By Brad Horn, from NPR

Caves are some of the last places on the planet left to explore. Though caving is relatively safe, if something goes wrong deep inside the Earth, a rescue can take days — in part because cell phones and walkie-talkies don’t work underground. But a remarkable teenager in New Mexico has invented a device that may significantly speed that process with the ability to text from underground caves. The young man’s invention may have other applications, as well.

Underground Transmission

Alexander Kendrick, 16, won the 2009 International Science Fair for inventing this cave-texting device. The award got the teen from Los Alamos, N.M., a new computer, a trip to Switzerland and $12,000.

Image credit Brad Horn for NPR

I wanted to find out why this thing was such a big deal. The next thing I knew, I was hanging from a rope in the bowels of the Earth and groaning under my breath.

I was with a team of cavers in Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, heading 1,000 feet underground to test Kendrick’s invention.

The device is something like a computer attached to a ham radio. It transmits data using low-frequency radio waves that can penetrate rock more easily than high-frequency transmissions, like those in FM broadcasts.

If this test succeeded, it would be the deepest known underground digital communication ever to take place in the United States.

The Difference Between Life And Death

Why would anyone want to text from nearly 1,000 feet underground?

Here’s why: In a 1991 New Mexico cave rescue, it took 170 people four days to save a woman with a broken leg. The rescue team had to lay miles of telephone line in order to stay in touch with the surface.

If they’d had Kendrick’s radio, the rescue time may have been cut in half.

That could make the difference between life and death.

‘It Could Save The Cave’

The other reason this thing’s a pretty big deal: science.

Diana Northup, a microbiologist at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, says cave scientists find microorganisms in these deep caves that might have the potential to kill superbugs.

“Microorganisms that live in such a low-nutrient environment actually put out antibiotics, they produce them,” Northup says.

But scientists think one of the biggest threats to this emerging source of antibiotics is actually the scientists themselves.

In fact, researchers believe the more they visit a cave, the less likely they are to find antibiotics. People contaminate the sensitive cave environment just by being there.

Northup thinks that by connecting data recorders to Kendrick’s radio, scientists could remotely transmit information about the cave environment.

“So a cave radio that allows you to beam data to the surface rather than visiting it in person can be extremely valuable,” she says. “It could save the cave.”

Success

Back in the cave, we arrived at the test spot exactly 946 feet underground. The radio was being set up on the edge of a big pool of blue-green water pocked with stalagmite islands. It was 68 degrees, but incredibly humid.

Kendrick and the team pulled pieces of white PVC tubing from their backpacks and assembled the radio’s antenna, which looks like a 6-foot-wide tick-tack-toe frame with wire wrapped around it. Kendrick’s dad, Brian, was about to hike to an identical unit sitting directly above us on the surface.

They synchronized their watches, and Brian Kendrick and another caver climbed the steep, dusty slope above us. Then we waited.

Two hours later, after calibrating the devices, Alexander Kendrick typed the word “happy” on a rubber keyboard and pushed send. Up above on the surface, his father stared at a small screen hoping to see the word.

The message “appy” appears. Not the entire word, but good enough. “That’s digital data coming through at 950 feet,” says Brian.

Now Alexander Kendrick has to fine-tune the radio to make it smaller and tougher and easier for rescue crews to get down into caves.

That will have to wait, though, because he’s busy working on his 2010 science fair project — a device that finds underground rivers by measuring their electromagnetic currents.

I don’t know what problem he’ll solve next, but I hear there’s this thing called global warming.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Join GeoScouting.com for a Webinar on February 3.

Reserve your Webinar seat now!

Learn about two exciting new Get in the Game! geocaching activities for councils, districts, and units. We’ll also share with you some fun geocaching ideas from councils across the country and give you more tips on how to make the most of your council starter kits.

We hope you can join our Webinar live, but if you can’t, it will be recorded and posted to the Anniversary Academy page on YourSource. Feel free to repost this for anyone who may want to attend!

Get in the Game! Race to 2010 and Cache In, Trash Out Geocaching Activities WEBINAR

Date: Wednesday, February 3, 2010 (TODAY)

Time: 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. CST

After registering, you will receive a confirmation e-mail containing information about joining the Webinar.

Make sure to check it out!

Popularity: 4% [?]

Check out Leigh Klotz (WA5ZNU)’s demo of APRS at Maker Faire 2009!

