Things I carry in my 's-pack'

I recently came across a blog post about things that you should have in your car trunk, this is a non-exhaustive list of the things that I commonly keep in the trunk of all my vehicles, with a couple of additions of course:
Here is the starter list:
http://artofmanliness.com/2009/12/17/13-things-a-man-should-keep-in-his-car/
I would add the following to my normal trunk box:
- MAP
- Cheap Plastic Rain Poncho
- Glow sticks
- Compass
- A couple of 'space blankets'

When I posted the link and the above to facebook, I was quite surprised to get comments and questions from family and friends alike about what I carry for mountain / desert trips.
I start with a name that everyone in my immediate family knows:
--> the 's-pack'... s is shortened for 'survival'
I chose a bag with many pockets and some good exterior webbing to attach other things.

In the small pocket at the top I have the following:

It contains some hand-warmers, a 'neck-knife' a couple of LED flashlights, a compass / thermometer and a small amount of nylon rope with a 'figure 9 rope clamp'. It also houses a GPS (not shown).

The larger front pocket contains:

Some glow-sticks, waterproof matches, more 'figure 9 rope clamps', a magnesium firestarter and a waterproof survival pack (with lots of goodies in it). The survival packs have fire tinder, a whistle, a mirror, a wire saw and some hooks / string (as does the larger one in the next pocket).

Next I have the first main pack:

In it I have a portable first aid kit, lots of plastic emergency ponchos, 4 space blankets, 4 space sleeping bags, 2 space tents, DEET insect repellent, more hand warmers, another waterproof survival kit and about 10 triox tablets for heating water, etc. This is also where I put my topo map (for the specific region, not shown).
Finally I have the main compartment:

In this compartment you will find:
a folding shovel, a hatchet, a serrated knife in belt loop sheath, an aluminum stove / cup, a plastic tarp, nylon rope. You can see the machete I also have, but this normally is placed on the outside of the pack in webbing, along with more nylon rope and my HAM radio / antenna.

These are pretty much the basic items I carry with me regardless of the environment, I also have water / MREs that I carry in another pack. Between these two packs, I can support my family of four in just about any environment, providing heat / shelter / food and items to support basic food retrieval and sleeping area clearing.

Why the travel industry is in trouble (part II)

5)
I then called US Airways and after 15 minutes of being on hold, I
finally reached "Martin" who really tried hard to get to the bottom of
the issue and make it right. But before he was able to do so, enough
time had elapsed that we needed to board the flight. So Martin advised
me to get on the flight to Denver and he would work with United to get
us to Aruba as soon as possible.

6) Arrived at the United gate
in Denver at ~1am, I was greeted by a United representative who
informed me that they made arrangements to get me on an American
Airlines flight at 6am and as the airport was closed, they made
arrangements to put us up in a Hotel for about 4 hours of sleep before
our AA flight to Miami. They said that a shuttle was waiting right
outside to take us to the hotel immediately.

7) We waited about
an hour for that shuttle to arrive to finally get us to the hotel, for
what was now about 3 hours of sleep before the next flight.

8)
Finally on the flight to Miami, AA is smooth so far... land in Miami, a
long layover ~4 hours but we made the connection and boarded a plane
for Aruba.

9) We land in Aruba, nice landing... crew was pleasant. We go to our baggage claim and to our surprise... bags are missing! (what a surprise). The AA attendant there said, 'don't worry, this happens often from Miami and Philadelphia', then proceeded to fill out some forms to track our bags, saying 'they will probably show up tomorrow, if so, we will drive them to your hotel, if not we will call you to give you some status'.I asked if they had any 'travel kits' as we had been traveling for a
long time and needed something to brush our teeth (at least) as all
clothes were checked in baggage. He stated: 'oh,
we ran out of those... you should ask at the hotel and see if they have
any, if not just go buy some to last you one more day'

10)
Aruba was an amazing place, great people... Marriott nice. Spend some
good times there with family, but finally had to come back home. Via Expedia, we booked shuttles to and from the airport.. the shuttle on the way to airport was great... however, the shuttle never showed on our return to the airport, leaving us to hire a cab and spend another 30 dollars to get back home!

