Blackberry REACT June Newsletter

Quick Clicks

Next ham exam

Ross Peterson's next ham class is on July 21, 2007, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm at Washington West Hospital in Fremont. You may register through the Bay Area Educational Amateur Radio Society at http://www.baears.com/ The pass-rate with the method Ross uses is quite high.

Field Day is June 23-24

The current edition of QST reminds me that Field Day is June 23 - 24 from 1800Z on the 23d to 2100Z on the 24th. For those of us in the Bay Area, that's 11:00 in the morning on Saturday to 2:00 pm Sunday.

PowerFlares

I notice QST has a brief mention of Ken Dueker's PowerFlares on page 52. See http://www.powerflare.com for more information.

For all the girls

http://www.shorpy.com/node/532?size=_original is a photo of a 1954 housewife in her kitchen carrying a turkey. She has thoughtfully put the household record player on a tea cart so she can roll her sound around just like she does her vacuum cleaner and floor waxer as she does the cleaning. (I'm paraphrasing.) Tubes in the amplifier, a stack of records on the record player, and one loudspeaker. Remember all those copper molds we used to hang in the kitchen for all the jello? Linoleum tile floors? Ah, nostalgia. It isn't what it used to be. Before you read the caption, see if you know the components. Oh, and find the power cord, will you? I can't see it snaking across the floor to trip the wife and spill the turkey.

Cargo vests

I'm a big fan of photographer's vests and cargo pants and shorts to carry stuff. For those that are interested, Scott eVests is having a 50% off sale that ends June 10:
http://www.scottevest.com/index.shtml
It's on "selected items," which seems to cover a broad swath of their inventory, and the sale includes free shipping: Cargo jackets, with and without fleece; pullovers; polo shirts; T-shirts (long and short sleeved); cargo pants and shorts; wearable solar panels; but I don't see any vests for sale.

Cell phones didn't work after tornadoes in Kansas

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2007/05/27/742267-back-to-back-disasters-show-cell-gaps Cell phone towers were down, and cell phones didn't work after tornadoes ripped through Greensburg, a lesson they had already learned after an ice storm during the winter. Sprint reminded us all that they work off electrical power, and when there is no power, there is no cell phone. Cingular was back online the day after the tornado, but other services were not. When we have our huge earthquake, we don't know what the priorities will be for power in the Bay Area. Have batteries and have ham radios. See http://del.icio.us/philip/batteries for links to information on batteries and alternatives to the grid.

Events

• June 10: Tour de Cure
• June 24: Concours d'Elegance; contact Phil Henderson
• July 14: ALA Bike for Breath; contact Jon Mosby

Updates

None.