Copasetic Flow

 We talked to Japan using the little RockMite 20! It was our first SOTA on Mt. Davidson here in San Francisco, and it was almost a total wash until I heard JG0AWE! and here's the video from the outing: Summit: Mt. Davidson  W6/NC-423 We wanted to get there really early, (the park opens at 5), so we took the 43 from Geneva and Madrid. We got off at Juanita, walked through the neighborhood to the northwest side of the mountain, and began our hike. And then, our hike was over. Terminated by the closed trail ahead of us. The city is still catching up with all the trees that were downed by the rainfall last month. A brief walk up Dalewood Way—that felt like it was almost straight up—brought us to the southwest trailhead. About ten minutes later, we were at the summit with the cross made famous by Dirty Harry. The cross was built as a WPA style project during the Great Depression. Pro tip: If you can wait to depart until a little bit after 6 AM, take the 36 from Glen Park BART st...

 In electronics engineering classes at both Ohio State and Texas A&M I did homework problem after  homework problem working out radio wave propagation. One of the fundamental points was that radio waves are just another kind of light, and therefore behave like light. Radio waves however are not like visible light in one major way, their wavelenghth. The Rockmite operates on the 20 meter ham radio band. That means that the radio waves emitted  by the little ham radio have a wavelength of (about) 20 meters. Meanwhile, visible green light (as an example) has a wavelength of about 510 nanometers (that's 510 billionths of a meter.) This rather huge difference in wavelengths affects how the two different kinds of 'light' interact with their worlds and —for me —produces rather dissapointing results. While we can use the same field equations for both green light and radio waves, in a lot of cases radio waves do not (apparently) behave like the green light we're used to. For...

 Happy June! I got to hang out in a new place with the gang and my parnter yesterday: a beautiful place full of flowers, a place with access to a mountain stream that ultimately cascades into a reservoir, and a place I had absolutely nothing to do with discovering. A few days back, while headed out to fish at a reservoir we've been to dozens of times, my partner suggested that the 11, 9, and 7 year old gang of kids should take our two dogs on a hike back into the forest above the lake. The gang heartily agreed. We dropped them off at the inlet to the lake with the understanding they'd explore upstream before meeting me back at the spot in an hour and a half. I dropped my partner off in a meadow next to the stream that flows away from the lake. I went to fish on the lake (and I didn't catch a thing.) An hour and a half later, I went to pick up the gang. Then, lots of things happened: As I pulled down the road to travel the two miles to the inlet of the lake, I ran into the g...

Getting kids ready to head out into the world on their own?  Here are some the things the kids here did to get ready. Get down on the ground As each new kid here learned to toddle, I took them out of the wrap as often as I could so they could walk beside me, instead of on the side of me.  The kids generally loved it . They got to explore.  They got to interact with the world.  I got to see the world from their perspective: only a few feet above the surface of the ground.  The kid, noticed things I hadn’t seen before.  They showed me their world.  Was it slow?  Yes, yes it was, but it was more than worth it.  The more they walked, the more they could walk, and soon, I was free of carrying kids, and had buddies I could wander around with. Learn to Lead Early on it’s nice to have a rapport at a distance with your kids.  A few simple instructions like left, right, stop, and u-turn are all they need to know.  These things come in...

I can’t wait!  Our annual two week camping trip is coming up in a few weeks.  We’ll head out and away from town—the one time all year we actually drive a car—to explore the forests, rivers, deserts and rock formations around us in a roughly four or five state radius.  We plan travel a lot like we plan unschooling—in broad swaths of possibilities.  We know we want to camp.  We know we want to fish.  We know we’d like to see snow.  (Yup, there are totally places to see snow in June.  It even snowed on us a little last June.)  Finally, we know we’d like to see the dry, warm desert.  We’re making a north, then south loop that will get these things done, but we’re unclear on all the rest of the details so far.  I know we’ll stay off of interstates in favor of state highways.  The little towns and the countryside are better out there; there’s less traffic; and the people are really nice.  We might head towards a few places w...

I'm working on a book about unschooling and free-range parenting with the working title: Cootermaroos: A Dad's Guide to raising Happy, Adventurous, Well-Rounded Urchins The following is an excerpt from the book.  To provide a little background, the kids who are now 8, 6, and 4 years old have all been camping since before they could walk.  We apply the same free-range principles to camping and hiking that we use in our every day lives.  On our hikes, the kids range from a quarter to a half mile ahead of us with the single rule that if they come to a fork in the trial they can't range out any further until my partner or I catch up.  With that intro, here's an excerpt on how each of them learned to hike free range! Since we’ve been camping since before the kids could walk, and since we love hiking, we’ve discovered a few misconceptions about what kids can actually do out on the trail.  Just like in town, as each kid begins to take their first steps, I take the...

The gang has been remarkably chill this week; they’re working with each other instead of squabbling; they’re taking time to make big decisions, weighing out the pros and cons; occasional disappointment have been taken in stride; and at bedtime, they’ve zonked right out every night.  Trying to figure out the secret of their success, I asked my partner what she thought.  Her immediate response: “They went camping last weekend.” Even though I don’t’ have copious amounts of data to back me up, I think the camping hypothesis is exactly right.  Our camping trips look far more like the free-range, unschooling ideal we shoot for than our everyday life does.  The kids are responsible for almost all of the logistics: they know the bus route to get to the campsite; they carry their own stuff; they setup the tent.  They also get to engage in far more independent, sometimes risky play.  The campground is theirs to wander around as they please.  On our hikes, they...

Snow is already coming down all over Colorado! In fact, they opened a few of the ski runs today! I traveled up to Diamond Lake via the Fourth of July trailhead yesterday where there's just a little bit of snow in the shady spots. The hike is beautiful, it crosses two very nice waterfalls and Boulder Creek on the way up. I ran into three other groups making the trek on a Tuesday afternoon. For more information on the trail and the Forest Service regulations for the area check: Diamond Lake [pdf] Pictures Back down the valley toward Eldora. Middle Boulder Creek Campsites available! Diamond Lake Stats Trail: Diamond Lake Trail #975 from Fourth of July Trailhead Forest Service description and regulations [pdf] Roundtrip distance on trail: 5.2 miles Transit time from Boulder to trailhead: 55 minutes Hike time to lake: 2 hours Hike time back: 1 hour Map View Larger Map Amazon.com Widgets