All Posts By Mario L. Washburn

AVR Embedded Microcontroller Resources

By Posted on 13min read1 views

My page is officially 4 years old on February 18, 2001. I have had almost 200,000 visits. Thanks to everyone who has visited and especially to those who have made suggestions and provided useful and interesting links. This page is my way of giving back and sharing the information that people have shared with me. Information itself is not knowledge, so please don’t be content with what you find here and elsewhere. Go out and build on what you discover!

Brian

AVR News Flash – New Atmega169 Device Now in Production.  100 Segment LCD Drive and Ultra-low Power Consumption.  Ideal for battery powered products.

These links are to various resources that I have discovered. All have some relation to the AVR Microcontroller from Atmel, at least in my mind. If you find out of date links or things that are not accurate, please let me know and I will fix what is broken.  Thanks for all the reports of broken links and needed page location updates.  I will work on fixing them.  I’ve updated part of the page and removed some of the dead links.

Use these bookmarks to navigate this site:


Basic Information and Introductions to AVR

Finally an AVR Mailing List Archive – Thanks Les Grant for putting this together!

New! AVRFreaks.Net – The Ultimate AVR Web Site with complete information about devices, tools, applications, discussion forums.

Blitzlogic – A nice page with lots of information about AVR and other micros. Compiler and getting started information.

What is an AVR? An explanation by me, the author of this page.

Atmel Home Page – Atmel Corporation, Maker of the AVR, Flash Memory, EEPROM, RF Devices, and more! Get the latest datasheets from here. Check out the FPSLIC with 30 MIPS AVR and FPGA to create a system on a chip.  The entire Atmel web page recently was updated.  Check it out!

Omega V’s AVR Resource Page – a growing collection of links and projects. Very good list. Site is in Norway.

Cornell University EE476 Course Page – Home page for college course which deals with microcontroller design and embedded control using the AVR. Currently taught by Bruce Land. Bruce and his students have produced some outstanding projects and code examples over a couple of semesters now.

Dr. Claus Kuhnel – look on the Mikrocontroller page for some links to products, programming languages, etc. For AVR, 8051, and other micros. Page is in German. Click here to translate.

The AVR Forum – Good Collection of links, FAQs, Sample Code for STK200 and STK300. Sponsored by Kanda Systems Ltd.

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Project Ideas

VK6BRO Homepage Ham Radio Related Projects including: VFO Counter/Stabilizer and Programmable PLL board.

Henry Carl Ott, N2RVQ has a nice project page with POCSAG encoder, AVR Based TNC for APRS, Radio to RS-232 interface, and more.

New collaborative effort headed by Jason Kyle to develop and AVR board that can support ISA Ethernet cards for embedded TCP/IP, web server, etc.

New! Fred Eady’s Page – Lots of good embedded stuff.  10/100 Ethernet board that interfaces with the AVR and more!

More on the Embedded Ethernet Hardware – Information about interfacing an Ethernet card to the STK 300. By Dave Hudson.

Embedded 10BaseT Ethernet – This project was originally done with a PIC, but was converted to a MegaAVR Controller. Uses Crystal CS8900 Ethernet Chip. Responds to IP Pings in 10 mS. Glad to see another convert to the AVR! This page is back!! Gary’s original source file up here in case the site disappears. Source File. Gary has done a nice job with his new site. Glad I found it again.

Cornell University EE 476 Spring 2000 final ProjectsBruce Land‘s students have outdone themselves again! Some real nice efforts again this year. This course applies the AVR to embedded control projects. It is good to see the AVR making headway into the academic world. These students should be well prepared for the real world.

A Really Cool Site – With IR, Robots, Keyboard Interface, Example Code and more! Has some good information on Neural Networks and Basic Stamps as well.

Digibox Interface – A project for repeating IR control codes from a VCR to control a Satellite Receiver

Local Interconnect Network (LIN) – This protocol is a low speed subset of CAN and is supported by the AVR using this new Atmel Application note. Since this app note supports the slave function, how about a master LIN controller? LIN is a single master, multiple slave architecture.

Alberto Ricci Bitti Home Page – The author of this page has some award winning designs. Video generation by an AVR controller, simple and elegantly useful circuit ideas, some PIC stuff too.

Atmel AVR RISC Controllers – This page contains some excellent ideas for microcontroller based projects. The pagemaster, Dhananjay V. Gadre, has a book in the works. I want to build the 2343 based Morse keyer.  Buy the book to get all the source code.

Omega V’s AVR Resource Page – a growing collection of links and projects. Very good list.

An Interesting AVR Page – has RC5, PC Keyboard, Printf, and some other interesting stuff.

Claudio Lanconelli’s Home Page – Look under his projects for a programmer for AVR and PIC as well as his AVR Mini Threads Kernel and future work using AVR with CAN.

AVR+USB – Interfacing an AVR to National Semiconductor USB Controller. Includes Pascal source code. Part of Antii Lukats’ Sistudio site. Home of the original SimmStick.

Jack’s AVR PageHome of JAVR Basic. Jack has some nice projects including interfacing a Dallas Semiconductor Real-Time-Clock to an AVR. Check out JAVR Basic and the floating point library as well as the handy timer and baudrate calculator. Highly recommended site!

Larry Barello has some great code examples for some various robotics functions. Also check out the nice RTOS kernel and monitor for AVR that he has done.

90 day timer – A project that I have been working on. This is a work in progress, so it may change and suggestions are welcomed. This is a little timer using a 90S2343 with internal RC oscillator and 4 LEDs. One LED flashes to let you know the thing is running. The other LEDs turn on after approximately 30, 60, and 90 days. Uses EEPROM so you don’t lose more than an hour when power goes out. I haven’t implemented the reset yet.

Steve Lawther’s Page – has some great projects including WX Station, LCD tester, DS1820 Thermometer, Robotics, USB, and some PIC stuff too.

AppleCyber – Grant Stockley has some outstanding projects that involve the AVR, including a sound player. This site may have moved. Anybody know where?

Stelios Cellar – Home of the AVR Web Ring. The site contains many code examples, projects, and great links.

SniffStick – A low cost data logger based on the 90S2343/2323.

Updated! Eddie’s Composting Loo fan controller – A good example of using a 90S1200 with sensor inputs and power control output. Also check out Eddie’s Home Page and VCR IR Remote interface.

What am I working on now? I probably need badly to update this list. 🙂

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OS Kernels

Larry Barello’s AvrX Kernel looks really nice. Also check out his great robotics code and other projects.

AVR Kernel – This page describes a small OS kernel for the AVR. The author also has an assembler, avra. Hopefully the kernel will be ready and posted soon.

Claudio Lanconelli’s Home Page – Look under his projects for a programmer for AVR and PIC as well as his AVR Mini Threads Kernel and future work using AVR with CAN.

Terse RTOS – Anyone want to port this to AVR? Currently runs on 8051. The author has an interesting book called Flow Design for Embedded Systems.

Myke Predko – has a site packed full of information on 8051, PIC, and AVR. He has an RTOS for 8051 that looks good. Might be a candidate for porting to the AVR.

Jean Labrosse’s uC-OS has been ported to AVR. I can’t find the page right now but here is the file.

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Getting Started Code

AVR Software Examples – Has source code for a full duplex software UART.

Wagner Lipenharski has a very helpful microcontroller page. His page is packed with lots of code examples and interesting ideas for the AVR as well as 8051. A good resource for the beginner or expert!

Kanda Systems Ltd. also has some unsupported code for getting started. There is a PIC to AVR code converter that is useful for learning the AVR code. Look here for tools that convert IAR assembler code to/from the Atmel assembler.

The AVR Forum – Good Collection of links, FAQs, Sample Code for STK200 and STK300. Sponsored by Kanda Systems Ltd.

Dontronics Atmel Devices – also has some getting started code for the 8515.

My Infrared Security System Code. Transmitter and Receiver asm files.

K5HJ AVR Page – A fellow ham operator who has a great repository of example code. Dallas 1-Wire protocol, LCD Code, Serial, and more.

Stelios Cellar – Home of the AVR Web Ring. The site contains many code examples, projects, and great links.

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Programming Languages – Compilers and Assemblers

Jack’s AVR PageHome of JAVR Basic. Also an AVR Floating Point library and some good applications like a graphic LCD controller. Check out the handy Baud Rate, Timer, and Floating Point calculator. Look at Jack’s detailed evaluation and comparison of the various compilers available for the AVR.

AVR-GCC FAQ – Bluecollar Linux page with new AVR-GCC FAQ by Kurt Stevens. This is very useful for those of us learning AVR-GCC.

Small Device C Compiler – A new open-source compiler with versions for Z80 and 8051 with versions for AVR and PIC under development. The compiler runs under Linux and Windows. This page also has some good links.

FastAVR basic compiler    – A new compiler for AVR.  Give it a try!  Bojan is looking for resellers.

E-Lab Pascal for AVR – Reportedly good for fast application development for AVR. Also provide programmers and other AVR tools. Now have Mega 161 and 163 support in the compiler.

AVR-GCC Page – The Gnu C compiler for AVR. Other GNU tools also available. Produces very good code and is freely availble. See the FAQ above.

AVR-GCC for Windows – Nice job making the GCC compiler run under Windows! This is the Atmel fur Dummies page also listed above.

AVR SmallC Compiler – A great effort being made here by Ron Kreymborg. The full version is $49 US.

CodeVision C Compiler by DHP Technology –  Another GOOD C compiler at a reasonable price.

Imagecraft – Has a reasonable cost commercial C compiler for the AVR and for several other microcontrollers too. Look for the new compilers that support the Tiny AVR family. Their prices are low enough for the hobbiest, but the products are good enough for serious development.

IAR C Compiler – A premium C compiler for the AVR. Rumored to have the best code optimization, but compare for yourself. IAR also supports a number of other microcontroller with their embedded workbench. Good if you want to keep the same IDE as you develop for different micros.

TK’s Page – His AVR assembler for Linux never made it. Now links to Tom Mortensen’s Page. Maybe TK will put something else up, so I’ll keep the link for a while.

Freeware Assembler by Tom Mortensen. Distributed under the GNU Public License with source code. Compiled versions for Linux and DOS. I like to see free tools!

Roberto Biancardi has some information about a C compiler for AVR, lcc-avr. I’ll be checking this site out more thoroughly later.

Atmel für Dummies – Site is in German. English version available  AVR-GCC for Windows and AVA.

Sistudio.com – by Antti Lukats, creator of the original SimmStick. I hope that Antti gets his page back running soon. He had some good things to offer.

Dunfield C Compiler – $99 US compiler and development kit. Also available for 68HC08, 68HC11, 68HC12, 68HC16, 8051, 8085, 8086, 8096, and 6809.

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Development Tools , Programmers, and Boards

New! BocaLabsA source for Atmega development boards.  Their MegaStack boards are available at a great price and offer expansion modules to provide RF and other functions.  Recommended site!

New! AVaRICENew Open Source Program for connecting the Atmel JTAG ICE to the GDB Debugger running under Linux.  Sorry, no Windoze version yet.  Just Linux.

Johann Aichinger’s Page – Another AVR Programmer for Windows and more. This one is freeware for non-commercial use. Can connect to either serial or parallel port and supports Tiny22 and other AVR parts up to 8K. Johann also has some good information on a general electronics “Home” page.

ATMega Board – Complete with reset, ISP program connector, and more in a small form factor. Allows you to use the SMT ATMega 103 for easy prototyping. Connection by two dual row header strips. Includes 32 kHz and 4 or 6 Mhz crystals. Ideal for a robot or other project.

Horizon Electronics – a young entrepreneur ham who has an AVR single board computer as well as some other useful tools for HTML, robotics, and VC++.

Jerry Meng’s Page – The BA1FB Programmer is the lowest cost way to get started programming the AVR parts. This is probably the most cost effective way to start with any microcontroller.

Test of the BA1FB Programmer – this guy has tried out the programmer. Also with AVRBASIC.

MAPP Home Page – This page has GNU Assembler, C Compiler, ISP for AVR. Also a RTOS for the AVR and an RS232 to SPI interface. Mostly geared toward Linux, but you may be able to compile the tools for other platforms as well.

