Every Blade of Grass

My Mentor Has Passed.......

2012-01-26T21:52:00.000-08:00

I'm really bummed.
My mentor in Electronics has passed from this mortal coil. I first met him my sophomore year in high-school (1967), when I was just a geeky kid with an Amateur Radio license, *some* knowledge of Electronics, and a lot of curiosity. I was working after school and on Saturdays for the little company he was Chief Engineer at, and when he saw me explaining Ohm's Law to one of the other high-school kids who worked there, he knew I had a better grasp on at least the basics than the other kids who worked there. I started off adjusting (and learning all the intricacies) of electrical relays, and soon he pulled me off the line to build and test solid-state prototypes for him. I continued to work there through high-school, both after school and as my summer job, until I went away to college. After college, while I was working at Fermilab, he called the house one day and wanted to know if I was available for some work at his new factory. Well, his new "factory" was a shop set up in the old veterinary office where I used to take my dog! No frills, but he had several huge orders for some control boxes, and the duds off the assembly line were piling up to the ceiling as he couldn't find anybody to troubleshoot and repair them. The people he had could test them, but if it failed, it went in the "NFG" pile. After working in the evenings and on Saturdays for a few weeks, he made me a far better offer than what Fermilab was paying me, so I went to work full-time for him. In less than two months, I had all the rejected units repaired, and taught his line people how to spot and repair the real obvious production defects, AND how to eliminate the problems on the production line that were causing the horrendous reject rate. Then I taught the brightest of the high-school kids he had working there some basic, commonsense troubleshooting theory and techniques, and his production problems basically vanished. I also drew all his schematics, made formal bills of materiel, interfaced with his parts vendors, and did all the other things you have to do to get a production line running smoothly, and maximize the throughput. He made pretty simple little boxes out of inexpensive parts, and his business took off like a bottle rocket once we had everything ironed out.
Back then, anytime you got a milkshake from a Taylor Freezer machine, or bought a Slush Puppy, your product had been made with the help of his little control boxes that ran the machine.
A year or so after that, he built a brand spanking new factory, and I helped him move all his existing stuff to the new building, and helped install and set up the wave soldering machines, and the conveyor belt process lines. I got a call from a college buddy who was now a head-hunter, and since things were running so well at the new place, I decided to leave for better offer at a medical electronics place.
I always stopped in to see how things were running everytime I went back to Joliet, but since I haven't been 'back home' since about 1991, I kinda lost track of him.
Today I received a Facebook message from one of my friends back in Joliet, and found out he passed away on January 22nd.
I owe this man a lot, as he gave me my start in my career, and always had kind words for my Mom and Dad, and always encouraged me to continue my education.
Rest easy, my friend. You touched an awful lot of people, and helped more than I can count.

Link to article in Joliet Herald News about Pete.

Gavankar, Peter G. Was born January 21, 1938, in Kolhapur, India, a city located in the southwest corner of Maharashtra. He passed away January 22, 2012 after a brief battle with cancer. He arrived in the United States in 1960 with only eight dollars, one suit and a scholarship to study electrical engineering at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. After graduating in 1963, he moved to Joliet, IL where he founded Rockdale Controls, Inc., the company he ran for 42 years. Peter's innovations at Rockdale were numerous, including developing the controls for soft-serve ice cream machines, Mr. Coffee and a "Classified" item for NASA's Gemini project. Peter was artistic, as well as innovative. In 1963, he produced an Indian/Latin fusion album with his childhood friend and Bolllywood composer, R.D. Burman. Peter was proud to be a U.S. Citizen and often called his birth in India a geographical error. On the 50th anniversary of his arrival, he was honored by the U.S. senate by having a flag fly over the U.S. Capitol. Peter achieved the American Dream and called his two daughters, Sonya Gavankar-McKay (Malcolm) and Janina Gavankar, his best inventions. In addition to his daughters, he is survived by his mother, Susheela Gavankar; his wife of 40 years, Mohra Shahane Gavankar; brother, Raja Gavankar (Monica) and sisters, Kirti Rege (Promod); Nilu Gavankar and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. A memorial service will be held Saturday, January 28, 2012 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Caterpillar Room at the Joliet Area Historical Museum, 204 N. Ottawa Street, Joliet, IL 60432. Arrangements were entrusted to Woodlawn Funeral Home. Online obituary at: www.woodlawnfunerals.com Woodlawn Funeral Home 3201 W. Jefferson Street Joliet, IL 60431 815-725-0100

Published in Herald News on January 25, 2012

The REAL State of the Union

2012-01-26T21:05:00.001-08:00

Go over to Sultan's place and read it.
I'd be laughing if it wasn't so true......

"Surviving Technology" by Bruce Vaughn, NR5Q

2012-01-24T19:54:00.000-08:00

One of the things I like best about reading my "Electric Radio" magazine are the columns by Bruce Vaughn, NR5Q. Bruce grew up in Springdale, Arkansas, a child of The Depression. His stories tell of his childhood, and the friends that got him interested in Amateur Radio, on through his service in the Army Air Corps, and his civilian life after the war when he opened "Bruce's Radio Shop". He covers the Golden Days of radio, the appearance of Television, and all the interesting people and characters he met dealing with the public. And he's also a Master Hombrew Artist. His radios are truly works of art, with performance to match.
I'd always thought it would be really cool if all his columns were printed in a dedicate book, and now it's come to pass.
The book is 224 pages, and is available from "Electric Radio" for the bargain price of $24.95.
I've never met, or corresponded with, Bruce, but from reading his columns, I feel as if I've known him for a long time.
If you enjoy reading about "Olde Tyme Radio", and like seeing the craftsmanship that goes into the sets he builds, get a copy of this book. You'll love it!

Any Cold Remedies?

2012-01-21T21:13:00.000-08:00

Been kinda out of it the last few days. My wife had a cold early last week, and it clobbered me Thursday. Stayed home from work Friday, missed my radio club meeting (*I* was supposed to be the speaker), and _barely_ made it up to the SoCal Linux Expo today.
Barely ate any dinner, 'cuz nothing tastes good, or tastes at all.
Major case of the "Blah-Yukkies", which I think is a new disease I just invented.
Guess I'll take some NyQuil, have some chicken soup and crackers, and hit they hay....

Marlin 60 At Home!

2012-01-17T20:45:00.000-08:00

And my lovely wife has pronounced it both "cute" and "beautiful".
I probably won't get to shoot it until next weekend, as I have a full plate this weekend.
Friday night I'm giving a presentation on "DSP For Dummies" at my radio club meeting, and Saturday I'm headed to the Southern California Linux Exposition.
Sunday I'm cleaning my handguns, as one of my wife's best friends wants to go shooting at the range next weekend. She grew up shooting rifles, but has never fired a handgun ( ! ).
And yes, I'll give them both a drill on The Four Rules!
I see FedEx has delivered an accessory I ordered for the Marlin, a speed loader for 22LR tube magazine rifles.
I'll do a mini-review on the rifle and the Spee-D-Loader after I've had a chance to try them.

PC and Homeowner Madness Weekend!

2012-01-15T20:08:00.000-08:00

Well, I got a new PC built for a friend, and did some major upgrades to the box I use for Audio/Video editing. That one got a new Core 2 Extreme Quad CPU, and an upgrade to Windows 7 Professional. I also swapped out the two DVD burners I had in the, as they were both IDE interfaces. The new ones are SATA-III interfaces, and in place of one of the DVD burners, I plugged in a shiny new Blu-Ray burner, along with the specialized software for that. I did a clean install after I formatted the drive, as I've never tried to use an "upgrade" version of Windows. I then upgraded all my Adobe software to CS 5.5, and installed the latest software for my Matrox RT.X2 Professional video capture device.
What makes it "Professional" compared to a "Consumer" video capture device? Well, for one thing, it can record 1080i via a component video input, or 1080p through the IEEE-1394 "Firewire" port. And secondly, it plugs into a PCI Express slot on the motherboard where most consumer-grade video capture device connect to the PC with USB.
I'll have to open one of my archived Adobe Premiere Pro projects and run it through the newly rebuilt system to see how it performs. I'm not sure if the video quality will be any "better", but I'm sure it will do the transcoding to DVD format much faster.
In the meantime, the wife and I went to Lowe's to (finally!) get the two doors I was going to replace over my Christmas break. The new exterior door for the garage is sitting in the garage, but the storm door we bought to replace the screen door that disintegrated is another matter! I not only measured twice (THREE times, actually, and wrote it all down after I had the wife check my measurements) and cut once, and it just will NOT fit the opening.
BUMMER MAJOR!
The height is damn near perfect after a bit of trimming, planing, and sanding, but the width is about 3/4" TOO SMALL. So, I'm going to have to take off the "hinge rails" where it hangs on the left side of the door frame, and shim them out a little less than 3/8", and add the same amount to the right side of the frame before I screw the matching "latch rail" to the door frame.
It's funny, but all the reviews on the Lowe's website raved about how easy it was to hang an adjust this door. The fastest time was 1.5 hours, and the longest was 2.5 hours.
I spent FOUR hours on it, didn't get it installed, and used up most of my "colorful" vocabulary while fighting with it.
Oh, well....at least I know how to correct it, so back to the Home Improvement center tomorrow to try and find some suitable wood strips to make shim strips out of.
Hope you all have a good week!

Blogger Weirdness

2012-01-14T11:46:00.000-08:00

Hmm....can't seem to reply to comments posted here.
Restarted Firefox, rebooted PC, blah, blah, blah.....
Wonder if they changed something in the template I'm using, and broke it?

Ahhhh....Life Is Good.....

2012-01-13T19:46:00.001-08:00

My darling wife is in the kitchen baking some cookies (why does cookie dough taste so good?), I'm building a new PC for a friend, the dogs are snoozing at the foot of the couch, and The Military Channel is on gently in the background.
Hope you all have a pleasant weekend!

Dead People Voting In New Hampshire

2012-01-12T12:33:00.000-08:00

Gee..."Chicago Politics" is expanding!

Full Story over at "Godfather Politics".

1911-2011 100 years of History in Ten Minutes

2012-01-10T18:22:00.000-08:00

Interesting....

"System D", The Market Of The Future?

2012-01-08T20:43:00.000-08:00

Very interesting article in "Wired" magazine this month about the world-wide, off-the-books, underground economy.
And I don't mean just the knock-off things like CD's and software.
Go here to read it.

New Sights For My Remington 870

2012-01-07T18:53:00.000-08:00

Although I'm not sure I like them.....
First, I had to take off my Side-Saddle, and if there's ONE thing they really drilled into us during Tactical Shotgun I & II, it's that you GOTTA keep the thing FED!
Shotguns have a devastating amount of power and speed, but they go through ammo like nobody's business. Even though I wore cargo pants during the drills, and had my pockets stuffed full of shells, there were still times I needed the extra six shells the Side-Saddle provided. And it was a good place to keep slugs so that when we did the "Select-A-Slug" drills, they were right there, separate from the other ammo I had on me.
The rail device I added is a UTG "M87 Shotgun Tactical Mount", and it's made very well. It's notched along the top of the rail, supposedly so you can use your existing front sight, but I think at any distance beyond across-the-room, it would throw your aim point off. I'll try it at the range with the sight removed to see if I'm right.
And it sticks up far enough that I can look under it, and use the flat on top of the receiver, and the front bead sight, just like I'm used to using.
The first sight I put on it was a another UTG product, their SCP-DS3039W Red/Green Dot sight. I'm not sure if this is a "proper" sight for a shotgun, as it seems to have a more restricted field-of-view, but it was a good price, about $50.
The next sight I put on it was an "NcStar D4B 4 Reticle Reflex Sight" that I got on eBay for about $50.
This is more to my liking, as it's more "open", and I think target acquisition would be faster.
The problem as I see it now is that BOTH of these sights stick up really far compared to using the flat on the receiver and the front bead sight, and when I bring the gun to my shoulder and get a good plant on it, I've got to really look up to use them.
I won't know how badly this messes up the way I've been trained to use the gun, and I hope I can relearn sighting it properly, as I think almost anything is better than the "sights" the 870 comes with!
If I don't like / can't adjust to using these, I'll pull them off, drill and tap the top of the receiver, and get some ghost ring sights for it.
And yes, that poor guy *is* rusty! I had no idea it had that much surface rust on it until I looked at the flash pictures.
I'm embarrassed that I let it get that bad. I guess that what happens when I keep it in the bedroom, and the window is open at night.
Guess I'll get to learn about rebluing "Real Soon Now"!

