Archive for the ‘photography’ category

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W1GHZ 1152-MHz LO measurements

June 22nd, 2011

Through some reorganization at work in the past two months, I have suddenly gained ready access to a lab full of RF test equipment again.  Two years is a long time to go without. Apologies for the cell-phone photograph of the screen.

I took the W1GHZ 1152-MHz LO board over to have a look at it during lunch.  I’m seeing -11 dBm at 1152.007 MHz.  I am a bit dubious of the last digit of the frequency (even at 300 Hz RBW) but I’m sure there’s a frequency counter around somewhere.  Anyhow, I need to put a MMIC (or two) on the transverter board.  That should be a nice evening project along with the W6PQL preamp kit that showed up today.

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Posted in engineering, photography, radio

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Great Idea: Light Painting WiFi

March 21st, 2011

Saw this in my Google Reader at work and had to post.  Apply to work, ham radio, …?  It’s clearly an artist’s take and not an engineer’s.

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Posted in communication, computing, education, engineering, life, photography, radio

Terminator

September 16th, 2010

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Posted in nature, noticed, photography, radio, travel

Brookside Gardens

July 24th, 2010

Last night, Sarah suggested that we (finally) make the short trip from our home to Brookside Gardens.  To our mothers:  we are sorry we haven’t brought you there, yet.  We enjoyed ourselves and I took some pictures, none of which are particularly remarkable—just wide-open aperture and low ISO (Nikon D40 : 35mm : f/1.8 : ISO 200).  But, I thought the site needed some color.

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Posted in life, photography

Common Loon in DC

April 27th, 2010

Friends from Champaign-Urbana, Matt and Robert (aka Common Loon), are on tour this spring and stopped by DC a little over a week ago.  Finally got the pictures out of the camera—erm, off the card—last night.  (Nikon D40 : ISO1600 : 50 mm : f/1.8 : 1/15)

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Posted in life, music, photography

Cool, Clear Water

October 10th, 2009
Sligo Creek

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.

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Posted in life, photography

365 Photographs

January 14th, 2009
Vanity Plate

Vanity Plate

For those who read this via RSS, you’ve probably missed the new sidebar on the web site.  I’m endeavoring to carry a camera with me almost wherever I go this year.  You never known when a great opportunity for a snapshot or photograph will occur.  I have decided to post one photograph per day in 2009, taken on that day when possible.  These photos are hosted at home for now:  http://365.esmx.net/365/

You can subscribe to them via RSS by pasting the following feed into your reader:  http://365.esmx.net/365/rss.xml I build the posts and feed statically (and off-line) using two Perl scripts to reduce the processing requirements on my embedded server at home.

If you read these blog posts as Facebook notes, please consider subscribing via RSS since Facebook only lets me syndicate one personal RSS feed.  I plan to switch the feed from the blog to the photos soon, maybe tomorrow.

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Posted in photography

Landmarks

January 1st, 2009
MAP Refinery

MAP Refinery

Our holiday travel schedule took us past the Marathon Ashland Petroleum refinery in Canton, Ohio.  It has been a landmark on our trips to visit Mom’s family.  I wouldn’t have bothered to photograph it except Dad took one on the way up.  Since it was taken just before dusk on a cool, damp, winter day, it seems even more industrial.  The flame near the center of the image burns almost perpetually.  As a child, I always wondered why they just burned it off.  It seemed as if it were burning, somebody could at least use it to fuel something, even if it was waste.

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Posted in life, photography

Hobby, Passion, Obsession?

December 13th, 2008
Bus Stop

Bus Stop

When does a hobby become a passion?  When does a passion become and obsession?  I missed the bus the other day taking long-exposure shots at the bus stop (none of which came out good enough for the web—need a tripod).  I sprinted two blocks and caught the bus at a stop light.

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Posted in hobbies, life, photography

Miscellaneous

October 27th, 2008

Just some miscellaneous news from happenings over the past month…first, the good news…

I passed the oral exam on Tuesday.  So, I’m officially ABD now.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Nikon released the 50mm f/1.4G AF-S SWM prime lens at the end of September.  I guess I wasn’t paying close enough attention.  This is good news for D40 owners such as myself.  But, the price is almost as steep as the Sigma f/1.4 30mm and 50mm HSM lenses.  The 30mm lens would be a better all-around choice.  Perhaps Nikon will come out with something a little shorter by the time I’m ready to buy.  Until then, I’ll keep using the 50mm f/1.4 AF-D that I have on indefinite loan from work.

I managed to destroy the drivers in my recently-repaired TS-930S.  I considered swapping the drivers from my second radio into this one.  But, when I took that radio apart, I found that the capacitors had swollen.  So, I have parts on order to fix that.  UPS says they’ll be here today.  I requested a quote for the NTE236 replacement for the MRF-485 drivers.  They want almost as much for the NTE236 as RF Parts does for the MRF-485.  I think I’ll get the MRF-485s.

We had high winds yesterday (Sunday).  I lost the 80-, 40-, and 20-meter dipoles.  Sarah said, “Do you expect that (80-meter) antenna to last the winter?  It just broke in September.”  She’s right.  I’m not sure I’ll repair it if it breaks again.   It’s less than a week to the CW Sweepstakes and I only have one working radio (FT-840) and antennas for 10 and 15 meters.  The forecast calls for 65 and sunny on Thursday.  So, I’ll probably take the day to work on antennas.

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Posted in engineering, hobbies, life, photography, radio, work

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