Week of 29 Jan 2024

  1. Marriage Retreat registration by Feb 28th.
    I think we are opting OUT of staying the night.
  2. Travelers March 1st $1800.00
  3. Air in Silver’s tires.
  4. Repair Heat2 ESP8266.
  5. Bags for church.
  6. Safeco Feb 10th $2200.
  7. Termite inspection date.
  8. Call the hotel on Stone Mountain.
  9. Child Fund letters.
  10. Fill batteries in cave.
  11. Cloth measuring tape.
  12. PCC on forehead needs to be looked at.
  13. Research new smoke/fire/CO detectors.
    Draw fire detector wiring diagram.
  14. Replace dryer vent with one that closes off the outside air
  15. Power supply for audio recording on Sundays
    Get battery packs from storage.
    Buy mini USB DC converter and check for noise?
  16. Configure Ham Radio Deluxe software.
    Did get it configured to reach into my LOTW.
  17. Recycle Batteries #3
  18. Look for another Subpoena.
    (They may not ask us anymore because of a chain of custody issue.)
  19. Add relay to refrigerator UPS to charge from Solar.
  20. Get exercise pads from storage.
  21. Check on Home Owners insurance for storage.
  22. Fix Jacoby account
  23. TurboTax 2024.
    Signed in and started my 2023 taxes.
  24. Make Dentist Appointment
  25. Mount HA#2 and Pi-Hole.
  26. Buy air filters 16x25x1
  27. Buy more solar panels in case of NATO WAR.
    Sweden is seeking to join NATO.
  28. Change owner of church Public Storage locker.
  29. rebuild Attic fan power switchbox.
  30. Wells Fargo Advisors
  31. Good Will
  32. Hand truck
  33. Fertilize the lawn
  34. Buy a water hose
  35. Repair radiator on Blue.
  36. Repair the eves on our home
  37. Replace back door of garage
  38. Repair window in garage
  39. Replace seal under garage door
    • Locate part number for Door seal.
  40. Repair the brakes on Blue.
  41. Two 8GB Raspberry Pi’s are ordered from Newark Electronics.
  42. Register with IRS as an administrator of an estate.
    File estate taxes.
  43. Put tape over door seals on Blue.
  44. Research Lawyer for Arizona

Monday

EARLY…. Could not get to sleep so I did a couple practice tests for my General HAM license test. Watched a movie “White Out”, it turned out to be pretty good. Lots of wasted time walking outdoors on ropes, but otherwise an ok movie.

Poured a cup of coffee. (A necessity) Had two hard boiled eggs for breakfast. Turned on cell phone ringer and ceiling fans per my daily routine. Checked my phone for messages and responded if needed.

Researched drying out carpet with blackwater in it. It turns out that it’s pretty risky to leave the soaked carpet in the home.

Downloaded my O2 levels from my finger sensor.

My uncle wants me to get onto 40M when I get my General License. 40M requires a 66′ dipole antenna and the only way that will fit is diagonally across my back yard. (Orange) The 10M antenna is shown in yellow. I can get the wire from the candy store for under $50 to replace the 6M aerials with 30M ones.

Lunch was pork chops, rice and corn.

It’s been two months since I worked on HF. I got back on the air with my HF radio today and made contact with Dominican Republic and Japan.

Took four practice tests today using QRZ practice tests, I did a little worse than I expected. That’s one thing I am learning about the ARRL book, they don’t give you all the questions that might be asked.

Dinner was a can of soup tonight. Dessert was Ruffles potato chips with catsup on them.

The new door arrived today, fit perfectly!

I am NOT a plumber; I went to help someone with a clogged pipe and didn’t find out until much later that Draino was poured into the water. Some of the black water apparently spilled on my clothes and left a red rash on my hand. I am glad that I opted out of helping them today, I could have gotten seriously hurt! One good thing about the Draino, I don’t have to worry about getting sick from E-Coli LOL.

Watched another Hallmark movie “Bottled with Love” tonight.

Tuesday

I didn’t get a lot done yesterday, need to get a plan together for today. I’ve read over my honey-do list, there’s nothing huge for first thing this morning.

It got rather cold outside, it’s still just above freezing even at 8:30.

Had or morning meeting to hash out what’s the plan for today. We’re delaying laundry until it gets warmer outside and eating at Longhorn’s for lunch.

It’s a very pretty day outside today.

