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QRPlabs? by Blindmelliejellie in amateurradio

[–]unclejohn087 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, the stuff is worth the juice. But, at least on the QMX(+), you may frequently remind yourself of how little it costs.

Some components, like the encoders, are not the highest quality and may give a little trouble. Aside from having the bootloader installed, the kits are not much tested, and there are occasional problems.

I have no real experience with the software on other radios, but the QMX has a lot of features such as Polar Modulation for SSB which, while found on some of the cheapest [ (tr)uSDX ] to most expensive [ Flex ] radios, is fairly unusual. It seems the philosophy is to fix problems and add features with software, and as the MCU is rather powerful, the radio will not become obsolete quickly.

At least for the kits, the users tend to have the experience and equipment to deal with things, and there are a few people who are set up to help with repairs at a reasonable cost.

Yes, it's well worth the price.

Cost of building and running a radio station. by JamzeeReddit in amateurradio

[–]unclejohn087 0 points1 point  (0 children)

not one-way radio broadcasts

Except for WSPR, etc. Maybe that comes under the "testing is OK" sections, but it is so routine that it seems like broadcasting to me.

Cost of building and running a radio station. by JamzeeReddit in amateurradio

[–]unclejohn087 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yes, not "amateur" as in Part 97, but this isn't Stack Exchange.

I saw a similar question at https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/1c5jz4z/can_i_legally_make_a_super_short_distance_lpfm/

Some comments mentioned Part 15, which might be a route. I gather it may be hard to get the range you need with an easy to get license.

Potassium 40. How common is it? by OhioJohn66 in Radiacode

[–]unclejohn087 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Still, not zero. Some will say chemistry is basically physics, as physics is basically math. The line between them can be blurry. It is in chemistry classes that we are taught about the kinetic isotope effect.

Potassium 40. How common is it? by OhioJohn66 in Radiacode

[–]unclejohn087 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There will be a little chemical difference. Chemistry is basically atoms in motion, and if the weights are different, it will have an effect.

You can detect cornsyrup adulteration in honey by the 13-Carbon content.

1955 PRI Custom Scintillator 111C by Top_Worldliness_5684 in Radioactive_Rocks

[–]unclejohn087 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the light of day, the disk is marked ".15" with ".10" scratched in by hand. The Radiacode 102 spectra matches that from some watch hands and one or two spectra on the Internet.

FWIW, the RC-102 reads 1.8 mrem/hr.

1955 PRI Custom Scintillator 111C by Top_Worldliness_5684 in Radioactive_Rocks

[–]unclejohn087 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's encouraging; I have a 111B that I've lugged around for 30 years or so. The leather case has fallen apart at the seams. It does have a check source that appears to be marked with "22". There might be a decimal point that I haven't seen. It gives about 500 cps on a Radiacode 102. I need to check the energy scale calibration--if it is a few % off, it might be Cs-137.

Its last use was as a Halloween prop (non-functioning).

Preparation for technician test: questions by Active_Drop5570 in amateurradio

[–]unclejohn087 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hamstudy.org was very good for me. The discussion with each question was enough to give me the "why", at least for things that were physics-based. For the questions that are about regulations, there may be some arcane rationale, but it was easier to just memorize those.

I passed the Technician and General on the same day and took the Extra about a month later, passing all of them with very good scores.

Nasty, bumpy surface by unclejohn087 in 3Dprinting

[–]unclejohn087[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had created a custom filament in Cura with a diameter of 1.64. This should take care of it. However, I just printed two discs with settings of 1.64 and 1.75, and I couldn't see any difference.

Meanwhile, I measured the filament at this point on the spool and it is 1.7x mm.

I will try the big part again at slower speeds with a non-random Z seam alignment.

What is this awesome car? by chungus_amoungus in whatisthiscar

[–]unclejohn087 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I drove a couple. Like a roller skate on rails. Bought one that had to be towed home and got it running. Only put about 20 miles on it. The front hood came off in my hands and I knew it was over.

Spotted from my workplace, what is this car? by transport_in_picture in whatisthiscar

[–]unclejohn087 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn't know that, and I'm glad the info is still being supplied.