Wirz Electronics – This site has a IR sensor tutorial as well as their serial LCD interface and other products. Carries the X-Programmer from JPK Microsystems for the AVR.

Lawicel – A company in Sweden that provides AVR based boards and development tools. Their new CANDIP is an AVR with CAN controller mounted on a DIP carrier. Nice!

MicroAsm by Ole Saether – A nice windows editor that can drive any command line assembler. Good to use with avrasm or the IAR assembler.

S51KQ – A site with Mega-AVR development board as well as a variety of interesting projects. Mostly Amateur Radio and Television projects. A neat site to explore! The Hams in Slovenia are doing a lot of great stuff.

A Non-Commercial AVR Parallel Mode Programmer – One of only a few available. Parallel mode programming allows you to set the RC Oscillator bit and other things you cannot do with serial SPI programming.

Claudio Lanconelli’s Home Page – Look under his projects for a programmer for AVR and PIC as well as his AVR Mini Threads Kernel and future work using AVR with CAN.

SimmSticks are miniature single board computers in 30 pin SIMM form factors. There is a $500 US design contest.

Flash Designs Ltd. – Offers In Circuit Emulators for AVR as well as several other embedded microcontrollers. Their emulator can reportedly run at 30 – 40 MHz, 3.3 or 5 volts and has good C compiler support. They also sell the ImageCraft C compiler and offer low-cost rental and evaluations of their emulators. Prices are in UK Pounds, but don’t look too bad. Watch for add-on’s. I would suggest renting or evaluating any expensive development tool before committing to purchase.

Leon Heller’s Page – has some PIC information as well as an AVR prototype board.

MicroTronics – Provides some nice looking boards for Atmel controllers. The boards would be great for developing prototypes or small volume custom solutions. They also have an ISP board for 89S and 90S parts. They support the PIC too. Check this page out if you need a target board. Some good links to tools too.

Baritek AVR Development tools – This site has some development boards and socket adapters to help with the Atmel AVR.

The DCK AVR pseudo-parallel programmer – This programmer is supposed to enable you to program the RC Osc bit and other things that you can’t do with the serial ISP.

AVR-1 Programmer Utilities for Linux – Linux command line tools for the AVR-1 programmer sold by the now defunct ITU Technologies.

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Miscellaneous Information and Useful Links

The AVR Forum – Good Collection of links, FAQs, Sample Code for STK200 and STK300. Sponsored by Kanda Systems Ltd.

http://www.eg3.com/ – Ultimate Internet resource for board level, embedded, real-time, and MCU-MPU markets. Thousands of links and a search engine for the EE.

Wirz Electronics – This site has a IR sensor tutorial as well as their serial LCD interface and other products.

Stefan Wimmer has an Orcad library of AVR parts and some information on a good serial programmer. Expect to see more here soon.

Stelios Cellar – Home of the AVR Web Ring. The site contains many code examples, projects, and great links.

SMT Assembly Tips – My page of how to do quality assembly of prototype and low volume surface mount boards without investing a mint in equipment.

Bray’s AVR Related Stuff – Links to some tools, ideas, and applications. STK 200 ISP Programming dongle information from Claudio Lanconelli. Good PC Keyboard and AVR terminal projects.

Cadsoft Eagle is a schematic capture and PCB layout program that has a good AVR parts library.

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Crystal and Oscillator Links.

New Section – Thanks to Stefan Wimmer! There seem to be a lot of questions about this topic so I am adding these handy links.

http://www.tla.co.nz/xtal1.html

http://pr.erau.edu/~lyallj/ee412/pierce_exp.html

http://www.ieee-uffc.org/freqcontrol/quartz/vig/vigtoc.htm

http://www.aelcrystals.co.uk/tech.htm

http://www.ecsxtal.com/techtalk.htm

http://www.murata.com/ – Murata makes ceramic resonators – a viable alternative to crystals for AVR and other micros. See their Application Notes on Resonators. I have used Murata’s 4 MHz ceramic resonator with the 90S2313 and 4333 at both 5.0 and 3.3 volt supplies. Works well.

These links are to help you design in the proper crystal, oscillator, or resonator and select appropriate capacitors.

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File Formats – New Section

A listing of links that explain the file formats output by development tools for use in programming devices.

Intel Hex

http://margo.student.utwente.nl/el/misc/intl_hex.htm

Motorola S Records

http://www.hitex.com/chipdir/oth/srecord.txt

OMF

http://www.edtn.com/scribe/reference/appnotes/md0075fc.htm

Binary

Etc.

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Where to Buy Atmel Parts

Insight Electronics – Stocks the STK200 and STK300 starter kits. Willing to fill small orders of 100 pieces or less. If you have trouble with the online ordering, give the local office a call.

Arrow Electronics – Distributor of Atmel Parts.

All-American – Distributor of Atmel products as well as a variety of micro, memory, application specific, power, and display components. Have been willing to deal in small quantities.

Pioneer-Standard Industrial Electronics Division – Another Atmel Distributor. For small quantity orders, check out their online store.

Dontronics – Don McKenzie stocks AVR devices in Australia.

Alcom Electronics – Imports Atmel Parts into Holland

DigiKey – Is selling the STK200 and the AT91Sxxx ARM microcontrollers. Expect to see AVR parts as soon as they are available.

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Beau says “Thanks for stopping by”.

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No Denial Payday Loans Direct Lenders Only

By Posted on 7min read1 views

What is a Direct Payday Lender Can I Get No Denials From Ipass?

A direct lender is a lender who offers the loan directly without involving any third party. A loan lender deals with you from the start to the end of the loan application.

The money they will be used to fund the loan you are requesting is from their coffers and not that of a third party.

The pool of payday lenders will review the loan request before making their offers to the borrower who will then choose the lender he or she wants to work with.

Although this method allows the borrower to choose from several loan packages, it comes with its disadvantages which we will discuss below why you should take out a payday loan.

How do I qualify for a direct lender loan?

  • A stable source of income
  • A US bank account
  • Be over 18 years of age
  • Have an email address
  • Be at your current address for over 3 months

There are several direct lenders. There are payday loan direct lenders.

With these lenders, you can apply for your payday loan directly and they will review your personal information for each application. They will access your financial situation for getting a personal loan.

If you qualify, they will disburse the cash to your account. There are also installment loan lenders who follow the same process.

How are payday loan lenders different from bank lenders?

Banks are also direct lenders since they fund the loans with their own cash. However, they have complex application processes, unlike online direct lenders. bank lenders Normally require a good credit Score where Payday loans lenders rely on proof of employment.

Do direct Payday Lenders Lend to bad credit scores?

Normally Yes, Ipass can provide cash advances regardless of credit scores. Applicants with bad credit are accepted. Ipass can help you regardless of your credit score.

More than 60% of debtors are funded. Get a loan now. If you apply for an internet loan with bad credit, direct lenders will make you an offer very instantaneously. Ipass also performs title loans and direct lender installment loans.

Can I get a Payday loan from Direct Lenders Without a Credit Check?

Direct Payday lenders don’t check credit, so all you need is a job, 18+, and a monthly income of above $1000 Dollars. With Ipass, lenders won’t verify your FICO® score or run rigorous credit checks that could harm your credit.

No employment verification?

The lender in general will one to see some sort of verification of income. This will give them the confidence to lend to you. They will also know that you have the funds to pay them back.

No denial of payday loans?

No lender will guarantee you a loan. Any company saying they have no denials should be avoided.

With payday loans, you can get loans even if you have bad credit. Also applying only takes a few minutes, so in order to find out, you should request a loan anyway.

Can I get a loan with guaranteed approval?

No, you cannot get guaranteed approval. Be cautious of any lender that touts guaranteed loans. Whilst payday lenders are approved more often than secured bank loans, no lender is going to be able to grant a loan to every single person that applies.

Do Payday Loans With No Denials Exist?

No denial cash advances are touted as requiring no particular qualifications other than an application.

In most cases, you will not be requested to present any paperwork in order to obtain the loan.

However, if you read the material on such sites more carefully, you will notice that this is not entirely true, and your application may be denied entirely.

As a result, no-denial loans do not exist because there are a variety of reasons why you might not be eligible, such as being jobless, having a low credit score, or not earning enough money.

How to find legitimate payday loan lenders?

Lenders will have the APR in the footer of their websites. Also, you should choose sites that appear high up on google. The loan industry is competitive and now google has algorithms to determine which sites are more trustworthy.

What amount can I get?

In general, for payday loans, the range is $100-$1000. There are some regulations for example in California the maximum allowed is $255. For installment loans, you can get up to $5000.

Can I get same-day approval?

All loan products can be deposited the same day if you apply by midday. However, you should allow one business day for the loan to be distributed. On the weekend you should wait until Monday.

Pros of Getting Loans from Direct lenders

Upfront Information

Since you are dealing with one lender, he or she will share all the information you need. Usually, third-party lenders cannot be straightforward because they are dealing with several lenders at the same time. They cannot put up the terms and conditions of each lender.

So they end up sharing only general information. You do not get any information that is peculiar to one lender. The case is different with a direct lender, they will tell you all about the rates, fees, credit check loan terms, and conditions.

Fast Same Day Process

The entire application process is streamlined since the application only follows one channel. Once you complete the application, the lender will review and you will get the results of the application.

You do not need to apply through a third party and then wait for a response from the lender who will in turn revert with an approval or rejection.

you can get cash as soon as the same day. You will also not go through the long process of waiting for cash loan offers and then review them before making a choice. Notice that Ipass is available 24/7 loans can be applied at any time.

Safety of Information

When you apply through third-party sites, you will be sharing your information with several lenders. Although these lenders do not share information with other people it is safer if you are sharing your information with only one lender.

This is because identity theft is common these days and sharing your information with several companies increases the risk of theft.

No Agent Fees

You will be paying lower fees since you are applying directly to the lender. Some third parties charge broker fees which increase the loan rates. With a direct lender, you do not need to worry about that.

Customer Service

Payday lenders have their contact information on their websites. You can interact with the lender before you apply for the loan. With third-party lenders, the customer service is not dedicated to one particular lender.

What can I use my loan for?

You can use the loan for any purpose provided that it is legal in your state. There are personal options for people who need a cash loan to deal with an issue.

You can get a quick loan to deal with your urgent medical issues from a direct lender. Sometimes, you may need cash to urgently repair your car, pay a bill or deal with a situation you did not plan for. An emergency loan can help you out.

What are the Ipass direct lender loan options?

Direct lenders offer several loan options. They have cash loans designed for people with bad credit as well. You can opt for both long-term and short-term lender loans based on what you need to use the loan for.

Borrowers with any credit score or credit history can benefit from credit check loans from direct lending providers.

You should, however, remember that when you use a short-term loan for long-term purposes, it becomes very expensive and you will end up paying more on the interest rate.

Which Loans Have Monthly Installments?

Installment loans are also available for people who want to pay off their cash advance loans in monthly installments. You will need to make monthly payments until you have paid off the loan.

The monthly payments are calculated based on the loan amount, rate, and loan term. The lender makes sure that the monthly payment is manageable and is great for long-term financial solutions.

Can I get an online payday loan From Ipass?

Online lenders also offer payday loans for borrowers who need extra cash until the next payday. You can easily apply for this loan and the lender will give you the money by the next payday.

What are the disadvantages of payday loans?

With payday loans, the rates are usually high. And are mostly online and you do not need to go to the lender’s office to get bank loans. The lender will deposit the cash in your bank account.

Should I use a direct payday lender?

Although it is easier and faster to deal with a direct lender, you can easily compare options compared to third-party lending sites.

You will still need to shop for rates when you apply to a direct lender. You should check the rates, amounts, and loan terms from several loan options. You can then compare the package from other lenders before you proceed.

You should also remember to read the lender’s terms and conditions before you proceed with the loan. The terms and conditions will tell you exactly what you are getting yourself into.

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What’s the Difference Between Forbearance and Deferment?

What is better: Student loan deferment or forbearance?

Deferment is a better option than being forborne if you are eligible. Both are not the best long-term solutions.

