Friday, September 30, 2022
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Fascism, Socialism, and Mussolini by Dan Mitchell
Based on Sunday’s election in Italy, the nation’s next Prime Minister almost certainly will be Giorgia Meloni, which has some worried that Italy is returning to the “far right” fascism of Benito Mussolini.
From an economic perspective, though, it would be more accurate to say that Mussolini is “far left.”
Or to say that he is a collectivist, which puts him in the same camp as socialists and communists.
In an article for the Independent Institute, Angelo Codevilla discussed how Mussolini began his career as a socialist activist, but ultimately was forced out of the party because of his nationalist views..
He was active in socialist circles, both Italian and international, giving speeches to workers and helping to organize strikes… He got to know Vladimir Lenin… Benito became a full-time socialist activist…as editor of its socialist newspaper. …he supported himself writing essays and editing a journal called Lotta di classe—class struggle…
In 1911 the party entrusted the 28-year-old with editorship of its flagship publication, Avanti!. …He had become Italian socialism’s brightest star. …In…1914…he committed socialist heresy by writing that class struggle is a bad idea because the nation is more important than social class. He called his few scattered followers fasci, bundles, of individuals. …Hence he labeled the movement “Fasci Rivoluzionari d’Azione Internazionalista” and its members “Fascisti.” …the party expelled him.
In other words, Mussolini was part of the conflict between “national socialism” and “international socialism.”
Both versions of socialism favored big government, but they differed in how they viewed the nation state.
And this conflict, driven in part by the events of World War I, led Mussolini to develop fascism as a distinct strain of statism.
…continuing to call himself a socialist and propagandizing his evolving blend of nationalism and socialism…Mussolini shifted to building fascism into a party. …Hegel, following Napoleon, had made patriotic worship of the scientifically administered, progressive state the political essence of modernity. Mussolini’s vision of Italy followed from that. “The bureaucracy is the state,” he said. …Mussolini explained, …The state personifies the country, and disciplines its several elements to its service. “Soon, we will be the state.”
And he was right, at least in the sense that he and his fascists soon took over the government.
In the 1921 elections, Mussolini’s Fascists had gained only .04% of the vote. But chaos reigned in the streets because of socialist, Communist, and anarchist mobs, as well as because of the perhaps 40,000 fascist squadristi (the Blackshirts) who fought them. …Mussolini organized the descent of some 30,000 squadristi on Rome to demand he be named prime minister. …the king appointed Mussolini to head a government with almost no fascists. But…Mussolini gradually dispossessed the rest. …Fascist Italy was the first country in which the elected legislature gave up its essential powers to the executive…thus establishing the modern administrative state. …Socioeconomic organization was fascism’s defining feature. Only employers’ and employees’ organizations approved by the government were allowed. …No longer would corporations be responsible to owners.
Mussolini’s fascism was different than traditional socialism in that the goal was to have the government control the economy, but not to have government take over “the means of production.”
Both approaches were very hostile to free markets, of course.
I’ll close with some excerpts about Italian fascism and FDR’s failed New Deal.
After Franklin Roosevelt’s inauguration in 1933, Mussolini’s enthusiasm for likening the New Deal to fascism’s political-economic order… he made clear that “the spirit of [FDR’s program] resembles fascism’s since, having recognized that the state is responsible for the people’s economic well-being, it no longer allows economic forces to run according to their own nature.” …Fascists rejoiced that FDR had forsaken liberal for corporativist principles… It could hardly have been otherwise since the essence of the National Industrial Recovery Act—the involuntary inclusion of all participants in categories of economic activity and their subjection to government-dictated prices, wages, and working conditions—was at least as detailed as those in fascism’s corporate law.
Since I’ve written about how the New Deal (and much of modern leftism) is based on fascist economics, I obviously agree.
But I’ve also explained that it’s better to refer to such policies as corporatist or interventionist since fascism nowadays also implies support for some of Hitler’s lunatic ideas about race and conquest.
P.S. The main message of today’s column is that it’s silly to label Mussolini (and his political heirs) as being on the far right. But it’s also true that Mussolini’s nationalist approach to statism is different than the ideas advocated by Marx (and his political heirs).
