Friday Already??

Wow...the week just flew by.
Been rather busy at work this week, which always makes the time fly by.
The last launch we did had an "anomaly" in the tracking system I run. Analysis of the recorded data from our logs shows that we had multiple failures in the system(s), resulting in some data loss on the primary telemetry downlink receiving system, AND the VEDA data "decommutators", but our fixed antennas and back up recorders filled in the holes, so while things didn't work as they should have, we captured all the data.
SO, after a week of teleconferences and webex presentations, we started actual work to determine which part of the system started the cascading failures. I'm betting it's our Primary Tracking Receiver, which had been acting up the entire week prior to the launch. We had to power cycle it several times to wake it up, and it seems to have lost about 20dB ( ! ) of receive sensitivity.
Considering this stuff was hardly state-of-the-art when the system was built back in the late 1990's, it's amazing we've been able to keep it running as long as we have.
Of course, money is tight, having just come out of Chapter 11, so it looks like I'll have to order a few more rolls of bailing wire, some duct tape, and a couple of dozen packs of chewing gum to get us through the rest of the year.
Oh...and the ship this is all installed on leaves Thursday morning for dry dock, they won't authorize any overtime for us to get the jump on this over this weekend, AND all the test equipment we need to use got sent out for calibration last week. I tried my best to convince TPTB that having *everything* due for calibration at the same time was a BAAAAD idea, but of course I was overruled because they got a price break taking ALL the equipment in at the same time. We're sending a runner over to the Cal Lab Monday morning to pick up the minimum gear we need.
I think what we'll wind up doing is to dump as much data as we can out of the equipment, do some simple RF testing, and then pull ALL the gear off the ship Wednesday afternoon.
Have a good weekend, everybody! I think I'll take my Marlin 60 (in 22LR, of course!) to the range this weekend and get some practice.

Spotting Scope Recommendations?

I've read dozens of reviews, and looked through a few at the Turner's store here, but I'd like to know what my fellow rifle shooters use.
I bought one from Cabella's, a Vortex Nomad, a 20-to-60 power zoom, with a 60mm objective, but although it's quite nicely made, it just lacks something.
Or maybe I'm not using it correctly.
Now I've got quite a bit of experience with various kinds of optics, from giant binoculars to home-made 10" reflector telescopes, and I've been doing a lot of photography since I was in 8th grade.
The problem I have with the Vortex scope is that since I wear glasses, I can't seem to get close enough to it to see the full image. I'm not sure if this is an "exit pupil size" issue, or an "eye relief distance" issue.
I also kinda-sorta have the same problem with the scope on my Marlin 336, but NOT with the new Nikon Prostaff "Shotgun Hunter" scope I recently installed on my Remington 1100, or with the scope on my son's stepfather's 300 Win Mag rifle with a BIG Tasco scope on it.

Anybody have any recommendations for a good spotting scope for somebody that wears glasses?

New Toy....Comet CAA-500 Antenna Anlyzer

Of the Electronic persuasion. It's a Comet CAA-500 antenna analyzer.
Which means I own four of these devices, all made by different manufacturer's, now.
I have an AEA "VHF/UHF Analyst".
An MFJ "MFJ-259B".
A RigExpert "AA-230".
And the new Comet Analyzer.

I also have access to an Anritsu "SiteMaster" and an Agilent Vector Network Analyzer (I forget which one....) at work.

The Anritsu and Agilent boxen are truly magical, with prices to match, while the others are more in the reach of "Advanced Home Hobbyists" like me.

Why so many of the "same" type of test instrument? Well.....The MFJ units are generally good, if you get one made Tuesday through Thursday. MFJ has a history of extremely poor/nonexistent QC, and I've seen it first hand.
Loose/missing hardware rattling around inside the case, poor/cold/missing solder joints everywhere, calibration that's, uhhhh....hmmmm...."You call this calibrated?", and a host of other ills.
Their stuff (the properly designed products, that is) either works well, or not at all, right out-of-the-box.
Mine works, so I consider myself lucky.
The AEA and RigExpert units work very well, are reasonably priced, and I was given the RigExpert unit in payment for fixing a fellow Hams transmitter.

