Weekly vlog installments over at you-know-where. Five so far, all in the 15 minute range.
They're maybe halfway through, and already the weather's hot and buggy and the alligators are starting to perk up. Not me man, I'd be looking at depart-NLT-31Jan or push back to next year. Not that I have any such plans.
Re-Distilling Cheap Supermarket Scotch Whisky, six minutes of video.
This is one of those "goofy stuff you've kind of wondered about but were too busy to bother with" channels. It's a wonderful way of wasting a few minutes instead of your entire Saturday afternoon.
Good idea. Article at Atlas Obscura. In the process, he's reviving a distilling tradition that was stamped out by trade protectionism, two world wars, prohibition, and several other awful ideas from the start of the last century.
A while back – 3 years now, time files – I did a how-to talk for the ham club on "how to put together a small 12v solar power system for your ham shack or camp-out." I was going to post the hand-out here, but instead these links will tell you everything you need to know. Enjoy!
The best little article on small solar I’ve ever seen:
https://www.backwoodshome.com/installing-your-own-small-remote-off-grid-solar-system/
Another article from the same engineer, discussing safety and code requirements:
https://www.backwoodshome.com/solar-system-codes/
Finally, here’s a book covering a lot of this in somewhat more detail:
Tiny House Engineer’s Notebook, Vol. 1: Off Grid Power, by Chris Haynes
It has three very good example systems based on FLABs, all ready to go. Dig around, you can find it in bookstores or online.
ps, 2 days later: If I can throw in one more piece of advice, it's Do The Math. Calculate the amp-hours you'll really need each day and size your small solar power system accordingly.
The Patriarchs: An Elegy at the BBC.
While yes, it was written for the occasion of Prince Phillip's passing, it is more generally about his generation.
Back to the usual operating table (radio operating that is) along the High Bluff trail. The ionosphere was miserable today, with stateside stations wavering in and out over the course of a minute or two. A couple of European big-gun stations were booming in, but my QRP power level couldn't reach back. Zero contacts!
Still, it was a nice day in the woods. I parked at the west trailhead and hiked 3.5 miles east, just to get some trail time in with a reasonably full daypack, to learn how it carries. Pretty well, as it turns out. The bugs were out in force but not biting, likely due to an outer coating of sunscreen and and an inner coating of Monster drink. The day topped out at 82F. Summer's on the way, but not here yet.
Here, have a couple of pics.
I've driven by this site on Hwy 98 many times (in fact just yesterday), but never seen an actual launch. Mighty impressive. Additional details at Wikipedia: BQM-167 Skeeter
Of my usual tags, "rockets" seems to fit this one best. While it's a jet-powered aircraft, it does use a small rocket engine to get off the launch stand.
I'm off to do busy things on a busy day. Perhaps more content later in the week.
Another day on the High Bluff Trail, another handful of contacts. Enjoying it while the weather's good.
What really happens when you stick your head into a nuclear accelerator's beam. You can safely skip the first half of the 'article,' it's just j-school boilerplate about what physicists do. Search down to '1978' and start from there.
Never tried this one personally, still I don't recommend it.
Long out of print, previously mentioned before here at the 'swamp, and now $42+ a paperback copy (travesty!), Rancho Costa Nada is back as a $5 kindle download. It's the story of washed-up newspaper editor Phil Garlington who describes himself as not smart but merely a smartass with a talent for turning a phrase. Smarting from his latest firing and having nowhere particular to be, he decamps for a scrap of worthless desert picked up for $325 a few years prior in a moment of irrational enthusiasm while doing a news story on tax auctions.
There's enough content to keep the covers apart, dealing with topics such as how to build a sandbag hut, how to run your power system off a 3-cylinder Geo Metro's battery, and how to deal with the functional-yet-deranged neighbors. All those little life skills we need to have in our back pockets.
I don't recommend doing this, and neither does Garlington. In fact, the last chapter is titled "Don't Do It." However, this mope shows that it can be done, and push come to shove it is an option for almost anyone if pushed and shoved hard enough. I do recommend reading it, mostly in case Plans A–Z fail and you're down to Plan Greek Letters, in the manner of an extremely bad hurricane season.
Really, don't do this. Go camping for a couple of weeks instead. When the chiggers and ticks have had their turns at you, go home and have a shower and a sleep on clean sheets. But always know deep down inside, rock-bottom FU money is only about a month's rent.
In closing, the main point here is that Rancho Costa Nada is around again, for a very reasonable $5.
250% more contacts than last Saturday's outing on the High Bluff Trail -- that counts as a success! Of course 10x the power on digital modes and 20x the power on voice tends to make the most of the current poor ionospheric conditions. First some pics, then on to notes.
Lessons for next time:
