You might think ham radio is all about the radios, but it’s really about the antennas. That becomes apparent when you move into the long-distance HF bands, where having the right antenna type at the right length with ideal placement makes all the difference. You can have a fantastic 100-watt HF transceiver like the Icom
Store shelves from coast to coast are increasingly bare. Biden says shelves being 11% empty is not much different than before the pandemic. It looks pretty different to me, folks: Pay in the UK is not keeping up with inflation, and for most people this means, essentially, that they’re getting a pay cut. In the
The US is desperately short on blood. People are dying in hospitals from a lack of blood supply. Please consider donating. If folks tell me in the comments they’re going to go donate, I will pop on that n95 and go donate in solidarity, too. A volcano in Tonga erupted in spectacular fashion this week.
When I worked on the best receive-only emergency radios guide — the kind that don’t need a license since you don’t transmit — there was one model at the top of my mind: the C. Crane Skywave SSB. Highly regarded by amateur radio enthusiasts and shortwave fans, this radio receiver picks up the common things
The Supreme Court shoots down the federal mandate for testing/vaccines for companies employing over 100 people, but upholds mandates for health care workers: Poland says the risk of war with Russia is higher than it’s been in decades: The Department of Justice (DOJ) is forming a Domestic Terrorism Unit. Although it’s clear that polarization is
Bird flu is spreading around the world. Millions of poultry birds have been culled to prevent the spread of the disease, and millions more are at risk. Chickens in Maine could be at risk due to proximity to infected chickens in Canada. This avian flu can be passed to humans, but so far this has
There’s snow across the South and the East Coast with hundreds of thousands left periodically without power. This storm system is now forming into a huge bomb cyclone that could hit the British Isles and Europe. This weather wreaked havoc with ground and air transportation. Thousands of drivers got stranded overnight on the I-95 in
So many firefighters were out sick and isolating with COVID in San Diego County that operations (including emergency response) had to be cut back. Seven engines were pulled from service temporarily. There’s been a huge sewage spill in Southern California impacting beaches from Los Angeles down to Orange County. Mass beach closures were enacted as
Huge, December wildfires in Colorado have forced the evacuation of two towns with populations of tens of thousands of people. Wind gusts are very high and are driving multiple, fast-moving wildfires. The traffic to evacuate is at a standstill in places: Renewables power about 20% of our energy grid. Researchers at Stanford used modeling to
The Western US is getting blanketed by snow and rain. The Sierras and their foothills have many areas that are essentially impassable at the moment. Seattle had a white Christmas. Other parts of the US are getting unusual amounts of heat for December. Hundreds upon hundreds of holiday flights were cancelled due to severe weather.
The US Army has created a coronavirus vaccine that could prove to be effective against multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 and even previous SARS viruses. This is huge news. The vaccine has cleared phase 1 trials and is entering phase 2. It’s being tested against Omicron. The work on this vaccine was done at Walter Reed.
The typhoon that hit the Philippines on the 16th and 17th of this month, dubbed Rai, has killed 375 people. Scores of others are missing. Folks are short of food and fresh drinking water in the aftermath. Nearly 400,000 people fled coastal areas as the typhoon approached. The US government is placing trade restrictions on
Something extremely odd happened this afternoon. The press, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Axios, reported that the CDC had announced that 73% of US COVID-19 cases were now being caused by the Omicron variant, and major public health gurus like Ashish Jha, Eric Topol,
It’s possible you end up in an emergency situation where you have to deal with human waste management. Maybe you’re sheltering at home but the toilets don’t work for weeks. Or shit has really hit the fan (sorry, couldn’t resist) and you now have to grow food to survive but you can’t buy store fertilizer.
Punchline: Good as a gift or hobby, but not for prepping This past summer, I was experiencing FOMO from reading all the amazing posts from Josh, Redneck, and the rest of the community, and wanted to start planting something in my backyard. I can’t plant anything directly in the soil, so I knew that my
