Happy Independence Day!

Lawnmowers are running, people are gathering, and soon mass quantities of hot dogs and hamburgers will be consumed.

BBQ?

CHECK!


Fuel State?

READY!


Colors?

Proudly Displayed, SIR!

And it's a gorgeous day today in Northern Colorado. Partly cloudy, 82*, 44% relative humidity, light variable winds.

And as I used to hear years ago in my headset, "Altimeter Two Niner Seven Zero".

But we have a Tornado Watch until 2200, and a possibility of severe thunderstorms with hail, so I cleared the garage out so my wife can get her car inside tonight.

Y'all have a Safe And Sane Independence Day!

Another "45 Minute" Job Takes How Long?

Almost three hours, and it was a comedy of errors.....

When I mounted the box and drilled the holes through the wall the other day, I used a 'minimum size' hole. And seeing as the holes on the two boxes aren't perfectly aligned, their effective size is lessened. The first time I tried to push the bales through the wall was no joy. The cables never made it to the other hole, and wound up coiled inside the wall.

I grabbed my drill and a 1/2" paddle bit, and bored out the holes. Then I used a length of #10 wire from my scrap box as a fish tape, pushed it through the wall, taped the coax to it on the outside, and pulled them both through the wall. Between going back and forth to the garage to get stuff, and shepherding the still lame dog in and out (she's much better with meds), this simple little job took waaay longet than it should have.

The outside box:

Connectors were given a squirt of silicone dielectric grease, and torqued down snugly. A drop of green "penetrating" LocTite was applied to keep them snug through the temperature fluctuations they'll see. I'm going to cut up some styrofoam to fill the box with for insulation, one of the main reasons I wanted to keep the through holes as small as possible. Probably should have drilled one big hole dead center in the box, but oh, well....20-20 hindsight. The loops in the cable are for stress relief.

And on the inside:

Yeah, three hours futzing around to get this far, and I still have to install the connectors on the cables.

At least they're adequately long. I would have been pretty upset if they were an inch too short.....

Lots 'O Lightning!

The little lightning detector has been going off constantly for the last couple of hours, indicating lightning discharges anywhere from 5km to 17km away.

And they're getting hammered up in Bellvue and Laporte, where the kids live.

Down here? Not so much, so I just spent a couple of hours watering the lawn and getting sprinkled on while doing it! Last year I tried to rely on Mother Nature, and she doesn't always cooperate when it comes to rain. We're in a "Precipitation Shadow" here, and while it can be coming down in buckets 8~10 miles away, we might get sprinkles. So rather than watch the grass croak again this summer, I'm watering it every 2~3 days, and only skipping those days where there's rain coming down.

And it's sprinkling again.....

Coaxial Cable Entrance Box Installation

Plans are still on to bore the holes either Saturday or Sunday, weather permitting.

It was 96* here today, and the NWS is forecasting 94* on Sunday....BUT.....There;s some weather forming up right now, the winds have picked up, the temperature is falling, and the barometer is 29.85 and rising. The lightning detector has been going off sporadically, indicating distances of 15~30kM, and I've seen lightning in the distance. So we'll see!

There's still plenty to do, and one of the tasks on the punch-list was getting the cable entrance finalized, and installed. It was originally going to have a single connection to the wire antenna, and have the Choke Balun/Line Isolator inside. and the control cable for the autocoupler.

It looked like this, before 'mission creep' set in:

WELL.....one the things I learned in getting the wire antenna up, and reading tons of books on antennas and transmission lines, is that the choke balun/line isolator MUST go at the antenna. It's entire purpose is to keep currents off the outside of the shield, and since those currents originate at the transmission line/antenna interface, that's where you put it. Now I've read this for years, but didn't understand the exact mechanism of how the currents got on the outside of the shield in the first place. Like a lot of Hams, I pretty much assumed the currents on the outside of the shield were induced on the shield by the radiating element's RF field.....WRONG! The currents get on the outside of the shield At The Feedpoint. It's a subtle thing, but the RF energy not only "sees" one side of the antenna as a conductor, but also "sees" the outside of the shield as another parallel path, and unless you choke the current at the feedpoint, the outside of the side becomes part of the antenna, and can cause a lot of mischief.

SO.....the Line Isolator has been removed from the outside-of-the-house enclosure, and has been relocated to the enclosure for the SGC autocoupler, as close to the input of the tuner as possible. The "permanent" 20 Meter vertical was also being put through it's paces and measurements during this learning period, and it has a Home Brew choke balun that looks like this:

Quite simple, almost 'free', and very effective. Just a coil of coax, nicely wound (NOT "Scramble Wound"), and secured to the antenna as close as practically possible to the feedpoint.

