k8gu.com

Life, Radio, Photography, Engineering, Education, etc

Archive for October, 2009

Hacking Engineering Education

October 25th, 2009

Bell System Manhole Cover

While browsing my local public library a few weeks ago, I stumbled across the book The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey by one Emmanuel Goldstein. Despite my own youthful adventures (perhaps chronicled in a future post) with computers and networks, I never got into reading 2600, probably for the better. But, the book represents the best of the magazine and it’s worth reading through more mature eyes. Why?

The hackers are playful. They are creative under duress and with limited resources at their disposal. They tell stories. They share mental models of the networks they’ve compromised. They are the explorers of the networked world. They are social—they understand that networks connect people.

Of course, this assessment glosses over the criminal and arrogant aspects of hacking. But, the concepts of exploring, building, and sharing knowledge and models are valuable skills for the innovators of tomorrow. Perhaps we can learn something from the hackers?

Comments Off on Hacking Engineering Education »

Posted in communication, computing, education, engineering

The Harvest

October 10th, 2009

peppers

We managed to plant some tomatoes and peppers after we moved. The deer got the tomatoes. So, all we got from the garden were a handful of peppers. Boy, we’d be up a creek if that’s all the vegetables we had to eat for the Fall!

Comments Off on The Harvest »

Posted in food

Cool, Clear Water

October 10th, 2009

Sligo Creek

The long exposure shot of running water is a cliché. But, we were out for a walk on an unseasonably pleasant evening this week and I had to do it. It’s hard to believe that this is less than a mile from our house.

Comments Off on Cool, Clear Water »

Posted in life, photography

Homebrew Fire Ring

October 3rd, 2009

Homebrew Fire Ring

At our last place in Urbana, we had our “space” in the back yard, sort of an outdoor living room. The new house lacked that until recently. We obtained a rusty old truck tire rim from some of my not-too-distant kin in the tire business. I picked-up a rust-buster abrasive head for my angle grinder and went to work on the rust and caked-on road/tire grime. Some degreaser and a rag helped get most of the rest of the grime out. Then, I painted it with flat black grill paint for a classy rust-free look.

Total cost: about $10 plus three hours’ time to finish the rim. The neighbors probably think we’re rednecks. But, who cares? We had the first of hopefully many pleasant fires tonight. Besides, how many chimenea owners had the pleasure of busting rust off of a 35-pound hunk of steel?

Interesting trivia: In the past three posts (inclusive) with photographs, the on-going projects are pictured. That is, in the workbench photo, the antenna mast and rotor control box are shown in the lower left portion of the image. In the rotor photo, the unfinished fire ring is under the rotor. Then, this post has the finished fire ring. The beat goes on…

Comments Off on Homebrew Fire Ring »

Posted in engineering, life

Tags: re-purpose

PJ2/K8GU QSL update

October 3rd, 2009

Good news for those waiting for PJ2/K8GU QSLs: I finally went ahead and ordered the cards. Originally, I planned to do a full-color card as I had in my past operations. But, I just didn’t need 500-600 leftover PJ2/K8GU cards. So, I had some regular cards printed and they should be here in the next week or two. The direct cards will go out first. I thought about putting a unique QR code on each card so you could look up a nice write-up of the operation on the web plus verifying your QSO information. But, my wife the librarian tells me that’s poor preservation and that I’ll be a part of the “digital dark ages.” So, I’ve decided not to take that project on…

Comments Off on PJ2/K8GU QSL update »

Posted in radio, travel

Rebuilding and installing the CDE TR-2

October 3rd, 2009

CDE TR-2

Back in March, I had the opportunity to pick up a TS-700S for the cost of shipping it from Arizona to Illinois. Since it’s an old radio with a built-in power supply, the shipping cost was significant, but $60 is a pretty good deal for a 2-meter all-mode radio. When we moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, I wanted to get on for the ARRL June VHF. I built a 6-element WA5VJB “Cheap Yagi” using a pine firring strip for the boom and 1/8-inch aluminum rod for the elements. I strapped this antenna to my DK9SQ mast with Ty-wraps and propped the radio up on moving boxes to make a few QSOs.

I stashed the antenna and radio until we visited my parents’ a few weeks ago. While I was home, I retrieved a CDE TR-2 rotor that had been at my grandparents’ vacation home in Lakeside, OH, until they had the roof replaced and I acquired their old TV tower. The TR-2 is the oldest of the CDE “bell rotors” and dates from the early to mid 1950’s. It’s a certifiable antique! I wired it up and plugged it in, only to discover that it was bound up. But, the motor hummed. So, I figured I had a chance. About a week ago, I pulled it apart (over a plastic bin to collect the ball bearings that fell out) and degreased the whole thing. I got the gears unbound and the shafts re-lubed and it worked like a charm. I greased the bearings and put it back together. Altogether, this was about an hour’s work—not too bad. They don’t make things like they used to, that’s for sure.

I was unable to find the exact U-bolts for the lower mast mount; so, I fabricated my own from some threaded rod. I put the rotor and antenna on a piece of fence top-rail and used ratcheting tie-downs to strap it to our chimney. There’s nothing quite like listening to a local beacon (W3APL/B) fade into the nulls of your beam. The multi-path is also pretty fascinating. I’ll have to do some analysis of that. Unfortunately, I haven’t been on the air for any tropo openings. So, I may have to wait until January to enjoy it.

When I was in middle school and high school I would have been delighted to come up with a working 2-meter SSB/CW station for less than $100. But, I suppose this is the advantage of time spent in the hobby. The longer you’re in, the cheaper some aspects of it get because you have time to be exposed to good deals… Anyhow, it sure was nice to do something dirty and mechanical after spending a lot of time in front of the computer at work. I’m working on a 6-meter transverter next.