Yep, it stopped snowing around 2130, and we didn't get any more. Total was 3~4", and most of that has disappeared already. The sidewalks are clear, and the streets are melting.
Guess my threat of firing up the Ariens scared it away.
Colder than you-know-what today; Bright and sunny, but only about 15 degrees. Got down to 3* last night, and expected to be below zero tonight.
Time to stoke the fireplace and watch "The Glenn Miller Story" tonight.
We have about 2~3" on the snow table, and we're expecting another 2~4" before it stops. The Ariens is gassed up and ready to go tomorrow, and should make child's play out of 6". The more I use it, the better I get at stopping, starting, steering, and setting the speed it travels at. I'm just glad we've had light snows this year to give me the practice for when the big stuff eventually shows up.
My replacement Textronix 2465B oscilloscope arrived the other day, so I spent some time getting it up on the bench. It's identical to the one I had, which is going back to the guy I got the replacement from. These are marvelous oscilloscopes, the last of the Tek scopes that were easily repairable, wide bandwidth for capturing fast signals, and has some built-in measurement capability, like a DVM and a Frequency Counter. I really liked my original one, but it has well over 20,000 hours on it, and some of the controls were getting a bit wonky. This one has 1612 hours on it, and has been completely gone through, cleaned, and calibrated. Should be good for another 40 years now.
Yeah, it's more than I "need", but it's very versatile, and good test equipment is a joy to use.
Good bye, old friend. The Doctor will see you shortly, and then on to your new home.
The empty water bottles were used as "corner protectors" in the shipping carton the vendor used. Two in each corner, keeping the box squared up, and preventing damage. Pretty clever, and they work perfectly.
Besides listening to the shortwave and tinkering in the shop, I've been helping with some home improvement projects the SWL decided she wanted to do. We're getting new flooring installed in all four bathrooms and the laundry room, along with removing the carpet from the stairs, and putting laminate on them, too.
Some demo work on the stairs. These are the short set of stairs from the main level to the den/laundry level:
And the main stairway:
The vertical pieces are wood, and the treads are MDF with a finished, rounded front edge. And of course, the sent our installer/handyman guy the wrong size. ARRRRGH!
This is the laundry room looking into the #3 half-bath/powder room:
Just about finished down here, but over half the baseboards they sent our guy were the wrong ones......DOUBLE ARRRRRGH! And it's going to take 14 days to get the replacements. The bathroom is finished, but he only had enough of the correct baseboards to do half the laundry room, so he did the "hard half" so we could get the washer and dryer back on-line ASAP.
So, everything has slid to the right by two weeks. Looks like now I'm going to have to buy some nice wood wall plates for the outlets and switches so the rooms look "finished".
And down in the "Wizard's Workshop" I put the repaired Heathkit Total Harmonic Distortion Meter to it's intended use for the first time. Yes, it's been rebuilt, and all the alignment/calibration tests went by-the-book after it was repaired, but how well does it actually work? Can I believe the measurements it makes? Are they reasonable, and do they "make sense" and look "real"? Are they repeatable?
So far, the answer appears to be yes to all of the above. I have four audio signal generators, so I set up a shoot-out test to see which one was the "best" in terms of lowest distortion. The results were as expected, and repeatable. I used a 1kHz, 2vRMS signal from each generator, and compared them to each other on the Heathkit. These are relative measurements, not absolute, as I have no calibrated source of specific levels of distortion to test the Heathkit analyzer with.
Up first was my newest unit, the HP 8904A Multifunction Synthesizer. As expected, it showed the lowest level, reading .02% THD.
Next up was a Heathkit SG-1272 Audio Generator, which read a little under .03% THD.
Next was another Heathkit generator, the IG-18 Sine-Square Audio Generator, showing a bit under .1% THD (found my notes) .05%. which surprised me a bit, as this one was modified for improved performance. It's better than the Heath spec, which is "Less than .1% from 20Hz to 20kHz", but I've read where some of these modified units can be better than .02%. It's very touchy to get calibrated, and I could probably tweak it a bit while connected to the analyzer to improve. Didn't take a meter photo, but it's the middle brown box here:
And coming in dead last, is the audio generator section of the Heath IG-37 FM Stereo Generator at a staggering FOUR PERCENT of THD. Look where the range switch is set. I had to go UP three ranges to measure it.
