Jew Without A Gun

Tip of the hat to wirecutter, who got it from his friend Sammy.

I am republishing my three-part series about the LA Riots of 1992 in which Karen and I and the children were trapped for several frightening hours. We were unarmed, helpless save for our wits. The police were conspicuously absent and the bad guys, frequently armed with heavy weapons, owned the streets. It was a defining moment in my life.
I’m reposting this series as a cautionary tale because the Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre has sharpened the claws of the statist utopians, whose ultimate aim is to disarm law-abiding American citizens.
Just as Obamacare has nothing to do with health, and cap and trade has nothing to do with so-called global warming, anti-gun laws have nothing to do with saving children’s lives.
It’s just another opportunity for the left to centralize power.

Go here to read the rest.

 It's excellent!

I remember the 1992 LA riots. I was living in Redondo Beach at the time, and we could see the smoke rising in LA quite clearly. Since we were under a sunset-to-sunup curfew, we made sure we went to the store during the day and laid in a decent supply of water and other food.
My roommate, my best buddy from college, had his Remington 1100 that he used to shoot skeet with, and we spent part of the day cleaning it, and swapping out the choke tube for the "Improved Cylinder" one he had.

And we went to Turner's and grabbed several boxes of 00 Buck, and a couple of boxes of slugs........


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Doomsday? We're Still Here!

I got an email from one of my Ham Radio buddies in New Zeland a few hours ago.

He said "We're Still here. What did you expect?".

One of the radio clubs in Arizona ran a special event station with the callsign N0D, for "Now Zero Days".

I tried to contact them, but they had such a pile up I gave up!

Here's their QSL card:

Anyway....assuming we *are* still here on Friday, I get to have the pleasure of getting 4 new tires for my Jeep!

Hope it goes better than the battery escapade did.....
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"Assault Magazines"?? WTF Is Nazi Pelosi Smoking?

Or maybe all the Botox has (finally) destroyed what was left of her pitiful little brain.

She was doing an interview on MSLSD MSNBC and she said "Assault Magazines should be outlawed".

Go read the whole thing over at Freedom Outpost.

Geesh.......

New Little SHTF Radio! The Kaito KA600 Voyager Pro

Kaito makes some decent radios for the money, as does Tecsun. I have a Tecsun PL-660, and I really like it. I think it's a bit more sensitive than my little Grundig G3, but I forgot to take it with me the last time I went out to sea. I *will* take it out on the next launch, though.

So the other day I received an email from KaitoUSA with a special offer to buy one of their new radios at an introductory price, with free shipping.

Even though I have plenty of receivers (just ask my wife!), I figured for $60 and free shipping, what did I have to lose?

The newest addition here is the Kaito KA600 "Voyager Pro", and man, does this thing have features!

It covers the AM radio band, the FM radio band (stereo with the included ear buds), all of the NOAA Weather Radio channels, with a "Severe Weather Alert" function, and it covers the shortwave bands from 2.3MHz to 23.0MHz, all nicely divided up, and available as "Meter Bands" for those that don't speak frequency.

It has both a hand-crank dynamo for charging it's own NiMH battery pack (included), and a solar cell that will run the radio without any batteries at all. AND...it takes 3 "AA" batteries to run the radio with, something that an awful lot of these "Solar/Hand Crank" radios won't.

It has a very bright 3-LED flashlight in one side, and the back of the fold-out solar panel has a reading light.

And it has a standard clock/alarm/calendar function with multiple timers, a snooze button, and a temperature/humidity display.

The neat thing about this one is that it has  USB jack on the back panel that you can use to charge your cellphone using the built-in hand-crank, -OR- you can charge the radio the radio's internal battery by plugging it into your PC.

So far I've just checked out the AM, FM, and NOAA Weather Radio functions, and it seems to do the job very well, even with the telescopic antenna all the way down.

The only downside to this little guy, at least to me, is that it doesn't have a BFO, so you can't listen to Amateur Radio operators, or any other group that uses Single Sideband.

Considering all the other things it does, and the fact that you can get it for $80 on Amazon, I think it's money well spent, and if you've had an "Emergency Radio" on your list, then get this one.

I highly recommend it!
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Ugh....DEAD Battery and NO MORE AUTOZONE FOR ME!

The wife and I went out to my Jeep last night on our way out to dinner.

