Blackberry REACT September Newsletter
Phil Stripling, Editor
Quick Clicks
Nifty! Ham Accessories
Nifty! Ham Accessories
Nifty! has some excellent mini-manuals for most radios, and they also have a
little manual on the new band plan. This little manual is great for us new
general licensees, because it tells where in each band we find phone, CW,
PSK, and so on. This guide is spiral bound and costs under $11. You can also
find cheat sheets for your Yaesu, Kenwood, Icom, and other radios.
DHS Online Store
DHS Store
Yes, that DHS. You can buy Department of Homeland Security silver cufflinks,
FEMA performance shorts, and TSA blue tumblers. Some restrictions apply,
though. They just don't tell you what they are.
Time may not exist
Seriously.
Newsflash: Time May Not Exist
Antenna tuning
Antenna Tuning
This article is for CB'ers, but it applies to any whip mono-band antenna.
It explains how to measure SWR at both ends of the band and see whether
the antenna needs to be shorter or longer.
Flash floods
Kellick Creek Flash Flood 10th Feb 2007
Most weather-related deaths are due to drowning, often from trying to
cross a flooded road. Take a look at this tape of the beginning of a
flash flood and remember this next time you want to cross a flooded
road. Few of us think that water itself weighs over eight pounds a
gallon, and think of being hit with an oncoming flood of eight-pound
weights, along with all that debris.
Using RF modules to control devices
Playing with RF Modules
Starts out kinda junior high, but patience is rewarded. The lesson is
modifying existing modules so that you can control you radios or other
electronics remotely.
Stirling engines
These engines are among the greatest wonders of the 19th Century. External
combustion is used to provide mechanical work, and Stirlings are much
more efficient than normal steam engines and internal combustion gas
or diesel engines. See
Stirling Engine
for more information.
One of the interesting side effects of using a piston with external
combustion is that you can drive the Stirling from the piston and
transfer heat away from the piston. Many portable refrigerators use
a Stirling engine to cool. Stirlings are used in cryocoolers and in
heat pumps. See the Wikipedia article for a brief summary.
Someone has made a cardboard Stirling engine that runs on your coffee:
Der Stirling-Motor
or http://tinyurl.com/2pvs5b
for the Google translation of the page into charming English ("Kit
from sturdy, punched cardboard in affectionately arranged gold
pressure... .")
Samsung fuel cell
Samsung Fuel Cell
Supposed to run for a month, this has a video in Korean and photos of the
Samsung fuel cell with all text in Korean. For those of us who are Korean-
challenged, here's a report in English:
Samsung's one-month Fuel Cell piggy given a real purty mouth
Direct-methanol fuel cell is English, but it's still Greek to me. The
device is refillable and supposed to be good for a month's worth of power.
Club Bill Gates
Club Bill Gates
is a photo of a cafe in Sarajevo. Read the caption below the photo.
TV Remote
Giant Universal Remote
Finally a TV remote I can use without my reading glasses.
Adding an external auxiliary fuel tank to your generator
http://tinyurl.com/2eyjzg
Bad words headsup! I've tinyurled the URL because of a bad word in the
link. The page itself contains an excellent description of how to modify
an outboard engine fuel tank for a boat so you can hook it up to a Honda
generator. This gives you uninterrupted running time, and the instructions
say you can refill the auxiliary tank without the danger of spilling
gasoline on your hot generator. I don't have a generator, so I haven't
tried it. I know lots of people who have, and they all seem happy.
Consider your bail out bag and the coming change in seasons
Okay, it's September. We'll still have warm weather through October, but
start thinking about the season we in the Bay Area wrongly refer to as
winter. How has your go-to bag survived the summer? You don't know?
Haven't looked at it in a year or two? Oops. Time to gear up again.
Here's a quote from a survival Web page on how to survive a disaster:
"Brush your teeth, wear your seatbelt, quit smoking, wash your hands
before eating and after using the toilet, and look both ways before
crossing the street." Simple, right? Just what we should be doing
every day.
Here are links to gear checklists, first aid kits, and more:
The key in these articles is to think. We all have training on
survival, and we can think things through better than the more nearly
normal crowd, so read those links and think through your plan and your
supplies.
Another Grab and Go bag
Emergency Preparedness Kit
Mountain Equipment Co-Op has a grab and go bag for C$119 (that's Canadian
dollars); aside from looking over the list to see ideas (black felt-tip
marker for messages on doors), I noticed the bag itself is dayglo
orange with a yellow reflector tape on the back.
Emergency light
Turn A PENCIL Into A LIGHT ! Video
This is a bizarre trick. I never have wooden pencils and the trick
may require some destructive dismantling of your car, but if it
saves my life, I'd do it. Split the pencil open and break off about
an inch of the graphite lead. Get a long length of two-conductor
wire and wrap two ends of wire on either side of the graphite (see
the video), then connect the other ends of the wire to your car
battery. Voila! A carbon arc lamp. I doubt it would be visible in
the daytime when choppers are flying, but it appears to be visible
at night. You might find it useable to make a quick repair, though.
Comments on this use of a pencil include that sometimes the lead
explodes in a shower of white-hot shrapnel and that it stinks to
high heaven. Be careful.
One 12V A23 battery equals 8 1.5V button batteries
12V battery to button batteries
I don't know who kipkay is, but the site has some interesting do it
yourself projects. If you buy an A23 battery and split the wrapper
off, it appears there are 8 button cells in it. An A23 is sold for
a few dollars online. Button cells individually cost more than A23s.
Don't forget to recycle your batteries.
Virtual plague
Virtual game is a 'disease model'
A virtual plague swept through the virtual World of Warcraft, and
scholars have no studied what went on. They hope this behavior
will provide clues on what happens if a real plague hits the real
world. One of the reactions that surprised me was that some players
deliberately infected others.
Events
Louise and I missed the September meeting because we were at
Burning Man, so we have no events listed this month.
Updates
Santa Clara Valley Section
Santa Clara Valley Section: SCVSEC
The Santa Clara Valley Section home page is up and running. Please
review and send in corrections and updates. You can list upcoming
events and requests for assistance on this wiki-driven page.
ARRL-affiliated clubs
According to the August 18 Santa Clara Valley Section News Summary,
if your club is affiliated with the ARRL, you must submit an annual
report at least once a year. Ummmmm... .