https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/markets/digital-identity-and-security/banking-payment/cards/contactless/how-it-works
  11. With all due respect, the term "dual band router" has nothing to do with its ability to perform load balancing. The common usage of dual band is to refer to routers that can support both 2.4 and 5.8 GHz WiFi. Furthermore, I fail to understand how an ISP can prevent someone from using multiple connections. The load balance is performed on the output side of the modems and/or WiFi. At that point the "signal" is nothing but data and the ISP has no say in how you use it.
  12. As you are no doubt aware a perfect metal "box" would have absolutely no external signals inside it. It would be what is called a "Faraday Cage." Because your RV has windows, vent fans and other penetrations you are getting some signals inside but it is attentuated. You have two rather different problems to deal with. One is being able to connect to the park's WiFi; the other is improving your cellular signals inside the RV. The WiFi issue can be readily dealt with by having a router on the roof with a second one inside, connected to each other by Ethernet. Essentially, the rooftop unit communicates with the outside world (WiFi access points and the like). While the indoor router creates the network for you computers. TV's and similar stuff to connect to . No doubt some people will say that all you need is an antenna on the roof with a cable extending down into the RV. That probably would work, with the correct choice of antenna, but I am always concerned about having enough signal strength to "talk back" to the Access Point. Having a rooftop router eliminates that issue. As for the weak cellular signals, a cellular amplifier of the type marketed by WeBoost would work. Essentially, it, too, is a 2 part solution with an antenna on the roof, one inside the RV and and amplifier to control the process. Of course, if you could trust the park's WiFi signal you might not worry about amplifying the cellular signal strength by simply allowing your phones to make WiFi calls. Most phones can do that these days and most phone plans allow for it. I've noticed that quite often my Pixel 7 Pro will make a WiFi call using my Starlink connection rather than using the Verizon network.
  13. I have no idea if the moderators will permit me to respond to your question because I am affiliated with WiFiRanger, a Winegard Company subsidiary, but I'm going to try. WiFRanger routers can provide a load balance configuration using up to two WiFi sources (2 and 5 GHz), up to two Ethernet sources and up to three USB-tethered devices. I have personally configured a load balance with five sources. From what I have read, there are other routers that can provide similar capabilities. This is not an attempt to market a product; it is an answer to oldjohnt's question.
  14. Although the cameras do provide a "double check" I believe the primary verification is done by the transponder. Essentially, the transponder has a serial number. When it is "interrogated" by the toll system it responds by transmitting its number back. It's really not that different from how a "tap to pay" credit card works. In TX I know that the camera data must agree with the transponder data in order for the toll to be assessed. Furthermore, some highways, such as the PA turnpike have weight sensors also so the correct toll is assessed for each vehicle.
  15. There are quite a few routers that enable you to combine multiple internet connections in a "load balance" configuration. This doesn't increase the speed of the connections, but by having more than one "pipe" you can effectively increase the throughput. Unlike Speedify, there is no cost for doing this other than the cost of the router. In addition, having two or more connections allows them to "fill in for each other." For example, I use a load balance which combines my Starlink with a Verizon hotspot. The combination virtually eliminates the effects of period Starlink outages.
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