Much Ado About “Not Much”

I recently found yet another electrical utility company power pole with a problem. This was a case of radio interference. Unlike some issues I’ve reported, this problem presents no safety concerns.

I don’t know how much clearer I could make it than, “This problem is NOT a safety hazard. It is only a radio interference issue. This can be taken care of when there is a line crew with nothing else to do.” I emphasized the word NOT.

Despite my efforts, the electric company is treating it as if an overhead line was down and making lots of loud noise as it jumps around on the ground. “We will dispatch a crew immediately. They will arrive within 10-15 minutes. Do not approach the area until cleared by the line crew.”

Sigh.

I don’t know if it’s because I have reported several problems that were dangerous to passerby, or if I’ve been “tagged” as someone who has repeatedly found actual problems at the actual pole number I reported and it’s “easy work”. Here, each pole has a serial number that can be used to find its exact location, age, pole height, what is attached to the pole, a maintenance history and all manner of other information. So far, I’ve been 100% correct with identifying the pole with the problem.

RCAF — 100 Years of Service to Canada

Tonight, I was listening to a ham radio station from BC, Canada with an unusual callsign, and a “old timey” sounding morse code signal.

The callsign of the station was VE7RCAF and was issued by Industry Canada to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The “old timey” sound of the signal……The radio equipment the station was using was a restored radio set used in Allied forces aircraft during WW2. Wikipedia has quite a write up on the type of radios being used. Search for AN/ARC-5.

Please wish the RCAF, those who have served and those currently serving, all the best.

Experimental Garden Layout

I went to the hardware store and picked up some T-posts. If you’re not familiar with them, they are the de rigueur posts that one sees on barbwire fence lines. They are called T posts, because looking downward at the top of an installed post, they have a T shape. Somewhere, someone figured out that shape provides the strongest post with the minimum of material.

My garden is going to be 20 feet/6 meters square. If I make it any larger, it will extend into where I have planted an apple tree.

My plan is to have Roma tomatoes, Bell peppers, carrots, basil, cilantro, a potato (found one sprouting and put it into a pot of soil), garlic chives, some garlic and Serrano peppers.

I need to look up in my grandmother’s books to see what plants can be planted together and which plants should be spaced far apart.

Next is to get my trenching shovel and dig a trench around the garden area so I can put fencing below ground level and (maybe) keep the “digging critters” out of the garden.

I also need to be aware that “Cluster’s pig” roams the neighborhood. The fence will be fairly substantial, so it should be okay. If it looks like I need to further reenforce the fence, I can electrify it. I normally find it amusing seeing the bore wandering around, but….that will not be the case if he gets into my garden. 🙂

More Inside Tasks

Since the wind is so strong, I’ve been doing inside things. The transmitter work that I mentioned earlier was one thing.

I also finished getting the seeds for this year’s garden into the little peat pots. So, starting indoors are Roma Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Serrano Peppers, Basil, Cilantro, Garlic Chives and a couple of apple seeds that were sprouting inside the apples.

These seeds are from a different variety than the Pink Lady Apples that I sprouted last year, so I’m hoping the different apple variety will allow the trees to produce apples. Since all apples seeds are cross pollinated, the type of apples we might get is unknown, but I’m hoping at least for something that can be made into applesauce. We won’t know until several more years pass.

I baked sourdough bread today.

I also cooked some chicken in the dutch oven and that will be the basis of several dinners.

This morning I experimented with a egg-pepper-ham omelette with fennel added to it. The fennel added a very slight licorice flavor and we liked the taste of the omelette

My wife was helping with most of this. However when I began to work on the transmitter, she practiced her banjo playing.

Besides cleaning up, there isn’t much else left to do except prepare dinner and relax.

There was a loud thump noise outside and I just came back in from seeing what was happening. We have some very large plant pots that are full of soil. Full of dry soil, like they are, they weigh around 50 pounds/20kg. One blew over and rolled into the side of the house. I guess the wind *is* strong. 🙂

And, now the clouds are starting to blow in. The weather forecasters didn’t mention anything about snow or rain, but…it wouldn’t surprise me if the forecast changes.

Wind, Sand and Radio.

It’s warm enough, about 60F/15C, but the wind is blowing….a lot. The sustained winds are 55mph/90kph and, so far, the strongest wind gust has been 69mph/110kph. I was outside with our dog, and my face was being stung by the blowing sand. When the weather is nice, our dog likes to lay down outside and “watch over his territory”. This wasn’t the case today. After about 1 minute and a particularly strong wind gust, he wanted back inside.

It was like this yesterday and will likely be the same tomorrow. Sunday, the wind is expected to drop to “normal levels”…..strong, but no blowing sand.

I’m still working on the “somewhat old” transmitter. I am just about ready to apply power to it and test it out.

Eico 723

Since the weather has been windy, and I haven’t felt like doing much outside, I’ve been working on indoor stuff. In this case, “restoring” a ham radio transmitter that was, if you can’t tell, new in the early 1960s.

When I got my first ham radio license, in 1972, this was the transmitter I bought. It was used, and cost $10. On the front panel, it says “Sixty Watt CW Transmitter”. The CW means morse code. Sixty watts is the transmitter power. With my novice class amateur radio license, I could use transmitters with powers up to 75 watts.

