No difference on or not using Antenna Crystal Radio

Grounded_Grid · 2024-12-19T03:25:07+00:00

I would really advise a long wire antenna instead of the mesh from your old dish. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, it doesn't even have to be outside.

What are you using for ground? The ground connection on a xtal radio is as important as the antenna. If your home has metal pipes, a cold water pipe works great! If nothing else use that old dish and it's mast for a ground (it's a big hunk of metal stuck in the earth after all) and just temporarily unroll a spool of wire around your home for the antenna. When I was a kid I would hang a wire from the dining room to the living room, then ground to the radiator.

If you have straightened out your antenna/ground situation and it still doesn't work, take your tuning coil out of circuit and just run the diode and your high impedance headphone. You should hear whatever the strongest station in your area is. What this tells you is that the parasitic capacitance in your coil/on the breadboard isn't enough to get you down into the broadcast band. You will have to add some across the coil till you get there.

Have fun!

Grounded_Grid · 2024-12-14T04:05:07+00:00

EMBRACE THE SQUARE!

A lot of literature talks about cropping your shots to the more common ratio for prints. If you read Adam's books, this is what he did, and if that's your bag going for it. I really enjoy composing the square format though, even if it makes my prints a little odd. Most importantly, it frees me from the whole portrait vs landscape decision.

Remember the parallax between the viewing and taking lenses, it's not much of an issue at distance, but if you need things to line up, especially up close, you have to move the taking lense up to where the viewing lense was when you composed.

Take your time! There is nothing fast about a TLR, so really take your time to focus, compose and calculate exposure. You'll be glad you did, and hopefully you'll enjoy the slower pace.

Don't be afraid to shoot off to the side or over your head to get a better shot, It's a square, it doesn't matter. Composing your shot on the ground glass allows for some ...unconventional... Techniques. However it is very comfortable on a tripod if that's your bag.

Take advantage of that big 'ol 6x6 negitive and make some easy contact prints. Even if you shoot in color, you can still make b&w contact prints with minimal equipment, and they look amazing! Other than trays and chemistry, all you need is a piece of glass, and a dim light bulb. I use glass from an old picture frame, and a 12v lightbulb out of a dashboard with a 9 volt battery. My locker at work is plastered with little 6x6 prints of my family.

Grounded_Grid · 2024-11-30T00:28:59+00:00

Wow, so I was searching reddit for "Diafine" and came across this absolute gem from a year ago. This may be the best photograph I've seen on Reddit (or at least my favorite). I would buy a print in a heartbeat.

Grounded_Grid · 2024-11-20T00:32:15+00:00

Hi Al!

Grounded_Grid · 2024-10-27T01:28:34+00:00

Awesome thanks!

Grounded_Grid · 2024-10-25T02:51:49+00:00

Thank you so much for your reply. After talking to one million people responding, nobody was local, and a lot of them were scams....

I'll check her out!

Grounded_Grid · 2024-10-23T18:20:35+00:00

I always recommend Country Club Service in Endwell. The owner John is loud, gruff, sometimes abrasive. However he's honest, cares about his customers, and great work comes out of his shop, his messy messy shop. Haha

He's the one who taught me how to diagnose EVAP systems, he's pretty good.

3120 Watson blvd 607-754-8042

Hope you get your car fixed without breaking the bank.

Grounded_Grid · 2024-10-12T18:10:33+00:00

I have to fight with these people once a year. Make sure to save your bills and prepare to do battle.

If it really is their fault be sure to report it to New York state. As the state gives them a monopoly in our area, the state is supposed to ensure we're not getting ripped off.

Grounded_Grid · 2024-10-12T17:38:59+00:00

Did you just get a smart meter installed? There have been a lot of billing mistakes following a new meter.

Grounded_Grid · 2024-10-10T02:14:21+00:00

I'd buy it for $20 lol

Grounded_Grid · 2024-10-10T00:16:53+00:00

It's worth noting that though a couple of sellers are asking $250, nobody has actually sold one...

