💼 Careercow Karol Madera / VE7KFM - Amateur Radio Lolcow

[Uncle Buck]

They (Brian Crow K3VR and his associates known, colloquially, as the "Bully Gang") are, in fact, still at it. It's actually been ramping up over the past year on 7.200MHz. The only thing missing is VE7KFM, who does not operate anywhere on the 40 meter amateur radio band. You wouldn't know that, though, with the frequency with which K3VR mentions him -- each and every time he operates.

 

[Diesel Dawg]

I heard KFM is dead.

 

[AJ 447]

I heard KFM is dead.

Just word of mouth, or do you have any proof?

 

[Diesel Dawg]

Just word of mouth, or do you have any proof?

Just word of mouth........and no one has heard him on 14.313 for awhile. It could just be shitty propagation, though.

He is an old drunk, he's due.

 

[Splendid]

It could just be that amateur radio is pretty much dead because of the internet. Maybe he decided to post on some old man forum, Reddit or something like that instead.

 

[RK 091]

It could just be that amateur radio is pretty much dead because of the internet.

That's not quite the case - sure, no-one in their right minds will use amateur radio as their main method of communication, but the technical skill, reasonably friendly community and cool kit provide something the internet doesn't. It would be more fair to say that amateur radio is fundamentally changing - out go the old-school SSB and CW nuts, and in come a newer breed, with Software Defined Radios and weird new modulation schemes. The availability of cheap SBC's, Micro-controllers and dedicated DSP/SDR chips has shifted the balance towards the software designers and digital logic geeks, away from the old analogue guys, some of whom still can't get over the demise of thermionic valves.

Amateur radio isn't dead, it's just having a bit of an identity crisis. Sad to hear that VE7KFM has gone Silent Key, though.

 

[Dirty Harry]

Karol has been off ham radio for quite some time. Even using the west coast web based receivers, Madera has not been on in a long time.

It's not like Karol had any real friends so if he died, I doubt if an obituary would be published. Along with the fact that if an obituary would be published, it would get trashed like AB8MQ Roger Wiseman's and KZ8O's Michael Guernsey obituary did.

 

[Uncle Buck]

to hear that VE7KFM has gone Silent Key, though.

VE7KFM is not dead. He simply doesn't have a great web-presence [he never has] and propagation on 20 meters has not only been terrible, but the majority of the 14.313 troublemakers have either seriously scaled-back their involvement in the amateur radio hobby or gone down to the troubled frequencies of 40 [7.200 MHz] and 75 [3.850, 3.860, 3.840 on the west coast], and since most of them are poor operators in every sense of the world, they're even having trouble working those bands in current conditions.

Since KFM doesn't operate anywhere other than 20, you haven't heard much of him.

Interestingly, despite being reviled as solely responsible for, "all" the problems on 14.313 [and, before that, 14.275 and 14.273], the same sort of problems exist - and have even gotten worse - on all the frequencies the same cast of character-lacking characters moved to without him.

 

[Goofy Logic]

...propagation on 20 meters has not only been terrible...

Would all the smoke from the fires cause that, or is it strictly EM from the sun?

Also, what kind of power consumption does a HF station see?

 

[Dirty Harry]

I honestly don't hate VE7KFM that much. Sure, he's a bullshitter of the highest degree who just makes shit up all the time. He's probably autistic also for an old man but not on the level of a N9OGL PedoToad autistic.

In fact, I find VE7KFM to be quite funny at times, especially his accent. Especially when he's talking about Brian "Mother Fucker" Crow.

 

[Diesel Dawg]

VE7KFM is not dead. He simply doesn't have a great web-presence [he never has] and propagation on 20 meters has not only been terrible, but the majority of the 14.313 troublemakers have either seriously scaled-back their involvement in the amateur radio hobby or gone down to the troubled frequencies of 40 [7.200 MHz] and 75 [3.850, 3.860, 3.840 on the west coast], and since most of them are poor operators in every sense of the world, they're even having trouble working those bands in current conditions.

Since KFM doesn't operate anywhere other than 20, you haven't heard much of him.

Interestingly, despite being reviled as solely responsible for, "all" the problems on 14.313 [and, before that, 14.275 and 14.273], the same sort of problems exist - and have even gotten worse - on all the frequencies the same cast of character-lacking characters moved to without him.

I haven't heard him talking to George N9VTB lately. Maybe George got pissed at him, too.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Would all the smoke from the fires cause that, or is it strictly EM from the sun?

