Ever Thought About Amateur Radio?

Have you ever wondered how you could get involved in ham radio?

It's easy. There is a wealth of information online including study sites, practices tests, and the complete test question pool for each license class. In addition, many local clubs hold classes. In case you haven't already heard, learning Morse code is no longer required.

Study the questions, contact a Volunteer Exam Coordinator, and show up for the test. There is a $14 test fee.

More on cooking systems

Here are a couple new(er) arrivals to accompany my earlier review of portable cooking systems.

First is a how-to for building a soda-can stove. This concept has been around for a while, and it is widely used by travellers and ultra-light hikers. An ingenious concept - MacGuyver to max.

Next, the wood-gas stove is a concept similar to the larger Vesto. This stove will burn almost any solid fuel.

The Kelly Kettle - brilliant for brewing a fine cup of tea

I learned about the Kelly Kettle on Wikipedia, and Outdoor Idiots has an entertaining article about this fascinating device. It appears the Kelly Kettle was invented by Irish fishermen for making tea in remote locations. With only a limited amount of time and fuel, one can have one or two cups of tea.

It is available from the Kelly Kettle Company in County Mayo, Ireland. The Eydon Kettle Company in the U.K. also sells a version called the Storm Kettle.

The New Zealand army used a similar device, called the thermette, during World War II.

No more code

It's official: Effective February 23 the FCC will no longer requires learning morse code (CW) to pass any of the ham license exams. Kinda sad and the end of an era. FWIW, CW still has legit uses, and is the best mode of transmission for long distance and lossy conditions. The first hams on scene after the Indonesian earthquake of 2004 used CW to pass their traffic.

Community Emergency Response

If you are interested in emergency preparedness, you should check out the Citizen Corps. As part of the Citizen Corps, the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program offers free online training through FEMA.

The main focus is to help out your community after a disaster, although "disaster" can refer to events all the way from a house fire, to a winter storm, to a major disaster.

I recommend taking the Incident Command System (ICS) courses to get a good understanding of CERT and how it fits into local and state emergency response. Start with the IS-317 (Introduction to Community Emergency Response Teams) and move on to IS-100 (Introduction to Incident Command System) . There are many other courses that might interested you; study materials are available without registration, but you'll have to fork over your SSN if you want to take the test and get the certificate.

How to Find Help After an Emergency

Business Week has a great list of resources for getting assistance after a disaster. It's targeted at Katrina victims but contains great links for anyone needing help.

The Seattle Times also has an excellent article on preparing for a disaster, as well as a printable disaster tip sheet.

One of the latest recommendations coming from unfortunate Katrina victims' experience is this: 72 hours of emergency supplies is not enough. Experts are now recommending a week's worth of supplies, including water. As many Gulf Coast residents also found out, the police and other emergency services aren't prepared to respond even if the phones work, so people should be prepared to protect themselves.

Cooking systems

I was talking with another outdoor enthusiast about cooking systems, specifically outdoor dutch oven cooking using charcoal briquettes. He brought the multi-fuel pyromid cooking system to my attention. It's pretty efficient, and has add-ons for baking. The whole unit folds down into a compact package. The literature proposes it as a possible solution to some of the fuel shortages (read: deforestation) in rural Africa.

A couple days later, I was at the African village display at the local zoo and noticed the design similarites between the Pyromid and the Kenyan Clay Jiko (KCJ), an effort to get folks away from their highly inefficient and unhealthy traditional cooking fires.

Some reading about the KCJ revealed another African design: the Vesto. It's a stove based on a five gallon paint can. It's built in South Africa and costs considerably less than the Pyromid, although it is more bulky. It would certainly be useful for camping and emergency use. I'm still looking for a source in the U.S.