Cruz Suspends Campaign

Trump beat him in Indiana, so Ted's throwing in the towel.

Details on all major news outlets.....

Cartoon courtesy of various places.....

You Tell 'Em, Charlie!

You tell 'em, Charlie!

Shamelessly borrowed from OldNFO.....

Busy Saturday

WELL....I had wanted to continue work on the Supra today, BUT...I had volunteered to help with "Volunteer Recruiting Fair" this morning on the Iowa, from 0800 to 1230.

Then one of the other Radio Guys who was at the table with me (we had ZERO visitors) asked if I could stick around for a while and get him checked out on the Ham Radio gear. That took an hour or so, but while I was running him through the checklist and making sure he understood everything, my cell phone rang, and it was another new radio guy who wanted to know how long we'd be hanging around......

Well, he showed up about an hour later, and brought the Hallicrafters SX-100 he bought last week with him. The radio is in stunning condition for being well over 50 years old, having been owned b a Professor at the Naval Postgraduare School up in Monterey, CA.

And he only paid $100 for it!

So he and the other guy got out the tube tester and proceeded to start checking the tubes in it, when another radio guy came in to operate the station for a few hours.

He saw I was there, and asked if I could mentor him a bit on operating the "Digital Modes" (PSK31, RTTY, SSTV, etc), so I spent a couple of hours with him going over the software we have on the station computer, the little SignaLink box that interfaces the radio to the PC, what the modes sound like, (we have tagged audio recordings of quite a few of them), and proper operating procedure.

Soon enough it was 1700, and since I didn't care to hang around and listen to the ABBA tribute band they had for "Music Under The Guns", I headed home.

The wife was out shopping, so I crashed out and took a nice little nap, and then we went out to dinner at Panera Bread.

So, had a good and busy day, but the car will have to wait until Sunday.

I have most of the EGR system cleaned out, and just have to check out and clean the vale itself, and the vacuum "modulator" that goes with it. After that I'll put it all back together, do the "engine stall" test, and should be good-to-go.

The Magnaflow P/N 332888 catalytic convert I ordered turns to NOT be usable on the car as it has an additional fitting on the side for an air-injection pump that my car doesn't have.

I'm not going to modify it because if I do that, and the smog inspector sees it's been modified, he'll tag the test report with a "TAMPERED WITH" flag, which will fail the car.

I emailed Magnaflow on Friday about this issue, but haven't heard anything back. If I haven't heard anything by Monday afternoon, I'm going to give them a call and find out if they make a CORRECT converter for the car.

The people who really know these cars well on one of the forums are split on whether I should replace the converter or not, and also split on if it will give me the cushion I need to feel comfortable about getting it smogged again. The consensus seems to be to just go get it tested after I clean out the EGR, and if it fails again, THEN replace the converter and try again. The problem with that solution is I'll have to cough up another $60 to test it again, as that EGR-repair-only "test" will burn my "Free Retest in 30 Days" from the place that failed it.

AND I'd still have to buy the converter and swap it out!

So, I'll hold off a while until I can find an EXACT FIT replacement converter, and get it retested with the repaired EGR AND a new converter.

I wouldn't mind doing a test before and after replacing the converter, but not without telling the guys on the forum to take up a collection for the $60 it would cost me!

I'm all for "Science Experiments", but not when they cost $60.......

Small Block Chevy Time-Lapse Rebuild

Yeah, I know I've posted this before, but being in a "car guy" mode these last couple of weeks, I thought I'd post it again.

Two-bolt main block, pressed-in rocker studs indicate it was never a High-Performance engine, but they have the Corvette "Rams Horns" exhaust manifolds on it, so perhaps it came out of a (very) early Corvette.

Enjoy!

Toyota Smog Test FAIL Again

Well, she failed the smog test again.

This time it was for NOX emissions, and the HC and CO passed.

EGR is a technique used to lower the combustion chamber temperature, thereby reducing the amount of Oxides of Nitrogen produced.

It's a "known issue" with the 5M-GE engine that the passage through the intake manifold from the EGR valve to where it dumps into the throttle body gets plugged up.

A very simple test is to apply vacuum to the port on the EGR valve, which opens it, and dumps large quantities of exhaust gas into the intake manifold.

It should make the engine stumble ot stall, as the EGR is normally disabled at idle.

I hooked the valve to direct manifold vacuum, and I could hear and feel the valve "POP" open and shut.

NO change in idle speed or quality, indicating that the passage is plugged.

Not a terribly difficult job to do, but time consuming, and you have to do with engine COLD.

I'll also be replacing the catalytic converter, as the one on the car looks to be the original one, and after 30+ years, and 165,000 miles, it's about time to retire it!

Since I was driving on expired plates and didn't want to get pulled over and ticketed, I took the side streets to the nearest smog test place. As a result, the car didn't get the usual "30 minute highway blast" to get it FULLY warmed up, and get the converter nice and hot. A converter at the correct operating temperature is essential to get it working correctly, and an old one usually benefits from a good highway run before getting the car tested.

Hopefully a new converter and cleaning the EGR system will get rid of the vicious pass/fail/pass/fail cycle this car has been trapped in for the last 10 years or so.

And I'll also replace the distributor cap and rotor, as the one on the engine looks pretty old, and I have a couple of new ones I bought on sale at Rock Auto.

One other thing I'm considering is to put 5 gallons of lead-free, alcohol free 100 octane VP racing fuel into the tank before I take it back to get retested.

The octane requirement for these engines is only 91 octane, BUT when they were designed and built, the computers were calibrated to use GASOLINE, not some funky blend of gas and moonshine!

As far as I'm concerned, adding 10% booze to the gas I buy at the pump means I'm buying adulterated gasoline. There are a few "pure gas" stations here in SoCal, but none are close to where I live.

Luckily there's a VP distributor here in Long Beach, so getting a 5 gallon bucket is just a short drive.

One of the things about the 10% ethanol blends here in Kommiefornia is that the quality is all over the map. Sometimes the refiners will use a lower grade base stock, and ballast it with ethanol to get the octane up, and sometimes they won't.

And it's well known that 10% ethanol blended gas can damage the fuel systems on cars not modified to use it.

The whole thing is just another "feel good" program to con people into thinking "renewable energy", when we have plenty of oil in the ground here in the USA.

Of, well....enough ranting for now.

Off to the auto parts store (NOT Auto Zone!) to order a converter, and grab a new gas cap while I'm at it. The car passed the "EVAP" portion of the test fine, but the smog guy was suggesting that the old, crusty gas cap get replaced just for peace of mind, and I agree. It's just one of those things I kept forgetting to do.....

Hey, Kids....What Time Is It?

It's LOG TIME!

A blast from the past.....




There's a longer, much funnier commercial, but I can't embed it, so here's the link to it.

GQRX is Broken.....RATS!

Thought I'd try messing around a bit with a few of the USB "dongles" I have last night, and went to fire up GQRX on this PC.

It wouldn't start.

Running it from the command line revealed the following error: gqrx: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib64/libgnuradio-osmosdr-0.1.5git.so.0.0.0: undefined symbol: hackrf_device_list

Google shows nothing posted about this error in the last year, and some of the comments I did find about it related to broken symlinks.

SO....I proceeded to remove ALL of the SDR, radio, hamlib, gnuradio, linrad, hackRF, and other numerous assorted and sundry files from this machine. This took a bit of searching, as removing the software with the YaST package manager still leaves some debris behind in hidden config files and libs.

Did a reboot, reinstalled only gqrx and it's requirements, and was greeted by the same error.

SO.....back to searching, or I guess I can build it all from source, which takes a while, and can be no guarantee of producing an error-free install.

UPDATE

Well, it seems this package provides functionality for a lot of things:

"OsmoSDR Gnuradio Source supports the OsmoSDR hardware, but it also offers a wrapper functionality for FunCube Dongle, Ettus UHD and rtl-sdr radios."

Now to find out why it's broken.... 


