Anyone who reads my posts knows I love to hunt and love to shoot. In fact, I just received my first custom rifle built by my best friend. My next firearm goal is to have a tactical rifle built. Since tactical rifles have rails, many accessories and other items can be added making each firearm unique to the owner. Of course, there are plenty of scope options, lights and lasers and other cool stuff to add to the rails, but what about for a geek like me? For those of us who love technology and gadgets added to everything we use, InteliScope has the perfect product.

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LIT:First Gadget Made for Action Sports Tracking now funding at IndieGoGo

These days, it seems like there’s all kinds of ways of tracking your exercising if you’re doing such relatively straight-forward activities as running or walking (viz. the FitBit).  Heck, even in the days before electronic gizmos achieved today’s absurd levels of market penetration–back in the days of cars that had carburetors, say–there were devices that tracked your walking steps (though much less accurately, I’m sure).  But that begs the question:  What if your sport is Ultimate Frisbee, say?  Or snowboarding?  Or motocross?  It’s not like you’re not sweating in those sports, after all; do you want to get some credit for doing that stuff if you’re trying to get your weight down or whatever?

The IndieGoGo project LIT was created for folks who do a lot of sports.  With LIT, you can track your simpler activities like steps in running, but it can also track movements unique to Action Sports like airtime, G-Force, speed, jumps, and rotations, as well as a bunch of other metrics specific to surf, snow, moto, and whatnot. You can access your stats through a downloadable app, as you might expect.

Been looking for something to track your more extreme sports activities?  Maybe this is the gadget for you.  Surf on over to the IndieGoGo site and check it out, and if you fund it (and get yourself one), be sure to let us know what you think below!  Funding concludes May 17.

FRODO is an information and control command spot for your camper or caravan trailer.

You probably have a certain level of automation that you enjoy in your home already; perhaps you use a smart thermostat, or maybe you have a home alarm. The cool thing about home monitoring and automation is that it doesn’t matter how old your home is, there are products that can be added at any time which will modernize it, making it as self-regulating and automatic as you want it to be.

People who own travel trailers and campers don’t necessarily have the same options.  Sure, you could drop $500K on a new top of the line travel bus with all of the bells and whistles, but unless that has been your retirement goal for the last 40 years, it probably isn’t happening anytime soon. Right? So what do you do if you have an older or more modest camper trailer or small mobile home? You can change out some of the major fixtures and appliances, but you’ll still have no hope of automation. Or will you?

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Unfortunately, natural disasters have become an unwelcome part of everyday life; from tornadoes to hurricanes to several feet of snow, there’s always something to keep an eye on out there. That’s where the Eton ZoneGuard Weather Radio aims to help.

There are a few things that make this radio sound like an invaluable accessory: One, it’s a digital alarm clock with AM/FM/NOAA channels all in one, and it can be mounted to the wall. Pretty handy and slim. More importantly, it supports S.A.M.E., or Specific Area Message Encoding, which is a signal designed specifically to target geographic areas under an emergency alert. So if you are in an area about to be hit with a tornado, the S.A.M.E. system would pick that up and let you know. You can also program it to alert you to other areas besides your own, so if you need to know if Grandma’s in the path of a hurricane this is a handy feature. In case you aren’t listening closely, it will also flash with LEDs, so as soon as you enter the room you’ll know an alert has been issued.

I will forever love our Eton radio because it kept me company in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and when I met with Eton at CES I was impressed all over again with the quality and consistent safety focus of all their products, from radios to backup batteries. The ZoneGuard looks like it will fit right into their lineup; if you need a dedicated weather radio around the house, then it’s definitely worth a look! You can find the ZoneGuard on Amazon for $48.12 (MSRP $49.99).

Spring time in Texas is hot; we do not really have seasons, just hot and not so hot. We are deep into the spring turkey hunting season, and some days it is just unbearable. I hunt with a bow, so that is done in a pop up tent blind. Turkeys can see extremely well, so I wear a long sleeve black shirt and black ninja mask. Of course I always wear my snake boots and long pants. The blind is basically an oven. I recently heard about people turning ice chests into an air conditioner on the go and decided to make one. Here is how I made my version.

The ice chest I used is an Igloo 25qt Marine model. I chose this model because it was the most common used on the projects I found. It is available almost anywhere ice chests are sold and comes in around $30. What I will attempt to do, is cut holes in the lid to install a fan that blows across the ice and a vent to redistribute that cool air.

Other than the ice chest, to make your own you will need a fan, pipe for the vent and a 12v battery. I used an auto fan from Walmart that cost around $11, a piece of 2 inch PVC with an elbow, and a battery I used on my deer feeder. The entire project came out to around $50 since I had the battery.

To make the opening for the fan, I simply took the front protector off, traced it and then drew a line slightly inside so it will not fall through the hole. I used the square grids of the lid to line up the hole and make it even. I cut this opening with a utility knife. Not a fun experience, but it got the job done. Repeat this step for the PVC pipe, but do not make the hole smaller. It needs to go all the way through. For this hole I remembered I had a rotary cutting tool, so it only took seconds.

Once the holes are cut, I just made sure everything fit. I used duck tape to hold the pipe in place and  used it inside the lid under the fan because the lid is hollow and I wanted straight air flow. Currently, the fan is being held in place with the tape, but I plan on adding some c-clamps once the project gets out of beta testing.

The end of the fan is made to use a car cigarette lighter. I snipped the wire, stripped it, and attached it to the battery. The wire with the white strips goes to the positive connection. Since the fan has a switch and fuse,it is easy and safe to use. All that is needed now is ice and a warm day.

This project took less than an hour to build and the results are positive. I like how it is going, so I will clamp the fan down more permanently now. I also will build a box on the side to hold the battery and use a 12v solar panel to charge the battery while in the field. Since my only complaint on this model is the fan noise, I will build another using two large computer fans that are virtually silent. My only concern is moving enough air to make a temperature difference.

I hope you have enjoyed my DIY project and try your own version. Please share with us if you build one or have any improvements to this design.

Blue Lake Bush beans fresh from my garden

How many of us have been at a grocery store and been disappointed with the variety and quality of produce? How many sandwiches or other dishes have been befouled with limp lettuce or a feeble yellow-green-pink tomato? It’s no wonder kids (and some adults) aren’t too keen on vegetables. What to do? One solution is to start your own garden, especially an heirloom garden. The term “heirloom” is still often debated, but for the purposes of this post I’m going to loosely define the term to mean an openly pollinated plant that breeds true to its parents and is not an artificially genetically modified organism.  Often these varieties have been cultivated for generations. There are quite a number of resources available online, for example the Seed Savers Exchange.

The important practical benefit of using heirloom plants is that you have the opportunity to save seeds or cuttings of a given plant and use them in subsequent years—allowing you to control your own food supply rather than relying on 3^rd party control of your foodstuffs. From a culinary standpoint, heirloom varieties can be dizzying, and they come in types you would never see in supermarkets. The flavor of a homegrown tomato simply outclasses virtually anything you’d find in a store. The downside is that certain varieties may have susceptibility to certain diseases to which hybrid varieties have been bred to be resistant, but the genetic diversity offers a strong buffer to monoculture problems of the type bananas are facing. For the very old among us, they might remember the Gros Michel banana, now largely wiped out due to a fungal disease. The banana that most are familiar with in the western world is the Cavendish, which is said to be inferior in flavor.

My post is by no means meant to cover all plant types and nitty-gritty gardening tips—that would encompass many pages, but at least offer the perspective of someone just starting out with a few vegetable types. You definitely don’t want your first experience with gardening to be overwhelming!

Initial planning of the garden layout: Space and light. How much do you have, and what kind of natural lighting exposure will your garden have? I had a large area between part of my back yard and the driveway that was level but had old gravel in it, so initially started with a few EarthBoxes. I had a newborn and a busy work schedule, so free time was problematic.

EarthBox® plant growing system. So simple to use, I could do it!

The EarthBox proved to be a very convenient way to begin growing vegetables for me, offering a few key benefits for a budding gardener. The EarthBox consists of a plastic tub, roughly the size of a recycling container, a soil divider/aeration screen, water tube and mulch cover “tarp” and an overflow hole. By containing a water reservoir and sheet-like mulch cover, weeds are eliminated and water is conserved. Using the four containers I have, I’ve been able to successfully grow summer squash, tomatoes, peas, and various kinds of beans. In the Spring I prep the soil in the container, removing any old roots from last year’s crop, mix in the proper fertilizer and such, put the mulch cover over it and decide what I want to plant in the EarthBox. EarthBox provides what they call “Replant kits”, so it’s easy to do year to year and get new mulch covers and the correct fertilizer amount. The newer EarthBoxes feature optional casters and plant staking systems, making them even easier to set up and use.

Here are two of the boxes with zucchini, yellow summer squash and bush beans with my initial raised bed in the background

In the summer, I could get up early, water the containers before work, then water again as needed that evening or the next morning, stopping when the water started trickling out of the overflow hole. Obviously, plant number and size is key to preventing too-rapid depletion of the reservoir. The larger or more numerous the plants, along with warmer temperature, the more water  will be used. I still use them to this day … they haven’t worn out!

From my experience, tomatoes and bush beans did exceptionally well in the EarthBoxes. I recommend you give Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds a look when selecting seeds. They have a beautiful full color catalog and reasonably priced seeds of so many varieties it would take me years and years to try them all!

Purple Bush bean flowers and baby bean pod hanging below it. It will soon be a dark purple once fully developed.

Here is a sampling a some Costata Romanesco zucchini, green Blue Lake bush beans, and mature Purple Bush beans.

 After the success of my heirloom gardening in the EarthBoxes, I wanted to do some scaling up and decided to start growing more in a raised bed. A raised bed is often simply a box set on the ground filled with soil, and usually around 10-12” give or take deep. Raised beds are great for areas with poor soil, like my back yard which has very heavy yellowish-brown clay.

Now, I love garlic, roasted, sautéed or fresh. A former coworker who was an avid gardener gave me a few hard necked garlic bulbs to start my garlic supply. Hard neck varieties tend to do best in areas with colder winters, but most garlic you find in the store will likely be soft neck.  What a joy! I had been irritated by garlic in multiple stores of late showing green centers from either being a tad too old or exposed to too much light, so I wanted to try my hand at growing my own.  I got hooked up with Carpathian, Porcelain “Music”, Turban and Purple Glazer.

Romanian garlic … serious vampires beware!

