[TenTec] SOTA RADIO: charge your batteries by hiking to the summit?

[Jack Emerson]

I've been busy with work this week and haven't had time for my 2 cents worth 
on sota/radios/etc.
But generally speaking, anything N1EU says on the subject I would take as 
gud as gold.
I was pulled kicking and screaming into sota 3 years or so ago, tnx to N4LA, 
and now am really into it.
The gear I take has evolved to where I now usually use a kx-3 with the 100 
watt amp that goes with it, and more often than not, I carry 2 of the little 
batteries with me. Running the amp at around 50 watts, I can get about 4 
hours of use from the 2 batteries.
For my paddle, I use the GHD mini paddle sold by Morse Express.
I use an amp because I grew tired of hiking to the top of some mountain and 
only working a handful of stations.

As for the hiking, last summer I did maybe 10 activations, and had to hike 
in to most of them. Some of the hikes were very long and tiring. Over the 
course of last summer, I lost 45 pounds. Now I was doing other things to 
lose weight in addition to the sota hikes, but those hikes played a big role 
in my weight loss.

With Spring right on the cusp, I would urge anyone who is thinking about it 
to give sota a try. If I can get hooked on it, anyone can. In my case, 
before I tried it, I would beg off, saying that sota combined 2 of my least 
favorite activities, qrp and foot marches. But one sota activation was all 
it took to make me a believer. I'm still not into qrp, as evident by the 
little amp and extra battery that I now carry with me, but it is an 
extremely fun and challenging activity that will burn a few pounds off as 
well.

73 de Jack W4TJE
Fancy Gap, VA

-----Original Message----- 
From: Al Gulseth
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2016 6:49 PM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: [TenTec] SOTA RADIO: charge your batteries by hiking to the summit?

<snip> All that walking you're doing to meet your daily step-count goal 
could
soon start paying off -- and not necessarily in the way you expect.

Yes, it will it make you healthier, but it could power your activity 
tracker,
too, thanks to an insole that sits inside your shoe and harvests energy from
your footsteps.

Researchers at the University of Southampton, England, have designed the
removable insole to collect the kinetic energy generated by the movement of
your body and the pressure of your feet hitting the ground. This kinetic
energy is then transformed into electrical energy that can be used to power
small devices. <snip>

CNET: Battery-free wearables of the future could run off your footsteps
http://www.cnet.com/news/battery-free-wearables-of-the-future-could-be-powered-by-your-footsteps/

Wonder if this is worth keeping an eye on for possible SOTA/backpack 
portable
use if it proves to be a viable technology?

73, Al
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