Also, what kind of power consumption does a HF station see?

Good questions... Not easily answered, but good... Here are my thoughts:

While it's fair to say that solar radiation is probably the biggest factor in atmospheric ionization, it's not the only factor. While pollution given off by wildfires is a huge matter locally, I wouldn't say it's a huge factor in the significantly larger process of ionization. It could be a bigger factor in a Terminator-Judgment Day type scenario, but not on a relative small scale like even a massive CA forest/wildfire.

Power consumption by amateur radio equipment on HF, like skywave propagation, is dependent on a bunch of different factors, but the biggest is going to be how much of a signal the station is attempting to put out. I say attempting because you can have two of the exact same transceivers and two of the exact same amplifiers running the same amount of power, but get two very different results based on other considerations. And while there are differences in kw/hour use of every type of device, in general one transceiver operating at 100 watts and every amplifier running at 1,500 watts should consume about the same amount of juice, but not necessarily so.

Assuming the station's antenna system is an efficient one, with low to moderately-low losses of input power and an ideal location, say in a not-so-crowded RF environment, and the operator is running, "full legal limit", i.e., 1,500 watts, the power use can be considerable - we're talking an electric bill of, perhaps, several hundred dollars per month, if not more, if you're a regular user. Of course, for the money, you're probably going to put out a signal that can be heard. Of course, because he's got a good antenna system, he or she can scale back the power - maybe to 750 watts output, or even 500 - and still be heard relatively well.

Conversely, if your antenna system is lossy and inefficient, you can consume the same amount of power, but put out a garbage signal that still isn't heard well and, maybe, distorts your audio, and you're still going to get stepped on by the guy running 500 watts through a better antenna system. Unfortunately many amateurs think the best solution in that situation is to mod an amplifier to run more than legal limit rather than improve the antenna system. The more watts you put out, the larger your electric bill, but you're not necessarily getting a better result.

In short, if you want to run significant power on HF, you are going to spend more than you're probably currently spending.

I honestly don't hate VE7KFM that much. Sure, he's a bullshitter of the highest degree who just makes shit up all the time.

He's accused of making thinks up, yes.

More often than not it's his detractors who are really the bullshit artists.

Case in point, you've undoubtedly heard him refer to his military service; it is a confirmed fact that he served in the Canadian Forces, and that he retired with the rank of Captain.

It is not true that he was the Captain of a ship in the Canadian Navy.

Of more importance, he himself never claimed to be a Captain of a ship in the Canadian Navy. That claim was entirely made up by his detractors.

From my monitoring of him , he's never made a claim about his military service that's even close to being unbelievable. Conversely, one need only follow some of the links posted in this thread, particularly in the first post, to comments of his detractors which are almost as outrageous as the false claims made by his detractors about his military service.

I could obviously point out other operators who like to tell what I believe to be tall tales about their service; some claim to have survived being shot down out of helicopters [or, depending on what version of the story you've heard, performed HALO jumps] and suffering the sort of injuries that would, at the very least, end their military careers but somehow still being able to, among other things, fight off as many as 100 enemy combatants by themselves.

FWIW, I would call that spreading bullshit. You may or may not agree.

 

[Diesel Dawg]

He's accused of making thinks up, yes.

More often than not it's his detractors who are really the bullshit artists.

Case in point, you've undoubtedly heard him refer to his military service; it is a confirmed fact that he served in the Canadian Forces, and that he retired with the rank of Captain.

It is not true that he was the Captain of a ship in the Canadian Navy.

Of more importance, he himself never claimed to be a Captain of a ship in the Canadian Navy. That claim was entirely made up by his detractors.

From my monitoring of him , he's never made a claim about his military service that's even close to being unbelievable. Conversely, one need only follow some of the links posted in this thread, particularly in the first post, to comments of his detractors which are almost as outrageous as the false claims made by his detractors about his military service.

On that interview Karol had with the Toad, Karol claims he was training to become an aircraft carrier pilot. Since the last carrier landing on the HMCS Bonaventure took place before he graduated RRMC, I call bullshit on that.

Some of Karol's sycophants, in defense of their drunk hero, change the story to Karol being a captain (A lower rank) and a help pilot in the Canadian ARMY.

 

[Uncle Buck]

On that interview Karol had with the Toad, Karol claims he was training to become an aircraft carrier pilot. Since the last carrier landing on the HMCS Bonaventure took place before he graduated RRMC, I call bullshit on that.

You can call it whatever you like. That you call it such doesn't make it such.

