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06/19/08
Occasionally I hear of some criticism because this blog
is not devoted more to Ham Radio topics and less to my
programming, Internet activities and other various
interest. I recognize that Ham zealots exist just as
different religions have their zealots. I believe
everyone is entitled to their opinions and practices,
especially those who disagree or differ from mine.
Some of the more interesting zealots are the so called
"purist" who sincerely believe the Internet is not a
part of Ham Radio and might even eventually cause the
death of radio. Rationally, the use the Internet is
like choosing any special mode available to Hams. It
provides more operational variety and opportunity. If
someone wants to debate this I would be happy to meet
them on EchoLink and prove how these new VOIP ham
internet services are in fact helping, and not hurting
Ham radio :)
Then there are the CW zealots. There is even a special
division I call the QRP sub zealots. The first are, if
nothing else, a very vocal group who pretty much
opposed me tooth and nail when I started promoting the
elimination of CW as a Ham exam requirement 20 years
ago. Fortunately the FCC finally saw the light after
almost every other major country eliminated CW testing
for Hams. My position wasn't because I disliked CW as
as a mode (I held a Commercial 2nd Class Radiotelegraph
License). It was because I no longer saw a maritime
public safety issue and because I knew of many fine
engineers who were denied a Ham License because of
their tin ears. To me, CW is like the Internet today,
just another optional mode. Do it if you enjoy it.
Next there are the DX zealots who are convinced that
WAS and WAC certificates are the only true Holy Grail
of Ham Radio. Its been my experience that most of these
guys stay up all night at their rig to avoid their
waiting XYL's in the bedroom! In seriousness, I know
some who spent months just trying to log some elusive
station. Im not sure what this proves except either
usual patience or a shallow life! Or perhaps they
cannot afford wallpaper and find QSL cards a cheap
alternative!
Then there are the Ham "social butterfly" zealots who
have a compulsive need to be a members of, and make
every club meeting, field day, ham fest and convention
even if thousands of miles away. These guys are the
true elitist who try to do everything yet do nothing
very well except attract attention to themselves.
Maybe their parents didn't give them enough attention
growing up and now they have this burning need to be
seen and noticed. They typically have special
monogrammed T shirts and hats when on outings to scream
out, PLEASE notice me, Im a Ham.
Now, lets not forget the Vanity Zealots. This breed
either has trouble remembering who they are and hence
must obtain station calls with the initials of their
full name, or they like to flaunt the extra pesos in their
pockets by paying for unique station calls that most of
us cannot. Some do it to gain more notoriety with a W
or N prefix thus feigning that of being an old timer in
the ham ranks. Hey guys, we know better! :-)
I guess I should mentiont the experimenters and home
brew zealots who ignore family and friends while hiding
out in their shacks melting solder and forever looking
for the right parts; but I think everyone knows about
them. Typically weird and highly oddball. I should
know, I was one of those, but I recovered!
There now, I finally penned a tome on Ham Radio!
73
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02/22/08
Because I run a web server from my home office (the
means by which you are reading this tome) and because I
am a curious person, I enjoy reading the hit logs to
see what interest readers.
One of the interesting observations is the type of
connection doing the viewing. Domains ending in .gov
and .us are of particular interest because they
represent government employees. As is .EDU which
represents college types.
Now, to develop my point. A web operator can also
determine what kind of activity the viewer is up to by
looking at what they send to the web server. In other
words, a person can send an ordinary request to view a
certain web page or a specially formatted request to
probe for weaknesses and actually gain control over the
server. This is known as hacking in.
The majority of attempts to "hack in" are not done by
the actual user themselves but by a worm or Trojan
(sometimes called a zombie bot) that has infected their
computer. In other words, these are innocent victims
whose computers have been taken over by the invader
without them knowing it.
The kicker is how many of these "infected" computers
are in government or educational facilities!
Here is a recent example of a computer on a government
network that is infected by a zombie bot that is probing
for known weaknesses of less secure servers:
2008-02-21 22:02:23 wvsunsouth.state.wv.us GET
/_vti_bin/owssvr.dll UL=1&ACT=4&BUILD=6551&STRMVER=4&CAPREQ=0 404 625
2008-02-21 22:02:23 wvsunsouth.state.wv.us GET
/MSOffice/cltreq.asp UL=1&ACT=4&BUILD=6551&STRMVER=4&CAPREQ=0 404 625
Note the "404" code at the end indicates my server blocked
access.
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