So
not only did we lose a day in Aruba due to all the flight challenges,
we also went without food or sleep on the travel there... our bags were
lost... and services that we paid for were not delivered... and people
ask why the travel industry is not profitable and people are taking
smaller vacations now and avoiding the airlines...

IT IS ALL ABOUT SERVICE... or the lack thereof.

Why the travel industry is in trouble (part 1)

While looking for a family vacation, I decided to try Expedia.com...
they offered some good deals on hotel and airfare at a fairly
reasonable price, I turned to my wife and said: Honey we are going to
Aruba!
It turns out that this was THE ONLY easy part of the entire
travel experience (Aruba itself was awesome but getting to and from
Aruba was HORRIBLE). Let me walk you through the experience, in the
same way I experienced it.
1) I booked travel on Expedia.com,
super simple, super easy... painless experience selecting the vacation
spot, reserving hotel and airfare. There is a catch however, my
itinerary stated that I was staying at the Marriott (was true) and was
flying via US Airways (was completely UNTRUE).

2) With itinerary in hand, I brought my family to SFO with 2.5 hours of leeway (just doing my part to ensure a smooth travel
experience), walked up to the US Airways counter and presented my
passport and itinerary. I was told: 'oh this is not with us, it is with
United Airlines you need to go check in with them in that terminal', I
then politely showed my paperwork that showed US Airways as the
carrier... to which I got a laugh and the US Airways employee told me
this is a "code-share" and I would need to get to the "United" counter
to check in. So I grabbed my stuff and took my family on a 15 minute
walk through the airport between terminals to get to the "United"
check-in facility.
I think if you bought a ticket from an Airlines, you should likely check in there codeshare or not.. making the customer experience easier, in addition I would say that Expedia could have highlighted it if indeed it was a United flight instead of a US Airways flight.

3)
Checked in at the United counter and all seemed to appear to go
smoothly, so went through the security gates and off to our boarding
gate. (This is where smooth stopped).
About 30 mintues before the flight was scheduled to board, we were notified via
loudspeaker that our flight would be delayed due to "mechanical
issues", so I approached the counter and asked how long the delay was,
explaining that we are connecting in Denver on our way to vacation in
Aruba.
The counter attendant, looked at me blankly and said.. 'oh, you won't make that connection',
so after 30 seconds of silence, I asked what I should do... she asked
me for my boarding passes and said she would see if there were any
alternatives.She pulled up the flight information for us and announced loudly 'you are on a US Air flight, I cannot do anything for you' (as if I was hard of hearing perhaps?). I politely said that all of my
boarding passes say UNITED AIRLINES, not one of the boarding passes
said "US AIR". She abruptly laughed out loud and said 'look...
we are UNITED you bought a US Air ticket, we will get you to Denver on
the flight you were on, you should call US Airways and see what they
will do for you' and then turned her back on me to send me away.

4) I called Expedia to advise them of the issue and after about 30 minutes of explaining and waiting, I was told that 'We (Expedia)
booked your travel, now it is up to the airlines to make it right',
'nothing more we can do, call US Air and see if they can help'

See part II for the rest of the nightmare...

Why the travel industry is in trouble: a story of terrible service

While looking for a family vacation, I decided to try Expedia.com... they offered some good deals on hotel and airfare at a fairly reasonable price, I turned to my wife and said: Honey we are going to Aruba!
It turns out that this was THE ONLY easy part of the entire travel experience (Aruba itself was awesome but getting to and from Aruba was HORRIBLE). Let me walk you through the experience, in the same way I experienced it.
1) I booked travel on Expedia.com, super simple, super easy... painless experience selecting the vacation spot, reserving hotel and airfare. There is a catch however, my itinerary stated that I was staying at the Marriott (was true) and was flying via US Airways (was completely UNTRUE).

2) With itinerary in hand, I brought my family to SFO with 2.5 hours of leeway (just doing my part to ensure a smooth travel experience), walked up to the US Airways counter and presented my passport and itinerary. I was told: 'oh this is not with us, it is with United Airlines you need to go check in with them in that terminal', I then politely showed my paperwork that showed US Airways as the carrier... to which I got a laugh and the US Airways employee told me this is a "code-share" and I would need to get to the "United" counter to check in. So I grabbed my stuff and took my family on a 15 minute walk through the airport between terminals to get to the "United" check-in facility.
I think if you bought a ticket from an Airlines, you should likely check in there codeshare or not.. making the customer experience easier, in addition I would say that Expedia could have highlighted it if indeed it was a United flight instead of a US Airways flight.