I need a score of 74 or higher to pass my General License test.

g2023   2024-01-29 05:24:53  85.71%
g2023   2024-01-29 22:56:50  80.00%
g2023   2024-01-29 23:13:33  85.71%
g2023   2024-01-30 00:13:22  71.43%
g2023   2024-01-30 04:18:14  94.29%
g2023   2024-01-30 23:47:07  85.71%

Wednesday

Not quite as cold, but is a bit chilly at 42 degrees. Checking the Internet for updates… Got a letter from Josephine that I printed for Kathy. Stanley is under fire for using lead as a sealer for their most popular cup last Christmas. The lead is underneath a quarter sized cover on the very bottom of the cup not accessible unless the plastic is damaged.

Unsubscribed from Amigo Foods, they were our Go-To for our coffee.

Started Blue to lubricate the engine. (Not run very long.)

Ordered some cotton bags for Larry, I looked for Drum spurs…. Need to know the MFR of the drum…

Printed our voter registration cards for 2024

Bedroom outlet is failing, the Arc-Fault breaker tripped again. The connection does feel a little loose and it is one of the original outlets in the home. In troubleshooting the breaker broke the ESP-8266 that was controlling the relays on the heaters. The relays in the Dehumidifier will keep the bedroom warm tonight until I can replace the $4 NODEMCU tomorrow. I may replace all six outlets in the next few days, I have new ones in the garage.

Thursday

It got pretty warm today, bright sun too. Worked outside on my HF antenna’s today. I pulled off the 6M aerials and added 40Meter ones so that I am ready if I pass my General Test.

Looks pretty good on the receive side even close in.

7.268 should be Paul tomorrow morning, the 40M aerials seem to be working VERY well. I won’t know how well they transmit for at LEAST 10 days. LOL

Friday

Whew, what a morning and it’s only 10:30! I got up late because I didn’t set an alarm. I heard the very end of Paul’s weather report. Talked to Paul for a good while about Bal-Un and Un-Un transformers. HRO has a 9:1 Un-Un for $30, that’s a lot cheaper than the $120 antenna he wanted me to buy. His configuration doesn’t have any ground on the Unun AND he’s using an Unun RF choke on his very short coax. (There’s nothing for the 200MA of RF to push against.) According to Google Foo there should be 7 ft of coax between the 9:1 and the 1:1 to be a counterpoise.

We also listened to stations to see the difference between our two radios.

Almost forgot to take out the garbage can! But I managed to get some pants on and get it out while he was driving up the road behind us. Yea!

Waiting on Kathy to let me know about the low tire pressure fault. She has a compact spare in the car with her, the full-size spare is here at the house. *Checked all her tires, they all were over 30PSI. Best I can do is take a compressor out there and top them off.

I don’t know the VSWR of the 10M aerials on my back yard antenna yet, but they are receiving really good yesterday. Today they are really struggling, but the morning HF was also having difficulty, so I am not sure it’s just a propagation issue. I did notice that if the dipole was not balanced when I grabbed the coax connectors, I saw the dip change on the antenna analyzer. That’s very beneficial with these 30′ aerials to try and match them to keep the RF off of the coax. In theory the voltage across the coaxial connector is unbalanced by 35V at 100W. That 35V @ 1.4A

My receive looks good for the 40M aerials.

We watched the beginning of Hallmark movie “Wedding Season” tonight before heading to bed.

Saturday

Again, I messed up with the alarm. The alarm in the den is set for PM and again I didn’t catch it. I missed the check-ins but did catch the weather. Geez. I did catch Paul checking into the waterway NET 7.2680 MHZ.

Took a shower and we went to Longhorn’s for lunch. Then to Wally World for groceries. We took a nap after bringing in the groceries.

We put the rest of the groceries away after we got up. NOT

We finished watching Hallmark movie “Wedding Season” tonight before heading to bed.

Sunday

Made a bunch of coffee for church, no one drank any of it.
I need to bring cups next time.

I brought four bags of Dominican Coffee; they were all gone after service ended. I did see someone holding a bag of Dominican coffee like she was holding a baby…

Went to Longhorn’s for lunch. We were both very tired and just didn’t have the strength to make dinner at 1:30PM. Longhorn’s Steak House was not really crowded until after we got there. It was definitely crowded when we left. They make a kick butt chicken salad that’s healthy and filling.

Scores are still a bit low to have confidence in my test on Sunday.

Watched Hallmark movie “All Things Valentine” tonight before heading to bed.