If you need solutions for your student debt:

  • Help is available: Contact organizations and resources for student loans.
  • Payoffs: Learn the difference between deferment and student loan forbearance.
  • Learn how to get out of default on student debt.
  • Learn how to declare bankruptcy and get rid of student debts in bankruptcy

Both forbearance and deferment can postpone student loan payments if you are unable to afford them. There is a significant difference: Forbearance will always increase your owes, while deferment may be interest-free for some types of federal loans.

The right decision about whether to defer or forbearance will depend on your situation.

  • Deferment: This is a good option if you have federal student loans or Perkins loans that are subsidized and you are not employed or in financial difficulty.
  • A forbearance is a good option if you aren’t eligible for deferment or your financial problem is temporary.

Both options are suitable for avoiding student loan default, but neither is the best long-term solution. Consider enrolling in an income-driven payment plan instead of paying off repayment if you don’t anticipate improving your financial situation.

What is the difference between forbearance and deferment?

Here are some critical comparisons between deferment and forgiveness for federal student loans.

Deferment

Length: Length can vary depending on the type of deferment; some last for three years, while others are available for as long as you qualify.

Qualification – Requires a qualifying event such as being unemployed or enrolled at least half of the time in school.

Process of application – Different forms for deferments require different forms. Your student loan servicer should receive the correct format and all documentation.

Interest accrual – Perkins and federal student loans that are subsidized do not have an interest.

Availability – If you meet the eligibility criteria and have sufficient deferment time, your servicer will grant you a Deferment.

Credit impact – The deferment of student loans does not affect your credit.

Forbearance

Length – No more than 12 months at a given time. Federal loans have no maximum.

Qualification – It is not usually necessary to qualify for a particular event.

Application process – A single form is required for “general forbearance,” but servicers may grant forbearance by phone.

Interest accrual – All loans are subject to interest accrual.

Availability – It is usually up to your servicer whether or not you are granted forbearance. However, in certain cases, forbearance may be mandatory.

Credit Impact – The student loan forbearance does not have an impact on your credit.

Log in to studentaid.gov to find out which type of federal student loan you have. To identify loans that won’t earn interest while deferred, look for “Perkins” and “subsidized” loans.

Forbearance and deferment can be used retroactively to catch up if you have missed payments but have not yet defaulted on your loans.

Which is better, deferment or forbearance

  • Student loan deferment can be a better choice than forbearance if you need to stop paying your student loans. You will need to be eligible for deferment. The following are the reasons you might qualify for a deferment:
  • At least half-time attendance at school
  • Being unemployed.
  • Federal or state assistance, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Temporary Aid for Needy Families.
  • A monthly income less than 150% below the poverty guidelines in your state.
  • Active military duty, or the Peace Corps.
  • Cancer treatment.

If you have federal student loans, Perkins loans, or subsidized federal student loans, deferring your student loan is a good option. The deferred loans do not accrue interest, so the amount you owe at the end of the deferment will be the same as when it began. This is a real break from your loans.

Forbearance might be a good option if you aren’t eligible for a deferment but expect to have financial difficulties that will only last a few days.

Take this example: If you were involved in an accident, you would need to pay a substantial medical bill. Although you don’t have the money right now to pay for this and other unexpected expenses, you will soon. You can’t defer this situation, but you can temporarily put your loans into forbearance.

Forbearance allows you to use the money from your student loans towards other bills and then resume your repayment. Despite the higher interest costs, Forbearance is likely to be cheaper than other options like a personal loan or payday loan.

Private student loans: Deferment or forbearance

Private lenders offer deferment programs for military personnel and students enrolled in schools. Forbearance is typically provided for at least 12 months.

Deferment and forbearance are the same for private student loans, despite their names. Interest accrues, and you are responsible for paying it.

It’s a great way to prevent interest from ballooning if your lender offers you the option of making interest payments while you are still in school.

Contact them if your lender doesn’t allow you to defer or forbearance because your student loans are too expensive. You may be able to make interest-only payments or your interest rate temporarily, depending on what your lender offers.

Consider income-driven repayment instead.

Apply for income-driven repayment instead if you debate deferment and forbearance due to the long-term inability to afford federal student loans.

Income-driven plans are tied to your earnings and can pay as little as $0 for those who are unemployed or underemployed. While paying less can cause interest to increase, income-driven repayment offers the additional benefit of being forgiven after 20-25 years.

Repayment options are available for federal and private loans that are in default

Federal student loan default means that income-driven repayments, deferment, and forbearance no longer work. These loans can be returned to good standing by using loan rehabilitation or consolidation. Private loans are not eligible for this.

Private student loan default can limit your recovery options. If you cannot repay your debt completely, you may need to consult a student loan lawyer.

You can also get help from a lawyer to determine if your statute of limitations has expired on student loans. This would reduce the possibility of you being sued for past-due debt.

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Bad Credit Loans Guaranteed Approval Direct Lenders

What Are Bad Credit Loans Guaranteed Approval?

Sometimes, you may encounter financial problems or sudden expenses. Bad credit guaranteed loans is an avenue that you can explore to overcome financial challenges. With bad credit loans, you can have quick access to cash advance loans to solve pressing financial obligations.

Guaranteed loan Approval From Direct Lenders

We connect you with over a hundred lenders in the market with a simple, secure and transparent and fast lending process.

We understand that with a bad credit score, you may be unable to access loans from conventional lending institutions.

If you have a low credit score, the lending institutions will not give you a loan because you are viewed as likely default on the loan.

Banks reject people with bad credit

Banks and other traditional lending institutions may reject people with a bad credit score. However, bad credit loans can give you a financial lifeline. You should conduct thorough research on the companies before you opt to choose to work with one.

Guaranteed Loans With Bad Credit?

However, with bad credit installment loans, you have the opportunity of getting a loan even with poor credit history. You just have to find reliable lenders who do not perform credit checks for installment loans.

Bad credit lenders offer cash loans to borrowers and they do not look at any kind of credit score. Just apply your loan online with no collateral involved.

Will My Credit Score Affect My Loan Application?

Banking and other lending institutions use credit scores to determine your trust rate in repaying loans. The figure ranges from zero to 1000.

Zero means that the individual should never be trusted with a loan and 1000 means that the person is in good credit standing and can repay his loan on time. However, the ratings should not affect if you are applying for unsecured bad credit loans.Will My Credit Score Affect My Loan Application?

Guaranteed Loans No Credit Checks?

Lenders often check the income, expenses, and the ability of the borrower to repay the loan.

If you want to apply for a payday loan with no credit check (soft check may be performed), it is vital that you read all the terms and conditions before signing any agreement documents.

How Do Poor Credit Loans Approval Guarantee Work?

Most people with low credit scores have difficulty getting a loan from banks and other conventional lending institutions.

You have to note that payday loans online are different from conventional loans because they are to be repaid quickly and can accrue huge interests within a short period.

You can begin to rebuild your credit score and trust with lending institutions by repaying the loan within the stipulated time.

Do not extend your bad credit loan

Financial experts recommend that you do not extend the loan period as interest will increase considerably and you may end up paying more than what you are expected pay.

The caps for payday loan vary from one state to another and they usually range from $100-$1000.

When is the repayment period for my bad credit loan?

Bad credit loan approval guaranteed is offered to individuals with poor credit history and they are often given on short notice.

The repayment period is two weeks or your next payday. When you repay the loan on time, you will pay a flat charge.

Extending the repayment period could lead to roll over and this will increase the amount to be repaid.

Rollover of bad credit loans occurs when the borrower defaults loan repayment on the due date. When this happens, the lender will use the loan and interest rate as a base to calculate the current short term loan. This means that as a borrower, you will pay a higher interest rate.

How to qualify for a bad credit loan?

There are a few basic requirements that you must meet to qualify for a bad credit personal loan approval. First, you must be at least 18 years old and you hold a valid passport or national identity card. You need to be above 18 years of age to borrow any types of loan including title loans, online signature loans, and payday loans.

You need to employed to get a bad credit loan

You should have proof of a recurrent payable job. The lender will assess your financial situation before deciding the amount of loan to grant you. You may not qualify for the maximum limit if you are borrowing for the first time. As time goes by, you will have the opportunity of securing higher loan amounts for future loans as you build trust and rapport with your lender.

Direct lenders for bad credit

Direct lenders are the best lenders to deal with because you do not have to give your information to a third party. You should understand that when you are dealing with a broker, you as the borrower, shoulder the brokerage fees.

Building trust is important for any loan application. The first loans approved are usually small amounts but you can build trust and may qualify for larger loan amounts in the future.

Repayment of your bad credit loan

When you take out bad credit loans, you should strive to repay them on time. This will help you build trust with the lender and your trustworthiness will increase considerably.

Payday loans from direct lenders are easy to deal with because you do not deal with intermediaries and brokerage fees and they can possibly give you bad credit loan approval guaranteed.

Choose a lending company that you can trust and one which will give you the repayment terms that work for you. Privacy and safety of your personal and financial information are also crucial aspects when choosing an instant payday loan lender.

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1929 Ford 4-AT-E Tri-Motor

Here’s a rare opportunity to own a 1929 Ford 4-AT-E Tri-Motor restored to an extraordinarily high standard.  This is arguably the most original and perfect example of this historically important aircraft, and it remains a national treasure in its own right.

This Tri-Motor, registered NC9612 (also use N9612 for internet research), has a unique history. In 1929 it was delivered as a new passenger plane to Mamer Flying Service in Spokane, Washington.  It was later sold to K-T Flying Service of Honolulu and was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  Brought back to the mainland in 1946 by a private owner, it was leased by TWA for their 1949 20th anniversary celebration. It then went to an agricultural operator in Idaho and was modified as a sprayer and also as one of the pioneer forest fire fighting air tankers.  Johnson Flying Service in Montana flew it for several years to drop Smoke Jumpers and supplies to fire fighters.  Since 1969 the plane has been privately owned and hangar stored by Dolph Overton and was part of his Wings and Wheels museum collection.  It is currently owned by the Overton Family Trust, which was created by Mr. Overton to fund the plane’s restoration and facilitate its sale.  

This was a no concession, no compromise restoration in which the airframe was reworked, a new interior installed and the exterior completely re-skinned, with most work being performed under the supervision of Master Restorer Bob Woods of Woods Aviation in Goldsboro, NC.  The wings were reworked and re-skinned by Hov-Aire in Vicksburg, Michigan.  The landing gear, including the unique Johnson bar braking system, is complete and original.  The original straight-laced wire wheels have tires that were re-sculpted to replicate the correct profile and tread pattern of the period.  The wood paneling of the interior has been skillfully recreated.  There are no modern avionics or communications gear – just what came with the plane when it was delivered from the Ford factory in January of 1929.  Exhaustive efforts were made to ensure originality in every detail with assistance from Tim O’Callaghan of the Henry Ford Museum and American Aircraft Historian Bill Larkins, author of “The Ford Tri-Motor” book.  Also assisting were Retired Eastern Airlines Captain Bob Beitel and Retired Admiral Witte Freeman of the Virginia Aviation Museum.  Total airframe time is 3110 hours.  Total time on the three Wright Whirlwind engines and the propellers is just 56 hours SMOH.  This plane has no accident history.

The restoration has been completed with authentic markings for TAT as a tribute to the historic first air-rail route across the United States by Transcontinental Air Transport in 1929.  This is the second time that this plane has been used for this purpose, as TWA painted it in a similar fashion for their 20th anniversary national tour in 1949.

In November, 2005 the Tri-Motor was flown from Goldsboro, NC to Richmond, VA where (until recently) it was on public display at the Virginia Aviation Museum.  It has also graced the cover of the March, 2006 issue of Trade-A-Plane.  Currently hangared at Goldsboro-Wayne Municipal Airport in central North Carolina, it is available for viewing and inspection December 6th & 7th, or at other times by appointment.

The pictures below will give you a sense of how intensely meticulous the restoration has been.  Seeing the plane up close speaks volumes to the many ‘labors of love’ by all the craftsmen who participated in its restoration.  NC9612 has a majestic presence that is undeniable, and to see it on the ground or in the air is an unforgettable experience.  It will be sold at the January 17th, 2009 Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Please consider becoming the next owner of this important player in aviation history.

