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Possible Reasons For The End Of Humane Civilization

Possible Reasons For The End Of Humane Civilization

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Following is a list of major important reasons and issues that are drawing down the curtain for human habitation on Earth.

There are two broad types of issues. The first is major but possibly will not end the humane civilization.  The second should be of supreme concern because if not solved or resolved the end of the humane race will more definitely result.

Here are side concerns that probably will work against solving these very important problems that I will list later:  

  • Ignorance of any factor may come about for any combination of reasons.
    • Blind side by failing to see what is coming as a threat to our existence.
    • Insufficient investigation efforts.
    • Unable to understand the measurements needed and what the tests results mean.
    • Status of experts is not understood or appreciated so they are not listened to.
    • Not listening to the scientists to any level that results in meaningful action.
  • Indolence.
    • Population of people that are affected may fail to meet the challenge to change their situation for the better.  There are a lot of reasons why individuals fail to realize they are in trouble and then take actions that resolve the issues.
      • Too busy with other concerns.
      • Not my business to deal with this problem.
      • Too complicated for me to understand.
  • Errors in judgement.
  • Political interference.  Almost all civil societies are organized around some sort of organized political system.  Some times these systems are flawed toward working for the best interests of the society they are expected to correctly function toward.
  • Personal and corporate wealth interests might prevail as being more important.  Many countries suffer from varying degrees of plutocracy or the rule of the rich.  Some wealthy individuals who have attained political power seem to hold short term financial gains as more important.  

Almost all of the end of civilization factors need long term attacks upon these negative influences so that a society can best work together to resolve the problem(s).  

Just about every one of these issues can be turned around but often times immediate needs of individuals deny resolving any of these items I am about to list.

First Category of attacks upon our civilization list (but might not terminate humane life but could). 

Note that some items on the list below could become so life threatening that they then also reach the second category.

  • Climate change (immediate concern)

“According to the paper, climate change poses a “near- to mid-term existential threat to human civilization,” and there’s a good chance society could collapse as soon as 2050 if serious mitigation actions aren’t taken in the next decade.”
https://www.livescience.com/65633-climate-change-dooms-humans-by-2050.html

  • Global nuclear annihilation (Following example shows how a small limited war has a colossal impact)

 “If India and Pakistan had a war, it would be a much larger potential for climate change.” The solutions to that cold equation: 50 to 125 million people dead in the first week. A reduction of as much as 35 percent in sunlight reaching Earth’s surface, translating to a decrease in temperature of up to 5 degrees Celsius, with rainfall decreasing between 15 and 30 percent globally … and the amount of food produced by an equal amount. That’s worldwide famine for a decade.”

https://www.wired.com/story/even-a-small-nuclear-war-could-trigger-a-global-apocalypse/

  • Biological warfare

“Any state with a reasonably advanced pharmaceutical and medical industry has the capability of mass producing biological weapons. This fact also leads to problems with determining what countries have BW programmes. Anything from a piece of fruit to a ballistic missile could be used to deliver a biological weapon to a target. Along with this is the fact that with certain organisms, only a few particles would be needed to start an infection that could potentially cause an epidemic.” 
https://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/fact-sheets/critical-issues/4579-biological-weapons

  • Ecological collapse.

“One-fifth of the world’s countries are at risk of their ecosystems collapsing because of the destruction of wildlife and their habitats, according to an analysis by the insurance firm Swiss Re.”

“Natural “services” such as food, clean water and air, and flood protection have already been damaged by human activity.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/12/fifth-of-nations-at-risk-of-ecosystem-collapse-analysis-finds

  • Pandemic

“A pandemic is basically a global epidemic — an epidemic that spreads to more than one continent,”

“Influenza pandemics have struck about three times every century since the 1500s, or roughly every 10-50 years. There was one in 1957-1958 and one in 1968-1969. The most infamous pandemic flu of the 20th century, however, was that of 1918-1919. An estimated 40 million people died in less than a year, and what made it so different from seasonal flu epidemics is that it killed primarily young people, those aged 20-45.”

https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/features/what-is-pandemic

Contamination of humane individual life supporting needs and resources is very important.  Humane beings need:  Good drinking water, good clean air to breath, healthy food, proper sanitation, adequate shelter, clothing, etc..

