Best Of MetaFilter

Kenwood TS-2000 by Jim Shank (cc by-nc-nd)

The range of modern SDR devices covers broad frequencies including Aviation and Marine tracking, decoding Trunked radio systems, downloading Weather Satellite images, reversing wireless protocols, hunting for Numbers Stations, or even watch the International Space Station broadcast Slow-scan TV

Eavesdropping on the Hidden World is endotoxin's excellent first post about the changes in tech and requirements that have led to a renaissance of scanning and ham radio, with many interesting tips from members in the comments.

Yorvit the cat, celebrating Metafilter's birthday in the traditional fashion

It's Metafilter's 16th birthday today! Every year we celebrate with a post about scanning cats, in homage to the very first live post on the site, back on July 14th, 1999.

In the ensuing years, the original cat-scan.com site disappeared; in 2011, mathowie bought the domain and turned it into a collection of user memories from the first 12 years of Metafilter.

Feel like digging into the site's yearly celebratory goof-off threads? Here you go: 2000, 2001 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 , 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 , 2013, 2014 .

A lot has changed on the internet in 16 years, but Metafilter's been here all along, being one of the best communities on the web. We're thankful to all the members who've been part of that, all the readers who have come along for the ride, and all the wonderful folks out there making the internet a place worth linking to and talking about. Now blow out your candles and make a wish.