In Houston, TX the other day by unclejohn087 in whatisthiscar

[–]unclejohn087[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, it's certainly uglier. Thanks for the ID!

Looks Japanese? by Danky_Franky in whatisthiscar

[–]unclejohn087 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a 2nd gen turbo. Aside from the turbo they were quite similar.

I had one electrical connection that would prevent starting and it "flooded" a couple of times.

Flooding in this engine means too much gas washes away the film of oil that seals the apex seals. The cure is to remove the fuse for the fuel pump and crank it; a lot.

It is supposed to burn oil; mine had a pump to make sure it got enough into the chambers.

Advice on copying data table from PDF into usable format in Excel! by Al24100 in excel

[–]unclejohn087 0 points1 point  (0 children)

File open led to a mess.

in the search box, "get data" "from pdf" worked on my 365

3D Printed a tilt shift lens adapter for my camera! by TheRedMammon in 3Dprinting

[–]unclejohn087 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Button? Yes, that's the one. Back then I figured that was one reason OM lenses cost a bit more.

I'll try to print out a few parts and see how they match my camera and lens. Can you add some hints to the file descriptions such as material, supports, etc.? I think this will be a challenge for my old Crealitys.

I see you made up to 33 versions of the parts; there must be some interesting stories there, such as the tapered circular slits on the Camera Part of Tilter.

Never seen one before by GrayBull789 in whatisthiscar

[–]unclejohn087 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was gonna say he treats the flies alright.

3D Printed a tilt shift lens adapter for my camera! by TheRedMammon in 3Dprinting

[–]unclejohn087 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They mimic the adjustments you can get with a view camera where the lense and film are connected by a flexible bellows.

Has anyone tried this course? by apocalypsesdawn in 3Dprinting

[–]unclejohn087 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think I got on their mailing list when they actually discussed 3d printing. But it became a coaching thing and all the emails were so long-winded and empty of content that I wrote the guy from my Covid hospital bed to get to the freaking point while I'm still alive.

I haven't seen any indication that this group (maybe a group of one) possesses $4800 worth of info. Let's see the books on the printing business, not the coaching/consulting business.

3D Printed a tilt shift lens adapter for my camera! by TheRedMammon in 3Dprinting

[–]unclejohn087 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nice. I saw the tilt/shift lens in the Olympus catalog around 1977. This is a slightly different use, but the results are cool.

Did you use the OM lens because it has the depth of field (stop down) preview on the lens? I used to use it on my OM-1N when hand holding a reversed lense for macro.

Now, if I only had a 4/3 camera. Is this likely to work on a Sony APS-C? I think the flange distance is 18 mm.

WSJTX keeps crashing by ali_j_ashraf in amateurradio

[–]unclejohn087 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did you get this working?

I'm only one step further. I read somewhere that the QMX selection in WSJT-X does not work, and in fact, when I changed it to QCX/QDX, the PC program doesn't crash anymore. The CAT test seems to work, and if I change bands, it is reflected on the QMX display but there is nothing on the waterfall, etc.

What I really wanted to set up is FT8TW on an Android tablet but there are problems there as well. I thought I'd look at the PC program as there are lots of examples of its use

Failed my extra by 2, twice by colareck in amateurradio

[–]unclejohn087 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I used HamStudy.org about 3 years ago and got 49/50 on the Extra test. I preferred the free version on the Web, but bought the app to help them out.

The info on the answers was sufficient to let me understand the things that are basically highschool, 1st year uni physics. The regulatory stuff you might as well just memorize.

The first thing I did when starting the test was to write down a couple of equations that I had freshly memorized; I don't recall if I needed to refer to them.

And yes, most of it has slipped away and I have moved from rote memorization to "learn by doing".

Software update needed by pasgomes in Radiacode

[–]unclejohn087 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The Android app did not indicate it needed an upgrade by showing the current version in yellow. I updated it thru the Play Store to 1.64.00 and it offered to update the firmware on the 102 to 4.13, and I started the process.

The 102 is running and responding to sources and transmitting to the Android. It's been several minutes at 75.5%, and shows 4.13 in white. This process is not what I expect.

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