#170 ArchaeoTech - Cell Phone Signal Boosters

I didn’t encounter this too much on the East Coast but in the midwest and over much of the intermountain West between the Sierras in California and the Rocky Mountains cell phone coverage is spotty at best. It doesn’t seem to matter which carrier you go with here in the Great Basin because they all have coverage areas where they work great and huge areas where there is little to no signal.

Not having a signal isn’t the end of the world, of course. People did without cell phones for, well, all of human existence until about forty years ago. By about ten to fifteen years ago nearly everyone started carrying a cell phone. Now, it’s difficult to find someone without a cell phone. Hell, even my grandmother has one. She doesn’t even have call waiting on her land line!

The ability to use a cell phone in the field, especially in some of the remote areas of the west, can mean the difference between a good day and a very bad day. I worked with a friend a few years ago that decided to take a shortcut to get to the town we were working in. The town was about five hours from the office. The shortcut was a very long (over fifty miles) gravel road. His tire blew out on that gravel road and, since the company had several field vehicles of different makes and models, he found out that his spare had a different bolt pattern than his hubs and it wouldn’t fit. No problem. He called the office on his cell phone and someone drove him out a spare. So, instead of sitting there for days with no one knowing where he was (he didn’t tell anyone he was taking that short cut) he sat for a few hours and was back on the road.

So, in those areas where cell coverage is poor it might be necessary to have a cell phone signal booster. Check out the video below:

Wilson Electronics

Wilson has a complete line of wireless signal boosters. I’m only going to talk about the mobile solutions in this post but check out the website for office and home solutions as well.

Wireless Solutions

 MobilePro ($150 to $280). This little device receives a signal from a cell tower and boosts the signal from and to the tower. The advantage of this device over others is that it doesn’t hook directly to your device. It just sits in the vehicle and allows multiple devices to connect to it. You could run several cell phones and even a data connection from several devices such as tablets and computers.

Dual-Band Mobile Wireless ($260 to $430). This device is similar to the MobilePro but is mounted securely inside your vehicle and is not intended to be taken out. The MobilePro could be installed in a rental but this is not designed for that. The Dual-Band system is extremely powerful and has the ability to connect multiple devices.

Cradle Boosters

Designed for one phone per cradle, the Sleek line of cradle boosters are designed to boost both voice and data signals and will also charge your device. They work best with hands free systems that allow the phone to sit in the cradle while you use it. This is a great option if only one person needs to use the cell phone and that cell phone has hotspot capability. You could leave the phone in the cradle, turn on the hotspot, and connect all the company computers and tablets for fast uploads of the day’s data. The cradle boosters range in price from $75 to $200.

So, be safe and stay connected with a cell phone signal booster. Wilson isn’t the only company that makes these boosters but they have been around for a long time and are highly trusted. I’ll certainly be picking one up in the near future. Anyone that works in remote areas and/or needs to upload secure company data from the field should have one.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the field!

#169 All SAA2013 Tweets, Storified

When I joined Twitter two years ago during the Blogging Archaeology session at the Society for American Archaeology annual meeting in Sacramento, CA, I was amazed by the conversation that was happening parallel to the conference online. The interactions between conference attendees and those that could not attend was less than this year but it was a start. Actually, I’d like to know when the first SAA tweet was sent out. If anyone knows, let me know in the comments!

At this year’s conference there were anywhere from ten to twenty or so people tweeting. A few were consistently tweeting every paper they went to. I was impressed by the dedication. There were a number of people that interacted with the tweeters as well. They were asking questions about papers and I even saw a few that asked people to tweet certain papers and sessions. It’s a crazy new world we live in where a conference like this can be dynamically interactive.

One difficulty with following the live Twitter stream is that if you’re following one paper, and others are also tweeting, the tweets you want to see relating to that paper can get jumbled up with all the other Tweets. Storify is a service that lets you organize tweets, public Facebook posts, Instagram photos, and content from other social media sites, into a coherent flow of organized media. You can even add textual commentary to help break up sections.

So, I Storified (yes, it’s a new verb!) all of the tweets from the 2013 SAAs. Since there were about 800 to 900 tweets from the conference it didn’t make any sense to put them into one story. That’s why I broke up the tweets into the logical blocks that the conference is split into. There are three blocks of time on Thursday (morning, afternoon, and evening), two blocks of time Friday and Saturday, and one block on Sunday (morning). Even with these small blocks of time it still took a long time to create each story. I tried to collect tweets and images from entire symposiums and individual papers so one could read them through as though they were sitting in the conference room. Ideally I’d like to have added abstracts before each paper that was tweeted. Sadly, I just don’t have time for that.