3) Checked in at the United counter and all seemed to appear to go smoothly, so went through the security gates and off to our boarding gate. (This is where smooth stopped).
About 30 mintues before the flight was scheduled to board, we were notified via loudspeaker that our flight would be delayed due to "mechanical issues", so I approached the counter and asked how long the delay was, explaining that we are connecting in Denver on our way to vacation in Aruba.
The counter attendant, looked at me blankly and said.. 'oh, you won't make that connection', so after 30 seconds of silence, I asked what I should do... she asked me for my boarding passes and said she would see if there were any alternatives. She pulled up the flight information for us and announced loudly 'you are on a US Air flight, I cannot do anything for you' (as if I was hard of hearing perhaps?). I politely said that all of my boarding passes say UNITED AIRLINES, not one of the boarding passes said "US AIR". She abruptly laughed out loud and said 'look... we are UNITED you bought a US Air ticket, we will get you to Denver on the flight you were on, you should call US Airways and see what they will do for you' and then turned her back on me to send me away.

4) I called Expedia to advise them of the issue and after about 30 minutes of explaining and waiting, I was told that 'We (Expedia) booked your travel, now it is up to the airlines to make it right', 'nothing more we can do, call US Air and see if they can help'

5) I then called US Airways and after 15 minutes of being on hold, I finally reached "Martin" who really tried hard to get to the bottom of the issue and make it right. But before he was able to do so, enough time had elapsed that we needed to board the flight. So Martin advised me to get on the flight to Denver and he would work with United to get us to Aruba as soon as possible.

6) Arrived at the United gate in Denver at ~1am, I was greeted by a United representative who informed me that they made arrangements to get me on an American Airlines flight at 6am and as the airport was closed, they made arrangements to put us up in a Hotel for about 4 hours of sleep before our AA flight to Miami. They said that a shuttle was waiting right outside to take us to the hotel immediately.

7) We waited about an hour for that shuttle to arrive to finally get us to the hotel, for what was now about 3 hours of sleep before the next flight.

8) Finally on the flight to Miami, AA is smooth so far... land in Miami, a long layover ~4 hours but we made the connection and boarded a plane for Aruba.

9) We land in Aruba, nice landing... crew was pleasant. We go to our baggage claim and to our surprise... bags are missing! (what a surprise). The AA attendant there said, 'don't worry, this happens often from Miami and Philadelphia', then proceeded to fill out some forms to track our bags, saying 'they will probably show up tomorrow, if so, we will drive them to your hotel, if not we will call you to give you some status'. I asked if they had any 'travel kits' as we had been traveling for a long time and needed something to brush our teeth (at least) as all clothes were checked in baggage. He stated: 'oh, we ran out of those... you should ask at the hotel and see if they have any, if not just go buy some to last you one more day'

10) Aruba was an amazing place, great people... Marriott nice. Spend some good times there with family, but finally had to come back home. Via Expedia, we booked shuttles to and from the airport.. the shuttle on the way to airport was great... however, the shuttle never showed on our return to the airport, leaving us to hire a cab and spend another 30 dollars to get back home!

So not only did we lose a day in Aruba due to all the flight challenges, we also went without food or sleep on the travel there... our bags were lost... and services that we paid for were not delivered... and people ask why the travel industry is not profitable and people are taking smaller vacations now and avoiding the airlines...

IT IS ALL ABOUT SERVICE... or the lack thereof.

Aruba: Some Observations

Well, back from my travels to Aruba, as it was my first time I thought I would write a bit about it to let others know about the country, interesting things to do / see and other hints about travel to and from there.

