Wright's Lake Redux

 Made a leisurely hike of the Wright's Lake Trail again today with The Big Sis.  With someone else along it was easier to take more time exploring trail features such as the dome swamp in the last picture from the last hike's blog post (here).  But the best part?  The water in Coffee Creek was down about eight inches bringing the top of the bridge above water level.  Here's a much, much better pic than in that last post:

See?  I told you there was a bridge there somewhere.

Seven Off-Beat King Cakeoids

 Detailed over at Atlas Obsucura.  Happy Mardi Gras, all!

Getting to Sleep

This is something I've always struggled with, how to quiet my mind and get to sleep in a timely fashion.  Reading is good, but at some point I have to turn off the light.  Usually that's enough to wake me back up and get back to the tossing and turning.  Also, I often will drop the book, lose my place, and so forth.  It's messy.

Last week over at View from the Porch / aka booksbikesboomsticks, Tam posted a link to the NYT Mag about how a remarkably high percentage of people use the BBC's Shipping Forecast get to sleep in Britain.  I suppose it works if you're within radio range.  On this side of the pond however, Coast to Coast AM is my go-to sleep remedy.  Nothing like a good ghost story to sooth the senses.  It helps to have a radio with a one hour shut-off timer, because you don't want to have the show's second segment segue into a discussion of, say, exorcism while you brain is forming its own dreamlands.

Railroad Defect Detectors

This is pretty cool, especially if you live near railroad tracks and have a little bit of radio-fu:

http://database.defectdetector.net/

It works just like the Google maps we're all familiar with by now, and shows the locations of RR defect detectors as clickable links that give their status and broadcast-to-train frequency.  Any old analog scanner or wide-band VHF walkie-talkie is enough to pick these up if you're close by.  Or you can get more range with a discone scanner antenna on maybe an outside mast if your situation warrants.

Anyway, a lot of people are worked up about a flaming tank car rolling unheeded through their towns for tens of miles a few weeks ago – and rightly so! – but what could they do about it?  Well, here you go, now you can at least know when a fiery disaster is coming to a ditch near you.

I don't live near any tracks these days, but here's a screen capture of my old area, showing two relatively nearby defect detectors:

The Internet: It's good for something more than memes and cute cat pictures.

Last Call for the FT-818nd

After producing these for over 22 years, Yaesu has discontinued their classic field radio's final version, the FT-818nd.  However, they're not quite gone, and there seems to be one final batch out the door and just now coming onto the market.  Article over at QRPer about where to get one.

My thoughts on the matter... this series of radio needs to be continued, but also needs a complete refresh  (lighter, improved UI, built-in speech compressor, etc).  It seems that none of this will happen now, as Yaesu doesn't seem to have any replacement in the pipeline.

Here are my thoughts from five years ago about this little jewel.  I'm almost tempted to pick one up as a backup, but no, let someone else enjoy it.  If I buy another radio, I need to move on to other, newer radios anyway.

Was that a Ham Balloon?

 Over at his blog, The Silicon Graybeard asks Did the USAF Shoot Down a Ham Radio Balloon?

It's at least plausible.  No, not my corner of the hobby though, so beyond the above link I have nothing more to add.

Meteor!

Last night, about 3am UTC / 10pm EST a meteor estimated to be about 1m diameter, harmlessly fell over the English Channel.  What was interesting is that it was detected before impact.  Here's a video:

Cool!  No wait.  Hot.

ps: Article at the BBC.  More video and pics.

The King is Gone

 Richard "Elvis" Atwood, RIP.  Article at The Seacoast Echo.  Memorial parade was yesterday.

I barely knew the guy, but he always had a smile and a kind word.  The world is now a slightly less interesting place with his passing.

Wright's Lake Re-Match

 After last weekend's Winter Field Day outing (quick first post, longer review post), I had to go back and check out the 4+ mile trail.  Here's the trailhead sign map:

As usual, click to embigggen.

The map promised variety, and variety is what this trail offers.  Swamps, piney uplands, creeks, and these strange little mini-swamp potholes.  I wonder if they're not slump sinkholes.  It would be interesting to hike this trail with a geologist, and then hike it again with a biologist.  There's a lot going on here and it's too much to take in with just one hike.  Here's one of those mini-swamps:

I'd really like to ask a geologist about these things.

