Interests — Page 2

Photographing the Perseid Meteor Shower in Trout Lake

I attended a star party last night in Trout Lake with Jim White, our local astronomer. Once again, he brought his 20″ Newtonian reflector telescope and showed us a variety of deep space objects: nebulae, distant galaxies (including M101 and M51), open and globular clusters, etc. The weather was perfect with not a single cloud in the sky. We also were fortunate to have a new moon, with the only source of light pollution being a tiny light at the nearby school. The Perseid Meteor shower was peaking last night, so I brought my camera and set it up for automatic interval shooting. I shot about 200 frames, but only a few captures meteorites. Due to the randomness and brevity of these showers, it was mostly luck and a ton of patience that allowed me to capture anything at all.

Some Tips

Just in case you’re interested in my technique (or lack thereof) here are a few pointers on what I did.

Use a sturdy tripod – this cannot be emphasized enough
Remove any filters from the lens that could block light (neutral density, polarizer, etc.)
Try to focus at infinity or on a distant source of light. Use manual focus.
Wide open aperture
Use a relatively high ISO without generating too much noise (I used 640)
30 second exposure (go longer and the rotation of the Earth will blur the stars)
Set interval shooting to occur in rapid succession

Posted by Hawk in Winter on 12 August 2012 at 1:53 PM

Filed Under: Astronomy, Photography

Tagged With: andromeda galaxy, astrophotography, meteor showers

2 Comments

ARRL Field Day with the Radio Amateurs of the Gorge

I passed my technician exam and became a HAM nine years ago while attending Cal Poly. A number of us were involved with the Cal Poly Picosatellite Project, which involved designing an orbital satellite capable of down-linking remote sensor data via HAM radio bands. Many of the engineers on the project became HAMs in order to communicate with this and other orbital satellites carrying amateur radio (OSCARs). Unfortunately, I ended up graduating before I could use the privileges my new license provided, and I haven’t been involved in amateur radio since then. That is, until a few months ago, when the local LDS church put on an emergency preparedness fair. Several classes were offered at the fair, including one that covered the importance of amateur radio in emergencies. This was all that was necessary to rekindle my interest in this hobby and begin preparing to upgrade my license to a general class. With my new found motivation I realized that I had still never been on the air, a fact I was somewhat embarrassed to admit to other HAMs. I decided to attend our local field day where I learned that my situation wasn’t uncommon. I also had the opportunity, after nine years, to get on the air and make distant contacts.

Field day is an exercise organized by the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL), held annually on the fourth weekend in June. It is considered the largest emergency preparedness exercise in North America, with over thirty thousand operators participating across all of the amateur radio bands. Field day starts on Friday when HAMs gather at a predetermined outdoor location to set up an emergency communications center (typically a tent), radio gear, antennas, power supplies and amenities (such as heaters, food, coolers, etc.). The exercise begins at 1800 UTC on Saturday and ends at 2059 UTC on Sunday, after which the HAMs pack up their gear and head home. During the exercise the objective is to make as many contacts as possible under field conditions. In addition to being an emergency communications exercise, it is also a contest, with points being awarded for each contact made. More points are awarded for distant contacts or for using lower power levels to transmit. Contacts can be made with voice communication or by utilizing digital radio modes and Morse code (CW). According to the ARRL web page, the objective of field day is: [Read more…]

Posted by Hawk in Winter on 24 June 2012 at 5:05 PM

Filed Under: HAM Radio

Tagged With: emergency communications, field day, hf bands

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Fried Trout Dinner

The three trout we caught the other day made a delicious dinner. I fried the fish in sesame oil and butter with onions, tomato, mushrooms, black olives and bacon sausages. I finished the mix with a dusting of paprika and voilà.