For additional information concerning this aircraft, please contact:
Michele Overton
phone: 336-262-9560
email: [email protected]

For questions about the auction process, or to register to bid, please contact:
Jamie Wiehe at Barrett Jackson
phone: 480-421-6694
http://www.barrett-jackson.com

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Welcome to my Hardline page…

THIS HOME PAGE IS TO HELP THOSE THAT HAVE ASK ME TO EXPLAIN HOW TO INSTALL HARDLINE CONNECTORS FOR AMATEUR USE. I WILL ALSO EXPAND THIS PAGE TO COVER HARDLINE INSTALLATION ON TOWERS FOR AMATEUR USE. TO HELP IN THE NEAR FUTURE I WILL HAVE THUMB NAILS THAT WHEN CLICKED WILL LOAD HIGHER RESOLUTION IMAGES BUT ALLOW THE MAIN PAGE TO LOAD VERY QUICKLY…

THIS IS FOR AMATEUR RADIO USE ONLY AND SHOULD NOT BE USED AS AN EXAMPLE FOR INSTALLATIONS ON COMMERCIAL OR MILITARY PROJECTS. THESE INSTRUCTION ARE FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF AMATEUR RADIO AND DO NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OR INSTRUCTIONS OF ANDREWS OR ANY OTHER COMPANY MENTIONED IN THIS PAGE….. So much for the disclaimer …. now on to having Fun!!!
It really does not matter about the size hardline most connectors install similarly. Proper tools are a must, but you do not have to go out and purchase them from Andrews or Cablewave. Other than the adjustable wrenches most of the tools you have at home. You will need a builders knife or sharp pocket knife, a hacksaw with fine blade, tin snips, aircraft straight blade is best but old heavy tin snips will work. A pair of pliers and straight blade screw driver, or box wrench. A large enough set of adjustable wrenches and a multimeter.

First a word of Caution:
You can cut yourself badly with either the knives, hacksaw, or sharp edges of the copper. It is very important to work carefully and slowly. It never hurts to have a first aid kit near by during all tower jobs.

With the safety warning out of the way I will explain the types of connectors we will be using.

Andrew’s 1 5/8″ Connectors:
Andrews make many types of connectors for foam core, air core, and elliptical hardline. I will be focusing on foam core as this is what I am able to supply. Basically you will run across connectors that look alike, and for the most part are. However once the outer shell is removed by unscrewing counter clockwise, you will find the compression sleeve. Slide this off the end of the hardline with firm pressure. Be careful not to cut yourself on the copper end. Remove the O-ring and place all parts in a safe place. You are now left with the center conductor adaptor.

STOP and READ THIS FIRST before proceeding.
Andrews makes two types of center conductor adaptors. They are removed differently and if done improperly will ruin the adaptor. Look at the adaptor … does it have a hole drilled in it or a wrench shoulder? If it has a wrench shoulder you remove it by screwing it out counter clockwise. If it has a hole drilled in it this is a two part adaptor. You remove it by inserting a hardened rod or punch and screwing it clock wise. Like you were screwing it in!!! This piece is reverse treaded to exert pressure on the inner adaptor without screwing it (the inner adaptor) further in. You will snap the treaded part off in the inner adaptor if you try to remove it with a counter clockwise rotation. Once the outer adaptor is off pry up the copper ears and with a screw driver remove the inner adaptor by turning counter clockwise.

You now have the connector completely removed. Carefully clean it and place it in a safe place. These connectors retail for $250.00+ from Andrews.

First lets review the parts of the connector:

  1. the outer shell
  2. the fingered compression inner shell
  3. the center conductor adaptor (may be a single or two part adaptor)
  4. the center pin adaptor with Teflon insulator
  5. two rubber O-rings
    The installation of the connector is a fast process if you have prepared the hardline well. I will give the following instructions in my favorite manor …. cook book style.

Step 1.

Begin by cutting the hardline square across the end. It is not as important as the second cut will be but it makes it easier and looks better. This is easy with a hacksaw or miter saw. As you cut proceed slowly. Both the hacksaw and power miter saw can make a mess if you cut too fast.

I always try to make my cuts a half inch longer than needed. This will allow for small mistakes. Once the first cut has been made inspect the inside of the inner connector. If it is dull you will need to dress it up in a minute. If it is corroded badly you need to make a second cut about 3 inches further in. Do this until you either have clean fresh copper or no corrosion.

Step 2.

Count down the valleys on the hardline cover and make a cut in the 8th valley from the end with your builders knife or pocket knife. This cut does not have to go to the metal. Make the cuts meet each other and then from this line make a cut toward the end of the hard line. At the edge make the cut to the copper. You can now insert your knife between the copper and the plastic cover and peel open the plastic cover. You should now have copper exposed at least 8 valleys from the end.

Step 3.

Slide the fingered compression adaptor over the copper on the hardline until there is one or two ridges exposed. Slide the base on first which places the fingers at the cut end side. I now place a stainless steel hose clamp over the fingers and tighten until the fingered adaptor is hard to turn. This will provide you with a cutting guide for your second cut.

Step 4.

Now with your hacksaw cut thru the copper using the fingered adaptor as your saw guide. BE VERY CAREFUL not the cut the center conductor as you cut thru the outer conductor. You will have to make a cut thru the outer conductor from all sides. You can now peel off the outer copper ring. When finished loosen and remove the hose clamp and slide the fingered adaptor off the hardline. Clean off any copper fragments or shavings from the previous cut.

Step 5.

Now take your knife and cut off the plastic/Teflon foam insulation. It is important to not leave the plastic/foam coating on the exposed copper. It is important to remove the plastic/foam from the copper the help tighten it in a few minutes. Also make a 1/8″ grooved cut in the foam around the hardline end. This will allow the connector compression groove to tighten on the inner side of the outer hardline side wall.

Step 6.

Now re-inspect the center conductor for corrosion again like in Step one. If it is only tarnished use a “New” auto car battery terminal cleaning brush to shine the inside. It is this surface that will make contact with the inner adaptor. After cleaning this location I add an antioxidant like Nolox to make the best possible contact.

Step 7.

You should have about 3/8″ to 1/2″ of center conductor available. Now take a pair of tin snips and make an inverted-V cut on the center conductor. Leave from 3/8″ to 1/2″ of copper exposed on the center conductor. If all cuts were made correctly then you have made the last cut for this connector.

Step 8.

Now insert the center conductor adaptor into the center conductor.

If this is a two part adaptor you will screw in the first part clock wise. Now crimp the inverted copper V’s over the center adaptor, and insert the outer adaptor by turning “Counter Clock Wise”. This is very important … as turning the wrong way will loosen to connection. The introduction of the single center piece conductor adaptor decreased the time for installation as well as the chance to damage the unit. This unit does not require as much center conductor being left in Step 7. I generally leave about 1/4″ when using the one piece adaptors. The length of the center conductor insures that there will be adequate length for the center pin adaptor to make good contact to the hardline. Tighten the center one-piece connector down until you meet resistance. You need it firm but not enough to work loose or stretch the ribs in the center conductor.

Step 9.

You now need to slide the larger O-ring (usually white in color) over the outer copper conductor to the 7th rib. Now reinstall the fingered adaptor slowly. It should slide up on the O-ring before the fingers seat in the last (end) copper groove. This provides a seal from moisture. Make sure the smaller O-ring is on the outer ridge of the fingered adaptor and in good shape. This seals the outer and inner shells of the connector from moisture. Clean and inspect the work so far and if in good shape proceed.

Step 10.

Now find the center pin connector and plastic/Teflon insulator. It is important to inspect this part for loose solder joint, cracks or broken fingers, and corrosion. Clean the part and I preinstall it in the outer shell. Make sure that it is well seated and verify that the center pin of the N-connector is far enough out to make good contact. Now screw the outer half down over the fingered half. Watch to make sure that the fingered adaptor stays in its current position and tighten until the connector is hand tight. You should feel resistance when you try to turn the connector.

Step 11.

Take the two adjustable wrenches and tighten down on the connector. You want to tighten hard enough the cause the outer connector half to compress the outer copper of the hardline against the compression ridge inside the connector. But not enough to allow the wrenches to spin on the connector. This will not hurt the connector but it looks bad. On some of the connectors you see where the previous installation slipped.

The connector should not turn on the hardline. If it does something did not tighten up enough. Take the connector off and reinstall it to make good connections. If it is loose now a good connection will never be possible, and with time it will only get worse.

Step 12.

Assuming that all is good … take a Volt/Ohm meter and check for good connection from center pin to center pin. Do the same for outer cover to outer cover. Check for shorts across the center pin and outer cover on both ends. If you have access to an antenna analyzer attach a 50 ohm load on one end and look up the line for the SWR. It should be no more than the load on the other end.

Step 13.

Now for the most important part …. weather proofing your connector. All connectors that I install will be taped in the following way. I usually suggest you purchase 1 roll of 3M 33+ or 88+ tape for each run. I have been accused of being tape happy … but who wants to climb a 100+ foot tower in January to check on a hardline connector that is acting up?
I start 2″-3″ below the connector on the hardline and tape up toward the connector. I over lap each previous run by at least 50%. Place a little stretch in the tape as you go. This will help assure that the seal will not stretch out over time. Tape over the gap and on up the connector. If you cut too much insulation off in step 2 you will have a harder time sealing the union between the connector and hardline. This is not bad … just takes more tape. I then retrace my run traveling back across the previous tape and 1/2″ below the start of the first run. Do not stretch the tape until it breaks, but always cut it. Stretching ruins the adhesive on the tape and it will fail faster.

As a protective measure I always tape up the N-connector and if it is to be shipped I tape a cover over the connector. This is good protection while the hardline is pulled up the tower.

Step 14.

Final weather proofing is your responsibility … Do it well. You have a lot of fine feed line to try to cut corners here. Well I’m sure you were wondering how you could use 1/2 roll of tape above. Here is how. Now that you have the joint sealed you need to think ahead. You can apply a seal now but if you ever need to remove the connector you will spend hours cleaning it up. Pre-taping the connector will allow you to remove the sealer easily without a mess. You need to start taping from a location about 1/2″ from the top of the connector to a location 4″ below the connector. This provides a barrier from the sealer and the hardline. The sealer will provide a non-hardening, soft, seal that if done right will guarantee no water penetration. Some of the connectors I remove are as dry as the day installed. Others still have water trapped in them. Probably why the hardline was removed in the first place.
If you can add your jumper for the antennas do so now and tape them up. Remember to tape over the top of the connector so it will not stick to sealer in the next step. Tape from the jumper side down to the connector top. Tape across the top of the connector to the 1/2″of open space on the connector left open earlier. Now tape from there toward the jumper. Do this the best you can it is primarily there to keep the sealer from sticking to the feedline.
Once this layer is installed apply a butyl sealer wrap like Decibel Vapor Seal. I am sure there are others but I use this as it is what I was suggested when I started. I buy the 50′ roll 3″ wide. Cut 3 – 12″long pieces and install the first 1″ – 2″ above the connector on the jumper. This should be long enough to reach 1″ – 2″ below the bottom of the connector. It is very easy to work with and in warm weather will hold itself on the hardline. Add the second strip over loping the first. Add the third piece and now work the three pieces into one by mashing and working the margins together.
Now starting at the bottom tape up the connector to a point 2″ above the end of the sealer. Remember to stretch the tape slightly as you go. Now tape 1″ above the end of the previous tape ending and retape to a point 1″ below the last of the tape below the connector. Remember it’s not to look good … it’s to keep water out. Now as you have stretched all the other tape the last 3 turns should be applied without stretch. This will keep them from trying to pull free when they get hot in the summer sun. I now paint the whole seal with a tape sealer like Scotch Coat by 3M. This melts the tape into a solid seal.
You now have completed your hardline connector installation. Now you see why it takes a LOT of tape. I try to inspect my hard line once a year. You can tape over the last if needed. But if need be you car remove the last layer and redo and seal very easily. I have not had to reseal or retape any of mine yet in 2 years!!!
I hope this helps you with the installation of your station and I will be happy to answer any questions that I can if you will e-mail me below. Good luck and climb safely!!!
[email protected]
Cablewave’s 1 5/8″ Connectors:
Step 1.

