What did you do today?

[Dan Dubeau]

Got all my tooling out of the rubbermaids, and into the new toolboxes this morning.Then went and played my first softball games in the past 18 months. Was nice to get back out and do something normal again....

I have some parts to engrave tonight,so I'm going to do more organizing out there tonight while those are running. Might even get started on my material rack that is greatly needed. Slowly but surely I'm getting there.....

[danlb]

I finished reading through the roughly 1000 questions that are used for the HAM radio license test. Most were either a) common sense, b) same as CB radios from the 1970s or c) basic electricity.

I found that you can take your HAM test online. They use teleconferencing (zoom) to allow the proctors (examiners) to interact with the test subject. I paid the $14 and got a time slot of 6:10 PM. By 6:20 I had answered all 35 questions and passed the test with a 88%.

According to the proctors.... I am now a HAM. (as soon as the FCC adds it to the database)

[Jim Stewart]

I finished reading through the roughly 1000 questions that are used for the HAM radio license test. Most were either a) common sense, b) same as CB radios from the 1970s or c) basic electricity.

I found that you can take your HAM test online. They use teleconferencing (zoom) to allow the proctors (examiners) to interact with the test subject. I paid the $14 and got a time slot of 6:10 PM. By 6:20 I had answered all 35 questions and passed the test with a 88%.

According to the proctors.... I am now a HAM. (as soon as the FCC adds it to the database)

Congrats!

Many years ago when I was a lad the Technician and General classes had the same written test, the only difference was the speed requirement for Morse Code. No more code, of course. What's the difference in tests between the two classes now?

-73, KF6R

[Bob Engelhardt]

Deleted

When you "Edit" a post, there is the option to delete it. It's a button down by the "Save" button.

[danlb]

Congrats!

Many years ago when I was a lad the Technician and General classes had the same written test, the only difference was the speed requirement for Morse Code. No more code, of course. What's the difference in tests between the two classes now?

-73, KF6R

Thanks. The general test is 35 questions (same as tech) but from a different pool of possibilities. The general seems to require more radio theory and antenna design. Without studying, I'm hitting 65 to 71% on the sample tests from ARRL.COM. I've run through it 4 times just to see what it contains.

I need to learn more before about normal use , protocol, etc before I address the general class.

The general class opens a few more bands. I suspect that general is as high as I can get without having to take classes to actually learn the subject matter.

Dan

[flathead4]

Thanks. The general test is 35 questions (same as tech) but from a different pool of possibilities. The general seems to require more radio theory and antenna design. Without studying, I'm hitting 65 to 71% on the sample tests from ARRL.COM. I've run through it 4 times just to see what it contains.

I need to learn more before about normal use , protocol, etc before I address the general class.

The general class opens a few more bands. I suspect that general is as high as I can get without having to take classes to actually learn the subject matter.

Dan

I had not heard of "zoom" testing before Covid but apparently there were already rules in place to allow it. Last year I used Hamtestonline.com to study for the Amateur Extra Class but took the test in person in the fall with mask and social distance. The General class gives you limited access to all the bands and the Extra gives you full access within those bands. It is a good time to get licensed with the solar cycle trending up. It was a lot of fun at Field Day this year. Congratulations and enjoy!

[Mike Burch]

When you "Edit" a post, there is the option to delete it. It's a button down by the "Save" button.

Thanks, Bob. I'd always assumed that the "Delete" button just deleted the edit, not the whole post.. So now I have deleted the deleted post...

[Ridgerunner]

I have a few of these 1000 liter ibc (Intermediate bulk containers) totes to catch rain water and also to move water around to different tanks and water troughs. I took one of the drain caps and drilled it for a tank adapter to 2 inch pipe. I bored the back of the fitting on the lathe so there would be more usable threads left in the cap to tighten on to the tote. Since I use them on different totes I did not know where the valve or 90 degree fitting would end up pointing when tight so I put a male and female adapter in line so I could just twist the 90 degree fitting to point the way I wanted when opening the drain.

