Piece, part and scrounge...

This story will likely make several of you Elmers cringe... you've been warned.

My HF radio is an Icom 720a, the old kind that requires a mic with a pre-amp.  For the duration of the time it took me to complete Worked All States, I was using an IC-HM12 microphone - those familiar with that microphone will know that it does not have a pre-amp.  This made for several awkward moments in the house: I would be working a station on the other side of the country and having to talk EXTREMELY LOUDLY INTO THE MICROPHONE JUST SO THE OTHER STATION COULD BARELY HEAR ME.  Things would get awkward when my nine-year-old would wander into my radio shack (my home office) around 9 pm with the ever-present, "Daddy, you're too loud.  I can't sleep." Click.  Off goes the radio for the night.  (Dang, right in the middle of a nice pile-up...)

My dad (N5GC) and I had a great time at the Russellville Hamfest again this year.  We both walked away with some cool new trinkets.  But the one thing that I was very excited to find, was a General Electric desk mic, that someone had installed a homebrew pre-amp in.  Here's the catch: The only plug it has is a quarter inch audio plug.  Here's the other catch: The PTT button was disconnected by the previous owner (why?).

Now, before I go further, I need to explain: I am extremely impatient. Also important to know, I am not the best with a soldering iron.  I just had  to get that mic on the air, but I didn't want to cut the plug off and figure out how to connect it properly.  (I'm sure I don't have the right mic plug for this Icom anyway.)  So, I remembered what the inside of my Rigblaster looked like: well labeled pins with jumpers between the input and output.. BINGO!... and out come the alligator clips.

[There it was.  Did you hear the collective groans and gasps from every old ham everywhere?]

So, let me paint a picture for you: The GE desktop mic has two clips connected to the mic and mic-ground.  Those clips run to the output side of the mic and mic-ground on the Rigblaster.  To run the PTT, I have my original IC-HM12 mic plugged-in to the front of the Rigblaster.  So, yes, all-in-all I'm operating with two microphones.

I know it's crazy: CRAZY AWESOME!  I've been blasting through the recent QRM with my full 200 watts with no problem... and most importantly: no more screaming!

1. Yes, I know this isn't a permanent solution.
2. No, I do not recommend that anyone else try this.

Signed,
The Ham That's Now a Ham
Joshua Carroll, N5JLC
about.me/joshuacarroll
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PS - You may be wondering how I know that my signal improved so well.  Sometime last year I was surfing the web and came across websdr.org.  It is exactly what the name implies: it is several Software Defined Radios that you can control over the web.  They are for receiving only (no transmitting), but that's perfect for those times you're tuning your rig (or have a new pre-amp'd mic jury-rigged through a Rigblaster into a 200 watt HF transceiver) and it would really help if you could just hear yourself!  I like using the W4AX in Atlanta, Georgia because I don't have to wait long for the gray-line to assist with propagation.

73!

Personal Log: I'ma gonna kill that-a wash-a!!

Ok, so this is really more for me than anyone.  Our washing machine is on the fritz, and being the house-handyman... it's my problem.  And since I'm cheap and stubborn, I'm intent on fixing it myself.

The victim: Estate (Whirlpool) washing machine, circa 2003
The crime: Upon entering the spin or agitation cycles, the tub won't move and it makes a horrible noise.

So, as I read more about this washing machine I'm going to add to this article.  Feel free to follow along.

After some initial study, these are the problem areas that can cause this problem that I'll be looking into:

• motor coupler
• transmission
• brake (hasn't released?)
• belt
• pump (obstruction)
• motor pivot
• trunk bearings
• basket drive block
• brake and drive tube
• clutch

Now.. to figure out what those are and how to check them.

---

Motor coupler: After removing the housing, pump and motor, I inspected the three parts that make up the coupler between the motor and transmission.  There were no cracks or visible defects.

