RE: The Boatanchors Net

Yes Dan, I’m aware of your situation. My own personal belief is that your impending retirement will only be a formality, because you’re so accustomed to running at Warp 25 from the instant you get up until your head hits the pillow. “Retirement” sounds so inviting, but you seem to be one of those people who will be always finding things to do is stave off boredom.

 

As I I said, Michael and I need to do some rudimentary troubleshooting first in order to save time later by determining what the problem is not. It would be helpful to us if you could speculate in email about what the cause might be. What, in your experience, might cause a 820 to suddenly go completely dead? Did you see anything suspicions that might later cause a failure, for example?

 

From: Dan Cox [mailto:k8wozdan@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2015 4:40 PM
To: Scott Royall
Subject: Re: The Boatanchors Net

 

Scott, all; I’ve not had time to read all of what has happened to the TS-820 but other than a few “scratchy” controls (Mic gain and RIT for example), the radio worked very well and had an excellent and stable receiver when I worked on it. Unfortunately, with a full time job that takes about 11-12 hrs/day there is not much time for talking on the “appliances” let alone fixing things right now. After I get a receiver going for Sammy and a Kenwood TS-530 going, I could probably come over, pick it up and take another look. This could be a month or so down the line but if no one else can get there sooner, I can take a shot at it.

Will try to go back and look at the emails to see what all has happened to it.

Talk soon; Dan K8WOZ  

 

On Tue, Feb 17, 2015 at 1:48 PM, Scott Royall <royall@conchbbs.com> wrote:

I suppose that means Michael and I need to convene and at least do some rudimentary troubleshooting on the Kenwood. :O

 

Michael is easy to remember. How many guys do you know who wear kilts 365 days a year? Oops, I forgot I’m talking to “Renaissance” people, that question might get a unexpected answer.

 

Yes, Jim could probably Jap-slap the 820 back to consciousness in an afternoon. Too bad he lives on the far side of Pluto.

 

 

From: Lynn Fisk [mailto:k5lynaustin@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2015 11:26 AM
To: Scott Royall
Cc: Michael Wrenn
Subject: Re: The Boatanchors Net

 

Michael, Scott, greetings.  I am sorry I am a bit slow to pick up on all this, being stretched and scattered as we are at Sherwood.

 

Michael, I’m trying to place you.  We visited last year a time or to, if I remember correctly, but I can’t recall the circumstances.  Maybe you can come by this weekend and we can renew the acquaintance?

 

And Scott, about your radio–I would be more help with an older radio.  Those hybrid rigs, especially, the old Kenwoods, can be really great, but there are too many solid state parts for me to understand them.  Maybe Dan or Jim can be more help. And Scott, continue to join us on Wednesday evenings while this project is in the works.  We’ll talk again soon.  73, K5LYN

 

On Sun, Feb 15, 2015 at 12:30 PM, Scott Royall <royall@conchbbs.com> wrote:

Out here? Where are you? Ah,  Austin. That explains where you are these weekends. I’m lucky if I get to TRF once a year.

 

Anyway, Lynn is more of a Central Electronics and Collins guy. Dan is more the generalist, if he has time and the inclination. Otherwise, I have to ship it off and hope for the best.

BTW, my other stuff is here.

 

From: Michael Wrenn [mailto:michael.wrenn@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2015 8:41 PM
To: Scott Royall
Subject: RE: The Boatanchors Net

 

I know Lynn. He works out here at Sherwood Forest Faire.

All the best,

Michael Wrenn

On Feb 13, 2015 7:57 PM, “Scott Royall” <royall@conchbbs.com> wrote:

No big deal, Lynn. I was running the external VFO on the TS-820S, and I couldn’t get it to transmit on frequency. In fact, with the switches set per the manual, the transceiver kept trying to transmit using the non-existent crystal in the Fixed position. Yeah, you read correctly, it was very confused. If I moved the Function switch to the internal VFO position, I could transmit on the external VFO, but 1.5 KHz below my receive frequency. Are we confused enough yet?

