• Category Archives Life in the USA

  • Solar Inverter

    Posted on by beno Comment

    I have a small test solar system that I run a few things off.
    It stopped working.

    Did not take long after opening it to find out why.
    Pretty poorly built really. I should have opened it from new and would have seen trouble coming before we put it into service.
    There is no way this thing is rated for the 600 watts it was sold as.
    In a way, it did me a favour. Freddy approved a new 1000 watt version and it really is rated at that. As such, the efficiency of the unit is much higher and I am getting more power than ever and have changed nothing but the inverter.


    Life in the USA

  • Discone

    Posted on by beno Comment

    As part of my amature radio fun and games I had to add an antenna.
    Wanting to do a little bit of everything, I bought a discone. It’s not great gain, but it covers a broad range of frequencies.
    Because the HOA is pretty strict about such things, its a lot lower than I would like, but so far, after a month, no letters to take it down….

    I just need a way to both transmit and receive through it.

    I have also been more active in using SDR, software radios. It’s a pretty steep learning curve, but it allows all sorts of signals to be picked up.
    We have watched pager messages, weather satellites, aircraft, other hams and weather stations. Not bad from a 20 buck USB radio and some free software.


    Life in the USA

  • Terry graduated.

    Posted on by beno Comment

    Some photos of Terrys graduation.

    Terry and Krysta.

    The usual crew.

    I think it’s sort of sunk in that he does not have to do homework every night.
    The first few paychecks will also be a bit of an awakening and ‘growing up’ adjustment.
    But, other than that, he has transitioned to life pretty smoothly.


    Family Life in the USA

  • Busy coping.

    Posted on by beno Comment

    It has been pointed out that I have not been slack in posting, but that I have simply NOT been posting…. And fair enough too.
    It’s more a case of why not.
    You can rest assured it’s not because I have run out of things to say!
    Enough to say it should not be a surprise to any of the regular readers that I have been struggling with depression for the past too many years… We have simply been busy coping with that and life.
    When you are down and almost out, writing about it does not spring to mind and frankly, for me, writing about anything when feeling that way is not all that appealing.

    I will blog about one project I have been working on. ACARS. Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System.
    We are using Node-RED to decode and display messages from the aircraft in the LA, San Diego, Phoenix area, some 20,000 messages a day. It’s been rather fun and distracting. A perfect combo for one such as myself.

    Terry has graduated, moved home and adopted two cats.
    He starts work at Opto 22 on the 23rd of July (just a few more days of freedom at the writing of this blog).

    My old solar inverter committed suicide by burning out a high resistance high current connector. We repaired it, but got another more powerful unit anyways. It’s going about 25% to 35% better.

    I am studying for my Technicaian Class amature radio license. Plan to sit for it in about two weeks time.

    We are heading up to Idaho for a few days to meet the new son-in-law and hang out with Amy. Taking the drone, so hope to get some nice shots of the cabin on the island that Amy’s inlaws have built.

    That about sums it up.
    Happy now?


    Life in the USA