Transmission: Watched this video:


Using the method described in the video, I put the washer into the spin cycle and tried to move the tub by hand.  It would not move easily at all.  Based on this information and the video, I am assuming the transmission is alright.

Update 12/26/2011 2:00 pm
Alright, so now that the holiday has past I'm back to the honey-do list.  So far today I found an article by Dave Harnish where he describes a quick fix for Whirlpool & Kenmore washer brake lockup problems.  So I followed his tip, which involves adding high-temp grease to the inside of the brake drum, and the tub moves easier but it still won't spin and still sounds terrible.

Ugh...

Update 12/26/2011 5:00 pm
Although I probably should have done this a bit sooner, I checked the pump for obstructions.



Unfortunately I found no socks or thongs. Double ugh...

Ok, so let's just recap where we stand with the possible culprits:

• motor coupler - no visible defects
• transmission - tub does not move freely in spin cycle
• brake (hasn't released?) - greased brake drum
• belt - direct drive model (no belt)
• pump (obstruction) - no obstructions in pump or in visible area of drain hose
• motor pivot
• trunk bearings
• basket drive block
• brake and drive tube
• clutch

Update 12/28/2011 6:55 pm
After reassembling the machine from the front, I drained it and laid it on its back. This allowed me to remove the motor/clutch/gearbox assembly. After some more study I decided that the problem was indeed with the clutch. So after a quick run to the local appliance parts store... I ended up replacing a perfectly good clutch. At least I can scratch "piss away $52" off my to-do list. Consequently, I can also scratch off the problem being with the clutch.

So, here we go again:

• motor coupler - no visible defects
• transmission - tub does not move freely in spin cycle
• brake (hasn't released?) - greased brake drum
• belt - direct drive model (no belt)
• pump (obstruction) - no obstructions in pump or in visible area of drain hose
• motor pivot
• trunk bearings
• basket drive block
• brake and drive tube
• clutch - replaced (new clutch)

App Review: Wishlistr

It's time again for another app review. Last time, I reviewed Sobees (a social network aggregator that makes life easier for eSocial butterflies). This time I thought that with the Christmas season upon us, it would be appropriate to review Wishlistr (www.wishlistr.com).

Wishlistr's website describes it fairly well:

Wishlistr is an easy to use web-based application that will help you collect, organize and keep track of the things you want. It also lets you share those things with friends and family.

As with most of my favorite apps, this one is free. And it's simple, non-intrusive design makes it idyllic for keeping your list of Christmas wishes. For those who are more tech-savvy: Wishlistr even includes an RSS feed, which could be helpful if you want to subscribe to someone's list.

Try out Wishlistr this Christmas and avoid getting another tie or calendar this year.

PS - If this article was just super-helpful, feel free to peruse my wishlist at wishlistr.com/joshuacarroll/ and send me something cool!

The start of a series / Sobees app review

After having a couple of people ask me for my favorite web-app that does _______, I've decided to review several of my overall favorite web apps right here. These apps will range from unique utilities to sites that may only interest a certain demographic - but in each site I think there is a lot to learn: design, application layout, typography, etc. Starting right here I'll review one app at a time in a blog-style format. If this sounds interesting to you, then follow me down this primrose path and let's begin...

Of all the online tools I use, the oldest in my repertoire is Sobees (sobees.com). Sobees touts itself as a "social desktop aggregator". This tool will be extremely interesting to all of the social [media] butterflies out there.

Sobees allows you to view your LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter feeds all on one screen. You can even add multiple accounts from each service. So if you want to monitor your personal and business Twitter accounts... you can! They also offer a couple of iPad apps, one for Android, as well as a traditional desktop application for your PC (if you're into that sort of thing).

When you visit the site the first time, you'll notice one of my favorite features: no login. All of your settings are stored in cookies on your computer. Of course this means if you visit the site from another computer, you'll have to set everything up again. But there are options to backup and restore your settings, so you could simply backup your settings on one computer, then restore them on a second computer and… viola… you have the identical setup. The site’s design is simple, sleek and unobtrusive: what more could you ask more in a web app?