The Comet I bought today because I had a gift certificate from HRO burning a hole in my pocket!

Between one of my fellow radio club members and myself, we have almost every available "hobbyist" analyzer out there.
Last time I checked, my friend had six or seven different ones. We're both RF Engineers, and enjoy seeing different vendor solution to the same problem, i.e. Measuring complex impedance in a coaxial transmission line/antenna system.

Most of these units are plenty accurate and repeatable enough for home use, and a couple are good enough for commercial use.

I haven't had a chance to try it yet, as I'm getting started this weekend on replacing the side entry door for the garage.

I'm sure I'll use my entire vocabulary doing that project!

0bama's New Defense Policy

Shamelessly borrowed from my buddy Cap'n Bob

*Finally* Got The Back Storm Door Installed

What a pain!
Since the door frame wasn't square, I had to make some shims from thin plywood I had, and then taper the shims top-to-bottom with my Dremel. Finally got the door hung square in the frame, shimmed and screwed in the "Z-Bar" outer frame, and then had to install the latch/handle mechanism. WELL.....somebody misplaced the template that came with the handle, so I spent about 45 minutes measuring everything and making some sketches. Laid out my own teplate, drilled the holes, and mounted the handle. Then I had to do some "custom fitting" to get the striker plate lined up so the latch would engage it properly, and hold the door tight to the frame.
Finished it off with a new "heavy duty" closer cylinder, and adjusted it so the door closes fast, but then slows down about 1" before it closes so it doesn't slam.
Considering the 8 or so hours I spent a couple of weeks ago trying to get the $$##%%!! thing to fit the door frame, I have about 15 hours invested in getting this thing hung and operating properly.
And one of the main reasons I bought it was it got rave reviews on the Lowe's website, with people saying they had it installed in an hour and a half........

Friday Night at the Range

One of my wife's best friends has been asking about taking her to the range, as she's never shot a handgun before. She's shot rifles (lever action!) and shotguns, but never a pistol. So, I gave her my 10-minute safety briefing, made sure she understood The Four Rules, and went over the operation of my wife's revolver, and when I was sure she was confident and safety-minded enough, we went out to the range.
She picked up on shooting pretty fast, but both she and my wife were having some trouble shooting the full-load 357 Magnum rounds I brought with us. I have to admit I'd never fired any of this particular load from Fiocchi in her gun, and I think I'll save the rest of them for my Marlin 1894C!
They were loud and rowdy loads in my wife's gun, BIG BOOM and a lot of muzzle flash, so I went back into the store section of the range and bought a bag of 38 Special reloads.
MUCH better for both of the ladies, and pretty soon I was headed back into the store to buy another bag of 50.
They both had a ball, were very safety-minded, and after we finished, my wife's friend was asking the counter guys about handguns. I let her try my Kimber 45ACP, but besides the fact that she has trouble loading the magazines, she didn't care for the recoil.
So, I introduced another lady to handgun shooting, and she loved it.
I also got to run about 50 rounds through my Marlin 60 autoloader 22LR, and while it cycled all the ammo I fed through it just fine, the sights are WAY off. It consistently shot high and to the left, but held very tight groups at 7, 15, and 20 yards, the limit of the indoor range. I could literally put all 14 rounds in the magazine in a 2" or smaller circle without really trying, but the circle was always high and to the left.
I'll spend some time looking into this on Sunday when I clean the guns we used tonight. I'm a little bummed, because it shows excellent potential with the tight groups, but has me scratching my head as to why it's so consistently off.
Heading out to the TRW Amateur Radio swap meet tomorrow morning to pick up some bits and pieces, and then I'm going to finish getting the $$##!!@@ new storm door hung on the back door of the house.
Have a good weekend!

My Mentor Has Passed.......

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

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

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?

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!

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.