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Solar Chargers...Save 290,000 Tonnes of co2 Each Year BY Valery Bowen How does the solar cell phone charger work? A solar cell phone charger works in the same way as a solar panel that is attached to an energy efficient home, just on a smaller scale. The charger has solar cells that convert sunlight into an electrical current, which is then sent via a wire attachment to you cell phone that enables the charging of the cells battery. The solar charger is designed in such a way that you do not need to use a conventional electricity supply to charge up your cell phone – handy when you are out and about, camping or just wanting to have a more energy efficient and greener way of life. Not only can a solar charger charge your cell, but it can charge mp3 players, iPods and many more devices. How much energy could I save in K/watt each year using a solar cell phone charger? You cell phone may on average use 1 – 1.5 watts of household electricity per kilowatt hour - per day. This can mount up over the course of one year. If you have more than one cell phone this increases the amount of watts used per day and the amount of money it costs in electricity bills. If you have a green home that relies on energy efficiency or want to live greener, then the solar charger is definitely a must buy. How much time does a solar charger requires to fully charge a cell phone? This will depend heavily on which solar charger you buy. For instance a 2 watt charger will fully charge your phone in around 3 hours of sunshine time, slightly longer on a cloudier day. An 18 watt charger will fully charge you cell phone in around 30 minutes on a sunny day about 1-2 hours on a cloudier day – but hey this is free power and any free charge supply is welcome. What are the best solar cell phone chargers? There are many solar chargers on the market, most of them are great devices to have in your possession, but there are some that stand out from the crowd. Manufacturers of solar powered cell chargers such as iSun, Solio and Sunsei are the favorites with many people – the devices are rather cool looking too which is an added bonus! How much waste is produced by manufacturers who produce those "green" solar chargers? Manufacturers of solar powered cell phone chargers like to be green themselves and have adopted inspirational methods in producing their products. From green manufacturing and using recycled materials – to you the owner there is not much waste at all, and where the manufacturer can be “green” they will be. About the Author Valery Bowen writes for 12voltsolarpanels.net a non commercial blog focused on his energy efficient story to help people understand how and why they should save energy starting from small devices. She writes on http://www.12voltsolarpanels.net/charge-your-cell-phone Solar Cell Phones Battery Chargers to help people learn how to start save energy from the scratch and then apply those experience to the next level.
Apartment Ham By Brad Smith, AA9G Published In QST
A good friend of mine named Carl Walthall, N8CDW, once lived in mid sized apartment with a balcony. On the balcony, next to his bedroom was a window located just directly above the complex roof. Anyways, in Mar. '03, I wrote a half page article called, "Apartment Ham Station" featuring my friend, Carl. Carl's ham station contained two HF rigs, along with a mobile dual-band set-up as a base (Common among hams today since no one manufactures those old, classic 2 meter/70cm. base stations anymore). He has a multi-band HF antenna that was self-tuning mounted on his balcony, a dual-band vertical mounted along side of it, and of coarse, an extra high band antenna mounted on the roof just outside his balcony window. I must say that in the past 7 years I've been licensed, it was one of the most creative and elaborate set-ups that I have ever encountered! Though he now he is a proud homeowner with a 50 ft. tower & several beams stacked on top of each other, he had to make due with the limited room he had while in the apartment for some 5 years. The reason I decided to write the article was because I can remember talking to a ham about his station a long time ago & was told that he didn't have any equipment or antennas on-the-air. -- This because he had moved from a house to an apartment. His name is Ross King, KA9QEQ. I didn't know him from Adam, but I did notice his ham plates & if you know me well enough couldn't resist saying "hi." In order to make the only national effort I could to raise the eyebrows of those hams that can't use PRB-1 (The FCC rule requiring reasonable accommodation for antenna structures for government licensees), I wanted to blow away the dark clouds obstructing their view to the warm sun & show them that, in fact, it can be done with ham radio, even in apartments, including condos, duplexes, and so on. I can only express my sincere gratitude to the editors and staff of QST Magazine for not only publishing the article, but for not trimming down the article by crunching it in a small cube in the bottom corner of the page. I hope this article inspired just as many ham enthusiasts as it did me, and now, just three years later, this article is discovered by those who seek to get on the air, and well, "Ham it Up!" W5YI slogan. 73, Brad Smith, AA9G
Art
Many of you may have listened
late at night on your local AM radio station or satellite receiver to a well
known radio show called “Coast to Coast AM” to a host named Arthur W. Bell,
III, known by most as Art Bell. But, what many of you may not know is that this
is no average radio talk voice. And if you’re an avid HF operator on the 75
meter band, you may have very well been a guest of his. That’s right, Art Bell
is a fellow amateur radio operator. His Advanced class call sign is W6OBB &
he lives in dry desert lands out west in
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