Second Category of attacks with results of terminating humane life – a list:

Global Warming

“Two centuries of fossil fuel combustion have saturated the biosphere with climate-altering carbon that will continue wreaking havoc for generations to come.  The damage to Earth’s living systems—the circulation and chemical composition of the atmosphere and the ocean; the stability of the hydrological and biogeochemical cycles; and the biodiversity of the entire planet—is essentially permanent.”
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-08-10/four-reasons-civilization-wont-decline-it-will-collapse/

PFAS Contamination

“There is evidence that exposure to PFAS can lead to adverse human health effects.”

https://www.epa.gov/pfas/basic-information-pfas

“A growing body of science has found that there are potential adverse health impacts associated with PFAS exposure, including liver damage, thyroid disease, decreased fertility, high cholesterol, obesity, hormone suppression and cancer.”

“These chemicals can easily migrate into the air, dust, food, soil and water. People can also be exposed to them through food packaging and industrial exposure.”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/14/health/what-are-pfas-chemicals

 

 

 

Posted March 22, 2021

Modifying Yaesu FT-817 To Work On 60 Meters

Modifying Yaesu FT-817 To Work On 60 Meters

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Following is a story of how I found a solution to make my very old Yaesu FT-817 work on 60 meters.  If you have the Yaesu FT-817ND there is no need to modify the radio as it is designed to include 60 meters! This process of modifying the older Yaesu FT-817 is quite difficult.  I do NOT recommend you attempting this for a few really good reasons.  I was told by a former Yaesu repair person that this radio has undergone changes and it is likely you will find a solder point solution that pretends to work for your radio as describe on the Internet but it might NOT work for your radio.  Yaesu technical support has a cheat sheet showing them radio serial numbers and how they correspond to the manufactured electronics.  This tells me that there are probably different versions of the FT-817 and possibly different solder point switch solutions.  Also, you really need to know how to solder.  You need the correct tools and know how to use them.  The desoldering and soldering of the switch points is in very tight space making the task rather difficult.  Also, the process of uploading frequencies into the radio is a bit tricky in that you will get RT software error messages and you need to know how to solve each error.

I have had a Yaesu FT-817 ham radio for a very long time and have never seen the need to use it until now.  I participated in a local county Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) Zoom meeting where I had report to our city RACES group what took place during that meeting.  A part of that Zoom meeting covered a ham band I had never heard of before, that being, 60 meters.  I began to research this band and found out that it was created in 2002.  I then found out that there was a weekly check in for operators from each city who would use their 60 meter radios and reply to the county RACES operator when they asked if there were any stations for their city.  I then found out that our city was not on the list for cities that had checked in.  I have a lot of ham radios and I looked around and discovered that the ONLY 60 meter radio I had was a Yaesu FT-817 but it was not expected to work on 60 meters until you found a way to modify it.  I pulled the radio out from storage and tired it out.  This radio is low power, called a QRP, or reduced power radio.  I then went to Ham Radio Outlet and purchased software for the radio so I could program frequencies into it.

www.rtsystemsinc.com

YAESU ADMS-4A-USB, which was labeled as “Advanced Data Management System for the Yaesu FT-817/817D”.  I really like RT system software.  I was really pleased to discover this software was available for the Mac computer.  I then created a list of frequencies for the radio including 60 meters.  There are some important restrictions for using this band.  One restriction is to stick to 5 frequencies:

  • 5.332 MHz. USB
  • 5.348 MHz. USB
  • 5.368 MHz. USB
  • 5.373 MHz. USB
  • 5.405 MHz. USB

I then tried to input the full list of frequencies into the radio including the 60 meter ones and then tried transmitting into my 50 ohm dummy load.  All the 2 meter and 440 frequencies worked but not the 60 meters.  I kept getting a “TX ERR” or transmit error.  The radio would not transmit.  I then started a really long investigation that took weeks using the Internet.  I had a phone conversation with a former Yaesu technical support person who warned me that the Yaesu FT-817 had a number of changes and technical support had a cheat sheet where the serial number of the radio told them which version of radio they were dealing with.  This hinted to me that maybe the solder switches might be different depending on which version of radio I had.  I even sent Yaesu technical support for some help but I was refused with this response “I am sorry but as the manufacturer of the radio we are not permitted to assist in modifying the radio.”  I discovered that there are a LOT of web sites devoted to modifying this radio.  Suddenly I got a bit lucky and found out that there are some solder point switches inside the radio that can change the capabilities of that radio.  I tried one solder point solution but that failed.

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING FAILED FOR MY RADIO. (It is reported that the solder points shown next might work on some FT-817 models.). 

(You just might want to start with this modification first and then progress to the one explained later in this post.  A possible reason for these two solutions is the radio may have gone through changes.)

To extend the HF coverage to 500kHZ per band.
Extend VHF and UHF coverage.

Should be shorted:  JP4006, JP4007, JP4008.
Should be open:  JP4004, JP4005, JP4009.
Leave all other jumpers, 1,2,3, as they are.
After making the solder switch changes and reassemble the whole radio, apply power while pressing F and V/M buttons.

This did not work for me.

A ham radio friend sent me a web site that presented a different solder switch solution, shown next.  https://www.qsl.net/bg9bl/ft817/ft817.htm.  I tried it and it worked.

Should be shorted:  JP4009, JP4008, JP4007,  JP4006.
Should be open:  JP4005, JP4004, JP4003, JP4002, JP4001.

I the image below the solder jumpers are numbered 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1. as you see them below in the image.  You only know this by being shown a drawing from the Internet. They are not labeled on the circuit board.

 

FT-817 Solder Point Solution

 

Let me first show you some tips on how to open and close the radio.

  • Remove all the screws holding the case together.
  • When removing the shoulder strap put those 4 screws in a separate place as they are longer.
  • Be really careful lifting the radio cover holding the speaker because there is a speaker wire that needs to be pulled out of the circuit board carefully.
  • The radio cover that has the battery door is a pain to open.  Look carefully and you will see one screw that has a plastic piece under it.  Loosen the screw a bit and then slide that piece away from the battery door.
  • The opposite side from the slider there are door tabs fitting into the case so you need to pull the door out from these holdings.
    The door then can be removed if it is swung out from the latch.  I removed the internal battery.
  • Once both the top and bottom radio covers are removed, you next need to pull the front panel CAREFULLY from the radio.  There are really simple plastic clips holding the front piece but there is a short ribbon cable that is really tricky to deal with so be careful you do not pull on this cable.  I use my finger nails to lift up the two top and two bottom plastic clips to allow me to move the front piece away.
  • The ribbon cable that runs between the front panel and the main radio body is really tricky to disconnect.  I decided to remove the ribbon at the radio head and NOT the body.  The trick is there is a plastic latch, (the brown piece in the image below) that needs to be moved so the ribbon can be withdrawn.

Once the front panel was free, I put it into my Panavise.  I then performed the solder point connection and removal of solder to the solder switches listed below (see image above).

 

Should be shorted:  JP4009, JP4008, JP4007,  JP4006.
Should be open:  JP4005, JP4004, JP4003, JP4002, JP4001.

Once you perform the solder switch changes, put the case back together.  For me, replacing the ribbon cable was a pain.  I had to use thin nose pliers to center the cable and then use my finger nails on both sides to make sure the cable was into the connector all the way.  It really helps to use headband magnifier to see more exactly what you are doing.

Pay particular attention to replace the shoulder strap to the radio so the microphone strap holder is on the same side as the microphone connector.

Connect a 50 ohm dummy load to the radio antenna jack or attach a good working 60 meter antenna.

Connect the power cable to a good source of power.

Connect the microphone to the radio.