Dissecting and explaining these differences is why I think the left-right ideological spectrum should be replaced by this triangle.
By the way, the top of the triangle could say “Classical Liberalism,” but I used “Libertarian” so American readers would easily understand.
P.P.S. There’s a “Political Compass Test” that does a good job of determining one’s philosophical orientation, but it completely botches where Mussolini belongs.
Oxford Peak, Idaho, 09-26-2022 Submitted by N0DNF
Located approximately 50 miles South of Pocatello Idaho. Take the Downey Idaho exit from I-15 . Head south on Highway 91 which takes you through Downey. Turn right onto the old highway 191 (old Malad Hwy). Watch for Cherry Creek road which will be on your left and takes you to the Cherry Creek Campground/Trailhead.
After reaching the trailhead you can use a 50" or less ORV and travel on FS trail 409. After heading east approximately 3 miles you will take FS trail 419 which will take you south towards the summit of Oxford. After approx 2.5 miles the trail ends. You will need to take either a steep double track trail on your left as far as possible and hike to the ridgeline from there or hike from the end of 419.
Once on the ridgeline there will be a faint trail you can follow to the activation zone which is very large.
Enjoy the views !
Bill Skerjanc N0DNF
progressingamerica: New audiobook release: The History of the Fabian S...
Tuesday, September 27, 2022
THE NEW PENNTEK TR-45L: A VIDEO TOUR/OVERVIEW, THEN A FULL POTA ACTIVATION! by THOMAS WITHERSPOON
Yesterday, John (WA3RNC) opened orders for his long-awaited Penntek TR-45L 5 band, CW-only, QRP transceiver.
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve had the pleasure of helping John beta test this radio for the past month. In that time, I’ve gotten to know the radio from the inside out and have even taken it on a few POTA activations. In fact, with John’s permission, I just posted my first TR-45L activation video for Patreon supporters yesterday. The radio was using an early firmware version in that video.
TR-45L Video Tour and Overview
Yesterday, after an early morning appointment, my schedule opened up; a rarity in my world.
I then got the idea to take the TR-45L out to a park, do a full video overview of its features, then put it on the air in a POTA activation.
Hazel loved this idea too.
So I packed the TR-45L, a log book, my throw line, and two 28′ lengths of wire. Hazel jumped in the car before I could invite her.
I’ve used a wide variety of antennas on the TR-45L over the past weeks, but I hadn’t yet performed a park activation only using two lengths of wire and relying on the TR-45L’s optional Z-Match manual antenna tuner. This would make for a great real-life test!
Quick note about video timeline
Side note for those of you who follow my field reports and activation videos…
I pushed this video to the front of the line since the TR-45L just hit the market. I wanted to give potential buyers an opportunity to see and hear this radio in real world conditions thinking it might help them with their purchase decision.
I’m currently about 7 weeks behind publishing my activation videos. Much of this has to do with my travel schedule, free time to write up the reports, and availability of bandwidth to do the video uploads (I’ve mentioned that the Internet service at the QTH is almost dial-up speed).
I was able to publish this video within one day using a new (limited bandwidth) 4G mobile hotspot. Patreon supporters have made it possible for me to subscribe to this hotspot service and I am most grateful. Thank you!
So that I can publish this report quickly (this AM), I’m not going to produce a long-format article like I typically do. Instead, this is one of those rare times when the video will have much more information about the radio and the activation than my report. I’ve linked to and embedded the video below.
Now back to the activation…
Gear used:
- Penntek TR-45 Lite (TR-45L)
- Two 28 foot lengths of wire
- Foxpro branded padded camera bag
- Mini Arborist throw line kit: Tom Bihn Small Travel Tray, Marlow KF1050 Excel 2mm Throwline, and Weaver 8 or 10oz weight
- Rite In The Rain Weatherproof Cover/Pouch (affiliate link)
- GraphGear 0.9mm 1000 Automatic Drafting Pencil (affiliate link)
- Muji A6 Notepad
- Camera: OSMO Action Camera (affiliate link)
Blue Ridge Parkway (K-3378) NC
Hazel and I decided to head to the Craggy Gardens Picnic Area on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a chilly day–proper fall weather–and the skies were clear.