General Information:
Aruba is a country off the coast of Venezuela, in an area known as the Dutch Antilles (which is comprised of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.
For more country specific info see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aruba

Cash is king, USD all the way in this country.. especially if you are in the capital or in the tourist zones, if your not... then you will probably need to carry some Arubian Florin (exchange rate is about 1.79 florin to 1 USD). Don't be fooled by the exchange rates... the cost of living is pretty high there... in fact for those of you versed in Hawaiian travel, I would say a bit more costly than "The Islands" so bring lots of greenbacks you will need all you bring.

Language:
You can likely get along anywhere in Aruba using English, but the local language there is Papiamento (a mix of Spanish, Portuguese and some Dutch and others). If you speak Spanish you can go anywhere and do anything, essentially ensuring that you will have a fairly rich travel experience. Again, English will get you around... but you may be missing out a bit.

Weather:
Can you say "Hot and Humid" all year around? When I was there the temperature ranged from 81F to about 91F, with a high humidity.
Of note, there are pretty strong tradewinds that blow all day and night there (about 10-15 mph on average), but you kind of appreciate these winds after a while as they keep the temperature moderate, without them I am sure it would be about 120F all day and night. :-P

Aruba Activities:
Water sports of all kinds including; Parasailing, Scuba Diving, Snorkeling, SeaDoo's, Kite Surfing, Windsurfing (see notes above about wind), Kayaking (although kayaking specifically is not recommended, as the winds are high and the sea lanes are crowded with speedboats, etc... making it a dangerous deal)
I would highly recommend the snorkeling trips as you go out on a Catamaran and you get to see some pretty interesting finds like a WWII German freighter that was sunk by its crew, you will not believe how big and cool this ship is for a snorkeling adventure. The snorkeling trips are actually pretty reasonable overall as well making it a must do while on the islands.


If you are so inclined you can party all night long in Aruba (and rather safely overall I might add), there are plenty of places to drink and dance if you desire, or you can just relax and watch some amazing sunsets while lounging in a beach chair... Island life is easy and laid back here.

Prices:
Overall, you can expect good deals on hotel rooms and flights etc, especially during the "low season" which is between April to July (spring break is an exception), the "high season" is July to October and is the time when things generally cost a bit more. Plan accordingly.
You will find that in the hotel zones, the restaurants are very pricey (especially in the "High Rise" hotel district) with an average dinner costing about 2-3x what it would cost to go out to dinner in California. There are many "off" places to go downtown where you can get GREAT food for very reasonable prices if you want to go that route.
I have travelled lots of places and I can say that Aruba is very safe overall and I wouldn't worry much about safety there, as usual just be cognizant of your environment *just as you should anywhere in the world*

What to know about before you go:
1) If you rent a car, make sure that you turn it in the DAY BEFORE you depart, especially if you are taking an early flight out. The rental agencies don't normally open before 6am and you will get a rush of people trying to fight to turn in cars, this could be problematic if you are supposed to be on one of the 7:50am flights.

2) Pack some clothes (at least one days worth) in your carry on bag, it is not uncommon that luggage is "misplaced" (ours suffered this fate) if you are transferring from either Philadelphia or Miami airports. If you are lucky like we were, you will get your bags the next morning the following day, if not... then you can find some cheap clothes downtown @ the Aruba Discount Center ;-)

3) US Customs happens IN ARUBA, so plan accordingly... I would recommend 2.5 hours prior to your flight so you make it past the check-in counters and US Customs.

4) Travelers checks can be exchanged in the hotels at zero fees, but are not widely accepted outside the hotels, so either brings loads of cash or bring tons of travelers checks and just cash them as you need them. I would recommend travelers checks in general and in larger denominations to avoid the "hand cramps" from all the signing / dating you will need to do when exchanging them.

That is it for now, if you have other questions.. let me know and I can give you what I know / learned.

History of my callsign, KD1E

A little trivia on the history of my current callsign.

First, what is a callsign anyway?
- This one is simple, there is an FCC licensed activity called amateur radio, where you get to play with radio wave transmissions, contacting people from around the world, creating loads of headache for yourself in designing antennas, troubleshooting cable transmissions, standing wave ratios and many other fun things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio

- There are three "grades" of licenses, each getting progressively harder from both a technical aspect as well as the number of questions. These grades are Technician, General and Extra... the top level license. You may ask what the difference between them is and why someone would get the next level license, well when you get the top-level license you get some extra reserved spectrum and you get to challenge yourself by ensuring you learn / know the test material.

