A Crummy Commercial

An idea occurred to me:  take a picture of each kit parcel before mailing it (probably stolen from using USPS Informed Delivery all the time).  I've mentioned parcel wrapping previously: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/08/parcel-wrapping.html But I realized that my parcels are rarely the same from order to order.  Sometimes I'll use a box or even make a box.  Often I re-use a bubble pack mailer.  It depends on what was ordered - something like a kit with an enclosure needs a box or a lot of bubble wrap since the phenolic is prone to damage.  But just a few IC chips can be slipped into a bubble pack mailer assuming I use a plastic shipping tube to lessen crush damage. And always plenty of strapping tape ! But we all have multiple digital cameras now and oodles of digital storage space - why not use them ?   I remember a friend from the GTE days mentioning one of his previous jobs at a company that made a check image digitizer - this was in the lat...

uncrewed Starliner detaches on first flight to the ISS in 2022 https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/boeing-will-try-to-fly-its-troubled-starliner-capsule-back-to-earth-next-week/ https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/nasa-makes-a-very-tough-decision-in-setting-final-crew-9-assignments/ Interesting that there is one spare Spacex suit on the ISS - but why are there two spacesuit designs ?  Why not a single unified design or some kind of adapter (if required) so they can use "foreign" suits on each capsule ?  I suppose the Soyuz suits are also unique.  Am I the only one thinking of these things ?  :) Also, why name the ships Starliner or Starship ?  There is only 1 star that either of them might ever reach and that's the Sun and they are already as close as they probably want to get ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

One recent find (for me) was the National Weather Service radar gifs.  These are small gif files that give me a quick indication of any bad weather moving towards the island: an example gif a link to the one from Green Bay:  https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/KGRB_loop.gif This site has the gifs organized by state and locality: https://www.radarmonster.com/radars/ If something is brewing up I can still check the local TV station (I use channel 2 in Green Bay): https://www.wbay.com/weather/ It has the forecast and the bigger radar map but it's much slower to load than the gif. I delight in being wrong: the internet actually improved (at least for a quick radar check). Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I started probing around the kit with a voltmeter and scope.  The DC readings on the transistors in the 12AT7 socket seemed reasonable.  But the transistor reading for 6AN8 socket was off on the audio LC oscillator pin 1 (drain) below a volt.  I tried subbing other transistors but no help. The transistors in the 6AN8 socket are the audio LC oscillator and buffer amplifier.  The transistors in the 12AT7 socket are the RF oscillators - so I tried looking at the output of the transistor in the12AT7 socket before it is coupled to the buffer: It's not a perfect sine but certainly a lot better than the buffered output.  Then I ran into more trouble - the oscillator suddenly quit as I was probing the buffered output with the scope.  It took a long time but I finally realized that I had shorted the 9V supply to ground through the 75 ohm added resistor but that I hadn't noticed excessive current due to the HP supply current limiting.  After removing that short ...

I was looking for the Heathkit IG-102 manual and did find it but also found the invoices and the classified ad: from Sunday March 23, 1980 Chicago Tribune Why did I buy with two transactions ? The VTVM cost more than the signal generator !  $20 versus $15  -  also, shipping included  - and even amount pricing (file that away for the future) ! If only I had gotten the IO-4560 scope !  $60 might have been too much ?  While it was a solid state design it was only 5 MHz and no calibrated time base or 1-2-5 calibrated vertical amp.  So I must have turned up my engineering nose at such a primitive beast (although I eventually bought a 100 kHz Fairchild hybrid tube/transistor scope that was equally primitive). The Vectorscope ?  IO-101  must not have seemed like a good deal being only 10 bucks off ?  Also I probably didn't (and still don't) understand how it was used. A rough 4x inflation factor - of course I get more from Social Security today...

I finally did the Heathkit IG-102 solid state conversion.  First a no-touch type of conversion was tried with LND-150 depletion mode high voltage MOSFETs - this "worked" but only up to 17 MHz or so. So this morning I subbed 2n3819 JFETs for the LND150s.  Also the power cord was removed and the high-voltage parts were disconnected. Per this article in a collection from 73 Magazine (see page 214): https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Technology/TAB-Books/TAB-99-Test-Equipment-Projects-You-Can-Build-73-Magazine-197.pdf I soldered in a 75 ohm resistor in parallel with a 33,000 ohm resistor and a 91 ohm resistor in parallel with a 4700 ohm resistor and tried it out.  It does oscillate, here is the waveform on 10 meters: But the modulation LC oscillator doesn't seem to work, also the waveform is quite distorted (as it was before with tubes or the LND150) so that will have to be fixed - but later - I will quit for now with a win ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb...