UPDATE 2 

Well, I've got one of the little receivers working with a very basic Linrad configuration. Here it is receiving NOAA weather radio on 162.550MHz: 

  

 So, either Linrad uses completely different libraries, or something "fixed" itself.

Linrad is really cool software, and I should spend the time and learn how to use it better. At this point, it's a bit hard to adjust things and change/add things "on the fly". For example, while you can grab the side and/or top and bottom of the screen to resize it, those settings won't "stick" when you exit the program, and it will restart at the size you choose when you set it up the first time. A lot of things can get set in the "Global Parameters" setting, but require a restart to see the changes.

Guess I'm too spoiled by GUIs in my old age!

I'll try running GQRX again, but I have a feeling it's going to stay busted until an update rolls out.

Oh, and Gnuradio doesn't work anymore.

I try and start GRC from the command line, and it barfs back: Warning: Block key "blocks_ctrlport_monitor_performance" not found when loading category tree.

Segmentation fault

Seg faults are bad.................

TGIF!

Enjoy the weekend!

I'm tinkering on getting one of the "USB Dongle" SDR receivers to work on the %%##$$!! Polaroid Android (say that three times fast!) tablet that my dear little wife gave me for Christmas.

After that, there are several software packages I'll try and install to do some useful things, like receive ACARS broadcasts and VTS info.

I'd also like to "root" it, but after spending dozens of hours on trying to do that, I've just about given up.

I was able to get "developer's access" rights on it, but I can't find any rooting software that's compatible with the hardware.

I just might sell this one and get one that's known to be rootable, as theses things come with entirely too much crapware on them,and most of the "factory installed" stuff can't be removed without root access.

Antipodal Map

The other day somebody asked me how "far" I could "talk" using Amateur Radio.

The obvious answer was half-way around the world, depending on band conditions.

So then I started thinking (I know, a sometimes dangerous thing with me), where, exactly, was "Half Way Around The World"?

Well, the point that's "half-way around the world" from wherever you are is called The Antipode, and of course, there's an app for that:

It's a pretty neat little webpage, and it's located here.

I'm Such a Klutz......

Well....yesterday morning as I was having my 2nd cup of coffee, I turned around to do something, and dumped coffee over.

ALL over the desk, and my IBM "clicky" keyboard.

I've lost keyboards in the past when I've spilled various liquids on them, but hopefully the IBM will survive plain, black coffee after it dries out.

It really pained me to open up my last brand-new IBM keyboard, and put it into service, but I don't have any other decent keyboards with a PS2 connector, so I slit the plastic wrap open and put it on the desk.

The worst I've ever done was dumping an entire milkshake on a keyboard a year or two ago. I put that one in the dishwasher (I have a very understanding wife!) on low heat, with no supplemental drying heat, and after it came out I left it outside for a few days to completely dry off.

Surprisingly, it came back to life, very clean, and smelling nice, too.

Today is the 27th anniversary or the Turret #2 explosion on the Iowa. I was going to go down to the ship for the memorial service, but woke up a bit late.

A moment of silence, please.....

Thank you.

Headed Out To A Supra "Meet and Greet and Eat".

Headed out to Wildomar, Ca in an hour or so to attend the Southern California Supra Meet.

Like most of the Supra meets I've gone to, the majority of the cars there will be the MKIV "A80" (1992~2002) models, followed by the MKIII "A70" (1986~1992) models.

The the MKII "A60" (1982~1986), and MKI "A40" (1978~1981) models are getting less and less common these days.

Since you can't tell the players without a program, here 'ya go:



"Mark I" Supra:

"Mark II" Supra:

"Mark III" Supra:

"Mark IV" Supra:

When I'd decided I wanted one of these, I settled on either a MKII or MKIII. The MKII's were "Spaceships" when they first hit the market, and I almost bought one in 1983, but held off as I'd only been here in Kommifornia for a year, and was getting settled into my new career at Hughes Aircraft.

Then I got married.

Then we had a kid.

Then we bought a house......

So it took me about 30 years to finally get one!

I looked at and drove several MKIII's, but decided against it because they'd gained about 500 pounds, and weren't quite as nimble as the MKII's. They had larger engines, though, and were available with turbochargers, so they were significantly quicker than the MKII's.

The MKIV's were completely out of my price range, having shot through the roof after they first appeared in the "Fast and Furious" movies.

The twin-turbo MKIV's are also stupid fast, having 300HP, and 320 ft-lbs of torque. "Car and Driver" said to think of them as a "Lexus for Smokey Yunick".

The bottom end of the engines are pretty bullet-proof, and can easily be cranked up to over 400HP with minimal effort.

Last year at the "Supras In Vegas" meet there were several slightly modified ones running low 12's at the strip, and a couple of track-only cars running in the 8's at over 135MPH!

On a good day, my MKII might break into the 16's, at maybe 85MPH, so you can see they really evolved in the ten years between the models.

The MKII is a sweetheart to drive, though. 2.8 liter DOHC electronic fuel injection, 4 wheel disc brakes, 4 wheel independent suspension, 5 speed manual transmission, and it all plays together extremely well. Not a very quick car (acceleration), and not a very fast car (top speed), but immensely rewarding to drive, and quite capable of hustling along at high speeds in comfort.

Just don't square off against any new cars, or you'll get your doors blown off, and the other guy won't even know he's "racing" you!

Got Nothin'.......

YAWN.........go read the good people on the sidebars whilst I try and think of something informative, clever, and amusing to write......

Suggestions For Good Hiking Boots?

I've been buying my boots from Big 5 or Sports Authority for some time now.

Columbia, Hi-Tech, Denali, I've bought all of them, and I'm getting a little tired of the spotty quality on them.

The laces in particular have the life expectancy of a Kleenex during flu season, and an almost new pair (couple of months old) just had BOTH laces snap!

I bought some really good laces via Amazon a while back, so I'm covered there, and I have several hundred feet of "550" paracord, so I can always make "Heavy Duty" laces that will probably outlast the boots!

Not looking for $300 boots, just something better than the $50 "on Sale" ones I always seem to get.

I switched from wearing good "tennis" shoes and cross-trainers to the boots 10 or 12 years ago to get better ankle support. I busted one ankle and dislocated the other one (yep, at the same time!) around 1985, and as I got older and more active outdoors, I needed something better with more ankle support.

The soles on most of the hikers I've tried have always given me good traction on dirt and in the wet, so I don't need any exotic Tacticool soles, either.

Not looking for full height combat boots, either, just some decent "mid length" hikers.

Any suggestions?

GO NAVY! Bill Whittle Sails On The USS Pasadena SSN-752

Mr Whittle's latest, and it's a good one.

Thank you, Mr. Whittle, for letting us go with you.

And if you ever make it down to San Pedro, I just happen to know where this Battleship is......

Police Drones (And Others) Subject to Hacking

I'm shocked, I tell you.....shocked!

This does not surprise me in the least. Security in most wireless systems is an afterthought, if any thought at all is given to it.

Go here to ExtremeTech and read the whole thing.

The hack uses the classic "Man-In-The-Middle" approach, one of the oldest network intrusion hacks around.

Sea Launch SOLD.....Again?

Story is here at SatNews Weekly.


Ongoing discussion at NASASpaceFlight.com is here. 


And as expected, Boeing has filed to block the sale.

Well, this is another "interesting" rumor. Over the last several years, there have been continuing rumors of Sea Launch having been sold, or new investors coming in, or the Russian government taking it over, or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

The ships are still sitting there at the dock, and the staff is down to about 30 people....10 who take care of the facility, and 20 that push paper do administrative duties all day long.

There's no marketing to speak of, except by the Head Guy, who still attends the various conventions and symposiums of launch providers.

The launch vehicle, a Zenit 3-SL, is a Ukrainian built rocket, with a Russian engine, and those two countries aren't exactly on the best of terms these days, so customers have doubts over the availability of a launch vehicle if they sign a contract to launch.

