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 Listen/Watch RF Spectrum...

Sometimes I like to know what is happening around me. Actually most of the time I want to know what is happening around me. Scanner radio's can be expensive and in some cases controlled and have limited coverage. Governments have a tendency to want to hide what they are up to. What can the average person get a hold of without spending a ton of cash to be able to listen and watch what is happening around them.

First off get a hold of this free application. Donate if you can afford it and like it.
SDRSharp(#)
Get this one. Plugins for SDR#: SDR# Plugins.
This one has a few plugins as well: RTL-SDR SDR# Plugins.

On to the hardware. A person can be one of these USB DVB-T  RTL2832U tuners for 10$ on e-bay. Amazon has them, I am not sure who is cheaper. Depends on the day I suppose.

The tuner I bought has the MCX connector for the antenna. I purchased an adapter that changes MCX to BNC with a short length of cable between the two connectors. The cost for the adapter was 6$ with free shipping. Next on the list was a three foot USB extension cable M/F (3$). This lets me get the tuner up a little bit away from the laptop. Finally a collapsible antenna (10$).

This little setup lets me listen 30 MHz to 1.8 GHz, AM, FM, LSB, USB. Has a waterfall to watch for transmissions. While you may not be able to understand if they are using P25, but you will know something is happening. Guesstimate distance from your location.
So for 30$ I have a wide band receiver. The software works with Linux and Windoz. Lots to explore.

** Remember these types of devices can be used by good people as well as bad.

Enjoy,

a Woodsman Axe...

Always wanted one of those Gransfors-Bruks small forest axe. Have to save up some funds for this purchase. Those axes are not on the inexpensive side.

Got the idea from here.
Woodtrekker - Cheap alternative for gransfors bruks

Tractors supply has this axe called a boys axe with w 2.25 pound head. I have been doing some grinding to make the edge of the axe head a bit narrower. A file to sharpen the edge and a handy dandy Puck stone to smooth the edge. Seems to cut well, holds an edge without to much wear. The axe has been used on hardwood and softwood. I cannot compare this axe to the Gransfors-Bruks, because I don't have one yet.

This pic is after the 2" sander I have for the air compressor. Removed the protective coating on the axe head. The coating seemed to offer up some resistance while chopping and not getting a lot of penetration per swing. So I cleaned it off most of the axe head. Gets a nice bite, edge is still needs work as I am not the most proficient sharpener. But, the edge I do have is nice and cuts well.

I will post updates if I come up with any here.

Enjoy,

** As always this is a tool. Tools can be dangerous can cause injury. Always exercise caution. Wear gloves and eye protection using these types of tools...

To Make A Knife...

I was doing some reading about knife making, and then to add to the process I watched several videos on Youtube. Found some really cool bushcraft websites, here is one of the many out there: Making a Bushcraft Knife.

I did not have much in the way of steel. I poked around the shed and found one of the old mower blades. So far so good. I noticed that the blade has a turned up corner, cut off that section. I don't have any way to heat up the metal to flatten. At least not yet. I do have plans to build a small forge very soon. Once again Youtube has plenty of videos on building a forge.

As for tools here is what I used:

Hacksaw
Bench grinder
Belt sander (hand held, need to get a bench mount)
Dremel tool

I need to build a jig to get the blade bevel right. This is a learning experience so the first round will not be so good. Here are a few pic's of the project.

Need to come up with some scales for it. I will try to root up something out back in the woods. Maple, Birch, some decent hardwood. A small knife, but something to test out and learn from.

 Holes need to get drilled for the scales and lanyard before the tempering.

 The spine is approx. 3/16" thick. It will make a nice sturdy knife once it gets tempered.

More to follow as I gather up and build what I need to work through this project.


Enjoy,

A Weekend Emergency Ration...

I was visiting different blogs reading different ideas about creating light weight food stuffs to have in my pack as a just in case. MRE's can be had for 10+ $'s from various places. After reading and poking around I decided on a path to take. I would create my own version of an E-RAT. As a matter of fact I made two for each of the kids, son-in-law, and wife.
I used my Food Saver to create an air tight package. I suppose that a zip lock bag will work as well.

Here is what I placed in the pack:
2 - Cliff bars
2 - Lipton Cup of Soup, Chicken Noodle
2 - Instant Oatmeal packets
2 - Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa
4 - Jolly Rancher Candies
3 - Instant Coffee packets
3 - 4C Light powdered drink mix packets (100% vitamin C)

This very basic packet is good for one day or over night stay in the woods. If one conserves maybe two days. The packs the kids have contain items to filter water, start a fire, container to heat and carry water or eat from. The items will keep for sometime, well over a year if not left in the sun. All that is needed is a fire and little water to create the meal.

All of the items can be purchased at the local grocery.

Enjoy,

To Make a Survival Kit...

I like to get out into the woods and walk around. At one point I did some camping and working on getting back to that. But, when you head off for a hike or camping you should have a few things with you. Many opinions exist on what an individual should have and there are a ton of references. Some cost a lot of money and some fit in an Altoids tin. These kits are designed to have with you where ever you go. Whether you are in the woods or taking a trip to the store.

I was checking out another blog where a step by step process was used to create a nice compact kit. Check out these links to Stealth Survival. The kit built here is a basic well rounded unit and will serve you well.

DIY Survival Kit Part 1
DIY Survival Kit Part 2
DIY Survival Kit Part 3
DIY Survival Kit Part 4
DIY Survival Kit Part 5
DIY Survival Kit Part 6
DIY Survival Kit Part 7
DIY Survival Kit Part 8

You will need to adjust the contents to your needs or maybe something like this is what you need. Take the time to do your research, figure out what you need for your locale.


Reading an article or watching a video won't get it done and you won't learn much. Give it a try, learn to use some tools, techniques. Create one for you and your family members. Sometimes it's the little things that can make a difference.

Enjoy.