Now I feel all hammy and stuff

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So some months back I had bought a P25 capable scanner off ebay, paid a couple hundred bucks for it and actually though I got an ok deal for what it was.  But when I got it the volume pot had gone bad.  I negotiated a 50% discount from the seller as he had listed it as minty.  Then I bought a couple new pots from Uniden for less than $10 shipped.  Last weekend I finally got around to teaching myself how to solder (and unsolder) components on PCBs.  Tonight I fixed that mother.  At least it seemed to be working when I was done with it.  I’ll have to see if it works in the morning – it’s possible the connections could crack from the on/off heat cycles, but my solder points looked pretty solid.

Now I need to figure out how to run the thing.  It’s got byzantine menus that do their best to obfuscate their meaning.  I am poking around Radio Reference.com to see if there’s anything that can help me decode it – at the very least it looks like I can raid their database of frequencies and get them input via serial cable instead of hand.  I’ll have to read up on how to connect it to the computer :p

Anyway, now I feel all hammy and stuff because amateur radio operators are supposed to be super technical geek people and I never measured up in that department.  So this ability to do my own soldering is opening up new avenues for me and giving me additional skills that I can actually apply in many different areas.  Plus I didn’t have to pay someone $50+ for 5 minutes of soldering work :)

Loctite

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If a little loctite is good, a lot must be better, right?    Man, that stuff comes out of the tube fast :p  Anyway, the sight on that Romanian SKS should not move too much now.

Update!!!

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It’s been a while since I have updated the fabulous but lonely blog.  I’ve spent the New Years holiday long weekend moving more crap from the old house to the new.  I’ve got one more load of things from the inside of the house to bring over, and then a metric shit ton of things from the garage and yard.  I’ll have to get the trailer out to get some of it – I don’t feel like lifting the spare Scout axles up to the truck bed, so they’ll get put on the lower height the trailer offers.  It will provide a somewhat decent storage option, too :p

I’ve got 16 foot fencing panels to bring back as well as a few small chicken houses.  That’s all trailer stuff.  I’ve got brick and cement blocks to come over still as well.  Multiple trips worth.  I might have to take the pickup topper off to load those – having to bend over like that makes the blocks at least three times as heavy.  I wish I could put those on the trailer, but it is a flat trailer with no sides and I’m too paranoid of them falling off on the highway.  I’ve seen it happen, it’s not a pretty site.

We’re still trying to decide where to put everything inside.  My office is still a mess.  I’ve put book shelves in the rec room so I can at least get the 100 boxes of books moved to their proper place.  I’ve gotten a heavy duty shelf to put in the storage room so we can get those boxes emptied and the items put in their place.  I may have to get another shelf.  I’ll definitely have to get another shelf unit to put in the cold room I’m using for a root cellar. 

Still trying to figure out how to put up an HF antenna.  I’m limited to wire antennas for now due to pricing, but I need to have a tower or pole of some kind to get them up.  I’m looking at ways to mount them off the roof but that makes other problems.  I’m thinking about just stringing one from the roof top over to the barn, but then I have a feedline hanging there in the middle of the yard.  It would make the perfect thing for the Faithful Dog to play with.  By the time I put in some kind of pipe tower in the ground to protect that I may as well start looking at the more expensive solutions to begin with.  I have some surplus fiberglass poles I could put up but they are a bit susceptible to the cold and I don’t really want to sacrifice them for a short term gain.   And any solution will make me need to bury the coax in the ground till I get to the up section.  That’s doable but I really should use some conduit to protect against the coax from the dirt environment.  I suppose I should do that no matter what :p  Just logistics I need to figure out.  Should have put some thought into it earlier I guess, but that would have required some kind of forethought which I seem to be in short supply of.

Whatev.

A couple more weeks till the next Appleseed.  Haven’t touched that second SKS yet.  I’ll have to get that prepared this weekend and make sure it still shoots.  For science, of course.

Offices of the Damned

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I had some time over the weekend to begin setting up my office/radio room/gun smything area in the basement.  I’ve put in all the counter surfaces and tried to find places for my PC and radios.  I’d spent the last year “collecting” them but I’d never actually had them alllll out and set in place before.  Turns out I’ve got too much shit.  But whatever.

Part of my problem was that I’m used to using a 3 ft deep desktop, so I could put the radios to the back of the desk and still have some room at the front for my keyboard and work area.  Now I’ve gone with regular laminated countertops, because they just looked cooler, and those are only 2 ft deep, so now I have to spread everything out linearly instead of stacking.  Well, I’ve got room but I’m still searching for the most efficient layout.  But at least I’ve got something going so I can move forward.

I need to get some more shelving in place and find a home for items that have been stuffed away in storage.  Turns out I’ve got too much shit.  But whatever.

The next major hurdle for getting my station back on the air is to get a ground rod set into the earth.  In the middle of winter.  Hopefully it is pointy enough that a post driver will be able to shove it past the frozen clay, all 10 foot of it.  Ima have to get a ladder just to get it started.  THEN I can buy lots of copper crap to hook the ground line together.  THEN I can begin to get some antennas out into the air.  Eager to get things going – I’ve got radios I’ve never operated for sitting in storage.

The Testosterone Is Just Flowing

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I had a chance to change the oil in the truck yesterday.  Since I now have a garage I can actually get into (instead of maneuvering around a maze of junk) it’s become more convenient to do it myself than take it someplace.  Well, it doesn’t hurt that the nearest oil change place is more than a few miles away either.

I always forget just how far the oil will stream out when you let loose the plug.  I placed the pan directly underneat the drain so it can just fall right down into it, but of course the oil has some pressure on it so it comes out in an arc and misses the pan.  Ever damn time – you’d think I could remember it but I guess I don’t do it myself enough to hammer home the point.  Oh well, that’s what oil dri is for, right?

I’ll have to make time for Loyal Wife’s car next.

I’m All Manly and Stuff

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Replaced the cartridge in one of the bathroom sinks.  Now we have running water in ALL the sinks.

I was real handyman like; I had to remove one screw and then the cartridge.  Then I REPLACED the cartridge AND the screw!

Top that beyotch!!!

AR is finished.

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Well, I haven’t fooled around with the flash hider yet and I realize now that I should have installed that sling swivel rivet before I put the handguard on >:[