Begin by cutting the hardline square across the end. It is important, as the second cut is the final cut. better. This is easy with a hacksaw or miter saw. As you cut proceed slowly. Both the hacksaw and power miter saw can make a mess if you cut too fast.

Once the first cut has been made inspect the inside of the inner connector. If it is dull you will need to dress it up in a minute. If it is corroded badly you need to make a second cut about 3 inches further in. Do this until you either have clean fresh copper or no corrosion.

Step 2.

Count down the valleys on the hardline cover and make a cut on the 3rd or 4th ridge from the end with your builders knife or pocket knife. This cut does not have to go to the metal. Make the cuts meet each other and then from this line make a cut toward the end of the hardline. At the edge make the cut to the copper. You can now insert your knife between the copper and the plastic cover and peel open the plastic cover. You should now have copper exposed at least 3 valleys from the end.

Step 3.

Slide the base compression adaptor over the copper over the hardline until it slides past the copper ribs. Slide the base on first which places the threaded end at the cut end side. Now find the split rings and look at them. You notice that there is a larger flat side and a smaller side that seems to be shorter to the end. The wider side is now installed so that it is at the end of the cable end. It should fit the cable and when the other side and locking snap ring are installed will provide your guide to cut the hardline. Place it in the 3rd grove to cut the 4th ridge (from the plastic).

Step 4.

Now with your hacksaw cut thru the copper using the split rings as your saw guide. When finished loosen and remove the split rings and clamp band. Clean off any copper fragments or shavings from the previous cut.

Step 5.

Now take your knife and cut an 1/8″ grooved cut in the foam around the hardline end. This will allow the connector compression groove to tighten on the inner side of the outer hardline side wall.

Step 6.

Now re-inspect the center conductor for corrosion again like in Step one. If it is only tarnished use a “New” auto car battery terminal cleaning brush to shine the inside. It is this surface that will make contact with the inner adaptor. After cleaning this location I add an antioxidant like Nolox to make the best possible contact.

Step 7.

Now insert the center conductor adaptor into the center conductor. Tighten the center one-piece connector down until you meet resistance. You need it firm but not enough to work loose or stretch the ribs in the center conductor. Now insert an allen wrench and tighten the screw until you have it tight enough to secure the center conductor.

Step 8.

You now need to slide the larger o-ring (usually orange in color) over the outer copper conductor to the 3rd valley. Now reinstall the split adaptor and the retaining ring. This provides a seal from moisture.

Step 9.

Now find the center pin connector/connector end and check all components. It is important to inspect this part for loose joint, cracks or broken center pin, and corrosion. Clean the part and make sure that it is well seated. Now screw the lower adaptor in tightly avoiding damage to the o-ring on the top part. Tighten until the connector is hand tight. You should feel resistance when you try to turn the connector.

Step 10.

Take the two adjustable wrenches and tighten down on the connector. You want to tighten hard enough the cause the outer connector half to compress the outer copper of the hardline against the compression ridge inside the connector. But not enough to allow the wrenches to spin on the connector. This will not hurt the connector but it looks bad. On some of the connectors you see where the previous installation slipped.

The connector should not turn on the hardline. If it does something did not tighten up enough. Take the connector off and reinstall it to make good connections. If it is loose now a good connection will never be possible, and with time it will only get worse.

Step 11.

Assuming that all is good … take a Volt/Ohm meter and check for good connection from center pin to center pin. Do the same for outer cover to outer cover. Check for shorts across the center pin and outer cover on both ends. If you have access to an antenna analyzer attach 50 ohm load on one end and look up the line for the SWR. It should be no more than the load on the other end.

Now tape the connector as above in the Andrews Connector Instructions.

Thank you for dropping by … Hope this has helped a little in the installation of the 1 5/8″ hardline connectors. For more information contact Andrews

or Cablewave

Simply click on the icons you desire.

If I can answer any questions or help with connectors for your project let me know. I can be reached at my email address below:
Stephen Vinson – KD4WIW [email protected]
Coming Soon: 7/8″ and 1 1/4″ Connectors…
Don’t forget to visit my other pages below:

  • The Framed KD4WIW Website
  • My Amateur Radio Page Webpages
  • My Hardline for Sale Page
  • My Hardline Connector Installation Page
  • The 5 County Repeater Group Site
  • My 145 Foot Tall Self Supporting Tower
  • My Tower Equipment Page
  • My Tower Construction Page
  • My Motorcycle Shop Pages
  • My Personal Motorcycle Pages
  • The Zebulon NC Rescue Squad and EMS Page
  • The Vinson’s Family Information Page
  • My Carolina Mudcats Page

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 Rollins

Henry Rollins. The name brings forth many different opinions from living legend to sell out hack. Love him or loathe him, you ought to respect him.

Why respect? Rollins is one of most active people in media today. His professional activities span the range of modern diversion and entertainment. As the lead singer of Rollins Band for over 10 years, an author of over ten books, a spoken word performer, a voice over talent of growing popularity, and an actor who has appeared in several films (including a growing number of major motion pictures and television jobs,) it is growing more difficult to say you’ve not heard his name. He is also a successful businessman with his own publishing company (2.13.61) with print, music, and video releases and a new CD division. In the mid-90s he became the co-owner (w/Rick Rubin) of a CD re-issue label called Infinite Zero. At one time he also had a deal with London Records to release new groups under his Human Pitbull label. His five years of recording and touring with Black Flag and work with various groups such as the Hard-Ons and the Bad Brains included into the mix and it’s safe to say that he’s worked very hard to get where he is today.

An essential key to the appeal of Rollins is his honesty. Most evident in his spoken word, this honesty brings out the base thoughts and raw pain that many of us feel but do not normally discuss. His ability to open up about these difficulties so easily and with his simultaneous and uncanny flair for entertainment has created a phenomenon. His spoken word performances are reaching venues of increasing size and diverse location: he has been doing shows all over North America and Europe for years, but has recently taken these to Russia and Israel for the first time.

This page is meant as more of a springboard for those of you who might not have any clue who Rollins is or what he is about. It will give a decent base of things that he has put out that you might want to investiage in your own time to make you better appreciate what is available. If you are really interested in learning more about the man and his life, an unauthorized biography has been released.

The book focuses primarily on his time in Black Flag, although there is a good deal of info about his childhood as well. Sources include many of those who knew him from the DC scene as well as a large number of those involved with SST throughout the mid-1980s. It is available only in the UK; neither Amazon nor Barnes and Noble have listings on it yet. If you’d like to contact the publisher, the address is:

Phoenix House Press
5 Upper St. Martins Lane
London
WC2 9EA
UK

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Black Flag

One of the most powerful bands to emerge from the cinders of punk… one of the most powerful bands ever. Greg Ginn, a madman and a thorough disciple of the guitar, brought this band into being in 1977 in the depths of L.A. outside of the reaches of the excesses of the ’70s. He’d had enough of the “California” sound of the Eagles, the over-production of Steely Dan and ELO. It was time to create a new sound.

Fueled by the simplicity and immediacy of the Ramones first album, he pulled together a small group of people who could barely play their instruments and began a pattern of musical deconstruction that exploded on a brand new scene that was just beginning to form. Controversy and opposition were the bedfellows of the band from the beginning: the law were not welcoming the emergence of the punk scene on the west coast. The fact that Black Flag survived those first four years was amazing in its own right. Singers kept quitting, occasionally during shows. But the band persevered, even acting in an instrumental capacity in between singers. It became common during these periods for people to jump on stage and act as the stand-in vocalist for the band.Dez Cadena, 1980-1983

The band finally settled into a stable unit with Ginn on guitar, Chuck Dukowski on bass, Robo on drums, and Dez Cadena as the permanent vocalist. It was with this line-up that Black Flag first ventured out on its first US tours. By December of 1980, the band was making its way across the USA for the first time. They played their first dates in New York City and Washington D.C. In the audience at each show were D.C. youths Ian MacKaye and Henry Garfield. They spoke to the band and ended up hanging out with them. Flag came east again during the summer of 1981. It was at a show in New York City that Henry ended up getting on stage and singing with the band for one song. Unbeknownst to Henry, Dez had been wanting to give up the mic to move over to rhythm guitar. Jumping on stage to sing left an impression on the band, so they ended up calling Henry back to NYC from D.C. and asked him to ‘jam’ with the band. After taking the train ride up and practicing with the band for a few hours, the others talked it over and decided that Henry would be the new vocalist. He quit his job, sublet his apartment, sold nearly everything he owned, and joined the band on tour several days later. This line up only lasted until their tour of England in late 1981, but long enough to record the first album, Damaged.Ian and Henry, 1982


Interview during the Damaged sessions, 1981
Dukowski, Rollins, Cadena, GinnIt was after their tour of the UK that they lost long time drummer Robo. Bill Stevenson of the Descendents filled in for a show or two, but a succession of replacement drummers (including future Danzig drummer Chuck Biscuits) came before he took over as the full time drummer. Flag were kept from releasing a sophomore album due to legal difficulties with the label that were originally scheduled to release Damaged. SST had taken it upon themselves to release the album themselves once MCA (in charge of distributing the Unicorn label) deemed it “An Anti-Parent Record” and unsuitable for corporate release. By doing so themselves, however, they violated a contract and wound up with thousands in legal bills andinjunctions against them for the next two years. Despite this, they released a compilation of formerly unreleased takes without the Black Flag name and ended up in more legal troubles… it was determined to still be Black Flag. More bills.Rollins in action

Dukowski, Rollins, Ginn, Chuck Biscuits, Cadena
Fall, 1982By the time My War was released in 1983, Stevenson was in, but Dukowski had left the group. Ginn performed bass duties himself for the recording of the album under the name Dale Nixon. Kira Roessler was brought in by the end of the year as the new bass player.1984 began an incredibly intense period of activity for the band. They released two albums that year, the split Family Man (half early Rollins spoken word, half Flag instrumentals), and the aggressive Slip It In. They toured insanely, going to great lengths to tour as many places in as little time as possible. Intensive tours into the depths of Europe and throughout the United States ensued. They even went to the length of playing three shows in three states in the space of 24 hours… lengths bands today will usually not go to. 1985 was even more active. Three album releases, including Loose Nut and In My Head interrupted by the instrumental Process of Weeding Out. Soon after, Stevenson and then Kira left the band.Kira, 1985

Rollins, 1985Anthony Martinez and C’el were taken on as the new drummer and bass player respectively and another shakedown of the United States was undertaken. Also on the bill were groups Painted Willie and the Ginn led instrumental trio Gone (including future Rollins Band rhythm section Simeon Cain and Andrew Weiss.) The three legs of the tour were probably the most ambitious touring of their career. It would also be their last. In mid-1986, Ginn called the members of the band and told them he was quitting Black Flag. So ended the near ten year career of one of the most dynamic bands to come out of punk. Ginn concentrated on running SST Records. A year later, the Rollins Band had already begun touring.Probably the best reference on Black Flag is Get in the Van by Henry Rollins. Planet Joe by Joe Cole also offers some insight into the band on tour. Glen Friedman’s books Fuck You Heroes, and Fuck You, too contain some of the best pictures of the band I’ve seen as well as a slew of other shots of artists and punk/rap scenes. All four can be ordered from 2.13.61.
I also found (thanks to Christopher Thurston of the Carbines and S-4) some great shots in the book Hardcore California. I can’t recall the publisher or the authors, but I’ve seen it available in reissue at Tower Books and at Alternative Tentacles.Issue #20 of Punk Planet (Sept/Oct 1997) has some decent interviews with Ginn, Dukowski, Morris, Cadena, Kira, Stevenson, and Rollins.There are several Black Flag videos available. Check out the Releases Section for some information on these.At some point in the year 2000, 2.13.61 took this history and posted it verbatim on their site under a Black Flag section. While I was flattered that my text graced their site, I was also somewhat offended since they never asked (or even notified) me, nor was I credited in any way. I sent them a polite e-mail regarding this in summer 2001, but I never received a response. Though the site has since been removed, it existed between at least 18 August, 2000 and July 20, 2001.