This thing's going on the block to get it OUT of here!
And I'll go through the IG-18 generator to see if I can clean it up a bit without a lot of effort. I have far better test equipment to use than the two old Heathkits, but they'd be OK for somebody just starting out.
Hope y'all have a good week ahead.
Interesting article here at One America News.
My son's not a big fan of OAN, calling it "Fox Lite", but the articles seem well-written. BUT, as Eaton Rapids Joe points out, beware of "Garbage-In-Garbage-Out".
Many of you have a Shortwave receiver, but how often do you use it? Or, have you ever used it? Well, this would be a good time to get it out, read the manual, and get some practice. Believe me, when TSHTF is no time to learn how, and you should get comfortable with it before then.
First, let's cover some storage aspects.
If it uses batteries, NEVER store it for any length of time with the batteries in it! Same with any battery powered GPS units, or walkie-talkies you may have. If you're worried about The Dreaded EMP, keep the radio, charger/"wall wart" if it has one, and a pack of batteries in a steel ammo can. If you're really paranoid, then tape the seams closed with some adhesive backed, aluminum foil tape, like that used for HVAC ducting. You do not want generic "Duct Tape", as it has a fabric backing. You need something like this, readily available at home improvement stores. You don't a $1000 Mu Metal "EMP Case" like some places are selling. A galvanized steel garbage can, with the lid sealed down as above, is adequate, and has a lot of room in it. Oh, one other thing about the whip antennas commonly used on small, portable SWL sets. NEVER push it down to close it from the top! You'll bend the whip 90% of the time, which at least, is maddening. Telescope it back down using the largest sections, and then carefully push the top section in.
Next, how to use it?
Well, as the computer guys say, RTFM. You have to know how to turn it on, select the Shortwave frequency bands, and tune it. It may or may not have some additional functions, like an attenuator, usually a switch marked "Local/DX", a "Mode Select" to listen to to Single Sideband, AM, or FM. The better ones will have a "Wide/Narrow" selectivity setting, and possibly a Noise Blanker, or some kind of "Noise Reduction" function. Get to know how to use them, and try and get a rough understanding of what they do. Print out the chart of frequency bands from the above Wiki link, and keep a copy or two with the radio. A very good reference book to have is the World Radio TV Handbook, which has all you need to know about specific frequencies. HIGHLY recommended!
In case of TL;DR, here's the chart:
The chart also gives time of day and time of year for "best" reception on the listed bands. A good way to start, is to tune in the signals from WWV, on 2.5, 5.0, 10.0, 15.0 and 20.0MHz. If you can't hear WWV in the CONUS, 24 hours a day, frequency dependent, then you have some problems beyond this brief post.
So what else is out there besides The Tick?
Well, things have changed quite a bit since I started listening waaay back in 1961 when my Dad bought me my first Shortwave Receiver! I didn't have a Hallicrafters radio then, but I sure remember this:
Yes, Radio Havana is still active, along with the BBC World Service, China Radio, and quite a few Religious broadcasts with everything from Fire and Brimstone, to Bible Study and Discussion programs.
For other references, the Wikkipedia has good general knowledge sections, and there's a wealth of SWL, and HF Comms info on the Web.
Radio Reference is a site I belong to, and is highly recommended. I'll add it to the side bar for easy look up.
So get those radios out, and learn how to use them!
Just heard old Vlad has sent forces in to the Ukraine, and they're shelling Kiev. He's also told their military to lay down their arms....
In celebration of the date, the radio guys were up and operating, and I talked to two of my friends, one on 20 Meters (14MHz), and 17 Meters (18MHz), and we had good signals both ways.
Happy Birthday, USS Iowa!
No superchargers or turbochargers; This is pure, Naturally Aspirated, RPM-driven, Horsepower.
Read all about it here in Don Sherman's great article.
Well, after slotting the screw heads, using my Horror Freight "Electric Flamethrower", and slugging away for 30 minutes, I got the three remaining screws holding the case halves together out.
Some "persuasion" was required...
Since I want to set the position to zero degrees elevation, I connected the rotor to one of the control boxes I have with some short jumpers, and tried to turn on the control box.
RATS! The power switch was jammed, so that's getting fixed. The housing for the switch is the black rectangular object.