To this end I built my first raised bed, a little large maybe, about 5’x10’ and about 10” high using 1.5″ thick white pine wood boards from the local home goods store and filled with good soil. To keep out the squirrels, rabbits and such, I put six rebars around the edges of the bed and anchored chicken wire to them and kept them doubly anchored to the bed with landscaping staples. Completed in the early Spring, my first actual plants put in were tomatoes, since garlic is planted in the Fall.

I tried a few different tomato varieties, primarily the eating types versus the heavier, fleshier sauce/pulp varieties. Most were an indeterminate variety, as opposed to determinant. In tomato parlance, indeterminate plants produce fruit over the course of a season, whereas determinant plants produce fruit all at once. In the southern Ohio climate, I can often nurse tomatoes of out some plants into early November!

A small red cherry tomato of the Russian Koralik variety

I found I enjoyed the smaller, sweet yellow cherry-sized tomatoes, and the “black” tomatoes, many of which originated in the Ukraine. Black tomatoes are a deeper, purplish brown color and have what I can only describe as a richer flavor than other tomatoes, and are more recent additions to the US garden.  Red, pink, white, yellow, green (not the unripe type), black and orange tomatoes, and color mixes thereof can be found, from tiny cherry or grape tomatoes only an ounce or less in weight versus multi-pound larger varieties such as the Beefsteaks or Brandywines. Funny thing is I didn’t much care for tomatoes as a kid, even though my parents had their own garden. It wasn’t until I was in my late 20s that I began truly enjoying them.

I like to start  3-4 tomato seeds, and other plants, like peppers, that benefit from an early start  in peat starter kits that expand when watered. From each peat “bag” I will nip the weakest two or three and leave the strongest to plant directly in the ground if the weather is warm enough, gradually moving the seedlings to brighter light outside before doing the final planting. Seedlings taken out too young run the risk of getting burnt by the sun or damaged by very cold night temperatures.

Tomato seedlings, only about a week from germinating

Tomatoes tend to prefer more alkaline soil, so I often will mix in dolomite or limestone, and are rich in calcium and magnesium to both increase soil pH and add nutrients, plus the elevated calcium prevents or reduces blossom end rot, a bane of tomato, squash and pepper gardeners. I usually start the heirloom varieties from seed in late March…southern Ohio weather this time of year can be hard to predict.

Tomatoes grow like crazy in warm weather 

Tomatoes generally like about 10 hours of sunlight, and generally like to be watered deeply every five days or so. Avoid watering the leaves too much to avoid spotting.

One year I tried Roma Striped tomatoes … talk about eye-candy! 

When the tomatoes are finally ripe, nothing in the store will compare!

Here’s a mix of red, black and green tomatoes…all ripe, all sweet and ready for a splash of balsamic vinaigrette!

Garlic has to be one of the most ridiculously simple plants for a gardener to grow and maintain. Towards the end of October here in Ohio, I round up my healthiest stored bulbs and break off the best looking cloves from each type and start next year’s batch.  I sow mine about 3-4” deep, about 8” apart, put a little mulch on the bed, and forget about them until next spring. Usually around early March I start to see a few leafs poke up and in our climate don’t usually have to worry about frosts as they tend to be hardy like daffodils, and don’t typically need to water them until late April when it starts to warm up.

Raised bed showing emerging garlic in mid-March

Further on in late May or early June, a secondary benefit will appear from hardneck garlic: garlic scapes.

It’s hard to escape hard neck garlic scapes as they coil around the plant tops

Garlic scapes are the flower buds of garlic, and once they do a twist or two, you should harvest them anyway as the garlic will otherwise devote too much energy to them and the bulb might be smaller. Scapes can be cut up and used like scallions, having a slight, but no overpowering, garlic flavor. Come late June or early July, my garlic is usually ready to harvest via careful spading. Shake the dirt off (don’t wash!), clip the stems about 6” up and store in a dry, dark area for a week or two, and soon you’ll be able to grab your own garlic for cooking.

My garlic fresh from the ground…remember: save some of the bulbs as “seed” for next year to start the cycle over! 

The other advantage of adding a larger raised bed was that larger plants can be more easily grown, as one might guess from the size of the squash plants in the EarthBoxes pictured earlier.  You don’t want to try to grow too large a plant in too small a space!

My wife and kids wanted in on the growing action so I built them smaller 4′x4′ beds, here “in-progress”

This year I’ve added two smaller beds for the family to try their own vegetables, so it will benefit us all by everyone learning more about growing their own food and experiencing the wonders of gardening. A bonus for us is that more boxes means the opportunity for more vegetable varieties!

For those budding gardeners sporting iOS devices that might like some planting tips for their garden, the ad-supported Vegetable Planting Calendar might be a good place to start.

Landing page of Vegetable Planting Calendar

Information appearing when selecting Bush Beans

Obviously the information is fairly top-level for the plant variety, but is a good start for beginners or those wanting a quick resource at their fingertips.

Depending on the scale, you might be interested in starting, the upfront costs and effort will be rewarded with crops of your choice. Best off all, you will have a better understanding of what goes into your food, and have the opportunity to spend more time outside enjoying and learning from your garden and less time driving to the market. Plus with heirloom plants, you might not even need to shop for more seeds!

Image courtesy of Forbes.com

My World Geography class was discussing Africa last week, and the subject of electricity seemed to interest them. There are parts of Africa that are not connected to an electrical grid, so alternate forms of power are a must. A student found an article explaining that 80% of Kenyans do not have electrical service and that they primarily light their homes with kerosene lamps. Long story short, a start up company is now offering solar setups that can run a small house with a pay-as-you-go model to be affordable to the rural residents. Read the article here.

My students were impressed that a clean, renewable energy source was now available allowing Kenyans to light their homes and charge their mobile devices. Their big question was, “why do we not have affordable options like this?” I am interested in solar systems for many reasons, but I was unable to answer their question.

Image Courtesy of www.gizmag.com

There are many reasons to be interested in solar energy. The popularity of prepping for the collapse of the government, zombie apocalypse, or other horrible events has brought many new “off the grid” products and technologies into the mainstream. For some, the desire to halt global warming and clean up the environment using cleaner energy sources serves as the main impetus. I suppose that I fall somewhere in the middle.

Living on the Gulf Coastal Plains of Texas brings the annual threat of tropical weather and the possibility of being a few days (or weeks) without power. While I do own a generator, having a way to power some items as well as charge our phones without gasoline or a loud motor would be best. I also wish to move my camper to our family land during hunting season, so I’d have a place to sleep and could avoid driving back and forth. There is no power source on the land, so solar would be a way to have lights and maybe some air conditioning.

While there are plenty of great reasons to adopt solar as a viable energy source, the cost of converting has slowed me from making the switch. It can cost anywhere from $18,000 to $40,000 to be able to power a home from the sun; powering my camper would cost around $1,000 for a basic system. While the change to solar would save money in the long run, the initial cost is just too much for me at this time, but it has interested me in more dedicated options. For example, last hunting season I installed a solar panel to my deer feeder, and I had 100% charge from August to January. I now plan on building a solar charging system for my trail camera so I never miss another photo due to dead batteries. If I am able to put together a system to run my camper, my farm will literally be a self running, clean burning source of energy.

With solar technology ever improving, I think the costs will likely get lower and lower. But in the meantime, I will be searching for smaller, more dedicated solar systems to stay charged and powered in the outdoors. My goal is to have a charged phone and sleep comfortably without connection to the power grid or a need for gasoline. Anyone with experience in solar options, please let us know about your setup in the comments.

Photo Courtesy of Oregon Scientific

We’ve all seen those first-person action videos of guys and gals flying down the slopes, jumping out of planes, or slashing through the whitewater on their kayaks.  These videos are entertaining and provide the viewer a peek at exactly how it would look if you were risking your own neck out there, without all the danger and adrenaline.  The problem with these videos, however, is that you can only capture one angle on the action, unless the camera is behind held in hand.  Oregon Scientific is looking to change this with their new Oregon Scientific ATC Chameleon camera, the world’s first dual-lense action camera.  Now, not only can you have a first-person view of the action, but you can also film a secondary view, all at the same time and with zero extra effort.

Photo Courtesy of Oregon Scientific

What’s awesome about this camera is that both lenses shoot 720p and the camera automatically syncs the two films together so that you can play them back in split-screen mode, as you can see in the sample videos, below.  Couldn’t be simpler.  There is no crazy post-production editing to sync up the videos, it’s all automatic.  Each of the lenses can also be turned 180 degrees to capture the perfect angles.  The Chameleon uses ATC hardware that can be mounted to many different type of mounts, whether it be the handlebars of your bike, your helmet, your kayak, etc.  Many of these mounts can be purchased directly from Oregon Scientific for $30 each.  The great thing about the lens adjustment is that you can capture so many different angles all with one camera, unlike most of the action cameras available today.

Photo Courtesy of Oregon Scientific

Keep your eyes open at Gear Diary for our upcoming review of this new action camera.  I look forward to putting it through it’s paces and letting you know how the Chameleon works in the real world.

Check out the ATC Chamelon in action in this video from Oregon Scientific:

The ATC Chameleon is available for $199 directly from Oregon Scientific, here.

The TrackingPoint Precision Guided Firearm iOS Simulator App

We first broke news of TrackingPoint and their Precision Guided Firearm system during this year’s CES. The system is a custom-built rifle and scope combination that makes long-range shooting much more accurate. Using the XactSystem, shooters tag, track and hit their target with pinpoint accuracy.

TrackingPoint has just released Precision Hunter Lite which allows iOS users to experience their revolutionary technology. The free application is basically a first person shooter that replicates the Precision Guided Firearm experience. Using the head’s up display, users practice utilizing the XactSystem to successfully make ethical shots at extreme distances.

Users choose their quarry then enter a virtual world through the eyes of the HUD to practice extreme distance hunting skills. The virtual worlds are detailed and realistic with accurately scaled animals according to the distance. Aiming the system requires moving the device around just as would be done in a real world hunt and the HUD provides a full user experience of the TrackingPoint technology. I recommend going through the tutorial to learn the system. Basically, the hunter chooses the exact target which places a red dot on the animal. Then, holding the fire button, the gun will shoot when the aim is exactly over the indicated area. The tutorial will also explain the vitals of the game animals and how to execute an ethical shot placement. Each hunt has three animals to hunt and stats on duration and distances are provided. I have to admit, making a perfect shot on a bear at 589 yards is extremely enjoyable. While this game is a simulator for the Precision Guided Firearm system, it is also a fun hunting game.

