October 1st, 2009
I love backpacking, but somehow, between school, family, and work, I’ve managed to go nine years or so since my last trip. Back in high school I went on a few multi-day trips on the Appalachian Trail and a couple of two week trips to Philmont Scout Ranch in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northeastern New Mexico. These days I’m in nowhere near as good of shape as I was back then, but I’m ready for another trip, regardless.
I think I’ve found my destination. Big Hill Pond State Park is near Pocahontas, Tennessee and is less than two hours from Oxford. It has several miles of relatively flat trails, perfect for the out of shape backpacker. Even better, it has four shelters, lessening the need for carrying a tent. I’ve never been, but I hear it’s a very nice place.
I’m looking for some guys to go with me. I’ve got a backpacking stove, first aid kit, and that sort of stuff. All you’d need is a sleeping bag and some appropriate clothes.
I was thinking the weekend of October 16-18th, leaving Oxford midday on Friday and returning Sunday afternoon. That should put us in the peak of the fall foliage with cool, but not too cool weather. Of course, I’ve let that date get awfully close, so I’m flexible.
Anyone interested?
Posted in Backpacking | 5 Comments »
September 23rd, 2009
Even though it seems like I’m always running late, I’m anal about keeping my watch accurate to the second. Thus, I’m a big fan of NTP and radio-controlled clocks. In fact, I’m considering getting one of those “atomic” Casio watches.
Last month NIST updated WWVB Radio Controlled Clocks: Recommended Practices for Manufacturers and Consumers (PDF), its guide to making and using WWVB-controlled clocks. WWVB operates at 60kHz, way down in the low frequency band. A half-wavelength antenna for WWVB would be a little over a mile and a half long. NIST also operates WWV, which broadcasts at 2.5, 5, 10, 20, and 25MHz.
Building a WWVB-controlled clock is on my list of electronics projects, but it’s not one I intend to get to anytime real soon.
Posted in Amateur Radio, Electronics, Technology | No Comments »
September 17th, 2009
I’ve got too many electronics projects going, but I’ve already got my next one picked out. It’s KD1JV’s ATS-3B, billed as “the world’s smallest, lightest, six band HF CW rig.” Steve Weber, KD1JV, is a serial designer of QRP radios and accessories. The whole thing fits in an Altoids tin and puts out four watts on all bands. (My SW-40+ only puts out 2-2.5W.) It also has a DDS VFO and a built-in keyer. Band switching is done using removable band filter modules. The whole thing is controlled by a PIC microcontroller, which some people have reprogrammed for additional capabilities. It seems to be very well though of by those that have one.
The ATS-3B was designed by Steve to be the ideal radio for backpacking. He lives in New Hampshire and backpacks the Appalachian Trail often. (ATS stands for Appalachian Trail Sprint.) I haven’t done much backpacking lately, but I’m looking to get back into it soon.
Most ham kits use through hole parts, which are easier for some people to handle. The ATS-3B uses lots of surface mount parts, allowing it to be very small. I’ve used surface mount parts on a couple of projects and actually prefer them. I’ve always soldered them by hand. Steve seems to prefer the solder paste/warming plate/embossing gun method. I’m not sure if I’d give that a try or stick with soldering by hand. Here’s a YouTube video of Steve doing it both ways.
Steve only offers ATS-3B kits periodically. I believe he’s offered them about three different times now. He’ll be offering them again sometime in late fall, and I’ll be ready. This will also be the last time Steve will offer this kit, as some of the parts he uses are being phased out. He’s already working on the ATS-4, which looks to be a very nice (though somewhat larger) radio.
Posted in Amateur Radio, Electronics | 1 Comment »
September 13th, 2009
Ole Miss didn’t play this weekend, but I had planned a “what happened in college football this weekend” post anyway. Alas, I have a class to prepare for tomorrow night and numerous other things to do, so you’re going to have to fend for yourselves. Top 25 scores. SEC scores. James, considered yourself spared.
Posted in Sports | 4 Comments »
September 7th, 2009
Ole Miss fans were hoping for a blowout, and we got one, but not the one we wanted. We looked pretty rough the first three quarters. It was only 17-7 going into the fourth quarter. Snead threw two interceptions and our defense looked a little porous at times against a relatively weak Memphis offense.
On the other hand, we did score 28 points in the fourth quarter. But, then again, we’re still talking about Memphis here. A lot of Ole Miss fans would have been very depressed if not for that flash of hope in the fourth quarter. I was a little pessimistic before the game, and I haven’t seen anything to calm my fears yet. Our next game is Southeastern Louisiana in two weeks.
