OK I admit it I have become THAT Grumpy Old Man

That's why I am in the market for a minimum of 10 acres!

There are lights...and there are lights. Growing up (in the city) we had a problem with the gas station who put flood lights on the back of the building. They lit the house such that we could read by THEIR lights with the curtains closed due to light leakage around the top and bottom of the curtains, and through the vinyl backed blackout fabric.

The city stepped in after going in circles and the lights were initially painted so the light was directed to the parking area. Naturally this caused the globes to crack. Eventually metal shaded fixtures were installed.

It might be worth talking to the neighbors about what they need lit or not.

Kudos on the Morris code too.

Phil

fredvon4 wrote:...I am a licensed Amateur Radio operator and legally allowed to communicate with up to 1200 watts of RF energy and one of my transceivers is euphemistically referred to as DC to Day Light capable... in other words this transmitter will tune to very low or very high frequencies

"DC to Day Light," I like that description, that's funny. That's whatcha call brute force broadband.

EDIT: After I wrote this, I remembered something from long ago, hearing one side of a radio voice transmission. Several times, through one channel of my Bose 601 speakers. Call you FredTeslaVon4.

 on the Morse code and the speakers.

I know how you feel. I've got neighbors who like to party. The people that next door have an in-ground pool and for years, they would hold parties that would run well into the morning hours. It was more screaming and yelling than loud music with them. They have parties but not as wild as they did years ago. The couple that lives in the house at the south-east corner of us are the ones who blasts Beach Boys, Steve Miller, Beatles (at least not rap)...music all summer, can hear the bass inside the house. I usually don't care unless it's interfering with my own garage or backyard stereo (in which I usually just turn all the way up too LOL). Then there's the guy who lives at the other back corner of us, rarely see him outside, except to complain about my cannon and illegal fireworks on just about every Forth of July LOL.

Never had anyone tell me to hush my engines, not even when I would spend the summer running them every few days.

The empty lot alongside our house sold around late 2014 and they got done building the house earlier this year. That was the longest I've ever seen a construction company build a house, took at least 8 months before they got shingles and siding on the house, still coming back to add finishing touches. Listened to "beeps" and construction equipment starting around 6 in the morning for a good part of last summer and all fall. Rattled things off shelves in the basement when they were compacting the dirt after digging the basement. No pre-fab stuff though, they actually built the house from plain lumber. I got worried when I saw a TruNorth Solar truck over there, I've seen the interference those grid-tie inverters (particularly the cheaper ones) can impose back on the line. So far I haven't seen any solar panels go up, maybe it was too expensive... They have a bunch of kids (I think 5) that they home school. They've been out there hitting a wiffle ball with a big plastic bat just about every day for at least the last month. Makes a loud "thump!", goes on throughout the day. The ball goes over the fence just about every day too LOL. I have the gates locked so they come over asking for it. They're nice people though. I usually just leave it unlocked afterwards until it gets dark. Oh well, better out playing than sitting playing video games all day. Still going to take awhile to get used to a house being there.

For years I've been planning on getting a piece of land, would like to have 20 acres minimum. That's a good number of years away but I still like to look at the land people list on craigslist while doing my craigslist search rounds. Lived out in the sticks until I was 5, so I guess you could say I was born a country boy... The last time I've driven through that area, it's since become a housing development, all big lookalike "cookie cutter" houses, what a shame.

You can see the stars on a clear night and even saw the northern lights once, but being about a 10 minute drive from either downtown of St.Paul or Minneapolis, the light pollution does a number.

I can feel your pain Fred , at least there not breaking in to your home and taking stuff to feed there habits !?!! I have had some problems that I would rather not go into and it sucks when you cant trust what seems like anyone ! I am with Jacob you need a min. of 20 acres and plop your ass right in the middle. Good for you for not going ballistic on them Fred . I guess its just getting old and cranky (and cant keep up) for me that's nerving , Heck maybe go over there and see if they will play some of the jams you like also, my son 17 yrs. was brought up to like the music I like but over does it some time lol. Run UNmufflered engines , shoot more LOAD ass guns (but not at them) !! Eric

RknRusty wrote:Your card should arrive in the mail within 7 to 10 business days.

