The Marine and the Sailor.....

From a good buddy.....

                                   The Marine and the Sailor

An old Sailor and an old Marine were sitting at the VFW arguing about who'd had the tougher career. 

"I did 30 years in the Corps," the Marine declared proudly, "and fought in three of my country's wars. Fresh out of boot camp, I hit the beach at Tarawa, then at Iwo Jima where clawed my way up the blood-soaked sand, and eventually took out an entire enemy machine gun nest with a single grenade. As a sergeant, I fought in Korea and walked back from the Chosen Reservoir. We pushed back the enemy inch by bloody inch, always under a barrage of artillery and small arms fire. Finally, as a Gunny Sergeant, I did three consecutive combat tours in Vietnam. We humped through the mud and razor grass for 14 hours a day, plagued by rain and mosquitoes, ducking under sniper fire all day, and mortar fire all night. In a firefight, we'd fire until our arms ached and our guns were empty, then we'd charge the enemy with bayonets!" 

"Ah," said the Sailor with a dismissive wave of his hand, "Lucky bastard; all shore duty."

Snowblower Stiil A Worthless P.O.S.

It's going on Craigslist or NextDoor.com TONIGHT.....

The scraper blade is set a little above the minimum, and it still hits things.

It's better, but still not very usable.

And then the wife wants to know "Why didn't it cut the snow shorter?"........Because with an 1/8" gap, it leaves an 1/8" layer of snow!

DUH.....


On a "Bang-For-The-Buck" basis, this thing is absolutely the worst purchase I've ever made.

Snow Blower Adjustments and Garage Radio Improvements

Since we're expected to get ~2" of snow tonight, I put the snow blower batteries in the charger, and started looking at it seriously.

One of the major P's in the A with this thing has been the fact that it trips on every single joint, crack, or imperfection in the driveway and sidewalk, making me push down on the handlebars to lift the front and get it to go over that little pebble it snagged on. Very frustrating to say the least.

Now those of you who know snow blowers, or even full-sized plows, will tell me instinctively to check the height of the "Skid Shoes". And the manual shows how to adjust them, the scraper blade, and mentions that these adjustments "Have been preset at the factory for shipping. You may want to adjust them before use", and gives some suggested dimensions.

Their second sentence should have read "You should adjust them before use", as they had this thing sitting "Down In The Weeds" in Hot Rod speak!

So I plopped down on the garage floor with a 13mm socket and combo wrench, and loosened everything up to see how it fit together, and what range of adjustability it had.

The scraper blade was waaay off, actually out at the limit of it's travel, and the skid shoes were also set very low.

Wondering what to use for some kind of "gauge", I spied a box of "Bondo Spreaders", and grabbed them off the shelf. Two of them stacked together gave me a nice 1/4" spacer. I slide the scraper blade all the way back, positioned the plastic "shims" under the auger bucket, and set the shoes to give me that much clearance. Then I slide the scraper blade back out just a bit, and locked everything down solid. I now have a 3/16" gap at the ends, and about 1/8" gap in the center of the scraper. I should have done this before the first use, but the manual was vague, and I should have known better. Failed my pre-flight, I did!

 I'll spray the inside tomorrow with silicone spray, and we'll see if it plows any better.

And since working in the garage requires tunes, I've been listening to my old Onkyo R-510 "Home Theater" receiver, now repurposed to garage duty, a whole lot more. When I first got it installed, I was using the little 18" whip antenna that normally goes with my hand-held frequency counter. I went through the dial from 88 to 108, programmed in a bunch of stations, and then winnowed out the ones that really didn't play stuff I liked.

WELL......in the interests of trying to get a better signal, resulting in even more stations to listen to, I installed a "Halo", or "Loop" antenna, and ran a coax down to the receiver. I mounted it an inch or two below the ceiling for convenience, even though I knew it might compromise the antenna a bit, performance-wise.

