Mentoring

The Power Is Yours

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I had the opportunity to do some troubleshooting the other day. I was operating my HF radio on 10.111 MHz and suddenly it turned off. It came right back on and I continued. A short while later it turned off and stayed off. Hmmm … A small table light stayed on (plugged into the same power bar as my power supply) so I knew the issue had to be either the power supply or my radio. I turned on my VHF radio and it came on. I did observe one of my cats in the general vicinity of the back of my desk where my wiring is. I turned the power supply off and looked around the back where the radios attach. Sure enough, the positive wire from my HF rig was disconnected. It turned out that the spade connector had come off after being interacted with by one of my catz (bad crimping on my part). I crimped on a new connector and attached it to the power supply. When I turned everything on, the HF radio powered up and has had no further issues. Problem solved. Why am I sharing this? Maybe to illustrate the point that it is always best to check the simple solutions before you dig yourself in to much deeper territory. If I had started with the radio as the issue, I would have spent several hours testing and finding nothing. Instead I looked at the simple things first and fixed the problem in just a few minutes.

Namaste, Y’all

One More Lap in the Rat Race

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There is currently a thunderstorm going on. It has rained 18.29 MM in the past hour. Gotta love it. I had left my windows in my car cracked open and had to venture out into a waterfall to close them. One good thing, the storm has lowered the outside temperature from 32 C to 21 C. It makes it a lot more comfortable. Unfortunately, I can’t use my radio right now as I have no desire to have my equipment fried by lightening. It might be an exciting afternoon. Here is a copy of the NWS bulletin:

Special Weather Statement issued May 22 at 2:​47​PM EDT by NWS State College

…STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL IMPACT SOUTHWESTERN SCHUYLKILL…
NORTHUMBERLAND…DAUPHIN…EAST CENTRAL FRANKLIN…EASTERN SNYDER…
SOUTHEASTERN MONTOUR…SOUTHEASTERN COLUMBIA…CUMBERLAND…EASTERN PERRY AND NORTHWESTERN LEBANON COUNTIES THROUGH 330 PM EDT…
At 246 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along a line extending from Northumberland to 14 miles south of Selinsgrove to near Carlisle to near Chambersburg. Movement was east at 25 mph.
HAZARD…Winds up to 45 mph and pea size hail.
SOURCE…Radar indicated.
IMPACT…Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. Minor hail damage to vegetation possible.
Locations impacted include…
Harrisburg, Chambersburg, Carlisle, Lower Allen, Colonial Park, Sunbury, Progress, Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, Shamokin, New Cumberland, Linglestown, Enola, Steelton, Mount Carmel, Selinsgrove, Shippensburg, Danville, Lemoyne and Northumberland.
MAX HAIL SIZE…0.25 IN MAX WIND GUST…40 MPH

The other day, while out shopping, I was able to save a wood turtle that was crossing the road. I picked her up and carried her across while lecturing her on traffic safety. I try to save turtles as often as I can. I have a soft spot for them, and they are not good at outrunning cars.

Speaking of radio, propagation has been rising. There are more and more dx openings and the shorter wave-length bands are opening up on a daily basis. I am seeing more and more spots on 17M and 12M. It might just be a great sunspot cycle!

enuff for now. Namaste!

Suck it up, Buttercup!

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I will not mention the page where this happened, but I had a tag line up next to my name which read “Je suis devenu la mort, le destructeur des mondes” which translates into English as “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”. This is a famous quote from Oppenheimer referring to the first test of the atomic bomb. I was asked by a moderator (in private which I appreciated) to replace it with something more related to radio. I pointed out the origin and how it was transmitted over the radio and he said that he was aware of this but it might bring complaints from some users. I did take it down as we were conversing and I asked him if someone had complained. He said no but that they have received complaints in the past about some of my tag lines. Ok. Some little thin-skinned snowflake whined to the moderators rather than having the courtesy to say something to me directly. That is so like a grade school kid running to the teacher because someone said something that offended them. When did this world come to this? If I have a problem with someone I address the issue to them rather than whining to an authority figure. If there is no resolution reached then I bring in an outside person. Oh well, the world has turned.

