Category: Contest

A Silver Conversion Exercise, by M.J.

As an intellectual exercise, I converted the price of some of my recent purchases from U.S. dollars to ounces of silver. I did this out of curiosity to see how well I would do in a precious metals-based economy. I used the spot price of silver per ounce that was quoted at www.apmex.com on 09-16-2023: $23.31. The other spot prices for that day are as follows: Gold: $1,937.50 per ounce Platinum: $945.70 per ounce Palladium: $1,286.00 per ounce Here’s what I bought:1 gallon of 30% vinegar: $21.07, or 0.90 ounces of silver. (Regular grocery store vinegar is 5% and costs …


One Way to Get Started in Ham Radio, by Reltney McFee

Simply in case anyone was wondering, this is by no means “the” way to begin. Rather, this is a sort of discussion of how I got into Amateur (“Ham”) radio. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, I was attracted to CB radio, although, being a teen, my budget to act on that attraction was, well, scant. I had a CB walkie-talkie, and would chat with a friend similarly equipped, a couple of blocks away from me. Once I moved out of my parents’ home, I started working, for Da City’s EMS, and from time to time would note that …


Homesteading: A Trapper’s Perspective – Part 4, by Lodge Pole

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.) There are a million ways to bait and/or lure for a foothold set. I have not found one way that works better than another. Try all the methods and use what works for the environment being trapped. Coon Cuff, or the dog-proof trap. I love this trap simply for the fact that I can use it if I am only targeting raccoons. They are simple to use; set the trap, secure the trap, bait the trap. There is no need to hide it or dress it up to blend in. Conibear traps. …


Homesteading: A Trapper’s Perspective – Part 3, by Lodge Pole

(Continued from Part 2.) Tools and Tricks of Trapping First, I will discuss the small arsenal of tools I always take with me on a trap line. As with any hobby, marketing campaigns from supply companies can drive the unnecessary feeling to buy things you do not really need. Remember, marketing is a corporate tactic explored through scientific research and perfected to get you to feel the need to have the newest and greatest piece of equipment that is guaranteed to help you be more successful. I have tried a lot of these newer and better tools, and I still …


Homesteading: A Trapper’s Perspective – Part 2, by Lodge Pole

(Continued from Part 1.) Our goal is to limit our trips to town by producing as much food as possible. There are still a few items we will need to purchase, salt, flour, etc., but those are easily procured in bulk to limit our trips. I am a student of history. I study how and what our ancestors did as they settled this country. They had to be resilient and self-reliant. They had to deal with heartache and failures. Most that pursued manifest destiny failed, but regardless, those men and women were tough. They kept on going. It is easy …


Homesteading: A Trapper’s Perspective – Part 1, by Lodge Pole

This will be an instructional/how to article, though I feel the need to set the stage first as to how I acquired the skills I write about and how I implement them regularly. Before attempting anything described in this article, check local laws and regulations. Introduction About fifteen years ago, when I was a younger man and had an answer for everything, I overheard some cowboys call their Queensland Healer dogs as “tools, not pets.” As I listened to and watched the cowboys work their dogs, I scoffed at their comments about their animals being tools. I looked at a …


My Experience with a Bluetti AC180 – Part 2, by Rick S.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) THE BLUETTI 180P This brings us to a real-world solution: the Bluetti AC180. This is a charge controller/battery bank/inverter in a single, elegant package. The heart of the AC180 is a bank of Lithium Iron batteries with an advertised life of 3,500 charge/discharge cycles and is warranted for five years. Integrated into the package is a charge controller capable of charging from a number of sources: 120 VAC house supply, car charger, or solar panels. It then is capable of supplying that stored power in a number of ways: various USB connections, …


My Experience with a Bluetti AC180 – Part 1, by Rick S.

INTRODUCTION One of the more useful new technologies for preppers is photovoltaic power generation. Twenty years ago this technology was in the early stages with very limited applicability due to a high cost/benefit ratio. Today, due to a number of significant advances, a solar power generation capability on some scale is entirely practical. At the same time, entirely off-grid solar power is not yet practical unless one is prepared to make some significant sacrifices in living circumstances. This can be illustrated by simply referring to your monthly electric bill where you will find a wealth of information regarding your electrical …


How I Survived A Home Invasion – Part 3, by Mr. Y.

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) Part 3 – Lessons and Observations Unsurprisingly, I ran the whole episode over in my head quite a few times as the days and weeks went by. Small details that I had forgotten came back. Eventually, I thought it would be worth noting a few things to share with other people: The biggest takeaway was that things happened unbelievably fast. If my pistol had been in a different room, or been unloaded, or had the chamber empty, or had a manual safety, or was stored without the magazine in it, the outcome …


How I Survived A Home Invasion – Part 2, by Mr. Y.

(Continued from Part 1.) Part 2 – Interview and aftermath I sat around in the little interrogation room by myself for about 90 minutes before anyone came to ask questions. The two detectives informed me that The Bad Guy ‘didnt make it’. I wasn’t surprised but it added a new level of anxiety to things. If I was going to get into trouble over this, the consequences were a lot more severe for killing someone than for injuring them. We spent about two hours or so going over what happened. Did I know this person? What did they say? Where …


How I Survived A Home Invasion – Part 1, by Mr. Y.

Part 1: Backstory and The Event This is an article about the experience, aftermath, and lessons learned from a home invasion that I experienced. I feel strongly that retelling it provides some important lessons and food for thought for anyone who keeps a gun for self-defense. The Backstory It was a weekend late afternoon and I was in my computer room at my house, working on e-mails and generally perusing the Internet. I had headphones on so I was unable to hear anything going on around me. The only other people in the house were my girlfriend who was cleaning …


A Local Disaster Network – Part 5, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 4. This concludes the article.) Cloud Dancing Next, we’ll set up the Nextcloud application. Assuming your laptop and Raspberry Pi are still connected to your GL.iNet router and it has Internet access, open up a web browser on your laptop and enter the following address: ‘http://nextcloud.local’ – depending on your operating system and browser you may get a warning that says the connection isn’t private – just click to proceed anyway (or click on ‘Advanced’ and then ‘Proceed’). The first screen that will pop up is the following:           You’ll notice that there …


A Local Disaster Network – Part 4, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 3.) Cloud Server Next, we’re going to set up the operating system and Nextcloud cloud application that runs on the Raspberry Pi server. You’ll need to download two or three pieces of software to accomplish this – a utility for loading the Raspberry Pi’s operating system image onto the microSD card, the actual Raspberry Pi operating system/application image file, and a tool for uncompressing the compressed operating system/application image file after downloading it (if you don’t already have something like WinZip or 7-Zip installed). For the Pi’s operating system/application we’re going to use an image called NextCloudPi …



A Local Disaster Network – Part 2, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 1.) There are two additional items required to run a Raspberry Pi – a microSD card for storage and a power supply. I’ve set up, configured and run dozens of Raspberry Pis since they came out in 2012, and 90% of all of the problems I’ve ever encountered with them are the result of either a bad microSD card or inadequate power supply, so you don’t want to cheap out on either. For the microSD card I strongly recommend using a SanDisk MAX ENDURANCE model of at least 64GB, but bigger is always better, so get a …