 

It turns out that the actual issue is apparently something Dan commented on when he delivered the rig. He said it was really dirty inside. And, although he did some cleaning, I can tell from wiggling the controls that various contacts still need a good encounter with De-Oxit! Unfortunately, I just had another more serious run-in with the general issue this evening as I was trying to tune the 820 up for the first time on 40m. I couldn’t get any output no matter what I did until I accidentally bumped the Mode switch. That gave me plenty of output—for about 30 seconds.

 

You can guess what happened. Before I could finish tuning up, there was a curious rustling sound and the radio went completely dead. It really didn’t sound like a “pop,” but I obviously murdered a fuse in the 820, because it is now a 39-pound paperweight! Sigh. I’ll have to ask Dan or Michael to come cast “raise dead” on the beast.

 

From: Lynn Fisk [mailto:k5lynaustin@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2015 7:06 PM
To: royall@conchbbs.com
Subject: The Boatanchors Net

 

Scott, greetings.  I am delighted that you have been joining our net recently. Last night you said something about a difficulty with the rig you are working on, but it went by me too fast.

 

If you want to explain more, I’ll do what I can to help.

 

Thanks for coming by, and 73.

 

K5LYN, Lynn.

 

 

RE: The Boatanchors Net

I suppose that means Michael and I need to convene and at least do some rudimentary troubleshooting on the Kenwood. :O

 

Michael is easy to remember. How many guys do you know who wear kilts 365 days a year? Oops, I forgot I’m talking to “Renaissance” people, that question might get a unexpected answer.

 

Yes, Jim could probably Jap-slap the 820 back to consciousness in an afternoon. Too bad he lives on the far side of Pluto.

 

 

From: Lynn Fisk [mailto:k5lynaustin@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2015 11:26 AM
To: Scott Royall
Cc: Michael Wrenn
Subject: Re: The Boatanchors Net

 

Michael, Scott, greetings.  I am sorry I am a bit slow to pick up on all this, being stretched and scattered as we are at Sherwood.

 

Michael, I’m trying to place you.  We visited last year a time or to, if I remember correctly, but I can’t recall the circumstances.  Maybe you can come by this weekend and we can renew the acquaintance?

 

And Scott, about your radio–I would be more help with an older radio.  Those hybrid rigs, especially, the old Kenwoods, can be really great, but there are too many solid state parts for me to understand them.  Maybe Dan or Jim can be more help. And Scott, continue to join us on Wednesday evenings while this project is in the works.  We’ll talk again soon.  73, K5LYN

 

On Sun, Feb 15, 2015 at 12:30 PM, Scott Royall <royall@conchbbs.com> wrote:

Out here? Where are you? Ah,  Austin. That explains where you are these weekends. I’m lucky if I get to TRF once a year.

 

Anyway, Lynn is more of a Central Electronics and Collins guy. Dan is more the generalist, if he has time and the inclination. Otherwise, I have to ship it off and hope for the best.

BTW, my other stuff is here.

 

From: Michael Wrenn [mailto:michael.wrenn@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2015 8:41 PM
To: Scott Royall
Subject: RE: The Boatanchors Net

 

I know Lynn. He works out here at Sherwood Forest Faire.

All the best,

Michael Wrenn

On Feb 13, 2015 7:57 PM, “Scott Royall” <royall@conchbbs.com> wrote:

No big deal, Lynn. I was running the external VFO on the TS-820S, and I couldn’t get it to transmit on frequency. In fact, with the switches set per the manual, the transceiver kept trying to transmit using the non-existent crystal in the Fixed position. Yeah, you read correctly, it was very confused. If I moved the Function switch to the internal VFO position, I could transmit on the external VFO, but 1.5 KHz below my receive frequency. Are we confused enough yet?

