Amateur Radio Not Dead Yet

I spent most of the last four days in Dayton, Ohio, helping staff a booth at the Hamvention 2015.  This annual event attracts some 10,000 amateur radio operators, or “hams,” as they are called, from around the world.  Held at the Hara Arena, the convention took up almost every square inch of the indoor space and most of the adjacent parking lot.  My participation was part of a STEM outreach initiative being piloted by the National Voice of America Museum.

While as a kid I was interested in amateur radio and I have done my share of listening to broadcasts from around the world on my short wave radio, I never did take the test to become a Ham.  In fact in recent years I questioned why anyone would be interested in the hobby which enables you to talk to people around the block or around the world.  After all I have a perfectly good iPhone which enables me to do just that without the hassle of all that geeky ham gear.

Two things helped to change my mind during my time at Hamvention. First was the educational aspect of ham radio. As we strive to get kids interested in science and engineering study we first have to get them excited.  What better way than to begin with radio.  For a few bucks a kid can build a radio and begin to understand the fascinating technology behind it.  In our presentation to middle school kids we end our demonstration about electricity, magnetism and radio with two simple questions.  We ask if any of them has a mobile phone.  Even in the early grades many have one and all the kids certainly know about them.  The second question is, how many radios are built into that mobile phone. 

The answers vary widely but very few have any idea that the technology that allows them to text their friend, send a picture to their favorite aunt or find their way home with a gps, is using much the same technology found in the lowly radio on the kitchen counter.  In reality most smart phones have between 7 and 12 different radios built in. (the subject of a column to come)

The second realization that changed my mind is related to the mobile phone.  Our current mobile technology is wonderful when it works.  The fact is that for it to work requires countless devices and circuits.  Even a simple phone call across town will route your conversation in such a way that it will pass hundreds of points of potential failure.  Most of the time all works flawlessly, but in the time of storms or other disasters we have already seen that it can fail.  The simple point to point amateur radio communication is something we just might want to keep around.  The time is certain to come when we will need it.

Energy Vampires

Energy Vampires

I recently read an article about how most homes and businesses waste electricity every day.  The reporter was referring to the plethora of gadgets and devices that have become necessities in our digital age.  The article did a good job of identifying many devices that are energy vampires, but was short on advice to curtail this wasteful situation.  I had to chuckle as one of the few suggestions was to unplug your alarm clock.  I hardly consider using an electric clock an indication of being a spendthrift or energy waster.   There are several things you can do in order to cut down on hidden energy use and still be on time for work each day.

Take a cursory look around your house.  I bet you can find a dozen or more small power supplies plugged into outlets.  The cell phone or iPod charger, the telephone answering machine, the wireless telephone hand set, the electric screw drive charger and stove timer, all consume small amounts of electricity.  When you add them up and figure that most other houses on your street, in your town and in your state all have many of the same appliances, the amount of electricity being used is significant.

It is not practical to turn off some of these devices since doing so may cause memory loss and the need to re-program them.  For those of you without teenagers this can take hours.   In other cases, just unplugging chargers when not in use is a good start.

You can plug all the chargers into a power strip and when not using them you can turn the strip off.   If you are a bit forgetful, the power strip can be connected to a timer.  However, even the timer will use power but not as much as several chargers.

Here are a few other tips:

-         If you are going away for three or more days, turn off your hot water heater.

-         Put motion sensors on lights in hallways, garages etc.

-         Use only the amount of light you need for the task at hand.

-         Open those windows and use a fan instead of A/C.

-         And of course the obvious, use CFLs or LED lamps wherever possible.

The bottom line is that energy conservation is a cumulative thing.  If everyone does a few things, the impact can be significant.

Not your standard AA Battery

Say what you want about the almost clairvoyant faculties of Steve Jobs, I think that in many ways Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, is every bit of Jobs’ equal and he seems to come without all the baggage of the late Apple icon.    Musk is a Canadian American entrepenuer, engineer and inventor.  He is the current CEO and CTO of SpaceX.  CEO of Tesla Motors, and Chairman of SolarCity.  He is founder of Solar City and cofounder of PayPal.  Not a bad resume for a 43 year old.

Last week, Musk announced a new product from Tesla.  Building on the research and design work done for the all-electric car, Tesla has announced a battery that, when coupled with another energy source like wind or solar, can enable the average US household to someday go off the grid.

Dubbed the “Powerwall”, the battery has a depth of only about 7 inches and can be mounted on a garage wall or another surface, indoors or outside. It's roughly 4 feet high and 3 feet wide.  The Powerwall's price ranges from $3,000 for a 7 kilowatt-hour model and $3,500 for the 10 kWh version.  Even with a hefty installation cost, these prices are still far lower than the $20,000 estimate that some analysts had predicted.

For sure this is only the first of many products that will come to market as the industry tries to find ways to more efficiently generate and distribute electricity.  Today’s electricity grid is a complex marvel but is ageing.  Also, transmitting electricity over long distances is costly and inefficient.  As much as 15% of the energy is lost from the time it is generated until the time it gets to your home.  Placing the energy source close to the end user has always been the Holy Grail for large consumers of power. 

This won’t be the last we hear from Mr. Musk who has pioneered products and services thinking out of the box.  For example, in the development of the Tesla automobile he was granted several patents relating to batteries.  He announced last year that he would freely share the technology with any other competing firm in an effort to jump start the battery industry.

Batteries are not the only possible in-house energy source.  Some scientist and engineers are working on fuel cell technology.  A fuel cell about the size of a refrigerator and operating on hydrogen could someday power your entire house.  I bet Musk is already looking into it.