Boeing is completely out of the picture (AFAIK) at this time. Boeing provided the entire Payload Accommodation (Fairing, interface structure, avionics, integration and launch support), along with other launch support personnel.

Boeing is still owed approximately $365 million in loan guarantees that two of the previous partners had agreed to, and then never made good on, when Sea Launch went into Chapter 11 in 2009. Boeing has been slowly going through the legal process to try and recover this money, and received a judgment in their favor several months ago.

A lot of the equipment on the ships that I worked on is 1990's design and implementation, and frankly, it's obsolete. Some of it is no longer supported by the companies that originally built it (a couple of those companies no longer exist, having been absorbed by others), and some of it was marginally supported at great cost.

Some of the systems I worked on weren't working properly, and there's a couple I know of that may not even turn back on.

There were plans to replace a lot of it, but as is so often the case, the money simply wasn't available after they came out of Chapter 11.

Refitting the ships to use a different Launch Vehicle has been discussed in numerous forums, and while it could be done, the cost would be significant.

Re-engining the Zenit is out of my area of expertise, so I can't comment on that other than to say all the support equipment on the Launch Platform was designed and built specifically for that Launch Vehicle.

Again, it all comes down to money. As we used to say when I was racing, "Speed costs money. How fa$t do you really want to go?".

Please.....Stop Calling it "HAM" Radio. It's "Ham", "ham", or "Amateur" Radio

OK, I'm a gonna vent here......

When referring to Amateur Radio, please don't use the term "HAM", in all capitals.

All capitals implies that the term is an acronym, like NASA, and it's NOT.

Nobody knows where the term "Ham" originated from, although there are many stories floating around. Whatever the origin, it has never been spelled in all capital letters.

Please, use  "Ham radio", "ham radio", "Ham Radio", "Amateur Radio", or some other variant.

Every single time I see somebody write something like "Yeah, I'm a HAM radio guy", or "I'm into HAM", or that their hobbies are "Guns, Cars, and HAM", I just cringe. It's almost as bad as the people who post online using all caps.

I've been a ham since 1964, and this is something that's only popped up in the last few years, probably due to the easy access of the Internet, and all the corruption of American English that goes along with it.

So, please, take a little friendly Elmer advice, and don't use all caps.

15 "Life Hack" Uses for Binder Clips

I'd seen a couple of these before, but some of them are pretty damn clever!




And a few Words of Wisdom from Sheriff Joe:

QUOTE OF THE DECADE

 "A liberal's paradise would be a place where everybody has  guaranteed
employment, free comprehensive healthcare, free education, free food, free
housing, free clothing, free utilities, and only law enforcement has guns.
 
And believe it or not, such a place does indeed already exist:
It's called "Prison".

Sheriff Joe Arpaio
Maricopa County, Arizona
 

Finally, an Accurate Model of the United States Government!

It's loud, noisy, shaky, and doesn't do a damn thing!

Perfect!

Conserative Alternative to Wikipedia

I've always known that Wikipedia is pretty left-leaning. The technical articles are pretty good, without much bias that I can see, but an awful lot of the other categories are pretty biased.

Mr. Rawles over at the Survival Blog has just published an excellent article on his experiences, and has posted numerous links to other sources that have investigated this.

I highly suggest you go RTWT, and follow the links to read more.

One of the links is to Conservapedia, which I've now added to the "Link-O-Rama" sidebar here.

Thank you, Mr. Rawles, for your post, and the links!

"Bulb Auger" Planting Tool

Got an email from I place I occasionally buy tools from for a "Bulb Auger":

Goes into the chuck on your cordless drill, and augers out a hole for you to plant your bulbs or other plants into.

Kind of a neat idea, especially if you have really hard soil, like a lot of places do.

I don't know how well it works, as I've never used one, but I thought I'd pass it along as I know some of my readers are into gardening.

Learn more about it here, at JTS Machinery and Supply.

Since the above link takes you to the Bulb Auger page, and the "Home" button doesn't take you to their main website, here's the link for the main JTS Homepage.

Happy Easter!

No chocolate bunnies or egg hunts here, just remembering what Easter really means to us, and being grateful for what was given to us.

And on another note....I'm finally feeling much better, and have resumed Massive Cleanup 2016 in the Radio Room, and then on to the garage.

I have three big tubs of stuff to donate to the IT department on the Iowa, and probably a couple of more waiting to be "stacked and racked" out in the garage when I get back to that area.

I've also got half-a-dozen 500GB drives that have very little time on them I'm donating, but I have to check them for any data/files on them that I haven't got backed-up elsewhere, and then do a good scrub on them to nuke any data.

And a huge pile of stuff that's going on eBay in the next week or so, after I photograph it, write the descriptions, and get it scheduled.

I've found I get better results by having the auctions end on Sunday afternoons or early evenings, with the last few bids coming in the last 10 minutes or so of when the auctions end.

In some cases I've had the bidding on the item double or triple in the last few minutes, but that's generally only for items that are somewhat rare, and with a proven history of people paying insane prices for the item.. I had a little DAVCO DR-30 receiver that I bought for $15 at my radio club's White Elephant sale some years ago that went from $600 to almost $1400 in the last two minutes!

I had a $5 "Brown Bullet" crystal microphone that went from $20 to over $80 in the last 30 seconds, and a PK-900 packet radio TNC with the DSP option that went from $75 to $300 in the last 10 seconds, so if my items that start on Sunday haven't done anything by Wednesday or Thursday, I don't generally sweat too much over it.

This time around I don't have any items quite that interesting, so I'm not expecting anything like that to happen.

"Off Limts" Area Tour of Battleship Iowa

People keep asking me "Can I go see...." on various places on the ship, and I have to tell them no.

SO....here's a "Behind The Scenes" tour of up to the O-10 level, the engine and fire (boiler) rooms, the Main Battery Control Room, and the Combat Engagement Center.

The CEC is about 75% restored now, and will be open soon, along with getting the Com Center on the tour route, possibly this year.

Enjoy!

R.I.P. Col Avery Kay, "Father of the A-10 Warthog"

God bless you, sir, for your service, and the wonderful work you did in designing and developing this fine aircraft.

Full story here at CNN.

Finally Getting Better.....

Well, I'm pretty sure I'm on the backside of whatever it was I had. My fever is gone, I'm not coughing all night long, and the aches and pains have pretty much subsided,

I haven't been this sick since 2009 when I moved in here, so whatever it was really clobbered me.

I'm talking "stay in bed for 7 days" sick. Since last Saturday, I wasn't out of bed for more than a couple of hours at a time, and that was mostly to go to the bathroom, get something to drink, or do a quick email check.

And I was finally able to eat some soup last night, and not have it exit me within 45 minutes.

On the "plus" side of the ledger, I haven't had a cigarette since last Sunday, and haven't had any cravings for one, either.

I guess when you're sick enough to need 18 hours of sleep a day, your body isn't thinking of getting a nicotine fix!

Helluva way to finally stop smoking, but I guess I'll take it.......

On-Line Index of Shortwave Radio Broadcasters

Stumbled across this, and thought some of you might find it interesting.

I doubt if you'll hear "The Chair Is Against The Wall", but you might hear some interesting news and/or music!

B-29 "DOC" First Engine Start and Test

I'm one of "Doc's Friend's", and I donate to Doc, along with donating to help keep "Fifi" flying for the CAF.

Just got this in an email, and somehow I missed the live event.

I'm still feeling pretty wiped out, but this brought a smile to me.

Believe me, if I wasn't helping on the Iowa, I'd be volunteering right alongside these guys!



Watch it in full screen 1080 for maximum effect.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Feeling *slightly* better. Not coughing as much, but still feel like a truck hit me....

From a friend:

Blech.....Still Sick

Go read the other people.

Especially go read the "Hope and Change" cartoon for the day

There's Somethin' Going Around....

And I've got it.

Kinda felt "off" the last couple of days, and last night was miserable.

Had this cough that would start right about the time I was falling asleep, so I didn't get much uninterrupted sleep last night.

