Speaking with people around the country and the world on amateur radio is a window into the world of dialects and accents.

The most common technical comment I get from fellow radio operators is how clean and clear my audio is. I naturally have a Kentucky accent, but my broadcast background hammered most of my Mother’s central Kentucky quirks and my Father’s deep Pike County/appalachian patterns out of me.

My signal on amateur radio is no stronger and my audio is no clearer than many others, so I think the frequent comments about my good audio is a reaction to the unaccented speech pattern or “Broadcast English” described in this Atlas Obscura article.

Once one internalizes announcer speak it is difficult to lose it. Certain professions and life experiences leave an indelible mark on speech. Airline pilots, doctors, politicians, teachers and police are a few who come to mind who also have imitative professional patterns.

I’ve been a weather geek for years.

I’ve owned many weather stations, designed weather web sites and spent a fortune on weather software. It used to be a somewhat unique hobby, but like other techy interests it now seems a lot of people are into it.

I still have the addiction and jumped into this new fangled weather instrument called “Tempest.” It supposedly does everything my current station does and quite a bit more, including lightning detection, all with no moving parts. We’ll see how it compares to its older brother.

I have a few locals who actually find my data helpful. For them or anyone else interested here is the link. (We live on a wooded lot so our wind readings tend to be on the low side.)