Blackberry April Newsletter

Quick Clicks

Another way to save your data

Back in July of Ought Six, I blogged a way to keep your data handy after a disaster. I updated that article in mid-March to include your cellphone as a data backup device. Many high end cellphones now have flash memory cards that can hold up to 2GB of data. See http://www.bloglines.com/blog/CivilizedExplorer for a reprint of the old article and the update.

New Website

http://www.emergency-radio.org/index.html is a new ARRL-affiliated Website with information on why amateur radio is important in emergencies and how to get a license.

Electronics Flea Markets

http://www.electronicsfleamarket.com/schedule has links to flea markets where amateur gear is available, including flea markets sponsored by SPECS, PAARA, and others.

Tools to eat with

http://www.everythingcarz.com/shop/Tool-Silverware-m158.html has eating utensils that multi-task.

Water purification

One of the many advantages to life in the Bay Area is an abundance of water, even in the summer. Louise and I live next to a stream that runs year-round, for example. Assuming an earthquake doesn't do enough damage to displace the flow of water, we'll have fresh water for our needs. The issue is, will the water need treatment of some kind, and we assume it will.

http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/wpd/CompareDevices.aspx is a page from the Army's Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine which has a searchable database for a variety of water purification schemes: filters, chemicals, UV, and the like. You can set up tables to compare effectiveness of various devices and technologies. If you have a nearby source of fresh water, we encourage you to consider ways to use that water if we lose our access to safe tap water. The CHPPM water purification database has information on how the studies were conducted, what water pathogens are and what specific pathogens invade our water, along with more details on individual pathogens. It's a very nice site without commercial intervention, and I recommend reading through it before you need to know the information.

Steampunk telegraph sounder

I have mentioned steampunks before, I believe. There are so many literary genres that no one can track them all, and among the genres is alternative history (I read a book back in the 60s called, "If the South Had Won the Civil War," for example). Steampunk is a subgenre of alternative history; steampunk imagines today's technology being done by Victorian England, for example. Most people consider steampunk literature as sci-fi. Steampunk has been translated into the real world, though, with many people actually remaking devices of today's technology into imagined Victorian creations.

This link: http://steampunkworkshop.com/telegraph.shtml takes you to a handmade telegraph sounder - the kind used in the 19th Century to receive telegraph signals hooked up to a computer. The sounder then clacks out RSS feeds in Morse code. Note I said handmade. The link shows you the mechanical drawings and photos of the construction, detailed instructions, sources for the materials, and a video of the sounder in operation. (Note the keyboard next to the sounder - they describe making the keyboard at http://steampunkworkshop.com/keyboard.shtml ) The sounder was handmade from brass with handwound coils on the magnets.

The RSS feed is fed to the MagpieRSS PHP script, which then sends the output to Morse2LED, which instead of blinking and LED light, triggers the flow in the magnets. Check out the photos and videos, and remember that more people than hams use Morse code.

First Contact Award

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/award/certificate/1contact.html is the link for the ARRL's First Contact Award. Louise brought her radio to our CERT class and was the First Contact for one of the hams there, so we used this page to get a certificate to give the newbie. We hope this encourages actual use of the radio. Most new hams have mike fright so bad they won't go on the air. If you are in a class where there are new hams, please bring a couple of radios and give them their first contact during a break. You can download a .pdf of the certificate and print them up yourself, if you wish. If you get one from ARRL, it takes a couple of weeks.

Case for long cords

http://www.herringtoncatalog.com/ts181.html I've never heard of Herrington, but they have a "slim but spacious" case that holds not only the wall-warts, but the chords. I guess many of us have a rat's nest of power cables on the floor behind our desks, and Herrington wants you to put them all in this case to get control over them. Plug it the power cord to the case, and it has 10 internal outlets for your devices.

I'm thinking this is a good idea out in the field, although this container expects 110VAC (with a 15A circuit breaker and 3,400 joule surge protection. Having a weather proof box with all your DC connectors in the box, and cords that snake their way out from your battery strikes me as a good idea. Leave the cords in the box between events, then pull out the ones you need through holes in the side? I've got a 12VDC multi-outlet strip already, and this looks like a good way to protect it and power cords, too.

Another lunch box

I mentioned lunch boxes awhile back, and I found another solution for the lunch problem: http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=384203161&size;=s I think you have to use a bagel for your bread, though.

And to help you see in the dark while you eat your sandwich, here's an earlight: http://www.novelandtees.com/led-ear-light.html Yep, the LED flashlight clips over your ear like all those blue tooth headsets you see on people we used to think were talking to themselves on the street but now we expect them to be on a phone we can't see. Only $7.

Bruno Ender speaks

Bruno Ender, vice president of Power Sonic Batteries http://www.power-sonic.com spoke last night, and it was one of the most informative I've been to concerning wet cell batteries and their care. I put a summary at http://www.cieux.com/bm/batteryWreck.html for your information. If you spot any errors, please let me know.

Events

BRAG Fair

The BRAG fair is on Thursday, April 19, from 11:30 to 13:30.

The Mountain View Parade

The parade is on Saturday, April 28, from 10:00 to 13:30. NOTE: we have been asked to provide additional assistance in the park, explaining communications to the community. More volunteers are needed; contact Phil Henderson.

May Events

May 12 - Rengstorff Yard Sale
May 19 -20 - A la Cart and Art

Updates

Refreshments next meeting:

Unit 68

Update your ICS training

Let Jon Mosby know your ICS training levels.

Grant from Menlo Park Lions Club

Our grant-getters have been getting grants. Blackberry REACT has received a grant for $1,200 from the Menlo Park Lions Club.

Grant from San Carlos Rotary Club

We received $200 from the Rotary Club designated as for communications.

May Speaker

Chief Frank Fraone will explain the function of Blackberry REACT during an emergency and tell how we assist and tie in our communications with Menlo Park.