Some of the stations that came in acceptably well on the little whip were noticeably weaker, a couple were unusable, and a couple of the others sounded a bit weak even though the receiver had a solid lock on them. I put it off to the antenna being mounted so close to the ceiling, and moved on. I didn't want to leave the little telescopic whip on the receiver as it's a bit fragile for a garage environment, so I just lived with it.

It was getting pretty tiresome trying to listen to a couple of stations, and I decided to try going back to a vertically polarized antenna.

So tonight I dug out a magnetic mount base and a VHF coil for a half-wave antenna, and the longest whip I had, a 49" long one. The whip is a bit short, being resonant around 115MHz, but it's what I had, and is plenty Good Enough for this application.

Plugged it all together, and the stations I lost in the noise on the loop are now back full-quieting, and a quick trip through the dial reveals a few new ones to look up.

I'm not sure if the loop would work better outside (they usually do), but the vertical gives me plenty of stations to chose from, so I'll stick with it.

It also used up some stuff that was just collecting dust, so win-win!

"Dinner and a Movie" Night

Since the weather was so nice on Sunday, we decided to head in to Old Town for dinner at a place we hadn't tried yet, the Sonny Lubick Steakhouse.

Sonny Lubick is a local sports legend guy, as he took the CSU Rams to multiple championships during his tenure as Head Coach. He took a very losing college football team, and turned it into a powerhouse, winning six conference championships, and taking the Rams to NINE college bowl games.

I'm not into football at all, but he did a hell of a job, and is a well respected guy.

Anywho......I had the 6oz filet, and my wife had the surf and turf.

The food was outstanding, and my steak was the best one I've had since we moved here. My baked potato was perfect, and the salad was made at the table from a cart where you could get various toppings and veggies added if you wanted.

The service was excellent, and hit that "Just Right" balance between hovering over you, rushing you, or ignoring you. The courses appeared at just the right time, the staff was very friendly and accommodating, and the manager even dropped by to say hello.

We'll definitely being going back, and we now have another 'favorite restaurant' added to our small but growing list.

One thing we noticed as we walked back to the Jeep was several restaurants had  "Closed For SuperBowl Sunday" signs in their windows, which probably explains why Lubick's was relatively empty.

And after we got back home, we fired up the home theater gear and watched "First Man", a movie about Neil Armstrong, but nothing along the lines of "The Right Stuff".

The movie starts with Armstrong's days at Edwards when he was a civilian NACA/NASA pilot flying the X-15, and progresses through the Gemini Program, and ends with him in quarantine after returning from the Moon.

It's about as "personal" a movie as I guess you could make about Armstrong, who was a quiet, private guy, and frankly, I'm not sure what to think about it.

It was an "OK" movie, but the characters just seemed 'wooden', like they weren't sure how to play their parts.

Overall, I'll give it 3-1/2 stars on the ratings chart. Good, but probably wouldn't watch it again.

Speaker Prgoress.....Kind Of.....

Good gravy, it's Friday again?

Been pretty busy with several projects running concurrently. I'm still working on the Heathkit receiver, but I back-burnered it for a while to build these speaker "kits".

And finishing these up can now proceed apace as I *FINALLY* have all the various nuts, bolts, screws, and other misc stuff to wind up this project.

Selling these things as "kits" is dangerously close to false advertising. They're NOT "kits".

They're not even "SEMI kits".

These are a collection of parts packed in a box from which a functioning speaker can (hopefully) be assembled after you the builder  round up the rest of what should have been included in the box.

Le Sigh.....


Anyway.....


I power sanded the now glued-together-and-cured boxes to get them all squared up, and to make sure the front face was flat. There's going to be a bead of glue between the boxes and the front panel, and while that should be enough to seal the front panel, I still wanted them nice and square.

This is about as good as I can get them with my Flint Knives and Stone Axes.