Wow, just wow

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Here are my thoughts as of right now. First off, if your state goes to the effort of installing roundabouts (traffic circles in some areas) then an effort should be made to educate people on how they work. They are supposed to make traffic flow smoothly and folks who pull up to the entrance and sit there waiting for the circle to be completely clear are defeating that purpose. Second, if you pull out in front of someone at least make an effort to get up to the speed limit instead of rolling along at a snails pace. Third, show some courtesy and consideration to truckers. Don’t pull in front of them and slow down, don’t cut them off. Now I do have more things on my mind. You (each and every individual) don’t know everything and your way of doing things is not the only way. If someone shares some information or or an idea with a group, don’t try to show your superiority by making negative comments and/or telling them how wrong they are. By doing this you are not showing anything but how big an asshole you are. 🙂

It was beautiful weather today. I had mown my lawn the other day, right before it snowed and I am glad that I did. It was getting a bit shaggy. Also it was nice to have a bit of slack time this afternoon prior to having to get ready for work. I got to sit with my kittehs and relax …. except for one incident. My largest goldfish somehow found a way to jump out of the aquarium. I picked him and placed him back in the tank. Now we are keeping an eye on him to make sure he is okay.

Enough for now. Namaste, y’all

Some Thoughts

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Here are some thoughts: It pays to be prepared. You might laugh at people who prep but what if they are right and you are wrong? Would it hurt for you to have some basic skills and supplies? Skills to include knowing how to sharpen a knife, how to fire a gun, how to forage for food, how to identify which local plants are edible, how to preserve and can food, how to live without electricity. This is by far an incomplete list. There are a lot of good books and resources online to help. Never be afraid to learn. Another useful skill is map reading to include land navigation. Some good things to have: a high-quality knife or 2, canning supplies, battery and solar powered radios, “survival” food, gardening supplies, a rifle and a hand gun, bow and arrows, fishing supplies, water filters, a good quality backpack, good quality walking/hiking shoes. Again, not a comprehensive list, just some things to get your brain engaged. It would also be useful to have some ham radio gear and a license so that you would know how to operate this gear. You could even go as far as to learn basic radio repair. I am sure you could come up with some method of producing electricity to supply modest needs such as solar panels, wind turbines and or water turbines. An additional skill that could be valuable is producing alcohol. Learn to make beer and wine as these would make great trading commodities.

Bitchin !!

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Here is something to bitch about: I get updates from shipping companies via e-mail. Using today as an example, I was expecting delivery today as I had received an e-mail informing me that it had been loaded up in a van for delivery as of 03:47 this morning and the expected delivery time was prior to 20:00 this evening. At 15:30 I received an email informing me that it was checked back into the depot at 15:00 and will be delivered tomorrow by 20:00. Did they load my package into a van and take it for a 11 hour drive???? Did they treat it nice? Did the driver at least buy my package lunch or did they let it sit in the pile in the back with no acknowledgment? When I order something I would like it delivered when you say you will deliver it. This driving around for days with my package shows a deep and profound lack of respect.

Ok done bitchin now.

Reflections (not the song)

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Here it is, the day before a predicted storm and I am sitting here thinking about stuff. I like to watch science shows and learn from them, for instance, how the human genome includes around 2.5% neanderthal DNA if you are not of African extraction. Addictive personalities are caused by some of the genes. Neat stuff. Somewhere out there in the cosmos is a quasar pointed towards the Earth that might have fired off a gamma ray burst and will wipe us out. This event could have happened millions of years ago and might not hit us for millions more … or could hit tomorrow. Cats were once worshiped as Gods and still behave as if they ARE Gods. And here is something to ponder: on January 15th 1919 a tank holding 2.3 million gallons of molasses in Boston burst open and a wave of black sticky sweet molasses flowed through the streets at about 35 MPH, killing 21 and injuring 150 others. Life can be funny that way.

Adventures in Snowblowing

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Anyone who lives/has lived in a northern climate knows the joys of having to clean up after a snow storm. Today I after I woke up, I had to do that. First we had to make a trip down to my mum-in-laws place ( a senior community) and clean out her car. The folks who run the place contract for someone to plow the main part of the lots and the sidewalks but they end up burying the residents’ cars, for the most part. Most of the residents don’t have the physical ability to clean their cars off and un bury them. We and other relatives of the residents go down there and clean up.

Once that was done we came back home. I had to purchase some shear pins the other day as 2 of them had snapped in my blower. I went to replace them and found a large rock wedged under the auger on one side. I was able to hammer the rock out of there and then I had to drive the broken pins out of the shaft. Once this was done, I got the blower started and did the clean up in my driveway and the walk up to the house. Gotta love winter!!