In point of fact, the Unification of the Canadian Forces occurred in 1968, after which Naval Air Operations/Naval Aviation were controlled by the Canadian Forces, not the Canadian Navy.

KFM's actual claim was that he was selected for training to pilot rescue helicopters, not that he actually was, "in training". Had he actually trained, this would have occurred during either 1968 [subsequent to Unification, which put Naval Aviation and Air Operators under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Forces] and/or 1969, prior to the decision to remove the HMCS Bonaventure from service.

When exactly that decision was made is unknown. Obviously it was made after the 1967 completion of that ship's "mid-life" refit. Flight operations continued from that vessel until October of 1969, so the most likely scenario is that the decision was made earlier that year, or maybe even in late 1968 after KFM had been selected for training.

For what it's worth, this reference suggests that the decision to retire the ship was made subsequent to, "the defence review of 1969":

https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/bitstream/handle/1828/1031/Gordon MA Thesis.pdf

Some of Karol's sycophants, in defense of their drunk hero, change the story to Karol being a captain (A lower rank) and a help pilot in the Canadian ARMY.

Karol is not, nor has he ever suggested that he is, a hero.

I don't know what unnamed, "sycophants" you're referring to, but while I consider KFM a friend, I do not consider him a hero, nor do I consider him to be above criticism where warranted.

That said, "the story" has never required changing from KFM's perspective, because KFM never was, and never claimed to be the Captain of a ship in the Canadian Navy.

The only reason any defense of him is necessary on that point because his detractors, principally K3VR, have deliberately lied about him in retaliation for his alleged, "friendship" with ex-K1MAN, with whom he wasn't even truly a friend in any real sense of the word, and for standing up against the bullying of the most cited person to ever hold an amateur radio license ex-KZ8O who spent several years terrorizing non-English-speaking amateurs from 14.270-14.279.

 

[Diesel Dawg]

You can call it whatever you like. That you call it such doesn't make it such.

In point of fact, the Unification of the Canadian Forces occurred in 1968, after which Naval Air Operations/Naval Aviation were controlled by the Canadian Forces, not the Canadian Navy.

KFM's actual claim was that he was selected for training to pilot rescue helicopters, not that he actually was, "in training". Had he actually trained, this would have occurred during either 1968 [subsequent to Unification, which put Naval Aviation and Air Operators under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Forces] and/or 1969, prior to the decision to remove the HMCS Bonaventure from service.

When exactly that decision was made is unknown. Obviously it was made after the 1967 completion of that ship's "mid-life" refit. Flight operations continued from that vessel until October of 1969, so the most likely scenario is that the decision was made earlier that year, or maybe even in late 1968 after KFM had been selected for training.

For what it's worth, this reference suggests that the decision to retire the ship was made subsequent to, "the defence review of 1969":

https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/bitstream/handle/1828/1031/Gordon MA Thesis.pdf

Karol is not, nor has he ever suggested that he is, a hero.

I don't know what unnamed, "sycophants" you're referring to, but while I consider KFM a friend, I do not consider him a hero, nor do I consider him to be above criticism where warranted.

That said, "the story" has never required changing from KFM's perspective, because KFM never was, and never claimed to be the Captain of a ship in the Canadian Navy.

The only reason any defense of him is necessary on that point because his detractors, principally K3VR, have deliberately lied about him in retaliation for his alleged, "friendship" with ex-K1MAN, with whom he wasn't even truly a friend in any real sense of the word, and for standing up against the bullying of the most cited person to ever hold an amateur radio license ex-KZ8O who spent several years terrorizing non-English-speaking amateurs from 14.270-14.279.

Despite all of this "Canadian Forces" unification BS, the different services still have their own branches with their own protocol and traditions, much like the US military under DoD.

Karol never claimed command at sea, only the rank of naval captain.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Karol never claimed command at sea, only the rank of naval captain.

Karol never claimed to be a naval Captain.

He stated that he attained Captain's rank in the Canadian Forces.

A Captain in the Canadian Forces, like in the U.S. Army, is, depending on whether they recognize 1st and 2nd Lieutenants or not, the first/second promotion a commissioned Lieutenant would receive.

He is a proven graduate of the Canadian Royal Military Academy. As I said above, he was awarded Lieutenant's rank right out of the gate. In a more than decade-long military career, being promoted to Captain - not the equivalent of naval Captain's rank, which for his branch of the service would have been a Colonel, which he also never claimed to earn - is not only entirely possible, but entirely probable.