The only thing I did prior to turning on the camera was to deploy my arborist throw line. The wire antenna I planned to use was short, so it was effortless to snag the right tree branch on the first throw.
Next, I started my video and gave a full tour of the TR-45L, describing its features and controls.
Then, I deployed the 28′ random wire antenna: a 28′ radiator and 28′ counterpoise. I connected the wires the posts on the back of the TR-45L. I switched the antenna input from BNC to the binding posts, and engaged the Z-Match antenna tuner.
I then tuned the random wire. Last time I used the Z-match to tune this wire, I got a near 1:1 match on all bands almost effortlessly. This time, it took a wee bit longer. There’s certainly an art to using a manual Z-Match tuner, but it’s surprisingly easy (very easy if you’re used to an ATU like the Emtech ZM-2).
I found a good match, and started calling CQ POTA on 20 meters. I logged sixteen stations in about 20 minutes.
Next, I moved to the 30M band and found a fairly good match. I called CQ POTA for a few minutes and had no replies, so I decided to QSY down to the 40 meter band.
On 40 meters, I logged fourteen stations in 13 minutes. I was very happy with these results especially since I thought 40 meters would be in worse shape than the 20 meter band.
My video was getting very long, so I called QRT on the activation.
QSO Map
Here’s what this activation looked like when plotted out on a QSO Map:
Activation Video
Here’s my real-time, real-life video of the entire activation. As with all of my videos, there are no ads and I don’t edit out any parts of the on-air activation time.
Please note that I’ve added chapters to this video to make it easier to browse. In YouTube, simply hover over the video timeline and you can easily click on the chapters that interest you:
Click here to view on YouTube and subscribe.
Thank you!
Thank you for joining me on this activation and radio tour!
I hope you enjoyed the field report and the video as much as I enjoyed creating them.
Of course, I’d also like to send a special thanks to those of you who have been supporting the site and channel through Patreon and the Coffee Fund. While certainly not a requirement as my content will always be free, I really appreciate the support.
As I mentioned above, QRPer supporters make it possible for me to invest in a mobile hotspot and other gear that helps me with my workflow. This is all a pure labor of love for me, and your support makes it sustainable.
Thank you so very much!
Cheers & 72,
Thomas (VY2SW / K4SWL)
INTRODUCING THE NEW PENNTEK TR-45L by THOMAS WITHERSPOON
If you’re a fan of the Penntek TR-35 or its predecessor, the TR-25, I’ve got some good news for you.
John (WA3RNC) announced this morning that he is now taking orders for his latest design: the long-awaited TR-45 Lite (TR-45L).
I’ve been helping John Beta test this radio since mid-August. I’ve activated a number of parks with it and have used it almost exclusively from home.
In short? I really love it.
Here’s the announcement John (WA3RNC) has posted on his website along with a form to fill out if you’re interested in purchasing from the first run. John notes:
The TR-45L 50-unit pilot run construction is now underway! These first units will be factory wired, tested, and aligned. These units will be available for shipment over the next several weeks. The plan is to have kits available in about 6 to 8 weeks. The kit price is expected to be $430.00. Please understand that this will not be a kit for beginners…
Pricing has been set at $580.00 for wired and tested pilot run units, with an additional charge of $22.00 for USPS Priority Mail shipping. There are two available options: The first is an internal 5200 MAH Li-Ion battery pack and charger with a price of $80.00, and the second is an internal Z-Match antenna tuner for easy matching in the field to simple wire antennas. The Z-Match tuner option is priced at $60.00. Note that the Z-Match ATU can be added later but will require that you drill some rather precise holes in the back case housing and a do a bit of soldering. [Continue reading…]
This radio is pricier than the TR-35, of course, but I would argue it’s very well worth the money: the receiver and audio are superb. The radio has a fun factor that’s hard to describe.
