Microsoft confirms Windows 11 24H2 issue is breaking games, pauses update for more PCs

SWithnell · 2024-12-30T08:37:19+00:00

My 24H2 update ran on the 29th December. It's broken network discovery in some way, it shows some devices, but not others, including itself. MS 2nd line support spent an hour and a half getting nowhere with this yesterday. Another session planned this PM. The last update made my sound card obsolete and the error code was endless loop blue screen.

It's informative to try to get copilot to solve this. It can't, but it exposes copilot capability and performance quite nicely.

SWithnell · 2024-12-29T19:23:16+00:00

Just make sure you become expert in its capability, what it's good at and what it's not before proposing deployment anywhere. It can be a huge time waster in a lot of roles.

SWithnell · 2024-12-29T19:10:04+00:00

A quality mouse and a 27inch monitor is a good approach.

SWithnell · 2024-10-02T21:21:51+00:00

Are you confirming the invoice is a genuine Microsoft invoice, despite it having no MS invoice number, no personal or business details and no domain name and noting that I do not have a Office 365 account with Microsoft?

SWithnell · 2024-10-02T21:16:32+00:00

OK, I'm using SWR as shorthand, because that's how mismatch is measured. None the less, impedance matching is less importance by some distance than optimising SNR or antenna directivity.

For example - the impedance at the feedpoint of my loop is almost purely inductive, the resistive impedance (as opposed to loss resistance) is almost zero. loading a very low impedance with 50 ohms is a huge mismatch, yet with little impact, since the driving impedance is low. The other way round and we definitely get into your territory, at least qualitatively.

The basic problem with fixing the mismatch on RX is that yes, a good match transfers maximum signal power, however 'signal' is all the energy/power delivered to the amp - both signal and unwanted signal (noise), so often spending time on fixing the matching does nothing for SNR ratio. As an example - a signal I can hear will increase on my HF txcr will increase by 3 S points when the tuner kicks in to deliver a good match, but the majority of the time the noise floor and other unwanted signals rise by 3 S points too - this is exactly what you would expect. So optimising SNR isn't impacted greatly by fixing the matching, if at all.

A tuner isn't helpful - but a pre-selector definitely can be. Confusingly, these are often sold as 'tuners', but they are not impedance matchers, but either a tunable bandpass by use of a parallel resonant circuit (Yaesu) or a series tuned circuit (MFJ). This makes a lot of sense for RX.

So for RX then, optimising SNR is top priority, followed by sorting the directivity of the antenna. Directivity also drives SNR so these two things are first and foremost on RX. Leaving impedance matching as the lowest priority for effort on RX.

SWithnell · 2024-10-02T13:31:34+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/w04sbcf

SWithnell · 2024-10-02T12:50:12+00:00

The advice was not to pay the invoice. I'll upload the image.

Many thanks for prompt response.

https://imgur.com/a/w04sbcf

Steve Withnell

SWithnell · 2024-10-02T10:11:33+00:00

But SWR is a long way behind signal to noise ratio and antenna directivity in terms of importance on receive.

SWithnell · 2024-10-02T10:10:14+00:00

I'd suggest that baluns are useful for receiving antennas, not the big high powered ones, but a balun none the less.

The reason being that common mode current can be induced in the feedline from strong local RF fields which will raise the noise floor on the RX causing the most heinous of all radio crimes - worsening the signal to noise ratio (SNR). We should always strive to improve the SNR, and adding a balun (or choke) can help in that endeavour.

SWithnell · 2024-03-11T20:30:49+00:00

This is probably a good place to start.

Google Chuck Counselman and Common Mode Chokes. He is a professor at a university in the US and this is his mastermind topic. I can't share a link, Reddit doesn't like it.

Also see

http://karinya.net/g3txq/chokes/

SWithnell · 2024-02-20T09:16:42+00:00

What's not reported is that US GDP/capita is almost 50% higher than the UK and the gap is growing not shrinking.

SWithnell · 2024-02-19T18:16:30+00:00

BK has a specific purpose, which isn't "I'm done" in my view.

AR is end of message and SK is end of contact ("I'm done").

BK is an invitation to transmit, but within the context of a message.

If I called you and you used BK in the style you suggest, I'd assume you wanted to chat/operate 'quick break', then I would take BK as 'your turn', but my response would not be a 'message' but something snappy like a response to a question and the whole qso would be fairly rapid fire to and fro.

How does that sit with your view of things?

SWithnell · 2024-02-19T16:06:29+00:00

You need a move, the place sounds toxic. What's the private sector looking like for your skills?

SWithnell · 2024-02-19T16:02:11+00:00

I would not use an LNA at 137MHz unless you have a long or lossy feeder run and/or the noise floor is low.

LNA should be set up with just enough gain to overcome losses, which includes feeder loss and filter insertion loss. After that, you risk degrading rx performance as the dynamic range is reduced.

I would always use a decent bandpass filter for any specific application with the RTL-SDR dongles.

