how best to get electricity for emergency prepareness

[A. Jacobs]

What is the size (wing span) and number of elements of your Yogi antenna?

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that A. Jacobs

What is the size (wing span) and number of elements of your Yogi
antenna?

Bearly enough, obviously.

 

[JeffM]

I can get channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 28, 44, 50, 56, and 58

Actually I can get more channels than that on UHF,
but they're mostly Mexican.
Rich Grise

....then there's the Bible-thumpers on 30 & 40
not to mention the 24-hour broadcast sales pitches.

So what do you watch on 44?
The programs in Japanese, Korean, or Mandarin?

 

[keith]

I read in sci.electronics.design that A. Jacobs


Bearly enough, obviously.

The ranger isn't going to like it, Yagi.

 

[nospam]

Naturally, it won't break when it is not running.

The fuel might "break", or go bad. IIRC there was a recent
thread on this.

You might get a 1500W power inverter running off your car.
That will run a furnace blower or fridge or microwave. Or,
cook on a camp stove (outside the house).

You'll have to have the car running while drawing significant
power. Even then, it might run down the car battery.
However, it is a lot cheaper and probably more reliable.

 

[danny burstein]

You might get a 1500W power inverter running off your car.
That will run a furnace blower or fridge or microwave.

make that a _maybe_. There are two very serious issues
with common inverters:

a) they don't do well regarding "starting surges".
Many items, when turned on, pull a _lot_ more
power than once they're running.

b) inverters often give you "square wave"
alternating current. This can do nasty things
to many appliances, especially motors.

You'll have to have the car running while drawing significant
power. Even then, it might run down the car battery.

A separate self-contained jumper battery with cables
and handles is about $30. One of the best investments
you can make... It not only makes it easier
to start your own car when you've left the lights on,
but is also a lot, lot, more civilized when helping
someone else who needs a jump.

 

[Rich Grise]

I read in sci.electronics.design that A. Jacobs


Bearly enough, obviously.

Have I made a Boo-boo? All seriousness aside, however, it's a 4-element,
made from .032" TIG welding filler rod, and I got the dimensions by
interpolating this guy's tables:
http://www.clarc.org/Articles/uhf.htm The elements are about 9" long,
tuned for TV UHF channel 56. I'd take a picture of it, but the elements
are scotch-taped and stapled to two popsickle sticks joined with a little
sleeve of milk-shake straw. I use an RS alligator clip-lead to connect the
active end of the driven element to the center conductor of the coax that
goes into the back of the TV.

Oh, all right - if you're going to twist my arm:
http://www.neodruid.org/images/ch-56-yagi.jpg 1280 x 960 == 459357 bytes

By the way, the "FM" in the title doesn't mean "Frequency Modulation" -
it means "F***ing Magic", because I can sit there INSIDE the RV, and
aim the thing to get an astonishingly good picture. ;-)

I'm seriously tempted to make another one for ch. 30, "PAX" - sometimes
they have some good oldies too, albeit I can live without the religious
parts. >:->

<maudlin drug-induced reminiscence>
I think it was worth the bother because chan. 56 has some of the old
classics, like "Magnum, PI" and "Columbo". I used to sit and watch them
with Mom when I was staying with her when she had to start taking care of
Dad. She always said that I looked like Tom Selleck, but you know how Moms
are about their kids. So anyways, these days, I'll lie there on the couch,
watching Magnum's antics, drinking booze and smoking pot, imagining Mom's
spirit there with me enjoying the show and fawning over how handsome I am.

Actually, the reason I bothered to make the antenna was because I'd
discovered "Becker", a kind of weird sitcom about some doctor ("John
Becker") played by Ted Danson, who's a cantankerous obnoxious old crank,
who does nothing but bitch and complain all the time, and the people in
the local diner and his office. The primary reason I started watching it
in the first place was because Terry Farrell was playing "Reggie", the gal
who ran the diner. Hubba hubba!

Hoo boy! Maybe I should have used one of my "Under the affluence of ..."
sigs!
</md-ir>

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Rich, Under the Affluence]

...then there's the Bible-thumpers on 30 & 40
not to mention the 24-hour broadcast sales pitches.

So what do you watch on 44?
The programs in Japanese, Korean, or Mandarin?