- You are assigned a "callsign" when you complete your Technician license, or you can pick one... it is far easier to just take the one that is assigned to you and from what I gather, that is what the majority of people do at the technician level. You can also choose a vanity callsign, but when you are a technician all the "cool" ones are not available.. you get stuck with a crappy selection. When you get your Extra license, you are allowed to choose from the "cool-pool", hence why I waited to get my "vanity callsign" .

It is no cakewalk getting a vanity callsign, in fact I submitted about 25 "options" and ended up landing the 3rd.. in fact, to get the list of 25, I had to search a database to see what was available (you cannot just walk up and make one up after all).

Ok, so now that baseline is complete, on to the trivia:
So, my new callsign is KD1E, I chose that because it is my initials (KD) the number 1 and E, which I state stands for Extra Class Licensee...so, KD the number 1 Extra. :-) I am sure many other Extras would argue the point of being the number 1, but so what... that is my call and I say it stands for that. :-)

Now to take a history walk as far back as I can trace this call...

On Feb 27, 1981 a Gentleman named John Moore applied for a vanity callsign, he selected or was assigned KD1E. Mr Moore held onto that "call" until 1997, when he changed it to K1DE (I am going to get that one someday, "Ken 1 Distinguished Engineer") a callsign that he has to this very day (it expires in 2016, so I will be watching >:-)).
When he released it in 1997, it lingered until 2000.

In 2000, it was picked up by a Gentleman named, Keith Darwin (I understand KD1E with Mr Darwins initials as well as the fact that he was an Extra class licensee too).. Mr Darwin held that call until 2006, then somehow it just stayed in the "cool-pool" waiting for me to come along and claim it.

On 5/09, I relinquished my original callsign "KI6SCQ" to become KD1E, just in case I change my mind, KI6SCQ will be kept in a secure locker for 2 years (only kidding about the locker), so I can revert back to it if I choose to do so.

Now it may have been around longer than I can track it down, but it is mine until I decide to go after K1DE or not.. :-)

So let it be known that from this point forward on the airwaves, I shall now be known as KD1E...

More on Astrophotography

Just a little over a month back into Astrophotography and I have been really learning a great deal about my setup:
- how my scope adapts to prime focus techniques
- prime focus vs afocal techniques
- frustrations on getting a "settled" atmosphere (read: weather not cooperating)
- scope vibrations
- proper camera settings for different scenarios / targets (ISO / BULB / shutter timing / etc)
- use of astro-filters
- use of photo-editing software
There are many things I am working on, posting some of my work to facebook. One thing I am oh, so very happy about... I am using a DSLR to take photos, so I get immediate feedback, if I was using the old 35mm film camera I would be about $1000.00 poorer right now, mostly from film processing / film costs.
Thank God for digital cameras.. :-)
One thing that still bothers me is how seemingly easy, yet very hard to implement... afocal shooting is... grr

Onwards and Upwards!

Astrophotography

So I have recently restarted my interest in Astrophotography, which had been hampered by a lack of good equipment and added too by a lack of the correct equipment (at least that is what I remembered from the previous time ;-) ).
Solving both of those wasn't easy, but now I have some good equipment and the night sky is mostly cooperating with my pursuits.

I now have a fairly "large" Celestron CPC (fairly large is contrasted against one of my dream telescopes, which are not portable... hint: the CPC still is "portable" like maybe 50 ft if your really feeling strong). I also have a Canon Rebel XTi with a T-ring and adapter (which can hold eyepieces for magnification) and a Lunar Planetary Imager (essentially a 640x480 webcam stuck in an eyepiece tube).

So now I am all set to get some awesome shots, right?

Well sort of...

Ah the challenges of life.. ISO what? Exposure time? Vibrations? Tracking / time delay? I found it funny that any photo experience that I had before with my manual 35mm, was all thrown out the window by owning these stupid "point and shoot" cameras over the past 8 years or so. I had actually forgotten how to operate a relatively simple camera (XTi isn't exactly a 5d ya' know) and manipulate it to do what I had wanted.
The robot cameras have taken over our lives!