New Toy On Order.....

2012-01-02T11:44:00.000-08:00

Well, the last time my son and I went to the rifle range, we met a very interesting guy. He was at the position next to us, and was shooting a beautiful M1 Garand. I asked him where he got it, and it turns out it was one of the CMP "Select Grade" rifles. It was originally made in 1940, but had been completely Arsenal Refurbished, with all select grade parts, new wood, and looked like it just came out-of-the-box.
It was beautiful!
I told him I was interesting in getting into the CMP program, and he gave me a bunch of flyers, explained the entire program to me, and then told me about the Appleseed Project.
Since they go through so much ammo during the two day program, he said they strongly encourage people to use a 22, although you can use a different rifle if you have one.
Since this is basic training, I figured I go with a low-recoil 22 auto-loader, and hopefully "unlearn" any bad habits I may have picked up over the years. I've had a LOT of pistol training over the last 5 years or so, but getting proper rifle training is something I just haven't done....YET!
So, I ordered a little Marlin 60, which should be here in a few days. It'll be delivered to the indoor range I buy all my guns through, so even though I have to wait the 10-day period, I can at least fondle it a bit, and shoot it if I want.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T09:52:00.000-08:00

Staying home tonight. We stopped going out on New Year's Eve a couple of years ago after we came *this close* to being in THREE traffic accidents (not our fault) on our way home.
One avoided accident is good for a pretty exciting adrenaline rush, but three had me pretty freaked out by the time we got home....

So, hope everybody has a Happy New Year, and only 11 more months to go before we can rid ourselves of The Obamanation and his ilk!

Be safe out there tonight! I'm cleaning my firearmas today, and tomorrow I'll be installing a new screen door and garage side door.

Back From The Range

2011-12-29T19:13:00.000-08:00

And egads, was it crowded!
The staff said it's been like this all week, with lots of new shooters. We saw several dozen people bringing in new rifles, obviously new because they were in the cardboard box, and still in the plastic when they took them out of the box.
SO...we waited about an hour for my son's cousin to show up, all the while watching to see if any shooting stations opened up.
Finally, about 2pm, we were able to get a stall at the skeet part of the range. I've never shoot skeet before, but using cousin Bryan's 20 gauge Ithaca pump, I scored 10 for 10.
I was astounded.....
And it was fun. I can see why people enjoy shooting skeet.
Then we finally got a shooting bench around 2:45. We were on the long range this time, and although I'm still a "100 yard" shooter, there were people there who were shooting targets at 200, 300, 400, and 500 yards.
And hitting them.....
Only fired my Marlin 30-30 about 10 times, and I was shooting 2" or better groups at 100 yards, so I'm going to consider the scope zeroed for the 150 gr ammo I shoot. I was a lot more anxious to try the new Nikon scope (yes, I mounted it the right way!) on my slug gun. With the previous learning experience, and all my notes from Old_NFO, I was able to get it zeroed at 50 yards with 5 rounds. Then I moved the target out to 100 yards, and all I had to do was use the correct dot on the BDC, and I was on the money.
I was having so much fun with the slug gun, I shot that most of the day.
And I was getting ~2" groups at 100 yards from the Lead Sled, not bad for me!
Then, my son's cousin (ex-brother-in-law's son) opened his other rifle case, and brought out a 1940 Mosin-Nagant in wonderful condition. This was the first time I actually got to shoot one, and Bryan shot the pants off me with it. He was 9-ring or better at 100 yards with the iron sights, and I was "in the black", but no where as good as him or my son.
Oh, to have 26 year old eyes again!
Plus he's shot it a lot, and I haven't, so I'm sure I could get better by turning ammo into skill.
The high point of the day for me was meeting the guy at the next bench. He was shooting an M1 Garand, and when I asked him about it, he told me it was a CMP "Select" grade rifle. Turns out he's an Appleseed instructor, and he gave me an entire package of information on how to get into the CMP so I can get my very own M1.
AND...they have Appleseed instruction up at the range twice a month.
So, I'm going to borrow a 22 rifle, sign up, take the course, join an affiliated club, and get myself an M1!
All in all we had an excellent time, I learned a lot, and my son and his cousin had a ball.
And my right shoulder will be screaming at me tomorrow for shooting 20 or so rounds from the slug gun out of the lead sled!

Range Day!

2011-12-29T08:46:00.000-08:00

Off to Angeles Shooting Ranges this morning with my son and his cousin.
I'll post some more after we get back this afternoon.

FEMA Billing Katrina Victims?!?

2011-12-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

I just got this link in an email from one of the (many) mailing lists I subscribe to.
Abso-frickin-lutely disgusting!

From the Charlotte Observer

Busy, Busy!

2011-12-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

Well, I got the new scope mounted and "pre-zeroed" on my Remington 1100, and had to take the side-saddle off the 870 to put the mount and 'red-dot' sight on it. Guess I'll get a butt-cuff to hold extra shells, or tinker something up to put the side-saddle back on.
The new doors were delivered today (they wouldn't fit in my Jeep, and I don't like strapping big stuff on the roof!), so tomorrow I'll tackle those.
And I've transferred about 12 record albums to my PC. It's a time-intensive process, as you can only record them as fast as they play. The brand-new LP's I recorded sound great, but a couple of the used ones are going to need some work to clean up the ticks and pops on them. Once I get all of them recorded on my A/V machine, I'll either transfer them to a portable hard disk, or burn them to a data DVD and them clean them up on this PC.
I'm using my Technics SL-1210 turntable, a TCC TC-750 phono preamp, M-Audio Delta 44 sound card, and Audacity to do the recording. I also have Adobe Audition, but it's on the Windoze box I'm using to record, and as my dear wife would like her dining room table back, I don't think I'll be able to leave things set up to do the post-processing using that PC.

Merry CHRISTmas, Everyone!

2011-12-23T21:15:00.000-08:00

Just in case I get busy on the Honey Dew list and don't have time to post.
I have a new back screen door to put on.
I have a new side entrance door for the garage to put on.
I have two new light fixtures to install in the kitchen.
I have an interface board to build to put one of my radios on the Internet for remote control.
I have to get the new Nikon scope mounted on my Remington 1100.
I have a mount and "Red Dot" site to install on my Remington 870.
AND....I'm going to record all my vinyl records to my Audio/Video PC so I can burn some CD's of the them.

So....an early MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone who stops by!

Unhappy Muslims....

2011-12-23T11:40:00.001-08:00

The conclusion: The Muslims are not happy!!!

· They are not happy in Gaza .
· They are not happy in the West Bank .
· They are not happy in Jerusalem .
· They are not happy in Israel . (There is no equality)
· They are not happy in Egypt .
· They are not happy in Libya
· They are not happy in Algeria .
·They are not happy in Tunis .
· They are not happy in Morocco .
· They are not happy in Yemen .
· They are not happy in Iraq
· They are not happy in Afghanistan .
· They are not happy in Syria .
· They are not happy in Lebanon .
· They are not happy in Sudan .
·They are not happy in Jordan .
· They are not happy in Iran ..

Where are the Muslims happy?

They are happy in England.
They are happy in France.
They are happy in Italy.
They are happy in Germany.
They are happy in Sweden.
They are happy in Holland.
They are happy in Denmark.
They are happy in Belgium.
They are happy in Norway.
They are happy in the U.S.
They are happy in Canada.

They are happy in Romania.
They are happy in Hungary.

They are happy in Australia.
They are happy in New Zealand.

They are happy in any other country in the world that is not under Muslim dictatorial rule.

And whom do they blame?

· Not Islam.
· Not their leadership.
· Not themselves.

But the same countries in which they are happy to live.

In a democracy they can live comfortably,
enjoy the high quality of life which they did not build and work for,
they don't have to be productive and earn a living,
they can be wild,
and break the law,
exploit the social services,

wear Burkhas and make a mockery

of our Police and Courts
and generally bite the hand that feeds them.

My question is why do they always try to bring their failed system with them, why do they want to turn every Western democracy into the country they left ....?

4th Best "President" Evah!

2011-12-22T18:20:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of my buddy The Wandering Minstrel.

Christmas Wrapping

2011-12-22T09:54:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite Christmas songs.

Kim Jong Who??

2011-12-19T21:09:00.000-08:00

You just have to head over to Alvie's Place and check this out.....

Took My NRA Range Saftey Officer Class Today

2011-12-17T21:12:00.000-08:00

I enjoy taking training classes, so when my instructor friend informed me last month he was running an NRA RSO class, I signed up.
It covered all the nuts and bolts of operating a range, and dealing with the public, from novice to advanced shooters.
We covered safety, emergency procedures, stoppages and malfunctions, and a variety of other mundane details related to the day-to-day operations on a range.
Didn't get any trigger time, but I did learn a lot, and met some nice people.
Long day, 10am to 8pm, but I got 98% on the written, and should have my RSO credential in 45~60 days.

Decisions 2012

2011-12-15T18:51:00.000-08:00

Well......I've been doing my best to vet the Republican candidates as far as who I'm going to support.
Like it matters who *I* support!
It's just something I do to help me decide who I think is most aligned with what I believe in.
I was pretty big on Herman Cain (thanks, wirecutter!), but then he had some baggage that came to light, and decided to withdraw.
I *almost* like Newt, but he's a bit too slick and flippy-floppy for me.
Yes, I know he's very smart, and a studied historian, but I don't think he _really_ supports the 2nd Amendment, and that's pretty important to me.
Romney?? Not in a million freakin' years!!
So, that kinds leaves either Rick Santorum, or Michele Bachmann.
I'm still carefully reading their campaign sites, and burning up Google, and haven't decided yet.
Just have to see how they do in the debates I can find them in.
One thing for sure, four more years of that IDIOT we currently have in the White House will just about do us in.
Keep your powder dry!

Instead of a "Where's Wookie?", How About We Start A "Where's Breda?"

2011-12-13T20:39:00.000-08:00

Really!

Breda's is one of the very first blogs I started following when I first started doing blogging. She always had great stuff, and since my sister was a Librarian, I felt some kind of empathy.

BUT....

Where's Breda?

Not a peep in three weeks now......

Hurry back, a lot of us miss your commentary!

50 Years Ago Today....

2011-12-11T20:56:00.001-08:00

The first Amateur Radio satellite, OSCAR-1, was launched from Vandenberg AFB, piggy backed with Discoverer-XXXVI, a "scientific" satellite.
OSCAR 1 only lasted a couple of weeks, and reentered at the end of January, but it was a stunning achievement considering it was built by a bunch of "Hams", in somebody's garage.
Space Today Online has a fairly current History of Amateur Radio Satellites.

And for more info and the current status of all the Amateur Radio satellites, please go to the AMSAT webpage.

