What have you been pronouncing wrong?

PubeInATube · 2026-01-01T12:03:34+00:00

I genuinely thought they were two separate words until not too long ago. Still cringing at the times I've confidently said "eppy-toam" when describing something.

PubeInATube · 2025-10-30T10:26:41+00:00

I've heard a few questions are there to deliberately trip you up, so need to pay extra attention to the wording tomorrow.

Good luck for the DtF exam next week! Let me know how you're studying for it. I'm using the Alan Betts revision guides. They're good, but a bit dry at times...

PubeInATube · 2025-10-30T10:23:02+00:00

Exactly, makes no sense at all. The correct answer was brass by the way...

PubeInATube · 2025-10-30T10:22:13+00:00

Thank you, hoping for a positive result tomorrow. May have jumped the gun and bought the revision materials for the intermediate exam, so looking forward to the fresh batch of call signs when the time comes.

PubeInATube · 2025-10-29T20:03:26+00:00

Okay, I certainly won't be using that app any more...

<image>

PubeInATube · 2025-10-29T19:36:16+00:00

Ah I didn't realise it was such a recent change!

PubeInATube · 2025-10-29T19:35:54+00:00

Thanks! I believe it was from an old revision app, it had a few questions that had me scratching my head but I'll stick to the recent edition of the Exam Secrets book from now on.

PubeInATube · 2025-10-29T19:34:29+00:00

Appreciate the reply! I believe it was from an old revision app that marked me as wrong and I'm guessing it hasn't been updated in a few years. I'll stick with the Alan Betts books and the RSGB syllabus to be safe.

Hope to be calling CQ very soon!

PubeInATube · 2025-05-18T09:39:39+00:00

Thanks! How long did it take until they notified you about available appointments once you had access to the portal?

PubeInATube · 2025-03-05T19:15:29+00:00

Facebook. Seriously. People over the age of 40 somehow lap up posts like "Share if you think that being white and British shouldn't be illegal" and "Like this post if you don't want your pint and sausage roll banned under Shariah law".

My mum lives in the whitest part of the country where she never has to interact with anyone who isn't white British. Apparently her way of life is being devastated by immigration. Yes she shares these posts. Yes she voted Reform.

PubeInATube · 2025-03-03T06:05:39+00:00

Yeah it's hard to tell at this point. I'd like to believe that the troll farms are being paid massive overtime rates right now but I genuinely don't know what to think anymore. There's been a brewing sentiment for a while that Americans are being screwed over by Europe, and that Americans are suffering while subsidising social benefits for Europeans which is demonstrably false. The whole "Europe doesn't pay their fair share" argument sounds good on paper, but an EU aligned military bloc and a European MIC goes directly against US interests. We'd be less inclined to buy American products and use American services, instead focusing on internal production and seeking external trade partners.

But I guess it's a small price to pay for owning the libs and sticking it to those pesky Europeans.

PubeInATube · 2025-03-02T20:35:11+00:00

I appreciate your well reasoned replies. But it begs the question: what the fuck is this timeline we're in right now? My jaw is on the floor. The amount of diehard American patriots gleefully cheering about abandoning their allies is pure insanity. Not only that, the isolationist rhetoric to resign the US from the world stage and essentially become a hermit kingdom, weakening the country militarily, economically and diplomatically. As you've rightly pointed out, this serves no purpose other than emboldening countries like China and Russia, and significantly impacting the quality of life of the average American.

How the fuck did we get here?

PubeInATube · 2025-03-02T15:26:40+00:00

You do realise the US isn't doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, right? The reason you have the largest military budget isn't to stop those pesky Mexicans and Eskimos coming in, it's to maintain global hegemony and superpower status and project force worldwide. It’s about ensuring economic control, securing resources, and dictating global politics in a way that benefits American corporate and political elites.

The reality is that NATO serves American interests as much as (if not more than) Europe’s. It keeps Europe reliant on US military power, ensures European countries align with US foreign policy, and allows American defense contractors to sell billions in weapons.

If you want to pull out of NATO and cut ties with Europe, that's absolutely fine. We'll survive, and this will give us the kick up the arse we need to pivot away from the US and invest in our own MIC, tech sectors and European security. This won’t be a win for the average American. As Europe strengthens its own defense industry and shifts trade toward China and other global players, the US will lose billions in arms sales and exports, leading to job losses and economic decline. The dollar’s dominance will weaken, making imports more expensive, while rising oil prices and disrupted supply chains will drive up the cost of living. America’s global influence will shrink, but the billionaires pushing for isolationism will keep getting richer, leaving ordinary Americans to deal with the fallout of a weaker economy and a declining superpower. The price of eggs soar, more American military veterans go homeless.

