Enjoy the Benefits of Living in East Tennessee

Spring has sprung.  Enjoy all the natural wonders that attracts more out-of-town visitors  each passing year.  In the southern part of Monroe County,  there's cell phone service using any of the AT&T affiliated cell phone service providers.   And, there's a Dstar wide-area coverage repeater in nearby Benton TN that has crystal clear audio for both receive and transmit...as well as the 147.180 analog repeater.

Just over the TN/NC border there is an amazing waterfall and cave formations that is not on the tourist map...take Joe Brown road in Coker Creek for about 10 miles,  and you will run into this wonderful recreational area--it is so well hidden that during the 5 years Eric Robert Rudolph was a federal fugitive,  this area was one of his hangouts in the wild.  To prevent the overflow of tourists, you must travel and do your own research:  otherwise it may become as busy as Bald River Falls,  which is usually way overcrowded with visitors during the summer months.

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Thermal Drones Are Becoming A Must Have Tool in Bear Hunts

A local hunter describes a bear hunt using a bow and arrow as ...

" It is different hunting something that can hunt you back, And you're using a pointy stick."

The DJI Matrice 300 drone is what this local hunter will be adding to his arsenal for hunting in 2023...

As a high-performance complex thermal drone, the Matrice 300+Zenmuse H20 is the leading standard for thermal measurement drones. It's bolometer sensor has a resolution of 640x512, the main camera has 23x hybrid optical zoom, capture 20 MP still photos, and is also equipped with an infrared range finder with a range of up to 1.2 kilometers --the drone will set you back around $14,000...Happy Hunting. Look for local deal on drones on the Knoxville Craigslist ads.
 

Osama Bin-Ladin's Satellite Phone was being monitored long before the 911 Attacks

To what extent was the NSA watching suspected terrorists prior to the 911 attacks...? According to former head of the CIA's Bin Laden unit Michael Scheuer, "Osama Bin Ladin's Inmarsat Satellite phone was a Godsend, it gave us an idea of not only where he was in Afghanistan, but where his Al Qaeda Organization was located."

By putting together thousands of now 'unclassified' documents and public records we can piece together the NSA's role prior to 911.  In November 1996, a known Al-Qaeda operative bought an Inmarsat Satellite phone from a store near New York City; that phone was for Osama Bin Ladin--once he started dialing from Afghanistan--the NSA's listening posts quickly tapped into his conversations...his Inmarsat phone would transmit a signal straight to a satellite orbitting over the Indian Ocean...the tracking also enabled investigators to get his phone number, which allowed them to monitor both sides of the conversations.

We now know that Bin Ladin had gone 'dark' years before he was caught; hiding in a compound in Pakistan that had no internet or landline phone--which explains why it took investigators so long to track him down...in a carefully planned raid by Navy Seals in 2011.

Chattanooga Ham Radio Fest 2022

Learn about modern radio communications--get ready in case cell phones and land line phones are not working due to a nationwide emergency... If the power grid is down for several days or even weeks ham radio operators may be the only ones that will have the means to communicate and pass on emergency radio traffic--this Friday and Saturday 10/14 to 10/15--location of event is at 1517 Tombras Ave. East Ridge TN 37412--don't miss it...Search on your browser for Chattanooga Ham Radio Festival if you need additional information as well as your local ham radio club to learn about ham radio.