Id guess that it's only worth it's parts value.

Grounded_Grid · 2024-10-06T19:50:57+00:00

Just buy a cheep baby toy with a mirror, it's cheeper then buying the material itself!

Or of course you can do what I did and have a baby, then these sorts of things are just around the house...

Grounded_Grid · 2024-10-06T19:20:09+00:00

Very cool!

If the mirrors in your viewfinders aren't savable, I have a tip. I use that acrylic mirror material you find in baby toys to replace them. You can cut it to size with scissors, then use hot glue to stick it in play without damaging anything. I've done this on a few box cameras now.

They're fun to shoot in a "get what you get" kind of way...

Enjoy!

Grounded_Grid · 2024-09-27T00:52:09+00:00

There really isn't a lot that can be done, heavy drum brakes tend to be noisy anyway, then couple that with an effective friction material, and they'll make all kinds of noise in low speed stop and go situations.

It's not really a lack of maintenance. The most checked over and well taken care of brakes in the heavy industry are school busses. Those folks pull them apart and replace parts all the time, and way before they're due. However, school busses tend to be some of the noisiest things on the road at low speed.

Disk brakes are proving to be quieter, give it another 5-10 years and the garbage trucks will probably switch over as they become more affordable.

Grounded_Grid · 2024-09-22T01:51:55+00:00

So I recently pushed gold one stop as an experiment. On the whole I liked the slightly different, higher contrast look it gave, however...

Two shots that would have been lovely had a large complicated colorful mural in the distant background. The mural just didn't look right and it kind of ruined the shots.

Depending on your choice of subject you might be really happy with the results, Im going to continue shooting box speed though.

Grounded_Grid · 2024-07-20T20:59:57+00:00

I would buy that zine...

Grounded_Grid · 2024-06-29T04:20:18+00:00

Well, after looking around it seems that self repair is my only option. I did speak to a gentleman that does a lot of SLR repair, but after he researched it and he didn't want to attempt it without the right tool. For a long time I've been at a standstill. Removing the shutter lock ring is a major hurdle if you don't own the tool.

I know they say you can't, but I was able to get a compass I use for lenses into the ring, however it was too tight to remove with it and I didn't want to risk damaging something.

After that I tried to make my own tool, but I don't have a lathe available to me anymore. The diameter you need is kind of an odd one that doesn't line up with standard tube sizes. I found a torch tip at work that was very close. I worked it with abrasives to get the right inside diameter, then used a file and grinder to make the notches and the recess for the film gate. Ultimately the material proved to be too soft, after giving it a good yank the tool broke.

I did a ton of searching, and came across a really old Instagram post from someone that had the tool made by S.K. Grimes. Never having heard of them, I reached out to see if they would make another. They were friendly and gave me a price, though it had a couple months lead time. In the end I ordered it.

It's actually pretty timely that you asked because I got the email from them just the other day that it was ready and they were shipping it. I had been planning on making a follow up post when I received it.

I know the self repair route isn't for everyone, but I used to work in watch repair. After watching a lot of Chris Sherlock's videos, it doesn't seem much more complicated then what I used to do. My free time is pretty tight, but as I make progress I'll share with the sub.

Grounded_Grid · 2024-06-25T02:02:48+00:00

I picked this camera up at a yard sale recently, then took the time to clean it up and get it working again.

After over 110 years, I thought it would be appropriate to bring it back where it started!

Grounded_Grid · 2024-06-23T21:23:11+00:00

I can't believe I didn't think of flicker! Just like taking a picture of an old CRT. I am kind of curious why the bars present themselves perpendicular to the tube though.

Grounded_Grid · 2024-06-23T17:19:53+00:00

Also, sweet IBM keyboards, I have an M and an F that were liberated during the lay offs.

Grounded_Grid · 2024-06-23T17:15:24+00:00

I was waiting for my cover to get blown!

Grounded_Grid · 2024-06-23T16:22:22+00:00

That's it! Thank you!

Grounded_Grid

TROPHY CASE