I’ve just updated the radio with the latest firmware and will be taking it on an activation this morning (Monday, Sep 26, 2022). Check the POTA spots page for me.
I’ll make a video including a full tour of the radio, then perform the activation. If the hotspot bandwidth gods are on my side, I may have this posted later today or early tomorrow.
Note that John (AE5X) has also been testing the TR-45L and will also have updates and videos.
The upshot?
If the TR-45L looks like the sort of radio you’d enjoy taking to the field, just go ahead and get one. I think it’s brilliant.
I suspect his first production run will sell out in very short order.
It’s a simple radio with simple–almost Apollo era inspired–controls. The audio is gorgeous and I’m pleased with the filtering options. The internal battery option will power it for ages and the Z-match tuner options works beautifully.
Again, if you want to hear it on the air, check the POTA spots for me sometime between 16:00-18:00 today!
Stay tuned!
This Is the Way the World Ends Feel like we’re on the ragged edge of something new and awful? You are not alone…. by James Howard Kunstler
That “singularity” so many blab about is not what they think it is: the merging of human intelligence with Bill Gates’s Office products, leading to an orgasmic nirvana of infinite memoranda from your HR department concerning new diversity, inclusion, and equity policy. Rather, I speak of the magic moment when the necromancers of finance discover that the proverbial can they’ve been kicking is filled with Schroedinger’s cat food… and the road they’ve been kicking it down actually comes to a dead end up their own highly-credentialed wazoos. Economics will never be the same hereafter.
The bond market has gone south, and that spells The End for the great game of financialization. The bond market is Moby Dick compared to the little blowfish that is the stock market. The global money system is based on bonds, which are… what? That’s right: loans… promises to pay you X at some future moment. So, what happens when a daisy-chain of promises-to-pay gets broken? Or, perhaps more precisely, when all those promises lose their last shred of plausible reality? Why, the money that these broken promises are denominated in loses its essential cred. Trick question: how much is worthless money worth? (Answer: not enough to pay for a can of Scroedinger’s cat food.)
Which is where all this folderol leaves a lot of ordinary people all over Western Civ (and beyond!) trying to scratch up enough increasingly worthless money to feed the family and pay the landlord. Many will never understand what happened. But they will not be any less pissed off at the result.
This is the way the world ends for the hapless phantom known as “Joe Biden” the child-sniffing ectoplasm that haunts the White House these days of late empire. Somehow, the bamboozled nation has so far passively accepted the pranks and punishments laid on them by the backstage managers behind the Figment-in-Chief. Eight-plus percent inflation? No problemo, right? Eighty-five thousand new IRS agents on-board to drive you batshit while destroying your household and your posterity (ha!)? Half the population of South America flooding across the border? (The vibrancy! You no like?) A hundred dollar fill-up at the gas pump, and no heat for you this winter? (But… Netflix!) Drag queens to amuse and edify your children about the delirious realm of sexual pathology. All that…and how about a Russian hypersonic nuclear missile up your ass if the preceding somehow failed to move you? (Because: Russia, Russia, Russia…!)
Meanwhile, a trend is manifesting in other lands. The people of, first, Sweden and now Italy are voting in “right wing” nationalist governments — the horror — sending their equivalent of our Party of Chaos to the showers. This has irked the President of the European Union, one Ursula von der Leyen, no end. She has threatened to send Italy to its room without supper for the effrontery Of course, Madame von der Leyen’s fellow Germans have already been sent to their room without so much as a kartoffelklop, plus no heat or hot showers for you, Hansel and Gretel. Embrace the suck.
You may be sure that we’re in for the business here in America, too. The thermometers are trending down and Halloween won’t be so much fun when the little goblins come home to a house that’s the same temperature inside as the night air outside. Little Skippy’s face is turning blue, and not because he went trick-or-treating as Robert the Bruce.
The aforementioned Party of Chaos, the gang that queered the last big election, is surely gearing up to run a whole lot of work-arounds for massaging the November 8 midterm vote in their direction. Nothing is beyond them. One of their avatars, the podcaster Sam Harris, said it out loud a month ago: that lying and cheating is perfectly ethical in service to the Left’s being able to continue imposing its will upon all of us. Whoops! He let Schroedinger’s cat out of its hypothetical sack. The punishments must continue until morale improves! (Hope you enjoyed your career, Sam.)