More to come…pics, links, and essays about the band! Feel free to suggest things or just write!

I’m still considering moving this site to a different locale sometime in the near future. Please keep your eyeballs peeled if you can and help me with the transition and updating them silly search engines…

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Afterburner removal…

This procedure removes the fresh air system that dumps outside air into the exhaust system just after the exhaust valves in the heads. It will lower your exhaust temps (control the blueing of your pipes!) and kill a lot of the backfiring during gear changes and decelleration.

Items needed:

  • two 1/2 inch rubber vacuum caps
  • one 3/16 inch rubber vacuum caps
  • one 5/8 inch rubber vacuum cap
    You should be able to get all the parts listed at an auto parts store, like Pep Boys, Autozone, Napa, etc.

Procedure (for non- Ca. models):

Remove seat (8mm). Remove speedometer housing (8mm), don’t forget the cable and wire bundles. Remove fuel and vacuum lines from petcock. Be sure to put a few rags under this, as some fuel will leak out. Now take the front and rear fuel tank bolts (12mm) out and remove the tank. If you have a tire laying around, it makes a nice place to set the tank, otherwise place it on a few old towels.

Locate the hoses between the valve covers… they looks like a T and go to a gold air valve. Take them off of the valve covers, and place the 1/2 inch vacuum caps over the ports on the heads. Now, remove the small hose from the gold air valve runs to the T fitting connected to the petcock vacuum line, and plug it with a 3/16 vacuum cap. Lastly, remove the large hose that goes from the gold air valve to the back of the air cleaner assembly. Put a 5/8 inch vacuum cap on the back of the air cleaner assembly.

Here’s a picture of one of the plugs that I used to block the air inlet on the head of the rear cylinder, as seen from the left side of the engine

That’s it…you’re done! Some people have mentioned that they could plug the large lines connecting to the front and rear cylinder heads without pulling the tank and seat, so take a flashlight and have a look at your bike and see if you’re one of the lucky ones. If so, shove a marble in each of the large hoses on the cylinder heads and leave the rest alone!

One last alternative, offered up by Scotty on VROC, is to install a piece of hose between the two ports, blocking the input of outside air. This works great, and is a good alternative to the rubber vacuum plugs I mentioned above.

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Feeding your Black Flag cravings since 1997!

“When I first saw Black Flag, it was on the My War tour in St.Louis [1983]. The thing I remember the most about that show is that at least three times during the set these guys in the crowd grabbed Henry, held him down, and punched him in the face. It was only my third concert (after the Clash and JFA/Sun City Girls.) It left quite an impression on me. I also remember the Saccharine Trust singer [Jack Brewer] crawling under the drum riser to moan during A Human Certainty.

Like a fool, I didn’t go to the show a few months later on the Slip It In tour [1984]. “When I saw them on the Loose Nut (my personal favorite Flag album) tour [1985], they had a ton of security. It was great to see Henry run out to the mic just in time to start singing Nervous Breakdown and to see him turn around and unveil his sun tattoo when he sang, ‘I’m a son of the Sun’ during I’m the One. Whatever happened to Tom Troccoli anyway? I saw [Black Flag] and later the Descendents at this roller skating rink called the Skate Palace. Would you believe that the place where I saw these two bands and once had someone try to sell me a bag of G.G. Allin’s bodily fluid is now a daycare center called Sunshine Academy? It freaks me out every time I drive by. “My third St. Louis show was not as good. My friend (and former bandmate) Darrin Gray’s band Culture Shock was supposed to open up. This was the the In My Head tour [1986]. Black Flag went on and played a short set. Someone said they had to do another show somewhere else that night–there wasn’t one listed in Get in the Van. Culture Shock had the rough job of going on after Black Flag. By the time they were done, the Turner’s Hall was mostly empty. “Greg Ginn had as much influence on my guitar playing as anyone. I, too, in my band Earl Bros. stand out in the local music scene because I play solos. Always have. Most of the bands here in Alton, IL are sons of Sonic Youth. Black Flag had a huge influence on me. My first Flag record was the Jealous Again EP. A little later I got the Damaged and the Dead Kennedys’ Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables on the same day. Black Flag is simply one of the greatest bands of all time.”

William I.
August 1997


Must have been either 81 or 82 when I saw Black Flag play the old Ritz. It was an incredible gig…. had never seen anything like it. Henry was doing Depression or something else off of Damaged, when Richie Stotz (of the Plasmatics), who was just standing there head and shoulders above the crowd with his big blue mohawk, received a Henry headbutt…. and if memory serves me pulled out at least one tooth that was knocked loose. “I also remember that the bouncers were kicking peoples’ asses, including girls, at the show, and there ended up being a ‘semi-riot’ in the street. Cops were called and, of course, some punk threw a bottle at them…. the rest was a blur of running footsteps and bailing my friends older sister (who drove us to the gig) out of Manhattan’s Tombs.”

Rick H.
October 1997


The last time I saw Black Flag play live was Feb. 9, 1986 in a small Deli/Club called the Strip in Knoxville, TN. It was THE defining moment of my life. I left the show physically shaken. “You can still see the bars spray-painted on the brick front of the Walgreen’s on Cumberland Ave. – just a few doors down from where Rollins, Ginn, et al got off over eleven years ago!”

Paul W.
November 1997


I figured you might appreciate my cool Halloween party story. I went to my friends brothers house in Torrence, CA and Dez’s band was playing. He lives right down the street. They sounded unrehearsed but that just made it all the more punk sounding. Played mostly Black Flag songs but it was very informal. I’m not sure it was a real band or if he just did it for fun. “It was cool hanging out with Dez. He’s pretty mellow. There where only 20 or so people at the party, but all were welcome to sing their favorite Flag songs (I sang Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie, my friend Jim sang Damaged). “Anyway, I gave him my phone number so he could let me know when they played a real show. I told him I could get a few people to go, but shit, with the Internet I could probably get a few hundred, so I’ll let you know if I hear from him. ” p.s. I just remembered they were calling the band Sack-a-Quesadillas, but just for the night.”

Mike W.
November 1997


“In August I found myself at the Warped Tour in Sanford, FL watching the Descendents shred ass. When they came back for the encore, Chuck Biscuits (who IS in Social Distortion) was on the kit and a man wearing a huge rasta wig was introduced as Dez Cadena. I can’t be sure it was him, but it’s nice to think it was.”

Jim G.
December 1997 [Note: It’s been confirmed that it was NOT Dez at the show. Apparently someone was making a funny.]


“A guy I knew for a few weeks introduced me to the Flag. He played the First Four Years tape and what I heard struck a chord in me. This was a time when everyone played heavy metal… Iron Maiden or whatever. I stole like 5 dollars from my mom and went to the record store and was looking for anything by Black Flag.

I got My War. Those slow songs were so heavy that my Mötley Crüe tapes seemed like a joke. “A few days later my older brother caught me playing Flag and asked if I was a punk. I was sooo embarrassed. ‘Me punk? No way! Heavy metal rules man! Dokken all the way!’

“A few months later I entered Junior High and two of the 9th graders there had funny haircuts, were totally unpopular, and never got any chicks. I thought they were awesome because they were into a lot of punk bands and were not timid about it like me. They got beat up all the time for their mohawks (and later their skinheads) from kids who were in the local college frats! In the Junior High! In Glendale, CA! “In 1985, punk was very uncool to the majority. Everyone hated punks. Try to go to a barber back then to shave your head? They wouldn’t do it.”

William B.
December 1997


“I remember first hearing of the mighty Flag in Summer of ’83. I was 17 and had been listening to the Ramones, the Clash, etc. for about two years before being introduced to the Everything Went Black album (double vinyl). When I heard Damaged I knew I had found the real thing.

“I quickly became an avid SST fan and snapped up My War immediately after its release. Most seemed to hate the slow songs on side two, but I loved them and admired the band for doing something different, especially with Henry still relatively new and untested. “My first live experience was (I believe) at the Olympic Garden in Los Angeles. The non-SST opening act had finished and the crowd was restless and menacing. Finally the band came out without fanfare and lurched into the opening chords of Nervous Breakdown.

The room reacted like a bomb had gone off, with bodies surging toward the stage amidst flying tables and chairs. I had never heard such intensity in music, and the physical sensation produced was violent and immediate, like a jolt of electricity. “Needless to say, it became difficult to listen to most other music after that. When you compare other bands of the era it’s really laughable. In my estimation, one side of Damaged contains more brilliance than any band has produced in an entire career since. “I remain a huge fan of Rollins and the Rollins Band, and I’m checking out some of the re-releases offered by Infinite Zero.”

Jeff D.
December 1997


“Must have been ’80, maybe ’81… Starwood was still open and the Whisky still had killer shows.

“I remember going to see the original Decline of Western Civilization at the ‘premiere’ in some old run-down theatre in L.A. When the Black Flag segment started, half the theatre started yelling and moving around, all tense and expectant. Dez was talking about being arrested at Blackie’s for ‘playing punk rock music.’ Then the music started and the whole theater exploded in activity. People were moshing (back then we called it skanking) right under the screen, throwing bottles, yelling out the lyrics, going nuts. As soon as Flag’s segment was over (3 songs, one of which was Depression), the place simmered down quick. The only other band that got a response like that was Circle Jerks, and they had ex-Black Flag guy Keith Morris. One guy was sitting there breaking beer bottles and slicing up and down his arm with the glass shards. Not hard enough to do any damage, just hard enough to draw blood. “A short time later, Flag was playing some club on Sunset at the same time Adam and the Ants were playing a club close by. There was a near riot on Sunset in the middle of the afternoon. Flag people were wearing shirts that said “Black Flag kills Ants on contact.” That was back when people knew the difference between punk and new wave, and the two DID NOT mix. Flag fans were beating the living shit out of the Adam Ant sissy boys. “They used to have commercials on KROQ FM for certain Black Flag club dates, [many of which can be found in total on

Everything Went Black‘s track Crass Commercialism.] One of them was: “Creepy Crawl the Starwood. The Starwood must be creepy crawled.'”

Lynda
December 1997

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Freezing Yeast

 

Homebrewers often find they would like to have yeast at the ready, to defray costs or to be able to collect strains that are not readily available and grow them to a practical amount of yeast. I looked into yeast ranching with slants and decided the chore of sterilization and reculturing would be too much for me to handle. An excellent book on that subject is “First Steps in Yeast Culture” by Pierre Rajotte.

I decided to look for a different method and tried freezing yeast with glycerin based upon posts on rec.crafts.brewing. My results using a frost-free freezer were a total disaster. The freeze/thaw cycle of the fridge caused the yeast to die. The idea is when freezing/frozen the glycerin helps to keep the cell walls of the yeast from bursting. The freeze/thaw cycle can be the kiss of death depending upon how the yeast are stored.

 A few years later a brewer suggested I try a non-frost-free freezer and gave me a protocol. He used a lab freezer at –80ºF and a 15% glycerin solution. I had a regular upright freezer at work that ran about –5ºF and decided to give it a whirl.

 Here is the protocol I utilized (Many thanks go out to Brad Nicholson).

 Necessary materials and equipment:

Glycerin

Water

Yeast slurry (from bottom of starter)

Pipette (or other measuring method)

Test tubes and caps (sterile, or sanitized)

Masking tape

Permanent marker

 The #1 thing to do is to have surfaces and equipment sanitized. Take nothing for granted.

 1)      Mix glycerin and water in the ratio of 30 ml glycerin to 70 ml water. This will yield a 30% glycerine solution.

2)      Microwave the mixture until boiling.

3)      Remove to the counter, cover with saran wrap and allow to mixture cool to room temp.

4)      Add equal amounts of the 30% glycerin solution and the yeast slurry to the test tube. (The amount will be dependent upon the volume of the tube.)

5)      Cap the tube and shake.

6)      Mark a piece of masking tape with the yeast type and label the tube.

