Battery Jumper For Motorcycles and some randomness

Busy, busy, busy!

   Found a few minutes to make some jumpers to carry when traveling on the bikes.  Had the spare wire and some extra copper clips and decided they could be useful together.  

   What else have I been up to lately?  Working of course, and adding to the list of projects I'd like to tackle.  Things like building a network enabled data logger that measures temperature and humidity in all of the rooms of the house, if for no other reason than I'm just curious.  I also picked up a LED matrix display that I'd like to be able to send data for display; temperature, humidity, dew point, baro pressure and accurate time.  
   I plugged in my Chumby for the first time in a few years and find out that the company that ran the servers for the little apps went belly up. At least there is a guy that has been working diligently trying to rebuild and test the servers and get them up and running.  
   I took and old set of solar powered lanterns and installed random flickering LED's in them to make them look like there are candles in them.  They are all wired together and are powered by one central solar cell/battery and custom circuit that charges them during the day and turns them on and off accordingly.
   I also removed the G5RV and 2M/440 antennas from the attic.  They were both causing lots of problems in the house as well as the house causing major interference with them, ugh!  So now I have run some really nice cable from my "shack" to a junction box outside that I can connect whatever antenna I want to use.  Still a temporary kind of solution, but that's about all I can do where I live. 
   I managed to score a nice set of fiberglass poles (surplus) to use as a way to get some antennas in the air, might try and use them for field day.
   Well those are the highlights for now.  Haven't had a whole lot of time for anything else.  Work just seems to get in the way of things I really want to do.......

Hello again,

Well, I've officially added about 1,000 miles to the STi, and I've got a few things to say about it.  First, the car certainly wasn't built for luxury.  It is really noisy, meaning there doesn't seem to be
much, if any, sound deadening in the car.  I keep looking over to the passenger side window to see if the window is down.  Lot's of road noise.  I think I'l be doing some DIY sound deadening in the near future.  I plan to buy the supplies from www.sounddeadeningshowdown.com.  Very helpful guy runs the site.  Second, the car is a BLAST to drive.  To say that it is fast is kind of an understatement.  I just love the commute to and from work now.  Of course having this car also means that it is a magnet for every Honda-driving punk on the road who wants to try and race me.  Since when does a lowered civic with an aftermarket muffler automatically become a race car? 
The third thought I had about the car is the gas mileage.  Wow!  This car is a hog!  I average about 19-21 mpg.  Far different than 26-31 mpg let me tell you.  Anyway, I think my enjoyment from driving this car outweighs the things that kinda bug me.  I plan on keeping a journal of the mods I do to the car on www.iwsti.com under the "sincity337" moniker.
I almost forgot.  I did add the LED lighting to the car, it looks awesome.  I also added some Hella Super Tone horns to the car.  Doesn't sound like a toy car anymore.  That's it for now!

   Hey Folks (All two of you!),

Looks like 2012 is just a few hours away.  I haven't uploaded anything lately, but I have a few things to share.  I just bought a 2012 Subaru STi Hatchback, what a fun car to drive!  I've already installed a Kartboy (www.kartboy.com) Short-Shifter and bushings as well as a new shift knob custom made for me by WCLathewerks (www.lathewerks.com).  I don't think I need to do anything performance related for a while as I have about 100 more horsepower than my last car, which seems to be plenty for me right now.  I currently have about 800 miles on the odometer, 200 more to go until the official break-in period is over. I am currently researching some options for noise abatement, as the car was built for speed and not so much for comfort.  Don at www.sounddeadenershowdown.com has been very helpful and I will probably order a few things from there soon.  I've also ordered a few interior items from www.superbrightleds.com as well as www.v-leds.com.  Once I receive the items and install them, I will take pictures and let you know how I like them.

   On the ham radio front I have been enjoying that hobby a little.  During our holiday trip I had the FT-857D in the Outback along with my HiQ antenna and made a few contacts.  When you are mobile and trying to make HF contacts you really have to be patient as the signals really vary (obviously) throughout the trip.  I got a little present from Cristine, a Digimater Pro + (http://www.g4zlp.co.uk/unified/DM_PRO_PLUS_complete.shtml) to hook up to the radio.  This basically allows me to explore the digital modes of operation on my radio.  There are a ton of different modes to use; Pactor, PSK31, RTTY to name a few.  Anyway, I've got this neat little box to play with!

   That's about it for now.  I will try to add more to the blog soon!  Thanks (or sorry) for reading...

A New Year!

It's been a little while since I've posted, the holidays were hectic as was getting back to work.
FYI, the SHOT Show is going to be next week and there should be plenty of neat gadgets to
check out.  If there is anything of interest, I will be sure to post about them.  Until then...

TinyTrak4

I got my TinyTrak4 up and running.  What is it you ask?  It is an APRS^TM GPS position encoder which, when connected to a serial GPS and a radio, will transmit its location at an adjustable rate.  I am using it as a way to report my position automatically while we go on our trip.  I know, some of you say "Use your smartphone's GPS app so people can track you that way".  Well, the good thing about this little device is that when there is no cell phone coverage, more than likely there will be radio coverage.  When I talk about radio, I mean HAM radio, specifically 2 meter. 
   For the geeks in the audience, you can go to : http://www.byonics.com/tinytrak4/ and check it out for yourself.  Kind of a nifty little gadget.  I got the optional display and have connected a keyboard to it, which allows me to see decoded packets, send short text messages, and to adjust settings on the fly.  A very cool addition to the TinyTrak4.  The display and keyboard adapter don't come with an enclosure, so I bought one and fit the TT4, LCD and the keyboard adapter into one box.  See below pictures of my little project.

WTF?!?!? What is a HAM?

Well, it appears that I've been lax at writing in the ol' Blog. Of course there is always lot's going on, I just haven't had the inclination to sit here and type.
Anyway, the reason for this entry is to share some info (if you're interested). After many years of procrastination I finally made the effort to get my Amateur Radio License. My call sign is KF7HVQ. Of course the basic license gives you just enough taste of the hobby to make you want to go for the other license classes.

So, I've got my license and two new radios, both of the Yaesu variety. My handheld is the FT-60R and what I'll use as a base/mobile unit is the FT-857D. So far both radios have been great, although there is a little bit of a learning curve as you can imagine.
With my limited knowledge and priveledges, I've been able to talk to people from all over the world. Of course that was sort of cheating as HAM radios nowadays can be linked via the Internet. IRLP and Echolink are two examples of this technology. I am waiting right now for my HF antenna to arrive in the mail. This antenna(when properly set up), will allow me to reach out hundreds and even thousands of miles.
So far I am pretty happy that I've invested a little of my time into learning about this hobby. I am currently studying for the General License, and am thinking of learning Morse Code.
Here are a couple of links related to the hobby, as well as some of the manufacturer websites:

http://www.arrl.org
http://www.eham.net
http://www.yaesu.com
http://www.hiqantennas.com
http://www.echolink.org
http://www.irlp.net
http://www.narri.org/reflector_map.html
http://status.irlp.net

Christmas Presents

Well it looks like Santa really brought the cheer (and some cool presents) this year. That kind of rhymed...Anyway, just wanted to share some info on some of the gifts. This year I received three items from the Scottevest catalog. These guys really have some neat clothing. In particular I got their Soft Shell Jacket, Fleece 5.0, and the Microfleece Pullover. If you like being organized, and like to carry your gadgets with you, I encourage you to check out their website: http://www.scottevest.com/index.shtml
http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/Soft-Shell-Jacket.shtml
http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/Fleece_Jacket.shtml
http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/microfleece_pullover.shtml