Posted by Hawk in Winter on 17 June 2012 at 9:39 PM

Filed Under: Cooking

Tagged With: fish

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Viewing the Transit of Venus

Today a rare astronomical event took place: the orbit of the planet Venus placed it between the Earth and the sun. This event is called the Transit of Venus and it last occurred in 2004. It will occur again in 2117, so you can imagine my disappointment when I learned that the weather gods were not smiling upon us today. The Northwest experienced a weather system that brought rain and thick cloud cover completely obscuring the sun. The clear sky chart showed we might get a break later in the day and fortunately it was right! The clouds broke just after 5PM today and I seized upon the opportunity to drive to our local hardware store and purchase a piece of welders glass. Immediately after exiting the store I put the glass up to my eyes and I could clearly see the tiny dot of a silhouetted planet against the solar disc. I verbalized my excitement with a resounding “cool!” and drove back to work to show the rest of my coworkers and my wife when she finished her chemistry class. Astronomy is awesome!

I did not take this photograph since I didn't have my camera with me today. Click the image to read an article that explains the transit in more depth.

Posted by Hawk in Winter on 5 June 2012 at 9:41 PM

Filed Under: Astronomy

Tagged With: eclipse, venus

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Reflections on SEA-PAC: Attending My First HAM Radio Convention

I just returned from an awesome weekend in Seaside, Oregon where I attended the SEA-PAC convention, an annual gathering of amateur radio operators at the Seaside Convention Center.

HF Antenna Farm

First, a little back story: I’ve been a HAM for 9 years, call KG6PFU, but I’ve not yet been on the air. While attending Cal Poly I became involved with the Cal Poly Picosatellite Program, also known as PolySat. The aim of this program was to involve engineering students in an extracurricular project to design, build, and deploy an orbital satellite capable of remote sensing and downlinking telemetry on a HAM band. Because picosatellite communication involved using HAM radio frequencies, a number of the engineering students involved in the project took the FCC licensing examination and obtained our technician class licenses. Due to external commitments and schoolwork, I was only involved with PolySat for a short time and never had a chance to use my new privileges. Fast forward 9 years and I’m still a licensed HAM with a license that is about to expire, and I’ve still never been on the air. [Read more…]

Posted by Hawk in Winter on 3 June 2012 at 6:00 PM

Filed Under: HAM Radio

Tagged With: antenna design, ham satellites, polysat, sea-pac, seaside

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May 20 Annular Eclipse

Today we were treated to a very rare event, an annular solar eclipse. Because the orbit of the moon is more distant, it does not completely occlude the sun and produces a “ring of fire” effect. In fact, the word annular means ring-shaped. Jim, a local astronomer, was ready with a telescope and solar filters but the weather did not cooperate today. Instead we were cursed with a large blanket of thick clouds, so the eclipse viewing event was canceled. In fact, the cloud mass covered the entire Northwest, so driving to a better viewing location was not an option. I took my family and camera to Panorama Point anyway, just in case there was a break in the clouds. We arrived at 6:17PM, just 2 minutes after the point of maximum occlusion. Supposedly up to 70% of the sun’s light would be blocked but it didn’t seem that much darker when we arrived. Amazingly the solar disc was visible through the clouds so I was able to snap a few photos:

May 2012 Annular Eclipse (maximum occlusion)

May 2012 Annular Eclipse (just past peak occlusion)

May 2012 Annular Eclipse (moon retreating)

May 2012 Annular Eclipse (eclipse almost over)

I was not fully prepared to photograph the eclipse since I only had a portrait lens with me. I probably should have taken my older Canon Rebel, a less capable camera, but it comes with a 300mm zoom!

Posted by Hawk in Winter on 20 May 2012 at 8:26 PM

Filed Under: Astronomy, Photography

Tagged With: astrophotography, eclipse

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Delicious Oven Baked Halibut

About a year ago I discovered that I enjoy cooking and I have since taken over the role of cooking for my family. Instead of following recipes, I just experiment until I find a good taste combination and go with it. LRH recently suggested that I blog some of my recipes, so here is my first try: a tin-foil halibut bake. (if you can stand the price of halibut, that is).

