r e . a l i t y
ɹǝʌo ǝɯ uɹnʇ – sıɥʇ pɐǝɹ uɐɔ noʎ ɟı
Amateur Radio / HAM
Nov 5th
Well, I took a course offered by the Northern Alberta Radio Club (N.A.R.C.), and last weekend wrote the test. I passed with an 84%, so I can use HF frequencies as well as UHF/VHF ones. This opens up a few more options for a radio (and cost). But it certainly will be interesting. I would highly recommend this course for anyone interested in getting into HAM radio operation.
Found a site that has a huge amount of info : http://www.k0bg.com/ All for the mobile amateur radio operator. Lots to read and learn!
By the way – my callsign is VE6REJ!
73
Popularity: 3% [?]
Fun with tires and lug nuts…
Nov 2nd
Had some fun recently with the tire that I blew the bead on during the EJC Poker run – was slowly losing air in it, so I figured that I would get the tire reseated and balanced. Well, they (Kal Tire Bonnie Doon) charged me $20 for doing nothing other than tightening the valve as it turned out.
I was heading out to the International Airport with my wife and daughter – and the front end started to violently shake – forcing me to pull over onto the side of the highway and swap the tire out again….
Took the tire right back to Kal Tire, and reported what happened. They ended up saying that the tire was full of tire goop - which I definitely never applied, but did give me $20 back. Made a point of stating that it was not about $20 – I was more concerned with the position I was put in on the highway and the potential risk of injury to my family and damage to my vehicle.
Now I go to put the tire back on, and discover that I no longer have the locking lub nut key! Damn! Off to the dealership, and as luck would have it, the new set actually was a perfect match to my originals! I wonder how secure these things really are?
On the plus side, I now have extra locking lugs for when I get some matching hubs and wheels for my trailer ;^)
Popularity: 3% [?]
E.J.C. Poker Run
Sep 14th
What an awesome weekend – certainly couldn’t have asked for better weather. My Jeep suffered a bit of damage – no significant body damage, just upgradeable/replaceable plastic bits ;^)
Popularity: 9% [?]
A little maintenance
Sep 4th
My Andreja Premium has been leaking lately around the portafilter. Figure that the likely culprit is the grouphead gasket – almost 2 years of baking in the E61 head, and it has been pretty much carbonized. Removing the gasket was pretty tricky, well, at least until I decided to use Google to find a how-to article. Came across Espresso! My Espresso!, a no-frills site with lots of information! How-to #13 was the one I needed, and after a quick read, I had the grouphead gasket out in less than 30 seconds!
The screen had to be cleaned up – I was a little slack in the weekly backflushes – but I did make sure they were done at least every 2-3 weeks. Every week from now on! And I won’t wait 2 years to replace the gasket again – maybe do it every 6 months to a year.
Instead of buying the gasket locally (which I kind of had to do this time around with all the leaking), I’m going to order a half dozen online. $5 US each instead of $16 from CaffeTech! The price you pay for convenience I suppose.
Popularity: 1% [?]