GET THE RADIO READY TO RECEIVE THE COMPUTER FILE

Connect the RT Software cables to your computer and the radio.
Launch the software so you can input frequencies.
The RT software also has an important menu (Settings > Radio Menu Settings).  I always connect my dummy load and antennas for 60 meters to the REAR antenna jack.  I choose “Common > Rear HF Antenna”.
Input your frequency list into that software.  I have found two different lists of frequencies.  A ham operator friend sent this explanation to me:

“Yaesu radios typically are programmed to display the center frequencies on 60 meters but actually operate on what are known as dial frequencies on other radios. The USB dial frequencies are 1.5 kHz lower than the center frequencies.”

5.332 MHz.   5.33050 MHz Ch 1

5.348 MHz.   5.34650 MHz Ch 2

5.368 MHz.   5.35700 MHz Ch 3

5.373 MHz.   5.37150 MHz Ch 4

5.405 MHz.   5.40350 MHz Ch 5


Make sure you add the 60 meter frequencies to the RT software.

Now we need to restart the radio and pray it works.

  • Pressing F and V/M at the same time and then press the power switch.
  • Then press HOME and POWER to reset the radio CPU.
  • Turn the radio OFF.

Next get the radio ready to accept the RT Software.

Press the left and right MODE keys at the top of the radio and while those keys are pressed, apply power.
The radio display should show “CLONE MODE”
Press down the C key under the radio display screen.
Using the computer RT Software, go to the menu  and select COMMUNICATIONS > SEND DATA TO RADIO.
Mouse select the SEND DATA TO RADIO to start the file sending  into the radio.
You should then see a computer splash screen showing you the loading of data from the RT software into the radio.  The screen will show a left to right bar moving across revealing the loading into the radio.
When the loading has completed turn the radio OFF.
Now turn the radio back ON and you should now see your frequencies have loaded into the radio.
Go to one of your 60 meter frequencies by rotating the “SEL” for select knob just to the left of the radio display.  ONLY use this knob to choose the programmed channels.  As soon as you rotate the large knob you go out of your pre programmed channel and fine tune the frequency.  

While on a 60 meter frequency, press your microphone button and you should see the RED light turn on from the face plate of the radio showing you that it is transmitting on 60 meters.  If this happens, it appears that the prior modification has worked.

Counterpoise is required for best operation.

You need to add a stranded, not solid, insulated wire to the rear ground connection of the radio to help balance your antenna operation.  The best counterpoise is 1/4-wavelength at the lowest frequency you intend to use.    “Without a significant formal “counterpoise”, we have often undesirable case of the coax shield serving as most or all of the ad-hoc counterpoise; the “other half of the antenna”.

An interesting counterpoise solution can be found here:  https://www.qsl.net/sv1uy/counterpoisekit.html

I truly hope this description has helped and you are successful in using and enjoying this radio.

When you connect your Yaesu FT-817 to a 60 meter antenna try to tune the antenna with a passive SWR analyzer to avoid a mismatch in impedance.  Most ham stick antennas allow you to slide the end tip portion up and down and lock that part with small screws.  Once you think you have a very low standing wave ratio, SWR,  reading then lock that antenna length.   A further test is to attach a SWR meter between the radio and antenna to make sure there is a good impedance match when you transmit.  You really want to avoid reflected waves coming back into the radio because the antenna was a mismatch.

73

 

Posted September 25, 2020
Modified September 30, 2020

 

 

Global Warming Is The Most Important Threat to Our Country and Our Near Future Existence.

Global Warming Is The Most Important Threat to Our Country and Our Near Future Existence.

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Earth is being destroyed by some of us. Because of the actions or lack of action of a few individuals, global warming will cause close to 8 billion people to die.  Life on planet Earth may die off due to the actions of some humane beings.  Such a horrendous crime against civilization calls for new penalties. A new top legal level needs to be added to our world legal system which is applied to all nations and all people.  The purpose of this change to our legal system is to help the future survival of Earth, if it is not too late.