Didn't climb out of the rack until about 1500 today.

On a brighter side, the Radio Room is about 75% cleaned up, and the garage is getting close to 20% finished.

I have two huge Tupperware tubs of stuff to donate to the Iowa, one of which came from the Radio Room.

Mostly more computer stuff, as the Radio Room also does double-duty here as the Server Room for my media server, and it's also the networking center where all the cables to/from the Verizon FiOS Optical Network Terminal pass through. So, I had several spare 10/100/1000 network switches that I'm not using, FOUR KVM switches to donate, half a dozen brand new 160/250/320 GB hard disks, half a dozen EIDE and SATA CD/DVD burners, and other assorted bits and pieces, all new-in-box.

And I have at least one more (probably two) Tubs 'O Stuff still out in the garage.

I was able to get one set of the plastic shelves emptied, and now one of my big rolling toolboxes is back against the wall, freeing up about three feet of "horizontal" space by the workbench that runs along the entire back wall of the garage.

And I'll have a big box of stuff like coax jumper cables, slightly used VHF/UHF antennas, and misc radio stuff/junque/goodies to take to the White Elephant Sale my radio club has every May to raise money for Field Day.

Off to have some soup and crackers, watch the Reunion, and Final Episode of "Mythbusters", and then hit the hay early.....

"Ex-Military - - Approach With Extreme Caution"

Just heard it on the scanner.

Didn't look over to see what agency sent it out, but it was a dispatcher's voice that I recognized.

The reason I didn't look at the display, or notice the rest of the call, was that the advisory took me a few milliseconds to process, and then I stopped cold.

I've heard a lot of weird stuff on the scanner, but that's a completely new one!

Next time I hear that dispatcher's voice again, I'll update this post with the agency......


LAPD, North Hollywood Area, Division 15

Rain Day - No Garage Work This Weekend

Since I need to pull a lot of things out of the garage to get to other stuff that needs sorting/classifying/junking/selling/etc, and it just started raining, I'll be working inside today in the Radio Room, a.k.a. the middle bedroom.

Yeah, like most hams I tend to be a junk collector. Some of it isn't really junk, except in my wife's eyes, but all hams proudly own what's called a "Junk Box" where we keep spare parts for the gear we own, and new/used parts used to build things.

WELL.....the entire Radio Room has turned into to one of the larger Junk Boxes in Southern California, and needs the same treatment the garage is getting.

There's books scattered all over that need to go back in the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves I installed when I moved in here, there's empty boxes from The Great Jeep Radio Replacement Project, there's a whole "eBay Pile" that's waiting to be photographed and listed, some items that really need to be tossed, some boxes of smaller Supra parts, several interior pieces from the Supra (the glove box door, and the two lower dash panels that have the (yet to be installed!) front speakers in them), and I'm sure a whole bunch of other "stuff" to be taken care of.

All-in-all, a nice "Rainy Weekend" project that needs to be done.

The "Blown Scanner" problem was solved by buying a new Uniden BCD536HP model, along with the correct Butel software to easily program it.

The BCD996XT will be returned to Uniden for repair, and then go into the "Radio Reserve" collection.

"Surplus" PC Parts Disposal

Had a nice chat Wednesday with my "Boss" on the Iowa.

He's willing to take a LOT of the collection of PC parts and spares off my hands as a donation to the Iowa.

We'll get a tax write-off on it, which is probably better than the $.02-on-the-dollar I'd get selling it on eBay, and what the ship can't use, they'll take care of selling off through the network of conatcts they have, and the ship gets the money.

Sounds like a "WIN-WIN" to me.......

Battleship Iowa On The Air NOW With Original Radio Gear! UPDATED

We're up and running on 18.146 right now......


Make that 18.155. Had to move due to QRM....

Should be OTA for the next hour or so.....


UPDATE

I made 10 contacts from coast-to-coast. They all said we had "great audio".

The R-1051's have a front end as wide as a barn door. The specs say "3.2kHz" bandwidth, and I'm guessing that's @ -6dB, but no spec (that I could find in our manual) on the -60dB point, so I don't know the Shape Factor of the filters in it.

Whatever it is, it's NOT good enough for even a moderately "crowded" band.

Signals the we could not hear on our TS-850 came bleeding through on the R-1051 receiver, making it difficult to copy the stations that were calling us.

And we had a huge pile-up after I "spotted" ourselves on the DX clusters.

Next time (next week, I hope) we'll try using the URR-74, as it has selectable bandwidth crystal filters in it.

It's a bit cumbersome finding a frequency that sounds "clear" on the R-1051, and then tuning the transmitter, and then adjusting the antenna coupler down in the transmitter room, but by the time we'd done it a few times,the guys helping me were getting pretty good at it.

We used the "Twin Whips" up on the bridge for the receive antennas, and the "Goal Post" antenna back the #2 stack for transmitting. We were running around 200 Watts output, and found that if we go much lower than that, the transmitter got unstable.

We had very few visitors today, so our "RF Safety Monitor" we posted at the TX antenna didn't have much to report to us.

So, today was a "learning day", and we had fun.

1) The r-1051 receivers are not very selective. We used three different receivers, and they're all the same

2) They desense badly, and take about 2 seconds to recover after you unkey the transmitter. This equipment was never meant to be used like this, operating "simplex", so desense was to be expected. We just didn't know it would take that long to recover

3) The dial accuracy of the receivers and transmitters was very good. We could tune the receiver to one frequency, and tuning the transmitter to the same indicated frequency was "plenty good enough" to use, with only very minor fine-tuning of the receiver required to get on exactly the same frequency as the transmitter. This would be a non-issue if we had the 10 MHz master oscillators that were originally installed, but we don't, so we run the receivers and transmitters using their own internal oscillators

4) The guys in the transmitter room retuned the antenna coupler each time we moved in frequency. I don't know if this is required if we only move 5 or 10 kHz at the low power levels we were running. I'll take one of my antenna analyzers with me next time and see how bad the match changes as we move in frequency. The guy doing the tuning is new at it, he's following the Navy tuning instructions "to the letter", and it winds up taking several minutes to "Peak and Dip" the controls with every frequency change

So thanks everybody for bearing with us! We're still learning about how to actually use the equipment now that we have it functional. We were juggling receiver line-out levels, transmitter line-in levels, antenna tuning, and the lookie-loos who came by to kibbutz while we were up to our rear in alligators!

Next week we should be better at it.

RATS! My Uniden BCD996XT Scanner Died!

Went to turn the scanner on the other day, and it wouldn't power up.

Figured it was the cheep little switching supply that came with it, so I ordered another one.

WELL....still wouldn't power up, so I measured the output of the original power supply, and it was NINETEEN VOLTS!

Ugh....double plus ungood.

So, looks like I have another project to do. I'll have to pull it out of the case and see if I can find anything obviously wrong. Otherwise I'll have to pack it off to Uniden for repair.

The good news is that Uniden charges a flat $80 repair fee for these.

The bad news is the it's their power supply that killed the radio!

Guess I'll have to get my trusty BCD796D off the shelf and return it to service.

Oh....and I DAMN sure won't EVER power up a $500 scanner with a POS $2 switching supply again!

Garage, Part 9,783......

Yeah, it sure seems like that's what chapter I'm on....

I went to Harbor Freight this morning and picked up some moving dollies so I can stack some of the heavier piles of boxes on them. This lets me wheel them around, in and out of the garage, while I get back into the darker recesses that haven't seen light of day in years.

Today was garbage day, so I started with empty trash bins, and I've already got the recycle bin about 1/3 full of cut up, flattened out cardboard boxes and other stuff. I was surprised how heavy the bins were when I wheeled them out to the curb last night, so I'm guessing I've thrown out several hundred pounds of "stuff" over the last three weeks that I've been cleaning.

I've got a big pile of stuff I'm taking to my radio club's annual "White Elephant" sale, another pile that's getting sold on eBay, and a third pile that's going on weridoslist craigslist.