Fiocchi "Canned Heat" 45ACP Range Test

2011-12-11T16:53:00.000-08:00

Steven over at BulkAmmo.com was kind enough to send me a can of Fiocchi "Canned Heat" ammo for a review/range test.
Not being an "Authorized Journalist", or a well-known 'Competition Shooter', I'm not sure why he chose me to do this, but hey, FREE AMMO!
And although I've bought a lot of stuff from them in the past, the only compensation I'm getting out of this is the 50 round can of 45ACP they sent me.
The packaging is pretty clever (my wife pronounced it as "cute"), and it's supposed to be hermetically sealed. Sure enough when I popped the lid, it hissed at me just like a big tub of Planter's Peanuts, so I assume the seal was intact. One of the things I noticed when I unpacked it from the shipping box is that all the rounds were loose in the can, and they made some rattling noises.
Still, the rounds looked good after I took one out and examined it.
The bullets have a much more brass look to them than the Winchester "White Box" ammo I normally shoot, so I'm not sure what the jackets are made from. I've shot Fiocchi ammo before, and the bullets had the same brass-look to them, so I guess that's just the alloy they use for the jacket.
So, packing up my "Canned Heat" along with some White Box, I headed out to the range. I haven't been pistol shooting for over a month (me bad!), and I knew I'd need some warming up before I could see how well the Fiocchi shot compared to the White Box.
It took me 4 magazines before I was reliably "in the black" at 10 yards! Yep, it's a perishable skill, and I keep saying I should get out more! Still, even the first few shots were well within the "dinner plate" area the NRA says makes you 'good enough' for home defense, but I know I'm better than that.
After I'd loosened up a bit, I wiped my Kimber 1911 down, and loaded the magazines with the Fiocchi ammo.
It shoots just fine, and at 10 yards the accuracy was as good as the White Box stuff. Recoil and report are about the same, and every round fed OK.
No 'flyers' at all, but I did have a couple of failure-to-eject rounds that I'll write off as being caused by my less than clean Kimber.
The other thing I noticed, and I've seen it before shooting Fiocchi, is that it tends to "dirty up" the gun a bit more than some of the other ammo I've fired.
Not bad like one other brand I tried once, but it definitely gets the muzzle end sooty.
The pictures I took are from opening the can at home, to showing the sooty muzzle on my Kimber.
All in all it's decent ammo, and has the advantage of being packed in something better than a cardboard box, which might be important to you if you need to stash a bunch somewhere that has less than adequate climate control.
For long term storage I think I'd still put it in a big Zip Loc bag, as the can is made from cardboard, and night not take kindly to getting soaked.
Thanks again to Steven at BulkAmmo.com for providing me with some FREE AMMO!

Tolerance

2011-12-10T12:58:00.001-08:00

From one of my like-minded friends....

I am truly perplexed that so many of my friends are against a mosque being built at Ground Zero. I think it should be the goal of every American to be tolerant. Thus the Mosque should be allowed, in an effort to promote tolerance.

That is why I also propose that two nightclubs be opened next door to the mosque, thereby promoting tolerance from within the mosque. We could call one of the clubs, "The Turban Cowboy", which would be gay, and the other a topless bar called "You Mecca Me Hot."

Next door should be a butcher shop that specializes in pork, and adjacent to that an open-pit barbeque pork restaurant, called " Iraq o'Ribs."

Across the street there could be a lingerie store called "Victoria Keeps Nothing Secret", with sexy mannequins in the window modeling the goods. Next door to the lingerie shop, a liquor store called "Morehammered."

All of this would encourage the Muslims to demonstrate the tolerance they demand of us, so the mosque problem would be solved. If you agree with promoting tolerance, and you think this is a good plan, please pass it on...For the sake of tolerance!

World's Smallest V-12

2011-12-09T22:08:00.001-08:00

This is astounding! I've built lots of things "From Scratch". but nothing like this.
My Dad was a Tool and Die maker, and I know my way around a machine shop, but this just blows me away.
I can't read Italian, but looking at the video, I could tell what the captions meant by seeing what part of the engine he was working on.
Amazing testament to one man's patience.

And here's another guy who makes RUNNING scale-model engines.

70 Years Ago Today.....

2011-12-06T20:42:00.000-08:00

We got blindsided while the politicians fiddled away.
Let us pray it never happens again.
And keep your powder dry!

New Additions to the Bookshelf

2011-12-06T17:31:00.001-08:00

The other day as I was cleaning out an office for somebody who's no longer with the company (looong story) I happened to find a well-worn paperback called "Term Limits" by an author I'd never heard of, Vince Flynn. I read a few pages, thought it started off pretty well, and tossed it on my desk to read later.
I really enjoyed it!
Then the other night when I was picking up some prescriptions for the Mrs, I spotted a NEW Vince Flynn book in the rack by the pharmacy, so I grabbed it. It's called "American Assassin", and was an equally good read.
WELL.....one thing led to another, I cruised on over to Amazon, and now I have ALL of Vince Flynn's books, with the exception of "Kill Shot", which is due out in February.
Vince writes "political thrillers", and does them very well. His technical accuracy is second only to Tom Clancy, his characters are well-developed, the writing is fast-paced, and I'm really happy I saved that copy of "Term Limits" from going into the trash!
Check him out.....you'll probably enjoy his stories as much as I do!

You Might Be An "Occupier" If.....

2011-12-04T21:30:00.000-08:00

1. You moved to a tent in Zucotti Park because you always wanted a nicer place to live.

2. You quit your “job” to attend the protests, but your mother continues your allowance and now does the dishes herself.

3. You are confused that you can’t find the Wal-Mart on Wall Street.

4. You are enraged that the taxpayers had to bail out Wall Street even though you’ve
never paid taxes or know anyone who has.

5. You hate capitalism but expect a capitalist to provide you a good paying job with great benefits.

6. You think Socialism has something to do with Facebook, and Capitalism has to do with Washington , DC .

7. You demand a job, forgetting that you were fired for not doing the one you had.

8. You despise the rich even though they pay your share of taxes.

9. You are very clear in your protest objectives:

“Screw the USA ”
“Save the ______ (fill in the blanks – whales, spotted owls, sturgeon)”
“Self-realization is the first step toward self-actualization”
“Down with … uh… everything!”

10. You think 99 weeks of unemployment is the least the government should give you for the
3 months you put in at McDonalds.

11. You drove a Toyota to the protest, you’re plugged in to a Sony Walkman, talk over a Samsung phone, and play a Yamaha keyboard in a punk band, but you are incensed over jobs being outsourced to other countries.

12. You demand your rights, but can’t quite recall where they are enumerated.

13. You believe you have a right to every penny earned, but the rich do not, and you base your claim on equality.

14. You believe a man is greedy if he worked his way up to CEO on 16-hour days, runs a company employing thousands, and made $10 million last year, but is not greedy if he made $50 million last year for making two motion pictures or shooting a ball through a hoop.

15. You left behind trash, feces, urine-soaked sod, discarded clothing, and used condoms after your “Save the Environment” protest.

16. You know you’re not a Socialist because you stick pretty much to yourself at parties.

17. You don’t pay taxes, but somehow that’s more than your “fair share”.

18. You hate the rich, but hope you win the lottery.

New Show Tonight on the Military Channel..."Triggers"

2011-11-30T13:34:00.000-08:00

And I've already got our DVR set to record it.

Looks to be pretty good from the previews. Cam & Company were talking about it last night on the Sirius Patriot Channel, and it's one show I don't want to miss!

Military Channel: Triggers

"Super 8", "Frequency", and Ham Radio

2011-11-26T22:14:00.000-08:00

We just finished watching "Super 8" tonight, and there's a town meeting scene in it where an old guy tells the Sheriff that there's been a lot of unusual interference caused by military chatter on his Ham Radio. The Sheriff has everybody bring any and all receivers they own in, and they start monitoring all the frequencies the old Ham gave them. In one scene they show a remarkably well preserved Heathkit Seneca, and they all listen to the Air Force talk about "Operation Walking Distance".
Only one problem.....the Seneca is a TRANSMITTER.
In "Frequency", the character played by James Caviezel talks to his dead father on HF (short-wave) using a Heathkit SB-301.
Only one problem....the SB-301 is a RECEIVER.
Now when my son and I saw "Frequency", I spotted it right away and mentioned it to him, and he laughed and said "Dad, only YOU would spot that!".
Tonight when I told my wife the Seneca was a transmitter, she laughed and said "Jim, only YOU would know that!".
Yeah, but if I know it, there's gotta be other people who know it.
Oh, well....what can we expect from Hollyweird.....

Home Owner Stuff.....

2011-11-26T21:51:00.000-08:00

And yes, being in our own home, and NOT underwater with the mortgage, is one of the things we gave thanks for this year.
Anywhoo...We repainted the bathroom earlier this year, and the paint just hasn't been holding up. We've had some peeling, and other spots have turned 'grainy' on us. I had to pull the plastic grille off the bathroom ceiling exhaust fan today to clean it, and as long as I had it off, I dropped the motor down to clean it, too.
Then I decided to check how #1 step-son vented it when he installed it a few years ago, and found out it's NOT properly vented.
DUH!
He just mounted the motor box in the ceiling, and let it vent into the attic........
Double DUH!
He has a tendency to not do things the right way, and this time it's causing some problems. The moist air from the bathroom just goes into the attic, and raises the humidity to the point that the 'button board' (we have plaster walls and ceilings) has absorbed it. It's not "dripping wet", or even "wet" that I could tell or feel, but all that hot, humid air from 4 people taking showers can't be doing any good up there! I don't think it's a problem in the summer time, as we have both a wind-turbine and a powered ventilator on the roof to draw the hot air out, and the moisture along with it. But in the winter time, the powered ventilator is shut off, and the moist air from the bathroom just collects up there.
NOT good!
So, I went to the local Big Box home improvement place, and bought the 3.25"x10" to 6" round transition that screws on to the motor box, 8' of 6" flex duct, and an outlet to go on the side of the house.
Tomorrow I'll mark the stucco and start making the hole to mount the outlet into, and then I'll have to drop the motor box, screw the transition on, and run the flex hose to the outlet. That should vent the moist air to the outside, and after the attic dries back out, we can repaint the bathroom.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T15:46:00.000-08:00

I realized I should be a lot more upbeat today than the previous post implied.
I've had a great life so far, and I'm very thankful to still be here after some of the places I've been, things I've seen, and stunts I've pulled.
I'm healthy, happily married, gainfully employed, and have some wonderful friends.
So Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Thanksgiving 2022

2011-11-22T21:12:00.000-08:00

One of my friends sent me this, and despite getting almost 200 ( ! ) emails a day, I haven't seen it before.

So, before you sit down on Thursday to give thanks, keep this little story in mind. Kind of a Twilight Zone preview of "First They Came....."

And Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. May God bless you, and keep you safe in the times ahead.

"Winston, come into the dining room, it's time to eat," Julia yelled to her husband.
"In a minute, honey, it's a tie score," he answered.
Actually Winston wasn't very interested in the traditional holiday football game between Detroit and Washington .
Ever since the government passed the Civility in Sports Statute of 2017, outlawing tackle football for its "unseemly violence" and the "bad example it sets for the rest of the world", Winston was far less of a football fan than he used to be.

Two-hand touch wasn't nearly as exciting.Yet it wasn't the game that Winston was uninterested in.
It was more the thought of eating another Tofu Turkey . Even though it was the best type of VeggieMeat available after the government revised the American Anti-Obesity Act of 2018, adding fowl to the list of federally-forbidden foods, (which already included potatoes, cranberry sauce, and mincemeat pie), it wasn't anything like real turkey.

And ever since the government officially changed the name of "Thanksgiving Day" to "A National Day of Atonement" in 2020, to officially acknowledge the Pilgrims' historically brutal treatment of Native Americans, the holiday had lost a lot of its luster.

Eating in the dining room was also a bit daunting. The unearthly gleam of government-mandated fluorescent light bulbs made the Tofu Turkey look even weirder than it actually was, and the room was always cold.

Ever since Congress passed the Power Conservation Act of 2016, mandating all thermostats - which were monitored and controlled by the electric company - be kept at 68 degrees, every room on the north side of the house was barely tolerable throughout the entire winter.

Still, it was good getting together with family. Or at least most of the family.

