Go2Go2Go2
^{Travel Exhortations by Ric Carter}

TRAVEL RADIO:
  I'm Picking Up Good Vibrations

As we travel through space-time we're enveloped by (and composed of) countless gazillions of subatomic particles, washed over and shot through with electons, neutrinos, photons, positrons (but hopefully not too many), neutrons (but hopefully not too fast), protons, et al. Most of these don't impinge on our senses too much, but our eyes manage to detect electrons vibrating within certain ranges or bands of the EMS (electro-magnetic spectrum) as what we call COLORS. And we can play with electrons, turning sounds into patterns of EMFs (electro-magnetic fields) and back into sounds. When transmitted without wires, we call this electron-play RADIO,

I have been a radio junkie for a long long time, listening and recording and building and transmitting. Mostly just listening, I must admit. (But there's a certain empowerment we feel when we BUILD A RADIO and IT WORKS!) In the kitchen or car or home office, out walking or biking, whenever I'm in range of a discernable signal, a reciever is usually ON and buzzing away. News, talk, music, no sports, and I generally switch away from commercials, at least those in language I understand.

I'm going to talk here about Communications Radio and Broadcast Radio. There's a difference. Let me categorize:

• * Communications Radio includes the whole radio-wave shebang, from secret ELF (extra-low frequency) submarine blorts, through LF (low freq) navigation beacons, and MF (medium freq) broadcast AM noisemakers, and HF (high freq) shortwave signals, and VHF (very high freq) broadcast FM music etc, and UHF (ultra high freq) emergency and military and commercial bands, on up into the rarefied realm of satellite beams.
• * Broadcast Radio exists within the two frequency bands, each modulated a different way, that you can pull in on your home or car or pocket reciever. (Modulation refers to how the sound signal is injected into a radio carrier beam.) These AM and FM bands differ in frequency and usage in various parts of the world, which is why radios made for a North American market may not work well in Japan and Europe. See the sidebar for details.

Broadcast radio is a cultural window. Its panes may be wavy and smeared and dirty and obscured, passing distorted images of what's happening somewhere, but it's usually entertaining. You needn't understand the language to be able to love (or hae) the emitted noises. Travel anywhere by any means (except on commercial air flights, where they'll rightly make you switch your radio off) and groove on the sounds.

Broadcast radio is a treasury. Do you encounter manufactured problems trying to download songs off the internet for free? Plug a tape deck or disc burner into your radio and grab whatever you want! I like local musics that most of the world never hears. At home it's easy — plug a minidisc recorder into the computer and grab from net.radio sources. On the road it's different. Around Gallup NM, I record Navaho songs from KTNN, voice of the Navaho Nation. Near Old Mexico, the "border blasters" provide a weird mix. Elsewhere I fire up my old portable shortwave receiver and listen to whatever comes wafting in from around the world.

Broadcast radio wakes you up or knocks you out or whatever, depending on when and where you've tuned. Broadcast radio tells you lies, but you already knew that. Broadcast radio can be annoying and/or reassuring and/or soothing and/or informative and/or infuriating. But where would you be without it?

I travel everywhere with radios. You probably do too — your cellphone and WiFi computer and other devices are transcievers, sending and receiving. Your GPS and car and maybe even a clock contain recievers. But wait, there's more! Depending on how I travel, I carry around some of this assortment of portable recievers:

• * A little matchbook-size dollar-store FM digital that works fine in big cities but nowhere else (earphones needed)
• * A cig-pack-size analog, the classic AM-FM "transistor radio" with a tinny speaker and headphone jack, that picks up almost everything broadcast everywhere except Japanese FM
• * My faithful old sub-notebook-size digital shortwave-commo receiver, for listening reliably to the world
• * A newer cig-pack-size digital scanner that covers all the broadcast and shortwave and emergency and other bands, but which lacks a bit in sensitivity

I can (and do) record from any of these; or I can just listen and learn and enjoy and waste-occupy-fill time; or I can shut'em off.

If you're serious about traveling and/or listening, and knowing what you're listening to and what's available, you need another guide: WRTH, the World Radio-Television Handbook, published annually (but you may need a new one only every 2-3 years). It lists just about EVERY broadcaster in every band in every land, their frequency and power and location and hours operation: where and when to listen. But not necessarily what to expect; you'll have to work that out yourself. Surprise!

I must admit, it's not like Ye Olde Days (10-15 years ago) when international shortwave really rocked. Shortwave was great — besides amateurs and pirates and mysteriosos and nutcases, most nations had significant shortwave services to present their stories to the world. The net and satellites have seriously curtailed such, because powerful transmitters are expensive to operate, much more so than just feeding an audiostream to a webcast or even an orbiting bird (satellite). But enough shortwave stuff is left that the airwaves are still endlessly interesting.

OK, enough. Travel. Listen. Learn. Kill your TV or transmit your own. Whatever. Have fun. Or else.

