When I was a KTRU DJ in the spring of 1979, I was playing the first album by The Roches and one of my favorite songs was Quitting Time. Even then, I knew I’d be thinking of that song when I retired. Now, 45 years later, it is time.
I generally avoid single-purpose tools, but after ruining a couple of tools puncturing MSR IsoPro canisters, I asked for a Snow Peak Kuwagata for my birthday. It makes a nice squarish hole with no fuss.
I tested the FlipFuel fuel transfer device and it works well to consolidate partly full fuel canisters. It left about 6% of the original contents un-transferred (13-17 g), roughly enough to boil 3-4 cups of water. I’m OK with that performance. I started with six canisters ranging from 22% to 55% full and ended up with three canisters that were 74% to 81% full and three punctured, empty canisters in the recycling bin.
It is hard to grasp how prestigious the Boy Scouts were in the early days, but this table of advisors for merit badges gives some idea. Luther Burbank, Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, John Philip Sousa, Charles Schwab, Thomas Edison, this was like having Bill Gates, John McPhee, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Warren Buffett as advisors today.
This list is from the 1919 BSA annual report. As a rough guide to their prominence, I’ve linked to a Wikipedia page for each person where I could find one. Over 2/3 of them have Wikipedia pages. A few more have New York Times obits or well-known publications.
Want to take your car-camping meals up a notch? Maybe two? The New Camp Cookbook is your book. I made four of these recipes at home and all were keepers. They’d be knockouts on a picnic table.
I made these:
And the list has some problems. Too many clothes, missing sleep clothes, filter instead of Philmont tablets, bear canister, and so on. Prompt was “make a backpacking gear list for Philmont”.
I like to try out new backpacking recipes at home before hitting the trail, so today I baked bread in the Banks Fry-Bake that I was given on Christmas. Very successful, it was tasty and I learned things for next time.
The official Elecraft site lists all the mods and updates for the KX3, but doesn’t collect those with serial numbers in one spot. I’ve made a list of the ones documented.
Continue readingHow do you find out which queries need the most improvement? Look at the ones that are underperforming compared to their expected number of clicks. If you look for low click-through rate (CTR), you’ll find underperforming queries, but they’ll almost all be in the long tail. Improving those won’t make an overall improvement. Click residual is a metric that combines CTR with overall traffic to give a useful number.
To find the queries with the most impact, start with the click count. “Click residual” is the difference between the expected number of clicks and the actual number of clicks. When that is negative, you can see how many times a customer did a search, but wasn’t satisfied enough with the results to click, relative to the overall performance of the search system.
Want a base for your spiffy new Morse Code paddles with a magnetic mount? Try this jeweler’s bench block. It is 13 oz. (375 g), has a shiny surface that magnets stick to, and a grippy silicone base. Plus, it is only $10.99.
The key is a UMPP-Academy made by GM0EUL. It looks like other 3D-printed keys, but it uses the same precision bearings that Begali uses. I have the extra magnets mounted on the sides of mine to increase the force needed to make contact. With the built-in magnets, it was just too touchy for my big, clumsy fingers.
It is plugged into an Ultra PicoKeyer, which is more keyer than I’ll ever need.
This article was in the January-February 2020 edition of BSA Advancement News. That issue is not available in the BSA’s online archive so I’m republishing it here. Emphasis is in the original.
We’ve all heard of the ‘power of suggestion’ and how it can influence our lives and the lives of those around us. If someone or something suggests to you a specific outcome, your expectations can play an important role in achieving that out-come. The reason for this is that the way we anticipate our response to a situation influences how we will actually respond.
I’ve calculated some safe distances for RF exposure in typical emergency communication situations. These are for a 5 W HT (handheld radio) or a 50 W mobile, on 2 m and 70 cm, each with typical antennas. The results may also be useful for other VHF/UHF portable activities, like ARRL Field Day, Summits on the Air, or Jamboree on the Air.
Very short version: The 6-7 foot social distance we’ve learned to keep is safe for a typical fixed or mobile em-comm deployment. This is the distance between any part of the antenna, including the radials, and a member of the general population. 5 W HTs are safe for handheld use.
The FCC introduced new RF exposure rules for amateur radio in 2021. Hams used to have special exemptions, now we need to do RF exposure evaluations for all uses. If your transmitter and antenna are like the setup used for these calculations, you might be able to use these results. If yours are significantly different, this should help you get started.
I’ve written a series of articles about backpacking trips that work for Scouts ages 10 to 14. Some have a “split hike” possibility where older, stronger Scouts can take a different route to the same campsite.
See you on the trail!
Not especially well-marked if you want to make it a loop, but easy to follow on a fire road if you make it an out-and-back. This campsite is a couple of miles from the main part of Cutter, past the COPE course, down into a small valley. When you hit a decent-sized meadow on the downhill side of the road, you’re there.
If you know a Scouter who’s taken the High Adventure Training (HAT) course at Cutter, they have probably hiked the whole loop. GPS tracks are available, if you ask nicely.
This is a loop, with the trail camp 2.5 miles from the parking lot. One side of the loop is a dramatic trail along the side of the ridge. with views out to the ocean on good days. Our Scouts call it the Cliff Trail, but its official name is the Saratoga Gap Trail. The other half of the loop goes through a woods along the top of the ridge, the Ridge Trail. The elevation gain/loss for the full loop is about 1200 feet.
Most Casual Observer 