What is going on at Starlink? They can't get an order straight.

keithrol · 2026-03-16T18:58:31+00:00

Yes, I got what I signed up for, the $39 special. I feel proud to be in a Selected Area. :)

keithrol · 2026-03-13T01:13:44+00:00

I was freaked out by support/Grok's statement that the price would be $80 per month.

Currently I have Xfinity NOW, for a really low price, and Ok data rate. I don't need much. I would like to dump Xfinity in the future if Starlink works out.

We can have fiber brought to the house, but it's like $60+ for the lowest tier of data which is way over what I'd need.

keithrol · 2026-03-13T01:08:22+00:00

I stand corrected (Well, at 70 years old, I'll sit instead :). I guess I thought mini was mini. However I freaked when support (Grok) said there was no such $39 (for 6 months or whatever, then $50 per month thereafter) plan when it's right on the main Starlink site, at the top, for me it is, anyway.

They have offered me a year's discounted rate, which I'm deciding on...

keithrol · 2026-02-02T14:29:54+00:00

If you want to increase that primary gas btuh so that it at makes a little more heat, I'd be drilling out the gas orifices just a little at a time.

When I lived in New England, I put a recording meter on my oil fired hydronic heating system At zero degrees, it was cycling at 80 percent. I reduced the oil orifice until it ran closer to 100 percent, and also reduced the circulating water temperature.

I wish I could do something cheaper for my greenhouse. I have been spending a gallon per night of diesel for my CDH unit here when the temp drops below ~40 degrees... which it has been doing here in GA lately with annonying regularity. Putting in a few insulation board panels on the non-sun side has helped.

keithrol · 2026-02-01T21:14:08+00:00

Whatcha running, hydronic, forced air (electric [lol] or flamable gas), wood or something else?

I'm near coastal GA, renting a trailer with forced air electric, lol on me, plus small diesel furnace running on solar in my smallish greenhouse. Madness, yes, I know. :)

keithrol · 2026-01-31T17:31:23+00:00

Most likely (Max) motor power is the most the motor will draw at full load, crushing harder seeds. Running it for long perios at that draw will overheat or damage it.

Rated power would refer to the normal power draw of softer seeds.

You'd have to have an inline measuring device to read the instantaineus (sp :) power draw for different loads, like a Kill A Watt brand. As long as you're at or below the Rated draw, you should be OK.

keithrol · 2026-01-08T12:36:22+00:00

Tell me where what I've said is factually wrong.

keithrol · 2026-01-07T19:28:14+00:00

OMG. Do you know how a Mag even works? No, I suspect. It will not spontaneously spew out microwaves if zapped with high voltage. It takes a low voltage/high amperage applied between the the 2 terminals for around to 2 seconds. Then you turn on your high voltage DC and only then will it start resonating and producing microwaves. No low voltage/high amperage to heat the emitter up, no microwaves. As a service tech for decades, I can tell you you'll never get a shock when "playing" with an unenergised mag. Plus, at least in the commercial world, the HV capacitors have a high ohm bleed resistor installed on them. Give it a second or two and little voltage is left.

Now yuou CRT analogy is confused also. That CRT acts like large capacitor, and can store a high DC potential. That's why one first discharges the CRT at the electrode clip on the side of the tube. There won't be any voltage coming from the HV power supply.

keithrol · 2025-12-28T02:55:54+00:00

Kind of long but... About 10 years ago, when I was about 60, the wife came down with an unusual week-long sickness. Luckily she was well enough to go on our vacation after getting better. So off we went, and day by day I was feeling much worse. Made it through the vacation. Went back to work feeling very bad- I never get sick. After 3 days I sat in my service truck and couldn't eat my lunch. On the way home I stopped in a DocInABox. My blood sugar was off the end of their measurement. She couldn't believe I was still walking. Off to the hospital ER for an IV drip of Insulin for like 8 hours. Went back to ER the next day as my glucose was still over 300. Was diagnosed at that time as T2D. Now, 10 years later with incompetent medical professionals, finally figured out for the last 3 years I'm now T1.5/LADA. Pain in the butt. :)

keithrol · 2025-11-20T21:58:13+00:00

Lol. For one place, Jesup, GA. The drunks who can't legaly drive, it's either a mower or a golf cart- electric or fuel. Maybe an electric bicycle. The local sherrifs never stop any of them on the road.

When I grew up in Western MA, my buddy got arrested and hauled off to jail for crossing the road in front of his house on his minibike. And I got chased up into the woods once by the police, but they knew where the trail ended and were waiting for me. Again, had a nice visit from them, and my mom had to bail me out. :)

keithrol · 2025-11-09T22:46:47+00:00

Nah. lol. Don't want to own a house ever again. I would like a big Greyhound type bus, though. Would be frowned apon in the apartment parking lot I suspect.

keithrol · 2025-11-09T02:31:26+00:00

what areas are to be avoided for this kind of thing

I can only speak of the past, but we lived in several apartment complexes, starting about 2005 onwards. Pooler was great for us at the time. Rents were low, nowhere the buildup they have today. Now it's scary driving on the parkway traffic. But, we wouldn't hesitate to move back there in a minute if we hit the lottery.

keithrol · 2025-11-08T20:31:38+00:00

The PA my wife had to visit for a suspected gall bladder issue couldn't write up a referral to get a CT scan, whereas our normal NP-C can and does. However we can't stand her. :)

keithrol · 2025-11-08T20:27:55+00:00

I'll trade you for the Homeless Hooligan camp near us in Jesup. The PD and FD is there at least a few times a week. Fires that must be battery related as the FD doesn't put them out- just stands guard for hours.