As far as the hiking goes, it was fairly easy.  Not a lot of elevation change.  The blue blazes marking the trail were adequate.  There were a couple of times where they seemed to run out, but I kept on in what seemed like the logical direction and before too long another blaze showed up in the distance.  It was just enough to keep me on my toes, this first time out hiking it and going it solo.  The trail was entirely dry, except for one bridge crossing where the deck of the bridge was about 4" underwater.  Here's the pic:

See the bridge?  No, really, it's there.  Just 4" underwater.

It was hard to tell if the entire bridge was there, but I forged on anyway, trusting that it would be, and it was.  It was narrow, maybe 8 or 10 inches wide.  Well-grooved for traction though.  I had to crab sideways the entire length.  It wasn't too hard.  Next time out I'll wear my wet-hike boots.

Back at the trailhead (not pictured) I stopped for a late lunch and played radio (again not pictured, but here's the same set-up in a different spot).  Made a total of five contacts, one on SARNET and the other four on 20m.  Then... home.  I'll be back before this winter's over.

Meanwhile, down at the Farmers Market

 Just linking through to an article at The Times from last Saturday's proceedings.  It's good to have the article, if only to fill in a few names to go with the faces.  Reminder, not today, but next week; i.e., the second and fourth Saturdays up at Scipio Creek.

Oh Why Not.

 Everybody else is commentating on that Chinese reconnaissance balloon and what to do about it, so I might as well weigh in.  Here, let's do it in pictures first:

Some assembly required.  Additional reading: AIR-2 Genie missile, W25 Nuclear Warhead, F-89 Scorpion  As a side note, I don't often chase UFOs, but when I do, there's nothing quite like the classic F-89 for the job.

This post brought to you by the following thought:

Next Bright Idea: Somehow paint a giant Winne-the-Pooh face on the thing and send it back on its way.

Not entirely happy.

Reviewing Winter Field Day 2023

 Following up on Sunday's preliminary post, here's a quick list of noteworthy items.

• Next year, bring the FT-891 to work HF.  There was a lot of spatter to contend with, and there even seemed to be some heavy noise in the campground on some bands that the FT-857d was having trouble with.  The roofing filter & IF DSP would likely clean that right up.  Or hell, just go big and bring the FTdx-1200, it's not like I'm backpacking this stuff around.  It'll all fit in the truck.
• Then use the FT-857d for 6m & 2m/70cm.  It has the bands capabilities, QRO power, and antenna ports.  Noise isn't nearly the issue up on those bands either.
• I need some more coax cable, probably a 75' run of LMR-240, to get a little more room between the HF, 6m, and 2m/70cm antennas.
• People really need to use standard NATO phonetics in this sort of event.  One guy who was all "whacky goofball fow-uh radio america swaziland" couldn't copy the "zulu" in my callsign, repeated it back as "zero" about three times.  Then when he finally got it right, he then gave me a 59 report (i.e., perfectly readable and very strong signal).  *facepalm*  Yes, there are "traditional" phonetics in some ham sub-communities, but for these broad-appeal events like WFD, go with the NATO standard.
  
• The 42' W3EDP-Zepp (this plan, but with 450 window line) strung as an inverted V worked like gangbusters on all bands from 10m down to 80m.  It would tune on 160m, but I couldn't get any contacts there.  It was easy to put up too (see arborist throw line), with the apex at about 20+ feet.  In anticipation of moisture, there was an insulator at the center hang point.  I did use a 17' counterpoise/station ground off of the tuner, which may or may not have been necessary.  
• Orange paracord and orange flag tape (picture at right; click to embiggen to better see the orange stuff) made it easy to avoid running into things, even in the dark.  Well, mostly.  At least nobody died.
• After grabbing contacts to cover the most bands and modes, I settled down to a grind out digital contacts on PSK-31 on whatever bands were working at the time.  61 contacts isn't a lot for some people, but it is for me.
• Over the weekend – and that's including fun contacts on Friday & Saturday – I ripped through 35+ AH of the 40 AH LiFePO4 battery.  That's the farthest I've ever drained the thing down, even during hurricane season.  Next time I'm bringing a solar panel.  Even if I can scavenge only 15 AH or so from the weak winter sunshine, it'll be a big help.
• Bonuses were had for operating outdoor, away from home, using aux power, and setting up an antenna just for WFD.  Bonuses missed were the satellite contact and operating mobile, neither of which I was in any way ready for.
• Camping at Wright Lake was good.  Nice bathrooms.
• Cell phone coverage at the campground was sparse.  Most of the time, but not quite always, texts would get through.  However, SARNET coverage was fantastic.  Get your Tech license, get a nice HT, learn how to use it.
• Finally, there's a 4.5 mile hiking trail there that I'll have to check out very soon.