Winston missed his mother, who passed on in October, when she had used up her legal allotment of life-saving medical treatment.

He had had many heated conversations with the Regional Health Consortium, spawned when the private insurance market finally went bankrupt, and everyone was forced into the government health care program.

And though he demanded she be kept on her treatment, it was a futile effort.

"The RHC's resources are limited", explained the government bureaucrat Winston spoke with on the phone. "Your mother received all the benefits to which she was entitled. I'm sorry for your loss."

Ed couldn't make it either. He had forgotten to plug in his electric car last night, the only kind available after the Anti-Fossil Fuel Bill of 2021 outlawed the use of the combustion engines - for everyone but government officials.

The fifty mile round trip was about ten miles too far, and Ed didn't want to spend a frosty night on the road somewhere between here and there.

Thankfully, Winston's brother, John, and his wife were flying in.

Winston made sure that the dining room chairs had extra cushions for the occasion.

No one complained more than John about the pain of sitting down so soon after the government-mandated cavity searches at airports, which severely aggravated his hemorrhoids.

Ever since a terrorist successfully smuggled a cavity bomb onto a jetliner, the TSA told Americans the added "inconvenience" was an "absolute necessity" in order to stay "one step ahead of the terrorists."

Winston's own body had grown accustomed to such probing ever since the government expanded their scope to just about anywhere a crowd gathered, via Anti-Profiling Act of 2022.

That law made it a crime to single out any group or individual for "unequal scrutiny," even when probable cause was involved.

Thus, cavity searches at malls, train stations, bus depots, etc., etc., had become almost routine.
Almost.

The Supreme Court is reviewing the statute, but most Americans expect a Court composed of six progressives and three conservatives to leave the law intact.

"A living Constitution is extremely flexible", said the Court's eldest member, Elena Kagan. " Europe has had laws like this one for years. We should learn from their example", she added.

Winston's thoughts turned to his own children. He got along fairly well with his 12-year-old daughter, Brittany, mostly because she ignored him. Winston had long ago surrendered to the idea that she could text anyone at any time, even during Atonement Dinner.

Their only real confrontation had occurred when he limited her to 50,000 texts a month, explaining that was all he could afford.

She whined for a week, but got over it.

His 16-year-old son, Jason, was another matter altogether. Perhaps it was the constant bombarding he got in public school that global warming, the bird flu, terrorism, or any of a number of other calamities were "just around the corner", but Jason had developed a kind of nihilistic attitude that ranged between simmering surliness and outright hostility.

It didn't help that Jason had reported his father to the police for smoking a cigarette in the house, an act made criminal by the Smoking Control Statute of 2018, which outlawed smoking anywhere within 500 feet of another human being.

Winston paid the $5,000 fine, which might have been considered excessive before the American dollar became virtually worthless as a result of QE13.

The latest round of quantitative easing the federal government initiated was, once again, to "spur economic growth."

This time, they promised to push unemployment below its years-long rate of 18%, but Winston was not particularly hopeful.

Yet the family had a lot for which to be thankful, Winston thought, before remembering it was a Day of Atonement.

At least, he had his memories.

He felt a twinge of sadness when he realized his children would never know what life was like in the Good Old Days, long before government promises to make life "fair for everyone" realized their full potential.

Winston, like so many of his fellow Americans, never realized how much things could change when they didn't happen all at once, but little by little, so people could get used to them.

He wondered what might have happened if the public had stood up while there was still time, maybe back around 2011, when all the real nonsense began.

"Maybe we wouldn't be where we are today if we'd just said 'enough is enough' when we had the chance," he thought.
Maybe so, Winston. Maybe so.

Three Days to Straighten These Clowns Out...

2011-11-20T19:59:00.000-08:00

Saw this over at Steven's place, and just had to share it.
Watch and enjoy....

50* and Raining...I'm Playing RADIO All Day!

2011-11-20T13:56:00.000-08:00

And working on the antenna article I've been promising.
Got a new headset/mic last week from Arlan Communications. These have to be the MOST comfortable cans I've ever worn! The gel-filled earcups are a joy, and seal any sound9 leaks around my glasses, and the optional cotton cloth covers will wick away any sweat for those times this summer when it's hot here in the shack. When I first ordered them I'd forgotten that I need a stereo set so I can make use of the binaural output of my Flex 5000A, so I had to send them back to be reworked. The set they sell that does stereo has a one-piece boom for the microphone, and I like the "wire mount" ones as I've found them to be more durable. Since they no longer make the set I wanted in stereo with the wire mount (RS22CF), they had to make up a custom set for me.
These things aren't cheap, but the cost less than the David Clark headset/mics I've been using( and having to modify), and are much more comfy to wear.
Back to radio.....

A Few Pictures from The Edwards AFB Museum

2011-11-19T11:01:00.000-08:00

I didn't take my "real" camera with me as I didn't know if they'd allow it on the base without some kind of special permission. Seeing as it took us 30 minutes to clear the main gate with our vehicles, it probably wouldn't have been allowed.
BTW...I thanked all the young 'uns doing guard duty, and they all said "You're welcome"!
Some of the pictures were taken at "Century Circle", which is a little park outside the West gate where we waited for our escort. The others were taken outside the museum where they have a small static exhibit of various aircraft. I didn't try to take any pictures inside, as I was too awed at the items in the museum, and just wanted to soak up the experience rather than trying to get some decent pictures with my cellphone camera.
They're taking donations to get a much larger building to house the incredible array of Really Neat Stuff they have in storage, so I dropped $20 into the donation box.
I bought some tee shirts and a nice print called "The Golden Age Of Flight Test" which is numbered and signed by the artist, and six of the test pilots who helped make all this happen.
Enjoy the slide show, meager as it is, and you can learn more about the museum here.
Air Force Flight Test Center Museum

For more information on SR-71A #61-7955, go to SR-71 Online.

Tough Sledding

2011-11-18T21:46:00.001-08:00

They showed us this film the first day of the seminar.
It's hilarious!

High-Speed Imaging Seminar

2011-11-14T20:46:00.000-08:00

Well....turns out this seminar covers a whole lot more ground than I was told.
You know that great footage you see on TV showing a bullet coming out of the barrel at, oh, 5000 frames-per-second?
HAH! That stuff is downright SLOW compared to what I saw today, and we're just getting started!
Some of the systems on display here are easily capable of doing ONE-HUNDRED THOUSAND frames-per-second. We set one up and watched a strobe tube fire, and then watched the images. From the initial trigger pulse, to the gas starting to ionize, to the initiation of the main discharge, and this thing didn't even break a sweat.
We also have systems on display here that can do well over ONE MILLION frames-per-second, and one of the companies presenting here has a system that can do ONE BILLION fps!
Astounding stuff, that was "undreamable" just a few short years ago.
And of course, we had footage of APFSDS projectiles coming out of the barrel, the sabot petals peeling back, and the round hitting the target.
And the images are so clear you can read the information printed on the round as it travels downrange.
Kinda makes the 400 fps Milliken camera I brought with me look like a real antique!
HOWEVER....film is still unsurpassed for certain applications, and ours is one of them. We simply don't need the ability to record at a frame rate that's high enough to watch a block of TNT detonate, and accurate color rendition, from a well understood media, is essential for our application.
Still, it's absolutely staggering what these imaging system can do.

And as a preview of what we're going to do Thursday after class concludes, I heard several sonic booms today while I was outside during lunch.

ba-BOOM.....Edwards AFB is only about 20 miles from here, and from the looks of the contrails up there today, our flyboys were out playing.

High-Speed Camera Seminar Next Week

2011-11-12T18:23:00.000-08:00

They popped this on me Thursday morning. The company that services our D.B. Milliken High-Speed film cameras is having a training seminar next week up in Lancaster, CA, and I get to go.
These cameras are mechanical marvels....400 frames-per-second of pin-registered 16mm color film, fully self-contained, except for the lens. I've seen them apart on the bench a few times, and was really impressed with how well they're made.
We have 10 of them running during the launch. Four of them are in two separate blast-proof housings made of 3/8" armor plate covered with ablative coatings, and have a 6" diameter double-pane borosilicate glass window. These are located about six feet from the edge of the flame bucket, and really get hammered during a launch. The windows usually get pitted, broken, melted, or "all of the above", but we have had times where the windows came out unscathed.
Three more are located in an enclosure about thirty feet away, mounted at different angles of elevation. They catch the launch vehicle once it comes up out of the flame bucket and the nozzles start to gimble.
The remainder are located up on the hangar roof and catch the view from a different perspective.
Our partners who build the launch vehicle can tell a lot of things from the flame color, and how the nozzles move during ascent, but that's not my area of expertise. Since I'm in "Operations Support", helping the Range Operations Team includes work with the Photo-Optics guys who document the entire launch process, from integrating the payload, to the launch vehicle going out of sight after liftoff.
It should be an interesting class/seminar, as I enjoy working on this kind of stuff.
And the BEST part is that after we "graduate" Thursday morning, we get a private tour of the Edwards Flight Test Facility!
Should be "just a little" fun to see things that the public doesn't normally get to see.
The embedded video is shot from these cameras, and is a montage of the various views. I think the launch was for the XM-3 mission, or at least that's where I remember the music during that footage.
This video looks like it was ripped from the souvenir "Mission Highlights" DVD that we make for every mission.
Enjoy!

11-11-11

2011-11-10T19:45:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for serving.
May God bless you and keep you close to Him.

Range Day!

2011-11-09T20:50:00.000-08:00

Always good to spend some time at the range!
We had a ball today shooting my Marlin 336/30-30, my son's Savage 17HMR, my "Zombie Zapper MkI", and my son's step-dad's Browning 300 Winchester Magnum.
We also went through about 50 rounds each with our pistols, but that's not why we went.
I finally have a decent bench rest, so I was able to check the zero on my Marlin. Turns out I had it just about spot-on! The picture of the black target was from the first few rounds I fired at 50 yards, and I was pretty happy with it. The picture of the "Shoot-N-See" target was what I fired at 100 yards. I would have liked a closer grouping, but this was around 2pm, and the wind was blowing cross-range pretty hard, about 10~15MPH according to one of the guys there who had a little anemometer. He was shooting a 22-250, and complaining how he was "all over the place" at 100 yards. I looked at his target, and he had around 10 shot is a 2~2-1/2" group! And for the first time, I was also able to hit the steel targets 100% of the time. I think they're about 10" in diameter, and they were at 102 yards, according to my little Bushnell laser rangefinder.
Then we broke out the Browning in 300 Win Mag.
BOOM! It's got quite a kick to it, and my son was right; it just isn't much fun to shoot more than 3 rounds through it. His step-dad has it dialed in at 100 yards (quite a waste), and I was able to hit the 9 ring consistently. It's a beautiful rifle, with a humongous (to me, anyway) Tasco scope on it. I've always heard "Tasco is junk", but it has a beautiful, crisp, clear image, and handles the pounding it gets from the rifle just fine. I don't know how well it would hold up out on a hunt in rough country and bad weather year-after-year, but it seems like a nice scope to me.
As far as my Remington 1100 with the rifled barrel, I was really disappointed with the little Simmons scope I had on it. The images just didn't seem "right", and I felt I would have done much better with ghost-ring sights on it. Really disappointing. We picked up my new Nikon scope on the way back from the range, so after I clean the 1100, I'll put the new scope on it, and we'll head back to the range next month.
The inexpensive slug rounds I bought were quite nice to shoot, and as the first one ejected I was amazed at how light the recoil was. I figured it was the Lead Sled absorbing most of the recoil, so after firing a few more of those, and getting nowhere fast with the Simmons scope, I stepped up to one of the 325 grain, 1800fps Winchester slugs I got the other night.
HOLY SMOKES!
It roared like a Naval 3-pounder, and knocked the Lead Sled back about 6"!
People turned around and looked every time I fired it. I was missing the steel at 100 yards, but sure raising a huge cloud of dust out of the berm behind the steel!
And then I found out what was going on with the Simmons scope.....
As we were packing up to leave, one of the range officers came over and looked at it. He asked how well I could see with the scope, and I replied not very well, and I wasn't happy at all with it. Then he said "You've got it mounted BACKWARDS. Didn't you notice the image was smaller than one-to-one?".
OOOPS.....
DOH!
This little scope has one big lens, and one small lens. I thought the big lens went in the front (gathers more light, you know), and the small lens was the one for your eye.
I don't think I've ever been this embarrassed over something shooting related.
Still, we had a great time, the weather was beautiful, except for the wind, and we met some very nice fellow shooters today.

