Honshu and Okinawa

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I am back. I spent 10 days in Japan, 5 days for work on the main island of Honshu and 5 days of solo adventure in Okinawa. Travel is so invigorating dispite the uncomfortableness. Jetlag, anxiety, crowds, and other discomforts aside, it is mind-expanding and rewarding. Work went well. I flew a new airline (Skymark) from Tokyo to Naha. I am always wary of strange discount airlines and all the traps they set. However, I had a great expereince with "Sky". I was actually shocked. Super easy checkin at the airport, no extra fees even with extra luggage. The primary mission in Okinawa was to visit the Peace Park and the suicide cliffs of Okinawa. From what I understand, at the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. Besides other types of suicide, they jumped off the cliffs at the Southern end of the main island. If you have seen the original color footage taken at the time, I am sure you ...
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My helo flight was moved up two hours then delayed and eventually canceled due to weather on the mountain top. Looking at the photos and maps it is going to be quite a view. We have two repeaters on that mountain (Mt.Coates). One of them needs a new feedline (next time you get up there) and we are having problems with an aviation repeater. I talked my way into a new set of tools today. It is a nice backpack set with a Fluke Model 187 multi-multi-meter. I am taking a Bird wattmeter, spares and some other tidbits. depending on the weather I should be up there tomorrow. I just looked at the helo schedule. It looks like an 8:30 launch with me getting back by about 2:30. It gets cold up there. I will be paying close attention to my clothes tomorrow AM. I had a good rehearsal today and enough time to go back and do the things I felt could be better.

Not sure what make or vintage of the tracked vehicle. I guess it is a delta of some sort. The mountain is a shot of Mt. Erebus, which is an active volcano. We have equipment up there. Yes we do. Some of the GPS guys I know were up there last week.

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Honshu and Okinawa

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Image
I am back. I spent 10 days in Japan, 5 days for work on the main island of Honshu and 5 days of solo adventure in Okinawa. Travel is so invigorating dispite the uncomfortableness. Jetlag, anxiety, crowds, and other discomforts aside, it is mind-expanding and rewarding. Work went well. I flew a new airline (Skymark) from Tokyo to Naha. I am always wary of strange discount airlines and all the traps they set. However, I had a great expereince with "Sky". I was actually shocked. Super easy checkin at the airport, no extra fees even with extra luggage. The primary mission in Okinawa was to visit the Peace Park and the suicide cliffs of Okinawa. From what I understand, at the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. Besides other types of suicide, they jumped off the cliffs at the Southern end of the main island. If you have seen the original color footage taken at the time, I am sure you ...
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