 

It turns out that the actual issue is apparently something Dan commented on when he delivered the rig. He said it was really dirty inside. And, although he did some cleaning, I can tell from wiggling the controls that various contacts still need a good encounter with De-Oxit! Unfortunately, I just had another more serious run-in with the general issue this evening as I was trying to tune the 820 up for the first time on 40m. I couldn’t get any output no matter what I did until I accidentally bumped the Mode switch. That gave me plenty of output—for about 30 seconds.

 

You can guess what happened. Before I could finish tuning up, there was a curious rustling sound and the radio went completely dead. It really didn’t sound like a “pop,” but I obviously murdered a fuse in the 820, because it is now a 39-pound paperweight! Sigh. I’ll have to ask Dan or Michael to come cast “raise dead” on the beast.

 

From: Lynn Fisk [mailto:k5lynaustin@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2015 7:06 PM
To: royall@conchbbs.com
Subject: The Boatanchors Net

 

Scott, greetings.  I am delighted that you have been joining our net recently. Last night you said something about a difficulty with the rig you are working on, but it went by me too fast.

 

If you want to explain more, I’ll do what I can to help.

 

Thanks for coming by, and 73.

 

K5LYN, Lynn.

 

Computer Selection

 

Dedet,

 

Continuing what seems to be a theme of late regarding content, I’d like to mention a segment of Padre’s Corner #24 on the TWiT.tv network. Yes, I’m referring to the Before-You-Buy segment on the Acer gaming desktop, and what’s interesting isn’t the machine itself. It’s the reasoning Father Robert offers for why the model might be a good answer for those people wanting a good turnkey solution that didn’t disappoint. The machine isn’t the fastest, but it’s fast enough and general enough to be able to handle most any task thrown at it.

 

That sort of criteria sounds very familiar, doesn’t it? Yes, it’s essentially a subset of the criteria we use in looking for candidates for my “active duty” laptops. You know I deliberately use that military description for the laptops that ride on my wheelchair because the duty can sometimes be downright dangerous. You know that from experience, but whoever we get to help us select the next “victim” isn’t going to fully appreciate the reality from the start. Perhaps pointing them to the podcast segment might help expedite their learning process.

 

And yes, Father Robert is a hoot. He’s also one of your countrymen, a Filipino.

 

Scott  

 

Fwd: BATFE To Ban Common AR-15 Ammo

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Scott Royall <royall@conchbbs.com>
Date: Mon, Feb 16, 2015 at 6:15 PM
Subject: RE: BATFE To Ban Common AR-15 Ammo
To: kb5ziv <kb5ziv@rionet.coop>

I do wish the bastard luck, all bad.

 

All this does is create an instant grey market. The idiot.

 

 

From: kb5ziv [mailto:kb5ziv@rionet.coop]
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2015 6:06 PM
To: scott
Subject: Fw: BATFE To Ban Common AR-15 Ammo

 

 

communist bastards  

 

 

 

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20150213/batfe-to-ban-common-ar-15-ammo

Why I Blog

Someone recently suggested that I start a blog. Little did he realize that I’ve been blogging for over a decade! Of course the problem with blogging is the same as any other content provider. No matter how creative you are, you eventually reach a point where it’s a struggle to find or create content anybody wants to see. The person who suggested a blog was, of course, thinking about the income that a few people have been able to make via their blogs. That’s a reasonable enough premise, but the process only pays out if the bloggers have an instinctive entertainer streak within them. Regardless whether a blog is written, video, audio, or whatever, it has to at least provide content that’s valuable to a consistent audience segment in order to be called anything near “successful.” Profitability is a much higher standard beyond that even.