While you’re checking it out, don’t overlook the “Search feed” option. In addition to the various supported social media networks, you can also create a custom - near live - search feed. This is especially useful if you really want to stay on top of a certain trending topic. I’ve used this in the past during severe weather (#arwx) and when iOS 5 was about to be released (#ios5).

If you use multiple social networks, check out Sobees at Sobees.com.

(... and just because I realized this sounds like an advertisement, I just wanted to point out that this is an unsponsored review. However, if someone wants to pay me for it, I'm ok with that too.)

No more frames!

If you have been following the development of the HTML5 standard at all, then you're probably ahead of me on this one.  This is my first week that I'm not teaching in a while, so I'm getting caught up with a little "light reading" (pr: reading web standards and specifications).

After a rather assertive student argued with me the merits of using frames in web pages a couple of weeks ago, I found it rather pleasing to learn that it looks like the W3C will be removing the frame, frameset and noframes tags with the release of the HTML5 specification.  These elements specifically are being removed,

"because their usage affected usability and accessibility for the end user in a negative way."

Hmm.  That sounds rather familiar.

Keep in mind that HTML5 is a working draft and may (probably will) change before it is released.  You can read about these and the other currently absent elements at www.w3.org/TR/2010/WD-html5-diff-20100304/#absent-elements.

National Weather Service changes forecasting XML data

Sometime between 4:30 pm yesterday and 8:00 am this morning (central time), the National Weather Service changed the format of their XML feed for forecast data.  I don't yet know all of the details, but I know that the "time-layout" element no longer has a "period-name" attribute.  If I can find any more information, I'll follow up on this post.

Sample XML feed
Schema

Need references?

I've been working on an app at work that will update "slides" that we show on these huge LCD screens at each of the entrances to the building - things like the weather forecast, current tech news (since we're an IT training center), and where each class is located in the building.

It can be used either interactively or as a Scheduled Task (with the needed parameters passed as arguments in the command line). Until this morning, I've been running it myself from my laptop and updating the jpg's on the units manually about once a week. This really doesn't work for me. I'd much rather have the whole stupid process completely automated, but we're having some network issues that prevent the screens from communicating with our server room (UP&P is being blocked at the router). So until that is fixed (pr: circumvented), the jpg's have to be updated manually with a thumb drive.

Before I go any further, I should explain a little about what the app is actually doing. It opens a Powerpoint 2007 document, updates its content with information provided by the National Weather Server, Google News, and a web service from our local web server (for the course location information). Powerpoint really wasn't needed, but it did make it easier to design the slides.

So, like I said I've been running this from my laptop. I decided that it would be much better to try to put the executable right on the thumb drive and set it up so that anyone could use it. After copying the executable to a thumb drive I tried to run it from another computer (other than my laptop). I had already suspected that I would have some problems since the app is referencing the Powerpoint 2007 interop DLL, which is exactly what happened. Powerpoint 2007 had not been installed on this particular - I had chosen this set up on purpose to see what would happen.

So here was the question: How can I run this executable from a computer that doesn't have the Office 2007 DLL's on it, without having to acutally install this app?

Since I'm normally focused on Web apps, I haven't had to deal with this type of problem before. So after a little exploring in Visual Studio...

In Visual Studio, if you select the specific Reference in question (in this case the Office and Office.Powerpoint references), the IDE will expose several properties of the specific References in the Properties window. The one that I immediately focused on is called "Copy Local". This property indicates whether the reference will be copied to the output directory. After setting this option to "True" for both of the non-.NET DLL's, I rebuilt the app, copied the executable and both DLL's to the thumbdrive, and off to the "other" computer I went.

With the DLL's now in the startup folder of the executable, the app ran just fine. So next time you're at the ITTC, check out our new LCD screens powered by this little app.