Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Shacktopus: Behemoth in a Pack

Posted by timothy on from the decades-long-quest dept.

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."

4 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. The question is: Who you gonna call? by pongo000 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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).

    1. Re:The question is: Who you gonna call? by Ratbert42 · · Score: 3, Interesting
      I've met Joe, AB2M, and he's being an idiot and sharing some bitter grapes with his article. He came to Punta Gorda / Port Charlotte a week after landfall when major services were getting restored. He went to the idle "section manager" (Dave Armbrust, AE4MR) who was such an idiot that he's since been voted out (part of the reason Joe's so bitter). The post-Charley response was a clusterf-ck. Essentially all of the "leaders" yahoo-ed it down to the affected area and made a mess. Without coordination there were a lot of wasted ham resources. Their mismanagement had a lot to do with changes in the ham radio emergency structure in Florida.

      I was in Punta Gorda 8 hours after landfall and hams were plenty busy for the first 72 hours. I later found out I was literally operating within half a mile of Dave, who was camped out on some air-conditioned communications trailer, turning hams away because he didn't have any tasks for them. Meanwhile, I have Red Cross and Salvation Army operating with no communications except volunteers driving between locations.

      I know the hams that set up the Forestry trailer and Joe's again full of it. Those hams got a sheriff's department back on the air and kept them working. Those particular hams and others train and practice setting up those communication trailers. Sure emergency services folks could have set it up, but they were a little busy and short-handed at the time. It freed up at least an extra battalion chief and an engine company.

      As Jeanne passed, a local ambulance company (not fire-rescue but BLS) lost their repeater for about an hour. I personally know two of about five hams that worked together to pass messages and dispatch some of ambulances from the shelters they were located at.

      I'll agree that the subsequent hurricanes left little for hams to do because of all the resources that had swarmed to Florida by then. I hope a lot of those resources stayed. Personally, I'd love it if a hurricane could come through and hams are never needed.

  2. Great to see a Ham radio article on Slashdot by RustNeverSleeps · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

  3. Sure I remember the original Technomad by strannik · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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!