Starliner at the ISS from the window of Crew Dragon https://www.wired.com/story/starliner-return-nasa-spacex-boeing-iss/ https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/its-official-nasa-calls-on-crew-dragon-to-rescue-the-starliner-astronauts/ https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/after-latest-starliner-setback-will-boeing-ever-deliver-on-its-crew-contract/ As previously blogged: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/08/two-starliner-items-in-ars.html This just seems smart to me, the 2 astronauts who will be bumped will also be bummed out but I suspect that that happens a lot to astronauts. It will be interesting to see what happens when Starliner comes back by itself - also to see what Boeing does, do they just cut bait or try to stick it out ? Boeing is really on the wrong heading recently. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-expands-publications-archive Previously mentioned that this was kinda-sorta available before but was withdrawn: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-arrl-giveth.html So re-trying the N6NWP search I was able to download some of Jacob's QEX articles, nice. And the QEX scans are much higher resolution than the QST scans, also nice ! This is going to be really handy for looking into technical topics and seeing how others have handled them. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-it-security-incident-report-to-members I was surprised to hear that a ransom was paid IF:  "ransom demands were dramatically weakened by the fact that they did not have access to any compromising data"     What does that mean ? I suppose paying a ransom was just a cost benefit calculation and that we will never know exactly how it happened or who the criminals are. And I guess there is no chance that the money will ever be recovered. Keeping everything hush-hush was probably a good idea as far as getting through the incident but a bad idea for public relations. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm  

 I purchased some fiber on ebay.  I've bought from this seller before with no problem.  However this time walking back from the mailbox with an unusually heavy parcel I noticed a sound: a klank.  It turned out that the box contained this: no wonder there was a klank . not only was it sent ground in a pri mail box, the USPS noticed the weight discrepancy So I complained on ebay and in a few days the fiber did appear.  However no apology from the seller on their mistake, in fact no communication at all. A couple of weeks later I do get an email from the seller wondering if I received the replacement fiber and wondering what was up with the return of the klanking springs.  I replied that I had received the fiber but hadn't gotten any email from the seller on a return label.  The seller replied that a return label was included in with the fiber - I had seen the label but it hadn't registered that it was for a return.  Anyway I finally returned the spr...

 I was seriously considering the purchase of this old Allied ham receiver: source: https://www.ebay.com/itm/27659 4861934 $88 plus $21.73 shipping isn't a horrible price for a decent looking solid state receiver.  But today after seeing the results of that auction of old stuff mentioned here:   https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/08/who-will-buy.html I decided not to bid - who needs more stuff that will probably get used once in a great while and probably not even enough to keep the dust off ? BTW, the bucket o tubes went for $9 !! https://titletownauctions.hibid.com/lot/209554098/bucket-of-radio-tubes?ref=catalog Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm  

 source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZkYj6sub0U   I thought this video was interesting if for no other reason than it was narration silent and followed the Buster Keaton rule for silent films: minimal title cards  :)   I suppose that surviving re-entry from low earth orbit isn't as hard to do as returning from the moon but the heat shield concerns with the Orion part of the Artemis moon rocket makes me wonder if somehow that Apollo heat shield technology was lost along the way ?   Anyway, amazing that an inflated balloon can survive the re-entry from low earth orbit.   Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Who will bid my bucket-o-tubes ? two dollar minimum who will bid on my bucket ? just two dollars Will you buy any electron tubes today, madam ? Any vacuum thermionic valves, sir ? someone has bid my bucket-o-tubes three dollars to take it someone has put $2 down for my nearly full bucket won't you consider this assortment of tubes ? any advance on two dollars for you, sir ? ( with apologies to the creators of Oliver! - yes there is a reason why QST does not accept poetry for publication :) picture source: https://titletownauctions.hibid.com/lot/209554098/bucket-of-radio-tubes?ref=catalog All I know is, resist the temptation to thoroughly wash those dusty tubes because the part number markings are NOT robust !  Ask me how I know :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