	Start off with a sheet of tin foil and cover with a thin layer of butter or cooking spray. Chop some spinach and place a bed of it on the foil (you can drizzle some flavored olive oil on the spinach). Lay the filet down on top of the spinach and surround with shrimp. Then cover with a marinade. You can use something pre-made (like the packets at the Safeway meat counter) or make something out of olive oil, spices, etc. This time I used lemon garlic sauce.
	Add a chopped green onion and a chopped shallot to the filet.
	Now for mushrooms and black olives. Cremini or oyster mushrooms work well.
	Add some chopped tomatoes and then cover with your favorite spices. I used paprika and a small amount of cayenne pepper.
	Wrap up the tin foil and bake in the oven for about 20-25 min at 350-400 deg F. Enjoy.

Posted by Hawk in Winter on 2 October 2011 at 9:07 PM

Filed Under: Cooking

Tagged With: fish

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Shooting in the Dark: How to do Muzzle Flash Photography

I brought my camera to the range yesterday with the intent to capture some muzzle blasts from pistol rounds. The idea was originally inspired by my friend who has a Bersa Thunder in .45 and some +P rounds. The results were amazing, to say the least.

The process is fairly straightforward provided you have solo access to an indoor range or can find a safe place outside to shoot with low lighting conditions. You’ll need a good SLR camera with support for bulb exposure, a solid tripod and some patience. Follow the tips below:

Choose a location where you have control of the light. Ideally this would be access to a private indoor range. In order to get a good exposure, the shutter of the camera must be depressed with ambient light at a minimum. Obviously it would be unwise to shoot in complete darkness, so dim the light just enough that you won’t overexpose but are still able to see the target. Always observe the four rules of gun safety, especially rule number 4: “be sure of your target and what lies behind it.”
Set up the tripod and camera near but slightly behind the shooter. Adjust the focal length to frame the photograph how you want. If you instruct the shooter to keep the firearm in an invisible box, you can try zooming in to fill the frame with more of the blast.
With the lights on, instruct the shooter to take position and take aim, but not fire. Set the focus to manual and adjust until the firearm is in focus. In cameras that have a live-view mode, this is a simple task since the LCD display can be zoomed in while the focus ring is tweaked appropriately. Mark the position of the shooter’s feet, so he can return to that position for subsequent shots.
Set the camera to the lowest ISO speed to reduce grain and light sensitivity.
Set the camera for manual bulb exposure and adjust the aperture to an fstop that darkens the background without reducing the muzzle flash. I found that f/5.6 to f/8 works the best in very dim light.
With the shooter in position, turn down the lights and instruct the shooter to fire after depressing the shutter button. A bulb exposure holds the shutter open as long as the button is pressed, so when the shooter is done firing the button may be released and the muzzle flash will be captured.
Adjust aperture as needed to brighten or darken the blast.

Here are the results:

Posted by Hawk in Winter on 2 April 2011 at 1:22 PM

Filed Under: Photography, Shooting

Tagged With: muzzle flash photography

5 Comments

Adventures in Mexican Food

So, I was adventurous and tried a new dish at our local Mexican restaurant. It was called a Mojarra Frita and was described as a fish recipe garnished with lettuce, tomato and pico de gallo. Sounds delicious, right? Well, maybe not…

Before the waitress could put the dish down on the table, Siena start exclaiming “fish, fish, fish!”. Yep, she recognized that her Daddy had, in fact, ordered a fish (quite literally). At least it wasn’t a total loss: the rice and beans were good.

Posted by Hawk in Winter on 14 July 2010 at 6:43 PM

Filed Under: Cooking, Life & Updates

Tagged With: fish

2 Comments

TTL Wireless Flash Workshop

LRH and I attended a photography workshop in Portland focusing on using wireless flash for creative lighting. We had a fun and learned a ton. Here are some results.