KB9VBR Amateur Radio » Fun Stuff

New Year’s Day Brunch

Michael Martens — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:40:23 +0000

New Year’s day is usually a pretty relaxing holiday the family. The stress of the holidays is over so New Year’s is about relaxation and slowly getting back into the regular work/school grind. After getting up at a reasonble time, I put together our traditional New Year’s Day brunch. This year’s meal featured: Belgian waffles topped with Bananas Foster, Nueske’s applewood smoked bacon, and mimosas.

Follow the links for the recipes, continue reading for the Mimosa recipe.

Mimosa
The mimosa is a champagne punch that got its start in France sometime in the 1920s. Making mimosas are easy and they are a great addition to any brunch menu.

Fill a fluted champagne glass with:
2 parts Orange Juice
3 parts Champagne or Sparkling wine

Some recipes call for ice, but don’t bother with it. Ice just dilutes the drink; using chilled juice and champagne is sufficient for a chilled drink.

Starting fire without matches

Michael Martens — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:34:22 +0000

The consummate skill of any Boy Scout is to start a fire without matches. One of the Second Class requirements is to properly prepare and light a camp fire, but you no longer need to light the fire without matches. None the less, starting a fire without a math is a fun and very rewarding experience.

There are scores of methods for starting fires without matches. One method involves using a hot spark or swedish fire tool and some char cloth. here is a great video on how to make your own char cloth.

Bicycle Mobile Amateur Radio

Michael Martens — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:38:31 +0000

This weekend I gave a short presentation on bicycle mobile amateur radio at the Wisconsin ARES/RACES Leadership Conference. Ever since I’ve been an active cyclist I’ve carried a small HT with me. I’ve also ridden in several Bike Wisconsin rides across the state as a member of the SAG team and a bike mobile ham. Cell phone coverage can be very spotty while riding in rural areas, but I’ve never had an issue making a contact using amateur radio. If I’m riding locally, I’ll use the duck antenna on the radio. But for longer rides, I’ve got a half wave end fed 2 meter antenna that I built out of coax and a bicycle flag. This antenna’s performance is outstanding and I highly recommend it over any other type of antenna for the bicycle. My presentation notes and antenna plans are below.

Bicycle mobile amateur radio

2 meter end fed half wave antenna

“Out of the Northwoods” Uncovers Paul Bunyan’s Wisconsin Roots

Michael Martens — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:21:17 +0000

“The real Paul Bunyan of lumber camp storytelling lives through Michael Edmond’s superbly researched, richly illustrated, and engagingly written study. The last and best word on Bunyan!”-James P. Leary, professor and director of the Folklore Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Who has heard tall tales about the lumberjack hero Paul Bunyan and his big blue ox. “Out of the Northwoods” tells the true tale of Bunyan’s origins in the Wisconsin northwoods. It includes eyewitness accounts of how the first Bunyan stories were shared on frigid winter nights around logging camp stoves in the Wisconsin pinery. It describes where the tales began, how they moved out of the forest and into print, and why publication changed them forever.

By sifting through the unpublished manuscripts of early editors of the tales, Michael Edmonds unearths dozens of authentic Bunyan stories told aloud by Wisconsin lumberjacks between 1885 and 1915. Edmonds recounts a saga of lies, hoaxes, thefts and greed that transformed the private jokes of working-class loggers into mass-market picture books for toddlers. The central characters include a genial northern Wisconsin con-man who claimed he invented the lumberjack hero, a spunkyUniversity of Wisconsin co-ed who collected the tales in logging camps in 1915, and a mild-mannered curator of the Wisconsin Historical Museum who lifted federal documents to keep the truth alive.

The Wisconsin Historical Society Press, founded in 1855, is the state’s oldest publisher.

Home Chemistry

Michael Martens — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:29:37 +0000

When I was 12 years old, I received a chemistry set for Christmas. This set had all the chemicals, test tubes, alcohol burner, and an instruction book filled with hundreds of experiment. Much to my dismay you can no longer purchase chemistry sets like this. This is too bad, as not only did I learn about the scientific method, (chemistry was one of my favorite high school subjects); but I also picked up a healthy respect for chemical compounds. These set where quite safe, but in today’s litigious, drug and terrorist fearing climate, the home chemistry set has gone the way of the Dodo.

Fortunately there are people who don’t think this way. Robert Thompson’s excellent book, Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry, works hard to recreate the home chemistry set. Never mind the fact that you have to search down all the chemicals and labware; and the fact that some of the compounds are now restricted by the DEA so you have to synthesize them yourself. But with a little effort you can be following the scientific method and running scores of experiment found in this book. According to Thompson, if you do every experiment’s in the book, you will have done the equivalent of 2 years of high school or one college level chemistry course. Great reading, I highly recommend it.