The people of the United States and the United Nations should consider penalties for those individuals, businesses, corporations and groups participating in the endangerment of the United States and planet Earth to the extent that it is determined that either or both will cease to survive in the future. If it is determined that such activities of those individuals  includes working toward exacerbating climate change to any significant degree, determined by scientists, the following actor activities shall be penalized for those efforts:

Actor Activities:

  • Direct or indirect owner or anyone having any control interest in any business that creates product or activities that enhances endangerment to the future of Earth’s future survival.
  • Any individual who is solely or part of a larger lobby group who’s effort is to impede the efforts of stopping climate change.
  • All politicians and judges who make legal rulings that are found to allow other actors to move their activities forward to damage Earth.
  • Any person’s activity that is deemed meeting the level, set by a ruling body of scientists, of being significant enough to contribute to damaging Earth.

Criminals Defined:

  • Any individual or group that directly or indirectly is involved in harming Earth’s climate to a significant degree determined by scientist and the courts.
  • Any individual that holds control over any other person, agency, business and/or corporation which has significantly contributed in the expected future extinction of any portions of Earth.

Significant penalties shall follow after the courts have made the determination that those individuals have significantly participated in the criminal act shall incur the following penalties.

Penalties:

  • Removal of all current and future assets from those individuals and their value is transferred to the state.
  • Removal of all control including stock price benefits and their value is transferred to the government.
  • Confiscation of all tangible assets including past and future family and business inheritance.
  • Removal of all personal stock sale benefits now and in the future.
  • Seizure of all property owned by the individual.
  • Removal of all personal inheritance and inheritance of any wealth or value component given to family members prior to being charged with this crime in an effort to hide those assets.
  • Seizure of any gifts given to family or friends, prior to being charged with this crime, in an effort to hide those assets.
  • If the activity of individuals reaches a high enough level, determined by the courts with the advice of scientist as to the level of involvement in propelling climate change, either of two penalties will be applied. If a low level of criminal activity, incarceration for life. If the criminal level is high, termination of those people from living by the act of a public execution shall take place.

Twenty percent of all seized assets will go to government administration for this program and the remainder assets will be distributed to agencies working toward stemming climate change.

 

Posted: February 19, 2019

 

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Cheat For Triage

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Cheat For Triage

(Archive Post from News page, taken down 12/16)

When we got to the section covering triage, I fully expected that I would forget what I had learned.  I asked a friend of mine who had taken CERT about a year ago and asked him if he could remember the triage procedures.   He could not.  I rather quickly came up with a solution.  To read about the solution go to CERT TIP

Image shows a wrist band on the left arm. The top page can only be seen.

Emergency Power In Ammo Case.

Emergency Power In Ammo Case.

It all started when I noticed on the shelf of Home Depot a plastic ammo can.  Immediately I thought it would work to hold my 12 volt gel cells that I use for emergency communications.  I am a ham radio operator who volunteers for the local city RACES group.  The very next day I went to Ham Radio Outlet to buy RT Software.  In the store, on the counter were two battery cases with no battery but on the outside of these cases was the interface for Anderson power poles.  I asked the store clerk about mounting Anderson Power Poles into my ammo case.  I was shown a product that made my socks roll up and down.  A company called Powerwerx had some pretty cute devices for mounting into cases.  I purchased three of these, all different, and they are:

  • Anderson Powerpole connectors (2 included in the module).  The module comes with its own mounting plate.  I will not use this single mounting plate but instead put all 3 devices into a single large plate.  The Anderson Powerpoles will provide power for my ham radios.
  • USB connectors  (2 included in the module) to offer emergency power for cell phones.  This module comes with its own mounting plate which I will not use.
  • A volt meter showing the battery voltage and it includes its own mounting plate.
  • I also purchased a three hole plate that makes all 3 of these modules look really nice.

 

The next day I drove over to Batteries Plus, Brea, California,  to see what battery they had that might fit into the ammo case.  The store clerk immediately picked up a Duracel 12 volt, 14 amp hour battery that slid into the case perfectly on 3 sides.  I had some extra room at the end of the ammo case for other items.

