Slide Rule Musings.....

One of my AMSAT friends sent me a link with pictures of the early days of Amateur Radio Satellites, and we all joked about all the slide rules in the pictures, which started an ongoing discussion on the email list.
My Dad bought me my first slide rule back when I was about 12 years old. I was studying for my Amateur Radio license, and it just made doing the math so much easier. It was a Post 1445P 8" "Student Model", but it let me do multiplication, division, and logs in the blink of an eye. I can still remember going in to the FCC Field Office in the Federal Building in downtown Chicago to take my General Class exam. I had a big paper bag with my Heathkit HD-10 keyer, some pencils and erasers, and my slide rule. The examiner gave me a big smile when I took it out of the bag.
In the years since then, I've had half-a-dozen linear slide rules, from little 6" ones that fit my pocket protector (yes, I had one...), to the monster 12" ones that cost almost $100, and came with a beautiful fitted leather case. Some of the linear rules had specialized scales on them for doing certain calculations that would be cumbersome on a "regular" rule. I've had a few circular ones, too. The round ones were, like most round slide rules, specialized completely for certain functions. On of my favorites (that I still have somewhere) was my aluminum E6B Flight Computer, still available, by the way, commonly called a "Pilot's Confuser" or "Whiz Wheel". Once you learned how to use it, it sure beat drawing out a wind triangle on the map in your lap while bouncing around in rough air!
Sadly, most of the companies that made slide rules have either gone out of business, or shuttered their slide rule manufacturing facilities. In the end, slide rules helped design the machines that made them obsolete, a rather ironic turn of events for a device that was (literally) hundreds of years old. The only place I'm aware of that you can still buy a freshly-made slide rule is Think Geek, one of my favorite places for funny tee shirts.
With the loss of new slide rules, the market for old ones has gone through the roof. What were once yard-sale $1 items are now going for $50~$150 on eBay, depending on how complex and large they are.
So, if TSHTF and we don't have electricity, I can always get my slide rule out for those important I'm-going-to-help-save-the-world calculations.

New Desoldering Station...

After years of using solder wick, squeeze bulbs, and manual pumps, I finally broke down and bought a half-ways decent desoldering station. The straw that broke the camel's back was working on a whole pile of PC's and motherboards with bad capacitors that several people gave me. It would take me 20~30 minutes using wick and/or a bulb to get the solder out of the holes on the multi-layer boards, and could get pretty frustrating. Especially on the minus lead of the capacitor, as it usually goes to a LARGE ground foil which conducts the heat away pretty rapidly. It would take a combination of brute force and great delicacy to get the solder and the lead hot enough to wick off or suck out the solder without overheating the board and damaging the foil. I'm pretty good at it, but once in a while I'd lift a pad or a trace, and then have to spend extra time repairing the board.
Well, with my handy dandy SMTmax ML-859 Desoldering station, I can heat up the lead, squeeze the trigger, and SLURP! there goes the solder.
Wonderful!
I'd been mulling over which one of the many units on the market to buy, and finally decided to get this one. Several times I came *this close* to buying one of the $400~$500 units, but always backed off. This one cost $155 plus shipping, and if it wears out in 3 or 4 years, I'll just get another one, although it came with enough spare parts to keep it going for quite a while.
I'll still keep a good supply of wick on hand, and I have several bulbs and pumps, but for the more delicate stuff, I'll use the new unit.
Besides, it's fun to squeeze a trigger, and see stuff disappear!

BulkAmmo.com

Finally got a round to buying some 357 Magnum to use in my Marlin 1894 from these guys.

Good quality, fresh, name-brand stuff at a good price.
The shipping seemed a bit slow, but then it was a LOT cheaper than from the other places I usually buy it from.

Go give 'em a look-see, and compare their prices.
Bulk Ammo

STS-133 As Viewed From A Commercial Airliner

Just is just stunning!
One of my AMSAT friends posted the link on the AMSAT email reflector, and it's absolutely amazing.
Enjoy!

Sad But True......

From a friend of mine.....

John Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock

(MADE IN JAPAN )

for 6 am. While his coffeepot

(MADE IN CHINA)

was perking, he shaved with his electric razor

(MADE IN HONG KONG)

He put on a dress shirt

(MADE IN SRI LANKA),

designer jeans

(MADE IN SINGAPORE)

and tennis shoes

(MADE IN KOREA)

After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet

(MADE IN INDIA)

he sat down with his calculator

(MADE IN MEXICO)

to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch

(MADE IN TAIWAN )

to the radio

(MADE IN INDIA )

he got in his car

(MADE IN GERMANY )

filled it with GAS

(from Saudi Arabia )

and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB.

At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day checking his computer

( made in MALAYSIA ),

John decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals

(MADE IN BRAZIL ),

poured himself a glass of wine

(MADE IN FRANCE )

and turned on his TV

(MADE IN INDONESIA ),

and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job

in AMERICA AND NOW HE'S HOPING HE CAN GET HELP FROM A PRESIDENT

MADE IN KENYA

Michael Moore Is A Big, Fat, COMMUNIST Slob!

I don't like Michael Moore. I never have. He's a lying, manipulative SOB who will do, say, and film anything he can to advance his communist agenda.
He wears his plaid shirts and grungy baseball caps so he look like the "Common Man", and yet lives in a luxury apartment in Manhattan.
He brags here about his multimillion dollar worth, and yet has the unmitigated gall to condemn the wealthy here.
What a disgusting, hypocritical, socialist, communist douchebag elitist.