Did you think this was cool? Then be sure to attend TechFest 2010 on February 14 in Beaver County, PA, around 30 minutes from Pittsburgh, PA. Be sure to visit the official TechFest website for more information.

Popularity: 4% [?]

By Linda Wilson Fuoco, from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Boy Scout Troop 405

Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette Boy Scout Michael Deschaine delivers a sofa to a sixth-floor apartment in McKeesport’s Isbir Manor. Michael was joined by family and Scouts from Troop 405 in Baden to deliver furniture to clients of Pittsburgh Mercy Health System’s Operation Safety Net, which helps to improve the lives of the homeless.

When Michael Deschaine of Baden embarked on his Eagle Scout project, he picked a cause that would probably not occur to most middle-class teenagers. He decided to help the homeless.

Michael, 17, a junior at Ambridge Area High School, originally thought he would collect donations to buy and distribute sleeping bags to people on “the street” to help them stay warm through the winter.

He contacted Operation Safety Net, a Pittsburgh-based program that helps the homeless.

The staff was grateful for his offer, but suggested he take on something bigger that would help in a more meaningful, long-term way.

“I said, ‘Let’s move from the streets to apartments,’ ” said Linda Sheets, program director of Operation Safety Net, a program of the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System.

Since 2007, the program has gotten 361 clients off the streets and into apartments, “but a lot of them moved into apartments with just what they had on their backs,” Ms. Sheets said.

She suggested that the teen help the formerly homeless furnish their new residences, working with the Streets to Homes initiative of Operation Safety Net. The project gathers basic supplies, including cooking supplies and utensils, bed linens, towels and laundry detergent.

Michael set a goal in early December to collect and distribute household supplies for 10 apartments by April. Instead, he has collected supplies for 17 apartments and made his last deliveries Sunday.

And he went way beyond towels and kitchen utensils. Michael also collected food, televisions, beds, dressers, couches, recliners end tables and other furniture.

Michael and other volunteers delivered food, furniture and other supplies Sunday to furnish three apartments in McKeesport, downtown Pittsburgh and McKees Rocks.

Before Michael’s delivery, one formerly homeless person was living in a nice apartment, but with no furnishings except a sleeping bag. At a fourth stop in Avalon, Michael delivered a table and chairs, bookcase, kitchen shelf, beds, linens and pillows to put the finishing touches on a new residence.

Other collected furnishings were delivered to apartments in December, sometimes during heavy snowstorms, notes Linda Ross, director of communications for Pittsburgh Mercy Health System.

“At one home, he even delivered a Christmas tree,” she said.

Michael would be the first to tell anyone he could do none of this without a lot of volunteer help. His parents, Michael and Cindy, helped on delivery days, as did members of Boy Scouts of America, Baden Troop 405.

More than one recipient had tears in his eyes as the deliveries were made, Mrs. Deschaine said.

Recipients were asked to pick out the items that they needed.

“One man would not pick anything because he said he didn’t want to be greedy,” Mrs. Deschaine said, but the group made sure he received a generous sampling of donations.

Michael’s mother has done work for Covenant House Missouri, an international homeless shelter for young adults 18 to 21 years old. Michael and his brother Matthew, 12, toured the facility last year and were very moved by the experience. That’s when he decided to help the homeless for his Eagle Scout project.

“I started out by sending 150 e-mails” in early December, Michael said. Those were widely forwarded and donations of cash, furniture and home supplies flooded in at a pace so plentiful that he surpassed his earlier goals.

Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette Michael Deschaine unloads furnishings for a sixth-floor apartment in McKeesport’s Isbir Manor.

Helping with donations and collections were 30 Boy Scouts from Michael’s troop and his fellow Junior ROTC cadets.

Tips for further donations also were appreciated, such as the tip to check out Capo Furniture and Appliance in New Brighton, where used furniture is sold.

“They gave us two big boxes and told us to fill them up with whatever we wanted,” Michael said.

Other tipsters told him to talk to Joe Kuhn, an auctioneer in New Sewickley.

“Mr. Kuhn had truckfuls of stuff and he told us to take whatever we wanted,” Michael said. “He asked us how we were going to pick up and deliver the furniture. We said we were renting a truck. He told us to cancel it,” and he loaned them a truck for all the deliveries, at no charge.

Big donors also included Richard Howard from Passavant Memorial Homes, who donated more than 500 units of food.