You can download Precision Hunter Lite from the app store for free, and you can learn more about TrackingPoint at their official website.

Do you know the many ways your body loses heat? You should always be aware of hypothermia warning signs to keep safe in winter!

Over the last week I have heard a few stories about runners getting into a bit of trouble with the elements, and reflecting on how hard it is to interpret hypothermia warning signs … when you are the one who has gotten into trouble. One veteran runner had a ‘stomach emergency’ mid-run which led to too much exposure, and the inability to get warm. Fortunately there was a nearby gym where he stopped and called his wife to collect him. He noticed that he had a hard time operating his phone, and while driving home she remarked that the scary thing was that he was slurring his words.

Another runner was dressed for warmer temperatures, but got caught off-guard by heavy winds and a rapidly shifting front and was simply not dressed for the occasion. She was immediately aware of the danger, but actually got cold enough that she got confused and took a wrong turn on the way home, which cost her extra time. Fortunately she arrived safely and without any real harm, but it was a real wake-up call about being prepared and aware of the weather.

Both of these stories could have gone very differently based on a single scary thing:
A person with hypothermia usually isn’t aware of his or her condition, because the symptoms often begin gradually and because the confused thinking associated with hypothermia prevents self-awareness.

In these cases the people were aware enough to get out of trouble, and were in locations that allowed them to get to safety. But for many others circumstances make it more difficult to assess themselves for hypothermia warning signs. And once hypothermia sets in, a spiral of events can occur that can lead to permanent harm or even death all too quickly.

Here are some of the Hypothermia Warning Signs (from the CDC ):

• Shivering
• Clumsiness or lack of coordination in hands
• Slurred or mumbled speech
• Confusion
• Poor decision making or memory loss
• Exhaustion or very low energy
• Progressive loss of consciousness
• Weak pulse
• Shallow breathing

The CDC also has advice once you have assessed someone for hypothermia warning signs, most of which should be fairly self-explanatory:

• Get the victim into a warm room or shelter.
• Remove any wet clothing.
• Warm the center of the body first.
• Give warm beverages to help increase the body temperature, but do not give alcoholic beverages.
• Keep wrapped in blankets even after temperature increases.
• Get medical attention as soon as possible.

I have mentioned that I have run this winter for up to 7 miles in conditions where the temperature was -5F with wind chills below -20F. These are potentially dangerous conditions, something I am very much aware of. I made sure to stay within range of communications and shelter, and to have plenty of layers to keep skin and core temperature protected. Even as I write this the temperature was in the mid-30s, but with 20+MPH winds the wind chills were in the tens, and freezing rain on top made for a potentially dangerous situation if you weren’t prepared.

The old saying “you’ll catch your death of cold” sounds quaint, but unless you know and are aware of the hypothermia warning signs it can become a very real possibility.

Have you had hypothermia scares? What do you do to stay safe?

A blizzard of ’78 picture at my house evokes memories; would one of an endless stream of Smartphone Camera pictures do the same?

This week marked the 35th anniversary of the Blizzard of ’78, and as a result we have seen some of the iconic images from that storm on web sites and social media. I have a few pictures that I’ll share here. The other day it was snowing – pretty snow floating to the ground and coating everything. I snapped a picture with my smartphone camera that went to our photo stream, and my wife saw it and remarked that it was a pretty shot … and that is likely the only attention it will ever get. And as snow started falling from Winter Storm Nemo, I saw more smartphone camera pictures from friends on Facebook before noon than I have EVER seen from the Blizzard of ’78. But will any of them be remembered past this weekend?

It made me think that as pictures have become easier to take and storage and sharing effortless, they have become transient, losing their permanence and value.

At least that is how it seems. Looking at the image at the top, that is my family home during the Blizzard of 1978 in Massachusetts. It was taken from the street a couple of days after the storm; several years ago I digitized all of my parents’ slides from the early 60s to the early 80s, and I made a DVD for everyone in the family with all of the pictures and a slideshow.

For anyone who lived in New England, the Blizzard of ’78 was an event on the scale of the San Francisco earthquake, the Chicago fire, or other major disasters. Over at WickedLocal they have reprinted an original article on the storm, and here are a few things I collected up when I did a recollection on a personal blog on the 25th anniversary:

• More than 4 feet of snow.
• 100 MPH winds.
• High tides cresting 40 foot waves.
• Dozens of homes and businesses wiped out instantly, hundreds badly damaged.
• 100 people dead due to every imaginable weather related cause.

I was 12 when that storm hit. I was old enough to shovel snow for several people in the neighborhood to help out, and I was old enough to be terrified watching the news showing the parking lot route 128 had become and waiting for my dad to make it home.

But I was young enough to enjoy the fact that we had a week off from school and that the roads were shut down. I was young enough not to worry about being without power or phones for a while; I was young enough that the recently totaled ’64 Impala kept on the side of our garage became our snow fort that day and for the rest of the winter.

There are only a few pictures we have from the blizzard, and as you can see they were taken when the sun was out and the roof was almost clear – in other words a day or two later. The one at the top shows our house from the street. Since it was already more than 24 hours later, the snow has compacted, but everything was completely closed and snowed in. In order there is my Dad, my older brother (would have been ~14.5) and me (almost 12). The covered car was a ’74 Chevy Impala …

In this one you can see a bit up the street, showing that even by the 8th, two days after the storm, roads weren’t plowed. The ‘highway’ down the street opened that day, and the convenience store (Bob’s) opened up as well. We would take a sled down the street to get stuff, and run errands for people who couldn’t get out of their houses yet.

OK, this isn’t the Blizzard, but me after Christmas just before … note the M16-look alike (had forgotten that!) and my fave gift from that year – VertiBird! It was a helicopter that flew in circles … I remember that the first one I got didn’t work, and my dad called all around (hot gift that year), and that Child World in Framingham said they had one and would hold it for him. We got there, and of course they didn’t have any … my Dad was *furious*! Upon yelling at the manager, they ‘found’ one held for someone else and I got it! The VertiBird sat in my parents house for years after I had moved out, and I reclaimed it before they moved south several years ago. Unfortunately, while I kept it, my attempts to rewire and get it working for my kids were to no avail … it was just dead. But I digress.

For ‘Winter Storm Nemo’, the forecasting technology has advanced tremendously to the point that the Weather Channel now has a ‘storm-con’ that talks about the confidence of a major storm hitting. It worked very well for Hurricane Sandy, and while the totals haven’t exactly matched forecasts, the general forecast of conditions made sure everyone was able to see what was coming … so that the only people getting trapped on highways were those foolish enough to go driving when there was a driving ban in effect.

But as I said, there have been countless smartphone camera images and videos showing the snow. Some are fun and cute pictures of kids playing outside in the snow, others are of the roads or trees or some other indication of what is going on. Like I said, the hundreds of images I have seen are largely instantly forgettable … and then there are videos like this 8 minute wonder of a person in Western Massachusetts walking to the local 7-11. Enjoy!

Do you feel that with the ease of taking and posting smartphone camera pictures everywhere, that the images themselves lose permanence and meaning? Do you think people miss out on actually experiencing things by being so busy documenting stuff?

I’ll admit that the first time Kev slipped his headlamp on to go do something outside in the dark, I smirked. Why not just carry a flashlight? Why go out of your way to look like a coal miner or a caver? I’m being facetious, of course. I totally understood why he would want to be able to do things outside handsfree, but there’s no getting around the fact that wearing a headlamp makes you look a little silly.

Only, you are the one getting the last laugh.

If you have a headlamp on, it’s like you’ve grown an extra hand — one that will hold a flashlight steadily for you as you carry things, work on things, or inspect things.

Kev’s usual choice of headgear is the Cabela’s Alaskan Guide X White Headlamp, which retails for $39.99. That particular headlamp has a band of elastic that not only goes around the wearer’s head, it also goes across the top! That’s probably because the extra support is needed for the great big battery pack that sits on the back of the wearer’s noggin. But whatever works, right?

When I was approached about reviewing a Dorcy headlamp, I knew I wasn’t going to be the one trying it or wearing it, it would be Kev. And when I asked him if he was interested in trying something new, he was less than enthusiastic.

“I have one that works just fine”, he said.

“Right, but what if you like this one better?” I replied.

Ah … the great “what if?”

So the headlamp came, and instead of one — there were two.

“Why did they send two?” I mused aloud.

“Because they are totally different; one is a broad beam, and one is a spot beam.” Kev said, all matter of fact.

Well, sure enough.

The Dorcy headlamps that we received both look about the same — they are compact black boxes with an LED light in the center front. The only real obvious difference between them (at first glance, anyway), is that one has a silver bezel around the LED and the other has a gold bezel. Both models take three AAA batteries, which are included.

The gold bezel model is the spot beam headlamp. It produces a bright beam of 134 lumens. It’s battery is supposed to last for 12 hours of run time, but we have not run it long enough to see the LED dim. The spot beam headlamp has three brightness modes — full power, half-power and strobe. The entire headlamp weighs about 3 ounces with the batteries installed, and Kev says it is much lighter than what he is used to.

The silver bezel model is the broad beam headlamp. It produces 120 lumens in a broad beam. It’s battery is also supposed to last for 12 hours of run time, but again — we have not run it long enough to see the LED dim. The broad beam headlamp also has three brightness modes, and it also weighs about 3 ounces with the batteries installed.

Both headlamps have an adjustable cloth elastic headband with east to work plastic fixtures. You can wear the strap over a hat, cap, or your head — whatever best fits your situation or needs. Kev is just as likely to pull one onto his head than to worry about whether there is a cap underneath; he says it’s comfortable enough.

This is probably the most important thing: Kev says that the light put out by either of these is brighter and better than the light put out by his Cabela’s model. Granted, it may be time for him to change the batteries again in his original headlamp, but I’ve noticed that over the past few weeks he doesn’t reach for it any more. He will always grab one or the other of his two new headlamps.

At $24 each, these Dorcy headlamps are a fair enough price that you can get a couple of them to keep in the obvious places where you might need one — the glovebox, your toolbox, by the back door, by the barbecue pit outside — I’m sure that if you are already getting ideas about where you might be able to use one of these, you already have an idea of where you would want to keep it.

I have seen Kev use his to grab wood from the stack outside for our Jøtul stove, to check on noises in the backyard (we live in the country, and varmints like to come looking for food), to put plants in the greenhouse at night when we realized it was going to get colder than expected, and he’s even used them to work on the garbage disposal under the sink — that time when it mysteriously disconnected.

