Information During a Power Outage....

Continuing on from the last post. One of the areas that I wanted to work out was the ability to gather news from the local media in the general area. Specifically the media would be local television. The goal is to pursue DC power and the DC power source had to be common. My location makes 12 VDC the easiest to work out and get batteries easily.
My laptop is a dual-boot machine. I run Linux & Win 7, while the better half uses Win 7. The laptops will run for one to three hours depending on how they are configured. Purchased 12 VDC adapters for laptops that could have them. To use the battery power more efficiently the WiFi gets turned off. No need for the laptop to keep looking for a network to connect to. Not to mention that my internet connection went through a revamp. I will share that as well, nothing earth shattering, but the new config lets the UPS last much longer. Back to getting local TV...
I picked up a couple of the USB digital TV tuners. A Monoprice Digital TV Anywhere USB device, the other happened to be a Hauppauge HVR 950Q. Both tuners come with the ever important disc to load the software and drivers for MS Windows OS', expandable whip antennas, and remote control. These two devices are separated by price, but function is the same. Both work very well on Windows while the Hauppauge works on Linux as well. The Monoprice device did not work or rather I have not worked out a way to make it work on Linux. The Hauppauge gave me a bit of trouble. Had to poke around on the internet to get an updated firmware patch.

One way a fellow got it to work on Linux can be found here: Hauppauge HVR 950Q Updated Firmware. Linux is funny. It never loads the same. Each machine is different and will give different results.
The top device is the Monprice and the bottom is the Hauppauge. The cable came with the Hauppauge and should be used. It will take stress off of your laptop USB port. I tried a couple of generic USB extension cables; a big No GO.

Put up a small digital TV antenna picked up from Amazon.

With this antenna we get twelve to fourteen channels. Not to bad for being mounted approx. fifteen feet up off the ground. A little more elevation and I may be able to get another 5 or so. On Linux Kaffeine seems to be the choice of most folks from what I have read. No complaints from me as it seems to work well.

Linux and the apps on Linux are FREE. Awesome. So now we can attempt to receive the local news in the area during disasters, power outages, etc. Pretty cool stuff. More to follow in internet equipment and configuration.





Enjoy,

Nothing at All...

Over the weekend NW Vermont had a wonderful ice storm. The news was reporting that it was worse than the 1998 ice storm. One of the electric co-ops actually requested the Red Cross to open a couple of shelters. During the early morning hours on Sunday I was was what looked like lightening, but it turns out that the transformers were popping and trees shorting out power lines were the cause.
The weather was funny. Raining and freezing as it hit. Overcast, foggy skies. I cleaned off a two inch blanket of ice of the cars. Trees are popping and snapping leaving one heck of a mess. Sunday appears was the worse day at the moment in the this storm. Still have the branches loaded with ice and it is going to get a colder. More snapping with limbs and trees coming down soon enough. We were without power most of Sunday until late evening. No TV, no internet, I live in an area where cell phone coverage is generally not available for the carrier I use.

What did I do and what did I learn?

Nothing beats a quiet day with the wife and Christmas music playing on the radio...

Heat - I used a small indoor propane heater called or made by Mr. Heater. Has two ceramic waffle plates that heat up a small room nicely. When I bought the heater I bought the extension hose that connects to a grill tank. Normally the heater will use two Coleman fuel lantern tanks. The wife was happy about being toasty warm. No smells or fuss.

Food & Water - Well, what can be said about this. I suppose that people should exercise a bit of common sense here. Having a supply of food and water to go for a week or more is a given. If you don't I would give some thought to it. No issues with hydrating or eating.

Communications - I have a small portable radio that I listened to local news, music, and shortwave. My scanner radios were working as well as my 2M/440 radio. Used FRS radios to update and keep in touch with the neighbors. The one radio I was not going to use is the HF rig. I need to work out the DC power for that. I have car battery that I trickle charge that I connect to my DC distribution panel. It is not a deep cycle battery so I don't get to carried away when it is hooked up.

Lighting - I have purchased some 12VDC LED reading lights from Amazon. Very bright and useful. I plan to get several more as they draw .020 amps DC. The battery will last forever with lamps like this. For wandering around we have some LED flashlights. No worries with lighting.

Power - As mentioned above I have a auto battery for the radios and a couple of lights. Total draw with radio receiving and LED RV Lamp was four (4) amps. Also, cranked up the generator long enough to recharge the battery.

What do I want or rather what does the wife want? What do I need to do to provide the wants?
TV and internet. Working out the details for these two. Got pieces & parts on order.

Stay Tuned....

Enjoy,

To Read The News...

I don't like to watch the news on TV or much of anything. What was informative and objective is now just government propaganda. I suppose that since the advent of modern communications this is the natural course every society takes.

As mentioned in one of my other posts I primarily use Linux and Mac. I get most of my news using an RSS reader. I have "attached" to feeds from Marketwatch, Zerohedge, France 24, etc. The list is endless and more than one source is recommended so that the user can verify the story. But, sometimes I find information that seems to start from one source and then picked up and carried by others. This can be a pain for sure.

For Linux I use Liferea. Most of the RSS readers have the same type of GUI. Down the left side you will see you sources. The middle top is where the article title is presented. When the user selects the article the bottom portion of the GUI displays the article or article brief. A simple click will open the full article for consumption. On the Mac I have NewsNetWire. These RSS readers can be set to update by minutes or hours. Plenty of options. Up to the user.

Exercise your brain. Read the news and more right from your PC.

Enjoy