So the vertical is proved in, and will get mounted to it's new 4x4 post in the next week or so. It'll just get removed from the tripod, and attached to the post as-is. It works. It ain't broke. I don't need to "fix it", and the only way to "improve" it would be to raise it higher and add another radial or two.

The new wire antenna has been fabricated, the enclosure and mounting structure for the SGC autocoupler has been fabricated, and it'll be ready-to-install as soon as the quickrete sets on the post.

So the whole question of the cable entrance box gets easier, as I now have the outside box pretty empty, except for connectors, and inside box was always going to be pretty empty, except for the connectors.

Well, I got off-the-dime last week, and finished making some more back-up plates to support the connectors in the box.

Here's a pair of Type UHF bulkhead connectors installed using the home brew aluminum plates:

Lather, rinse, and repeat until both boxes have four of these connectors in them. Oooops.....didn't take any pix of them before I mounted them outside and inside 'cuz I was on a roll!

Outside box, solidly mounted:

From a bit further back:

And on the inside:

The connectors are on the bottom of the enclosures for weather proofing and appearance reasons, and wonder of wonders.......I was within 1/8" of getting things to line up perfectly.

So this item is pretty much crossed off. I still have to make four RG-8X 'jumper cables' to pass through the wall and a few dozen other things to do, and the poor Supra still has the winter dust on her.

Gotta get back on that car! Winter caught me off guard last year, and now I have to get that Supra Swing back.....

Got the Auger Started for the First Time

After returning from the DVM yesterday, I went out and put gas in the Jeep, and filled my little two gallon gas can. I already had 11 ounces of oil and a half-ounce of StaBil "Marine 360" in the can, so it gave me two gallons of treated, 25:1 two-stroke 'premix'. My neighbor's snow blower is a two-stroke, and he just buys the little cans of premix. I looked at those, and all the ones I could find were 40:1 or 50:1, which is way too light on the oil for this engine. They make a HUGE deal about 25:1, stabilizer-treated fuel in the operating manual for this thing, so I got another gas can, a quart of Lucas semi-synthetic two-stoke oil, and a small bottle of StaBil, and dedicated them to the auger engine.

I put about half a tank of fuel in it, and pulled it over a few times to get fuel into the carb and priming bulb, then set the choke to "Start", turned on the ignition, and gave it the pumps on the bulb. I pulled it over a few times, and nothing. Checked everything again, and pulled it over some more. Still nothing. I fiddled with the throttle and choke, pulling it over with the choke set to "Run", and still nothing.

Well, between giving it a few more shots of gas with the primer bulb and fiddling with the choke, I flooded it. I could smell raw gas, so rather than get a can of Ether and risking a muffler explosion, I just put everything back. Tonight I vowed to "Get It Running or Take It Back", so I started by pulling the spark plug out and looking at it. It wasn't soaked, but it definitely looked wet, so I blew it off with some brake cleaner and checked the gap, which was OK. Making sure the ignition and choke were OFF, I pulled it over easy to clear the cylinder, and see how it felt. As expected, it pulled over very easy with plug out, and while I didn't see anything like liquid come blowing out of the plug hole when I cranked it (yep, I've seen that), I'm pretty sure I flooded it last night. So, I put the plug back in with a dab of anti-seize on the threads (NEVER put a steel spark plug into an aluminum head dry! Just don't do it!), checked everything again, flipped the switch ON, but left the choke OFF (hey, it's 80* here today!), and gave it a pull. It popped a bit, so I gave it another pull, and it came to life with a nice, smooth idle. I ran it for about 20 minutes at various throttle settings to break it in a bit, and then grabbed a handful of throttle.

This little thing SINGS! I haven't owned a two-stroke since my last Yamaha RD-400, and I'd forgotten how responsive they are.

So it runs OK, hardly vibrates at all, isn't really too loud (I'll still wear ear muffs, though), and doesn't appear to smoke very much, even at 25:1 oil mix.

I predict hole boring and post setting for this weekend!

Back From The DVM.....

And it looks like Pebbles has a partial tear in her right rear Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL), similar to what many athletes suffer during their careers.

We have no idea when or how she injured herself, but a good SWAG is she was chasing something in the backyard, and hit one of the divots or bare spots at full chat twisting her right rear leg enough to injure it.