SO....since I'm now "Waiting On Parts" (again!), I put these aside and opened the case for the azimuth rotor, which I've repaired many of. One thing I've learned (DAMHIK!) is to split and separate the case in a big pan or box to keep the bearings from scattering to the four winds.
Having 80 grease covered bearing balls rolling around loose is not fun. These bearings were packed with a dark gray grease most likely containing Molybdenum Disulfide, an Extreme Pressure additive to the grease.
The gear train in the azimuth unit looks fine, and there's no sign of water ingress, so this unit will get cleaned up, regreased, reassembled, and tested.
So, back to waiting for FedEx/UPS/USPS to get the parts to me so I can finish this up, and ship it out to our blogger friend BillB.
One of my readers had asked me if I wanted to sell one of the sets of Yaesu Az/El rotators I had, and I said I'd clean a set up and let him know when it was ready to ship. Note the Tools of Violence to the right. Impact screwdriver, large ball-peen hammer, and a 10mm deep socket, in a 1/2" drive ratchet. Getting the screws out of these things can be a real chore!
In the process of cleaning it up and getting it ready to run on the bench, I popped off the terminal strip on the Elevation rotator, and the blank-off plate on the other half of the housing so I could look at the bearings inside and see how bad the grease was.
Annnnd...no surprise here, it had dried out, congealed, and was falling out in chunks. Soooo....time to split the case halves, and at a minimum, repack the bearings.
Yup....the grease has expired.....
See the red stuff? Rust from the bearing cages mixing with the grease. The bearing cages are notorious in the Yaesu elevation rotators for crumbling into rust. And considering how the external hardware looked:
I'm not surprised that the retainers are close to giving up the spirit. They're relatively inexpensive, or were, and come two to a package, along with the 40 bearing balls that should get replaced if you're doing a deep dive into the rotor:
I was able to get the screws on the azimuth rotor loose with just a couple of whacks with the impact screwdriver:
But I still have a couple of stuck screws on the elevation rotor after slugging away for a good hour:
And the screw heads are getting chewed up enough that the impact screwdriver can no longer find purchase on them. I'm going to slot them with a Dremel Tool, and then use the flat-blade bit in the impact screwdriver.
All this rusted out hardware will get replaced with stainless, and the Philips-drive heads replaced with socket heads.
This started out to be a "Clean Up and Check Out" project, but it's turning into a rebuild project. I'll use Mobil1 red, tacky, synthetic grease to repack the bearings, as it doesn't ooze oil everywhere in the Summer, and doesn't freeze solid in the Winter.
Have to call Yaesu Friday morning and get the parts ordered.....
All is not High Technology and Electronic Wizardry. Sometimes more mundane projects go under the knife to be revived.
First up was SLW's Dirt Devil "Stick-Vac". It had stopped working due to the little cloth filter being completely clogged, and the roller brush being jammed with "stuff". Cleaned all the bits and pieces, put it back together, and it works as intended.
This one can have the roller brush and long handle removed, and used as a "Dust Buster". It's great to use on the stairs.
#2 and #3 items are some very solid, all hardwood bar stools she bought at the local "arc Thrift Store". The first one she brought home was made so well I had her go back and get it's mate. Some goober had used wallboard screws to try and reattach the legs to the top. Needless to say, they sure held well, but weren't put in properly, so the top and legs weren't square, and they wobbled horribly. Took me two hours to get the drywall screws out (one had the head break off, GRRRR!) so I could clean up all the mating surfaces and put it back together. A few squirts of good wood glue, and some clamping time, and they were back in fine shape, with no wobbles when on the floor.
I always leave things clamped overnight to let the glue really set up.
Not bad for $25 and some "free" labor/materials.
Cheap chinesium stools like this are $40~$50 each, and are made from softwood, or particle board. These are American Made, solid hardwood (looks like a baseball bat, so maybe ash?), and are now good for another 25 years or so.
Been lightly snowing sine around noon, and there's maybe 1/2" on the "snow table" in the backyard, but 6~8" is expected overnight. I fueled the snowblower, and gave the maw another coating of Ariens "Sno-Jet" so the snow won't stick, and I'm ready for tomorrow.
And since I've got the bench clear now, I brought a Yaesu G-5500 Azimuth/Elevation antenna rotator in from the garage so I can (finally!) get it all checked out and packed up for BillB, if he still wants it.....
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