So Astrophotography, just like many other pursuits I "enjoy" doesn't lend itself to the easy way, every thing is done manually... repeat everything is done manually. There is no "easy" button here. Now it is at this point that I remember, that it wasn't just the equipment which made me put away my astro-photo equipment before... a very strong point could be made that the lack of decent equipment made the results so poor that it wasn't worth the headache of going through all the other procedures and manual operations just to get a grainy shot of the lunar surface, or a barely discernible speck of light that I would point at and say "really, that is Jupiter".

So here is where the old story ends and the new one begins, dusting off all the "old skillz" and learning how to force my camera to do what I want it to do, as opposed to what it has trained me to do (autofocus doesn't work here, remember?) and connecting that up to some really good optics that can now display very very good detail (non-grainy) of things in our solar system and beyond (especially under good conditions)... I have found a sliver of happiness as well as encouragement in the results obtained so far, which drive me to delve deeper into this.

As I explore, I will share my learning's as well as my fruits with y'all here... hope you have as much challenge and fun as I do in whatever you pursue. If you like what you see, want to know more or want to offer advice on how to make it better, drop me a note to let me know..

Here is a URL to some moon shots taken with the new "scope" and the Rebel XTi:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sub.moa/Nov2008MoonShots#

And here is some taken with the "fancy webcam" and the new scope:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sub.moa/MoonShotsWithDigitalImager#

You should be able to see some pretty big differences in the clarity of the shots..

Until the next post...take a peek in the night sky just after sunset on Nov 30th - Dec 1st, you will see Jupiter / Venus and the Moon in all very close to each other, this is the last time that will happen again until 2052 so please take the time to check it out, it should be quite the show and maybe the first / last time we will have to see it within our lifetimes (one never knows).

May your sky's be stable and with low light pollution... :-)

bloggidy blog blog blog...

Saturday evening..

Saw the new 007 movie.. thought that the action was good.
I remember the days of yore.. when the bad guys were tracked down and then set straight by JB... now we are on installment two.. and we still have no clue who the bad folks are yet.
Hoping that we get this all sorted out by the 3rd installment.

At least the "Potter" series had a different plot for each installment, the "Solace" movie was merely a continuation of the "Casino" movie, again not saying it was bad.. because it wasn't. The director though, man he needs to lay off the caffeine and stop cutting back and forth on all those shots. I have strong "sea-legs" and I was getting a little frothy after only 5 minutes in that movie :-).


Well another wonderful post.. likely due to my bad ankle, which precludes me from being out somewhere with my telescope.

Until the next post..

Taking things for granted...

Funny... you hear this over and over again:

1) you don't know what you miss until it is gone

2) don't take things for granted

Oddly enough, I had a bit of a wake-up call this past 9 days... I tripped on some stairs (ascending) and messed up my ankle and wrist.

I went through a couple days of being unable to tightly grasp things with my right hand, which was a minor issue but still drove me nuts as I was unable to perform some normal activities.

My ankle was a completely different story... for the first 3 days, it hurt badly but I continued to walk on it (stupid) slowly / gingerly, but still walked on it... until of course, I started to feel a very painful "grinding / popping" coming from the ankle, which was accompanied by swelling to about 3x the normal size of the ankle and a feeling like my foot / ankle was on fire!

Went to the Doc's finally, and was told... 'no fractures, but man I haven't seen a sprain this bad in quite a long time' followed by, 'do your shoes even fit anymore? your foot and ankle looks like a block of flesh with no normal foot outline'... then came the real fun: 'I need you to wear an ankle brace, use a crutch and take these NSAIDs, until things normalize'.

Now this is where the fun comes in, did I mention that it was my right ankle / wrist? That essentially means I cannot drive so I have been locked up in my house everyday for the past 10 days.. sweet! .

Ok, long example that kind of proves out the "wisdom" of not taking things for granted, in this case I can now appreciate all the things I was able to do previously and am unable to do now, like running, playing soccer, walking, having unlimited mobility, going where and when I feel like it .

Good thing is.. the swelling is now going down.. and the foot / ankle is finally starting to look like a foot again.. in all likelihood, I may actually be able to start moving around again without the brace and crutches within 3-4 more days (by the looks of it).