7)      Freeze

 Glycerin can be purchased at most local drug stores, but can sometimes be difficult to locate in the store. Be diligent and you will find it. If in doubt, ask the pharmacist and they can point you to it.

 You now have a frozen tube that is 15% glycerine and yeast. When I get a new strain, I try to make at least 3 tubes from the starter slurry. My procedure is to hold my finger on the end of a pipette and stick into the slurry and remove my finger allowing the slurry to be sucked into the pipette. I transfer that into the test tube as many times as necessary.

 My yeast samples were kept frozen in the freezer, but eventually I had to remove them from my employer to the house. I put them into a cooler with ice packs and brought home. I then placed them into a thick foam cooler with frozen ice packs to prevent the freeze thaw cycle of the frost-free freezer from killing the yeast. Recently I revived the yeast by putting them on a stir plate with a small amount of starter wort and gradually adding more wort over time. The yeast revived perfectly after more than a year of frozen storage. The only caveat is the yeast had to grow so the results took longer than yeast abuse.

 

Another great page on freezing yeast is Mike D’Brewer’s entitled Yeast Harvesting and Freezing. I was going to take pictures for this page, but his are excellent.

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VistaCruise Throttle Lock

The VistaCruise is an aftermarket throttle lock, allowing the driver to free up the right hand from time to time. It’s a big help on long hauls when your palm becomes compressed or pinched from squeezing the grip for so long, when your hand is sweaty, or you just want to rest your throttle hand for a minute. It also helps in the winter when you need to switch hand you’re sitting on from time to time to thaw it out 🙂 .

[bullet] Above is a good shot of the completed installation of the modified VistaCruise. You’ll see the black collar on the grip, the little chrome strap is the friction ring, the thumb latch that is used to lock the throttle, a black bar that reaches across the control head (where the kill switch is located), and the 1″ handlebar clamp located between the mirror bracket and control head. The VistaCruise is just above the starter button, so that’s no interference there.

[bullet]The VistaCruise is designed to work with stock grips, or those with a straight (non-contoured) grip body. I recently installed a set of Kuryakin IsoGrips and found that the VistaCruise wouldn’t work with them. The IsoGrips have rubber pads along their length, and they have a flared flange on the end where the VistaCruise collar would normally be installed.

[bullet]The basic installation instructions that come with the VistaCruise are usable, with the exception of modifications to these items:

  • The black collar that slips over the grips: Orient it so that the edge with the setscrews is facing the end of the handlebar (opposite from the usual installation direction, I think). Back the set screws out so that they are not exposed inside of the collar. Using a dremel tool with the little drum sander attachment, bevel the inner diameter of the collar on the side that will be next to the control head (opposite the edge where the setscrews are located). Remove enough material so that it will easily slip over the flared portion of the grip and up against the control head.
  • Using an exacto knife, cut the thin rubber insert to about half it’s thickness (not width!).This is inserted inside of the collar AFTER the collar is slipped over the grip in the next step below. The supplied rubber insert is too thick to be installed between the collar and the Kuryakin IsoGrips.
  • Slip the collar over the grip without the rubber insert in place, and insert the rubber after the ring is pressed all the way against the control head. Run the set screws in until they are flush with the outside surface of the collar.
  • Install the 1″ handlebar clamp between the mirror and control head (you’ll have to loosen the mirror mount and slip it up the bars a little). Cut 1/8″ of length from the end of the black bar that connects between the handlebar clamp and the chrome friction ring/thumb lever assembly.
  • Complete assembly and adjust the rest per the supplied instructions. It looks cool, doesn’t detract much from the looks of the grips, and works great.

[bullet] Here is a shot from in front of the scoot, looking at the black throttle grip collar and chrome friction ring. You’ll also notice the black 1″ handlebar clamp installed between the mirror and the control head. You can see this neat little accessory at the Scootworks website on their Miscellaneous Parts Page at http://www.scootworks.com/swcart/shop/partsmisc.htm .

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KnowledgeQuest – Resistors

By Posted on 22min read1 views

WAIT!! If you came to this page directly from a search engine or link, you’re missing out on hundreds of pages of amateur-related info on our site. CLICK HERE, or click the floating TEARA link on the page, to move to the top of our site. From there, you can select ‘KnowledgeQuest’, and return to this page, complete with all of our site navigation tools. Enjoy your visit with TEARA!

[bullet]INTRODUCTION

The resistor is probably the most common and well-known of all electrical components. Their uses are many, they are used to drop voltage, limit current, attenuate signals, act as heaters, act as fuses, furnish electrical loads, and divide voltages.

These uses are basic, for example, the voltage divider used is used in a variety of networks to divide voltages in specified increments of the applied voltage such as for analog-to-digital converters and digital-to-analog converters. They are used as matched pairs with relative accuracy much greater than their absolute accuracy. Matching is used in building voltage dividers and Wheatstone & Kelvin Bridges with extremely precise accuracy over a wide range of temperatures. This is done by matching the absolute value and the temperature coefficient of Resistance (TCR). This accuracy is limited only by the ability to accurately measure them and their stability.

There are numerous varieties of resistors. There are Precision Wirewound., NIST Standards, Power Wirewound, Fuse Resistors, Carbon Composition, Carbon Film, Metal Film, Foil, Filament Wound, , and Power Film Resistors. Each of these resistors has a useful purpose.

Resistors have numerous characteristics which determine their accuracy when used. Each will affect the accuracy to a greater or lesser extent depending on the application. Some of these characteristics are Tolerance at DC, Temperature Coefficient of Resistance (TCR), Frequency Response, Voltage Coefficient, Noise, Stability with Time and Load, Temperature Rating, Power Rating, Physical Size, Mounting Characteristics, Thermocouple Effect, and Reliability.

I will go into further detail on the type of resistor, characteristics, and materials to manufacture them in future articles. Most of my experience has been in the design and manufacture of Bridges, Networks, Precision Wirewound, Metal Clad Power, and Power Wirewound. These will be covered in greater detail..

These articles are intended to be general in nature. I would recommend that the appropriate manufacturer be consulted for specific characteristics on the resistors that they manufacture. Each manufacturer will have a specific group of characteristics in which they excel.

RESISTOR TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

 Resistor Tolerance

Resistor Tolerance is expressed as the deviation from nominal value in percent and is measured at 25oC only with no appreciable load applied. It will change depending on the other conditions when in use. For example, a 100 ohm resistor with a tolerance of 10% can range in value from 90 ohms to 110 ohms and this will change as power is applied and the temperature varies.

 Temperature Coefficient of Resistance

The Temperature Coefficient of Resistance (TCR) is expressed as the change in resistance in ppm ( .0001%) with each degree of change in temperature Celsius (Co). This change is not linear with the TCR the lowest at +25oC and increasing as the temperature increases ( or decreases). It can be either a bell-shaped curve or an S-shaped curve. It is treated as being linear unless very accurate measurements are needed, then a temperature correction chart is used. Normally a resistor with a TCR of 100 ppm will change 0.1% over a 10-degree change and 1% over a 100-degree change. The expression of ppm, one part in a million is similar to percent or 1 part in 100 (or percentile)

 Frequency Response

Frequency Response is the change in resistance with changes in frequency and is more difficult to measure. Where exact values are needed, these changes can be plotted but not very accurately, and normally in db change. These measurements can be made with a Boonton RX Meter which is designed for measuring low Q circuits.

 Noise

Noise levels are measured with very specialized equipment. It is extremely difficult to measure accurately and does not affect the value of the resistor but can have a devastating effect on low signals, digital amplifiers, high gain amplifiers, and other applications sensitive to noise. The best approach is to use resistor types with low or no noise in applications that are sensitive to noise.

 Voltage Coefficient

The Voltage Coefficient is the change in resistance with applied voltage and is associated with Carbon Composition Resistors and Carbon Film Resistors. It is a function of value and the composition of the carbon mixture used in the manufacture of these resistors. This is entirely different and in addition to the effects of self-heating when power is applied.

 Thermocouple Effect

The Thermocouple Effect is due to the Thermal emf generated by the change in the temperature at the junction of two dissimilar metals. This emf is due to the materials used in the leads or in the case of Wirewound Resistors the resistive element also. This can be minimized by keeping both leads at the same temperature. The thermal emf is the result of the difference in the temperature of one lead to the other lead. One lead will cause a positive emf and the opposite lead will generate a negative emf ( or visa versa). When both leads are at the same temperature, the emf’s generated will cancel each other and the same is true where the resistive element joins the leads. Resistors with nickel leads as used in certain welded module applications will generate the highest thermal emf. The resistive element (the wire) of wire wound resistors is designed with a low thermal emf, but some of the wire used for high TCR resistors will have a much larger thermal emf.

 Stability

Stability is the change in resistance with time at a specific load, humidity level, stress, and ambient temperature. The lower the load and the closer to +25oC the resistor is maintained, the better the stability. Humidity will cause the insulation of the resistor to swell applying pressure (stress) to the resistive element causing a change. Changes in temperature alternately apply and relieve stresses on the resistive element thus causing changes in resistance. The wider the temperature changes and the more rapid these changes are, the greater the change in resistance. If severe enough, it can literally destroy the resistor. Rapidly and continuously subjecting a device to its lowest and highest operating temperatures(called a Thermocycle Test) is considered a destructive test.

 Reliability

Reliability is the degree of probability that a resistor (or any other device) will perform its desired function. There are two ways of defining Reliability. One is the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) and the other is the Failure Rate per 1,000 hours of operation. Both of these means of evaluating reliability must be determined with a specific group of tests and a definition of what is the end of life for a device, such as a maximum change in resistance or a catastrophic failure (short or open). Various statistical studies are used to arrive at these failure rates and large samples are tested at the maximum rated temperature with rated load for up to 10,000 hours (24 hrs per day for approximately 13 months).

 Temperature Rating

Temperature rating is the maximum allowable temperature that the resistor may be used. There are generally two temperatures for example, a resistor may be rated at full load up to +85oC derated to no load at +145oC. This means that with certain allowable changes in resistance over life, the resistor may be operated at +85oC with its rated power. It also may be operated with temperatures in excess of +85oC if the load is reduced, but in no case should the temperature exceed the design temperature of +145oC with a combination of ambient temperature and self-heating due to the applied load. A word of caution, some rated loads are at +25oC and must be derated if the ambient temperature exceeds +25oC.

 Power Rating

Power ratings are based on physical size and allowable change in resistance over life. thermal conductivity of materials, insulating and resistive materials, and ambient operating conditions. Again note that all resistors are not rated alike. The safest bet is to use the largest physical size and never use it at its maximum ratings both in temperature and power unless you are prepared to accept the maximum allowable changes in resistance in life. Another thing to note; the majority of change under those conditions will occur during the first 100 hours of operation.

It is important that all of the above characteristics be considered when selecting a particular style and tolerance for each application.

TYPES OF MOUNTING AND PHYSICAL SIZES.

 RESISTOR SIZES

Resistors are available in almost any size ranging from 0.065 inches in diameter by .125 inches long to 12 inches in Diameter to several feet high (for very high voltage resistors). They come in almost any shape that is imaginable. The most common form is cylindrical with leads coming out either end. They can be manufactured in custom shapes to fit the available space when quantities justify.

 TYPE OF MOUNTING.

Resistors can be made with almost any type of mounting. If the need arises, special mountings can be designed to fit the customer’s needs. Some of the more common means of mountings are listed below. The term “Leads” is used in the general sense as a means of connecting the resistor. They may be lugs, wire leads, pins, or any means of connecting the resistor to the circuit.

 Surface Mount

Resistors are available in a surface mounting configuration. This is generally associated with chip resistors that are mounted by solder reflow techniques. This consists of a resistive element of a flat ceramic substrate (or a cylindrical ceramic core) with a solder pad on each end. Sizes range from .163 inches in diameter to .555 inches long cylindrical to a .020 high by .031 wide by .062 long chip.

 Fuse Clip Mounting.

The fuse clip type is made such that it will mount directly into a fuse clip. Fuse resistors are sometimes made like this.

 Single Inline Packaging (SIP)

The Single Inline Package is normally associated with resistor networks consisting of several resistors in the same package. It is a rectangular flat-shaped package with several leads coming out of one surface generally a narrow, long surface.