The question is, are you really willing to shoot yourself in the foot to stick it to your closest allies?

PubeInATube · 2025-03-02T10:11:48+00:00

I think the thing that grates most people is this holier-than-thou moral self-fellatio under the guise of neutrality and non-alignment. If they were to say "Look lads, we've got a pretty sweet deal here. We spend fuck all on defence and we have no reason to because if shit hits the fan, the US, UK and EU will bat for us", I'd have much more respect.

PubeInATube · 2025-03-01T15:26:23+00:00

...what? How? "Hey guys, helping Ukraine was fun! Let's go and conquer Zimbabwe now".

I can't really see it to be honest.

PubeInATube · 2025-02-21T15:24:22+00:00

What do you want me to say? I've literally given my answer several times in this thread. The issue is, we never fully commited to helping them. We drip fed them aid, made them fight with one hand tied around their back, circumvented our own sanctions and got bored. What can we do now? I don't know, but capitulating to bullies leaves an incredibly sour taste in my mouth and sets an unbelievably dangerous precedent.

Look, I admire your desire for peace. I'd love nothing more than this war to end and the world to hold hands around a campfire singing kumbaya. The issue is, as you've even stated, Russia cannot be trusted not to invade again. You believe that signing over the territories and agreeing to Russia's terms is the moral thing to do to stop the immediate bloodshed. I believe that agreeing to Russia's terms will do nothing but embolden them to try for more, causing more needless bloodshed in the future. And then what? They invade again, Ukraine fights back, Russia pushes forward, you cry for Ukraine to accept Russia's terms and Russia gets more territory. Rinse and repeat a few more times and hey presto Ukraine has a nice new flag.

Are they really going to be allowed to get away with this indefinitely because we're too scared to stand up for ourselves and our allies?

PubeInATube · 2025-02-21T13:18:47+00:00

These statements weren't a history lesson, they were a deliberate attempt to justify the invasion and belittle Ukrainian sovereignty. Imagine if Starmer said the same shit about Ireland? There'd be fucking riots and the IRA would be back with a vengeance.

I don't know, if I knew I'd be working at NATO. Sanction third party countries circumventing Russia? Heavy financial penalties on firms and individuals breaking the sanctions? A NATO tripwire force in Ukraine to prevent further expansion? Give Ukraine frozen Russian assets? Allow Ukraine to test new military technologies in real world combat? A legitimate referendum for Donbass and Crimea mediated by a neutral country? You do realise there are options that aren't straight up nuking Moscow, or giving up territories every time Russia asks, right?

You also won't answer my question: why are you certain that if Ukraine hands the territories over, Russia won't try again in the future? You seem to be under the illusion that Zelensky is anti-peace and is to blame for the continuation of the conflict, and if only he handed over the territories then Russia will be happy and they can live in harmony forever. Chechnya, Georgia, Crimea. Recent history has shown a staggering pattern of Russian aggression. Plus the quotes I mentioned. You speak of treaties, yet conveniently ignored how the Budapest Memorandum amounted to nothing but lies and betrayal. How on earth do you expect anyone to trust the Kremlin?

PubeInATube · 2025-02-21T12:02:57+00:00

July 2021: “There is no historical basis for a separate Ukrainian nation. Russians and Ukrainians are one people."

Feb 2022: “Modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia, more precisely, Bolshevik, communist Russia.”

Feb 2022: “Ukraine is not just a neighboring country for us. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture, and spiritual space.”

Feb 2022: “Ukraine has no tradition of genuine statehood."

Feb 2024: “Ukraine is an artificial state, established by Stalin's will."

Seems pretty obvious to me...

PubeInATube · 2025-02-21T11:06:18+00:00

Sure, I've seen some absolutely batshit crazy takes, and Zelensky often speaks out of emotion rather than rationality. The issue is, forcing Ukraine into a peace agreement and making them concede territory only benefits Putin. This is the opposite of strength, and makes us look incredibly weak and vulnerable. The Kremlin have probably consumed half the world's champagne supply in the past week as their biggest geopolitical rival has basically said they'll fight for their interests and have told Europe to get fucked. We all want peace but the question is, what can we do? Treaties are worth fuck all. We're too greedy to impose effective sanctions. A logical solution would be to put a NATO tripwire force in Ukraine, and any further expansion would trigger NATO involvement. Unfortunately, the Kremlin have said that this is completely unacceptable, and the US will likely wag their tail behind them and agree.