And there's a fourth pile that will get dragged out to the curb tonight for the junkman that prowls the neighborhood.

But, I'm definitely making progress, albeit at a slower pace than I'd like.

At least the dog can walk into the side door, and out the big door, without getting trapped.

And I should have full access to my big rolling toolboxes tonight, meaning I can put away a ton of tools I have out of them, further cleaning up the mess.

A Perfect Day

Yeah, I know.....not a snowball's chance, but fun to envision.

THE DONALD'S FIRST DAY IN OFFICE
 
1. President Donald Trump and Vice President Marco Rubio are sworn into office..
 
2. In a rare event on inauguration day, Congress convenes for an emergency meeting to repeal the illegal and unconstitutional Socialist health care farce known as Obamacare. 

The new Director of Health and Social Services Dr. Ben Carson announces that an independent group of healthcare management professionals is hired to handle healthcare services for poor and low income people. 

They are also assigned the duty of eliminating Medicare and Medicaid fraud. 

Government's costs for public healthcare are reduced by 90%.
Healthcare insurance premiums for working Americans are reduced by 50%. 

The move saves billions of taxpayer paid dollars. Healthcare service in the U.S improves 100%.
 
3. Newly appointed Department of Homeland Security Chief Ted Cruz announces the immediate deployment of troops to the U.S. Mexico border to control illegal immigration and the immediate deportation of illegals with criminal records or links to terrorist groups. 

New bio-encrypted Social Security IDs are required by every American citizen. Birthright is abolished. All immigration from countries that represent a threat to the safety of American citizens is terminated indefinitely. The move saves American taxpayers billions of dollars. Several prisons are closed.
 
4. Newly appointed Secretary of Business and Economic Development Carly Fiorina eliminates more than half of the Government agencies operating under the Obama administration saving taxpayers billions of dollars. 

Stocks rise 100%.
 
5. Newly appointed Director of Government Finance Rand Paul announces the abolition of the IRS and displays a copy of the new Federal Tax Return form.
It consists of one page. The instructions consist of two pages. 

The Federal Reserve is audited. The move saves American Taxpayers billions of dollars and increases tax revenue.
 
6. Hillary Clinton is in prison, where she belongs. Her cell is directly across from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who are serving time for "Hate Crimes". She bitches at them constantly from behind the bars of her cell in what some call cruel and unusual punishment.
 
7. Bernie Sanders is in the nuthouse, where he belongs. His room is directly across from Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Chris Matthews and Al Franken. They meet for tea every day at 10 AM and discuss the success and benefits of Communism and Socialism throughout the world. They also wonder when the "Mothership" is going to pick them up and return them to their home planet.
 
8. Windows 12 is released. It is designed for humans, doesn't try to satisfy the needs of every person on the planet, doesn't require a degree in nuclear physics to operate and looks just like Windows 7 except it is easier to use.
 
9. Barack Obama flees the United States under cover of darkness and returns to his homeland of Kenya before his trial for treason begins. He deplanes on a remote jungle airstrip. It was reported that he was last seen wandering
through the jungle singing "Hakuna Matata" with a chimp named Commie.
 
10. Oscar Meyer announces the introduction of a new cholesterol and fat free pepperoni that tastes just like regular pepperoni.
 
11. Not to be outdone, Kraft Foods announces the introduction of several varieties of cholesterol and fat free cheeses that taste just like regular cheese.
 
12. A committee is not established to determine what is causing global cooling. Billions of taxpayer dollars are saved.
 
13. Dead people are no longer allowed to vote in Chicago, a huge blow for the Democrat Party in the State of Illinois.
 
And this my friends constitutes THE PERFECT DAY!

A Little 'Travelin' Music', Please.....

One of my favorite TV themes.

Since I'm on Garage Duty for the foreseeable future (well, plus "Iowa Duty"), I put together a bunch of music with an automotive theme that I can play in the garage while getting all grimy and dreaming of the time I'll be working on the car getting all grimy.

There's some backstory to this song. CBS was too cheap to pay continuing royalties to Bobby Troup for "Get Your Kicks On Route 66", so they commissioned Nelson Riddle to write a replacement. Most TV show theme songs are considered almost "throw away" songs, but Route 66 went on to become the first TV theme song to make Billboard magazine's "Top 30", and continues to this day to be a popular song, especially among those of us who are a "certain age".

Ahhhh....the carefree days of Tod and Buz, cruising the USA in their Chevrolet. Simpler, happier times........


Enjoy!

I Sure Am Glad It Was Trash Day Today

Because I started this morning with two empty trash bins, one for "recyclable" stuff, and one for everything else.

The recycle bin is already about half full of cut-up, smashed flat cardboard boxes and misc packing material, and the regular trash bin is about one-quarter full.

I'm taking the advice of one of my friends over on the Celica Supra forum; drag it all out, sort it, and then rearrange it as you put it back in.

So far, I've found another Heathkit receiver (a GR-78) I bought and forgot about, a Commodore 1571 disk drive with cables, two Commodore power supplies, both new-in-box, all the cables I've made over the years to connect various radios I've owned and still own to both an AEA Commodore Packet Radio modem, and my Kantronics KPC-3+, and several more boxes containing all the leftover stuff that you never use, but they include in the box a new PC motherboard comes in.

At least I can now have the big door open, and walk from there to the front of the garage, so it's a big improvement.

My current SWAG is that I'm about 21% to where I need to be.

And I haven't gotten to the workbench area, and the shelving along the walls....

Gonna be a long, slow, slog........

The Never Ending Garage Clean Up Continues.......

Man, I should have done this two years ago when I bought the car. Then you'd be reading my gripes about me actually working on the car vs getting the damn garage cleaned out.

Made a pretty big dent the last couple of days. At this point I'll take a SWAG and say I'm 20% to where I need to be.

I'm glad tomorrow is trash day, as I've completely filled (packed pretty tight, too) the "Recycle" bin with empty, flattened out cardboard boxes, and misc bits and pieces of "stuff" that are allowed in that bin, and the regular bin that gets everything else.

I finally got my two Dahlquist DQM-9 speakers out of there. They'll be going on the back porch for now until I get them listed on weirdoslist craigslist for sale.

If anybody "local" is interested in them, drop me a line and we'll talk. I got them from a very good friend who takes fanatical care of his equipment. He just had new foam edge surrounds (outer edge of the cones) installed by Dahlquist right before I bought them, and the cabinets look like new.

And I consolidated about 10~12 other boxes of small items (mostly computer stuff) into three boxes, meaning there's a lot less wasted space.

I still don't know what I'm going to do with all the PC bits and pieces I have; perhaps just sell them in "lots" on eBay. Stuff like that I won't list on weirdoslist craigslist because of previous bad experiences selling computer stuff there. Every single person who came to look at the stuff I had wanted to offer me me pennies on the dollar for brand-new parts and completely rebuilt and upgraded PC's.

I know what the "retail" value of the stuff is, and offering me $20 for something easily worth $200 is an insult. The $200 price I had on things was well under "retail", and even the flippers that came to look at it knew that, yet insisted on low-balling me to the extreme.

Oh, well....dinner time here, and then back out to the other end of the garage. At least I have free access to my two big rolling tool boxes now, and I can get to the shelving units behind them, and start going through all that stuff..........

Minuteman III Launch Tonight From VAFB

From one of my groups.........

The following is a media advisory from Vandenberg AFB:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
From: 30th Space Wing Public Affairs, www.vandenberg.af.mil

MINUTEMAN III LAUNCH SCHEDULED

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - - An operational test launch of an Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile is scheduled between 11:00 p.m. PST Saturday, Feb. 20 and 5:00 a.m. PST Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016, from north Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The purpose of the ICBM test launch program is to validate and verify the effectiveness, readiness and accuracy of the weapon system, according to Air Force Global Strike Command.

Col. J. Christopher Moss, 30th Space Wing commander, is the launch decision authority.