And then after I sanded them, I blew them out, wiped them down, and dragged them back into the basement to put the foam inside. The box on the left used one piece of foam for the back panel where the speaker terminal plate mounts, while the box on the right used several pieces to cover that area. The left one has a round hole cut in the foam to clear the speaker terminals, while the right one didn't need to be cut because I pieced the foam together from some scraps while waiting for another sheet of foam to get here from Parts Express.

Then I built up the two cross-over networks on some perfboard I bought. I spaced the power resistors about 1/4" off the board with some little ceramic spacers I have for that purpose. The two resistors form a 12dB "L-Pad" (attenuator) for the tweeter, and while I doubt I'll ever run enough audio power into these to heat up the resistors, I always mount them spaced off the board because "Good Construction Practices".  I've seen some boards that were blackened and delaminated because of the heat the resistors gave off, but those were usually power supply type applications.

Here's a better shot of one of the networks. The 'white stuff' you see along the coils and capacitors is some "DAP" caulking compound used as "Staking Compound" to hold the parts securely to the perfboard. This should eliminate the parts vibrating against the board, which can make strange "buzzing" sounds emanate from the finished speaker. It also helps reduce any mechanical stress the soldered connections are subject to, helping to keep the soldered connections from fracturing. I used the DAP caulk because I couldn't find my supply of NON corrosive RTV silicone rubber. It's important NOT to use regular "Household Grade" RTV on something like this, as the regular "Bathtub Caulk" stuff releases Acetic Acid as it cures (the vinegar smell), and acid vapors are not something you want floating around in an electronics assembly.

And I even labeled the leads to the speakers and input.....

And since we're expecting temps in the high 50's/low 60's this weekend, I might get the first coat of the "Acry-Tech" rolled on.

Crazy Winds and a Yummy Dinner

It's been rather windy here the last two days. I knew it was coming, so I dropped the vertical antenna down, and sure enough, Saturday morning the wind was howling.

We've been seeing sustained 35+MPH with gusts to 60, which is way more than enough to turn my $300 BuddiPole antenna into $10 worth of scrap aluminum and brass, so down it comes.

The temperature's been 40's/50's during the day, and teens at night, so we're roughly normal during the day and a few degrees cooler at night.

But we're woefully light on rain and snow this year. Hopefully we'll make some of it up during the Spring snows and rains.

And for dinner tonight we went to one of my favorite little places in Old Town, the HuHot Mongolian Grill. It's 90%+ what my favorite Mongolian Grill type place is, and it's close, so win-win!

Had my typical mostly beef bowl with some "MeSo Garlic" sauce, a couple of spoons of "Burn Your Village Down" mild-hot sauce, and a spoon of "Kung Pow.....YOW!" sauce to spice it up a bit. HINT: Make sure ALL you get in the ladle is the red tinted oil. DO NOT get any of the little seeds in it or you might regret it!

Lots of water chestnuts, bean sprouts, some carrot, and green beans rounded it out, and made for quite a savory meal.

And it's 2130 here, and the wind is still howling.....

Battleship Iowa to be the Home of the National Museum of the Surface Navy

I'd heard this was in the works, but didn't want to say anything until it was official.

More information can be found at:
 
Surfacenavymuseum.org

From the press release:

We're Transitioning to the National Museum of the Surface Navy!

Battleship IOWA Museum announces expansion of its services and exhibition space to include the National Museum of the Surface Navy (NMSN). The mission of the museum is to raise awareness of the United States Navy Surface Fleet’s important role in international relations, free trade, humanitarian assistance and technological innovation.

The NMSN will be located on the second deck of the legendary warship, also known as the “Battleship of the Presidents” signaling the four commanders-in-chief who have graced her teak decks. Fundraising for the $19 million expansion is underway and envisioned as a community-based and future-oriented facility to be harbored at the Port of Los Angeles, the nation’s busiest. The mission of the museum is to raise awareness of the United States Navy Surface Fleet’s important role in international relations, free trade, humanitarian assistance and technological innovation.

