Yeah, um, ok it's a 2 stroke. What does that mean?

Recent posts for low cost 110v generators averaging anywhere between $89 to $199 seem to have captured the eye of a lot of people; Sasquatch researchers are no exception! And while these pint-sized units are readily available to do the job of serving up kilowatts of power during your trip, it only takes a tiny misunderstanding to throw everything to hell.

"Damn...the lights are strobing on and off - guess the generator is running out of gas. Mind filling it?" Moments later the beast is up and running, you continue about your business. Then it happens. You hear the motor slow down. The lights dim. Within seconds the generator dies. That pull-start cord is as solid as a rock. The engine is dead - locked up - seized. Wrecked. Destroyed. Whatever you call it, it is a write-off. Why?

Oil. maybe even only a half cup or less - depends on the mix ratio, but that "cheap" generator you bought is cheap because it has a 2 stroke engine that needs to consume oil mixed into the gas in order to remain cool and lubricated. 2 stroke engines are the simplest and cheapest forms of power plants out there, yet because they burn the oil that lubricates them, they have become under increasing scrutiny with regards to pollution (EPA) initiatives. And this is why we see so many old Johnson and Mercury 2-stroke boat motors still kicking because they are cheap to operate and easy to work on.

That unforgettable smell of burning gas and oil will always bring back memories. Even if it wasn’t the boat, it might have even been a weed wacker or lawnmower, maybe even a chainsaw, but they were 2 stroke engines and the minor pain in the ass that they caused with the mixing ratios was (and still is) by far a miniscule task when you consider the reliability and longevity of such devices. I know that there are people out there grumbling about this. 2 strokes are dirty, filthy things. They are not as efficient as 4-strokes. They are destroying the earth. Ok, you've said your peace.

Now, let's look at all the environmentally inconsiderate things that you do. Take a bit of time, but you shouldn't need much. Now look at a field researcher. Someone who doesn't get out often but when we do we want to make the most of it and have the tools we need to operate efficiently, even if it is only for the weekend. Yeah, I could buy that $1200 4-stroke "clean" generator, but who am I kidding? Only myself. You see, given what I have mentioned, I really don’t spend that much time to the point where I require a generator. So my $1200 investment is going to be a beast that might take a bit of time to pay off. Not too mention that the portability is limited given the size. Was it arc-welding you wanted to do? :) Nope, my $99 2-stroke generator that may see 3 hours a month is a worthwhile investment. Just have to remember to ADD OIL to the gas!!!!!

Cogeco QAM channels

First, my apologies for not posting with more regularity, but I have my reasons - mostly TIME! I promise to blog with more frequency very soon - I miss it! This is nothing new but I thought I would take the liberty of bringing this to the attention of those who might benefit from this finding. Recent frustration with my PVR (Polaroid DRM-2001G) led me to try to upgrade the firmware on it which, I am sad to say, turned it into a useless piece of junk. Ok I shouldn't be that harsh - It will still play DVD's and the hard drive is still good - but it has a real hard time burning DVD's and the hard drive is getting full. Having to hookup the IDE drive (which, by the way is a older style PATA interface) to a USB dongle to pull the data off it is a bit cumbersome. On the slight chance that I may run across a proper copy of firmware for the north american version of this device - which is a generic type of PVR that is sold under different brand names, I may be able to resurrect this beast. If you are out there and you have access to such firmware, Drop me a line and let me know! So, my search for firmware ended up taking me to a lot of audio / video based websites such as this one and I was intrigued by this device. It would appear that the FCC has done some good with regards to the regulations surround the distribution of TV signals in an unencrypted format; Specifically QAM as described in this wiki. They (the cable companies) certainly do not advertise this feature from what I have seen, but then again, I live in Canada and subscribe to Cogeco cable, and of course, we are not governed by the FCC - but the point is, tv equipment that is manufactured for sale in the US after a certain date must have a ATSC tuner built into it (in addition to NTSC which has been phased out for over the air broadcasts in the US), and so, in the case of the Philips DVDR3575, manufactured for the US market - has both NTSC and ATSC tuners built into it and the ATSC tuner is capable of receiving QAM transmissions (Digital TV). So what's the big deal? Well, a couple of things. First, when this PVR came out, it retailed for close to $800 but rapidly dropped. It is one of only a few PVR's that have a built in tuner, dvd recorder, 160 GB hard disk drive, firewire and USB inputs. And, at the local clearance center on Dixie Road in Mississauga, I picked up a refurbished unit with a 6 month warranty for only $199! Now here is the big news - Like I said, I subscribe to regular analog basic cable. No variety packs or options. Just regular cable. I plugged this thing in, then went into the menu and did the initial setup "auto-channel" scan to pre-program the unit. It ran through all the regular cable channels from 2 - 125, then it started scanning for ATSC (Digital TV) channels. It took a little bit of time - about 15 minutes, but once complete - Voila!! I had a bunch of DTV channels and music channel that I could receive from Cogeco. At this point I have not spent the time to actually tally the channels I am getting because I have only just hooked up this unit very recently, but things are looking bright! I will post my channel list after compiling it and share it with you. Until next time.....

Things are “Ticking”….

My temporary lapse in blog efforts is in no way indicative of my interest in doing so; I’ve been VERY busy.

Just did another episode of Simply Sasquatch on Blogtalk radio and I was happy to see OSR member “Squatchers” (Tim Ervick) join in to the show via chatroom. Tim has a great blog on Blogspot that you can take a peek at. Thanks for the support Tim!