Are you really ignorant of all of this or are you just obfuscating?

 

[Diesel Dawg]

Karol never claimed to be a naval Captain.

He stated that he attained Captain's rank in the Canadian Forces.

A Captain in the Canadian Forces, like in the U.S. Army, is, depending on whether they recognize 1st and 2nd Lieutenants or not, the first/second promotion a commissioned Lieutenant would receive.

He is a proven graduate of the Canadian Royal Military Academy. As I said above, he was awarded Lieutenant's rank right out of the gate. In a more than decade-long military career, being promoted to Captain - not the equivalent of naval Captain's rank, which for his branch of the service would have been a Colonel, which he also never claimed to earn - is not only entirely possible, but entirely probable.

Are you really ignorant of all of this or are you just obfuscating?

I don't need a lecture from a cake-eating civilian on military ranks, I served and my dad was career.

Karol has constantly saud Canadian Navy.
FYI, anyone who is still a captain after 20 years in the army or air force (excluding mustangs) is a total fuckup.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I don't need a lecture from a cake-eating civilian on military ranks, I served and my dad was career.

In point of fact, a lecture on the ranking system of the Canadian Forces was exactly what you needed, since you were 100% wrong in your previous assertions on the subject. One would think someone who actually served would know such minor details, though I'm sure I don't know what any relative's alleged service has to do with it [nothing].

Karol has constantly saud Canadian Navy.

He hasn't said Canadian Navy. He, unlike you, understands that a Canadian Forces Captain is not the equivalent of the Captain of a ship, something he never claimed to be. But if you have [doctored] audio of such, I'd love to hear it.

FYI, anyone who is still a captain after 20 years in the army or air force (excluding mustangs) is a total fuckup.

Are you, by chance, "Mustang Sally" from 14.313, still suffering from hurt feelings over some irrelevant thing he said years ago?

 

[Diesel Dawg]

In point of fact, a lecture on the ranking system of the Canadian Forces was exactly what you needed, since you were 100% wrong in your previous assertions on the subject. One would think someone who actually served would know such minor details, though I'm sure I don't know what any relative's alleged service has to do with it [nothing].



He hasn't said Canadian Navy. He, unlike you, understands that a Canadian Forces Captain is not the equivalent of the Captain of a ship, something he never claimed to be. But if you have [doctored] audio of such, I'd love to hear it.



Are you, by chance, "Mustang Sally" from 14.313, still suffering from hurt feelings over some irrelevant thing he said years ago?

They are ranks which have nothing to do with being a ship captain.
FYI: most Canadian ships are commanded by Commanders an Lt. Commanders.
The correct term for the captain of a naval vessel in "Commanding Officer" (CO).
No one said Karil was the CO of a ship, but he claims to have held the NAVAL rank of captain.
A mustang is a slang term for an officer who was commissioned out of the enlisted ranks, not your butt-buddy on 20m.
Spend more time reading and less time blowing Karol and you might actually learn something.

 

[Uncle Buck]

They are ranks which have nothing to do with being a ship captain.

Except everything, because "Captain" in the Naval sense implies command of a vessel at sea, which has been the basis for all criticism of VE7KFM who was, in fact, a Captain in the Canadian Forces upon his retirement and who was not and who never claimed to be captain of a vessel at sea.

FYI: most Canadian ships are commanded by Commanders an Lt. Commanders.

More to the point they're not commanded by persons who are the equivalent of an Army Captain, which was the rank VE7KFM held, which is not equivalent to the rank of "Captain" of a ship in the navy.

The correct term for the captain of a naval vessel in "Commanding Officer" (CO).

Term, not rank, which is what is at issue. For the record, VE7KFM also never claimed to be the "Commanding Officer" of a vessel at sea.

No one said Karil was the CO of a ship...

Him, in particular. And yet that's exactly the criticism of him on this matter, that he claimed to be a Naval Captain/Captain of a vessel at sea, neither of which he has ever claimed, regardless of your false assertion in your previous post.

...but he claims to have held the NAVAL rank of captain.

He never claimed that.

A mustang is a slang term for an officer who was commissioned out of the enlisted ranks...

Duh.

...not your butt-buddy on 20m. Spend more time reading and less time blowing Karol...

That's called, "projection".

...and you might actually learn something.

You'd first have to be right about something - that's not actually in dispute, like the definition of the term, "Mustang", - before you could legitimately boast of imparting useful knowledge.

So... are you the buffoonish 14.313 second stringer from OK known colloquially as, "Mustang Sally"?