On any given day in Allegheny County, there are 1,500 to 2,000 homeless people, about 150 to 200 of them in Pittsburgh, according to Operation Safety Net, which regularly conducts a census of the homeless.

Operation Safety Net relies on donations from companies, foundations and individuals. To learn more about giving opportunities, visit www.pmhs.org or contact Pittsburgh Mercy Health System Development, 724-934-3537.

Popularity: 7% [?]

By Bob Cox, from Star-Telegram

Even in the age of high-powered Doppler radar, instant communications and the Internet, the National Weather Service and local safety officials still rely heavily on old methods for accurate observations and emergency communications.

Volunteer amateur — or ham — radio operators still play a primary role in providing on-site information about tornadoes and storm conditions to weather forecasters and letting emergency responders know what’s going on.

“There’s nothing like ground troops,” said Keith Wells, assistant coordinator with the Tarrant County Office of Emergency Management, who was helping the National Weather Service on Saturday at the annual Skywarn storm spotter training session at Texas Christian University.

“One of the most important things we do all year is train the spotters,” Wells said. “When you have a trained observer on the ground at Bryant Irvin Road reporting golf-ball-sized hail or a funnel cloud, that really tells a meteorologist what’s going on.”

More than 400 people showed up for the training, most already members of Tarrant County RACES (Radio Amateurs in Civil Emergency Service). The volunteers are willing to fire up their radios and vehicles and often head out looking for storm action to provide instant observations to the weather service.

It’s a service that amateur radio operators have provided locally since the early 1970s.

Technology such as Doppler radar has given forecasters more tools, but it’s the spotters’ eyes that give meteorologists confirmation that a radar screen cannot.

A lot of radar warnings don’t actually develop into a tornado. Armed with an eyewitness account, the weather service can determine whether to issue a warning.

“If you have some trained spotters watching, the forecasters love it,” said Claude Whitley Jr., who has been storm-spotting or managing the radio conversations at the weather service offices since the earliest days of the program.

The “old” technology of ham radios is still a huge advantage when bad weather strikes. Storms that knock down telephone lines and cellphone towers don’t knock out the many technically proficient and creative radio operators who have backup generators and batteries and can jury-rig antennas and wires.

“We know how to make things work. That’s something we learned in amateur radio,” Whitley said.

Ham radio operators provided most of the communications into and out of southern Louisiana in the days after Hurricane Katrina.

Ron McClanahan, an amputee ham radio operator who lives in the Diamond Hill neighborhood of Fort Worth, has several large batteries available to power his equipment and also old batteries from his electric wheelchair that he can tap into.

“I can stay on the air for days if I have to,” he says.

Popularity: 1% [?]

On January 26, 2010 the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted on
and passed HB2070(189-6). This bill deals with several subjects the
most notable portion of this legislation for many people is the
sections which deal with “Prohibiting use of interactive wireless
communication device”.

Below is a copy of Sections 2 & 3 of HB2070. It is notable that
there are no exceptions for Amateur Radio. However, Section 2 of
HB2070 on page 5 lines 19 Thru 22 there is this:,
“The term does not include a device being used exclusively as a
global
positioning or navigation system, or a system or device that is
physically or electronically integrated into the vehicle.
The question then becomes are 2 way radios which are wired into a
vehicle included in this exemption? Surely using a hand held radio
could place you in jeopardy.
As it stands now the legislation may very well have an large
impact on Amateur Radio mobile communications. If you would like to
voice your opinion concerning this portion of HB2070. Please contact
your Pennsylvania State Senator. Remember that the “Interactive
Wireless Communications Device sections are only a portion of the
proposed bill and your comments to your Senator should reflect this
fact.

IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHO YOUR PENNSYLVANIA STATE SENATOR IS, USE
THE FOLLOWING LINK.

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/find.cfm

TO VIEW THE ENTIRE BILL USE THE LINK BELOW.

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/

After you are at the above link look in the upper right hand
corner for the box labeled “Find Legislation By..” Then check the box
“Bill #” Then enter HB2070 where is says “Enter Keyword(s) Then
select “GO” . The web site http://www.legis.state.pa.us/ contains an
abundance of Pennsylvania legislative actions and contact information
and should be a site that everyone has bookmarked.

