During one of my CW classes, a couple of my students were waxing on about the fun they had in assembling a QRP Labs QCX+ radio kit. They invited me to participate in the fun. Although I’ve done small kits in the past, this was much more ambitious. I was leery what paltry soldering skills […]
QCX+ 5W CW transceiver kit Read More »
Where to start… (extensively updated 2023-10-26) I initially asked a couple of geocaching friends what they did, and it was evident their visits were stopovers onto somewhere else. It is possible do visit many sites from day-trips while staying in Reykjavik. However, this was my travel destination. While doing a couple of day trips from
Iceland Planning Retrospective Read More »
My how time flies. It’s been over 17 (!) years since I undertook replacing all four of our bathroom sinks. The fixtures (which were the house original) have been looking sad faced and the pop-up linkage is flaky. The sinks, to varying degrees, could use a spruce up as they are visibly worn where water
Four Sinks for 2021 Read More »
To celebrate the oven’s 10th birthday, the “hot surface” light would come on more often (such as running the oven, but not burner) and stay on up to three hours (!) after the surface has reached room temperature. Each heating element has a thermostat, and this is a symptom of one or more of those
What to do when the hot surface light on the oven stays on … Read More »
I have had some interest in experimenting with satellite radio. Typically you transmit on one band, receive on another. This can be done with two radios, but I wanted to keep things simpler and use one. I happened to find someone selling a Kenwood TM-V71a mobile radio for an attractive price. It’s a nice radio,
Replacing a noisy radio fan in my Kenwood TM-V71a (and ICOM 208) Read More »
If you give a mouse a cookie, they’ll get crumbs and chocolate all over their clothes. When they get crumbs and chocolate all over their clothes, the laundry piles up. When the laundry piles up, you will need to use the Electrolux front-loading washing machine. When you do several years-worth of laundry in the Electrolux front-loading washing machine, you’ll
If you give a Mouse a cookie (Electrolux style) Read More »
A year+ of hiking has wrought havoc on the screen of my Garmin GPSMAP 64 screen in the form of numerous scratches from the unit rolling 70 feet down Rattlesnake Ridge viewpoint (when the carabiner prematurely unclicked) and rubbing up against several rock faces as I scooted along a narrow ledge to get to some insane
Removing Scratches from a Garmin GPSMAP 64s screen Read More »
A few times a year, the last person coming into the house via the garage will forget to shut the door, leaving its contents vulnerable to critters or the unruly, post-apocalyptic mobs speeding through our quiet suburban streets at night. The obvious solution is to check it each night before I go to bed. But that’s a
Garage Door Automation Read More »