****UPDATE****

My son sent me the video he took with his iPhone.

Headed Out To The Range!

2011-11-08T21:32:00.000-08:00

My son and I are headed out to Angeles Shooting Range Wednesday morning. I got the barrel swapped out on my Remington 1100, the scope mounted and 'rough zeroed', and a LimbSaver recoil pad added.
I also checked my Marlin 336 out, and re-centered the reticle in the scope on that one. Since I now have a Lead Sled and some shot-filled bags, I'm going to re-zero the scope on that one, too.
The scope on the 1100 is a cheapie Simmons 2.5x20, identical to the one I gave wirecutter to use on his air rifle, but it's called a "Shotgun Scope", so we'll see how well it holds up to the battering an 1100 shooting slugs gives it. When I went to install it Monday afternoon, I realized I had the wrong mounting rings for it. ARRRRGH! I fired off a quick order to Cabela's, and also ordered a 2-7x32 Nikon ProStaff 'Shotgun Hunter' scope, as I have my doubts about the Simmons lasting very long!
Well, like a dummy I ordered it shipped overnite, and right after I clicked "Submit Order", I realized it couldn't possibly be here Tuesday (today), as I ordered it after 11:30 CST, which is Cabela's cut-off time!
DUH!
SO.....I hopped in the car, and drove over to Turner's Outdoorsman, and picked up a set of Leupold rings for it.
Now this, of course, means another trip up to the outdoor range (Oh, DARN!) to sight in the new scope after it gets here and I swap out the Simmons.
And I picked up a couple of boxes of Winchester "Supreme Elite" (kinda sounds like the current government, eh?) Sabot slugs so I can compare them to the Remington "Premier Copper Solid" Sabot slugs I already have.
The Winchester's have a 375 grain slug, and an "On-The-Box" muzzle velocity of 1800 fps!
I'll bet they kick like a mad mule.
A real MAD mule.
So, looking forward to a nice, pleasant, relaxing ( ! ) day at the range on Wednesday sighting in the Marlin (Thanks OldNFO!!) and seeing if I can even control the slugs out of "Zombie Zapper MkI".
I have a funny feeling my right shoulder is going to be screaming at me all the way home......

Minor PC Upgrade

2011-11-06T11:17:00.000-08:00

Spent a little time this morning giving my PC a minor upgrade. I was running an Intel Core2 Duo E8400 @3GHz, and upgraded it to an Intel Core2 Quad @2.83GHz. The individual cores are about 6% "slower", but now I've got 4 of them.
Should make multiprocessing tasks run a bit quicker, and I got it at a price that was too good to pass up.
Back to work on the antenna article......

Expedient Antennas for HF (Shortwave) Use

2011-11-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

Sometime ago, our good friends over at the Western Rifle Shooters Association had an article on "Anti-Materiel" shooting, and one of the commenters had in his post the necessity of "proven capability to construct field expedient antennaes (sic) and use a HF radio and get out long distance comms".

Well, me being a "Radio Guy", and a proud member of the Unorganized Militia Signal Corps, replied back words to the effect that although I didn't know much about that type of shooting, I was a fairly competent and experienced radio guy.

So, I promised to write something up and submit it to them.

I'm trying my best to write down the things I know work, their advantages and pitfalls, and keep it non-technical enough so that an average guy could implement it. I've got the outline, and some fleshed out sections, and I'll be presenting it here in sections, as well as sending the complete article over to the WRSA, over the next few weeks.

It's a simple matter to make an antenna, but getting one that radiates well, and is repeatable, and usable without a lot of technical knowledge, takes some thought, and is somewhat dependent on what type of radio you'll be using. There are a ton of excellent quality portable antennas on the market (and some real JUNK, too!), so I'll go over those, too, along with some easy, cheap, and reliable ones you can construct for next-to-nothing.

Hang in there, guys, and I'll get something up here over the weekend.

As they say in the broadcasting industry, "Stay Tuned"!

****** UPDATE ******

I've got the intro written, and I'm well along on the "Resources" section. If I get real ambitious on Sunday, I'll get the "Introduction" posted. One of my friends is going over it for me, and he'll give me some feedback on it.

Top 10 Mall Ninja Guns

2011-11-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

I saw a post over at Tam's place that really cracked me up. It's a piece that includes a link over to the LonelyMachines site where the origins of the term "Mall Ninja" are explained. It cracked me up so hard, that I checked Wikipedia for the term, and *surprise*, they had no listing for it. I knew what it meant from hanging around various forums and blogs, but thought Wikipedia might have a listing.
A Google Search fared much better, and led me to this page with the "Top 10 Mall Ninja Guns".

Now in Days of Old, I did some security consulting for people that thought their offices were being bugged, and as a result of that, I got hooked up with a PPO who wanted me to be his "Tactical Stealth Electronics" operations guy. The owner of this place had this brilliant idea to have a one-stop "Security Mall" where you could hire a Private Investigator (an active-duty LAPD guy, no less!), go to school and get your Guard Card (LONG story on that!), hire his security officers, and pretty much "Take Care of ALL Your Security Needs Under One Roof!". Well, I hung around for a while, made some decent bucks sweeping offices, and got to know a bunch of security guards. Back then, they weren't called "Mall Ninjas", but rather "Cowboys", which considering who the term was applied to, I thought insulted real cowboys!
Some of these guys were freakin' NUTS! There are VERY strict rules for running a PPO (Private Patrol Operator) in Kalifornia, and they cover vehicle types and paint schemes, officer uniforms and badging, and a host of other rules and regulations. To make a long story short, the PPO MUST ensure that his patrol officers CANNOT be mistaken for a Duly-Sworn Peace Officer, a.k.a., a REAL Cop.
This is where the "Cowboy" part comes in. Some of these guys went out of their way to look, and act, like real police. One guy bought a used Kawasaki "Police Special" from the CHP, and bought the correct style pants, boots, shirts, and helmet. He looked scary good, and after being told THREE times by the owner of the place to "Knock it off, or we'll BOTH get in trouble!", he got fired.
Same thing with a "Motor Unit" guy who'd bought himself a used Crown Victoria from the CHP, and outfitted it with all the gear the CHP had, except for the light bar. He had all yellow lenses in his, but again, same thing happened. Repeatedly warned, then canned.
Anyway, I heard one of the line managers mutter something one day, and I asked him what he said. "Goddamn COWBOYS!", and then explained the whole situation to me.
It's funny, but a lot of people seem to want to be police, but either can't or won't make the effort to actually do what it takes to be one.
I see the same thing among Amateur Radio operators who get involved with EMCOMMS, too. Some of these guys just have to have the same style vest, pants and shirt that the real first responders wear, and when they get told they can't, get all hissy about it. Some of these guys even have official looking badges, fer Pete's sake!
Maybe someday the term "Radio Ninja" will enter the popular lexicon, but for now all we have is Mall Ninja.

Pouring Lead Shot

2011-11-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

Into my Lead Sled shot bags, that is.

Some things I learned, that I *should* have known.

1) #9 lead shot is tiny!
It came streaming out of the 25lb sack like sugar on steroids.
I couldn't control it, and wound up with 10 pounds in the Caldwell bag before I could stop it, and wound up with a handful scattered all over the place.

2) It doesn't pour back out of the Caldwell sack as easily as it went in.
Another handful or two all over the place.

3) If you do this, make sure you have a BIG pan underneath to catch all the shot you will spill.
I tried using the big styrofoam box our latest order from Omaha Steaks came in, and it was barely big enough.

4) Even if you use a scale to weigh the bags as you pour the shot in, the first bag will be heavier than the last (see #1).

5) Next time, buy "BB" size shot as it's much easier to handle!

TSA Now Grabbing Your Gold and Silver....

2011-10-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

Man, this is right out of the "Enemies: Foreign and Domestic" book.
Bob Bullard, anyone?

TSA Thugs In Action

Radio Update!

2011-10-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm having excellent results parting out my big Kenwood TS-950SDX station.
So far I've sold the SP-950 speaker, the SM-230 Station Monitor, the DRU-2 Digital Recording Unit, the VS-2 Voice Synthesizer, a couple of 'official' Kenwood Service Manuals, and Inrad Roofing Filter. This gives me almost $1300 in the "FTdx-5000MP" fund, and I haven't sold the radio yet, which should bring about $1800.
I also have an ICom IC-970 VHF/UHF multi-mode radio that's going on the block and should bring in about $1500. Throw in some Handi-Talkies I just sold, and a couple of receivers that went out of here last week, and I'm at over $5k. This puts me withing 'striking distance' of the $5900 cost of the new radio, and cleans out some radios I don't use, neatens up the shack quite a bit, and meets the agreement I made with the YF to "Get Rid Of The Ones You Don't Use Anymore And I Don't Have A Problem With You Getting A New One".
Oh, and she got a new washer and dryer out of the deal, too.
Of course, you NEVER buy your wife a new washer and dryer as a "gift", but rather as "Something We NEED".
Togetherness, 'ya know?

Lead Sled is Here....

2011-10-26T21:28:00.001-07:00

Put it together tonight, and realized you can't work a lever action rifle while it's in the rest.

One of these days I'll learn to read a bit more before I buy things......
Now, I *suppose* as long as I carefully put the rifle back in position after I take a shot and work the action, it won't really matter, but it kind of bugs me that I didn't research this a bit more.

Hmmmmmm....maybe it's time to buy a nice 308 bolt-action rifle?

Any recommendations?

November 2012 Can't Get Here Soon Enough....

2011-10-24T21:43:00.001-07:00

From on of my friends.

If any other of our presidents
had doubled the National Debt, which
had taken more than two centuries
to accumulate, in one year,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had then proposed to Double
the debt again within 10 years,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had criticized a State Law that
he admitted he never even read,
would you think that he is
just an ignorant hothead?

If any other of our presidents
joined the country of Mexico and sued a
state in the United States to force that State
to continue to allow Illegal Immigration,
would you question his patriotism
and wonder whose side he was on?

If any other of our presidents
had pronounced the Marine Corps
as if it were the Marine Corpse,
would you think him an idiot?

If any other of our presidents
had put 87,000 workers out of work
by arbitrarily placing a moratorium on
offshore oil drilling on companies that have
one of the best safety records of any industry
because one foreign company had an accident,
would you have agreed?

If any other of our presidents
had used a forged document as the
basis of the moratorium that would render
87,000 American workers unemployed,
would you support him?

If any other of our presidents
had been the first President to need a
teleprompter installed to be able to get through
a press conference, would you have laughed and

said this is more proof of how inept he is on

his own and is really controlled by smarter

men behind the scenes, just like a simple puppet?

If any other of our presidents invited a

rap artist who celebrated killing cops to the

White House, would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars
of your tax money to take his First Lady to a

play in NYC, would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had reduced your retirement plan holdings
of GM stock by 90% and given the
unions a majority stake in GM,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had made a joke at the expense
of the Special Olympics,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive
and incorrectly formatted DVDs

when Gordon Brown had given him a

thoughtful and historically significant gift,

would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had given the Queen of England an
IPod containing videos of his speeches,
would you have thought it to be a
proud moment for America ?

If any other of our presidents
had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had visited Austria and made reference
to the nonexistent "Austrian language,"
would you have brushed it off
as a minor slip?