"This mission continues a long string of vital ICBM flight tests from
Vandenberg Air Force Base," said Moss. "The launch not only demonstrates the capability of the Minuteman III weapon system, but also the tremendous capabilities of Airmen who maintain and operate it. The men and women of the 30th Space Wing are proud to partner with the Air Force Global Strike Command team to conduct this important launch."

The launch team, under the direction of the 576th Flight Test Squadron,
includes aircrew members from the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron, Offutt AFB, Nebraska, and crew members and maintainers from the 91st Missile Wing, Minot AFB, North Dakota.

The 576th FLTS is responsible for installed tracking, telemetry and command destruct systems on the missile, which collect data and ensure safety requirements, are met.

If you're out here on the Left Coast, and have the time to sit and just watch for a few hours, these are spectacular to see.

Rainy Wednesday/Thursday and Garage Cleaning

We need the rain, and I like sleeping when it's raining.

Got around half an inch, and the temperature dropped 10 degrees or so.

Dried out today, but a bit chilly (for Kaliforniastan!), so wearing a jacket while I'm going through boxes of stuff in the garage that haven't seen the light of day in quite a while.

Man, I didn't know I had so much stuff for repairing PC's!

I've got 30+ cooling fans of various sizes used to replace faulty power supply, CPU, and case fans, 30 or more Intel PCI 10/100Base-T Ethernet cards (remember when motherboards did NOT come with built-in Ethernet?), half a dozen or so sound cards, and a wide selection of video cards, with interfaces running the gamut from PCI to AGP, to PCIe, four 500 Watt "AT" power supplies, and all of this stuff is brand new.

I even have a few brand new 5-1/4" floppy drives, along with a good sized stack of 3-1/2" floppy drives.

And BOXES of memory going back to pre SDRAM stuff like "EDO" memory.

Don't have too many processors, except ones that were in the few motherboards I have. Mostly AMD K6 processors, as I was really hot into the "Socket 7" and "Super Socket 7" stuff.

The "rarest" processor I have would be a K6-III+ with a rated clock speed of 550 MHz. Not too many of those were released, and I'm not sure how I got it.

I suppose if I hang on to this stuff the price will go up, but for now, it's just a huge collection of memories from early days of building, repairing, and modifying PC's.......

Iowa Transmitters NOT On-The-Air Today. Next Post About This Will Occur When We're Actually OTA.....

This is getting frustrating, but I won't vent here.

Next time I post about this will be when I'm on-the-air!

PERIOD.......

OK, Let's Try This Again...Battleship Iowa's 1980's Transmitters to be ON-THE-AIR Wednesday 17 Feb 16

Well....I'm pretty sure I've got everybody on the same page for this.

We'll either be on 20 Meters around 14.261 or 17 Meters around 18.161, +/- any QRM.

All the equipment is working, I'm going to be giving the guys in the Gray Radio Gang some training in "Good Amateur Operating Practice" (most of them don't have stations at home), and then we should get OTA shortly after lunch, around 1300 local time, until about 1600, or 2100 UTC to 0000 UTC.

If you hear us, please bear with us. We won't be using the NI6BB callsign, but we will announce that we're operating from the Battleship Iowa.

I'm taking my tablet, and if I can get the damn Blogger software to cooperate, I'll post here that we're on, and we'll also self spot ourselves on the DX clusters.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Been Busy Tinkering on the Supra

"Supras In Vegas" is coming again this year, and I plan to have the car ready to go.

It's the 3rd week in September, which gives me about seven months to:

Replace the carpet, install the new stereo and speakers, and put the interior back together. I'll do a good cleaning of the floor under the old carpet, as I'm sure there's a ton of crud under the old carpet. While the front seats are out it will also give me access to the bracket that holds the levers for opening the rear hatch and gas filler door so I can bolt it back to the floor pan. It's currently adrift, and makes it a PITA to use.

Rebuild the front suspension with new KYB strut inserts, top strut mounts, springs that lower the car about 1", rebuilt power steering rack and pinion, new polyurethane bushings, and new rotors/calipers/wheel bearings. The new rotors are the drilled/slotted type, and are supposed to run cooler. One of the things Car and Driver noticed in their long-term test back in 1983 was that the rotors had a tendency to warp, so hopefully 30+ years of advances in rotor metallurgy and brake pad compounds will prevent that from occurring. I'm replacing the OEM rubber brake lines with stainless steel brake lines, and I'll flush and refill the brake system with "DOT 4" brake fluid. While I'm under the car I'll also replace the clutch slave cylinder, replace the OEM rubber clutch hydraulic line with a stainless one, and flush and refill the system with "DOT 4" fluid. The clutch master cylinder was replaced shortly before I bought the car, and the fluid is still "clear", so the master cylinder can stay for now.

Replace the cam drive belt and idler, and the water pump while the front is off the engine. Also replace all the coolant hoses and A/C, alternator drive belts. There's a hose that runs under the intake manifold/air plenum that needs to be replaced on a somewhat regular interval. It's called the "suicide hose", because if it blows, you've got about 60 seconds to shut the engine down before it overheats, usually blowing the head gasket in the process. If all it does is blow the head gasket you can consider yourself lucky. If you keep going, the head will warp, and replacement heads for this engine have been "unobtainium" for some years now.

Replace the rear shocks with new KYB shocks, replace the springs with new ones that lower the car about 3/4", and replace the upper and lower spring mounts (aka "the rubbers"). Also replace the rotors and calipers and OEM brake hoses with stainless steel ones.

And to help matters along, I just returned from Home Depot with some new light fixtures, and a box of bulbs.

I *had* a couple of cheep two-bulb, 48" lights hanging, but when the kids moved out, one of them mysteriously disappeared. I found another one in the garage, but it doesn't have an ON/OFF pull chain, so it will probably go in the scrap pile.

The new lights hanging off to the sides of the car are four-bulb 48" fixtures, and I bought a new 48" high-brightness LED fixture for hanging over the workbench.

The original two-bulb fixtures will be relocated to the rear (toward the big door) of the garage so I can get some light back there.

And of course, I'm back to cleaning the garage (again!) because of all the cruft my wife has "stored" in there.

How come MY stuff is always "junk that should be thrown away", but HER stuff is "Ohhh...we have to keep that!"??

AND finally, we're really going to try and get the Iowa's radio gear on-the-air this coming Wednesday.

I'll take my tablet and post from the ship if we mange to get everybody on the same page to do this.


For those that have asked, here's the original post from when I brought the Supra home:

 http://every-blade-of-grass.blogspot.com/2014/01/new-project-for-new-year.html

Iowa Transmitters NOT On-The-Air Today. Next Week for Sure!

WELL......I got down to the ship today, and the guys had veered off onto a different path.

They decided they wanted to work on the autocoupler for the port side 30 foot whip, rather than get the gear OTA today.

Oh, well....not wanting to herd cats, I stepped back and did some other things.......

Battleship Iowa's "Original" 1980's Transmitters Possibly ON-THE-AIR This Coming Wednesday!

WELL....it's been a long, slow, slog, but we're 90+% there.

We have two "Red Phones" mapped out through the "Coke Machine", the audio interface boxes, the transmit and receive switchboards, and the R-1051 receivers and the AN/URT-23A transmitters.

We've verified that we have correct receive audio through the receive path, and the transmit audio from the "Red Phones" also makes it down to the Transmitter Room, and drive the #3 transmitter to full (1000 Watts +) power into a dummy load.

For the receive antennas we're using the "Twin Whips" mounted up on the bridge, and for transmit, we'll be using the "Goal Post" or "Bull's Horns" antenna located just forward of the #2 stack. The "Goal Post" antenna is fed with (I think) 3-1/2" Heliax cable from the transmitter room, and some time ago I made up an adapter that connected the Andrew flange to a Type-N female so we could run coax into one of the large antenna couplers down in the transmit room.

I used my Comet CAA-500 Antenna Analyzer to verify that adjusting the controls on the coupler caused the impedance to vary, and the manner in which it varied it varied in "looked" just like we were tuning a random length antenna with a good old Johnson Matchbox.