Beyond the fact that it is lighter, more compact, doesn’t have a separate huge battery pack, and doesn’t have the extra head-crossing strap, perhaps the coolest thing about the Dorcy LED headlamps is their rapid-flash emergency signal — Kev’s Cabela’s headlamp didn’t have that feature.

So are you the type of person who sees a headlamp and immediately starts to think of ways you could use one? If so, you really should check out one (or both) of these. The headlamps are well made, and the LEDs are bright. What’s not to like? =)

Dorcy LED Headlamps and other LED flashlights are available directly from the manufacturer.

MSRP: $24

What I Kev Likes: Light, adjustable, and comfortable to wear; no big separate battery pack; may be worn comfortably and securely over a cap, hat or uncovered head; initial set of AAA batteries are included

What Needs Improvement: Nothing — he says he likes them a lot!

Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample

It’s time for slightly embarrassing admissions here at Gear Diary: I can personally vouch that when I was in college (hmmpty-hmmph) years ago, I learned that it is possible to smuggle an entire eight-pack of 8 oz. Little Kings Cream Ales into a movie theater stashed within the various pockets of a denim jacket. I mean, have you seen the price of concessions at the movies lately?!

Unfortunately, I can also verify that when you drape said blue jean jacket around the back of a theater seat, there is a very high probability that at least one of those little 8-oz. evidence bomb bottles will slip out of the inside pockets. At this point, three things may happen, two of them very bad. If you’re lucky, and you don’t deserve to be since you snuck beers into the movies, the bottle might just hit the floor with a clunk and remain intact. More likely, the bottle will begin a loud and inexorable roll down the sloped floor of the non-stadium seating configured theater. As it bumps against the heels of everyone sitting directly in front of you like some deranged game of Plinko, it’s not too difficult to trace the path back up to identify the guilty party. The third, and by far worst, option is that the bottle will break. leaving you sitting on top of a hops and barley bidet. Not fun at all, plus cleaning up in the dark is a real pain.

So the easy answer to these problems is … don’t do that. But again, have you seen the price of concessions at the movies lately?! Luckily, after all these years since I first encountered this situation, technology has come to the rescue. Two different solutions have emerged over the last year that cheekily address the problem of transporting beverages on your person and keeping them cold along the way.

The first is the Beer Hunter Jacket from Enjoi, a manufacturer of skateboard clothing and equipment. Although the jacket is available in any color you like, providing that you like olive green, and the styling is rather military-chic, the Beer Hunter jacket is a very utilitarian piece of clothing. In addition to a zip-off hood and both button and zipper closures, the Beer Hunter jacket features four button-down insulated pockets on the front which can each hold a couple of your favorite beverages.

The inner lining is decorated in a floral Hawaiian print to serve as a counterpoint to the drab exterior of the jacket’s design. Perhaps the idea is that when you reach inside your breast pocket for a quick nip, you can be reminded of a tropical vacation that you may never take while you stand outside in the cold at a Green bay Packers game waiting to use the Port-O-Let.

If you’re a fan of the bottle over a can, there’s another nice touch of genius dangling right in front of you. The zipper pull on the Beer Hunter is actually a functioning bottle opener. I’m sure that there are some of you out there that learned while you were in college how to open a bottle with a Bic lighter or the bumper of a truck, but I refer not to depend on one of you Beer-gyvers to be nearby when I’m on the wrong side of a cold bottle of beer. You know which side of the beer that I’m talking about, the outside.

If you have a powerful thirst, the inner breast pocket will hold a 32 or 40 oz. bottle of beer, or what we like to call around these parts, “A Lunchbox Special.” Because nothing warms you up on a chilly day like malt liquor … I’m sure it would hold a thermos of soup, too if that’s more up your alley. Of course, these types of bottles don’t need that cool bottle opener zipper pull, so you won’t get to show off your talents as the eminently prepared boy scout of your drinking troop.

Even more over the top and specifically designed is the Drinkmaster Hoodie from Zane Lamprey. While the Beer Hunter jacket would work fine as a nice utility coat even if you never put a can or bottle of anything in the multiple pockets, the Drinkmaster Hoodie is more like the Batman utility belt of drinking. In addition to deep side pockets and a bottle opener zipper pull like the Beer hunter, the Drinkmaster has many more features designed specifically for your partying fun.

The outer breast pocket is stitched specifically to accommodate a round can and is insulated with neoprene so it’s like having your own personal beer coozie on you at all times.

The inner breast pocket is sized to fit a flask, because as any Southerner will tell you, there’s nothing classier than a gentleman reaching inside his jacket and presenting a flask as if out of nowhere as if by magic at exactly the appropriate moment. (That means not at a wedding, but possibly at the reception if it’s a cash bar…)

There’s a snappable ID pocket to make sure you don’t lose your license and possibly to keep it tucked away so that you don’t drive when you shouldn’t be anyway. There’s even a place on the label to write your name in case you lose your jacket or somebody needs to identify you if you happen to forget your name. That’s when the warm hood might come in handy in case you find yourself sleeping it off outside.

Perhaps the strangest feature are the insulated drinking gloves which are attached to the ends of the sleeves and can be tucked up along your forearms when not needed. They keep your palm warm and your fingers free for pull tab opening, although I can’t say that I’ve ever wished that I had drinking mitts ready at hand.

While certainly, these products are designed with tongue at least partially in cheek, we spend a lot of pixels here talking about ways to carry our gear with us at all times. So why not give the same treatment to your beer as you do your gear? These products are like the SCOTTEVESTs of booze, but without all the Shark Tank drama.

Hmmm, that x-ray view does look awfully familiar.

One of the keys to a fitness routine is … making it a routine. That means doing it on a regular basis, and for most people it means setting up a time pretty much every day when you can make it happen. For me it is 4AM runs, for others it is a post-work stop at the gym, and others have their own way of getting it done.

But what if you are not feeling great? Should you still work out, or are you better taking a day off? Here are five quick thoughts:

1. If you have a fever, just rest. Stay home and skip exercise, stay home from work or school, skip grocery shopping, and just get rest. It is better for you … and for everyone else.

2. A recent study shows that the Flu vaccine is made more effective through exercise. That is right, if you get your Flu shot and then take some time and get in a workout, your body is much more effective at developing and spreading antibodies.

3. If you are asthmatic or suffer from exercise-induced asthma symptoms, heading out in sub-freezing temperatures can exacerbate your symptoms. This is different from the old myth that you can freeze your lungs. In fact, the whole ‘exercise in cold is dangerous’ thing is a myth … it is just cold.

4. Here is the conventional medical wisdom – if your symptoms are above the neck (running nose, etc) then exercise can actually help and certainly won’t hurt. If your symptoms are below the neck (body aches, chest congestion, thick or colored phlegm, etc), better sit this one out … and maybe see the doctor.

5. If you have a cold and want to work out but are feeling less than energetic, try lowering the intensity of your workout. You could even switch up to a lower intensity or strengthening exercise instead of cardio-based activity.

Most important? Listen to your body and be honest – don’t hit snooze over a little runny nose … but don’t push through a workout when the only thing between you and a fever is the ibuprofen!

What are your exercise habits when you are not feeling great?

One of the big knocks on minimal running shoes is that the prices are anything but minimal. Most of the big brand name shoes cost around $100 a pair, which can feel steep for a slab of rubber and some cloth for the upper. But like all trends in fashion, designs do eventually trickle down to cheaper names. Target’s C9 by Champion offers all sorts of great athletic wear at low prices, and they’ve expanded that to shoes that look suspiciously like the Reebok Realflex, a popular transitional/minimal shoe!

Target is calling it the “Champion Premier” line, but the shoes look and feel like the Reebok Realflex, with maybe a touch of Nike Free DNA mixed in as well. What’s more amazing than the appearance is the price, at only $29.99. I didn’t try on a pair, but I did play with them a bit; they appear to be extremely flexible, and are very lightweight. For a runner on a budget, these are definitely worth trying on!

As many of you know, I am an avid hunter and outdoorsman. I hunt not only for the sport of it, but also because it is a way to feed my family. I hunt with a compound bow as well as a rifle, both with different goals. With my bow, the goal is to get the game as close as possible enabling a 20-30 yard shot. Conversely, I prefer to shoot at longer ranges with my rifle. Usually 200 yards and up, and to facilitate this I use a scope with a ballistic drop reticle. Basically, there are dots under the crosshair that help aiming at longer distances.

While this scope system works at these relatively close shots, many big game hunters must shoot around the 1,000 yard mark. These kinds of shots present a whole different set of challenges. Wind speed, direction and even the curvature of the earth all affect the flight of the round. At these distances, all it takes a slight shake or gust of wind to change a clean kill into a miss or worse than that, a wounding shot.

TrackingPoint has developed a custom rifle and scope combination to make long-range shooting more accurate. Using technology seen in fighter jets and drones, long-range rifle shooters can now confidently and successfully make shots at crazy distances. Below is some info as well as a must-see video.

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With the XactSystem, shooters can tag, track and hit their aim point exactly – a shot process referred to as Tag, Track, Xact™ or TTX – because the PGF automatically adjusts for range, temperature, barometric pressure, spin drift, wind input, cant, inclination and more.

• The XS1 is a 338 Lapua Magnum with 27” barrel, AAC muzzle brake, 6-35X zoom and Tag, Track, Xact™ precision up to 1,200 yards firing 300 grain Sierra Match King ammunition. [MSRP $22,500]

• The XS2 is a 300 Win Magnum with 22” barrel, AAC muzzle brake, 6-30X zoom and Tag, Track, Xact™ precision up to 1,000 yards firing 220 grain Sierra Match King ammunition. [MSRP $20,000]

• The XS3, also a 300 Win Magnum, is a McMillan A5 with adjustable cheek piece and 22” barrel, 6-30X zoom and Tag, Track, Xact™ precision up to 750 yards with 190 grain Barnes LRX™ ammunition. [MSRP $17,500]

The first three TrackingPoint systems will debut at the 2013 Shot Show in January.

click to enlarge

Here are some pictures from Judie’s meeting with Tracking Point at CES 2013.

Judie had this to say, after the fact:

I didn’t realize when I met with him that Jason Schauble, TrackingPoint’s President, is a Bronze Star with a V and Silver Star recipient, as well as a Purple Heart recipient for his service in Iraq. I simply found him to be a soft-spoken and interesting guy … but I suspect that’s the typical reaction people have after the fact, once they have met a hero.