I put in the key, turned it on, and BRAAAAAAAAP!

The lovely sound of a solenoid *trying* to engage, and the battery not having enough juice to pul it in, and crank the engine.

I didn't leave any of the lights on, so, rather mystified, we took her car to dinner.

I put my charger on it when we got back home, and it proceeded to max out the charger at 10 Amps. I left it sit for a couple of hours, and when I checked it again, it was still pumping 10 Amps into the battery, so I let it charge all night long.

This morning it had dropped down to around 2 Amps, so I pulled the charger off, and checked the resting voltage.

Uh-oh....11.48 Volts!

It was enough to start the car with (barely!), and after it started I put the voltmeter back on the battery, and it showed 14.6 Volts, indicating the alternator was doing it's best to pump some charge back into the battery.

I let it run for about 30 minutes, and checked the engine off voltage, and it was back to ~11.5 Volts.....NOT a good sign.

Came back in the house, and started battery shopping on line.

Since this car has the 5.7 L Hemi, AND the Class-IV trailer towing package, it came with the heavy-duty cooling system, an oil cooler, a 160 Amp alternator, and the biggest battery I've ever seen outside of a Cat Diesel.

Since I always use a Deep Cycle battery due to the radio gear I carry, and Optima does NOT make a Group 72 size battery I was pretty limited in where I could buy a battery.

I wound up going to (UGH!) AutoZone.

BUT.....since I also needed a better charger, wiper blades for our 4 cars (it's rainy season out here), some washer fluid, and a bunch of other miscellaneous auto stuff, I went down the street to O'Reilly's to buy all the other stuff.

When I took the defunct battery out of the car, I noticed the end of the case by the positive post was HOT, much hotter than the other end of the case, and it was bulged out, so it looks like that cell developed a short, or very high leakage. This is probably a result of my leaving my Kenwood TM-D710 radio and GPS connected while I was gone for 3 weeks last year on a launch, and had a completely dead battery when I got back.

Standard automotive ("SLI", for Starting, Lighting, and Ignition) batteries do NOT take kindly to
1) Having a slow, constant drain on them
and
2) Being discharged and LEFT discharged for any length of time.

They're designed to put out a huge blast of current to start the engine, and then get recharged immediately.

Now here's where it gets interesting. When I took the dead battery back for my $12 core credit, there was an AutoZoner pushing a cart back in the store that he had previously used to help a young lady carry her stuff out to her car. I asked the guy if He could lug the battery inside for me, and he said he was "too busy".

DUH!

So, I lug all 55 pounds of DEAD battery into the store by myself.
I'm in line at the "Parts" counter, where I had picked up the battery earlier, balancing it on a display rack. Then this guy behind the parts counter says "All of you people, the line starts over there", pointing to where the normal checkout line for people that get their own stuff go.

And there's about 25 people in line!

So I start to come forward so I can put the battery on the counter, and the guy goes "Go to the END OF THE LINE!". I say I just want to put the battery on the counter because its heavy, and he says again "Go to the END OF THE LINE!", and he seems to be getting testy.

I say again that I just want to put the battery on the counter because it's really heavy, and he spouts off "I don't care. GO TO THE END OF THE LINE. NOW!".

By this time some of the other people are saying to just "Let the old guy put the battery down, fer Pete's sake", and the guy starts yelling.

"NO! THE END OF THE LINE IS THERE! GO GET IN THE LINE!"

About this time (a good 15 minutes) I decided I'd had enough. I dump the battery down on the floor and state "KEEP the damn core charge. I will NEVER set foot in an AutoZone again!", and start walking out.

A couple of people applauded, and one of them held the door for me.

From now on O'Reilly's gets ALL my auto parts business.
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New "Earth At Night" Pix And Videos from NASA

NASA-NOAA has just published the newest "Earth at Night" pictures and videos from the Suomi NPP satellite.

The website with the video is here.

It's pretty neat to watch the Earth revolve under the satellite, and watch the cities go by!

I had to scale this down to 25% so Blogger would accept it!
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Sandy Hook, CT School Shooting

My wife just called from the school she works at requesting verification of the above.

Yep, some nut case went and killed 27 people, 18 of them being children.

Back Home

And I slept until 0700, got up to move my Jeep for street sweeping day, and promptly went back to bed.