—————————–
HB2070
Sections 2 & 3
———–
Section 2. Section 102 of Title 75 is amended by adding a
definition to read:

102. Definitions.
Subject to additional definitions contained in subsequent
provisions of this title which are applicable to specific
provisions of this title, the following words and phrases when
used in this title shall have, unless the context clearly
indicates otherwise, the meanings given to them in this section:
* * *
“Interactive wireless communication device.” A wireless
telephone, personal digital assistant, smart phone, Portable or
mobile computer, or similar device which can be used for voice
communication, texting, e-mailing, browsing the Internet or
instant messaging, but. The term does not include a device being
used exclusively as a global positioning or navigation system,
or a system or device that is physically or electronically
integrated into the vehicle.
* * *
Section 3. Title 75 is amended by adding a section to read:
3316. Prohibiting use of interactive wireless communication
device.
(a) Driver restrictions.–
(1) No person shall drive a motor vehicle upon a roadway
or trafficway in this Commonwealth while using an interactive
wireless communication device for a purpose other than:

(i) voice communication through the use of an
interactive wireless communications device while in
hands-free mode;
(ii) reading, selecting or entering a telephone
number or name into an interactive wireless communication
device for the purpose of making a telephone call voice
communication; or
(iii) utilizing a global positioning or navigation
system.
(2) No person with a learner’s permit or junior driver’s
license shall drive a motor vehicle upon a roadway or
trafficway in this Commonwealth while using an interactive
wireless communication device.
(b) Exceptions.–This section shall not apply to:
(1) A driver using an interactive wireless communication
device to contact a 911 system or wireless E-911 service, as
defined in the act of July 9, 1990 (P.L.340, No.78), known as
the Public Safety Emergency Telephone Act.
(2) A driver using an interactive wireless communication
device when the vehicle is stopped due to traffic being
obstructed and the driver has a traffic obstruction and the
motor vehicle transmission is in neutral or park.
(3) Operators of emergency vehicles who use an
interactive wireless communications device for voice
communication for the purpose of responding to an emergency
while engaged in the performance of their official duties.
(4) Volunteer emergency responders who use an
interactive wireless communications device for voice
communication for the purpose of responding to an emergency
while engaged in the performance of their official duties.

(c) Seizure.–The provisions of this section shall not be
construed as authorizing the seizure or forfeiture of an
interactive wireless communication device.
(d) Penalty.–
(1) A person who violates subsection (a) commits a
summary offense and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to
pay a fine of $50.
(2) A person who violates subsection (a) while passing
through a school zone, as defined and provided under the
regulations of the department, commits a summary offense and
shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of $100.
An official traffic-control device shall indicate the
beginning and end of each school zone to traffic approaching
in each direction. Establishment of a school zone, including
its location and hours of operation, shall be approved by the
department.
(e) Public education and awareness program.–The department
shall develop and maintain Statewide public education and
awareness programs to combat distracted driving and driving
under the influence and promote awareness of the provisions of
this section subject to available funding.
(f) Guidelines.–The department shall, in consultation with
the Department of Education and the Pennsylvania State Police,
promulgate guidelines for the implementation of subsection (e)
within six months of the effective date of this section.
(g) Insurance.–An insurer may not charge an insured who has
been convicted under this section a higher premium for a policy
of insurance in whole or in part by reason of that conviction.
(h) Department to compile report.–The department shall
annually compile and make available to the Transportation

Committee of the Senate and the Transportation Committee of the
House of Representatives a report detailing the public education
efforts to combat distracted driving and driving under the
influence and promote awareness of the provisions of this
section.
(i) Definitions.–As used in this section, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
subsection unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
“Hands-free mode.” The use of an interactive wireless
communications device that allows the user to engage in
communication without the use of either hand by means of an
internal feature or function or an attachment or device.
“Volunteer emergency responder.” Any of the following:
(1) A member of a volunteer ambulance service as defined
in section 102 of the act of July 31, 2003 (P.L.73, No.17),
known as the Volunteer Fire Company and Volunteer Ambulance
Service Grant Act.
(2) A member of a volunteer fire company as defined in
section 102 of the Volunteer Fire Company and Volunteer
Ambulance Service Grant Act.
(3) A member of a volunteer rescue company as defined in
section 102 of the Volunteer Fire Company and Volunteer
Ambulance Service Grant Act.
==============================END OF E-MAIL
TO VIEW THE ENTIRE LEGISLATION HB2070 VISIT

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/

73
John N3MSE
W. Pa. Section Manager

Popularity: 13% [?]