The players are as follows:



A "Red Phone":

The Infamous "Coke Machine":

R-1051 Receiver:

Receive Antenna Couplers:

"Twin Whips" Receive Antennas:

AN/URT-23 Transmitter:

Transmit Antenna Coupler(s):

"Goal Post" Transmit Antenna:

I'm posting this early so those who are interested in trying work us will have plenty of time to get ready. We know we transmit better than we receive, even running 100 Watts from the Amateur Radio gear, so please be patient with us if we manage to make this happen.

Not all of us are "Contest Operators", so pile-ups will be dealt with "Loudest Heard First", and then we'll try to get to the weaker stations.

Look for us in the upper half of the General section of the 20 Meter phone band. *IF* we get the gear On-The-Air, it will be after 2000 UTC, and before 2359 UTC.

We'll be using an individual's callsign, not NI6BB, and we'll include "Battleship Iowa" in all our CQ's.

Hope to see you On The Air!


I'll have my tablet computer with me, so if this is a "GO!", I'll make a post here right before we go live OTA.

Out With The Old.......UPDATE

And in with the new.

Jeep radio, that is.

I finally received the "4-pin" data cable I needed to get the Maestro unit talking to my new Kenwood "head unit", and decided to take the plunge and do it today.

It's not 100% finished, but it's in the dash, all connected up, and everything works!

Had a nice chat with the rep from Sirius/XM, and we killed the OEM Sirius radio that came with the Jeep, activated the new one, went over the freebies that came with the new radio, and got everything squared away.

I still have to find the best place to stick down the microphone for the "hands free"  Bluetooth operation of my cellphone, figure out how to run the cable from the new Sirius/XM antenna into the car, and figure out how to best run the female USB cable that lets me plug in a USB stick and play music and videos on the head unit.

And Kenwood has newer firmware for the head unit, so I have to reflash it, and I still have to sign up with Garmin so I can keep the maps updated for the nav.

After that, I'll just snap the bezels back on the instrument pod where the GPS antenna is located, and the bezel that covers the radio.

Then I have to learn how to use the doggone thing, program my favorite satellite radio channels, FM radio channels, and the couple of AM channels I use.

I stick a few pix on here tomorrow.


****UPDATE**** 

 It took me until midnight last night but I finally got the receiver to accept the USB memory stick with the updated firmware.

The manuals are poorly written in regard to this, and assume you already know the menu structure of the radio.

They kept mentioning to "put the radio into standby", with no explanation of how to find the "standby" menu setting. The main menu button takes you to the "Top Menu", and there's three little bars at the top of the screen. In my experience this usually indicates there are a total of three pages to the menu. BUT...how to get to the next pages? The radio has a touch screen, so I tried dragging the screen to the left. No luck, and this stumped me for a while. I finally figured out that to get off the first page of the menu you have to "flick" the screen to the left at just the right rate to get it on the next page.

There was the "Standby" button, and once I pressed that button, the "upgrade" button on the screen displaying the installed firmware version was no longer greyed out, and I was able to upgrade the firmware from the memory stick.

The next thing was getting updated maps into the navigation section of the radio. Garmin requires you to dump an XML file onto an SD memory card, insert it into a Windows or Mac PC, and then use their web application to read the card, and confirm you have a qualifying product. Then, after you pay your $69.95 for the new maps, it will download and install the new map files onto the SD card. I had the same issue with the nav section of the receiver....it wouldn't dump the file onto the card unless the radio was in standby mode. About 2345 last night I had the XML file on the card, and was able to get the Garmin web app to accept it, and proceeded to install the "updated" maps on it, but I couldn't find out how to get the file loaded off the card and into the receiver.

This morning I was on the support section of the Garmin website, and finally found out that all you do is install the card in the slot, and it reads the new data from the card. I put the card in the slot, and upon hitting the "upgrade maps" from another obscure menu setting only accessible when in standby, I was rewarded with "Reading Updated Map Info" on the screen.

They don't tell you if it overwrites the existing data in the radio, or if it needs the card in all the time, so I just left it in the radio.

Since the map version was "2014.0", and the new map version is "2015.0", it looks like they don't upgrade the maps very often!

I stuck down the microphone for the hand-free cellphone function, and stuck the bezel back on that part of the dash. I still haven't figured out how I'm going to run the antenna lead-in cable for the new Sirius/XM tuner from the antenna into the car, and then into the under/behind dash area, but it looks like that will be a several hour job by itself, involving pulling a bunch of interior trim panels off, routing the cable, and then putting it all back together.

This radio definitely sounds better than the OEM Alpine radio it replaced, and I'm getting a bunch more satellite channels than I did before, as I upgraded my Sirius/XM subscription.

And the FM tuner not only has regular FM, but also "HD Radio", which lets the broadcasters either deliver higher-quality audio, or multiple channels, similar to what the new Digital TVs have. Where you only had "Channel 5" before, you now have sub-channels like 5.1, 5.2, etc.

Think I'm going to take the dog for a walk....I need to relax a bit, and "wind down" from this project!

Running a Tube-Type Radio on "Car Batteries" - PART 1-

This was starting to get a bit looong, so I'm splitting it into two parts... 

I also made a few changes so "Part 2" shows up after "Part 1".

I was having a discussion with Harry over on his blog on the subject of shortwave listening, types of receivers, and other things.

I made my standard "If you're worried about EMP, take your little solid-state (transistorized, but more likely uProcessor controlled DSP radio these days) radio with the batteries out (because if you don't, you will forget they're in there, they will leak, and likely ruin the radio. Trust me, it WILL happen!), and seal it up in a steel ammo can, using adhesive-backed aluminum tape on all the seams. NOT aluminum colored duct tape, but real metal aluminum tape. You can get it at big box home improvement stores. This gives you a homemade Faraday Cage, and should protect the radio".

Have I tried this?

No, mostly due to the lack of a suitable EMP generator, but I consider it sound advice, knowing what I do about EMP.

I'd tell you more about why I know this stuff, but uh...well...you how that goes...

Yes, you could make a special box from "Mu Metal", but Mu metal is expensive, hard to work with, and generally difficult to buy in small quantities.

Then we started talking about types of receivers, and the subject turned to tube-type radios.

Tubes are inherently "hardened" to EMP because of their construction. They have large metal elements, separated by substantial spacing (compared to solid-state devices), and all the metal elements are encased in a vacuum envelope. Granted, the vacuum isn't "perfect", but the breakdown voltage (aka "Dielectric Strength") between two metal elements in a vacuum is is substantially higher than the breakdown voltage in air.

Wikipedia lists the breakdown voltage for air as 3e6 (3,000,000 Volts) per meter of spacing, and vacuum as 10e12 Volts per meter.

That's TEN TERRA Volts per meter, a staggering amount of voltage!

That's a thousand billion Volts.....

Speaking in term of "Volts/mil" (voltage per .001"), air breaks down and conducts at around 800 Volts per .001" of spacing (I always remember "1000Volts/mil") and breakdown in a vacuum is something like a MILLION times higher.

ANYWAY......before I ramble too far off the original topic, tubes should survive an EMP (especially if powered off), while conventional "wisdom" claims solid-state devices will be destroyed.

SO......In all of our favorite TEOTWAWKI/TSHTF novels, there always seems to be some "Old Guy" who just happens to be a Ham operator, always "lives on a hill top", has "big antennas", and he just happens to have some old tube-type radios laying around. Of course, they get pressed in to service powered up by "car batteries" scavenged from all the abandoned/broken/non-functional cars which just happen to be strewn around everywhere.

It makes for a great read, and shows how ingenuity can overcome adversity, but would it work?

Well, that's what I'll try and analyze here (whew! finally got back on topic), and give some recommendations for trying to do this.