If any other of our presidents
had filled his Cabinet and circle of
Advisers with people who cannot seem
to keep current on their Income Taxes,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had stated that there were 57 states in
the United States, wouldn't you have had
second thoughts about his capabilities?

If any other of our presidents
would have flown all the way to Denmark
to make a five-minute speech about how the

Olympics would benefit him walking out his

front door in his home town, would you not

have thought he was a self-important, conceited, egotistical jerk?

If any other of our presidents
had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to
"Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican

ambassador when it was "The 5th of May" (Cinco de Mayo)

and then continue to flub it when he tried again,

wouldn't you have winced in embarrassment?

If any other of our presidents
had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel
to go plant a single tree on Earth Day,
would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?

If any other of our presidents'
Administrations had okayed Air Force One
flying low over millions of people followed by
a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing
widespread panic, would you have wondered
whether they actually understood what happened on 9-11?

If any other of our presidents
had failed to send relief aid to flood victims
throughout the Midwest, with more people killed
or made homeless than in New Orleans,

wouldn't you want it made into a major ongoing

political issue with claims of outright racism and incompetence?

If any other of our presidents
had created the positions of 32 Czars
who report directly to him, bypassing
the House and Senate on much of
what is happening in America ,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had ordered the firing of the CEO
of a major corporation, even though he
had no constitutional authority to do so,
would you have approved?

So, tell me again,
what is it about Obama that
makes him so brilliant and impressive?
Is it the fact he knows all 57 states?

Can't think of anything?
Then you'd better start worrying.
He's done all these things in 30 months --
and you have less than 17 months
to come up with an answer.

Every statement and action in this email
is factual and correctly attributable
to Barack Hussein Obama.
Every bumble is a matter of record
and completely verifiable.

And, all this was done in just 2 (?) years!!?
Somebody was sure working hard!!!

Visiting "Strangers".....

2011-10-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

Hmmm....I seem to be getting a lot of hits from Arlington and Fairfax, Virginia.

Did I make "The Big Time"?

Great Afternoon at the Range

2011-10-20T22:16:00.000-07:00

It's like the old saying about fishing, "The worst day fishing is better than the best day at work", although I don't think I'd care to have a "Bad Day at the Range"! The last Bad Day I had was a couple of years ago when my wife hit the target support with my 45, and the round came straight back and smacked my in the upper lip!
OUCH!
Anyway....I had a great time this afternoon with my son. I went through about 150 rounds of 45ACP, and he went through about 100 rounds of 40S&W, putting a small dent in the 500 rounds I bought him for his birthday present.
And we BOTH realized we simply MUST get to the range more than "every couple of months"!
I took me a full magazine to get back into the rhythm I usually have, and out of my first 8 shots, 4 were outside the black! They were all within the "Dinner plate at 7 yds" credo, but I'm capable of much better than that.
It took my son a few shots to get back to his usual skill level, but then he wasn't doing rapid double-taps from low ready!
After my first magazine fiasco, I went back to the basics: good grip, good sight alignment, surprise break, and DON'T JERK THE TRIGGER! I showed him some tips about sight alignment, and I think he understands the "Front Sight...PRESS!" mental attitude for defensive shooting better now. We talked about the surprise break, the "thin glass rod" concept, and I explained to him about how being aware of the trigger reset movement will get him to know and understand his pistol better.
By the end of the two hours we were both doing better than when we walked in, and had a great time.
We're going to head up to Angeles Shooting Range in two weeks, after his 17HMR ammo gets here, along with the sabot slugs I want to try in my rebarreled and scoped Remington 1100, my "Goblin Gettin' Zombie Zapper". I also ordered a Caldwell Lead Sled Plus from Midway, and a couple of bags of lead shot to anchor it down. Learning to sight-in from a bench rest is a new thing to me, and I've written down, and printed out, some guidelines on how to do it.

Range Time!!

2011-10-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

Heading to the indoor range Thursday after work with my son. I got him 500 rds of 40S&W for his Sig P226, and three spare magazines for his birthday, and we're gonna go turn some money into smoke and noise!
I also got him 500 rds of 17HMR for his Savage 93R17-FXP rifle (the one he regularly embarrasses me with!), but we have to hold off on going up to Angeles Shooting Range for a week or so until I can schedule a day off from work. I'm anxious to get up there to try the new rifled barrel, scope, and recoil pad I installed on my Remington 1100. I have a selection of slugs I want to try with it and see how they shoot with a rifled as opposed to smoothbore barrel.
Which reminds me....the "Box-O-Truth" did an article on slugs and buckshot through smooth and rifled barrels, and he shot some of the sabot slugs that are out there. They're about FOUR BUCKS a round ( ! ), so I probably won't order too many to start with.
I also want to try some of the Hornady LEVERevolution polymer-tipped rounds in my Marlin 336 30-30 rifle.
Looks like I'd better get that order in to Cabela's, Midway, or Sportsman's Guide tonight!

Boston's Gun Bible

2011-10-16T21:16:00.000-07:00

I'll take one of my (in)famous SWAGs and say that 99% of the people who drop by here know about this book, and have probably read it.
I bought it a while back, thumbed through it, thought "This looks pretty good...", and promptly put it on my book shelf.
Well, I started reading it today, and it's even better than I thought, as it covers so much territory. A lot of it's been covered in numerous other books, and a lot of it echoes what my Instructors have said in the training classes I've taken, so I won't go over it. One of the first things that really grabbed me was a quote in the front of the book from Heraclitus on the Warrior Spirit.
It goes:

Of every One-Hundred men, Ten shouldn't even be there.
Eighty are nothing but targets.
Nine are real fighters...
We are lucky to have them, as they make the battle.
Ah, but the One, the One of them who is a Warrior,
He will bring the others back....

Pretty stout stuff!

I don't think I'm in that "Top Ten", but it gives me strength to know that at least I'm a *bit* more aware of things than most of the sheeple who blindly go through life in Condition White.

Cain vs Obama

2011-10-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

As usual, Ramirez nails it!

UGH....PC Repair....MY OWN

2011-10-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

Well, after listen to this thing make strange noises when I first powered it up, and then watching the temperature of the GPU on the video card go over TWO-HUNDRED degrees, I figured it might be a good time to pull this one the desk, take the covers off, and see what was going on.
Sure enough, the fan on the video card was barely turning. I have some good video cards "in stock" here, but I really didn't want to use one as I've had people call me at 6pm on a Sunday night saying they needed their PC fixed RIGHT NOW, and they were wiling to pay a premium for 'after hours' service.
So off to Best Buy to get another video card. I'd much rather get one from Newegg, as they're always 25%~40% cheaper than Best Buy, but what the heck....it was a nice day and I wanted to get out of the house.
Blew about 3 pounds of dust bunnies out of this one, and then did the YF's as long as I had the compressor set up (drier on the air outlet, grounding strap on the blow gun to discharge static) to clean PC's.
Got this one all spiffied up, plugged in the new video card, and upgraded the hard disk while I was at it.
I did a fresh install of OpenSUSE 11.4, migrated my data from the old hard disk, and here I am.
The new video card barely breaks 100*, and the new drive is noticeably faster than the old one. Should be good for at least another 50,000 miles....

My First (and other) Car MEME....

2011-10-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

Idea courtesy of Old NFO.
The first car I got to drive on a regular basis was my Mom's 1964 Corvair Monza Spyder. Fun little car until my sister got rear-ended by a semi one day. She was OK, but the car was never the same after we got it out of the shop. I learned more than I wanted to know about "Trailing-Throttle Oversteer" in that little guy. It was "Monza Red" with a black interior. It also had one of the neatest radios in it I'd ever seen. It was a Sony MDL-something that had AM, FM, SW, and LW, and it hung under the dash in an accessory bracket that let you pull the radio out, and carry it along as a portable.
I spent many a cold winter night listening to WRVA ("The Lou Dean Show") while laying in bed with the headphones on.
Mom traded that one in for a 1967 Corvair Monza, with the 110 HP engine, and a POWERGLIDE.
Oh, the ignominy of going from a 4-speed to a two-speed AUTOMATIC right when I was getting my driver's license!
The '67 Monza was "Marina Blue", one of the prettiest colors you could ever paint a car.
The next car we got, which was still my Mom's car, was a graduation present for me. We got a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T with the Special Edition package. I was bummed when it came in because the dealer we order it from was a grade school friend of my Mom's, and he checked the "Delete R/T Stripe" on the option box because he didn't think my Mom would like having that big white stripe around the tail. They substituted some chrome and red R/T emblems on the rear fenders, and the thing wound up being a real sleeper. Wit the f-70x14 bias ply tires it wouldn't hook up for sh1t (I could lay rubber for blocks with that thing!) but once it was rolling, hang on!
We kept it for a couple of years, and then the insurance companies came down on "Muscle Cars".....HARD. Even though I was an "A" student, had NO accidents or tickets, and was getting the good driver/good student discount, or insurance went from $186 a year to $483 EVERY SIX MONTHS! The Charger was "T5 Copper Metallic" with a tan interior.
So, we got rid of it, and I moved on to....
A 1971 Ford Capri. It had the 1600 "Kent" engine, with a four speed, and the tiniest one barrel carb I'd ever seen. The "Kent" 1600 was a pretty stout engine (it was the basis for the early Formula Ford cars), but this thing was seriously DE-tuned. It wouldn't pull more than 5000RPM in NEUTRAL! I swear, you could put a brick on the accelerator, walk away for a week, and it would still be running when you came back.
Really a stone, but it handled pretty well, got great mileage, and got me through college in style. It was some kind of non-descript medium blue metallic with a white ( ! ) interior.
I could go on about the cars I've "owned", but these were the ones I was driving during my 'formative years'.
Maybe I'll just do a post listing all the cars I've owned. It covers the gamut, from Corvairs to Jeeps, and Corvettes to El Caminos.....

For Wirecutter....(among others)....

2011-10-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

A buddy of mine sent me this, and I *immediately* thought about Kenny.

Enjoy!

BEWILDERED TEXAN

While walking down along the Rio Grande this morning, I saw a Muslim extremist fall into the water ; he was struggling to stay afloat because of all the guns and bombs he was carrying. Along with him was a Mexican who was also struggling to stay afloat because of the large backpack of drugs that was strapped to his back. If they didn't get help, they'd surely drown. Being a responsible Texan and abiding by the law to help those in distress, I informed the County Sheriff 's Office and Homeland Security in Austin. It is now 4 PM, both have drowned, and neither authority has responded.

I'm starting to think I wasted a postage stamp...

Wow....10 Meters is WIDE OPEN!

2011-10-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen the 10 Meter band open like this in YEARS! There's stations calling CQ out past 28.500, and the band is supporting propagation from all over.
I worked T32C earlier today on 10, and then half an hour later worked him on 15.
Great day to play radio!

Bullet Impacts Filmed at ONE MILLION Frames Per Second

2011-10-05T21:19:00.000-07:00

Amazing stuff!

Steve Jobs -February, 1955 ~ October, 2011-

2011-10-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

May the place you go to be Insanely Great beyond your wildest dreams.....

UVB-76, The Russian "Buzzer" Shortwave Station

2011-10-05T11:29:00.000-07:00

One of the 'bad' things about going out on launch missions is that I miss about a 3-week chunk of my mail. When I got back Monday, I stopped at my mailbox and picked up my mail, and my latest issue of "WIRED" magazine was there.
Lo and behold, they had an article on the UVB-76 "Buzzer" shortwave station. I've heard this station several times in the past, and first found out about it reading "Monitoring Times" magazine. It's an interesting station, probably in the same category as a numbers station, but transmits a different format of information, consisting of various audio tones, and an occasional human voice. It's pretty boring to listen to, but one of those things I'll have on in the background once in a while.
The WIRED article had a reference to a live audio stream, so I looked it up. It's better than listening to it on my radio, as I really don't have an antenna that's suitable for 4.625 MHz, and the Internet relay is close enough that I don't have to worry about propagation from there to here.
A lot of people are bemoaning that shortwave radio listening is "dead", but there's still a lot of things to listen to.

