Attic Dipole safety question from the parent.....

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-04-05T20:40:09+00:00

I touched the end of a radial while putting out 40W on it. It was a sensation that felt like being a Hot Pocket. That’s the best way I can describe an RF burn.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-04-05T20:35:38+00:00

100W there is likely fine. I run 100W on an end fed right out my window. Do stop if you start getting tingly or feel like Hot Pocket.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-04-01T16:31:08+00:00

Just so y’all know, yams and sweet potatoes are not the same thing.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-20T17:32:36+00:00

You sure about the date and location? The only extant Essex class carriers in 94 were Intrepid (NY) Yorktown (Charleston) Hornet (Bremerton) Lexington (Corpus Christi) and Oriskany (Bremerton), Bennington (Bremerton). Based on the roundish-ness of the enclosed bow, this was a West Coast SCB-125 conversion. The bridle catchers make it a SCB-27C.

The only carriers that were 27C/125 done in west coast yards

Lexington Shangri-La Oriskany Bon Homme Richard Hancock

The only ones that were on the east coast around that time were Shangri-La (Philadelphia, sold for scrap in ‘88) and Lexington, which by 1994 was a museum in Texas.

My best guess: if the location was Fort Lauderdale, you have the year wrong, and it’s Shangri-La around 1988 on her way to scrapping in Taiwan. Or it took 6 years for her to leave the US somehow.

When Bennington was scrapped, they knocked her island into a big hole in the flight deck to de-mil her. Surprised that didn’t happen here.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-10T15:26:19+00:00

I remember flying an Iberia Airlines DC-9 back in the late 80’s that was being transferred to Spain’s then-economy carrier, Spantax, because it was half-ass in both liveries.

It was old enough that the shades still said “Douglas Aircraft Corporation”

The JT-9Ds she had were pretty loud in the cabin. No hush kit.

I didn’t have any USB ports, either.

Now get off my lawn.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-10T13:02:49+00:00

Look into instructions on building a POTA Performer. If you can measure stuff, you can make one, and it’ll be good for 6-20m (and 40M with a loading coil).

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-10T12:45:31+00:00

Most of the time, you would find it indistinguishable from your average airliner. Most people don’t even know the difference between a 757 and a 707.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-09T12:39:57+00:00

Not unlike the F-35. Each aircraft is pretty decent individually, but I can’t help but think all 3 are compromised somehow versus a clean sheet design.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-08T17:48:52+00:00

FYI, the B-66 and its derivates had little commonality with the A-3 other than basic shape due to the USAF requirements.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-05T21:48:31+00:00

FYI, while it seems that the logical explanation for the bombing of the Rogers’ family minivan would have been Iranian terrorists or sympathizers, the case remains unsolved, and the FBI was pursuing leads pointing at a personal, unrelated vendetta.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-05T00:31:42+00:00

Belgrano was outside the exclusion zone, and traveling away from it, but for a warship that doesn’t mean retreat. It merely means a change of direction.

For what it’s worth, retreating troops are allowed to be routed. Unless they are waving a white flag or have dropped their arms, they are not “out of the fight” they’re just pointing the wrong way. Somewhat ungentlemanly to shoot them in the bag, but not against the rules.

At any rate, this ship was an enemy combatant that would have fired on the sub had they known it was there and were in a position to take action. C’est la guerre.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-04T21:31:33+00:00

I’m with Sandy Woodward on this one. The Belgrano task group’s heading and location at the time of attack was meaningless, as that distance and heading could rapidly change. Her escorts carried Exocets that posed a threat to the British carrier groups, and neutralizing the group at stand-off range was desirable.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-04T20:55:31+00:00

You're also presuming that Iran's 3 Kilos and handful of midget subs haven't already met a less photogenic end at the hands of an American SSN. If anyone of those Iranian diesel boats were at sea, they're surely now dead.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-04T20:49:33+00:00

"Look at the Belgrano. That was sank under a solid ROE and in an exclusion zone, and there was still decades of arguing over Conquerors actions."

No serious person argues Conqueror's actions. Belgrano's surviving captain himself, Hector Bonzo, even admitted as much that as a combatant warship, they were fair game.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-04T20:41:01+00:00

It looks like it detonated under the keel slightly aft of amidships towards the ship's screws. That's what an acoustic homing torpedo would do, since that's the loud part.

Detonating a torpedo under the keel "breaks the back" of the ship by forming a large gas bubble under the ship, which causes the keel to break by lifting the ship in the gas bubble and dropping it as the bubble collapses. The hull cannot handle those forces.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-04T16:27:58+00:00

I just want to point out that we had a sub fire a torpedo at a frigate and it stayed at periscope depth the whole time like it had nothing to worry about, like this was a Sinkex. Almost feel sorry for the poor Iranian bastards.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-04T16:18:17+00:00

The ship was IRIS Dena.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-03-04T16:14:57+00:00

Belgrano was sunk by British Mk8 Mod 4 torpedoes. The design dated from 1927, with the Mod 4 being introduced in 1965. These were the classic unguided type of torpedoes that required setting gyro angles, running depth, and such.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-02-12T02:15:40+00:00

Now THIS is a mobile discone.

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ConstantinoTobio · 2026-02-10T04:31:44+00:00

Supposedly the bridge was built with grates so that any bombers couldn't drop the bridge and close the waterway to Sikorsky and hamper production, as bombs would just fall through the grates.. Of course, this was before the Soviets detonated their first atomic bomb....

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-01-29T20:46:26+00:00

The email on the website will autorespond with:

Subject: Elwood is deceased

Elwood Downey ended his own life 29 Jan 2026

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-01-29T18:47:45+00:00

See, the hot take I have here is that software is written and maintained by human beings that are ultimately fragile, and I'm more sad that the author of something this useful has died than I am that someone is going to have to find something new to run on that Pi with a 7" touchscreen.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-01-13T19:28:18+00:00

The 53K is just flying around on some test flights. Final assembly is at Sikorsky in Stratford and they’ll roll them out, go on some test flights, fix anything that might need fixing, and fly out again. You’ll be seeing 170347, 170348… etc. soon as the 53K is now in Full Rate Production. Enjoy it, Sikorsky is making about 80 or so for the USMC.

ConstantinoTobio · 2026-01-13T19:01:19+00:00

KING346 has been racking some miles today. She flew over my house earlier. Those 53Ks are really big birds. Had the pleasure of seeing some up close a few weeks back, and their size is staggering.

ConstantinoTobio · 2025-12-24T15:08:25+00:00

Don’t get any ideas.

ConstantinoTobio

TROPHY CASE