[production-notes] Episode 9.6, 9.7 (Patreon)

Wow missed another production diary eh. I'm so sorry folks, I'll sort out my writing schedule for season 10 I promise! 

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(9.6, Lara cuts their hair, IVAN increases their power, Maddie is captured, and then returns damaged)

My friends are mad at me for the trials the characters are going through, but as a writer that's the point - everyone says so! Character growth and development happens in the crucible of conflict, and so it goes.

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Tropospheric ducting is a real effect that can happen with VHF signals, which usually are local only. This sort of thing I love learning about as part of the amateur radio hobby! The atmospheric conditions that cause worldwide propagation appear to be more reliable and predictable in the lower frequencies, below 50MHz, but they are still possible, though rarer in the higher bands!

I can't resist bringing back the 50Meg character now and then, even if only in Maddie's memory. It is not the last time we will hear from her!

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(9.7)

IVAN's RF power output is now very dangerous indeed. Whatever he's doing, he's using ill-advised levels of output. One of the reasons that a license is required for real-world amateur radio is because high-power radio can be dangerous if not understood. As an example, full-licensed amateurs in the UK can use 400W of power, and have radios that work into the GHz range. This LITERALLY means you could accidentally make a microwave oven if you were careless!

My license is the Intermediate one, I have access to 50W which seems quite enough to me!

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Maddie's roof-time meeting of the bird making its nest out of rubbish is a plot point I've had planned for a while. The image seemed so evocative, we see trash and pollution negatively effecting wildlife (such as turtles or seabirds) a lot, and I wanted to present a more hopeful take on what nature would do after we've gone to reclaim their home.

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Lara's having a crisis, obviously. some problems seem so big that we can't think how to get around them, and run away.

Between you and I, she'll be back. But you knew that already didn't you :-)

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Thank you so much for your support! Talk to you next week <3