The Floor Has Finally Stopped Moving....

2011-10-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

Yep it's true. After you've been out at sea for a few days your inner-ear adjusts to the constant motion it's subjected to, and you compensate for it as you walk. It's a strange feeling at first to be walking down a passageway, only to be walking UP the passageway a few seconds later as the ship rolls a bit.
You know you have your Sea Legs when you can walk down the stairs ("ladders" on a ship) from the mess hall with your left hand on a rail, a full cup of coffee in your right hand, and not spill a drop.
It took most of the morning, but now I can walk a straight line through the house without wandering as I do it!

AND...Sunday on way back in, somewhere in the vicinity of Guadalupe Island, we started hearing jets. I saw some F-18 Hornets around, and wondered what they'd be doing that far out. About an hour later I went up on deck, and was greeted by an Nimitz-class carrier, and an Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer!

I'll post some pix after I get them downloaded from my camera.

Back Home...To A DEAD Battery!

2011-10-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

RATS! I forgot to unplug my Kenwood TM-D700 in the Jeep before I left. The radio draws almost nothing when it's off, but the Garmin "Hockey Puck" GPS receiver I have connected to it draws about 65mA, more than enough to drain a battery after 22 days away!
We first tried using one of those jumper boxes with a big GelCell battery in it, but IT was dead, so one of the logistics guys brought over a 400 Amp battery charger/booster, and a Honda Eu2000i generator.

We fired up the generator, connected everything, let it sit for a few minutes, and my Hemi rumbled to life.

It's connected to my trickle charger now, and I hope I didn't damage the battery. Ignition/Starting batteries are NOT meant to have a small, constant load connected to them, and the plates can get sulphated if you do that to them.

Hopefully the trickle charge will clean things up.

And my dogs went absolutely bonkers when I got home. I thoguh they were going to crash through the gate when I pulled in the driveway and got out of the Jeep!

Final Position Report.....

2011-10-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

.....Before we drop our satcom link.

We're at 31* 15' N, and 120* 10' W.

We *easily* could have been home today, or even yesterday if they would have spent a few more $$ on fuel.

Oh, well.......

Revised ETA...Home MONDAY at 0800

2011-10-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

Well, after realizing they'd have to roust everybody from home, and muster them at Home Port for our arrival Sunday night, The Management decided to slow us down to 14 knots.
This means we'll be at the pier at 0800 Monday morning. What's frustrating to us all, is that if they would have cruised the distance at ONE additional knot, we'd be home already!
And our satcom system will be going down at 1600 since we'll be within 200 miles of CONUS, and our license requires us to be dark within 200 miles.
Glad I brought a good selection of DVD's with me.
I've already watched "Seven Days In May", "THEM!", "Le Mans" with Steve McQueen, "TRON Legacy", and several others.
Maybe I'll watch "Iron Man 2" and/or "Blade Runner" later today. Several people want me to screen "The Enemy Below" in our lounge area, so that will probably be tonight's after dinner entertainment.
At least Saturday was "colored clothes" day for the ship's laundry, so all my laundry is done and packed, and I'm 90% done with packing the rest of my gear up.
Talk to you all later!

Home Sunday at 2100

2011-09-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

Well, we'll be out at the Pilot Station waiting for the Harbor Pilot to come aboard.
That means we won't be tied up and 'released' until about 2230 or so.
And they're NOT paying us for Saturday and Sunday.....

GOD, I hope something breaks, because I will NOT fix it!

The Silencer

2011-09-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of our friends over on Sipsey Street......

Hurricane Hilary

2011-09-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

No, not Mrs. Clinton.

Looks like we'll be going through the tail-end of this towards the end of the week.

Headed Home

2011-09-25T23:12:00.000-07:00

We pulled out about 2240 PDT.
No ETA on arrival yet. Should know tomorrow.....

Successful Launch, Headed back on Sunday

2011-09-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

Well, we put another one on-target.
After safeing and stowing the rest of my systems on the platform, we'll head back to Long Beach late Sunday afternoon. It takes about 7 days to get back, and then I'm taking a couple of days off.
Gonna head to Angeles Shooting Range with my son for some rifle time!

L-2 hours.....

2011-09-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

Time to do the final alignment on our fixed antennas.
Gonna get *real* busy here soon.

L-4 hours and counting.....

2011-09-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

Rough day yesterday, but we're on schedule for a 2018 UTC launch.
You can watch it here:
http://www.sea-launch.com/current_index_webcast.html

L-2 Days and counting.....

2011-09-22T12:51:00.000-07:00

On schedule!
Tomorrow I head over to the LP and set up our equipment to link the Command and Telemetry from the spacecraft back to the "Mother Ship".
Gonna be a brutal day. I'm the only one left (or rehired) who can do it, and I'll be over there all by my lonesome for about 10 hours.
I don't have too much stuff to take over with me, and I'll take a bunch of water and some snacks, along with my Droid to pass the time.
At least the helideck is a walk *down* from where the Comm Shack is!

Picture is the latest weather here.

We Have Arrived.....

2011-09-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

We're about 1' N and 2' E of where we need to be.
That means the ship will transition to Dynamic Positioning in the next 30~40 minutes, and we'll hold here until daylight, when helo ops will begin.
The LP should be ballasted down 70' by late morning/early afternoon, and then we can start using the link bridge between the ships.

Reno Airshow Eyewitness Report

2011-09-20T11:55:00.000-07:00

One of the guys I used to work with was at the airshow when the accident happened.

Here's the email he sent us today:

Take a look at the last second of the attached video I took during the F18 demo. This shows how close we were to where the plane hit, impact was directly in front of us. Picture attached is what I think is us hitting the deck, circled. Link is to a video of the plane going down from the other side of the field. The pilot made an adjustment a split second before he hit us. You can see the correction in the video, I don’t even think he was more than 100 feet above us when he did it. Nothing in our minds thought we were getting out of that. I truly have no idea how we survived. Had the pilot, and I believe he did, not made that last quarter second correction we would have took a propeller on the chin and a lot more people would have died. We were also lucky to have hit the ground as fast as we did, people behind us got hurt by flying debris. We were hit with debris and covered in fuel but somehow there was not a fireball. Why that didn't happen I will never know. Had there been, that also could have been a game ender. Really hard to get my head wrapped around how we lived. Really makes you appreciate who, and what, you have in your life.

Mike

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaWB_7RGTQ4

Current Position.....

2011-09-18T21:16:00.000-07:00

We're at 5.5* N, 147.5* W, and Motoring along at about 10kts.

Looks like the launch will get pushed back to the 24th, but no "official" word yet.

Nighty-night, all!

Where's Waldo, Part Deux

2011-09-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

We're now at 6.5* N, 146.5* W, and chugging along at 9.4 kts.

Or as one of my friends called it, "Groundhog Day, Part 3".

We were supposed to get to the launch site on Wednesday about 1700, but the platform had a turbocharger failure on one of their big Diesels that runs the generators (it has a Diesel-Electric propulsion system), and they were dead-in-the-water for about 4 hours while they fixed it.

I'd post more pictures, but everything has to be approved by Security and the Export people, so I'll see if I can get some approvals for simple things like the helo.

In the meantime, here's the latest Enhanced IR picture from the weather guys.

The little green square is where we are.

Where's Waldo??

2011-09-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

No, not my middle name.
Right now we're at 10* 47' N, 142* 47' W, right smack dab in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, and man, is it raining!
We're chugging along at around 12 kts, thanks to "Fair Winds and Following Seas".

Bad Crash at Reno Air Races

2011-09-16T19:08:00.000-07:00

Just talked to my wife on the phone, and she said there was a crash at the Reno Air Races.
Our satcom system is acting up tonight, so all I can get posted is this link to Google.

Helo Flight!

2011-09-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

Well, today I had my first flight in a Huey. It was a Twin Huey, in excellent condition, and we flew with both doors open so we wouldn't have any windows impeding our photography.
Now I haven't flown in an aircraft with the door(s) off in about 30 years, so it was quite an experience. The other photographer is an old pro at this, and has flown in the back seat of various chase planes for numerous aircraft tests, and done more than his share of hanging out of helos snapping pictures.
As long as I kept my eye glued to the viewfinder, and kept the job-at-hand firmly in mind, I was OK.
The first time I dropped the viewfinder down so I could orient myself with the ships, I about lost my lunch.
I was two feet from the open door (SOLIDLY hooked up in my harness!), and we were in about a 30* bank to get a better angle for the other photog, at about 500' ASL.
Caught me totally off-guard, and I popped the camera back up to my eye again.
And we get to do it again next week when the launch vehicle is erect on the pad.
I think I'll skip lunch that day.............

Life At Sea.......

2011-09-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

Well, we're about 1200 miles off the coast and headed to the Launch Site at 20 kts. We're supposed to catch the Launch Platform around midnight, and then we'll slow down to about 9 kts and travel in formation with them the rest of the way.
Tomorrow afternoon I get to go up in the helicopter with the "Official" photographer, who'll be shooting video, while I get some 'beauty shots' of the two ships travelling in formation.
We used to have a Bell 230 helo, but now we have a Bell 212. The 212 is better suited to our needs, as it can carry more people and cargo. It also has two huge sliding doors, so heavy cargo that used to have be transported over hanging on a sling can now be stowed inside the helo.
The weather has been pretty good so far, with smooth seas. That will change when we enter the Intertropical Convergence Zone, where we go through some rain and it's usually overcast this time of year.
I was feeling a bit under-the-weather yesterday, probably from eating too much and a lack of physical activity. Even though I'm running around all day, at this point it's shuttling things between offices, helping people set up their PC's, and checking equipment, so it's pretty light duty. I'll have to start my daily walk around the ship, starting on the first bridge deck at the stern, working my way up to the bow on the fifth bridge deck using all the ladders, (stairs on ships are called "ladders"), and then back down again.
I finally got the big screen TV, DVD player, audio system, Wii, and X-Box in our "Lounge Area" all connected together and operating last night. Had a couple of bad cables that were driving me nuts, but was able to fix them. And connecting my laptop with a Blu-Ray player to the big TV with an HDMI cable makes for some pretty good viewing. I watched Steve McQueen in "Le Mans" last night, and it was very enjoyable.

ALWAYS Remember

2011-09-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

Other will write for better than I can about what happened 10 years ago today.

Remember

Prepare

Be Ready

As the little boy said at the end of the first Terminator movie....."There's a storm coming".

HAMCON 2011 in Torrance, CA

2011-09-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits of the one-day delay we had in the launch schedule was that I'll be able to go to HAMCON at the Marriott in Torrance. I've been going every year since 1995 as long as it was "local" here in California, and I was kind of bummed about not being able to go.
I won't be able to make the Saturday night banquet as I have to get up early, but at least I'll be able "spread some wealth" Saturday from all the overtime I worked.
I'm going to 'upgrade' the handie-talkie I use for the FM satellites from a Kenwood TH-D7 to the new Kenwood TH-D72.
It's really neat, and has a built-in GPS to use with the APRS network.

I'm still 'working' on the YF to get approval for what will most likely be my "Last, New. BIG HF Radio", a Yaesu FTDX-5000MP.
My big ol' Kenwood TS-950SDX has served me well these years, but it's starting to have some problems, and parts are getting hard to come by for it. The ONLY place I'd trust to work on it is AVVID down in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and shipping this beast back will cost about $100, plus the repair charges.

Or maybe I can convince her I *really* need an Elecraft K3!

Getting Ready To Go.....