You can find more information and sign up for updates on TrackingPoint’s site.

We’ve been fans of yurbuds earbuds since first seeing them at CES 2011. The earbuds have a special design that lets you wear them comfortably for extended periods and, thanks to their unusual design, the earbuds stay in place even when you are doing flips off the wall. Case in point…

The company has once again upped their game. The Focus Limited Edition ($99.99) and Inspire Limited Edition ($99.99) step up the fashion aspect of the earbuds by switching to a sharp black/red color.

The result is a line that looks sleeker than ever. Yes, sport earphones can now be fashionable.

The line continues to offer the same great design. One is Ambient-Aware (translation, if you are working out with the earbuds on you can still hear the world around you). The other is noise isolating (translation: they let you hear the world but also block out enough noise that you won’t have to pump up the music to hear it. Both styles offer Triple Magnet Sound™ technology, the company’s twist-lock technology, are sweat and water-resistant and have kevlar-wrapped tangle resistant oval flat cords. They even come with a premium case.

And if that wasn’t enough, the company will also be releasing two different styles of wireless Bluetooth headphones. They bring the same great, yurbud sports-friendly design to wireless headphones. The Bluetooth headphones will be available this spring.

It is impressive to see yurbuds go from nothing to one of the top ten best-selling headphones in America. Then again, Elana still uses the original pair of yurbuds which I got on the show floor at CES in 2009. Yes, they’ve been used almost every day for the past two years and she still love them. If they can win her over you know they are a quality product!

You can see the entire yurbud line here on the company website.

Geocaching is a scavenger hunt appropriate for adults or anyone who can follow a GPS.  The basic premise is that somewhere out in the woods, someone hid a treasure chest (or geocache), and in that chest is a collection of random goods including anything ranging from a heart necklace to a plastic stegosaurus.  The GPS coordinates will help you get to the area, and then it’s your job to find the actual geocache.

Geocache hidden under a rock

In order to begin your geocaching adventure, you must look up coordinates in your local area.  The website www.geocaching.com is a great place to start.  You can create a free account, which allows access to a number of coordinates in your area.  Once you’ve completed a search in your requested zip code, you’ll be able to choose your adventure based on the difficulty of the search, the difficulty of maneuvering through the surrounding terrain, and the size of the geocache itself.  You can also download the geocaching app onto your smartphone.

Some GPS coordinates are only accessible once you’ve solved a puzzle.  When my fiancé, Perry, and I went on our first geocaching adventure, we had to think back to our Hebrew school days when our puzzle asked us to translate Hebrew letters to their corresponding numbers in the alphabet.  The answer resulted in a series of numbers that led us to the geocache.

Perry and Allie spot a geocache

Once you have your coordinates, you are almost ready to go.  You need a GPS device or your smartphone with a full battery.  You may also want to bring some bear mace just in case you run into any geocaching bears.  You should also pack some items that you want to leave in the geocache.  The rule of thumb is, take one, leave one.  If you take an item from the box, then you must leave something in its place.  However, not all geocaches have items.  Some contain just logbooks and others contain tasks, such as “Draw a self-portrait.”

Here is a look at the inside of a geocache along with some of its treasures

Once you discover the geocache, you sign the logbook and then perform your exchange of goods or task.  You then must put the geocache in the exact same spot where you found it.  When you get home, you can log back into the geocaching website and enter your day’s progress.

Geocaching is a great way to get some outdoor exercise while still having a goal that you’re trying to achieve (in addition to burning calories!).  It’s also a fun activity for friends and couples who are looking to try something new.  Be warned, however, that you must be patient when reaching your destination.  The coordinates will bring you to the location, but not the actual geocache itself.  Luckily, Perry is the more patient partner ; he really scoured the area for the box, while my dog and I played fetch with an unending supply of sticks.

This is a micro geocache.  We were never able to access the message inside
because the previous geocacher screwed the geocache back into the rock too tightly.

Start collecting some coordinates and treasures now, so when the warm weather rolls around, you’ll be ready to get out there and begin your geocaching adventure!

Related: Geocachers: A Secret Society Stalking Your Streets

For a brief time, in a desperate effort to get my weight down (and against my Doctor’s advice), I tried doing the old C25K, the “couch to 5K” running program.  I did okay for a while until I was crippled by bad running shoes, horrific shin splints, and my general dislike of running for running’s sake.  But one thing I noticed was that it was a major pain to carry around my iPhone while running.  Many variations exist of a running case for your smartphone, and if you are a runner then maybe this one by USBFever will work for you.  And as usual, they have a plethora of other selections releasing this week:

• JOGPOCKET for iPhone / iPod touch / Galaxy S3 / Smartphones
• CLIPPING & HOLSTER case for iPhone 5
• CLIPPING & HOLSTER case for Samsung Galaxy Note 2 / II / N7100
• Book Type Crocodile Skin Pattern Leather Case for Galaxy Note II
• Hard Crystal Case for Apple iPad Mini
• Soft-Hard Stand Case for iPad Mini
• Stand / Skeleton Case for iPhone 5
• Stand / Skeleton Case Samsung Galaxy S3 / Siii / i9300
• Themed Back Cover case for iPhone 5 (Stanta Clus)

Oh, you knew it was inevitable; Christmas apps!  Despite Fox News’ annual insistence that there is a “War on Christmas”, you can’t (in Jon Stewart’s epic takedown) swing a dead elf without hitting an inflatable candy cane.  And the app store is, naturally, no different; loads of Christmas-related stuff showing up in iTunes.  (I’m kinda curious as to how they managed to turn the beloved holiday perennial “A Charlie Brown Christmas” into an app, but I digress.)  The one I’d like to tell you about today is Cartoonatic Christmas:

With Christmas and New Year just around the corner, make sure you have everything ready for the unforgettable and fun holidays. The new Cartoonatic Christmas (free on AppStore) will turn your iPhone photos and videos into animated art.

Change effects, add soundtracks, speed up the video and even turn on snowflakes while recording. Cartoonatic is the app for that! It’s hilarious, fun and what’s awesome - FREE.

And if you have ColorStrokes for iPhone, you get Cartoonatic premium in-app unlocked for free, otherwise it’s just $0.99!

Sound interesting?  Want to get the ol’ Christmas Spirit going on your iPhone?  Surf on over and check it out and if you do, be sure to let us know what you think below!

After a two-day brine in a simple solution of water, salt, sugar and a few favorite spices and an overnight stay in my refrigerator to dry the bird out a little bit to help ensure a crispier skin, I applied my favorite wet rub under the skin and all over the outside and got ready to smoke it.

Of all my outdoor cooking devices, and trust me when I say I have a few of those, I prefer to use a simple electric kettle smoker because it’s easy to fire up and keeps a very even heat level throughout the cooking process, which is really important during the seven-hour + smoke that a 14 lb. turkey requires. Unfortunately, over the years the heating element of my smoker has begun to wear out and it seems to lose a couple of degrees off of the top temperature every time I use it which can drastically increase the cook time. I’ve replaced the element once already but wasn’t smart enough to consider this before embarking on this year’s turkey.

I always use my iGrill when I’m smoking to monitor both the temperature of the meat and the cooking area simultaneously. As the morning progressed, I tracked the graphs of the probe inserted inside the thigh of the bird and watched it steadily creep upwards toward my desired temperature of about 175°. I was mildly alarmed when the temp seemed to plateau at about 150° and stayed there for a while after four hours of cooking. I did some mental arithmetic and thought I could still get the bird cooked in time for the expected onslaught of relatives who were expecting a big meal that afternoon. Then, the turkey’s temperature graph apparently reached a point of inflection and began to head down. Uh oh, nobody wants an undercooked bird.

I decided that I needed to employ an alternate cooking method in a hurry. Since most of the smoke flavor is contributed in the first couple of hours cooking anyway, I could have gotten away with finishing the bird in the oven just to bring it up to a safe temp, but I had already promised the oven space to my girlfriend who had lots of other dishes planned to go in and out of the oven during the hours leading up to supper. Plus guy=outdoor cooking, right?

So I figured I could crank up my Medium Green Egg and still complete the cooking over smoke and fire, thus preserving my man card. With time running out, I had to get the Egg up to cooking temperature in a hurry. Fortunately, I had the nuclear option available to me thanks to a trick I’ve learned from friends on the competitive barbecue circuit. I unhooked my propane tank from my gas grill and attached a 100,000 BTU garden torch. (NOTE: do not try this at home. Or at least don’t say that I suggested it.) After a quick Johnny Human Torch impression, the coals were hot and ready to roll. Here’s a picture of a friend of mine using this method on my Primo grill to give you an idea of the power I brought to bear. And how much fun it was.

Of course, there were still a few flare-ups, but I was prepared with a new product that the folks at Grate Chef had sent me earlier to try out. Flare Down is a specially formulated spray designed to help you safely put out grill flare ups while you are cooking out. “But why can’t I just use a spray bottle of water, Chris” you might be asking. Spraying water on a grease fire is extremely dangerous and can lead to just making the problem worse. If you don’t believe me, just watch this.

Flare Down uses a mixture of potassium salts and water to create a food-safe solution that can help put out grease flare-ups without affecting the taste of whatever you are grilling. Available for about $6.00/bottle at Grate Chef’s website, Flare Down is a must-have safety accessory for any frequent griller.

Luckily, Thanksgiving was saved and the turkey came out on time, very juicy and tasty. Our guests raved over the sweet, smoky flavor that my mix of hickory and apple wood added to the meat. They didn’t have to know how close they came to eating bologna sandwiches for dinner…

If you read my review of the Primo smoker vs. the Big Green Egg, you may remember that one of my complaints about my Egg is that it is impossible to add more wood to it during the smoking process without completely disassembling the whole shebang and having to find safe places to put the meat you are cooking and all the hot surfaces of the grill and the smoker parts. Recently, I have discovered another brand of kamado-type ceramic smoker that addresses that issue in a very clever way.

The Saffire Grill Company is based out of Illinois, and is a relative newcomer to the world of ceramic smokers. Their product is similar to the Primo and the Big Green Egg, but with a few new innovations. They have added an expanded cooking surface by providing a grate that can sit on top of the main grill in case you want to cook several items at the same time. They also have a cooking grid elevator that sits inside the charcoal compartment to raise the grill to the level of the edge of the smoker when it’s open. If you’ve ever tried to cook a homemade pizza in a ceramic smoker (and you should, like today! It’s delicious and a lotta fun.), then you’ll recognize how useful it is to be able to slide your dough flat across the pizza stone without the risk of burning off all of your wrist hairs or dropping the pizza in the fire.