The work will be done in three phases and will be completed in 2030. The 15,000 square foot refurbishment will begin with a proposed move to the anchor location at the newly redeveloped San Pedro Public Market on the LA Waterfront. A veterans’ park and large outdoor amphitheater will be built adjacent to the ship for exhibitions, military services and days of remembrance such as Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day. Nearly 15,000 square feet of exhibit space will be added by removing unneeded berths. An additional 20,000 square feet of below deck exhibit is planned as well as a building ashore that will provide an additional 20,000 to 50,000 square feet to showcase on-going and transient exhibits, theater, classrooms and lecture halls. Chairman of the Board, Rear Admiral Mike Shatynski US Navy (Ret) states, “Battleship IOWA Museum’s location at ‘America’s Port’ serves as a daily reminder of the Surface Navy’s role in the protection of the world’s sea lanes since 90% of world trade and 99% of internet traffic is by sea.”

“Battleship IOWA serves as a great reminder of the extraordinary things man can do for man.” says Battleship IOWA Museum’s President & CEO, Jonathan Williams. “I passionately believe in providing a conduit between the Navy and the civilian communities to build public awareness throughout the world.” Additional program and exhibit plans include highlighting the past and future roles of the Surface Navy, Next Generation Science Standards educational programming, and a Veterans Center to provide services and curricula which lead to a successful transition for military service members.


UPDATE****** There's a nice video here explaining it better.

SpaceX Scaling Down In California......?

Interesting article over at the California Political Review.  Seems Mr. Musk will be building the Rocket Formerly Known As "BFR" at his existing site in Texas.

He canceled a lease with the Port of Los Angeles for a 19 acre parcel where he was going to build the rocket. And they've also laid off 10% of their workforce "to become a leaner company".

The article is loaded with links to other sources, and is pretty interesting.

Go RTWT

Bits 'O This and That

Got the little speaker boxes glued together. Now I have to sand them, coat them with some 'bed liner' type stuff, put the foam in them, wire up the crossovers, yadda, yadda, yadda....

Probably would have been a whole lot easier to just get ready-made speakers, but I've never built a speaker before and thought it might be interesting.


And I bought new magnifying lamp for the workbench. This one has a bigger lens, 4 brightness levels, and 4 presets for color temperature selection. The other lamp is now clamped on the bench where the speaker and Commodore projects are currently residing. I'm trying to find a replacement fluorescent tube for it, as it's a good little lamp, but the tube is fading.

 

And I finally got around to gluing the busted coil back together for the Multiplex Board on the  Heathkit AR-15. Took a bit to figure out how to "fixture" it together so it would be stable while the glue dried. I ran a length of #18 tinned copper "Bus Wire" through the form and the tuning slug, and then clamped it in one of my little thingamabob holders. Worked like a champ, and after the glue on the one side had dried I can flip it 180* and glue the other side. Then I have to tin and solder the #40 wire from the winding back on to the correct lug. I'm just lucky this was a coil, and not a transformer with multiple windings, like an I.F. Transformer.

Speaker "Kits" Arrived Today

And calling these things "kits" is being overly generous.

Calling them "semi-kits" would be more accurate, but even that's a stretch.



Nope, this is a collection of parts, packed in a box, and shipped out.

And why, pray tell, are power tools and hole saws on the bench with right out-of-the-box speaker "kits"?

 
Why because they didn't give you any way to connect the assembled speaker to the stereo! I suppose I could have drilled a small hole, and run a few feet of wire out, but what then? No, you need an Interface Connector to handle that function. Since the output connectors on most real stereos are some form of a "5-Way" Binding Post that accepts banana plugs, having matching connectors on the speaker is the way to go. So, drill a 2" hole with the hole saw, and mount these nice little "5-Way" Binding Posts plates in the new holes.

Screws not included, of course.

After drilling, just press-fit in the hole.

 

Might as well do both at once while I have the tools out.....