Well....at least I'm all unpacked, the bags are back in the garage, and I'm off until Monday.

*MY* Favorite Christmas Song

Blame Borepatch....he started it!

Enjoy!



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"Bah, humbug!" No, that's too strong
'Cause it is my favorite holiday
But all this year's been a busy blur
Don't think I have the energy
To add to my already mad rush
Just 'cause it's 'tis the season.
The perfect gift for me would be
Completions and connections left from
Last year, ski shop,
Encounter, most interesting.
Had his number but never the time
Most of '81 passed along those lines.
So deck those halls, trim those trees
Raise up cups of Christmas cheer,
I just need to catch my breath,
Christmas by myself this year.
Calendar picture, frozen landscape,
Chilled this room for twenty-four days,
Evergreens, sparkling snow
Get this winter over with!
Flashback to springtime, saw him again,
Would've been good to go for lunch,
Couldn't agree when we were both free,
We tried, we said we'd keep in touch.
Didn't, of course, 'til summertime,
Out to the beach to his boat could I join him?
No, this time it was me,
Sunburn in the third degree.
Now the calendar's just one page
And, of course, I am excited
Tonight's the night, but I've set my mind
Not to do too much about it.
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I'll miss this one this year.
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I'll miss this one this year.
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I'll miss this one this year.
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I'll miss this one this year.
Hardly dashing through the snow
Cause I bundled up too tight
Last minute have-to-do's
A few cards a few calls
'Cause it's r-s-v-p
No thanks, no party lights
It's Christmas Eve, gonna relax
Turned down all of my invites. Last fall I had a night to myself,
Same guy called, halloween party,
Waited all night for him to show,
This time his car wouldn't go,
Forget it, it's cold, it's getting late,
Trudge on home to celebrate
In a quiet way, unwind
Doing Christmas right this time.
A&P has provided me
With the world's smallest turkey
Already in the oven, nice and hot
Oh damn! Guess what I forgot?
So on with the boots, back out in the snow
To the only all-night grocery,
When what to my wondering eyes should appear
In the line is that guy I've been chasing all year!
"I'm spending this one alone," he said.
"Need a break; this year's been crazy."
I said, "Me too, but why are you?
You mean you forgot cranberries too?"
Then suddenly we laughed and laughed
Caught on to what was happening
That Christmas magic's brought this tale
To a very happy ending! "
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
Couldn't miss this one this year!
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
Couldn't miss this one this year!


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Guess The Island!

It's off the coast of Southern California, it's NOT Catalina, and a lot of things go BOOM! there.

I have a funny feeling Old_NFO knows which one it is.......

SHTF Electronics Part 1 - Basic Tools (continued)

SHTF Electronics Basic Tools

PART ONE: Small Hand Tools (continued)

Now that I’ve covered pliers, I’ll go on to ‘screwdrivery’ things.

BTW, if you think I’ve missed any tools, or have a favorite in the categories I’m covering, please let me know, and I’ll include it in an update to this.

A good set of screwdrivers is essential for living our day-to-day lives. Just witness how many are stored in the “junk drawer” in your kitchen! If you’re at all serious about working on cars or guns, you already have a good set of screwdrivers, both flat-blade and cross-point. While most electronics items can be taken apart and reassembled with the smaller versions from your existing tool box, there are times when you’ll need what’s commonly called a Precision Screwdriver.  These tend to be more slender in comparison with the smallest ones you’ll find in your tool box, and the better ones have a handle with a rotating knob on top so that you can hold the top, while spinning the body.

Wiha makes excellent small screwdrivers, and I’ve been using them for years. They’re not cheap, but if you don’t lose or abuse them, you’ll have them for life.

Besides flat-blade and cross-point, you can also get them with hex, Torx, PoziDriv, and “ball driver” ends in standard and metric sizes.

Wiha has all their offerings here:

http://www.wihatools.com/

They make VERY nice tools.

 

A WORD ABOUT SCREW HEADS AND SCREW DRIVE TYPES

A while back I had an article about the different types of screw heads. Everybody is familiar with the type that takes a flat-blade screwdriver to turn (“Slotted”), and everybody has used cross-point (“Phillips head”) screws,  along with hex (“ALLEN head”), and Torx (“star”).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screw_drive

And for all the different types of Screw Head shapes, here’s the entry for that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_screw#Screw_head_shapes

NUTDRIVERS

Nutdrivers are one of those great inventions that you won’t realize how handy they are until you’ve used them a few times. Then, when you don’t have a set handy, and have to dig out your ¼” drive socket set, and fumble around for some loose bits, you’ll wonder how you got along without them. This is especially true if you do a lot of radio work like I do.