Elsewhere in the SEC, Florida dominated Charleston Southern, Kentucky looked impressive against Miami (Ohio), South Carolina won, but looked weak against NC State, Tennessee blew out Western Kentucky, Vanderbilt blew out Western Carolina, Georgia lost to a tough Oklahoma State, Alabama looked sloppy at times, but beat a good Virginia Tech team, Arkansas beat Missouri State, Auburn looked a lot like us against Louisiana Tech, LSU looked sluggish against Washington, and Mississippi State looked decent against Jackson State.
Nationally, No. 6 Ohio State just barely beat Navy at home. No. 3 Oklahoma was beaten by No. 20 BYU, and their QB, Sam Bradford, was injured. No. 14 Boise State beat No. 16 Oregon at home and everyone is acting surprised. Boise State, you’re obviously pretty good. Could you perhaps join a real conference so I don’t have to listen to people be surprised when you win?
Finally, if you haven’t heard about the punch, please get out from under your rock. Blount was suspended for the year. Too much? Maybe, but not by much.
Posted in Sports, University of Mississippi | 2 Comments »
September 7th, 2009
Below is a picture of Luke and Liam’s “new” playset. My dad and I actually built it back in late May, I just haven’t gotten around to posting about it. I’m pretty impressed with it. It’s a very nice playset for a reasonable price. It’s made by Rainbow, and we got ours at Wal-Mart. Luke has gotten quite a bit of use out of it already (Liam not so much).
By the way, my lawn looks much better now than it does in the photo. It’s amazing what a little fertilizer can do.
Posted in Family | No Comments »
August 12th, 2009
Or it is “Tweeting?” I’m not sure. Whatever it’s called, I’m doing it. I resisted Twitter for the longest, just like I did with Facebook, but I finally gave it a try a few weeks ago.
It gives me a nice outlet for things that I find interesting, but not quite interesting enough for a blog post. It’s certainly not for everyone, but if you enjoy my blog posts, you might enjoy following me on Twitter.
I’m using TweetDeck as my desktop client, though I haven’t been able to get it installed under Linux just yet, even though it’s supposedly compatible. I also use TwitterFon on my iPhone.
Posted in Technology | No Comments »
August 11th, 2009
As I mentioned last week, we went to see The Wiggles in Memphis at the Cannon Center. I’ve finally gotten around to processing the pictures I took, and you can see them all here. The front row is a very picture friendly spot, though maybe not the best place for small kids.
Family photo
When got to the Cannon Center, Liam had been cooped up in the car most of the day, and he decided that he was not going to be happy unless we let him crawl around. Luke was enjoying himself until he tripped and fell pretty hard. I think that threw him off the rest of the night.
Luke's Jimi Hendrix Impression
Neither of the boys were as enthusiastic as we had hoped. They never took their eyes off the stage, but the big smiles we were expecting just weren’t there. Cassie and I have speculated as to the problem, but we really have no idea. Luke was dancing and singing to one of his Wiggles DVDs before we got out of the parking garage. It’s just one of those things I suppose.
Murray playing his guitar
All that said, we’d go back in a heartbeat. In fact, Cassie has already been trying to talk me into catching another stop on this tour. It’s probably not going to happen, but we’ll definitely see them if they come back to the US in a year or two.
Anthony and Jeff
We were under the impression that they would do mostly songs from their newest DVD. That had me a bit concerned, because they boys haven’t seen that one yet. As it turns out, they did maybe one song from their new DVD. the rest were old favorites.
The Drum Line
The Finale
Cassie and Luke
Posted in Family, Photography, Travel | 3 Comments »
August 11th, 2009
One of the highlights of my Tuesdays is Harper’s Weekly Review. Sent out via email every Tuesday, it summarizes the previous week’s news. They strive for brevity and wit. I often see a bit of news that I’ve managed to miss. Subscribe, you’ll thank me.
Posted in News | No Comments »
August 11th, 2009
The preseason USA TODAY Coaches’ Poll was released last week and Ole Miss is ranked 10th behind SEC teams Florida(1), Alabama(5), and LSU(9). We could certainly be that good, but I want to see a little football played before I get too excited.
After our 9-4 season last year (with the bowl win), it’s going to take at least nine regular season wins to keep the fan base happy. We have a reasonably soft schedule, so If we’re anything like as good as they say we are, 8-4 in the regular season should be no problem. Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, and LSU will be a little tougher, but are all beatable.
We’ll know a lot more after the Memphis game. I’m hoping for a blowout. Anything other than a solid win and we start dropping in the rankings.
Posted in Sports, University of Mississippi | No Comments »