My appologies to you Rusty. I gave you a "red" mark by accident. Once again I was scrolling through the thread and bumped the "-" as I was flicking the page down, sorry I did not mean to do that...
I was looking to add a link to the Dark Sky association. There was a news blurb, about city kids that will or have grown up with out ever seeing the Milky Way or northern lights.
http://michiganradio.org/post/michigan-has-one-worlds-few-dark-sky-parks-stargazers#stream/0

I'm looking forward to stargazing at the beach this Summer. All beachfront houses are required to turn off the porch lights at 22:00 so as not to confuse nesting sea turtles. It's still not like it used to be. We're 30 miles South of that disgusting human zoo called Myrtle Beach, but it still pollutes the sky some at that distance. The best I've ever seen it since I was a kid is when we went camping on Mt. Mitchell, NC. There was an astronomy club up there on the summit that night too, an added bonus, and they all wanted us to look at whatever their scopes were tracking. I saw the best longest meteor ever that night. It got a huge round of applause. That was cool.
Rusty

Crank, That earned a greenie. Made me laugh. then the ps made me laugh harder. Thanks

I got a chuckle also, a while back my brother was making a point that my reaction to Hip Hop (rap) music is how our parents felt about rock.
I said Led Zep, the Stones, Steve Miller ect. didn't sing about hoes, bitiches, n***as, and violence many rap songs glorify.
Many adds are using rap crap now, no quicker way to loose me as a customer than to put rap in your add.
Yes I am a grumpy old man!

I have hesitated to get involved in this, but here goes.    

We never had a problem with neighbors while I was in the Navy.  Semi-retired, wife and I built our "dream home" in a sparsely populated upscale community on Breton Bay with a view of the Potomac river.  Five levels packed with every option that we could squeeze into it.  

We owned the house next door and the lot on the other side was un-buildable so we were safe, or so we thought.  Neighbors were great.  Then the elderly lady behind us sold her  house to a fellow that wanted a place to stash his juvenile delinquent 20 something son.  

Son moved in with his equally juvenile buddy along with a ‘60’s Jaguar sedan he was restoring.  Hey, this is going to be great, a fellow car nut to play with.

Then came the construction of an in-ground pool just 70 feet off our back bedroom.  Then came the all weekend parties lasting well into the early hours, 20-30 people mostly drunk, playing loud music and watering our flowers the human way.  

My wife, no shrinking violet complained to no avail even calling the parents.  Then the cops.  We laughed as they scattered when the cops arrived.  Like rats leaving a sinking ship.  Didn’t matter, they always came back.

Fed up, we sold and moved to Florida.  My mother was turning 90 and needed looking after.  Not much though, she was still driving and lived for another 15 years.  Funny, the parents of the delinquent had a retirement home in the same area we moved to in Florida.  

Here in West Virginia, all I hear are the birds and bees with an occasional ATV or chain saw (mostly mine) with a round or two being touched off, mine also just for fun.  98% of the time, it’s just peace and quiet and I’m liken’ it.

Some here may note that when I did the Morse code thing I was way out of any " legal for me to transmit band".

I have since decided to not jeopardize my FCC KD5NCO (natural not a vanity call sign) with that antic anymore

Yesterday, off the mower, I was assaulted by the never ceasing ThUMp ThUMp thumP again

So I fired up the transceiver and dialed in a 160 meter low frequency (1.850Mhz) I am legal in. I set the tuner, and amp tubes to low SWR at 1000 watts and sent out a couple of voice CQs...I guess my antenna and filters are clean enough since I could not hear any interruption of the giant Bass speakers and a gent came back answering my CQ and we chatted for a short bit

Remembering something Rusty said and my own experience a few years back..the supper high power CB nut cases always seemed to interrupt the computer speakers. I can not transmit in the CB 11 meter band but do have a 10 meter set up and antenna...but only a 300 watt power amp

Picked a low freq at 28.350Mhz...legal for voice with my license, and sent a few CQs that I could certainly hear very well through my neighbors speakers...OH joy....lets slightly violate a FCC reg*...

I dialed it back to 100 Watts and asked in plain voice if we could turn down the Bass drive a tad and let us enjoy Rizzoli and Isles on TV please....
The thumpa thumpa did not go away, but was no longer moving our crystal ware in the curio cabinet... they actually turned it down a lot

* not allowed to use the Amateur bands to communicate with a non licensed service

That's hilarious. One of my CB friends from my yute, on Christmas day thought it was funny to screw with some neighbor kids who had new walkie talkies, stepped on their carrier, and boomed his voice over them saying,
THIS IS THE LORD SPEAKING!

Rusty that was funny enough to make me spew my coffee! I had not though of something like that