Forgive my ignorance, but how are you getting long range contacts on 80m? I thought 80m was "near vertical incedence".
Nope... NVIS is an antenna system that favors skywave propagation instead of groundwave. Groundwave is long haul, NVIS short haul. With a kilowatt or two, I can get into russia and europe without much difficulty when the band goes long late at night here; with the groundwave antenna system I'm running I can hear stations working at as low as 100 watts half the world away when the weather isn't causing too much static.
Good on Russia. If Russia continues in it's role as peace keeper inasmuch as securing S. Ossetia and does not press to conquer Georgia, Russia will come out of this gleaming. And rightfully so. But much remains to be seen, I'm guardedly optomistic.
Have to wonder what the georgian leaders were thinking. I mean, even if they were responding to some sepratist artillery, the response was totally disproportionate. The manner in which they nearly raized that city makes me reconsider what first seemed hyperbolic; the russian's accusation of ethnic cleansing intentions. Again I come back to, what they hell were they thinking? What did they think they were going to accomplish? How did they expect to reassimilate S. Ossetia when 90% of the population violently want's a reunified Ossetia, seperate of Georgia. Georgia leaders know that they can't stand against Russia, that's why they've allready withdrawn and redeployed in a defense posture. Had they pre-planned to do this? Did they really expect a western alliance to go to war on their behalf? I just can't figure a motive at this point. Any thoughts?
I strongly disagree on the appropriateness of Russia's involvement in the Georgian dispute over who controls their own territory. It's Georgian territory, and it's a Georgian civil war. Would we tolerate Russian military support for latino rebels in a southwestern US separatist movement? How would we react to the flow of military hardware into rebel hands coming from russia or mexico??
The military buildup of the Ossetian separatists is a Russian construct... and Georgia, rightly; considered it a challenge to sovereignty over their own territory. The separatists would not be a serious sovereignty threat without Russian support; military, political and economic. The Georgians were well within their rights to attempt to put an end to it.
So, here we go; another cold war style proxy war... only Europe is the scene; not some south-east asian rice paddy or an african backwater. And the stakes this time are VERY high...
This has got to be putting big pressure on Ukraine and the other former eastern block non-nato countries... how Gerogia goes will be likely how they go.... forcefully re-introduced to Russian control? Or do they fight for the rights of sovereign democracies by all out support for Georgia; IN Georgia, rather than on their own frontiers? How NATO reacts and how Free Europe reacts is crucial... do we let Russia whip up on Georgia and possibly lose all influence in the region? Or will we fulfill the promise we made, and halt the invader by whatever means necessary?
After listening carefully to the Russian Propaganda (shortwave links below) and the majority of the Euro based respondents here; it would seem that the Russians will succeed... certainly; their propaganda machine is winning.
http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/2008/08/hot-spot-dxing-georgia-russia-conflict.htmlSo... the current 64 dollar question: Will Russia get away with inciting insurrection and invasion in a neighboring country?
