A Crummy Commercial

I saw this part mentioned on the GQRP email list (I gotta renew my membership one of these days !): Had never heard of it before, apparently it is quiet enough for radio use.  Not super cheap but reasonable: And it should also plug in for a 78L05 (ground in the middle pinout not necessarily space wise) but not sure on how the Recom compares as far as power goes.  While it only has a 500 mA rating the 7805 needs a big heatsink to handle a full 1 A current, over 7 watts.  This might be a candidate for an emergency USB charger from a 12V source: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2025/05/charge.html The 9 volt version also looks interesting for use with transistor radios during a power outage.  No power event today but the internet was out for almost 1/2 hour - as long as the temperature stays below freezing the power should be relatively secure - it's that ice on the trees plus wind that causes problems.  Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm  

Continuing with the maple sap / syrup saga: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2026/03/dialing-it-in-part-ii.html I did start using the Ozeri scale to measure the input mass of the sap AND the output mass of the syrup.  Also I tried to account for some condensation drops inside the top of the still.  So the amount of loss to evaporation seems to be roughly 40 grams of a 4000 gram sap input or 1 percent.  The longer the boil the more the evaporation loss. In addition, instead of measuring the output volume of distilled water I'm now measuring the output mass near the end of the boil rather than when the boil was finished.  This lets me make a better decision on when to stop the boil.  I just happened to have this shelf on my bench to support a power supply.  It is the perfect height to boost the still above the Rubbermaid pitcher. Because the scale turns itself off after 2 or 5 minutes I have to wait until near the end of the boil.  Then boost up the pitcher, ...

A quick Friday the 13th, midst of a blizzard post before the power goes out ? It happened again, this was the last time: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2026/03/i-got-usps-blues.html The USPS had me waiting around all day for a parcel - finally after 3 PM I rechecked and saw this: This is baloney - the USPS is circling the drain and possibly my business along with it. Update: Friday afternoon 2026-3-13, the package showed up in the middle of a snowstorm on Friday the 13th so I shouldn't be quite so critical: I'm getting old and cranky, folks ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm  

I took a few quick snaps before sun down on Wednesday and also this morning.  It had been light snow and cloudy most of the day but then got sun late afternoon.    But I think we had only a micro ice storm so no major power outage (to my knowledge) on the island.  When the sun comes out it can be pretty.  But not really since there was a biting wind - it is still winter here - all that bare brown under the melted snow had me thinking of putting up antennas on Monday but by Wednesday all had changed. I bought a penlight which I keep with me (nothing worse than getting caught in "certain rooms" when the power goes out) and I've got all my various batteries charged but hopefully I won't need them. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Wyllis Cooper, author of Quiet Please This is a weird old time radio show: https://archive.org/details/Quiet_Please/Quiet_Please_490306_090_The_Man_Who_Knew_Everything.mp3 It made me think of all the AI / search engines after they've been stuffed (OK, trained) on all the information ever created.  They will know everything.  After they attain consciousness will they tire of all the questions ?  Will they ruminate on their "death" (or would that be resurrection or reincarnation for an artificial life form ?  :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm  

An interesting documentary on The New Yorker Youtube channel: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyqZp-XtFzo The literalist in me was picturing Brach's on the west side of Chicago - you could see it from the Lake Dan Ryan elevated train  :) source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/balinesecat/11576873646   No artists in that factory !  Here is a photo from the 1920s when Brach's built the factory:     One lady I worked with at GTE told me she worked there for a while - and that it was true that the workers could eat the candy if they wanted - but that a person really does get sick of candy after a while. One thing that struck me from The Candy Factory was when Rafael showed these: They are small but REAL tools - what I got one time was this: NOT real tools, the only thing I kept was the tin box which now contains circuit boards: Would I have become something different if I had been given better tools ?   I doubt it. This documentary also remi...

I saw this blog post on EDN about a Renogy 10 watt solar battery charger: https://www.edn.com/jumping-the-jeep-an-alternative-cost-effective-solar-cell-example-app/ So I bought one on Ebay, not new but sent USPS in a box, nice.  It arrived today and looks OK although there was a little gunk on the panel surface which wiped off with a little distilled water, no problem. it even came with hookup cables, nice I hooked it up to the lawn tractor battery and saw about 170 mA in the noon sun - not super huge but the rated max short circuit current is only 590 mA  ?  I took it outside and got 500 mA of short circuit current, pretty close to the spec considering sketchy current measurement and the fact that it's still technically winter here. specs are screened on the back covering Note my previous solar battery charger panel from over 30 years ago (bought at a True Value like "the Mangler" pliers - why did I shop there ?  :)   only gives about 30 mA of short circui...