Hopefully I can remember those feelings of denial / anger / frustration / hopelessness and ensure that I appreciate everything just a little bit more:

- my interactions with family and friends

- exercise

- astronomical observations / photography

- breathing, walking and just about everything else

Wishing all health and happiness

 

The Tao Of Ham-Kune-Do

Yes, I cheezily played off of the "Tao of Jeet Kune Do" of Bruce Lee fame, but that aside... and oh, by the way I did indeed say "HAM-Kune-Do" the way of the HAM. No, I am not referring to the way of Miss-Piggy or some other swine, I am speaking of Amateur Radio (aka HAM Radio) the practice of radio communications engineering.

Today is Oct 19th, 2008 (no not 1968) and I am here to tell you that HAM radio is alive and transmitting..er ah, kicking.

This weekend, I participated in Pacificon 2008 in San Ramon, Ca.

I spoke briefly with some of the organizers and volunteers at this weekends convention and was very surprised to here that this years participation was up about 20%, yes... even in a "down-economy" (aka: recession).  Add to that I recently spoke with a testing team, whom stated that they are seeing upwards of 200 - 500 new Technician licensees per month (Technician is the first level of FCC licensing on Amateur Radio) and with 4 testing sessions per month, there are approximately 800 - 2000 new HAM's every month!

So what are all these HAM's doing?

1) High Frequency (HF) / Ultra High Frequency (UHF) / Very High Frequency (VHF) Radio Transmissions

2) Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS)

3) Amateur Radio Packet Data

4) Fast Scan Television

5) Satellite Radio Communications

6) Low Power Radio Transmissions

7) Morse Code Transmissions

8) Emergency and Community Communications

There is something for just about any geek around, what could be better than a good ol' practice of engineering methodologies and hackin' around with radio wave propagation?

So some quick things about HAM radio as a hobby that I found interesting:

1) If there is an emergency (civil or otherwise) HAM radios are usually the primary form of communications during the emergency. For instance in the recent earthquakes in China, the HAM operators there had communications up and running again in a day (when all cellular communications were totally wiped out). So, in an emergency, chances are good that HAMs will be around to "save your bacon" (forgive me for that one, I had to say it... :-) ). Living in California, I think it is a good idea to have a mechanism for communications as part of your emergency plan.

2) Look around the next time your at a parade or running, cycling or other civic event, it is likely that you will find HAM's around helping out and reporting into the event organizers, telling them the current status in their "zone".

3) You can use a HAM radio to communicate with the ISS or Space Shuttle.

4) You can combine radio communications with the Internet or satellites to extend the reach of the radio and explore new forms of communications. 

If your interested in HAM radio, there are many places to get you started, for example:

• www.arrl.org
  
• www.qrz.com/i/howtoham.html

Take care and as HAMs say "73's"

Ken 

(KI6SCQ)

Week in review

Last week I was either travelling to or in Paris, sitting in meetings all day. I did make it out of the hotel three times.. twice to travel to the office and once for dinner on the last night of the meetings.

So much for Paris, traffic in that town is unbelievable, be glad you live in the good old "US of A" where it only takes 1 hour to travel 30 miles.. in Paris, it took 3.5 hours to travel the same distance!

Anyway, back to important stuff:
The Invaders soccer team is doing very well, while in Paris the kids won a game 3:1 and this past weekend, had a great 3:2 game which they also won (and we incorrectly had a goal taken away from us, which the ref later admitted was a mistake - glad it didn't decide the outcome of the game!)

Only two more action packed weekends left in the regular season, with games on both Sat / Sun for each of the coming weekends (so much for my marksmanship practice). I am looking forward to the kids finishing in a very good position this year, and also looking forward to seeing how they do in the post-season tournament. This was one of the best teams I have ever had the pleasure of coaching.

Until the next time..

Sitting in O'Hare en route to Paris

In this blog I will complain about business travel.. well not really complain but gripe.

Oakland Airport sucks.. "warning Will Robinson!" do not fly out of Oakland if you are flying United, there were only two counter people but about 300 people that needed to board 6am flights!