List of Parts:

Plano Field Box, Water Resistant, Model 1312-00 (Made in the USA)
4QT Sports Utility Box
Home Depot   $9.97.

Battery, Duracel 12-14F2, 12 Volt, 14 AH. with F2 0.250 terminals.  This battery is quite heavy.
Batteries Plus  $59.99
Item Number: WKDC12-14F2
Brand: Duracell Ultra
Voltage: 12
Lead Acid Type: Deep Cycle
Capacity: 14AH
Chemistry: Lead Acid
Lead Acid Design: AGM
Product Category: Sealed Lead Acid
Terminal Type: F2, T2, Faston .250
Weight: 9.2 lbs
Length: 5.96 in  (The ammo can is about 9 1/4 to 9 1/2 due to slight taper)
Width: 3.93 in  (The ammo can is about 4 in wide)
Height: 3.82 in  (The ammo can has 6 in height for contents)

Powerwerx 3 Hole Panel Plate.
PanelPlate3
Ham Radio Outlet   $5.95.  This is simply a very nice plate to hold the three devices.

Anderson Power Poles.
Red Black Anderson 15 Amp
Ham Radio Outlet, $18.95.  This is necessary power for RACES radios and the main reason for building the box, to get power to my HT radios.  I counted 5 pair (10 total) of red and black connectors.  I prefer to solder and not crimp these connectors.  From time to time I get a bit messy and some solder is added to the outside of one of these connectors.  I use a fine jeweler’s file to remove this solder otherwise I can not slide the metal connector into the plastic outside insulator.

Dual USB connectors rated at 4.2 amps.
PanelUSB-Plus
Ham Radio Outlet $23.95.  This will be perfect for charging cell phones.  I even have a USB LED on a stick that I could use to illuminate my work area.

Panel Mounting Digital Meter for 12/24 volt systems
PanelDVM-Blue
Ham Radio Outlet   $19.95

Powerwerx PD-8 an 8 position Anderson Power Pole distribution block
Powerwerx PD-8
Ham Radio Outlet  $34.95
I only needed to use 5 of the 8 pairs.

Misc Items: 

  • Red and black heat shrink tubing. The red obviously slips over the positive female disconnects and the black over the negative.  TRICK:  I borrow my daughter’s or my wife’s hair dryer and set it on hot and high. I then put part of my hand on the air intake to limit the air coming into the the hair dryer to raise the temperature.  In this way, the heat shrink rapidly shrinks around the female disconnects.
  • .250″ female disconnects.  The devices come with female disconnects but I am using larger diameter wire and do not use them but buy larger wire size connectors.  I like to use bare metal connectors, solder the wire to them and then heat shrink the ends.

Rough Cost:  I had the wire, connectors, heat shrink, and hardware so these items are not added.  My rough total for items I had to buy was about $180.  I would have to guess that if you do not have the items I already had on hand, your cost will certainly go beyond my cost.

 

Steps To Build:

Place 3 hole panel plate on top of ammo case on the side next to the handle but away from where the handle will fold into the case.  Center this plate.  Take a look at the under side of the top lid and get an idea of the plastic braces that will need to be cut away later.  I found it best to really get away from the handle as much as possible to avoid the internal plastic walls.

panel-marking

Mark the 3 large holes and 4 small plate mounting drill holes.  I made a mistake of drilling the 4 small holes first.  When I drilled the large 3 holes I found that my prior 4 holes did not line up exactly and I had to drill them out again.  I really recommend that you drill the large holes first.  Put two units into the large holes and then drill the 4 small mounting plate holes last.

Open the top lid and look inside and judge where the 3 large holes and 4 small holes will come through.  You will find that you are going to collide with small internal vertical walls.  Think this through to make sure you do not have to cut them out too much.

Drill the 3 large holes for the devices.  I use a Kline Tools #59009 Step Drill bit (made in the U.S.A.) that is wonderful and fast for thin wall drilling.