And so it begins… as they intone in the horror movies when the contents of the family’s raised ranch, chattels, children, mom, dad, the golden retriever all get sucked out of the universe via some quantum portal in the television. Today the markets, tomorrow our beloved country will be overrun by what’ll look like an alien invasion of re-po men. This is the way the world ends… not with a bang… but with a physics lesson: the lonesome sound of Schroedinger’s cat’s meow.
Penntek TR-45L review by John AE5X
John Dillon WA3RNC of TR-25 and TR-35 fame was kind enough to loan me a prototype TR-45L recently and I've been have a great time putting this amazing new transceiver on the air from a variety of locations and with four different antennas.
When I bought a TR-35 almost a year ago, I prefaced my review of it with "I paid full price for the kit and have had no other communication with the kit's designer..." Obviously, that is not the case with the TR-45L so, lest you think that my opinion of the rig is influenced by the gesture of the loan, rest assured that I will be posting videos that will, to the greatest extent possible, allow you to get a feel for the radio as if you were sitting in front of it.
For many months, I have been watching John's website attentively, hoping for word of the TR-45L's availability. The look of the radio (with that big ole analog meter!) and the performance of its little brother (TR-35) had me chomping at the bit. The dark cloud of parts availability issues that delayed the TR-45L had a silver lining - they allowed John to modify the design of the rig in such a way as to include 17 meters. What was originally described as a 4-band transceiver now includes 17, 20, 30, 40 and 80 meters.
Description of features
Like the TR-35, the TR-45L has an "each function has its own dedicated switch" design philosophy. No sub-menus, nothing to memorize and no cheat-sheet needed. It also offers three receive modes: CW Narrow, CW Wide and SSB. And two CW message memories, variable RF out, VFO dial lock and RIT. The innards of the radio contains two circuit boards and the panel mounted components, which will vary based on options ordered (battery and/or manual tuner).
To the TR-35's functionality, the TR-45L adds the 80m band, built-in speaker, two levels of display/meter illumination, sideband selection, audio filter, an optical (as opposed to mechanical) tuning encoder, single-Hz tuning resolution for 1, 10, 100 and 1000 Hz step selectivity and two VFO's per band.
And best of all: an audio notch filter and a beautiful, illuminated analog meter that reads either forward or reflected power during transmit and functions as an S-meter during receive. A toggle switch allows the meter to function briefly as a "Battery Check" level and a 'High VSWR' LED will alert users to high reflected power.
With optional internal battery (a 3S 5200maH LiIon) and optional bal/unbal tuner, weighs exactly three pounds. A 5.2 AH battery in a QRP rig will provide many hours of constant operation - I did three 2-hour POTA activations on a single charge. Current draw during receive is either 95 or 110 mA, depending on the illumination level selected.
The rear panel of the radio contains two DC input jacks - one for charging the TR-45L's internal battery and the other for powering the radio with an external battery. The rig can be powered from an external battery while simultaneously charging the internal battery but, without an external battery, the TR-45L cannot be operated while its internal battery is being charged. Maximum allowable DC input is 15V.
Side rails on the front panel are tall enough to protect the switches and meter without becoming obtrusive.
Receive
Tuning to and zero-beating a station is easy, smooth and totally free of backlash thanks to the optical encoder and its increased resolution. Short taps of the encoder toggle the tuning steps between 10 and 100 Hz steps; longer presses toggle between 1 and 1000 Hz steps.
The TR-45L's sidetone is fixed at 700 Hz and this is the tone that should be tuned for when zero-beating another station. A 700 Hz tone is produced by the rig when the 'Spot' switch is depressed; when that tone matches the pitch of the station with whom you want a QSO, you are zero-beat with that station. To new CW users, this means that you will have the pitch in that station's speaker/headphones that that operator has chosen as his preferred sidetone pitch (as long as he doesn't have his RIT engaged!).