Next year I want to put together a fancy sign-up sheet on my blog for tweeting at SAA2014 in Austin. I figure a lot of people are going to go and many of them will be tweeting. I’d like people to sign up to tweet sessions that they’ll be attending anyway. The goal is to get all the sessions tweeted. This is not only for the people not in attendance but as an unofficial archive of the live experiences people have at a conference. I really believe in this method of interaction and I think it has value high enough to warrant planning and consideration.

In the mean time, however, you can take a look at the tweets from this year’s conference. I’ve included links to the Storified tweets below. Please comment and tell me how it should be done differently or even if you like what I did. Any suggestions will be helpful and appreciated.

Storified Tweets from SAA2013

• Thursday
• Morning
• Afternoon
• Evening
• Friday
• Morning
• Afternoon
• Saturday
• Morning
• Afternoon
• Sunday
• Morning

Again, let me know if you have any suggestions. Also, retweet and share this post so others in your network can see the conference tweets as well.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the field...and in Austin!

#168 Two Years

I'm at the Society of American Archaeology Annual Meeting in Honolulu right now and today marks two years since I entered the blogosphere. It's not exactly two years but this is the day I count.

Two years ago, at the SAA meetings in Sacramento I went to the Blogging Archaeology session organized by Colleen Morgan. I was only slightly aware of blogs and I wasn't on Twitter. During the session I signed up for a Twitter account and was forever immersed in the conversation that happens behind the scenes of many activities and conferences around the world.

That evening I signed up for Squarespace and started this blog. This is my 168th blog post. I've written approximately 120,000 words and about 1,500 people read the blog every week. My Twitter account is 99% archaeologists and other scientists and has grown to over 450 followers (at least 15 new followers while at this conference!). I don't try to get more followers and just let it happen organically. I feel that getting followers just for the sake of doing it isn't very useful to me. Sure it looks good to some people, but, I want followers that actually want to hear what I have to say.

This blog has always been about my activities in CRM archaeology and has contained an educational element as well. Now that I have my own company the blog will likely begin to transition to more of an educational resource, but, I want to include posts about projects and things I'm working on in the Great Basin. If I ever get any employees I'd like them to start blogging here as well.

My hope is to get other archaeologists, and especially CRM archaeologists, to start blogging. One step to achieving that will hopefully happen in Austin next year for #SAA2014. I'm going to bring back the "Blogging Archaeology" session and I'd love it if bloggers from all over could come into and relay their experiences in the blogosphere and tell future bloggers what's worked for them, what hasn't, how blogging is good for archaeology and public outreach, and how blogging has affected them. They session could also include papers on effective use of social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and whatever new kid on the block comes around between now and then. I've never hosted a session before so I have some research to do. I think it's important that this type of session continue to be a part of the SAA Annual meetings.

Eventually I'd like to have a YouTube channel that contains instructional videos. These videos could be about everything from identifying a flake to the finer points of pedestrian survey. When a new field tech, or even an old one, searches for something related to doing archaeology I want one of DIGTECH's videos to be the first thing they see in the search results.

Thanks to all my readers and especially to the commenters. Comments keep me honest and they keep me going. I know it's difficult to comment sometimes because of the way you are reading this. Most people are not reading these posts on the website. They are using smartphone or tablet apps and different apps online. If there were a way to comment without going to the website then I would do it.

I'm working on a resource for new archaeologists in the field of CRM. It will cover everything from writing a CV, to your first interview, to living in the field. This book isn't about archaeology. It's about being an archaeologist and doing it in a way that keeps you happy and sane. Stay tuned for details.

Thanks for reading and I really do hope to see you in the field!

#167 ArchaeoTech - Magic Cook

The Magic Cook fire-less cooking system.

I’m filing this little suite of devices in the “just plain cool” category. I’ll get right to it. The basic system includes a plastic cup or dish, an inner stainless steal container, an airtight plastic locking lid, and a water-activated heat pack. Simply place food, liquid, or even a frozen meal in the stainless steal container; put a heat pack in the plastic container;  cover the heat pack with water; place the steal container in the plastic container and attach the lid.

It should take about ten minutes to cook soup, tea, and coffee. Instant noodles take 15 minutes. In 20 minutes you can have pasta and vegetables. Rice also takes about 20 minutes. Frozen food takes about 25 minutes.