But the biggest innovation is their ingenious “Smokin’ Chip Feeder.” This is a tray which fits through a slot in the side of the smoker which allows you to add chips on top of the fire and below the cooking surface without even having to open the lid of your smoker. Because remember, “Lookin’ ain’t cookin.” Every time you crack open the lid, you add time to your process by letting out heat and smoke. Instead, you can just pour your favorite flavor of wood chips down the chute without interrupting the cooking cycle.

Now I already have two kamado smokers, and I don’t think that I can justify buying a third. But if I was in the market for one, I would certainly give strong consideration to the Saffire. They are available on Amazon for under $900 or you can consult the company website to find a dealer near you. With their bright red paint job, they sure would look sharp on your patio when grilling season kicks off again next spring, and Christmas is coming…

Come to think of it, one of these babies would really dress up my back deck. Maybe I can start laying the groundwork with my girlfriend now. Don’t tell her what I’m up to!

Hurricane Sandy, the derecho and the upcoming winter season has had me thinking about what I carry on a daily basis. It also prompted me to consider what I might add to it to be better prepared.  In HAM lingo, we refer to this as our GO bag– the bag that serves in an emergency preparedness capacity.

Here’s a look at my Go bag.

The Bag Itself

My bag is a Swiss Gear Cobalt laptop bag. In fact, this is the same one I use as my daily driver laptop bag; it is available from Amazon for around $60 bucks. I use this bag because it offers numerous pockets, including two on the side for water bottles — which also do well when holding my handheld radios.

What’s Inside

My Dell XPS 15 laptop and its cord go in the laptop section;  I also throw a 1 TB Western Digital Passport drive  and its cable, along with a couple of Moleskine notebooks.  One notebook is my journal, and the other is for random notes. I would normally use Evernote to take notes, but if I can’t charge my device or if I lack connectivity, then Evernote becomes rather useless. That’s where old-school moleskins come in; they work even when the power is out.

My Kindle goes in the next section. It’s useful for entertainment and requires little to no power for days or weeks at a time.  In addition, if push came to shove I could use some of the Kindle apps for notes.  I also have my Zoom H2 Audio Recorder, a collapsible tripod, a cleaning cloth and my eye glass case in this pocket. Finally, this compartment  also holds my chargers.

There are two main outer compartments.  The one on the top holds the spare batteries for my radios, a 32 GB USB Thumb Drive configured with Multisystem (it offers the ability to boot any number of Linux distros) and a Windows 7 install disk.  I also keep the belt clip for my VX-7R, my Kodak Zi8 camera, a case with some converters and sd cards in it. An SMA to PL-259 adapter for plugging into other antennas goes there too.

The final compartment has an organizer that makes it easy to keep everything straight. This gets my Dexim Bluespot S3 USB charger, some Pilot G-2 Gel Pens, a small low power USB hub, an 8 GB thumbdrive, and the antenna and cable connector for my laptops HD TV card.

The pockets on the side hold my Yaesu VX-7R Handheld Radio and my Icom ID-31A D-star radio.  These pockets make it easy for me to grab a radio when one is needed and, once I am on frequency, I can just leave the radio in the pocket  and wear my headset.

Miscellaneous Stuff

I also carry a stick of Burt’s Bees Lip Balm, some Vaseline Men’s Lotion, my wallet, my keys, my Galaxy Nexus and an LED flashlight.

Things I plan to do to improve my bag.

Obviously my bag is far from perfect, and I plan to make a few changes to better configure this bag for my needs.

Batteries

I have a spare battery for my VX-7R, but my ID-31A only has one battery at the moment.  A spare battery for the ID-31A and a replacement for my VX-7R are in the cards.  I am also looking at picking up a Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation Pro. With its 6000 mAH battery it is capable of charging my phone multiple times.

Antennas

I am looking at building some ultra portable antennas that I can simply leave in the bag.  I want to build an antenna called a J-pole out of TV Twinlead cable.  Built from flexible materials this antenna is one I will be able to roll it up and simply throw it in the bag. It will take up little space in my bag so I’ll be able to carry three-  2m, 70cm and 6m- and then easily tack to a wall or the side of a tree with a pushpin.

I am also planning to add an HF radio in the form of a QRP(Low Power) Radio. Ideally I’ll get a Yaesu FT-817ND. When I do I’ll also get a dipole antenna that can be used on multiple bands.

Radios

The Yaesu FT-817ND HF Radio is not much bigger than my handhelds but can operate world wide without the internet. It can run on batteries so extra batteries and a power cable with Anderson Powerpole are also in the cards. It is worth noting that the Anderson Powerpole connectors are the standard in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service organization so as I show up to the center, I would be able to plug into power sources that are already in the plan for the emergency operations center.

Bags

Using my daily driver bag as my GO bag is a mistake. It isn’t all that big. As a result it would be of limited use in the field.  So I plan on getting another bag that can serve only as my GO bag. Most likely I would be interested in the High Sierra Cirque 30 or one with a small internal frame

That way one bag will always hold the antennas, the FT-817ND (once purchased), its antenna and an antenna tuner.   I will keep the bag in my station so I can just throw the handhelds and some of the other things I might need into it at a moment’s notice. And where possible, I will have some  duplicate items, like a set of rapid chargers and a couple moleskines and pens that stay in the bag permanently.  I may also purchase a Baofeng UV-5R for the bag. This dual band radio covers the 2m and 70cm amateur bands and, at $60, it is a cheap.

I’ll also throw in a netbook that can be used on the go.  Netbooks are much lighter, and in these kinds of low connectivity situations I don’t really need a lot of CPU power so Intel’s Atom chip should suffice.

Other Considerations

You might be away from the house for an extended period of time so it makes sense to have

-A couple sets of clothing

-A ziploc bag with some antiperspirant, body wash, a wash rag and a towel

-Some baby wipes and/or hand sanitizer

-Food such as granola bars or other non perishable items

-A few MREs

-Medication

-A coil of rope or parachute cord that can be used to hoist an antenna over a tree branch. (Plus it’s handy to have in case you need hang some clothes up to dry.)

Conclusion

In the wake of the recent weather disasters, preparedness needs to be taken seriously. While something is unfolding is NOT the time to start throwing your GO bag together; that time is now.

Now, when you have the time to plan what goes into your bag; now, when you can test the items going into the bag. After all,  what’s the use of having a radio if it doesn’t work when you need it?

You might want to participate in Field Day and take your go bag with you, or find out when the next simulated emergency test is and participate in it.

Make a GO bag, and the next time the power goes out you will be ready. And remember, when all other communication systems fail, Ham Radio works.

I started this post prior to losing power Monday night. In the middle of writing it, the power went out … and it stayed out until late Thursday night. We had no heat or electric; because we are on a well and septic system, we had no water. We had no internet and no phones either, since I had insisted we get rid of our landline a few years ago (Oops!). We, however, were among the lucky ones. We had no property damage, and the two trees that came down fell as perfectly as if I had actually planned the fall.

Unfortunately, much of my community remains without power, and it may yet be another week or more before everyone sees the lights go on. (That’s why you will currently see a few dozen people camped out in our synagogue recharging iPhones and iPads at any given time. Some are members of the congregation. Others are people who simply heard we have power had opened the doors to anyone who is cold and in need of a recharge.)

There were a few items that came in especially handy over the last few days, and I thought I might run them down in my first “I’m baaaaaack!” post.

First up, the JOBY Gorilla Torch Flare125.

The lights went out, and as Elana put out candles I realized no one had claimed the  Joby Gorilla Torch Flare 125 that we had offered as a giveaway item a few weeks ago.

I broke it out and got it ready; during the week it served us quite well, and I would often hear Elana say “Dan, where’s Joby?” Yes, it now has its own name.

What’s impressive about this particular flashlight is its ability to offer a number of levels of intensity. Add in the flexible magnetic tripod, and you have a flashlight that you can position on a flat surface or hang from anything metal. That ability came in rather handy when we returned to our pitch black house each night. (Why oh why couldn’t Sandy have visited when the moon was full?)

It is a terrific item to keep around, and I highly recommend having one or more.

Power:

Keeping cell phones and tablets charged was, and for many remains, a huge issue; luckily, the MyCharge backup battery came to the rescue.

I was lucky enough to get one of these 6000 mAh batteries at CES last year. It worked phenomenally well. Where this battery unquestionably stands out is in its built-in connectivity. The battery has a mini-USB, a micro-USB, a 30-pin dock connector and a full USB connector.

The battery can charge multiple devices at once. In my case that meant I could plug in my iPad using the 30-Pin connector, my iPhone 5 with a cable plugged into the full USB cable, and an additional device using the microUSB connection.

It worked like a champ, and it is at the top of my “Must Have” Gear list.

When I was in a place with power, the Belkin Multi-Plug Surge protector Carly recommended in our newsletter some months ago came in handy. This one device let me plug in two USB cables and three tablet adapters at the same time. It was not only convenient, but it also meant I could leave other plugs free for anyone else who needed to charge.

The power being out meant my AT&T microCell didn’t work. That meant we had little to no cellular connectivity. I pulled out the Wilson Electronics Sleek Cell Signal Booster (read the review) and set it up in one of our cars for those times when I REALLY needed to check email or make a call. It was, in fact, the only way I was able to get reception from home this week and with a congregation that was impacted as much or worse than I was I desperately needed to be in touch as much as possible. Thanks Wilson Electronics!!

Clothing:

It was cold, really cold at night. Two garments came in handy. First up was the iTouch touch-screen gloves I was sent for review last week.

These knit gloves have a special material on the thumb and index finger that lets you use a touchscreen device without taking off your gloves. The gloves are comfortable and, while you do need to press hard on the screen to activate it, they do work.

My biggest issue with the gloves is the large iTouch logo on the back of each of them. As I have noted previously, I have no issue with a company adding their logo to a product. But when the logo screams out like a billboard, I’m not a fan… and likely not to use the product.

The other garment that stood out for me was the Tilley Winter Hat I had purchased years ago and still love. The wool hat is warm in and of itself, but what makes it noteworthy is hidden… until you need it.