 
The pre-made hole in the back panel of the speaker is for the "Tuned Port", a deliberately sized "air leak" in the box that lowers it's Resonant Frequency, which increases the lower (Bass) frequencies the speaker can reproduce.

 

Mocking them up sans glue.....

 
And here they are with the side panels and stiffening baffle glued in and lightly clamped.

I'm not a cabinet maker, and never pretended to be one, so I have to say these 3/4" thick, MDF, "CNC Cut" pieces fit together beautifully! After a 24-hour glue curing time, I'll fit the two remaining pieces, and glue them in. The front doesn't get glued on until the very last, and I'm thinking of maybe screwing it on with a thin gasket in there.

The enclosures get lined with acoustic foam to subdue high frequencies inside the box (makes the treble less "harsh"), and the cross-over assemblies have to be built.

No circuit board provided, of course.

Then the speakers get screwed into the front panel with the screws that were not included with the "kit", and the two speakers get wired to the cross-over network, and the input to the cross-over network gets wired to the nifty little Interface Connector I installed on the back, guess who supplies the wire, and the front gets mounted (somehow), and they should be ready to play.

Rather than leave these naked MDF, I'm going to coat them with something like bed liner that Parts Express sells. It's water-based, so the odor won't drive you out while it's curing, and it's extremely durable. I'll sand them out before I do it, and come up with some way to make the front removable.

Oh, and I've had to order about $50 in additional parts (so far) to build my "kit" speakers.

Vintage (Ancient?) Home Computing

Had to clear off the "workbench" on the other side of the room I use for my downstairs workshop so I can build the speaker kits when they get here.

After the bench was cleaned off, it looked a bit too empty, and I had these boxes stacked under it, and I really wanted to see if this stuff still worked, and.........

An hour later (had to find all the cables) I had my Commodore 128 set up and running "VR85", a satellite tracking program.

Three of the four disk drives I have appear to have developed problems. Two of them act like the AC power socket is intermittent, and one of them has a problem with release lever not working. Sigh......more stuff to fix....

Anyway, now that the C=128 itself appears to work OK, and the monitor is clear and sharp, the plans for this computer include getting it on Packet Radio with my "A&A Engineering" DigiCom64 modem (right) and DigiCom64 program cartridge (left).

This is the gear I used when I used to contact the Hams on the MIR Space Station. I had just gotten back into Amateur Radio a year before, and had moved in to a really cool bachelor apartment in a large two-story commercial building. The landlady let me put up antennas, and I was off and running! Didn't have much disposable income, so I had to get pretty creative in assembling a station. I had an old, beat-up Alinco DR-590 that I pieced together from several junkers, and an Antenna Specialists 2 Meter vertical that somebody gave me that needed to be disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled to get all the corrosion off it. I used the radio on simplex and repeaters for voice work, and by unplugging the microphone, and plugging in some adapter cables to connect it to the modem, I used the same radio with the Commodore on Packet.

This is a "spare" modem in the picture as I can't locate my original one, but the cartridge is the same one I used on packet back in the middle 1990's, before cheap Internet came along and pretty much killed off Amateur Packet Radio.

Since the Commodore can't multitask (i.e. run more than one program at a time) I had to run the tracking program to see what satellites would be visible, and when, and print out the pass predictions, then load the DigiCom64 Packet Radio software and make ready the radio for digital operation. It worked a treat, and what looks ancient, archaic, and obsolete today was actually not that many years out of the "state-of-the-art" category at the time.

And it was CHEAP! I got the C=128, two disk drives, and the monitor for $40 from a friend. The tracking program was $15, the packet modem was $65, the radio and antenna were FREE, and I had about another $75 in cable (most of that cost was new feedline for the antenna), connectors, and misc stuff.

For less than $200 I had a complete "2 Meter/440" station that I could use on voice, packet, and track satellites with. Pretty sweet at the time.

And 'ya just gotta love those 8-bit graphics!