The absolute "nicest" thing I could possibly say about him is that he's a typical Limousine Liberal.
Period.

I Guess *Maybe* Wikkileaks Is Good For Something After All...

Courtesy of several links I don't have time to post right now, I found this story over at The Buckeye Firearms Association about how Wikkileaks has published some Department of State documents revealing quite a bit of insight as to how weapons are getting in to Mexico.
AFAIK, this was originally published in The Outdoor Wire.

HINT: It sure aint the Gun Show Loophole!

STS-133 Discovery's Final Flight

Discovery is the oldest Shuttle in the fleet, and this marks it's 39th and last flight. Up until now, it's spent 351 days in space, made 5,628 orbits, traveled 142,917,535 miles, and carried 246 crew personnel.
It docked once with the MIR, and 11 times before with the ISS, and was the Shuttle that originally deployed the Hubble Space Telescope.
I've never seen a Shuttle launch, but I've heard it on its way to land at Edwards AFB many times.
If you've never been at a rocket launch, it's something that film and video just can't capture. It's like the difference between seeing a Top Fuel dragster on TV, and being there in person, but much more intense. It's one of those experiences that you feel as much as you hear. For a long time, until I'd actually been to a launch, and I'm up to 16 launches now, I thought the 'crackling' noise you hear from the engines was just the microphones of the recording equipment being overloaded, but it's not. It's one loooong controlled explosion, like billions of firecrackers going off continuously until the rocket is far enough away that the sound just fades out. Truly amazing, and as somebody said once, "It makes you wonder where they find bolts strong enough to hold it all together!".

This is NOT the final Shuttle flight, however. There's one more *funded* mission on the books, STS-134, the last flight of Endeavour. It's been pushed back several times, and is now scheduled NET 19 April 2011. This is considered to be the last "official" Shuttle flight. The next flight, STS-135 would be the last flight of Atlantis, but AFAIK, it hasn't been funded. It's currently being prepped as STS-335, which would be a "Launch On Need" rescue mission for Endeavour, and the NASA managers have told their teams it will fly "regardless" of funding on what they call the "Continuing Resolution".
So, we'll have a Manned Space Program at least until April, and possibly through July.
After that, we're just cargo again, depending on the Russian Space Agency to deliver us to the ISS.
Yes, it's very sad.

God speed, Discovery.......

You Might Be A Ham If....

With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy.
And yes, I'm guilty of more of these than I care to admit.

1. You have bought black electrical tape in ten packs.

2. You have stripped wire with your teeth.

3. You have told your child, "One day, all this will be yours”, and they didn't respond at all.

4. You would rather help another Ham friend hook up new equipment, or put up a new tower, than to mow your own lawn.

5. You have grabbed the wrong end of a hot soldering iron.

6. You have gotten an RF burn from your own antenna.

7. You have given out RST reports while you were on the telephone.

8. When the microphones or visual aids at a meeting did not work, you rushed up to the front to fix them.

9. You have told the XYL, when she noticed a new rig in the shack, "Why,that's been there for years!”.

10. You have set your watch to UTC only.

11. You have had to patch your roof after an antenna project fell onto it.

12. You have put a GPS tracker in the XYL's car or on the riding mower, just so you could watch it on APRS.

13. You have tapped out "CQ" or "HI" on the car horn in Morse Code to another Ham.

14. Your teenager has refused to ride in your car because it looks like a porcupine.

15. You know the Latitude, Longitude, and Elevation of your home QTH.

16. You have gone into the local Radio Shack store, and the store clerk has asked you where something is and how it works.

17. You have answered the telephone with your call sign, and then finished the conversation with "73" and your call sign.

18. You have looked for antennas, radios, and Morse Code in movies and television shows.

19. When you look at anything made of wire or metal tubing, you wonder if it could be used as an antenna.

20. Your call sign is printed on one or more of your hats, T-shirts, jackets, or other garments.

21. You regularly carry one or more tools in your pockets at any given time.

22. When any kinds of batteries go on sale, you get really excited.

23. When you look at a barbecue grill, it creates ideas about ground plane antennas or microwave reflectors.

24. You have designated all your friends as Hams or Non-Hams.

25. You have referred to your Ham friends by their call sign suffixes instead of their real names.

26. You have intentionally confused Non-Hams by telling them that the only things you talk about on the air are pork products.

27. You have intentionally scared Non-Hams with the word "RADIATION"!

28. You have looked at telephone poles and power line towers as potential antenna supports.

29. You have thought you were still hearing CW, SSB, or SSTV tones, even when your radios were off.

30. Your Go-Bag has more clothes in it than your dresser does.

31. You have a SKYWARN, RACES, ARES, ARRL, or local radio club sticker on your back window.

32. Your significant other sits in the back seat, and your radios ride in the front.

33. Your neighbors wonder if you are a Narc, a Spy, or a Federal Agent.

34. The cops pull you over because they want to see the inside of your car.

"As Much As I Hate The Recent Developments In...."

Oh, man.......you just HAVE to go check out the comments to a post over at Say Uncle's place.
HILARIOUS!
Best laugh I've had in weeks.
H/T to Breda

Have You Seen Me?

Saw this over my buddy Cap'n Bob's place, and just had to share it.
Kinda says it all, doesn't it?