Slashdot Mirror
Shacktopus: Behemoth in a Pack
Chanc_Gorkon writes "Anyone remember the guy who built the Winnebikeo and the Behemoth bikes and kayaks? Well, he's at it again, but this time it's packable. He's taking lithium-ion batteries, solar cells, a Yaesu FT-817 HF radio, a Yaesu VX-6R HT, a Zodiac PDA, Linksys WET-11(older version) retrofitted with a Senao Long Range WiFi Card, cellphone and whatnot, and putting it all into something you can wear on your back. Basically, it's Behemoth in a pack. His website is up for the Shacktopus."
Behemoth bikes? Kayaks? What?
AHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
No.
Winnebiko
Behemoth
This sounds almost identical to... this...
Wish 73s to him. If I had money, and I had upgraded to Extra, I would probably want to do somthing like that. It is nice to see hams still working on high-tech wireless solutions.
-Brian, KG4QXK
I find it funny that this story is so slow to get comments. It's like this guy is the weird guy that everyone knows but nobody wants to be friends with him. "Does ANYONE remember this guy? Anyone...?" And wo no one posts for fear of being associated with him.
He's using a hacked version 1 WET 11 for the Access point.
Basically its a replacement of the stock radio with a 200mW Senao card. You can see here: http://shacktopus.com/hacks/senao-wet11.html
The one thing I see odd is that he is using both of the antenna jacks on the Senao card which were meant to be used in diversity mode with matched antennas. He is using a rubber duck on one and a directonal on the other.
I know that there are numerous different diversity modes but my experience with this particular Senao card (prism 2.5 chipset) is that you are better off using a single antenna on the main connector (left connector when viewd with sockets facing down)
oh yes, the senao card, right.
You must be new here. It doesn't matter that you have no idea what the article is about, just say what a stupid idea you think it is and then make some stuff up (and make sure to use poor grammar and spelling, and it goes without saying: don't read the article). Here, I'll start:
While this is a great idea it is very poorly executed; I fail to see why he chose the Yaesu FT-817 with a Yaesu VX-6R HT, clearly the HS model would be much more appropriate, and cheaper. Hopefully the woeful inadequecies Behemoth have been addressed, but at first glance it seems that I could create something much greater, if I felt like it.
I remembered him, dammit. /.
And he's also one of the coolest stories I've seen on
Furthermore, I'm glad he got his rig to fit in a backpack.
He came though my town once, and while I was driving I saw him on his intense computer bike. I thought, I wonder if I can get raspberries cheaper at safeway or superstore.
It's kind of weird how all the control is through serial ports.
You forgot to say that it should also be compatable with Linux.
Noob.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
With the continuing death throes of ham radio, who exactly are you going to communicate with other than other hams on a pre-determined schedule (yes, I RTFA, and this is exactly what was done)? Who will be listening when an emergency comes around? In case one hasn't noticed, there is really nothing going on new and innovative in digital modes these days. And if you do find the occasional renegade website that talks about high-speed digital communications on the ham bands, good luck in actually finding another ham locally who is interested.
Where were the ham radio operators during the London blasts, when the telephone/cell networks were reportedly overloaded and in some cases unusable? In fact, when was the last time ham radio was used in an emergency situation because other modes of communications were down? (If you doubt the death of ham radio, you might want to peruse this.)
These are just some observations from a long-time ham...one of the reasons I became inactive was because I could not find other hams interested in pushing the digital envelope. That was 10 years ago...and now, I'm afraid it's too late to catch up.
This article was a good read from a nostalgic standpoint, but I don't see anything very innovative, at least innovative enough to spark my interests (again).
As a QRP operator, I love to go out into the woods and just sit and operate. There's something about just throwing a wire up in a tree and using a battery powered radio to talk to people all over the country and even the world. This guy has the same idea, although he's taking it a step further with internet access and data logging. The one thing I don't quite understand is how the internet access is going to work. In the block diagram, he's got a yagi antenna for WiFi, but that doesn't mean internet access will be easy every where. Up in the forests in the mountains (my favorite place to go with my radios), there are no nearby, or even distant line of sight WAPs. Satellite internet is an alternative, but as I understand it, it's rather expensive.
You can see his current location with this link. This is trasmitted via amateur radio, picked up by a local radio networks, and then forwarded to a server. You can also see the track he took on his current trip with this link.
And hams can use up to 1500 watts of power...if they have a power supply that big while out walking.
HAHAHA DISREGARD THAT, I EAT COOKIES
I met Steve back in the 80's when he came through Austin, Tx on his first bike. It was amazing to see all the stuff he had on it. Keyboard on the handlebars, ham gear, solar power, multiple computers, etc. I was into BBSing at the time and Steve wrote me up in his book. I contacted him a while back to say hi and seemed to be doing ok. I know for a while he had an arangement with Sun for Nomadic Computing. He had the two bikes (huge and ridiculous), the kayak and I think he may have been working on a mothership, a RV. The most amazing thing I remember about Steve was a knack he had for taking any phone number and coming up with a text string from the digits, almost instantaneously. It was uncanny. Marc
If you're wondering why he named his previous project Behemoth:
. html
t hwisc.jpg
Big Electronic Human-Energized Machine... Only Too Heavy
Source: http://microship.com/resources/winnebiko-behemoth
Picture of the Behemoth: http://microship.com/resources/resourcepix/behemo
BEHOMOTH = Big Electronic Human-Energized Machine... Only Too Heavy.
From the site:
This is what too much Smalltalk can do to you!
The world has changed and we all have become metal men.
One shagtopus baby, righteydokey mate
Where's anything else? It's one thing to proclaim the death of something; it's another to present a replacement for it. No one has offered a replacement for ham radio, yet they still say it's dead. Does no one see the need for emergency communications in a crisis that's independent of existing networks? I do. I have no opinion on ham radio's existence, but since there's nothing else why don't we just keep it around just in case?
It's a very dark ride.
I read about it in 73 magazine when I was a very young man. I remember being enthralled by the recumbent bike, and the integration of all that electronics into something he could use while mobile. ---KC2MMW
(Yes, I know that story was slightly different in some tiny technical detail. Bite me.)
(editted for brevity)
007: "Who are you?"
Pussy: "My name is Pussy Galore."
007: "I must be dreaming..."
I remember reading his dispatches on Compuserve or some other BBS (we both had TRS-80 100s) during the "Computing Across America" days (early 80s). Then I saw him several times at Sun Microsystems when he was building Behemoth in the bike lab there. I've been tracking his progress on and off ever since. Besides his books, newsletters, websites and news mentions, he was also featured in the cyberpunk hypercard stack.
Steve was the first guy to make me see that it was possible to work and live without being tied to geography. He was also the first guy I ever saw use a satellite-based internet connection. Go to microship.com and read the article on gonzo engineering and see the list of other technomads. Then find your own way to work outside the cubicle!