A built-in earmuff and forehead warmer flip down when you need some additional warmth. They may not look very fashionable, but they truly work; when you are cold, that’s all that matters. Finally, the hat has a hidden pocket inside the top portion where you can stow some cash or a card or two. Any don’t worry about the hat blowing off… it even has a strap to hold it on your head.

The final item that came in quite handy was the Skooba Laptop/Tablet Weekender Because we were conserving gas, and we still are since it is scarce in our area, one trip into the office per day was (and still is) all I was going to make. As a result, whenever we left we took a packed back of gear and clothing with us. The Tablet Weekender was perfect. The outside pockets too my laptop and my tablet along with the chargers I needed while clothing filled the voluminous interior space.

Oh, and there was one additional item that I appreciated more than I can express… the Libratone Zipp speaker we reviewed.

The Zipp packs a battery. That means it worked for more than a few hours despite the power being out. And its AirPlay functionality wouldn’t work once the internet was, and continues to be, dead, its AirDirect functionality meant we could stream high-quality music from our iOS devices despite having no power. It was a marvellous luxury in the midst of extraordinary times. You can read the full review, here.

Having the right gear undoubtedly helped over the last few days, and my list of “craved” gear is growing. It already includes a landline (read Carly’s post), a generator and a few more external batteries. Do you have any Emergency Gear you would recommend? If so, please let us know in the comments below.

We have now had three sub-30F mornings in the last two weeks … so I am thinking about my cold weather gear for running. Also, next month my younger son starts his annual ski team weekend jaunts, so again I am thinking gear. I have found that through the years maintaining finger warmth has become increasingly critical to my overall sense of comfort. By the coldest days I am often double-gloving in order to keep warm. But that was before; I am now running FOUR TIMES the distance and staying out twice as long. So I anticipate this year being a challenge.

The folks at Chaval get that we need to keep our hands warm – and they have developed some amazing new technology to address that need. Check out the illustration and their description of the alphaHEAT technology.

About alphaHEAT technology
Our heating technology is a paper-thin, polymer film, layered in all of the glove fingers (including the thumb). This film has a proprietary nanotech ‘programming’ that enables it to quickly react to temperature deviations to maintain a specific warm temperature evenly across the film surface. If a cold fingertip is slipped into the glove, the properties of the film at the fingertip will change and the film will automatically draw more power to increase heat production only at that fingertip. As the fingertip warms, the film properties will again change and automatically reduce power draw. This is “micro-regulation” – independent automated regulation of temperature in each individual finger (see attached tech illustration). The result is a feeling of perfect steady warmth, excellent power conservation (will heat 3 times longer than any other brand), and a significant reduction of required electrical components.

All of this technology does not come cheap – the price listed on the site is $389.97 for the pair of gloves. But when you look at the bulky electric gloves mentioned, they are at least $200 … and even normal gloves for skiing will cost you $100 – and then you need to add liners!

Check out the video:

Head to the Chaval site for more info! And by visiting you get the chance to enter to win a pair of gloves!

Add in a software solution for exercise and cycling technique training and you’ve got a nice little systems for serious cyclists who want to ratchet up their training. The POWERHOUSE system has modules to help you lose weight, improve your cardiovascular capabilities or just maximize the power of each pedal stroke.

Installation is fairly simple and straightforward. Since the main brains of the system are actually loaded inside you iPhone, the handlebar module is basically used to safely secure your phone to the bike and to handle the Bluetooth communication between the various sensors and your phone. I have asymmetrical handlebars, so the mounting of the case was a little problematic; I ended up having to head to the hardware store for some longer screws than the ones that were included with the mount. There are other mounting options available from iBike’s website, but my inelegant solution was simpler and easier for me. Besides, I didn’t want to wait to get training!

The main pieces of info that the Powerhouse needs to track your progress throughout the training are your speed and the cadence of your pedaling. These are captured and displayed from two sensors that you must attach to your pedal and the spokes of your rear wheel. In order to prevent marring the paint job of your expensive Italian bike (which I don’t have), these modules are secured using short zip-ties. Unfortunately, my pedal crank was too wide for the zip-tie to wrap around, so it was back to the hardware store. Luckily, it’s only a block from my house, and I just figured I was starting my new fitness regimen with a couple of short walks.

It is very important that you mount the two sensors as close as possible to the magnets on the spokes and pedals that transmit the data. Like 1/8 of an inch close. I had trouble initially pairing the sensors with my phone, but the incredibly helpful customer service walked me through the process and suggested that I move the sensors close enough together that they might actually occasionally make a little clicking sound as they touch while you’re pedaling. Once I got everything working, I was ready to start my workout.

The iBike POWERHOUSE ships with two modules. Well, actually you have to download them for free from the app store, but the free iSlim and PowerMax are plenty to get you started with. Additional modules like “Weekend Warrior” and “Brazilian Butt” are available for affordable purchase at the app store.

Your first ride is a fitness test, where you ride several intervals of easy and hard efforts while being coached through your BlueTooth headphones by world-renowned cycling Coach Hunter Allen. I know that there is some concern about riding with headphones on, so you can also just take visual cues from glancing down at your phone’s screen while you ride. If you do like to ride with headphones, you can also easily add your own iTunes playlists to play in the background of your workout. A friend of mine bought me one of these as a gift, so I can listen to music while I ride and still keep my ears free to listen for danger.

The training modules take about four weeks of frequent consistent riding to get through, and you can repeat or skip a training session if you want more control over your schedule. If you’d prefer to just use the POWERHOUSE as a cycling computer without having to follow a specific workout, you can set it to the “Free Ride” mode and pedal to your heart’s content while the device tracks your speed, ride distance, time and maps your ride.

After using the iBike POWERHOUSE for a few months, I’ve really come to appreciate its multiple utilities. It is a very sturdy and stable case for my iPhone while I ride. It serves as a way to stream music from my iTunes to my headphones while I ride, and the training sessions integrate well with the soundtrack and my fitness regimen. As a cycling computer, it is not a true power meter, but I don’t train to develop maximum wattage like some competitive cyclist do. Speed, cadence and distance info is really all I ask from a computer and iBike delivers that very well.

At $279, the Bike POWERHOUSE is not inexpensive, but then again neither is anything else that attaches to my bike. Cyclists eventually learn to avoid sticker shock and accept that their bicycle is just something to throw money at, kind of like a boat. If you are concerned about draining your iPhone while you’re on a long ride, an external battery and charger are also available for iBike and fit perfectly inside the case and mount.

If you’re looking for a way to get more mileage out of your mileage and kick up your bicycle training, give the iBike POWERHOUSE a try. Just don’t pass me going too fast. I’m probably older than you…

The iBike POWERHOUSE is available from the company’s website.

MSRP: $279.00

What I Like: Sturdy mount and case for my iPhone and my bicycle; Training modules are great motivation to keep riding consistently; Excellent customer service when I had an installation difficulty

What Needs Improvement: Attaching the sensors to the bicycle was a little difficult; The pictogram (IKEA-ish) installation instructions weren’t that helpful, but a quick phone call straightened everything out

One of my favorite times of the year officially started last weekend! The beginning of hunting season is always exciting and gives us outdoorsmen an excuse to spend too much time in nature. While the first weekend of bow hunting season was not fruitful for me due to the moon cycle, I did thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to spend some time out in the wild clearing my head and being one with nature.

One thing that is important while hunting is safety and location. Not only do you need to find your way back to civilization, but you never want to lose the good spots where animals were seen or where you plan to hunt again. Magellan kicks off this wonderful time of the year with two new GPS options complete with TRAX hunting maps.

Here’s more information from Magellan:

SANTA CLARA, CA –Oct. 1, 2012— Magellan, a leader in innovative GPS devices for vehicles, fitness, outdoor and mobile navigation, today announced two new Magellan® eXplorist® Hunter GPS Editions to give hunters a best-in-class  solution combining  TRAX hunting maps by Kirsch’s Outdoor Products with Magellan eXplorist Outdoor GPS receivers designed for the outdoor enthusiast. Additionally, current owners of Magellan eXplorist 310, 510, 610 or 710 outdoor GPS devices can now download their choice of Kirsch’s TRAX hunting maps at http://www.magellangps.com/Specialty-Maps.

The Magellan eXplorist 310 Hunter Edition includes a lightweight Magellan eXplorist 310 outdoor handheld GPS with a 2.2-inch color screen, rich graphics and a simple user interface. The Magellan eXplorist 510 Hunter Edition features a 3-inch WQVGA transflective touch screen to provide a high-contrast daylight-readable display that will assist hunters to see more areas of a map when navigating and planning their hunt. Also included in the Magellan eXplorist 510 GPS device are a built-in 3.2 megapixel camera for geotagged photos and recording videos, plus a microphone and speaker for voice notes during an adventure.

Available now from MagellanGPS.com and Magellan’s authorized retail and online partners, the Magellan eXplorist 510 Hunter Edition is $329.99 (MSRP), and the Magellan eXplorist 310 Hunter Edition is $229.99 (MSRP).

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I had posted about the Garmin ForeRunner 10 announcement previously, and we were expecting a review sample but had been notified that they were still waiting for stock before shipping. While acknowledging the message and thanking them for the update, I mentioned that it was too bad it wouldn’t arrive in time for the Wineglass Marathon I am running this weekend, but since I would be running a half-marathon in a month it was no big deal. Justin at Garmin got back to me quickly, saying that he would have one in my hands by Friday (yesterday) … just in time for the marathon!

My morning run had come and gone, but I was still able to check it out, get it charged up, and registered online. I took a quick look at it in terms of features and functionality, and found that it offered simple access to everything I needed. Here is my unboxing and first look:

But I couldn’t wait to check it out on the road. So this morning I went out for a quick final warm-up run, and I wore both watches for the couple of miles. Both linked to satellites fairly quickly, though I was surprised that the Nike+ linked faster (it is highly variable, and the other day never grabbed the satellite at all!).

I have a couple of small cul de sac loops that the foot pod of the Nike+ tracks well that seemed underestimated by the Garmin, but otherwise everything looked almost identical in terms of time and pace.

So now I will wear the Garmin for the marathon tomorrow, and report back about that experience soon!

D-Star is the newest mode I have recently added to my Amateur Radio arsenal.  I bought an Icom ID-31A D-star, radio which I will be reviewing here soon, but I wanted to share a little about D-star and why it’s a cool mode before I did the review.

