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Linux on Windows? WSL Makes it as Easy as on a Chromebook

I finally got Beads working on Windows… sort of. The trick? I used WSL. I hadn’t tried to do serious work on Windows in quite a while, so I was genuinely surprised to discover that WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) just worked. I’d been struggling with Beads— a system that helps to automate workflows for LLM agents by essentially creating revision controlled context for them —for several days. Some of the things Beads wanted simply weren’t available on Windows. The big one was tmux (which I also needed for Gastown). I spent about three days fighting with that. Then I finally took the plunge and went all-in on WSL. And… it just worked. It worked especially well combined with OpenAI Codex. From WSL/Linux, I can fire up Codex CLI and tell it to install things for me. No worrying about which Windows installer to use. No chasing down extra packages. Everything just works. Need ffmpeg and Gimp ? You need merely ask.. I did have to start Codex CLI with: codex --yolo Then, with basic sudo ...
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When Codex CLI Met Port 9 (Debugging WinError 10061 in a Whisper Pipeline)

When Port 9 Ate My Transcript When Port 9 Ate My Transcript A small debugging story about proxies, Codex CLI, and why localhost isn’t always your friend. CopaseticFlow field notes WinError 10061 Codex CLI + Whisper Environment gremlins There’s a particular kind of bug that feels like someone's been messing with your network stack again. You run a script from cmd.exe . It works. You run the exact same script from Codex CLI. It stops with: [WinError 10061] No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it FFmpeg happily splits the audio. The Whisper API call dies immediately. No 401. No timeout. Just an instant refusal. Translation: that’s not an API error. That’s a socket being rejected. ...
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POTA Camping Trip to US-1178 Mt. Tamalpais State Park

 I had dreams of activating the US-1178 each of the three days I planned on being there. I didn't get it done. Oh, but the other stuff I did do! Strap in. I may have to split this into a few different posts because there's so much stuff!  I documented the updated transit route from furthest away San Francisco BART station to Pantoll Campground I tested Starlink—a system I worked on a few years ago—with regard to doing my new work while out camping (how meta ☺️) I hiked the Dipsea Trail for the first time in over a year. Ouch. I camped for two nights. I'd hoped to play radios from four different locations in three different parks. I wound up playing radios from two different locations in one park, the one I was camping in,  Mount Tamalpais State Park . Here's a view of the campsite and its very adjacent hiking trail. And here's how the radio was installed at the campsite It's in the TouCans and a Stick configuration with its carbon fiber mast vertical whip . No...
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Comparing the Internal vs External Wire Carbon Fiber Mast Vertical Antennas

 A classmate of mine had an interesting question about my recent post on using magnet wire inside a carbon fiber mast as an antenna . He wanted to know if I saw any differences in the signal between the internal wire and the external wire cases. Using the Utah SDR , and GloTEC F2 layer data , I was able to compare the two antennas. It turns out that just looking at the S meter at that time of day in Utah, there's almost no difference. Both the external and internal wire antennas are between S8 and S9 on the two different days.  The s-meter I was able to view on the Utah SDR station, KD7EFG is also reported as SNR on the RBN. The maximum reading for the exterior wire was 38 dB while the maximum reading from the interior wire antenna was 39 dB. The two measurements were appoximately 20 minutes apart on different days. The exterior wire antenna readings are from 8:39 AM PST the 7th of Januay. The interior wire readings taken at 8:53 AM PST on the 12th of January. So, the questi...
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BART Route To East Bay POTA Sites

 This is the route I take to East Bay to do Parks on the Air activations! (Minus the bicycle.)
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A Carbon Fiber Mast Vertical on the 20 Meter Ham Radio Band

  Carbon-fiber masts don’t have to be the villain. For Straight Key Month I ran a quarter-wave 20-meter vertical two ways—first with 12-gauge wire taped to the outside of a Goture carbon-fiber mast, then with 18-gauge magnet wire laced inside the mast. Result: both versions delivered S9 into Utah from downtown San Francisco, and the internal-wire build was far stealthier for city operating. I finally got to do a long term—a few hours—test of the TouCans and a Stick vertical antenna with magnet wire on the inside this week! The interior magnet wire setup worked just as well as the same antenna rigged with 12 gauge wire taped to the outside of the carbon fiber mast did. The rig was S9 into the Utah SDR that morning. Here's a look at the antenna setup and results. There are more text details below the video.. Construction To construct the antenna I removed the brass bottom of the carbon mast, removed the upermost segment, and then inserted 18 guague magnet wire through the...
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US-0757 POTA Notes 2026-01-09 US-0757

 An AM broadcast station was loud in my headphones for about two minutes. Then, TouCans mysterious noise cacnellation circuit charged, and the POTA was off and running. According to the POTA website, I haven't activated US-0757 , aka the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park , in about eight months. It was nice to be back! We'd had about a week's worth of atomspheric river rains, so it was pretty phenomenal to have this view during the activation. The temperature was in the low 60s which was very pleasant. I didn't go for a swim this time, but I'm going to get back to that soon as well. View of the Golden Gate Bridge from over my shoulder The transit ride—SF MUNI 54 to BART to San Francisco MUNI 30—was a piece of cake as always. The video below shows part of the route as seen from the bus window. I just now realized that I copied my opeining into the video twice. You didn't imagine it. Sorry about that :) I stopped for lunch at the Buena Vista I...
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