There used to be two types of morse code transmissions, damped wave (spark) and continuous wave. Damped wave transmissions were obsolete around the time of World War 1 and licensing of damped wave transmitters ceased in 1929. Except for emergency use, damped wave transmissions were completely prohibited after 1934. The reason for this prohibition was that several hundred CW stations could fit into the same radio spectrum space that one damped wave transmitter needed.

Even in 1929, damped wave transmitters were in general disfavor because of the far superior performance of CW. A 10 watt CW signal could do the job of a thousand watt damped wave transmitter and a CW transmitter was both quiet and unobtrusive. The old “beasts” were essentially arc welders hooked to an antenna. They roared, stunk, emitted corrosive fumes, all sorts of bright blue-white light and looked like something in an old horror movie.

For what it is worth, the same problem–more need than available space–is still occurring. And another “for what it’s worth”, CW morse code transmissions still use the least amount of spectrum space…the problem is that it’s slow. While everyone is used to megabits per second and gigabits per second, hand sent morse code is in the 10-20 bits per second range.

Anyway. Where was I?

Oh, yes. The Eico 723 transmitter. I haven’t used it in (probably) 45 years and before apply power to it, I will do some general safety checks as well as replacing two “very often goes bad” components…..the orange-brown cardboard looking tubes in the second picture.

By today’s standards, it’s quite primitive, but…it will still be fun to use…sort of like taking out a Ford Model T and driving it around. Just looking at it brings back a lot of memories from when I was 11 and 12 years old. By the time I was 13 years old, I had passed the tests to receive the Advanced class amateur radio license and I “graduated” to other radio equipment.

US Postal Service

It seems everyone complains about the US Postal Service. As I’ve mentioned in other blog posts, I have been quite happy with their service, and I’m pleased again.

Rather than sit inside and do nothing during periods of “undesirable” weather, I restore/repair old radios, and this requires I make somewhat regular orders for electronic parts from stores that are “back east”.

I ordered a bunch of parts on Sunday evening and the parts were shipped Monday morning. Since I was not in a hurry for the parts, I chose the least expensive shipping method, USPS Ground Advantage.

The box is currently awaiting pickup at the local post office.

I’m happy.

Wind Season and Seed Starts

Each year it seems like the wind blows winter out and spring in. The temperatures are slowly rising–still freezing most nights, but warming to the 55F/13C range during the day–and the winds are starting. For the past several days, and for the next several weeks, the winds will rarely drop below 40mph/65kph.

I am getting everything ready to start seeds indoors. I traded some computer work for 4 dozen of the little Peat Pots and the soil needed to fill those pots, so I won’t have to worry so much about “transplant shock”.

From the garden I had in the “hot desert”, I saved Basil, garlic chives and cilantro seeds. These are starting to sprout in the small pots. I also have another apple seed that has sprouted and my pomegranate, currently in a medium sized pot, is now “knee high”. Next on the list to plant are seeds for the bell pepper, Serrano pepper, carrot, and Roma tomato.

I have lived most of my life in areas that were USDA plant zones 9b or 10a, but now live where the plant zone is somewhere between 5b and 6a, so I’m having to relearn gardening techniques and timing.

So, because I’m still learning, and I don’t have more fencing, I’m going to set up a 15 by 30 foot (4.5 by 9 meter) sized garden.

If things work out well this year, I’ll increase the size of the garden for next year. Hopefully it will then be enough to supply a large portion of our produce.

Added….
I just heard the weather forecast for tomorrow….50mph (80kmh) wind…..and snow…..

Weight

In the early 1980s, I weighed just under 170 pounds. For my 5-11 height, and body type, that was an okay weight. I was in my early 20s and I was running 10-15 miles each night, probably 6 nights a week with my fiancee. Weight was nothing I ever thought about.

When my fiancee was in treatment I didn’t run, but I also don’t remember eating much, so I don’t think my weight changed much.

After she died, it was a different story. I was very likely depressed, certainly angry and I was not exercising. I gained nearly 70 pounds in about a year.

In about 4 years, I managed to reduce my weight from that 240 pound peak to around 205 pounds and my weight would vary between 210 and 200 pounds. This was the case even this year.

My wife joined Weight Watchers about a month ago. Being that I was wanting to lose some weight and also wanting to be a supportive husband–it’s hard to lose weight when the other spouse “doesn’t care”, I began to emulate her new eating style.

When she started, I was 205 pounds. I’m now down to 195 pounds and, oddly enough, I’m always feeling like I’ve over eaten.

My wife has lost a similar amount of weight and she says she’s lost about 11 pounds in the same time interval.

The dutch oven is busy cooking chicken, the pressure cooker is busy cooking tepary beans, I’m making sourdough bread every couple of weeks and our produce grocery bill has skyrocketed. I’m getting ready to order some “topsoil” to work on a garden.

We are in a high desert; USDA plant hardiness zone 6a, little rain and the average “frost free” season is late May through mid September. I grew up in a “hot” (low) desert and have always been very careful to not use too much water, so I don’t want to plant stuff that *needs* huge amounts of water…just because it’s cold, doesn’t mean water is abundant.

There is an organization in Arizona, called Native Seeds-SEARCH, that specializes in open pollinated (heirloom) seeds that are low water use plants. Further, they indicate what seeds produce plants that do well in high (cold) deserts…like where I live…and low (hot) deserts.

I’m looking through their catalog and putting together an order for 8-10 different vegetables that are listed as doing well in a cold desert. Hopefully things will work out as I don’t have a lot of experience in colder climate gardening.