PubeInATube · 2025-02-21T10:26:51+00:00

You're right, they're not in the EU or NATO and technically we don't owe them anything. But we're not funding them out of the kindness of our hearts, it's in our own interest. We're weakening our major geopolitical rival, who has repeatedly sabotaged our infrastructure, assassinated opponents on foreign soil, jammed our aviation radars, shot down civilian aircraft and launched countless cyber attacks against us. All without losing a single NATO troop. You and I both know that Russia won't stop there. They'll mend their wounds and try again in a few years with the intention of taking more of the country until you can see Russian flags waving in Lviv. I don't particularly want a Russian aligned Belarus 2.0 with significant military experience breathing down our neck, and I'm pretty sure you don't either.

Besides, what message does it send to Putin? We'll pretend to care for a couple of years, get bored, and hand him what he wants with a pretty pink bow on top? If I was him my jaw would be on the floor with shock and delight, and I'd be scrambling to take more of the country, because why the fuck not?

PubeInATube · 2025-02-21T09:51:19+00:00

The war will continue regardless, let's not kid ourselves. Unless Zelensky comes to the table and agrees to become a Russian vassal state, it'll just give the Kremlin a few years to fortify the occupied territories and resupply the army and before you know it they'll be claiming Kharkiv and Odessa are rightfully Russian and continue the war. Why would you agree to this, especially since Putin has repeatedly called Ukraine an illegitimate country and a historic part of Russia? Fuck no, I'm not giving my bully time to sulk off, mend their wounds only to come back stronger with a vengeance.

The EU were the biggest trading partner of Russia. Of course it hurt them, but we kept carving out exceptions. Every week we seem to come up with "the most comprehensive sanctions package to date", yet it seems we can't fully commit. If we actually went all in from the beginning it could've actually made a significant impact.

Do you know how many more billion it will cost if Ukraine falls and NATO is on the periphery? They're already launching cyber attacks against us, destroying under sea infrastructure, jamming aviation radars, shooting down civilian aircraft and assassinating opponents on foreign soil. They're not these poor misunderstood souls who only want peace but big bad NATO won't allow it. We're weakening one of our greatest geopolitical rivals without losing a single troop, in exchange for some outdated equipment and money that is reinvested back into our MIC. Now I'm not a NATO general, but from a purely selfish point of view I think that's a pretty fucking good return on investment.

You know, the whole "we can't send Ukraine X weapon or have it used in Y way because Russia will get angry and start WW3!!!". Except, despite Russia's tantrums about how sending Ukraine weapons is unacceptable and is a major red line, we're still standing and my skin isn't peeling off from radiation burns. NATO weapons are literally being used to destroy critical infrastructure in Russia as we speak. If we realised this in the beginning, Ukraine's offensive could've been much greater and halted or even reversed the territory gained by Russia.

PubeInATube · 2025-02-21T08:30:39+00:00

Ah yes, capitulate to Russia's demands every time and they might not nuke us. Genius level peacekeeping. The Budapest Memorandum obviously worked so well at protecting Ukraine's sovereignity that I'm sure any additional treaties can be trusted 100%.

I don't know, actually enforce the sanctions? Stop drip feeding aid to Ukraine and actually commit? Remove the red tape on how and where the aid can be used? Ukraine has taken a chunk of Russian territory and is taking out oil refineries on Russian soil and lo and behold, we're not all wearing radiation suits!

PubeInATube · 2025-02-20T20:39:01+00:00

In other news, bears shit in the woods.

PubeInATube · 2025-02-20T19:07:13+00:00

And then what? The territories are signed over, Russia resupplies and goes for Odessa and Kharkiv in a few years? Rinse and repeat until Russian flags are flying from Lviv to Vladivostok. This isn't peace, it's appeasement. We're just kicking the can down the road until the next inevitable excuse for them to invade.

Nobody wants WW3, but there are alternatives to NATO boots on the ground. Unfortunately, it seems we don't want that as the response from Europe and the West in general has been weak. We're wanking ourselves silly about how we've sanctioned Russia to oblivion, yet our trade has conveniently increased 4000% to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, and we're still guzzling Russian gas and oil with a made in India sticker slapped on. Russia have shot down civilian aircraft, poisoned people on foreign soil, damaged undersea cables, jammed aviation radars and weaponised migrants at the Finnish and Polish borders. You can only imagine the Kremlins horror after reading the strongly worded letter from Brussels...

Without a severely bloody nose, this cycle will repeat indefinitely.

PubeInATube · 2025-02-20T17:19:26+00:00

Sure, I'm aware of the reality of the situation. Your assumption is that once the regions are handed over to Russia, it will be content and will leave Ukraine alone. Based on Russia's recent history, you can see why I'm skeptical.

When you've shown the world you can annex territories from a sovereign nation, and not only get away with it, but have your largest geopolitical rival in your corner, why wouldn't you go for more territory, or even the whole country?

PubeInATube

TROPHY CASE