We had a light dusting of snow last night. It was the kind that doesn't come down in flakes, but rather itty-bitty snowballs. The reports from the fire areas indicate they received a couple of inches, which will definitely help.
There's a front coming through tomorrow night, and it's packing some moisture. Last night we had a forecast 50%~80% chance of rain and snow, with possibly an inch of accumulation.
This afternoon the NWS upped the ante quite a bit, calling for an 80%~90% chance of precipitation, but now predicting three to seven inches of accumulation on Sunday.....
Oh, boy.....and I don't have my new snowblower yet! Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda strikes again.
But the USPS delivered all the new electrolytic capacitors for the Heathkit receiver and transmitter, so I'll be able to hang out in the basement and get started on the recommissioning of those two radios.
The set on the left are for the transmitter, and the ones on the right are for the receiver, which I'll do first. When I rebuilt my SB-310 "Shortwave" version of this receiver I think I had about ten hours in it, including replacing the rectifiers in the power supply (3 diodes) and doing a complete alignment on it. This one might take a bit longer as I have some cleaning to do on it, and you never know what you might find when you pull it out of the case and look at the bottom of the chassis.
The four big "Can Capacitors" are new manufacture, made here in the USA in Cedar Rapids, IA, and have higher rated voltages and slightly increased capacitance due to their construction from more modern materials. The smaller capacitors in the bags are also new manufacture, and readily available. The only reason I bought the complete "kits" from the people who make and sell the big cans was just to make it a one-stop transaction.
I'll do a tube inventory of my tube stock and the transmitter, and see what other tubes I need to order besides the 0A2 Voltage Regulator Tube, which I'm 99% sure I don't have. Some of the tubes are common to the receiver, and are used in my Drake and Hallicrafters radios, so I should be well-stocked on those. The 6BZ6 was even used in the radios I worked on while on the Iowa.
I'll rearrange the station desk here in the sunroom so I can use the riser I have to hold another set of radios. It'll be my "Operational Boat Anchor" station, and I'll be able to rotate between the Heathkit, Drake, and Hallicrafters rigs I have.
Have six calls tomorrow that I hope to get in before it starts snowing. All are within a 25 mile radius. It won't break my heart if we get twice what is forecasted.
ReplyDeleteThe NWS isn't expecting anything until 2300 or so. I should have clear weather for my DIA round-trip to get SLW.
DeleteSoooo... When ya getting a real snowblower?
ReplyDeleteHAH! Always one in the peanut gallery, eh, Beans?
DeleteShould have been last week, but......I blew it off until my Boeing dividend check got here. Looks like next week fer sure if they still have the one I want.
Go for the industrial size snow blower, DRJIM. I bought one, used, from an old USAF pilot who lived near me and moved to warmer. I was going to buy one but saved a few shekles by going used. Hopefully the damned thing works this winter.
ReplyDeleteI've been looking on nextdoor.com and craigslist, but haven't seen any decent ones.
ReplyDeleteI'm just going to bite the bullet and buy a new Ariens DeLuxe 24" and be done with it......
Soooo...How many radios CAN you stack on your racks??? ;-)
ReplyDeleteOn the desk in the sunroom, only two stations. The big Yaesu is on the bottom, and the "Rig-of-the-Month" will sit on the riser (small shelf) over that.
DeleteThe racks in the basement were nearly at full capacity after we moved here, but I've sold off or given away about 25% of them. Still have a big stack of scanners I have to go through, clean, and list on eBay.
Praying for you all. May God put out the fires.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are all safe.
God bless.
Thanks, Linda! Got 4"~9" of snow forecast for "down here", and they'll probably get 10" up in the mountains.
DeleteI don't know much about capacitors but I've been praying you get some... climate change. Good result.
ReplyDeleteI did a pretty complete re-capping job on my R-390A several years ago. Can't say I can tell any difference in sound, but I did have one or two pop in the years before. Not having that happen alone makes it worthwhile.
ReplyDelete