Drill-bit-for-holes

Trick:  With this type drill I do not come down to finish the exact hole size but stop short.  I pull the drill out and see if my cut is exact or not.  I will see my circle mark I had made with a marking pen and the cut.  As you can see in the image below the drill does not line up.  I then can adjust the drill by pressing in the direction to fine tune my cut to be more exact, as you can see in the right hole seen below.

drill-holes-do-not-line-up

Powerwerx.com who sells these devices sells the exact hole drill, 1 3/16 inch, for $17.99.  https://powerwerx.com/panel-mounts  With this type hole drill, you can more easily center the hole cut.

I then used a round file to do some simple trimming of each hole and tested to see if each module would slide in and out of the hole.  Just remember that the cover plate will make it look quite good.

Drill the 4 corner holes for mounting the plate.  I measured the 4 plate mounting holes 5/32 drill bit fit tight as I tested the plate holes.  I am not that precise in centering my drill holes so I often times go a bit larger in drill bit size if the plate fails to line up properly.

Open the top lid and look at the under side of that lid.  You should see some plastic wall braces.  You need to mark them for how much to cut.  (See Image).  This is where you really need to be careful.  I came too close to the walls in places and used a Dremel rotary tool to make finishing touches.

I used a Dremel Tool to cut away the plastic braces under the top lid.  I used grinding stone 8193 at high speed to melt away the plastic that was in the way for screwing in the large mounting nuts.  I really recommend that you have terrific light shining upon your work as you “cut” through the plastic.  The melted plastic was a pain to clean out.  I put my Dremel tool on slow speed to help remove the pieces that glued themselves back upon the lid and also to polish edges and surfaces.  As you can see in the image below, the inside looks quite a mess.  The outside should look quite good when you are finished.

chassis-connector-rear
Notice that the nut holding this device is under the plastic internal wall. I took care to cut the wall close to the lid only. I slid the nut under this wall and then rotated the nut as the device was in place.

Trick:  The internal inside lid walls are quite deep.  The grinding stone wheel #8193 is much shorter.  I decided to slide the wheel into each wall close to the lid, thus making a short open doorway, thus leaving much of the wall untouched.  When I mounted the devices into the 3 holes, I only needed to slide the mounting nut into place and as the device was pushed into the box lid, I would tighten the nut.  (see image).

The inside of the lid looks way less pristine after I melted the plastic in places but the outside looks very good

Battery in Ammo Case:

battery

There is 2 1/4 inches from the top of the battery to underside of the case lid which is air space.  But, the devices mounted on the lid come down just over 1 inch if you use straight connectors.  Thus, the total top air space between the top lid devices and battery is close to 1 and 1/4 inches.

Finished ammo case showing three modules, 12 volt power, volt meter and then USB power.
Left side module offers 2 Anderson Power Pole connectors, 12 volt. The middle module is a volt meter. The right module offers 5 volt USB power for cell phones or other devices.

The battery does not occupy the full length of the ammo case.  There is a 3” length x 4” wide x 5 “ deep cavity at one side of the ammo case next to the battery.  I am currently looking for a plastic box to insert in this space so the battery will not slide.  I could put fuses, fuse puller, small meter, etc. into such a box.

The finished ammo battrey case revealing the wiring.
Inside of the ammo case showing the wiring.

I am now researching attaching an optional solar panel to this battery.

CERT TIP: Coaches Wristband

CERT TIP: Coaches Wristband

Last revision: May 1, 2016

Let me start this post by defining some abbreviations that you need to understand before reading my main post.

CERT stands for Community Emergence Response Team.  These are city volunteers that are trained to go out into their neighborhood after a disaster and administer aid.  These individuals may very well be the first individuals that give aid.  City governments offer free classes and typically follow this up with simple protection gear for these volunteers to use.

RACES stands for Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service.  It is a group of amateur radio operators that volunteer their time and equipment to offer emergency communications to some U.S. government agency whether that is city, fire or police.  Some cities put one RACES member into a geographical area to serve as long distance communications member because in large cities CERT FRS radios might not make good communications to city government due to distance.  RACES typically have the capability for a city to send messages very long distances.  Their role is typically to maintain constant communications with CERT groups, city, the county and even state agencies.