Korean, but I don't actually watch the shows, just ogle the Korean
babes in the infomercials. ;-)

(sometimes they have American babes in American-speaking info-
mercials, which is something to look at when there's nothing
else on. I kinda miss cable - "Showtime" used to have a morning
show called "Aerobicise", which was babes in slinky leotards
doing exercises, very slowly. <leer, snort!>)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[JeffM]

So what do you watch on 44?

Korean, but I don't actually watch the shows,
just ogle the Korean babes in the infomercials. ;-)
Rich

BTDTGTTS

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Bearly enough, obviously.

Your puns are becoming unBEARable.

 

[Pooh Bear]

Your puns are becoming unBEARable.

Hey. Stop taking our names in vain ! ;-)

Pooh Bear.

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Rich Grise <[email protected]>
wrote (in <[email protected]>) about 'FM UHF TV
Yagi was Re: how best to get electricity for emergency prepareness', on
Sat, 17 Sep 2005:

All seriousness aside, however, it's a 4-element, made from .032" TIG
welding filler rod, and I got the dimensions by interpolating this
guy's tables: http://www.clarc.org/Articles/uhf.htm

Such thin elements may not even give you 5 MHz bandwidth.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Hey. Stop taking our names in vain ! ;-)

Pooh Bear.

Oh, grow up, Pooh Bear! We all have our bears to cross! ;-)

 

[Ian Stirling]

At least in my area, you can watch TV with a regular TV antenna. The
quality will not be great, but probably good enough for figuring out
just what are the latest news.

The TV broadcast tower may well not have backup power for significant power
outages.

This is one plus of satellite, unless of course the uplink dish dies.

 

[Robert Latest]

Watch TV is not such as bad thing. That is where you can get the latest, up
to date, less hype and BS at the scene reporting from CNN.

Until you run out of battery / fuel power. UHF/VHF TV signals
have a range of only a few tens of miles (and less in an urban
area) as opposed to the thousands of miles that short wave AM can
travel. And your radio will play for weeks on a couple of D
cells, or indefinetely with a small solar panel.

Since the OP's concerns were mainly focused on the availability
of TV, refrigerator and microwave oven I can only take wild
guesses at what constitutes an emergency for him, and what kind
of lifestyle he seeks to sustain during one.

robert

 

[Robert Latest]

["Followup-To:" header set to sci.electronics.design.]

Your responders so far seem a bit too much upstanding citizens to have
mentioned a decent gun with lots of ammo. In a true disaster situation a
gun with ammo would be far more valuable than any of the above mentioned
equipment and toys. With a gun you can take what you need, defend what you
have, and protect yourself against other armed looters/unsavory characters.

You forgot to mention that a gun also comes in handy for shooting
at rescue helicopters.

robert

 

[A. Jacobs]

I like this idea of separate 12VDC car battery. Its easy and cheap and
do-able.
Please tell me more how you do it? I assume its not mounted inside your car?
Do you convert output to AC and send power into your house? How?

 

[Rich Grise]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Rich Grise <[email protected]>
wrote (in <[email protected]>) about 'FM UHF TV
Yagi was Re: how best to get electricity for emergency prepareness', on
Sat, 17 Sep 2005:


Such thin elements may not even give you 5 MHz bandwidth.

I didn't think of that. Thanks! It'll be ridiculously easy to
try some fatter filler rod - the weld shop has aluminum rod up to
almost 3/16". I could also use epoxy instead of scotch tape.

Thanks!
Rich

 

[Robert Latest]

["Followup-To:" header set to sci.electronics.design.]

You forgot a few important things.

3. Refrigerators -- a lot of food can spoil (for those of us who do
not eat out).

In an emergency it's best to rely on resources that don't need
technology and energy to stay available. Canned and dried food is
the way to go.

robert

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Robert Latest

Since the OP's concerns were mainly focused on the availability of TV,
refrigerator and microwave oven I can only take wild guesses at what
constitutes an emergency for him, and what kind of lifestyle he seeks
to sustain during one.

Wouldn't we all like to just be unscathed spectators at an emergency?

I didn't even wake up during the 1987 storm in England, even though my
neighbour's house suffered considerable damage. My house appeared
undamaged, but a few months later a ceiling fell down due to water
getting through cracked roof tiles.

There was no electricity but (heating) gas and water were OK.