The closest radio manual I had at hand is for my Heathkit SB-310, so that's what I'll go with. This radio is not "100% Hollow State", as it has three rectifier diodes in the power supply (B+ and bias rectifiers), two "small signal" diodes for the Automatic Noise Limiter ("ANL"), and two more small-signal diodes in the Automatic Gain Control ("AGC") circuits. Since this is an AC to DC conversion, the rectifier diodes will be bypassed, and you can use the receiver with the ANL and AGC diodes clipped out of their circuits if they get blown from an EMP-type event. It wouldn't be as "pleasant" to listen to with those two circuits disabled, but it will work just fine without them.

The principles involved with doing this to most any tube-type receiver would be the same, but some of the voltages will probably be different.

YMMV, don't try this at home, don't blame me if you get zapped or blow up your receiver, and yes, I am a professional at this stuff!

First, let's look at how the receiver is powered during "normal" operation.

Tube-type receivers use a power supply (transformer, rectifiers, filter capacitors, dropping resistors, and possibly a filter choke) to produce the required voltages from the 120 VAC power line.

There are (usually) three voltages required to make the receiver operate:

1. An "A" voltage, which is the filament voltage, either 6 Volts or 12 Volts. Some receivers may have a mix of both 6 and 12 Volt filament tubes in them. The filaments "don't  know/don't care" if they're being fed AC or DC. Some people claim that running the filaments from DC will give a "quieter" receiver, while others claim that running them from DC will shorten the filament life due to metal transfer off the filament to the other tube elements, similar to what happens during electroplating.
Way back when I was repairing/modifying electronic stuff for all my musician friends, I did a full make-over on a buddy's Fender Twin Reverb amp. I went completely gonzo on it, beefing up the power supply, regulating all the voltages, converting the filaments to a regulated DC supply, redoing all the grounds inside, and shielding the daylights out of it. *I* couldn't tell much difference, but *he* could, and I wound up doing a half-dozen or so for other people. AFAIK, there was NO difference in tube life.

2. A "B" voltage, commonly called "B+", which is the plate/Anode supply voltage, and generally the highest voltage in the radio. Sometimes there are multiple B+ voltages used at different points in the circuit, and these are generally derived from the highest voltage using dropping resistors. This voltage is always well filtered DC, and in some cases is regulated over a narrow range. This voltage is positive with respect to ground.

3. A "C" voltage, which is the bias voltage applied to the tube grids, and used to set the "operating point" of the tube. This voltage is negative with respect to ground.

In "Ye Dayes Of Olde", long before residential homes were wired for that new-fangled "AC" stuff, these voltages were all supplied by batteries, so running tube radios on batteries is nothing new.

An "A" battery powered the filaments, a "B" battery powered the plates, and a "C" battery provided the bias.

First, we have to deal with how to get the voltages we need from "car batteries", and discuss some things about "car batteries" that need discussing. Then we'll move on to modifying the wiring in the radio to use our new external voltage sources.

At this point some of you are probably scratching your head and wondering why all this talk about using ONLY "car batteries" to power the radio, and you'd be correct. The simplest thing to do is get a 12 Volt DC to 120 Volt AC inverter, and just run the radio that way. Most receivers don't draw a whole lot of power, so you don't need a big inverter. The SB-310, for example, only draws 50 Watts AC power, less than 1 Amp, so even a small El Cheep-O inverter like this $20 one from Harbor Freight would work. My Drake R-4B, a superb ham band only receiver, draws 60 Watts, still well under 1 amp of AC line current.

BUT, as all the stories go, we're stuck using "car batteries", so that's why I'm writing this (very long...) post.

You'll notice I keep putting "car batteries" in quotes. There's a reason for that.

"Car Batteries" fall into a couple of broad classifications. First, and most common, are what's called "SLI" rated batteries, for "Starting, Lighting, and Ignition" batteries. This type is designed to put out a huge blast of current (several hundred amps) for a short time to get the vehicle started, and then to be recharged by the alternator immediately. They do NOT like to have a constant, low drain applied to them, like the drain that a radio would cause. If used in this service, they will not produce their rated "Amp Hour" capacity, will go "dead" quickly, and will get to the point that they will no longer hold a charge, or even accept a charge. I've personally ruined several SLI batteries by using them as a back-up power source for my "12 Volt" Ham radios. Even though I kept them charged with a properly deigned "battery tender", and watched them carefully, they never lasted more than 12 months.

Expensive lesson, but well-learned.

The next common type is the "Deep Cycle" type. These batteries are designed uses that require a lower current draw for extended periods. Sometimes they're called "motive" batteries, and are used for wheel chairs, golf carts, trolling motors, and solar power storage. Every time I've replaced my car battery I've always replaced it with a deep cycle battery, as there's times I'll run my radio for extended periods without running the engine, and I want to make sure I have enough power left to start the car.

And within the battery types are some sub-classifications depending on the type of construction used.

"Flooded" types have the liquid electrolyte (aka Battery Acid) and removable caps to check the levels. Most of us grew up with this type, and are somewhat familiar with it. I always used distilled water to top off the level, although many sources say that any potable water is OK. Personally, with the cost of distilled water being so low, I could never see using tap water, especially in areas with hard water.

"Valve Regulated Lead Acid" (VRLA) batteries were first seen in the late 1960's, and were marketed as "Maintenance Free" batteries. They used a slightly different chemistry and construction/

"AGM" or Absorbed Glass Mat batteries are newer still, and have a different construction that keeps all the electrolyte in a fiberglass mesh.

And as of 2016 some cars are using Nickle Metal Hydride and Lithium Ion batteries for their power source.

So, with that said, be aware that using old fashioned, flooded construction SLI batteries would work, but the batteries probably won't last as long as you'd like.

Now as to "How Many Batteries Will We Need", we need to look at voltages, and we'll use my trusty SB-310 as our example.

The SB-310 "requires" 185 Volts for the B+, -85 Volts for the Bias, and 6 Volts for the filaments.

Nominal, fully charged voltage for a "12 Volt" automotive battery varies some with the type. We'll go with the current VRLA batteries as they're most common in newer cars.

Fully Charged = 12.66 Volts

50% Charged = 12.10 Volts

25% Charged = 11.95 Volts

  0% Charged = 11.70 Volts

We'll pick 12.5 Volts just to make the math a bit easier.

185 Volts/12.5volts-per-battery= 14.8 batteries.

Kinda of hard to have 8/10ths of a battery, so we'll say 15 batteries.

Fully charged, 15 batteries gives 189.9 Volts, a few volts higher than the nominal 185 Volts for the B+, but nothing to worry about. These radios were designed with 10% tolerance resistors, and most of the capacitors (except in critical tuned circuits) were about as "loose", and the AC line voltage was never exactly "117VAC", so plus or minus a few Volts on the B+ isn't going to matter.

Fully discharged, we'd have 175.5 Volts, enough to keep the receiver running, but pretty hard on the batteries.

For the -85 Volt Bias Supply, we have it easier. Since the Bias Supply is feeding the grids of the tubes (a very high impedance), the resulting current draw is extremely low, on the order of microamps. Rather than lugging another 7 car batteries to make the bias supply, it's much easier to use ten 9 Volt "Transistor Radio" batteries, or any other combination of standard dry cells that gives about 90 Volts.
Then we'd make a simple resistive voltage divider, and adjust the voltage for the 85 Volts (or other required voltage) we need. The bias voltage is a little more critical than the B+ voltage, because if the tubes aren't biased close to where they should be, the radio won't operate properly.

This radio has  6 Volt filament tubes exclusively, with a total draw of 3.3 Amps.

While there are ways to drill and tap into a 12 Volt battery at the 3rd cell and get 6 Volts from it, I've never done it, and only seen pictures of it. I'm going to assume that whoever is attempting to do this (the old "Ham on the Hill"!) has a pretty extensive "Junque Box", and would just make up a 2:1 resistive voltage divider, and use a single 12 Volt battery for the filaments.

So that gets us our required operating voltages. 15 car batteries in series for the B+, one more for the filaments, and a bunch of dry cells for the bias voltage.


In "Part 2" I'll get into modifying an actual radio