Mouse Traps, Stacking Wood, Heaving Rounds, MY ANTENNA WORKS PERFECT!, Kraken, MY 3D PRINTER LIVES! - Tuesday

5 months ago

Yesterday morning started out a bit meh as I tried to get myself motivated to be productive. The fact that I KNEW my printer parts wouldn't arrive till late kinda put a damper on my mood but I found the right gear and managed to get the day moving.

I had found this mouse trap print and made 3 of them. They require the weight on the back to make them work.

They sit on the sided of a bucket and drop the mice in when they walk the plank.

I have no clue if it will actually work but I am trying them out to see. This is in the coop and I dumped a bunch of bird feed in the bottom of the bucket as an enticement. The concept is well proven, just now will it work on our farm....

Later morning I headed out to haul the wood to the wall. I backed the truck up to the sheep pen fence and then hucked the wood into the bed.

It was only a 100 foot move but far easier with the truck than by cart or wheelbarrow.

The wall is slowly getting taller as I add more to it. The tree on the hill will finish it off for sure but I need to get it bucked first.

After some time inside perusing for more 3d printer models I got my ass back outside and to the hillside. The rounds from the big dead tree needed to be moved and it was a bit of a toss up how to do it.

I ended up going for the shortest route which meant the rounds were going towards the coop.

I rolled them down the hill then had to lift and toss each one into the pile.

I managed to get them all closer to the fence by the coop in a big pile which today I will go load into the truck and haul to the yard. I'll have to lift the fence and do some rearranging to make it all work but it will be easier than carrying the rounds 50 feet to my truck.

The boys got home as I was working on my antenna. I finally gave up and just decided to mount it so I could test it. I drilled the hole in the boom the got it mounted to the rotator. My connection to the riser is perfect and the riser is EXACTLY what I needed on the mount.

I took one of the tubes and lashed it to the side of the pergola then lifted the antenna up and slotted it on top. This is a temporary install so I can test and make sure that it works before I go through the trouble of installing the tower. My radio is just on the other side of the wall from the ladder so nice and close.

I can truly say that I felt a bit of my grandfather's guidance during this process, W6WPG was his callsign and I grew up watching him in his shack and one of the first ones doing packet in the early 90s.

SOOOO.... I hooked up my NanoVNA tester to the antenna and brought up the program on my computer then fiddled with the setting a bit and HOLY SHIT BALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY ANTENNA IS PERFECT!!!!!

Okay so maybe not exactly perfect but it is dead on the middle of 140 to 150 MHz. You can see the SWR is about 1.4:1 at 145 MHz!! I DID IT!!! ON MY FIRST TRY!!!! HOLY SHIT!

OMG ANTENNA.JPG

This is a serious culmination of years of thought and dreams in my head and to have it actually work like it is supposed to makes me so incredibly happy!

In my state of delirious happiness I didn't see the goal live the Kraken got 19 seconds into the game and only saw the replay.

I plugged the antenna into my radio and rotated it to point south towards Spokane and OMG IS IT BADASS!!!! The signal is SO MUCH CLEARER now! My meters on the radio are all pegged when a station comes on, and the first thing I heard was the NOAA channel which was so clear and loud...

Well well well, the Kraken went to play for sure. They whooped the Canes and got 4 goals by the end to win easily. They seem to play better on the road than at home but I can see why when they are from.... seattle.

I hate being the end of the delivery route but whatever. My new printer head delivered and I was right away getting it installed. I had a minute of serious frustration as I looked at 2 screws sitting on the build plate that had no place to go, until I looked harder. Before long it was back together and it started up and was nice and happy with the new part.

The first thing I printed was a funnel for the chems for the hot tub and I will print another this morning. I set it at 25% infill so wasn't too concerned about it going at night.

Half hour soak and the lack of jets is the key for my skin while it is being such a bitch.

Today will be more wood moving as I get the rounds to the yard for splitting after getting the boys to school first thing, the #3dprinter will be pumping out parts, Man UTd play this morning, Darts is on, I am going to build an antenna for the #meshtastic, should really sharpen a chain or two for the saw, then will come up with something for dinner this evening.