The History of D-Star

D-star is a mode that was created by the Japanese Amateur Radio League in 2001 after doing three years of research.  JARL designed it as an open standard so that manufacturers could build the radios.  Icom is the first company to make radios for D-star, however they aren’t the only ones who do;  in Japan, D-star radios are also made by Kenwood.  However here in the states, Icom is the only manufacturer that produces D-star radios.

D-star is an open standard only in that anyone can choose to make radios that use the standard.  However, D-star is currently dependent on the AMBE (Advanced Multi-Band Excitation) codec, which is built into a chip that is included on every D-star radio. This codec currently is patented and requires a license to be purchased by the manufacturer from Digital Voice Systems, Inc.  It’s only recently that the prices of the license and this chip have come down to make it cost-effective to be included in many radios.  The first radio, the Icom ID-1 which is on the 1.2 GHz Amateur Radio band, is still available today and is still very pricey at $999.95.  The original MSRP on this radio was $1600 dollars, so as you can see, D-star started off as a really expensive mode and really took a while to gain in popularity.  Within the last few years, with both 2 m and 70 cm bands getting radios, D-star has exploded.  There was a long time where we didn’t have any repeaters here in Columbus, but we now have 2 different repeaters with modules on 2m, 70cm and one machine has modules on 23 cm(1.2 GHz) as well.  Worldwide,  about 6 repeaters are going on-line per month making it even more viable every month.

So what is it?

D-star stands for Digital Smart Technology for Amateur Radio. What it essentially is being used for today is for voice communication over a digital medium similar to your cell phone or a Skype session.  In fact, it even uses similar technologies to a modern GSM smart phone.

The above graphic is a very simplified flow of communications from one radio to another using D-star.  It’s similar to FM radio, and it even uses FM in its flow.  However, it does much more.  Your voice plus data is sent to the AMBE chip.  From the AMBE chip it goes to a GSM chip to prepare it to be sent to the analog FM radio.  From the GSM chip it goes to FM(Frequency Modulation) radio and on to the antenna.  On the other end, it’s the reverse.  The antenna picks the signal up as a FM signal, sends it to the GSM chip and then to the AMBE chip where the data and voice are split apart and then you hear the station as well as see any data he’s sent along with the transmission.  This all sounds complicated and it is, but in the end, it’s very simple for you to use once it’s all packaged in a radio.

Since D-star is a digital mode even when your voice is involved, it has many unique properties that really make a difference when it comes to range.  If you have ever listened to AM or FM radio you are familiar with how these signals will degrade as you move away from the station.  The same thing happened when we used analog television as well.  The farther you got away, the more static a station got until the static was louder than the radio stations signal.  Amateur Radio modes like FM, AM and SSB also have the same kind of degradation.  Well, with D-star, you need less signal as you are transmitting bits or ones and zeros.  D-star and other digital modes do not have fading like analog, because there’s either enough bits for the radio to decode into a signal or there isn’t.  That means you always hear the other station at full strength until ‘he drives off the cliff’, as we call it.  One minute the station will be there and the next he’s not.  It’s because of this property of digital signals that you get, on average, a 30 percent increase in range with the same transmitter over the analog modes.

D-star has two primary modes.  The first, and most common mode is DV, or Digital Voice.  In this mode, you talk as you normally would on an analog repeater, but it’s now digital on the D-star repeater.  Before I go into how that works, a repeater in layman’s terms is just as it sounds.  It repeats what it hears.  So you key up, and it simultaneously transmits what you say at a high power level.  In both the analog world of FM and D-star it increases the range of the local stations; in the D-star world it can get more interesting.

What do I mean?  Well instead of tuning in to the repeater as you normally would, you can also do some pretty fancy stuff that really makes D-star fun.  The first is using the gateway that is built into most D-star repeaters.  The gateway is, essentially, a connection to the internet.  The repeaters connection to the internet allows you to easily link to other repeaters on the fly.  You can also link to what I like to call internet repeaters, but it is truly called a reflector.  Reflectors are set up so that you can connect your local repeater to the reflector, and other hams can also do the same with their local repeater.  Reflectors are usually setup for specific reasons.  The most commonly used reflector out there is reflector 01C.  Some people call this one the megarepeater as there’s almost always someone connected to the reflector.  Using this reflector, I’ve been able to chat with stations in England, Columbia, Scotland, Japan, Germany, Russia as well as the United States.  Today while walking my dog, I chatted with NG9P, whose name is Dale, and at the time was located in Illinois.  When I first got my license, the only way you could talk to the world was to use a High Frequency or HF radio.  Those are usually not very portable due to the higher power needed, as well as antenna systems that measure not in inches but FEET.  It’s not very convenient to carry the 16 foot antenna needed to work on the 10 m band while your walking your dog.  With D-star you can do this easily from almost any location.

The second, and less common mode on D-star is DD or digital data.  The DD mode is usually reserved for the 23 cm (1.2GHz) band.  For that, you’d use the Icom ID-1 radio.  This radio connects to your computer with an ethernet cable turning the ID-1 into a wireless amateur radio network, essentially.  You can see other people’s hard drives and transfer files over the ID-1 as long as you are keeping the FCC regulations in mind (IE: No smut and no commercial use).  The speeds we are talking here aren’t anywhere close to 4G or even 3G, but they are pretty decent at 128K.  This is much higher speed than commonly used amateur radio packet modes on 2 m and 70 cm which top out at 9600 baud.  This could be very useful for transferring pictures from one local disaster site to another.  DD mode can also be used with repeaters with gateways as well.  Technically you could also use this to get internet access, but because of the possibilities of coming across questionable content, I would use traditional Internet services rather than relying on the ID-1.

Conclusion

D-star is the very thing that Amateur Radio needs.  Right now there just isn’t as much interest in the hobby like there was when I was a kid.  It’s seeing a resurgence thanks to the elimination of the morse code requirement, but it’s still not near the levels it was in my grandfather’s day.  In that time, Ham Radio was at the forefront of technology; they did things no one else did,  APRS did position reporting and tracking before Google did with Google Latitude.  There were whole companies that started out of someone’s desire to make something that wasn’t, and instead of patenting it they sold the parts and plans so you could make it too.  When the internet came along, it basically made what we did on ham radio common place.  I am part of a podcast that has people in 4 different states and an occasional guest from outside of the country and it happens on a weekly basis.  That makes ham radio look less interesting, because it’s so easy to do that with today’s technology — plus you don’t need a license to use Skype, Google Hangouts or Mumble.  D-star helps a lot with this.  You still need a license, but just this morning I was able to have a short round table conversation with M6DER from the UK and ZL1LIU from New Zealand all while taking my dog for a walk.  How cool is that?

While D-star is just the first new mode I added in the last few years, I hope that I will be adding something even more interesting in the coming months.  Stay tuned, and I’ll share what I learn as I continue my journey in Amateur Radio.  If you decide you want to make the jump into Amateur Radio and want to know what to do first, feel free to drop me a line!  73 (Best Regards in Ham Lingo)

Picture yourself stranded alone during a hurricane. The rain pelts the windows with oppressive vigor. A howling wind lifts lawn chairs off the patio. You reach into your pocket and grab your smart-phone. You’ve never been more desperate to check your twitter feed, but the battery’s already down to 5%. Four minutes later, that one tough level of Angry Birds: Space finally kills the phone. Out of nowhere, an enormous tree branch crashes through the living room window. You try to call for help, but you left your charger in the hotel room back in Atlanta.

What’s the solution? XPAL Power‘s SpareOne emergency cell-phone. It’s the only telephone in the entire world powered by a single ‘AA’ battery. The device boasts an impressive lifespan of 15 years on a single charge, as long as the phone goes unused. When the earthquake finally strikes, SpareOne delivers up to ten hours of talk time with just one Energizer battery. Incredible, right? It gets better. The device is operational between -22 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, making it the ultimate lifeline in instances of extreme temperature fluctuation. Really, it’s the ultimate communications lifeline in any emergency situation.

Need a great conversation starter? It turns out September is National Emergency Preparedness Month. Actually, you probably shouldn’t start a conversation with that. Regardless, XPAL Power is launching a line of new waterproofs bags to coincide with this national event. They’ll be shipping all SpareOne phones sold this month in these impeccable waterproof bags (which are submersible up to one meter – for thirty minutes). Additionally, they’re offering $10 off on all purchases made on SpareOne.com

If you’re in the market for emergency gear, there’s never been a better time to buy. Put away your pumpkin-flavored coffee drink and head over to their website right now. This amazing, ridiculous, phone is available on site for a standard $69.99. If you think that’s too much, tell that to your wife/husband when the power’s out and your house floods. It won’t seem like a lot when your life’s on the line.

For all things waterproof and battery-powered, keep it locked to GearDiary.

Most of our readers know I am an avid outdoorsman and hunter, but you all should also know I am a huge fan of our military. As a history teacher and patriot, anything that shows support for our troops is OK by me. I have many ex-students/athletes that have defended our nation bravely. One of my athletes gave the ultimate price, and my best friend took multiple rounds during the Battle of Fallujah and lived to tell about it. I also have a recent graduate who has become an Army Ranger.

With all of that said, I naturally like all things camo, especially digital patterns. When I saw the Moat Aroused Urban Camo case for the iPhone, I knew they had a winner. I love that it pays tribute to the military special forces.

Esoterism’s Moat-4 Aroused Comrade / Urban Camo aluminum case for iPhone 4 / 4S,pays tribute to the elite military forces.

Inspired from digital camouflage combatant uniform, the Moat-4 Aroused Comrade case is understated and battle-savvy in appearance. Urban Camo totem is laser engraved into space gray aluminum frame,a discreet craftsmanship piece that expresses one’s inner desire to strive in battlefield.

CNC craftsmanship transforms a uni-body solid block of aluminum to a piece of esthetic jewel for iPhones 4 / 4S. Simplistic and yet purposeful design curvatures evolves sense of secure and comfort feel holding in hand. Moat-4 completes iPhone 4 and 4S. Aluminum frames provides sturdy protection for iPhone 4S / 4 and non-conductive liners core prevents reception interference. All Moat-4s are compatible with most main stream earphones and transmission lines. The package completes with a mini-screw driver and two back up screws for easy installation.

Check out the case here, at the Esoterism site.

Get a Canon EOS Rebel T3i 3 LENS Bundle Includes 18-55mm, 2x Telephoto and Pro Wide Angle Lenses

(16GB SD memory and 20 Piece Bonus Kit) for $729.99 at Buy.com, a $845.01 Savings! Valid August 28-31, 2012