Winter is coming - what's on your project list?

Started by raybiker73, October 26, 2013, 03:00:07 PM

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raybiker73

It's cold and windy here today, and there was even a bit of snow blowing around yesterday evening. The garden is tilled under and covered, the lawn furniture is cleaned and stored, and the days where it's fun to grab a QRP rig and go tromp around in the woods are coming to a close for the season. Time to start thinking about winter goals and projects, and how I'm going to pass the time during the months when western Pennsylvania seems more like northern Siberia.

1. I've accumulated a few Heathkit carcasses over the last year or so, and gotten them mostly functional. I'd like to take the time this winter to get them over the hump from "mostly functional" to "wow, that's awesome."

2. I'd like to completely reorganize my shack, which despite the small size is still going to be a Herculean task, because I tend to be really anal about cable organization and securing. I may actually pop off some paneling and put most of the cabling inside the wall, then fashion jacks into which I can plug short patch cables. I did this with my entertainment center a few years ago and it worked out quite well.

3. I really need to learn more about the tools I'm using, such as a frequency counter and an oscilloscope. Except for a very few specific functions for which I've learned to use them, I really know a lot less about them than I'd like to know. I have the tools to do and learn some pretty nifty things, but my lack of proficiency has relegated them largely to use as doorstops. That needs to change.

4. I have a GAP TitanDX multiband vertical that I got for a steal of a price this past summer, and it's still in the box. I built a nice tilt mount using 4x4s and pipe, and have it cemented in place, but I've just been too busy (and if I'm honest, too lazy) to put the antenna together. It would be nice to have it up and running before the weather gets away from me too much.

5. Last and most certainly not least, I want to spend more time in front of a radio. Summer tends to slip away from me, and I end up spending most of my non-working hours either holding a fishing rod or straddling a motorcycle. With the exception of some portable ops (and my shameful one-day foray into the world of contesting  :P ), I haven't really flogged many electrons in the last few months. I'd love to get past the 12WPM speedbump that my CW has seemed to hit, try a little RTTY and PSK31, and maybe just relax and shoot the breeze with some folks.

What are YOUR winter plans and projects?

KK0G

Well so far:


*Build my K2 when it finally arrives.


*Build and install the 30/80 meter module for my KX1 once it arrives along with the K2.


*I just placed an order to Mouser for a replacement AGC switch for my IC-735 along with more super bright LEDs to install for backlighting (I HATE tiny incandescent bulbs soldered deep inside radios!!)


Chances are I'll have the above projects done long before winter actually starts though. No doubt I'll find something else to melt solder on before spring arrives.

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety" - Benjamin Franklin

KK0G

KC3AOL

1) I have a flagstone patio that I need to finish up.
2) My 3D printer is almost done, so I'll have some designing/printing to do (if anyone wants something printed, let me know).
3) I just picked up an Icom ID-880H for the car, so I also need to install that.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 4

KC9TNH

Personal antenna work is done, thankfully. Last couple days' wind tell me I've nothing to worry about. Have a bud who had 1 leg of a dipole come down (with its limb) awhile back, so stopped by and got his ginormous solid core wire trained so it doesn't become frozen spaghette sculpture.  Then gd will shoot one of her long bow arrows into the tree & we'll get him back on the air. (He's disabled so at the mercy of those of us with full mobility.) (KK0G: Yes, we will be using blunt tips as we discussed dit dit  ;D  )

Eventual guitar amp will be in the house in couple of weeks, so plenty to do there.

Plenty of books awaiting, so lots of reading, along with perusal of the digital library for certain nuggets that I want in hardcopy.

Ray, good deal getting deeper into that o-scope.  I wish I still had mine; had used it along with an old Army manual that was actually quite good from the day (which magically found its way in my baggage when I left Fort Gordon once) specifically on tubes & all their functions. Yes, folks several of the larger rigs even still had tubes although they don't do parachutes so well. Used the scope to re-bias my guitar amps and having that waveform along with a Mesa engineering handbook to look at was a wondermous thing. :)

Other than that, dunno. I'm just gonna live; maybe watch a buddy's beagles chase some bunnies around. Already had our first snow & the Almanac watchers are telling me that means a big size boot will fall this time 'round. BTDT, this too shall pass.

Almost forgot; have a bunch of cassette tapes to convert to CD & have patch cords and Audacity software loaded & ready for that.

A nap.  Shoulda listed that first....
8)

WA4STO

Me?  Two things come to mind:

1.  Get the wood supply split.

2.  insulate the roof and garage wall of the shack, which is a breezeway.

Brrr!