  Another day of computer problems so no regular blog today - the Windows 10 Toshiba laptop finally shut itself off and expired ?  Apparently an electro/mechanico failure - no amount of cable jiggling would get the charge LED to turn on. So on to plan b: the "new" Windows 11 machine, a Lenovo Ideapad.  I am not used to either Windows 11 or the new keyboard layout - but no real choice other than to "get used to it". Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

OK, I guess this isn't that new: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/08/this-is-new.html but I hadn't seen the sleeve ads on the jersey before Cleveland came into Milwaukee: Now the store version of the jersey doesn't seem to have the ad (yet?): Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I got this message from Facebook: Yeah it's because I refuse to allow their tracking - I really don't care - I only joined because I heard that *possibly* someone has been uploading new Vic and Sade programs.  But Facebook is utterly useless - a search revealed nothing new about Vic and Sade. I tried to delete the Facebook account but nope, it won't let me. Sometimes the internet still delights but not this day. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Not sure that I like it: Ads on the mound ?  What is next, ads on the jerseys ?  And then after that, the fans purchase jerseys with ads on them ? Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I finally opened my last quart of grape juice from last year (mentioned previously): https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/10/grape-juice-in-my-opinion-welchs-earns.html Since I don't normally buy carbonated beverages I thought: why not make my own grape soda ?  Grape juice is acidic and baking soda is basic - together they form the foam of carbon dioxide, soda ! But first, let's verify that the grape juice is actually acidic using a test strip: rinsed it looks like pH 3 or 4, acidic   And also verify with a Bing search: Finally added some sugar (to mask the sour) and a little baking soda to make instant soda: a little hard to see but foamy for sure Not terribly exciting but novelty is always welcome ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I don't really know what to make of this experience.  I was messing with Traxmaker a couple of days ago, previously mentioned here: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/08/traxmaker.html using it for a modification to a simple circuit board, a variation of this failed kit idea: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/06/kit-failure.html For some reason I couldn't bring up the floating menu with a right click - this makes it easy to modify an existing board to select a trace and change the width of a trace or to perform many other changes. But all the right clicking on the mouse pad did nothing.  Now I didn't try it with an actual mouse or try it on a new PC - I was in a hurry so I just worked around the lack of the right click menu. Today for the heck of it I retried Traxmaker and the right click worked fine: a right click brought up the floating menu on the lower left   So what was the problem ?  Hardware ?  Software ?  Me ? (I hope it's not the last one :)  I h...

Starliner at the ISS  I saw two stories on Ars Technica about the Boeing Starliner crew capsule: https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/with-starliner-stuck-in-space-has-nasas-safety-culture-changed-since-columbia/ and: https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/nasa-is-about-to-make-its-most-important-safety-decision-in-nearly-a-generation/   One interesting item was that NASA management didn't try to use a spy satellite to see if the shuttle Columbia's heat shield had been damaged by the foam strike at launch because there was no way to rescue the crew if they did find evidence of damage - that is a really scary: "see no evil" attitude. Personally I'd say try bringing back the astronauts home later on a Spacex capsule.  Try bringing Starliner home robotically without any crew as was done with the first Starliner mission to the ISS.  We know Starliner has problems, why take a risk ? Ironically I think that even having Starliner at all is due to that NASA reality with C...

A search for "IG-102" on this very handy site by Mike Yancey: https://mikeyancey.com/73mag/index.php revealed an article by Julian Rossnick in 73 Magazine for May 1978: https://archive.org/details/73-magazine-1978-05/page/120/mode/1up?view=theater the article is also available here: https://www.nostalgickitscentral.com/heath/73-index/articles/IG-102%20Goes%20Transistor-5-78.pdf Perfect !  The article modifies the IG-102 by using 4 JFETs to take the place of the two tubes.  The power supply is disconnected and a battery can be used OR the filament supply can be modified to produce low voltage DC.  Two resistors are added to the circuit.  A very (hopefully) easy mod ! Interestingly the article specifies the transistors as either Calectro K 4-634 (Calectro supplied carded components to TV repair shops and small electronic retailers) a different part, found on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/204743838552   OR the article mentions an 8 FET transistor assortment from R...