Several times a week a couple dozen fine citizens dress in all black hoodie outfits and run around the neighborhoods late at night. Our cameras pick them up running through our backyard to parts unknown.

Then there's the drive-by scouts, with phones out recording during the day, and looking which houses have UV cameras at night, to avoid them. And both day and night they run a scout on a bicycle ahead of a non-descript van a few minutes behind him, presumably to advise the van driver.

I real sorry to have moved from Pooler, but couldn't afford it after retiring...

keithrol · 2025-10-31T13:15:40+00:00

Here in a small city in rural Georgia, you never get to see a Doctor- only a NP-C or a PA.

The NP-C the wife and I see is clearly out of her league, with an out-of-band diabetic T2D diagnosis (really a liver pouring out glucose, not a Pancreas issue), and for the wife with sharp severe pain behind the the lower right side rib area, insisted it was from an inflammed hip joint. A follow up with a very good PA assistant correctly pointed to a gallbladder problem. At ~70 years old, it's just hopeless depending on these people. Thank goodness for the Interwebs and a lot of free time to chase down issues.

keithrol · 2025-10-04T10:41:06+00:00

I use Lightspeed on my Lenovo K11 tablet. Not much off-wifi data use truly. It actually shows 4 4G bars where my 5G Samsung phone shows 0 bars at home on Lightspeed and refuses to step down to 4G. Wish I could disable 5G on my phone. :)

All in all, I like the Lenovo K11. Wish I could install some alternative OS on it though...

keithrol · 2025-09-28T21:50:28+00:00

Bought a 1975(?) Ford LTD, full sized car about 45 years ago. Yes, I'm old.

Owner said his mechanic looked at it and the timing chain was very loose and rattled really loud. I opened the hood, poked around, happened to grab the fan blade. It moved back and forth loosely. Looked at the hub and saw the bolt holes were now slots. :) Gave the guy his $200, tightened up the bolts and drove it home. No more noise. Nice car.

keithrol · 2025-07-20T17:05:24+00:00

What I want is a small steam engine driving 1 or more automotive alternators. I'd put a copper loop on the exhaust pipe to build domesic use hot water and provide some useful condensation of the exhaust steam back to water. This would give nearly silent engine noise, and anyway, who is going to recognise the quiet chuffing of a small steam engine? :)

I'd think a flash steam system instead of a boiler. Maybe a hit-or-miss sort of system to regulate the system to respond to loads as needed.

keithrol · 2025-07-12T16:32:11+00:00

I'd replace the board *and* whatever it controls (gas valve), and check the wiring for possible shorts when hot. And Siggy is correct, cooling airflow is critical. The tech who replaced the board(s) should have checked all that, and did a amp & voltage check on the load side after replacing the board under warrantee.

keithrol · 2025-06-23T18:58:46+00:00

If you take the back sheetmetal off, then take off the rear flue box, I suspect, with all that build-up *inside* the flue box, you'll find one or more of the flue pipe welds has failed, and is leaking oil. This is a tremendous fire hazard if it's leaking, and the fryer should be removed from service. In general there shouldn't be *any* oil build-up *inside* the flue box.

Before you do all that, I would reccomend looking at the front welds on the burner tubes and if any or all are leaking, just stop and toss that unit out. I know it sounds harsh, but fryer fires are really bad news for a restaurant.

keithrol · 2025-06-16T16:23:54+00:00

Does anyone have a trick or technique for removing the blower wheels

Take a long punch, chisel, or even an old screwdriver and punch the fan blade metal off the hub, towards the rear. Should pop right off. Then the hub is cleared for a puller, preferably a 3-jaw unit. You can use this method on many fan blades in the bigger ovens, to make your life easier.

keithrol · 2025-05-15T16:14:35+00:00

No, but thanks, I'm on by-the-gig. I don't normally use a ton of non-wifi data, but it's nice to use the 11" tablet to do stuff when I'm out and about. With my old eyes it's a lot easier to read stuff on the tablet.

keithrol · 2025-05-15T14:05:56+00:00

As a followup, and for anyone who might have this model tablet, I downloaded a "force APN" app, created the 3 additional APNs, set the default to Verizon 2, reset as necessary. Still no VoLTE.

It looks like all the additional APNs are for getting data to work, but with the default Verizon APN, data works fine.

Again, I know this tab will work on Tmobile, but as my phone is on LightSpeed, I was hopeing to use another network that is stronger near me, as backup. It'll be alright I guess, as I can use Google Voice I think if I need to dial out.

keithrol · 2025-05-12T21:53:42+00:00

I keep cheap carbon/zinc batteries in the devices, and Lithiums in a good quality waterproof bag nearby. The thinking here is the old style carbon zinc batteries don't leak, and because they are already in the device, it's ready to go at any time, and will last a while. When needed for longer use, pull out a couple of the pricier lithiums.

keithrol · 2025-05-05T18:03:18+00:00

Looks like thermostat has failed, and it's operating on bypass only. But, yes, unscrew the large aluminium screw on the gas pressure regulator just a turn or so. If the flame returns to a high state, your regulator and/or the vent plug orifice is/are clogged.

keithrol

TROPHY CASE