The tagline for my blog has always been “a day in the life of an American with disabilities,” and that’s a fairly good synopsis of what it’s about: things in Western Civilization that someone with disabilities is likely to encounter. I began the blog with a multi-part discussion of what was then the current state of so-called “assistive or argumentative communication devices.” That’s a mouthful for whatever disabled people have to use to communicate. The overall situation was not pretty for anyone with high mental function but low physical ability. I then recounted my experiences as I attempted unsuccessfully to market my own AAC solution. I did reach some of the “right” people, and I received a variety of explanations why they were essentially uninterested in new products. In truth, though, it came down to the reality that I was a unknown without the capital necessary to gain serious attention from the decision-makers. Obviously, this was well before the likes of Kickstarter.com. if I can find time, I’ll write a update in a few days on the current and rather muddled status of my AAC solution, Xpress-It.

 

Another frequent topic of my blog has been the unending frustrations surrounding my efforts to keep my highly customized power wheelchair running. “Incompetence” is about the only word I can think of to describe the behavior of the manufacturer, Invacare, and the local dealer. Trying to get them to do what’s required is an ongoing battle of epic proportions, especially in light of the excuses they give.

 

And then there are the computers I have to rely on to help me achieve everything that I can do. I have historically depended on Dell products (no, Xpress-It doesn’t run on OSX!), and my relationship with Dell Corporate has vacillated between frosty and cozy over the years.

 

The truth is that it isn’t usual for me to write content expressly for the blog. That’s mainly because it does take me some time to type things with one finger/knuckle. Naturally, I use some predictive software, Typing Assistant, to help, but long-winded posts like this are still work. What I usually do is write a relevant email to someone and list the blog as an intended blind recipient, thereby killing multiple birds with one email. Unfortunately. I just noticed a couple of days ago that my post-by-email settings over at WordPress.com somehow got turned off last April. Uh, oops! Partly to preclude the possibility of that recurring, I spent the weekend installing WordPress on my own website and then copying the content over.

 

No, hardly the sort of content that will draw the masses, but we can only speak (with any accuracy anyway) about things we actually know. I like to say, “I’m a person with disabilities, not a disabled person,” and there’s probably some philosophical validity to that. Yet, the hard fact is that not a day goes by that my disabilities don’t impact me in some matter so that impact is what I sadly know the most about. I do have a lot of other interests, of course, but I’m not conceited enough to pretend expertise with those. I certainly don’t aspire to be an expert on the effects of being disabled either, but it’s rather unavoidable.

 

I am able to live independently and manage my caregivers only because Shell Oil enrolled in long-term care insurance while I worked for them. However, the fund supporting that policy runs out in four years, and I’ll have to make some hard decisions. Hard, but preferable to me over the alternative of yet more government assistance. I’m sufficiently conservative that I even think Social Security Disability wasn’t a good idea because it gives those already disinclined to hire the disabled for gainful employment further opportunity to tell themselves the government is taking care of the problem. (Ha! As if.) No, no more “gubermint help” for me. I’m sure they wouldn’t allow me to continue running my own life and managing my care. My dog and I volunteer at a local nursing home, and, while it’s ok as those places go, my experiences there have only further cemented my life-long determination not to end up in such a place.  Besides, I will be over 62 years old when the money runs out, and I can’t really say there’s much left on my “bucket list” that I’m likely to get to anyway.

 

So. Content. Yes, what do I talk about? Opinions are easy to have, while informed opinions require some effort and upkeep. I do certainly have other interests, including my dogs, Amateur Radio, the newer crop of multi-player computer games, and so forth. The trick is to approach these things from my own perspective, telling people about how my disabilities interact or plain interfere with my ability to participate. For example, I already know of one popular game I cannot play because it’s ironically restricted to keyboard and mouse input. It might surprise people to read that a joystick is the most native input device to me. That is, until I explain that I’ve “flown” wheelchairs since 1981. Even helicopter simulations are manageable with the correct 6-axis joystick, and ample practice. The point being that I can’t deny that my disabilities do affect everything I do; however, I refuse to allow my limitations to define me or restrict my options even after 58 years. I guess that ongoing struggle is what will continue to dominate my blogging efforts.

 

Oh. What’s the address for my blog? You’ve actually had the answer all along. Say my email address aloud.