73 de Luck, WA4STO

gil

Go camping! It is getting colder now with less mosquitoes, so a perfect time to go camping. It will have to be in November, before it gets too cold. I have enough radios now to cover all my needs, KX3 and MTR mainly. As far as building projects, not much. A KX1 next year maybe, or a new MTR if it ever becomes available again. I do not have enough money to start on my boat building project. Also getting back into photography, that will be fun. Great thing is, I can combine camping, Ham radio and photography!

Gil.

KK0G

Quote from: gil on October 26, 2013, 11:17:35 PM
Go camping!................. It will have to be in November, before it gets too cold.............


Dude, you're in Florida! I don't even want to hear about it. ;D
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety" - Benjamin Franklin

KK0G

crash54

I am gathering the needed supplies to build  a couple of boxes that house a VHF/UHF radio system and 12V power, charged by either a battery charger or solar panels.
I have two Dewalt DS300 tool boxes, 2-35AH batteries, a powerwerx SS-30DV supply, and a FT-8800 and FT-857D. And I have a couple of options for the panels.
I need a few more misc parts and the build can start.
Then I can re-build the radio room. That will take a couple of months and a well thought out plan.

RichardSinFWTX

I've only got a couple things on my to-do list before Winter Field Day...last weekend in January.

1.  Finish my digital HF station-in-a-box.

2.  Get ready for my Amateur Extra upgrade.

3.  Finish Tom Clancy's "Threat Vector".

4.  Knock out a couple 1/35 scale armor models.

raybiker73

Quote from: KF5RHI on October 27, 2013, 06:19:29 PM
4.  Knock out a couple 1/35 scale armor models.

God, that sounds like fun. I've let my model trains and airplanes go the last couple years because I just haven't had much time on my hands. I have a nice Accurate Miniatures B-25B Mitchell kit, still in the box. I need for days to be about 38 hours long instead of 24.  :-\

RadioRay

#10
Here (coastal Virginia)  it's been getting ready for winter. Normally, winters here are silly.  I'm from Idaho, so let's not compare winters...



However, all signs are indicating that this winter might be nasty.  Besides stocking the wood pile with aged, oak, I've been using that window insulation plastic over the screens on the screen porch where we have a woodstove.  That should help to keep more of the woodstove heat in, rather than flowing out through the screens, yet not be expensive.  When the temps rise again, we can cut it off and throw it away, just like I do with my underwear in Spring!   ???



Generally, in The South - if you don't have a screened porch, you will be devoured by insects in other than deep 'winter'.



So, to transition the porch to winter use, I use poly sheet (milky) from the hardware store for the lower four feet - for it's toughness near shoes, vacuum cleaners and other things which ARE going to bump it.  Then I attach the very thin CLEAR window insulation plastic to the wood supports for the screen, just as if the screens were windows. Because we use this area to occasionally smoke (I like a pipe of English on occasion and my wife smokes cigs...) I leave large areas with no plastic for ventilation. No smoking in the house.



de RadioRay ..._ ._
"When we cannot do the good we would, we must be ready to do the good we can."  ~ Matthew Henry

RichardSinFWTX

Quote from: raybiker73 on October 27, 2013, 06:24:48 PM
God, that sounds like fun. I've let my model trains and airplanes go the last couple years because I just haven't had much time on my hands. I have a nice Accurate Miniatures B-25B Mitchell kit, still in the box. I need for days to be about 38 hours long instead of 24.  :-\

I've got my eye on a Hasegawa 1/32nd scale Me-262 or a Revell M109A6 Paladin.  I've also got almost all of the Stryker variants, an MLRS and a couple dozen others.

Too many interests and not enough days of the week!  :(

raybiker73

Quote from: KF5RHI on October 27, 2013, 07:29:47 PM
I've got my eye on a Hasegawa 1/32nd scale Me-262 or a Revell M109A6 Paladin.  I've also got almost all of the Stryker variants, an MLRS and a couple dozen others.

Too many interests and not enough days of the week!  :(

Ain't that the truth. Someday, if I manage to move into larger digs and also lose any last tenuous grip on sanity, I'm going to try my hand at shipbuilding in 1:144 (N scale) and add a harbor to my railroad.

RichardSinFWTX

Wow!  The strange places modelers cross paths!  :)

1/35th scale is the smallest I can build.  I've had way too much alcohol and caffeine in my lifetime to handle anything smaller.  That and my job in the Army in my youth gave me tons of reference materials on the Warsaw Pact and it's clients:  order of battle, TO&E, tactics, etc.  I build 'em for contests and just for sh**s and giggles.

My wife never understands where my interests will head to next...model building, competition pistol shooting (IDPA) and now ham radio as part of my prepping.

madball13

Changing diapers, number 2 will be extracted late November.

I've got about 100 pounds of lead shot that i need to make into shell. 3-4000 cases of 5.56 that need to be processed and loaded, if and when i can find the bullets and powder.

Hopefully some peace and quiet at nights so i can chat on the radio.