TRAVEL WEATHER:
  To Everything There Is A Season

Many if not most people cling to the myths that some seasons are better than others for travel. Bullshit. You can go almost anywhere, anytime, except as inhibited by physical or political barriers. (See The Limits to Travel for more on limitations.) Following I list many feared seasons, and reasons why such fears are groundless. Go now. Do it now. There is not tomorrow.

EARTHQUAKE WEATHER

Hot, muggy, oppressive — the perfect time for quakes in Japan, California, Chile, or for seismic tsunamis in Indonesia, Japan, the Caribbean. But except for constant microquakes, big seismic events are rare, no more than one a week worldwide and mostly somewhere else. Don't worry, be hoppy.

TORNADO WEATHER

Hot, muggy, oppressive — when Polar winds sweep down Tornado Alley (the USA great plains) and encounter warm wet Gulf air in an explosive turbulent riot. But tornadoes are drawn to trailer parks like meteorological magnets; stay away from the poor side of town and you'll be A-OK.

HURRICANE WEATHER

Hot, muggy, oppressive — when storms spawned (by seedling dust blown off the Sahara Desert) west of North Africa parade across the Sargasso Sea and Bermuda Triangle into the Caribbean, thense to ravage the coasts and lowlands lying on the Culf of Mexico and Atlantic America. Hurricanes (which also give birth to tornadoes) likewise target cracker-jack trailer parks as well as fancy imprudent coastal developments and poor-trash villages. Between storms youy're perfectly safe (except in Miami-Dade); during storms, remember: SURF'S UP DEWD! COWABUNGA!

TYPHOON WEATHER

Hot, muggy, oppressive, related to monsoons — when storms sweep across the West Pacific from the South China Sea to the Sea of Japan, targeting fishing fleets and bamboo villages and auto-dealer malls. Stay inside at a brothel or pachinko parlor and you'll ride it out with no trouble.

MONSOON WEATHER

Hot, muggy, oppressive, and drenchingly wet for weeks or months — when storms bludgeon everything along the Indian Ocean's north, and drown entire low-lying nations. If you're caught in the monsoon, you are seriously fucked. Get out immediately, or submit to Allah, or whatever.

MINDSTORM WEATHER

Hot, muggy, oppressive — when the USA-operated ELF and HAARP networks broadcasting mind-control rays are disrupted by sunspots or alien jamming. The interferance causes heterodyning and fading and surging of the beams, resulting in millions of mental burn-throughs and short-outs and melt-downs. As long as you stay in a secure certified Faraday Cage and/or wear your TINFOIL HAT (click here) you'll be just fine.

MIDWINTER

In the tropics, you can hardly tell just when this is. In Polar regions, temperatures may drop a little but the air is usually crisp and clean and clear, unsullied by emissions of flatulent cows-buffaloes-goats-yaks-lamas-republicans etc. This is a lovely time to observe auroral lights, write computer code, and drink yourself to death.

MIDSUMMER

In the low (equatorial) tropics, you can hardly tell the difference. In high tropics, the seasons may be reversed, with spring (start of wet season) immediately following summer (end of dry season). Otherwise, midsummer may be hot, muggy, oppressive. For desert regions, leave out the 'muggy' part. Stay in air-conditioned malls and offices and resorts and you'll feel just dandy.

HAY FEVER SEASON

Springtime, when Mother Nature's rampant fertility results in desperate vegetative insemination, with vastly increased pollen counts. Floral sperm are everywhere, especially up your nose. Some people (like me) can be bedridden for a fortnight after exposure to a pollen to which we've become sensitized. You can avoid sensitization by moving to a totally new environment every couple years. You can avoid pollen by going to a windward coast, the the East Pacific betrween San Francisco and Anchorage. Or you could wear a mask.

FLU SEASON

Winter (extended), when new strains pour out of Shina and engulf the workld, especially in packed population pools like schools, churches, hospitals, airlines and mass transit facilities, office buildings, prisons — anyywhere people are jammed together like lab rats in torture experiments. Children always catch and spread flu and should be strictly quarantined elsewhere. To avoid flu you can get shots (when available), wear a mask (if they aren't sold out), avoid people, pray furiously, and/or sacrifice chickens to Vodun spirits. Or you can deliberately catch flu in order to stay home from work or school — one of the social benefits of illness. If traveling, I'd go with the "vodun sacrifice" method, especially if a hibachi is available.

UFO SEASON

Almost any night except during the month of February (when they're circling Uranus) and at twilight except in June and December (when they're managing solstice events). Don't fear the UFOs. They are your friends. But don't put up any UFO beacons, you don't need the congestion. And remember that alien abduction is almost always the cheapest mode of travel, even better than riding CHICKEN BUSES (click here).

VACATION SEASON

This is usually the worst time to travel, as everyody else is doing so also. Facilities are jammed, queues are long, prices are high. To reduce crowding and prices at your intended destination, call in some bomb threats and/or arrange for spectacular terrorist actions. And depend on UFOs to get you there.

Any season is a good time to travel, despite the weather. If it's cold, dress up. If it's hot, get naked. Some simple planning and precautions will ensure you a trouble-free journey, hijackers and border guards permitting. Have fun and be sure to take a rain poncho.