So, since it appears to be a partial tear, the DVM has recommended we keep her on the gabapentin for pain, and prescribed her carprofen (an NSAID) to reduce the inflammation.

We take her back in two weeks for a follow-up to see how the treatment is working, but for now, he said to keep her on "Rest and Relaxation", and to clear the yard of rabbits and squirrels before we take her out, lest she pop into Attack Mode, and attempts Warp 9 trying to catch a critter.

Uh-Oh.....Dog Has to Go See the Vet.....

Little Miss Pebbles has been having some problems with her left hind leg. She started limping a bit last week, so we checked her out as best we could, and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. So, we started giving here an 81mg Aspirin three times a day, and she responded well.

Then Thursday night she started limping really bad, and by Friday morning she couldn't put any weight on that leg. We called the Vet and they said to bring her in Monday afternoon, and to STOP giving her Aspirin because it can cause stomach ulcers, even if you give the dog a 'coated' Aspirin. So we went over to the Vets and they gave her some Gabapentin instead. By Monday all the Aspirin should be out of her system, and they'll prescribe something else after they examine her.

The Kid's dog Diamond had a similar problem last year, and The Kid's Vet told them it was a ligament or tendon injury, and short of a $4k operation, all they could do was give her some meds and let it heal. Diamond is 95% OK now, but still has slight limp.

We'll have to wait to see what the Vet says about Pebbles.

First Day of Summer, Winter Storm Warning, and Field Day 2019

Expecting rain through Sunday, so no post hole diggin' this weekend!

And as we welcome Summer to the year, the NWS in Denver has issued a Winter Storm Warning, with up to 10" of new snow above 9000', along with a Tornado Warning for Elbert County, which is East of Colorado Springs. Must be GloBULL Warming!

And this weekend is the ARRL Field Day, and as last year, I'm sitting this one out. Strangely enough, I didn't get any announcements from the local club concerning the when/where of the event this year, but from their website, it's in the same location as last year. Seeing as how the weather is going to be miserable for Ham Radio Field Ops, I'm not planning on making the 45 minute drive out to observe.....

Enjoy the weekend!

Diggn' Holes, and Settin' Poles!

WELL.....getting ready to do so. It's been raining here the last few days, so hopefully the ground is soft.

We have the Technology.....

And besides the QuikCrete mix we have the 4x4 posts, and the ground rods. Other grounding and bonding hardware, and some 4 gauge solid copper wire, are out of the picture.....

So as soon as the weather cooperates, I'll be digging a couple of holes for the permanent antennas.

But seeing as we went shooting two weeks ago, and the guns hadn't been cleaned, we took some time today to attend to that chore. I didn't snap any pix when we were doing the wife's revolver, as I was in Instructor Mode, but I took a couple of my incredibly filthy Kimber on the bench.....

All the supplies were on-hand, and it only took me about an hour to completely scrub the slide, barrel, and all the other fiddly bits.

All nice and clean, and ready for reassembly.

So how did we do at the family range? meh.....not very well. The small holes are from the wife's 357 and my 45 at 25 yards. We're both terribly out of practice, and used to shooting at more typical "Home Defense Distances", on the order of 10 yards.

The BIG holes are from 100 yards with my slug gun. Not too bad for a standing unsupported position with some wind blowing. This gun will do ~1" groups shooting from a rest at 100 yards, and if I would have properly used the sling on the gun, I would have done much better. BUT...not having shot the gun in over two years, I'd say I could still put meat on the table if required.

Arduino Based Lightning Detector

Moving to Colorado from Southern California resulted in huge changes to the "Radio Environment" I'm used to tinkering in. When we first came here, I talked to some local Hams about the effects of snow on antennas, and they all kind of chuckled and said "The wind will kill your antennas much faster than a snow/ice storm", which was change #1. We can get days of 40+ MPH winds with gusts to over 60MPH, so I adapted to the new wind loads, and beefed up all my mounting structures. We also get much more rain than in SoCal (DUH!), but that's easy to manage with proper weather proofing procedures, so no big change there.

And then we have the lightning, which didn't occur very often in SoCal, but can be a daily event here at certain times of the year. The NWS has charts of thunderstorm activity, and we historically get "60 Days" per year. We don't have as much lightning as SiliconGraybeard has where he lives, but we have enough that I think it's prudent to take some precautions.