FRS stands for Family Radio Service.  These radios do not require a special license so CERT members can easily use these radios. The radio manufacturers advertise these radios will communicate up to 30 miles.  Do not believe it.  Two miles is average.  This is a short distance radio system.  Some cities use this type of radio communications for CERT individuals and teams.  These radios are cheap and very easy to use.

Back to my story:
I had taken CERT class years ago and cribbing, extracting people from collapsed buildings, was probably, the only skill I still remembered.  Our city RACES group members were encouraged to sigh up for the CERT class again if we had not taken it for a long time to refresh our memories.  I decided to take the class again.  When we got to the section covering triage, I fully expected that I would forget what I had learned.  I asked a friend of mine who had taken CERT about a year ago and asked him if he could remember the triage procedures.   He could not.  I rather quickly came up with a solution.  I remembered seeing football quarterbacks having a wrist band that showed vital play information on their arm.  I looked for this device and quickly found them for sale.  The one web site I read reviews about this device revealed that the military uses these.  There are a number of these wrist devices.  I decided upon the SteelLocker Sports X200 Adult Play book Wristband.  It cost me $7.99.  It does not use Velcro to adjust to your size arm but a soft elastic sock, about 6 and 1/2 inches long, which holds a 5 and 5/8  by 3 and 1/2 inch plastic sewn in window.  If you have a thick arm, I suggest that you look at Velcro adjusted wristbands.  The top page part of this wrist arm band window lifts up so you can use both sides of the top portion and then view the bottom.  You thus have 3 windows.  You slip in your paper notes into slits along one side.  I measured and cut my notes to 2 and 1/2  tall by 4 and 1/2 inches wide.

Image shows a wrist band on the left arm. The top page can only be seen.
Coaches wristband showing outside first page (of 3 pages)

 

A wrist band is shown and the top page has been lifted up so the bottom of the first page shows the second triage procedures and then under this top page and resting next to the arm is the final of three pages showing the final triage procedures.
Coaches armband top page has been lifted up to reveal two more pages of triage procedures.

Following are my list of note pages:

These pages were updated May 1, 2016 after I had Captain Alan Wilkes from OCFA, who also teaches CERT, looked over two of my pages.  He reviewed only Triage 1 and 2 pages only.  He did not like my long winded presentation and said “stay out of the weeds”.  I took his suggestion and added a single page called RPM (see below).  I still think there is a need for TRIAGE page 1 and 2 because most of us hardly ever have to use these skills.  People who have to TRIAGE more frequently probably only need the RPM page.

Top page: Emergency radio frequencies: RACES, Red Cross, Hospital Group, FRS frequencies.  Each is fully labeled as to ID, repeater shift and PL tone.

Optional radio template:

RADIO Template

Page 1:  Triage procedures in .pdf form.  I created these documents using Pages.  Font size is 7pt.  I confined the text into a 2 and 1/2 inch high by 4 and 1/2 inch wide space so it would slide into my X200 Coaches Writstband (adult size):

TRIAGE 1

Page 2: is a continuation of the triage procedures.

TRIAGE 2

Alternate top page:

Here is a single page that show, in a very brief form, how to perform the whole TRIAGE process.  This single page is intended to replace page 1 and 2.  Another idea is to put the RPM page as the top arm band page.  You could then open the arm band to see TRIAGE PAGE 1 and TRIAGE PAGE 2 for more detail.

RPM

I am still going over these documents to ensure they are accurate for content and clear in how to use the directions.  If anyone sees a mistake or improve the wording, let me know.

The reason I went to all this trouble is that triage is what scares me the most.  The triage process we are making life and death decisions and I do not want to screw that up.  I want those procedure to be ready after I forgot them.  I put this arm band into my CERT backpack.

Another, being prepared, solution was suggested by Mrs. Anna Lee Cave, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for the City of Brea, California.   She sent me this link: http://quickseries.com/index.php?prodcode=01-0595-000-01  and recommended the Field Operations Guide.

I hope you find this helpful.