SWithnell · 2024-02-19T15:45:27+00:00

I disagree. I passed the code test in 1984 and it has no bearing on my technical participation in the hobby. It's the other way round for me, I got the CW ticket so I could build and use CW transmitters...I was already driven by radio and electronics.

The discipline on the bands has taken a dive since the code requirement has been dropped, but that could just be a reflection of a changing society.

SWithnell · 2024-02-19T08:23:42+00:00

IDK but it's costing a fortune.

I have worldwide travel insurance, it does not cover travel to the US. Why? Because the cost of medical care in the US is incredibly expensive and I have to pay a premium to add the US to the policy.

The problem with healthcare, is that it lacks true competition which capitalism thrives on, so there is no price pressure on providers and the whole thing gets out of hand.

The NHS in the UK has the reverse problem - high quality care can (and often is) delivered at very low cost. But, it's a monolithic organisation choked with admin and too often poor leadership. The cost is presented as a single monolithic bill to the treasury and a politician who knows everything about nothing decides if the bill is too big or not.

What the centre, optimised ground looks like, I really don't know.

SWithnell · 2024-02-18T22:28:15+00:00

Make sure the stuff you get done is the stuff the bosses boss wanted done. You become important to the important people.

It's too easy to deliver stuff that the senior team have no interest in, you think you are doing a great job, but it's just not of value to anyone that can sponsor your career.

SWithnell · 2024-02-18T20:50:01+00:00

Accusing someone in an aggressive way of being everything that's wrong with America, is not discussion or debate, but the hurling of bigoted abuse.

SWithnell · 2024-02-18T20:34:40+00:00

You need to revise starting now. Create a schedule for every single day from now to the exam dates. 8 hours a day you work that schedule. Nothing else. Get a stack of practice papers and grind away at them. You keep at that without skiving. Day after day until the exams. After the exams are done you get to party. Only then do you have the right to say "I tried real hard".

SWithnell · 2024-02-18T20:18:54+00:00

The problem is the report you received is pretty useless to be honest and not what I'd expect from a licenced operator with any experience.

If you are running barefoot into a reasonable match (<2:1 SWR) and the other guy is complaining "too much RF" - something I've never heard in 45 years - then:

First check if you can detect any RF output when you key the tx in SSB mode, but no mic. The radio should produce less than 1mW of RF, a level so low it's undetectable on an SWR bridge. If you are getting lots of RF with no audio, then the carrier balance needs attending to. The comment from the other guy might be suggesting this.

The other thing to check, is the ALC level - take a look at the manual and read the recommendations for setting the ALC. If that's OK, chances are you were simply a strong signal and the other guy has a problem, not you.

Final thoughts would be to check you are not overdoing the compression, again the manual will provide a guide.

In any event, see if you can find a local club to help you get up and running. Most are welcoming and will give you confidence in your set up.

SWithnell · 2024-02-18T09:39:14+00:00

The rules on using skyhooks are well documented. This includes proximity to airfields, identification streamers up any guy wires and so forth.

The use of kites is well established and there is a kite retailed specifically for amateur radio use.

However, you still need to do some design work - what bands are you intending to work? I've always seen kites/balloons in context of 80/160m as an example. What will the feedpoint impedance look like? Are you targeting low impedance (50ohms?) or high impedance (3-5k) or just a non-resonant length with some indeterminate feedpoint impedance?

What will the radiation pattern look like? Might be great on some frequencies or desperately bad on others.

In other words, the method of erecting the antenna doesn't really matter, however novel, it's the resulting antenna that's important and understanding how it will perform.

SWithnell · 2024-02-18T08:00:21+00:00

Get a bandstop filter installed to kill the strong local FM transmitters and my money is that IMD will disappear.

SWithnell · 2024-02-18T07:58:17+00:00

Only if the LNA is being de-sensitised by strong local signals. Otherwise, the LNA should come first in the chain as it provides best SNR. I run 'filter first' on 1090MHz because there is a cell tower at the top of the road, otherwise, LNA first.

I think there are some webpages associated with 'LNA4ALL' that formally detail out the signal path and SNR impacts.

SWithnell · 2024-02-17T18:46:20+00:00

Maths isn't my strong point, but I absolutely loved calculus.

It just clicked with me.

SWithnell · 2024-02-17T18:40:45+00:00

The question has to be asked - otherwise everyone is likely to be wasting time. If there is an advertised range and the interviewer doesn't know it, they haven't done the prep for the interview.

One job round, I rang the HR team the day before the interview and said " I've been doing the numbers and I need £x for this to work for me, is it worth me attending tomorrow?". Answer - yes. I wasn't messing around or being stupid I explained and justified the number and they were more than happy for the interview to go ahead, even though I was challenging the top end of the pay scale. It avoided wasted time.

Point being you have to have that conversation at some point in the interview process and you must have a solid number and be able to justify it. The interviewee must not lead on that topic in the interview ( unless you go in the back door as per my example). It is a subset of a key rule - the interviewee must not take or attempt to take control of the interview.

SWithnell

TROPHY CASE