Lightning protection is a complex subject, and I've worked at places that had extensive Perimeter Ground and Chemical ("Wet") Ground Systems installed, but that gets really expensive, and would involve tearing up the yard to install such a system. For a home-based Amateur Radio Station, it's nice, but not required.

I've gathered up most of the bits and pieces to provide a minimal (to me) amount of lightning protection, and that part of the station will be installed when I set the 4x4 posts for the permanent antennas. Each antenna will have an 8' ground rod at it's base, with a PolyPhaser Lightning Surge Protector mounted on the rod. The coax will come from the feedpoint, through the PolyPhaser, and on to the entrance panel mounted on the house wall. This should provide some protection from nearby strikes and induced surges, and the antennas will be disconnected and grounded when thunderstorm activity is in the area.

Like this, but with only a single Surge Protector per ground rod:

This probably wouldn't last more than a few tens of microseconds if it took a direct hit, but I have several 60'~70' trees in the immediate vicinity, and according to the "Cone of Protection" method, they should get hit first, and these will be for protection from induced surges.......I just hope they never "get used".

So even though I have some precautions taken, it would be nice to know if/when lightning is in the area. We had high-end lightning detection equipment at Boeing, so I knew equipment was available, but at what cost? Investigating further, I found there were several lightning detection methods in use, with the most common one being a glorified "Crystal Set" very broadly tuned in the 300kHz~500kHz range. There's a burst of wide-band radio energy during a lightning event, and the little "crystal radio" detects it, and then blinks a light or sounds a buzzer. Well, it turns out that there's now a complete lightning detection system on a chip, made by ams AG of Austria. It includes the circuitry for a 500kHz radio receiver, and some fancy Digital Signal Processing to discriminate real lightning from man-made noise. Pretty spiffy, and SwitchDocLabs sells a "kit" (here we go again.....) with a lightning sensor module, a display, a preprogrammed Arduino module, a piezo tweeter, a WiFi module, an "I2C-to-USB" module to commincate with and program the Arduino, and all the cables you need to plug it together.

Here it is up and running on the radio desk:

The three boards in front of the Arduino module are the lightning sensor, the tweeter, and the display.

This is the complete lightning sensor. The chip is about in the middle of the board, and the itty-bitty ferrite bar antenna is at the board edge, with a white sticker on it.

This is the Arduino board with the interface module plugged in.

Most of the time it just sits here displaying "Waiting For Lightning". When it detects a strike, it changes to "LIGHTNING!!", the backlight turns red, and a range estimate in kilometers is displayed.

So far, every time I heard thunder, the board had alerted a few seconds earlier, and when it's alerted and I didn't hear anything, the NWS radar indicated rain activity.

Looks good so far, but I want to read the datasheet 'between the lines', and see what other information I can get from the sensor other than "Event Detected" and "Estimated Range = xx km". At the very least, I need to be able to record and timestamp whatever it triggers on so I can merge that data with the data from the weather station.

Time to crack open the "Arduino for Dummies" book!

Moving Day for The Kids

So we have The Little Guy for most of the weekend. Our DIL's father and mother bought another property in Laporte, a duplex, and now that Dear Old Dad has finished the place (with ample help from The Kids), it's Moving Day!

The kids were living at what I call "The Country House" up in Bellvue, where we first stayed. Their place was a converted double-wide that had another structure attached to it that had the kitchen, dining room, laundry room, and another bathroom. In the back was the big shop with the little 'bachelor apartment' where we stayed the first month after our CALEXIT. Would have been a killer place for a single guy to live in! Anyway.....the house the kids were in only had one bedroom, and now that The Little Guy is well into the toddler stage, everybody decided he needed his own room, hence the Great House Hunt. They're not quite ready to buy their own place just yet; they'll be in the market seriously in a year or so. So when this place popped up for sale at a very good price, her parents jumped on it. Her dad had his crew tear the insides out down to the studs, and they completely replumbed, rewired, redrywalled, repainted, recarpeted, etc, etc, etc the whole place. The roof is only two years old, so they didn't replace it, but otherwise the entire duplex has been gutted and rebuilt.

And The Fence Guy came in a rebuilt the falling down fence around the property so the dogs can run, and The Little Guy can be kept away from the creek that runs through the back of the property. Well, kept away from it until he can climb the fence, and then EXPLORE!

Expecting some rain this afternoon, per the NWS, but I'll believe it when I see it. After last year's fiasco with the lawn, we're sticking to our watering schedule, rather than relying on Mother Nature to do the watering for us.