While our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Haiti, as Scouts who are always ready to lend a helping hand, our minds wonder what can I do to help?

Rescue efforts are currently underway by professionals trained in disasters. The immediate need is for emergency supplies that have to be purchased. The Boy Scouts of America is partnered with the American Red Cross (www.redcross.org) and locally the Greater Pittsburgh Council is partnered with the Brothers Brother Foundation (www.brothersbrother.org) for cash donations.

How your unit can help immediately!

Until the end of February, we are encouraging Scout units to collect items for “Care Buckets” that will be shipped to Haiti. We have partnered with the Brothers Brother Foundation because of their ability to deliver the buckets to Haiti in addition to their ethical reputation and strong track record with international relief efforts.

Download this flyer describing the items to be collected along with suggested collection methods and information on where to deliver the filled buckets. Empty buckets can be picked up at Flag Plaza. Please e-mail Jacob Kraus and let him know how many buckets you will need so we can assure they are available to you.

This project ends on February 26 so start NOW!

How your unit can help in the future!

Donations to the World Friendship Fund can be designated to help the Scouts in Haiti with long term rebuilding projects. Please consider asking for contributions during your Blue & Gold banquets, Courts of Honor, leader meetings, roundtables, Klondike derbies or other Scouting events. Please contact Jacob Kraus for collection materials and information on where to send the money.

As it becomes available, we will continue to post information on the Council website (www.gpc-bsa.org) on ways Scouting can help with the relief efforts. We are in the preliminary planning stages of allocating some of Scouting for Food collections to the people of Haiti. This would require a huge effort by all Scouts to redouble our collection efforts and set new records for food donations!

Council contact: Jacob Kraus Jacob.Kraus@scouting.org (412) 325-7963

More information:
Boy Scouts of America response to Haiti:

http://scouting.org/AlertHaiti.aspx

World Scout Bureau Haiti Solidarity Blog: www.scout.org/blogs

Popularity: 2% [?]

We will be having a Volunteer Examiner Test Session for anyone who wishes to earn or upgrade their amateur radio license at TECHFEST 2010 on SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14.

If you have any questions call Chris Moratis, W3OUF, at 724-266-2866

Popularity: 7% [?]

By Joe Fries, from Kelowna

Amateur radio operators are amateur in name only, and you may have them to thank if you’re ever the unfortunate subject of a search-and-rescue mission.

Photo Joe Fries

You may recall the Christmastime drama surrounding a Kelowna man who went missing in the Chute Lake Road area. The initial manhunt was conducted by police and search-and-rescue teams, which were assisted by amateur radio operators, who know what buttons to push when other forms of communication don’t work.

“You don’t have to get that far away to not have cell phone coverage anymore,” reminded Marilyn Wilson, a member of the Orchard City Amateur Radio Club. “People assume that it’s always there, but it’s not.”

That’s where amatuer radio operators – knowns as “hams” – come in handy. They can dial up a connection in back country when others can’t. That’s because around here, they can access a series of repeaters placed mostly on mountain tops that can relay radio signals into hard-to-reach places.

“That’s the challenge. That’s the fun part,” Wilson said. “We can make it work. Hams are never out of communication.”

Local hams are showing off their hobby – if you want to call it that – at the Okanagan Heritage Museum in a new exhibit that runs until July. Not only are there gadgets to play with, but members of the club will be on hand most times to explain what they do and talk about the history of the club.

“I think there’s this misconception that amateur radio operators are little old men in their shacks turning dials and talking into the universe. It’s exciting for us to show people that it is a progressive hobby… and there still is a place for amateur radio,” explained Wilson, who spent the better part of a year putting the exhibit together.

Photos show off the club’s contribution during the 2003 wildfire season, when members were able to assist firefighting efforts. But again, they do more than help out in emergencies.

“There’s not enough disasters to entertain us, thankfully,” Wilson said with a laugh.

The group also helps out with an annual Big White rally car event, the Ski2Sea race, and at Ironman Canada in Penticton. Those are the kinds of events where the hams practise their skills.

Gord Strachan, vice-president of the radio club, became a ham while still working with the Kelowna Fire Department in the 1990s – hence his call sign, VE7KFD.

“It’s a hobby,” he explained. “Like woodworking. It’s something you get into.”

The Orchard City Amateur Radio Club’s website can be found here.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Popularity: 2% [?]