Then there is my layover to Paris.. I will be stuck at O'Hare for 5 hours! Well that is what I get for attempting to make United my "carrier of choice". At least I will make my Tuesday meetings with little to no headache..(unless my luggage.. dooh, I don't even want to think about it)

Of course, the reason why this is even a problem at all, I don't really like to leave my family to fly on business.. it is one thing to have them fly with me, but a totally different one to have to be away from them for a week.

I guess that is why I make the "small bucks"..

That is it for this post..

First Place in the Mustang Stampede Tournament!

The team did an awesome job on Tuesday night, defeating the Danville Flames 3-1 for the Mustang Stampede Tournament first place finish for u12 Rec+.

I was very proud of how the kids played, they have been listening to the coaching and learning more each practice and game.

This weekend will be interesting as I will be away on business.. so I will miss the Sunday game, Tuesday practices. Hope the kids will do well anyway.

That is it for now.

Soccer Update 9-25-06

First off, if anybody out there is reading this blog.. sorry for not posting for awhile. Work and travel have kept me out of the blogging business of late.

Now on to the real news..

The kids are progressing nicely, we went to a tournament this past weekend and placed first in our section, meaning we get to play the team that placed first in their section tonight for 1st place!

The kids have been working hard and actually listening during the practices, it shows in how they are starting to play the game. If things keep going as well, I am sure the kids will have a much greater appreciation for soccer and teamwork.

Well off to work now, I was up till 12am last night working on a couple of patent proposals.

Go figure.. work never stops... but I am happy as long as the money keeps coming.. ;-)

Mentorship and giving back

A couple of thoughts for the day:

- Mentorship (getting and giving)

- Giving back

For mentorship, I have been approached recently by a couple of peers, requesting some of my time for mentoring. I am very flattered by the request, but unsure of how to take it to the next step. I was being mentored by a well respected individual in my organization, but never seemed to get to any actual mentoring (at least not in the way I expected).
I find these as keys to any relationship, including mentoring;
- as in any relationship, stating your goals and expectations
- open communication on both sides
- setting aside the time to listen intently to the guidance or challenges

I am pondering whether I am capable at this time of giving the time and efforts necessary to do justice in a mentoring relationship.

Giving back is the other subject of thought lately, I wasn't raised with a "silver-spoon" in my mouth, nor did I have all Ivy-league friends in school. I want to find a way to enhance the lives of others, helping them to acheive more than I have been able to thus far.
I guess mentoring is one way, but that would be for people already well in the path of their careers (at least mentoring those at work). I should probably look into some type of program for low-income individuals, wherein I could use my professional skills to guide them down a different future or career path.

Well that is it for now..

Training hard for my first 5k

Today I covered 5.5 miles in training for my 3.10 mile race, the pace was ok but I wasn't working at the pace I would for a race.

I am going to continue to push my way through this, I have less than 1 month to go.. Oct 8th is the big day. I will then see if I really like the running stuff and continue, or try to do something different.
So far, I like it and can see myself committing to a half-marathon.. but one step at a time bronco. :-)

September 12th 2006

Things seem to be back to normal again..

The news is reporting financial data, accidents on the road, the weather and the middle east conflicts (yes, plural).

Here are some problems for the next millennium:
- How to reconcile the differences between the different religions and ensure the world can live peacefully.
- How to stop war in Africa and other hot-spots around the world (is it food, religion or other?)
- Demolishing the digital-divide (can we really use the "Internet" to spread "good" knowledge)
- How to bring developing nations into the future, while maintaining our leadership globally (but with a different tact, so we do not appear to bully people and countries)

I don't know if these problems can even be solved, I know they cannot when viewed from the current perspective ('problems cannot be solved from the same perspective in which they were created'), what is needed to take a fresh look at them and the possible solutions?

September 11th 2006

Rest in peace to all those that passed away in the tragic incidents of 9/11.

May your families find comfort in knowing that "we" didn't forget.

God bless...

Soccer update

My son did pretty well today, he played center mid for most of the game and got two shots on goal, close but no cigar on either.
Then we transferred him to left-forward and with 1 minute left, he nailed one in the top corner to give the team the insurance goal it needed to win the game 3-1.

All worked out well today.. he was very happy to put one away.