2011-09-07T17:12:00.000-07:00

We spent most of the day securing our systems on the LP and stowing equipment for transit. We had antennas to lock down, feeds to stow, cables to pull back into the Comm Shack, and rented test equipment to get back to the shipping-receiving guys. It's kind of a drag having to work out in the 95* heat we've been having, especially after not leaving work until 2300 the night before.
The LP is leaving Thursday at 0800, and we'll follow Sunday morning around 1000.
They brought in FIVE tankers full of liquid nitrogen, and as the last of those were leaving, SIX tankers of liquid oxygen were waiting to come into the lot. The LN2 is used to chill the RP1, a kerosene-based fuel, so that it's denser and provides a bigger bang, and the LOX is used as the oxidizer.
We stocked our private "Goodie Freezer" today with an assortment of ice cream and frozen foods, and the "dry goods" will get loaded tomorrow. The food on the ship is usually quite good, but there are times when you have to work through meals. The galley is very accommodating if there's a major operation going on, and they'll bring us buffet plates to make sandwiches from, and provide us with mid-rats if we request.
I took about 30 DVDs and my laptop onboard today, and tomorrow I'll drag all my camera gear up to my office cube. I'll haul my sea bag in on Friday, and that eliminates having to drag all that stuff from my car to the ship the morning we leave.
I've been doing this long enough to appreciate the convenience of having all my stuff onboard well prior to departure!
So things are on-schedule, and we're looking forward to heading back to 154*W, 0*N for a launch!

ILV Is Up.....

2011-09-06T11:19:00.001-07:00

No Rollout Today.....

2011-09-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

Due to lightning within 60nm.
SO.......we spent the rest of the day going over our system, trying to figure out where the "missing" 20dB went from the other day when we tested it, and why the remote spectrum analyzer was acting all wacky.
We checked every connection (SMA and TNC) in the system, ruled out any network errors or timing problems, powered down/powered up, and rebooted everything, to no avail.
Finally, I decided to connect a different spectrum analyzer to the cable coming out of the switch matrix, on the off chance that the rack-mounted spec-a, just back from calibration, had a problem.
The Type-N connector soldered to the semirigid cable came off in my hand as I removed it from the input of the spec-a.
DOH!
Well, at least I found it........

ILV Transfer

2011-09-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I only had to work 9 hours today. Yesterday I was there from 8am (a late start for me!) until 9pm, so it was another long day of testing our RF links between the spacecraft customer, and the end point on the Launch Platform.
This morning they transferred the Integrated Launch Vehicle (rocket and payload) from the Assembly and Command Ship to the Launch Platform.
I did some of my 'normal' RF work with the other Engineer I work with, and he went home about noon, as we had all our tasks for the day finished. Then I went over to the LP to help the Engineer we have come down from Seattle do the RF Spectrum Survey we always do.
The Command receivers on satellites are very sensitive, so we look for all the emitters we can find. We use an Agilent spectrum analyzer with an HPIB-to-USB adapter on a laptop running the Agilent "Bench Link" software. This allows us to do a trace capture of what the analyzer displays, and save it as a "CSV" file that we can export to an Excel spreadsheet. We sweep from 200MHz to 40GHz, going in 60* steps around the compass. This gives us 360* coverage so we can "see" any emitters out there. We do this in several ranges because we use several different antennas and low-noise preamps. Each sweep at each frequency segment and compass heading takes anywhere from 5 to 45 minutes, depending on how stringent the requirements are, and that determines how we set the analyzer for things like Resolution Bandwidth and Frequency Span. It's not an unpleasant task, but time consuming, and a bit boring at times. The harbor area is really "dirty" at certain frequency ranges, and we can spot every ship and boat with an out-of-spec radar!
Tomorrow the ILV gets rolled out, stood vertical on the pad, and our testing enters the final phase. If all goes well on Monday, we should be done by 9pm, a 14-hour day. Tuesday will be an "RnR" day, and the LP departs Wednesday morning for the launch site, and we'll leave three days later on Saturday.

Payload Rollout!!

2011-09-01T20:34:00.001-07:00

Well, we got the "Encapsulated Payload" (the satellite inside the payload fairing) rolled out and on the assembly ship today, and they're integrating it with the rocket. We'll do a "power test" of the telemetry transmitter tomorrow, and then a live telemetry flow through the entire network Saturday.If all goes well, the Integrated Launch Vehicle will get transferred to the Launch Platform on Sunday, and we'll roll out, tilt it to vertical, and do the final tests on Monday.

Gonna be a loooong weekend!

Too Much OT....Part Deux

2011-08-29T22:04:00.001-07:00

Another 14-hour day. I'm not really complaining, seeing as I thank God each day for the great job I have, but it sure is a grind.
Our customer "broke" their own equipment today when we were 99% finished with the test we were running.
This slips our schedule at least 24 hours, depending on how fast they can get their gear working again. If they have to fly in parts from France, it might be a couple of days.
Maybe I'll get to make HAMCON after all!

Acorn Stash Kills Microwave Antenna

2011-08-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

Stumbled across this and though it was funny.
We just had to do some kind of 'endangered species' evaluation where I work, as a brown pelican built a nest at the top of one of our collimation towers. They haven't removed the nest and put bird spikes up there yet because there's little pelicans in it!

An Afternoon at the Range

2011-08-21T17:19:00.000-07:00

Went to the range today with my son, so he could participate in the "Sunday Pistol Shoot" that one of my instructor friend runs. I know my son is safe, and can shoot quite well, but I feel he could benefit from some formal training. And I always enjoy training, and pick up a few tips.
I wound up helping the other two instructors quite a bit, and helped several of the new shooters in the class change some things they were doing wrong that had the potential to become bad habits.
The class was only 8 students, with my son and myself, and six women. They were all interested in the type of gun my wife has (A S&W TRR8), and one of the ladies there has the same gun. Several of the ladies were quite petite, and had trouble racking the slide on full-size semi-autos, and loading the magazines. We took them all in to the gun store that's part of the range, and taught them how to pick a gun they could safely and comfortable shoot. Some rented revolvers, and a couple rented smaller semi-autos. We stressed that if you're not comfortable with the gun, you won't shoot it properly, and probably won't enjoy going to the range for practice.
One of the ladies had a very nice small-frame revolver with Crimson Trace grips, but was having trouble shooting it. She was trying to use it with the laser turned off, and the gun had no "proper" rear sight. It was sold to her at another gun store, by a counter guy who said "My wife has one of these, little lady, and it'll be *perfect* for you!".
NOT!
So now she's in the market for another revolver until, she said, she's "good enough at the basics" to use her snubbie with the laser grips.
We stressed to them that as new shooters, they should NOT feel the "I'm no good at this" mood that many new shooters have. It's a new activity to them, and like all new activities, it takes time to learn how to do it. We encouraged them at every step, worked closely with them, and by the end of the session the ones who were having problem had markedly improved.
Some of them had very good marksmanship skills, and the rest *will* get those skills with practice.
One other thing impressed me about this group of ladies. They weren't the type who had been mugged or assaulted, and "wanted a gun for protection". These women were interested in learning about all different types of handguns, safety, and how to use them effectively. They weren't they types for who "the gun thing" was a passing fancy, or the type who would take a class or two, and then "know all they needed to know". These women were serious, and WILL continue their training. I could tell by the questions they asked, and how they behaved on the range, that they have the gumption to continue to learn, and will turn into fine, safe shooters. It was very refreshing to see such enthusiasm, and support for our Second Amendment rights.
My son impressed the instructors, who recommended he move on to the more advanced classes, including the Tactical Handgun classes.
So all in all, it was a great day at the range, and I was privileged to help some new shooters hone their skills.

Filing Cabinets

2011-08-20T15:32:00.000-07:00

I went 'shopping' online at the office supply places, and HOLY SH1T! These things are insanely priced.
A GOOD QUALITY, 2-drawer cabinet is ONE-HUNDRED FIFTY dollars!
Even the cheeseball ones are sixty bucks. I already have one of those, and when the wife had her son move it, it buckled up like cooked pasta.

I told them to empty it before they moved it, but naaaaa.....just couldn't take the time to pull the drawers out.

Where was I??

Out at sea last month, and she wanted to "surprise" me by having the carpets cleaned.

Even on craigslist good ones go for $100.

Looks like I'll just have to bite the bullet (again) and get a decent one.

Just got back from visiting Staples, Office Depot, and OfficeMAX. Staples had some decent ones, but they're marked "Delivery Only". I asked one of the floor people if I could take it myself, and he said no, they have to come from the warehouse.
Scratch Staples.
The other two places had some decent ones, but they were all "Out Of Stock" in this area, and I'd have to have them delivered.
Scratch that....

So, unless I want to buy some more of the $60 POS units, I'm SOL for getting some replacements today.

I'll keep searching craigslist. There's NO WAY I'm coughing up $60 for something so flimsy it can barely hold its shape when loaded, let alone if you try and move it more than a few inches.

New MasterCard for Our British Friends.

2011-08-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

Shamelessly swiped from Sipsey Street.

Thanks, Mike!

Blogger Not Updating?

2011-08-19T17:54:00.000-07:00

Seems like the list of blogs isn't updating. I see things listed as being posted "1 Hour Ago...." that I _know_ are a day or two old.
Anybody else notice this?

Every Blade of Grass

My Mentor Has Passed.......

The REAL State of the Union

"Surviving Technology" by Bruce Vaughn, NR5Q

Any Cold Remedies?

Marlin 60 At Home!

PC and Homeowner Madness Weekend!

Blogger Weirdness

Ahhhh....Life Is Good.....

Dead People Voting In New Hampshire

1911-2011 100 years of History in Ten Minutes

"System D", The Market Of The Future?

New Sights For My Remington 870

New Toy On Order.....

Happy New Year!

Back From The Range

Range Day!

FEMA Billing Katrina Victims?!?

Busy, Busy!

Merry CHRISTmas, Everyone!

Unhappy Muslims....

4th Best "President" Evah!

Christmas Wrapping

Kim Jong Who??

Took My NRA Range Saftey Officer Class Today

Decisions 2012

Instead of a "Where's Wookie?", How About We Start A "Where's Breda?"

50 Years Ago Today....

Fiocchi "Canned Heat" 45ACP Range Test

Tolerance

World's Smallest V-12

70 Years Ago Today.....

New Additions to the Bookshelf

You Might Be An "Occupier" If.....

New Show Tonight on the Military Channel..."Triggers"

"Super 8", "Frequency", and Ham Radio

Home Owner Stuff.....

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2022

Three Days to Straighten These Clowns Out...

50* and Raining...I'm Playing RADIO All Day!

A Few Pictures from The Edwards AFB Museum

Tough Sledding

High-Speed *Imaging* Seminar

High-Speed Camera Seminar Next Week

11-11-11

Range Day!

Headed Out To The Range!

Minor PC Upgrade

Expedient Antennas for HF (Shortwave) Use

Top 10 Mall Ninja Guns

Pouring Lead Shot

TSA Now Grabbing Your Gold and Silver....

Radio Update!

Lead Sled is Here....

November 2012 Can't Get Here Soon Enough....

Visiting "Strangers".....

Great Afternoon at the Range

Range Time!!

Boston's Gun Bible

Cain vs Obama

UGH....PC Repair....MY OWN

My First (and other) Car MEME....

For Wirecutter....(among others)....

Wow....10 Meters is WIDE OPEN!

Bullet Impacts Filmed at ONE MILLION Frames Per Second

Steve Jobs -February, 1955 ~ October, 2011-

UVB-76, The Russian "Buzzer" Shortwave Station

The Floor Has Finally Stopped Moving....

Back Home...To A DEAD Battery!

Final Position Report.....

Revised ETA...Home MONDAY at 0800

Home Sunday at 2100

The Silencer

Hurricane Hilary

Headed Home

Successful Launch, Headed back on Sunday

L-2 hours.....

L-4 hours and counting.....

L-2 Days and counting.....

High-Speed Imaging Seminar