I like the complete sets from Xcelite, as shown below.

I’ve been using a set like this since high-school, and if you buy a new set today, they look, feel, and even smell like the ones I’ve been using for 40+ years now. There’s something about the plastic handles that has a very “distinct” odor. When I bought a new set a few years ago and opened them up, I was right back in Mr. Shaw’s Electricity Shop class!

Get both the standard size, and the metric size, and you’ll be set for years.

 

BALL DRIVERS

I’m convinced that ball drivers are one of the better inventions in the tool world. If you’ve never used one, and then somebody loans you a set, you’ll be running out to buy them as soon as you return the loaned set.

Basically, they’re a hex driver with the end ground into a “ball” shape so that you don’t have to insert the tool straight into the screw you’re trying to turn, as shown in the picture below.

They work amazingly well for getting at socket head cap screws in odd positions where you don’t have a ‘straight shot’ at the top of the screw.

A few years ago I saw the regular L-shaped “Allen keys” with the ball end on both the long and short legs of the wrench, and it was one of those “Why didn’t I think of that?” moments.

As usual, get both a standard set and metric set, and buy good ones. Cheap ball drivers will have the “ball” break off, leading to a stupefying amount of labor to get the busted ball out of the screw!

Bondhus makes nice sets, and you can get their catalog here:

http://www.bondhus.com/index.html

Tuning/Alignment Tools a.k.a “Tweakers” or “Diddle Sticks”

IF you do a lot of radio work, you’re going to need a set of “tuning tools”. These are plastic shafts with hex or screwdriver type ends. Some of them will have a small metal blade so that the plastic doesn’t get chewed up when you run across a stuck slug in a coil or a stuck variable capacitor. The reason they’re made out of plastic, is that if you sick a metal hex tool down into a coil slug, it will alter the inductance of the coil, making it impossible to tune.

The same goes for trying to adjust small “trimmer” capacitors. A metal tool held by your hand will add enough capacitance-to-ground to throw off the circuit, making it very difficult, or impossible, to tune properly.

GC Electronics makes good kits of these, and you can get them direct, through Amazon, and probably eBay. I’ve had mine for so long that I haven’t had to replace them, so I’m not up on where to buy them, other than my favorite little Hole-In-The-Wall electronics store. Radio Shack *used* to sell them, but I can’t find them on their website.

http://www.gcelectronics.com/

OTHER DRIVERS

Xcelite also makes a nifty set of hex drivers, and spline and Bristol  drivers (VERY handy for Hallicrafters and Collins Radio work!) that look like these:

The spline and Bristol driver sets looks identical, except the shaft of the bit is spline-shaped or Bristol-shaped, rather than hex.

Yes, you can use the hex drivers (“Allen Keys”) that look like the letter “L”, but these are far better for getting into tight spots, and have a much longer reach.

Again, get both the standard and metric sizes. Bristol is a world of it’s own!

Other Miscellaneous Tools

One tool which I came across is a specialty tool used to remove the circular knurled nuts that hold things like switches or phone jacks to panels.  You can get them in different sizes, so be sure you know what size you’ll need, or you’ll wind up with multiples of the same size, like I have.

Here’s what they look like, and this one is from Stewart-MacDonald Company, a place that sells tools for stringed instrument repair.

Screw and Nut Starters

The most common screw starters are the ones that have a “split blade” which wedges the blade into the slot on the screw, like below:

This one will do both slotted and cross-point screws. One tip I’ve used in the past has been to put a piece of double-sided tape on the end of my finger, and stick the nut/screw to it.

Heathkit and Knight-Kit used to include a nice little plastic tube that would hold small hex nuts while you inserted the screw from the other side. I had a pair of these, but lost them quite some time ago. In a pinch, you can use a length of heat shrinkable tubing that fits the nut, although that starts to get expensive if you have a lot of small hex nuts to install.

That’s it for this installment. Next time I’ll cover soldering and desoldering.