Hops Trains and Backpacks

Category: Gadgets

  • How do you charge an electric vehicle and how much does it cost?

    How do you charge an electric vehicle and how much does it cost?

    We recently rented a Tesla Model Y from Hertz and took it on a 900-mile round trip through the Adirondacks, Quebec, Vermont, and the Hudson Valley. This was a bit of a test-drive to see if an electric vehicle could put up with being driven on a road trip that we had planned without much…

  • Shortwave spy stations, still transmitting years after the Cold War

    Shortwave spy stations, still transmitting years after the Cold War

    I’ve been reading a number of John Le Carré books lately, which are mostly fictional thrillers about Cold War spies. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a particularly good one. So in that vein, I’ve been reading about ’60s spycraft, including how they used to communicate. In the pre-internet days, these spies…

  • The Cold War lives on, on shortwave radio

    The Cold War lives on, on shortwave radio

    After reading a few too many John Le Carre spy novels, I decided to see whether the shortwave radio spies in the Cold War used is still a “thing” and whether there’s any point to buying one. I tapped into a lively nest of hobbyists and websites documenting these international airwaves online, with no need…