Duff's Stuff

Informative Stuff
Fun Stuff
Stuff here Stuff there
Stuff it

A collection of matter, material, articles or activities of a specified or indeterminate kind that are being
referred to, indicated or implied.

Current Reads At The "218".

A facinating tale, a  look into the turbulent times of the 1960s.  Couldn’t put it down!  

 An absolutely wonderful story. the book tells the story of a Malayali family living in southwest India, in the Kerala state, with the narrative spanning three generations, from 1900 to 1977. Beautifully written story ENJOY

I love to read. admittedly, I’m a Stephen King junkie, but on occasion will go on a excursion to technical, how to books.  My love of CW was explored further in Chris Rutkowski’s book the CW Way Of Life.   A real deep dive into understanding Morse Code. 

Follow the links to futher the info. 

TREASURE HUNTS

Join some of the largest Treasure Hunts in the world
Click Here for More Info

A Few years back, I was introduced to Geocaching.  Geocaching is a fun outdoor activity that involves using a GPS device or a mobile app (smart phone)  to find hidden containers called geocaches. Geocaches can be of different shapes, sizes, and difficulties, and they are hidden all over the world. Some geocaches may contain small items that you can trade, but you should always leave something of equal or greater value. You also need to sign the logbook inside the geocache and log your find online. Geocaching is a great way to explore new places, learn new things, and connect with other geocachers.

Adventure Lab is a new app and platform in development from the team at Geocaching HQ that allows you to create, play and share unique outdoor scavenger hunts, experiences, and games. There are currently over 50,000 public Adventures available worldwide. The Adventure Lab® app guides players through the process of finding clues, solving puzzles, and completing Adventures one Location at a time. If you’re already a Geocaching member, these stages count as caches towards your Geocaching account’s statistics and total finds.

What’s the difference between Adventure Lab and geocaching?

Unlike traditional geocaching, Adventures do not require a physical container and can be located indoors. The Adventure Lab® app expands the boundaries of traditional geocaching into new spaces and experiences while introducing innovative and fresh ideas that make exploring even more fun!  Give it a try.  I know you’ll enjoy it. 

For more details, click the “logo”. 

 

Weather Balloon Tracking and Recovery

Here in the Spokane Area the NOAA National Weather Service office launches balloons at 0400 and 1600 daily. Located near Spokane Int. Airport, you will have the opportunity to listen and track weather balloons on their upper alltitude journey reaching on occasion over 100,000 Feet. Below are some web sites that can be used to track and view data from launches around the world including Spokane.

Using a Raspberry Pi and a SDR Dongle you can Track and report balloon positions.  Complete instructions can be found here;

Tracking Programs and Groups

Trak em' Danno!

The GREAT WX Balloon Chase

Tracking
is Just Half
the Fun

RECOVERY 

Scott, KA7FVV,  has put together  a great balloon reovery system.  Follow the link to some great information.  Cheers. 

KA7FVV

  Recovery can be a challenge and rewarding adventure.  You just never know where the balloons will land.  

With some not so hard to find gear, tracking and recovery can be fun.  

The CW Quilt

The XYL Recently took up quilting in its various forms.  EPP English Paper Piecing, foundational paper piecing and so on .  We’ve always done things together, knitting, sock machines. Yes we had dualing ones ha,  and I guess this was no exception.  On one of our quilt shop explores, I noticed this rather colorful quilt on the wall.   On closer inspection I found the name,  “Morse Code”! Well now, what with my love of CW this looked to be a project made for me. 🙂  When the wife saw this she said “game on”. So after a few months of cutting, snipping, placing, swearing and yes sewing, the project was almost complete.  A good friend from the lICW Classes offered to quilt it for me on his 12 foot long arm machine. Wow. Will there be others?  You just never know. 

 Another experience to add to the fun at “the 218”.