Oh, in the first picture the totes are just there temporarily because rain was coming and I wanted to catch it. I will build stands later so I can just drain each tote in to a transport tote or tank.

[kj4oll]

Took down the old TV antenna.
Replacing it with a new one that might work better out in this rural area.
Hoping to avoid any 911 calls “the old guy fell off the ladder again….”
Old:

New:

[Ironbearmarine]

Started a whole new artistic endeavor since acquiring my new cnc plasma system. Been making little stylized animal cut outs inspired by cave paintings and pectoglyphs of ancient cultures and early man. Also by the animals that are my neighbors here on Puget Sound. For the last 10 days i was down sick. Not Covid sick, thank Kronos and Zarathustra, but it was bad enough that i didn’t eat at all and only a few sips of water for most of it. Lost about 12 pounds. Today i was feeling good enough to move around and take nourishment. I took out my sketch book and drew a little stylized sea lion for a small metal charm i wanted to add to my product line. I have only just bought Fusion 360 and am still quite the novice, so this would be my first attempt at creating a part for machining. In this case, cnc plasma cutting.
I photographed the rough cartoon, saved as a file then uploaded that into my cad program. I then traced it, deleted the photo and now had a digital sketch. I then rendered into a 3d model. From there i exported it as an object file into a CAM program that is friendly with my cnc system. I managed to have a steel prototype by sundown. It was a fun and challenging experience, and made doubly so because only a few days ago i felt like throwing myself off a cliff and shooting myself halfway down so the fall wouldn’t kill me.
i am including some photos of the project, but not of me being half way down that bluff.

[Cenedd]

Claimed a victory for the vast amounts of "crap" in my workshop Building work going on and it was delayed by needing a Gas Safe (UK required certification for working on gas) plumber to come in, cut down the pipes sticking out the floor and cap them off. Combination of legacy stuff and switching from gas to induction hob. Guy had asked whether it was copper or steel and been incorrectly told "copper" when he should have been told "both" and he'd have said then and there he couldn't do the job. He turned up, spotted it was steel (2 out of 3) and my wife had kittens that everything was going to be held up (yet again) because of this. Asked what the problem was and he doesn't carry the threading tools that are needed for old steel pipework. "Threading tools" you say? What size? Anyway, after some furkeling about with calipers, it turns out to be G¹/₂. Well, as luck would have it, that's shower hose thread and I was messing about with that a year or so back. Out comes the high quality *cough* eBay-special G¹/₂ die and my largest die stock and a threading we did go. Vindication for buying all this "crap" at last!

[DennisCA]

Broke both my hammers trying to extract a nail. Don't try and pull nails from nail guns.



Two new shafts, also the plastic handle on our bread knife broke so I made a new one:





Also framed the walls for my shed

[Noitoen]

Broke both my hammers trying to extract a nail. Don't try and pull nails from nail guns.

You are not supposed to pull the nails from the nail gun with a hammer. You shoot them out with compressed air

[Bob Engelhardt]

Broke both my hammers trying to extract a nail. Don't try and pull nails from nail guns.

The nail gun nails that we use are coated with an adhesive that is activated by the friction when driven. Trying to pull them usually breaks the head off.

Also framed the walls for my shed

Different style than US - especially the vertical member at the top, let into the studs. Much stronger than our double plate, but very much more labor intensive. Is that the standard there, or is it your way of doing it better?

[DennisCA]

I don't know if it's the standard or not here, I did it like this to make the walls stronger because I will be using heavy hewn beams for supporting the roof and this made the wall more rigid while using less material. Over the door I further reinforced it with two 2x8s standing on their side because two of the pillars for the beams will be resting there. Also doubled the studs at the door.

I did get the idea from looking at my own house and garage though when they where built (2013-14) so it's in use, though I am not sure it's the only style.