A toggle switch on the right-hand side of the panel switches on or off either the internal speaker or an external speaker that may be plugged into a rear-panel jack. Even with headphones plugged in, the speaker is controlled by the switch, not whether or not headphones are in use.
I did not measure receiver selectivity since I don't currently have the means to measure it 40 dB down. I can measure it 6 dB down but this single-point measurement is meaningless in describing the shape of the response. But the bandwidth is reminiscent of my TR-35 that I used quite effectively in this year's ARRL DX Contest.
Additionally, there is an audio filter that can be engaged via, you guessed it - a toggle switch! This function has the effect of improving the signal to noise ratio on weaker signals.
MDS on 20 meters was measured at -129 dBm. An audio notch filter attenuates an offending QRM signal by 12 dB. A video demo is forthcoming.
Each of two VFO's per band can be programmed with your desired frequencies. I have the QRP calling frequency programmed for each band as well as a frequency lower down the band.
The RIT is good for +/- 5 kHz in 10 Hz steps. Rit remains available even when VFO dial lock is engaged. This allows your rig to remain locked on your spotted frequency, for example during a POTA activation, while still being able to tune in stations who may call slightly off frequency.
Transmit
Two methods allow monitoring of how well the antenna is matched to the rig: the meter set for reverse power or the 'High VSWR' LED. Depending on band, my LED illuminates its warning when the SWR reaches anywhere from 1.9 to 2.5:1. My own preferred method is just to leave the meter in the reflected power position - I like it not to move at all and had no problem obtaining that state with a number of antenna types, even when operating on an adjacent band (17 and 30m with a 20/40m antenna).
Output power can be varied from a handful of milliwatts to QRP-and-then-some. With the internal battery providing the juice, my output power was 7 to 10 watts, depending on band. Substituting the internal battery with my 4S LiFePO4 - effectively going from 12.4 to 13.8V - offered little to no additional output.
Measurements of the TR-45L's spectral output show the rig to be well within FCC specs on all five bands. Spectrum measurements were taken at full output power.
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| 17 meters |
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| 20 meters |
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| 30 meters. Third harmonic measured since 2nd is insignificant |
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| 40 meters |
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| 80 meters |
The optional antenna tuner
The manual antenna tuner that can be ordered as an option for the TR-45L greatly increases the variety of antennas that can be used with the rig. Two toggle switches allow selection of the tuner being inline or not, and of the selection of balanced or unbalanced antennas. Each antenna type has its own jack.
For my first activation I used a PAR EFT-MTR. This is a 20-30-40m end-fed halfwave antenna, rsonant on 30m only if an SMA connector midway through the antenna's length is removed. This necessitates lowering the antenna to access the SMA. I was able to easily adjust the tuner to provide a match on 17 and 30 meters, even with the SAM remaining in place.
Next was a 44-foot doublet fed with 50-ft of 300-ohm twinlead. Again, no problem getting a good match on all bands, 17 to 40 meters.
Finally I tried a random wire 55 feet long. Nothing special about that length - it was just what I had on-hand. the far end went to a tree branch about 25 feet high and another wire, 30-ish feet long, was laid on the ground. This is best interpreted as "balanced" antenna, so it was connected to those jacks via a banana plug. 17-80m tuned, no problem.
In all cases, I've been able to tune to a good match without even transmitting, just by tuning for maximum receive noise. I then put the rig to half power (just in case) flip the meter switch to read reverse power, hit the paddles and touch up the tuning, if needed.
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| Inside, showing antenna tuner, speaker, battery |
Summary
When considering a new radio I always ask myself "What does it compare with?" There is nothing out there that compares with the TR-45L - it is refreshingly unique in a number of ways. The analog meter, toggle switches and the lack of menus (thank you!) see to that. It is a good-looking radio that doesn't compromise on performance.
My logbook contains entries from all over North America and 12 countries in Europe, all on battery power, from parks, using hastily-erected antennas. Is that a scientific observation? No. Is it fun? Yes, addictively so!
In the coming days I will be uploading videos to YouTube, demonstrating some of the features described here.