View fullsize

The website for the product is not clear as to how much of an impact using very cold water versus warm water has on the heating cycle. Is the maximum temperature affected by the ambient or starting temperature of the water, or, does the water just take longer to get to boiling when really cold water is used? Either way, it’s pretty cool technology.

Uses

There is no doubt that something like this would be good in an emergency survival situation. Just the ability to boil water for purification purposes would come in handy. You could even build a small shelter in the winter and heat it up with steam from the boiling water. Sure, it wouldn’t last long, but, it might last long enough for you to get rescued.

There my be occasional uses for this product in the field on extended work-camping trips as well. The only limitation would be the heat packs you have to use to heat up the water. Just 10 packets costs $24.99 on the company website. It that means 10 dinners for one session then it might be worth it. $2.50 a day to cook your food means the difference between cold sandwiches and hot, tasty, pasta. I think I’m starting to come around.

​Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the field.

#166 ArchaeoTech - Road Safety and Mobile Power

I recently saw a video from Geek Beat TV that included some great options for crews on long deployments in the field. Do you drive for hours to get to your field locations? Do you spend 8-10 days in the field at a time? Do you spend that time camping? If you work in the West then chances are the answer is yes.

The first device, a road safety light, is applicable to all situations. If you have a field vehicle then you should have something like this. The latter devices are for people and companies that have embraced a digital lifestyle.

The Video from Geek Beet called, “My Mobile Life Episode #116” is below. Check it out, then read on.

If the video doesn’t load you can find it here.

Eton Road Torq $20 to $30

​A couple years ago my wife, also an archaeologist at the time, and I were returning to the office in a company vehicle when the left rear tire blew out on the interstate, in the dark, in the middle of a torrential down pour. Good times. There was just enough space to pull off the interstate and be safe while changing the tire. It would have been real handy to have the Eton Road Torq in our safety kit.

Ever have to get into something in the company safety kit only to find out that the batteries are dead, or, something is expired. Well, that’s why it’d be nice to have one of these devices. The Road Torq can be hand-charged with the side hand crank so you know it will always work. Just two minutes of cranking will give it ten minutes of flashlight and flashing beacon power. You can also charge it up prior to leaving with the DC input for extra long charges.

Well, that’s why it’d be nice to have one of these devices. The Road Torq can be hand-charged with the side hand crank so you know it will always work. Just two minutes of cranking will give it ten minutes of flashlight and flashing beacon power. You can also charge it up prior to leaving with the DC input for extra long charges.

The Road Torq stands up with three reflective legs and has a three-LED flashing beacon and a bright, LED, flashlight. At less than a pound (13.7 oz.) this device is a must for any company, or personal, road safety kit.

My Charge - $79 to $99

​I discussed two other field battery packs before here and here. There is a suite of battery packs from this company that should fit most smartphone and tablet needs. The advantage to these power packs, as opposed to the Zagg Sparq and the Solio Bolt, is that they contain their own charging cords. Not all of them do, but some.

The Peak 6000, Summit 3000, and Portable Power Bank 6000 all contain charging and power cords which eliminates the need to carry extra cords. I’ve often found myself with one of my two battery packs but without a sync cord required to charge my device. That makes my power packs just extra weight. Get a myCharge Power Pack and you won’t have that problem.

HyperJuice 2 - $299.95

Now we’re in the big leagues. The HyperJuice series are a group of batteries that allow you to charge a laptop and two other devices, such as an iPhone and an iPad, many times over. The HyperJuice 2 will run a MacBook for up to 18 hours, an iPad for 34 hours, and the iPhone can be charged up to 19 times.

​I’ve been on long camping trips for work and it was essential to use a laptop in the evening to download equipment. For hours on end the field supervisor had a gas generator running.and it was very annoying. If we only had to run it once every other day that would have been better. With these batteries you wouldn’t have to run the generator every day and that alone is worth it.

Options

The devices I’ve presented here have many uses. They are also only a few options among many on the market. When spending the amount of money that some of these things cost I highly suggest you figure out what your needs are and find something that suits them. It is easy to under or overestimate what your needs are. My inclination is to always overestimate what my needs are and get something that’s a little beyond what I currently need. That way I’m prepared for the inevitable upgrade cycle and my equipment will stay relevant for a little while longer.

What fun and useful tech do you use in the field? Leave a comment and let my readers and I know so we can all benefit from our collective knowledge and experience.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the field.