 Dual Inline Package (DIP)

The Dual Inline Package is again normally associated with resistor networks. The main difference is that leads extend out both narrow, long surfaces and are formed to either flush mount on a PC Board or through-hole mount on a PC board.

 Flat Packs

The Flat Pack is roughly the same as Dual Inline Packaging except the leads come straight out and are not formed for surface mounting or thru-hole mounting. This is just a variation of DIP mounting.

Axial Leads – Axial Lead mounting is what most of us are familiar with using. It consists of a cylindrical (or rectangular or any shape body) with the leads extending out either end parallel to the resistor’s major axis.

 Radial Leads

Radial Lead mounting is similar to Axial Lead mounting except the lead comes out of the body perpendicular to its major axis.

 PC Mounting

PC mounting consists of both leads of the resistor coming out the same surface so that it is easier to mount a resistor (or any other device) vertically. The resistor may be rectangular or cylindrical.

 4 Terminal Mounting

Most styles will offer a 4 terminal means of mounting for low values. This is important when the leads become a significant part of the value. This establishes the point on the leads where the value in within the desired tolerance. It is fixed and prevents changes in the value due to mounting variations.

RESISTOR TYPES

 PRECISION WIREWOUND

The Precision Wirewound is a highly accurate resistor with a very low TCR and can be accurate within .005%. A temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of as little as 3 parts per million per degree Celsius (3ppm/oC) can be achieved. However, these components are too expensive for general use and are normally used in highly accurate DC applications. The frequency response of this type is not good. When used in an rf application all Precision Wirewound Resistors will have a low Q resonant frequency. The power handling capability is very small. These are generally used in highly accurate DC measuring equipment, and reference resistors for voltage regulators and decoding networks.

The accuracy is maintained at 25oC(degrees Celsius) and will change with temperature. The maximum value available is dependent upon physical size and is much lower than most other types of resistors. Their power rating is approximately 1/10 of a similar physical size in a carbon composition. They are rated for operation at +85oC or +125oC with a maximum operating temperature not to exceed +145oC. This means that full-rated power can be applied at +85 ( 125) oC with no degradation in performance. It may be operated above +125 (85) oC if the load is reduced. The derating is linear, rated load at +125(85) oC and no load at +145oC. Life is generally rated for 10,000 hours at rated temperature and rated load. The allowable change in resistance under these conditions is 0.10%. Extended life can be achieved if operated at lower temperatures and reduced power levels. End-of-life requirements are generally defined by the manufacturer or in some cases by user specification. Some degradation in performance can be expected. In some cases, particularly if the tolerance is very low and the TC is low, the rated power is reduced to improve resistor stability through life. Precision Resistors regardless of type, are designed for maximum accuracy and not to carry power. The materials used in these resistors are highly stable heat-treated materials that do change under extended heat and mechanical stress. The manufacturing processes are designed to remove any stresses induced during manufacture.

There is little detectable noise in this type of resistor. The stability and reliability of these resistors is very good and their accuracy can be enhanced by matching the absolute value and the temperature coefficient over their operating range to achieve very accurate voltage division.

 NIST STANDARD

The NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Standard can be as accurate as .001% with roughly the same TCR as Precision Wirewound Resistors and is very stable. These are used as a standard in verifying the accuracy of resistive measuring devices. They are normally the Primary Standards of a company’s test lab.

They are returned to the NIST for measurement and their accuracy is tracked throughout the standard’s life to determine the Standard’s stability. Most companies will have two sets of standards so that they can continue to measure while one set of standards is being measured by the NIST. They will alternate returning these NIST Standards to the NIST, one set one year and the other set the next year. For extremely accurate measurements, the Standard with the longest history and the best stability will be used. If erratic readings are received from the NIST over a period of years, the Standard is retired. Also, if the reading has significantly changed since the last NIST reading, the standard is suspect and all measurements made using that standard must be checked.

Normally, a standard will take about 3 years to stabilize and becomes more stable with time unless it has had excessive power applied or has been dropped. These standards are generally stored in an oil bath at +25oC. During measurement, a thermometer is placed in a cavity in the top of the Standard, called the oil well, and the temperature is recorded for each measurement so that the exact value can be determined. That is the value at +25oC plus or minus the change in value caused by the temperature coefficient. Each standard will have a temperature correction chart for exact values. Being stored in the oil bath prevents the Standard from being stressed by changes in room temperature. These are highly precise devices and are expensive to buy and expensive to maintain, but they are the primary resistor reference for any test lab.

These resistors are furnished in a totally enclosed metal case and for values above 1 ohm, this enclosure is filled with mineral oil (another type of oil may contain additives that can cause corrosion in later life). The values below 1 ohm may be built in an enclosure that is perforated and these must be submersed in oil. If power is applied without it being submersed, the Standard will be ruined.

All NIST Type Standards are equipped with provisions for two-, three-, or four-terminal measurements. The applied power is calculated and the temperature of the Standard is monitored during the test. The lowest power level consistent with sufficient resolution to get the desired measurement is used (in the area of 0.01 watts) and any appreciable rise in temperature will dictate that the measurement should be suspended and the test set-up reviewed for ways to reduce the power level. These Standards are rated for operation at room temperature only but their other characteristics are the same as Precision Wirewound Resistors.

POWER WIREWOUND RESISTORS

Power Wirewound Resistors are used when it is necessary to handle a lot of power. They will handle more power per unit volume than any other resistor. Some of these resistors are free wound similar to heater elements. These require some form of cooling in order to handle any appreciable amount of power. Some are cooled by fans and others are immersed in various types of liquid ranging from mineral oil to high-density silicone liquids. Most are wound in some type of winding form. These winding forms vary. Some examples are ceramic tubes, ceramic rods, heavily anodized aluminum, fiberglass mandrels, etc.

To achieve the maximum power rating in the smallest package size, the core on which the windings are made must have a material with high heat conductivity. It may be Steatite, Alumina, Beryllium Oxide, or in some cases hard anodized Aluminum. Theoretically, the anodized Aluminum core has better heat conductivity than any other insulated material, with Beryllium Oxide being very close. There are specific problems with the anodized aluminum cores such as nicks in the coating, abrasion during capping, and controlling the anodized thickness. There are various shapes, oval, flat, and cylindrical, and most shapes are designed to optimize heat dissipation. The more heat that can be radiated from the resistor, the more power that can be safely applied.

There is a group of these called “Chassis Mounted Resistors”. These are generally cylindrical power resistors wound on a ceramic core molded and pressed into an aluminum heat sink usually with heat-radiating fins. These are designed to be mounted to metal plates or a chassis to further conduct heat. This results in a rating approximately 5 times or more than its normal rating.

These resistors come in a variety of accuracy and TCRs. They can be custom-made as a crossbreed between a Precision Resistor and a Power Resistor; capable of handling more power than the standard Precision Wirewound but not as accurate. Practically speaking, tolerances of 1% and temperature coefficients of 20 ppm can be achieved on all except the parts that are coated with Vitreous Enamel and low values. The curing process for Vitreous (a type of glass) requires extremely high heat and shrink applying pressure to the winding. This particular group normally will run tolerances of 10% with a TCR of 100ppm/oC. Power Resistors come in a variety of ratings. Most are rated at +25oC and derated linearly to either +275oC or +350oC. Again if the ambient temperature of operation is +275oC, no power can be applied and at +125ooC 1/2 rated power can be applied.

These power ratings are based on mounting the resistor in free air with the leads terminated at the recommended point. On axial lead components, this is 3/8 of an inch from the body. If they can be mounted closer, the resistor will run cooler or you can apply slightly more power and if mounted further out, you must reduce the power. CAUTION, if mounted directly over and in contact with a printed circuit board, the heat from the resistor can charge the board if full power is applied. I don’t know of any PC Boards that are rated at +275oC.

Other means of increasing the amount of power you can apply

    • (a) bond the resistor to the chassis or other metal parts

      [bullet] (b) mount vertically to get the chimney effect (this is very helpful when using those wound ceramic tubes)

      [bullet] (c) terminate as close to the body as practical

      [bullet] (d) submerse in oil (CAUTION some types of resistor coating, particularly silicone-based coatings will disintegrate when immersed in oil and heated). This will increase the rating as much as 5 times. or reduce the temperature rise of the resistor due to self-heating.

The small power resistor can serve a twofold purpose, that is to fulfill its purpose as a resistor and act as a heater in an enclosure. Some users have used them in crystal ovens to maintain the crystal at the desired temperature. It makes a reasonably cheap off-the-shelf heater that comes in a variety of wattages, sizes, and values.

One unique type of power resistor is the “Bathtub Boat Type”. This consists of a resistance wire wound on a fiberglass cord. This is a continuously wound strip, cut into strips of the appropriate length with leads crimped. These resistive elements are placed in a ceramic shell (boat) and a highly filled cement is used to fasten these in the boat. The filler often used in cement is a ceramic material with high heat conductivity. These are very inexpensive, no effort is made to achieve tight tolerances, and low TCRs, and the range of values is extremely limited. They are often found as surge resistors in TVs and other electronic /electrical equipment. Their main selling point is low cost. They are often sold with an enamel coating for a low-power precision wire-wound resistor that is even lower in cost.

One more item to consider, Power Wirewounds are made using alloys with melt temperatures ranging from +1200o C to +1500o C and may be operated cherry red without failure for short periods of time, however the resistance value and TCR will change significantly and the insulating material will severely degrade. The bathtub boat type can not be subjected to this type of overload, the fiberglass winding form will disintegrate.

[bullet] FUSE RESISTORS

Fuse Resistors serve a dual purpose, a resistor and a fuse. They are designed so that they will open with a large surge current. The fusing current is calculated based on the amount of energy required to melt the resistive material (the melt temperature plus the amount of energy required to vaporize the resistive material).

These resistors will normally run hotter than a normal precision or power resistor so that a momentary surge will bring the resistive element up to fusing temperature. Some designs create a hot spot inside the resistor to assist in this fusing. Calculations are made and samples are produced to verify the calculations. The major unknown is the heat transfer of the materials, which can be quite significant for pulse of long duration, and is very difficult to calculate.

Mounting of these devices is critical because it will affect the fusing current. These are quite often made to mount in fuse clips for more accurate fusing characteristics.

[bullet] CARBON COMPOSITION

Carbon composition resistors were once the most common resistors on the market. They still have a very large market and prices are highly competitive. They are made from carbon rods cut in the appropriate length then molded with leads attached. The mix of the carbon can be varied to change the resistivity for the desired values.

High values are much more readily available. Very low values are more difficult to achieve. A 5% tolerance is available. This is usually done by measuring and selecting values. Normal tolerances without measurement and selection is in the area of 20%.

The temperature coefficient of resistance is in the range of 1000 ppm/oC and is negative, that is when the temperature goes up the resistance goes down, and when the temperature goes down, the resistance goes up. This is due to the carbon particles being relaxed (with an increase in temperature) and being compressed (with the reduction in temperature).

These resistors also have a voltage coefficient. That is the resistance will change with applied voltage, the greater the voltage, the greater the change. In addition to a power rating, they also have a voltage rating. (The wire-wound voltage rating is determined by the value and the wattage rating). The voltage rating of Carbon Composition Resistors is determined by physical size as well as the value and wattage rating.

One more item to consider is that due to their construction, they generate noise and this noise level varies with value and physical size. The power capability in relation to physical size is greater than Precision Wirewounds but less than Power Wirewounds.

[bullet] CARBON FILM RESISTORS

Carbon Film Resistors have many of the same characteristics as carbon composition resistors. The material is similar therefore they have noise, and a voltage coefficient, the TCR can be much lower because the formula can be varied to achieve this, and the tolerance is much tighter due to the difference in manufacturing processes.

The Carbon Film Resistor is made by coating ceramic rods with a mixture of carbon materials. This material is applied to these rods in a variety of means, the ones most familiar to me are dipping, rolling, printing, or spraying the rods in the appropriate solution. The thickness of the coating can be determined by the viscosity of the solution. This as well as the material composition will determine the ohms/square. Some of you may not be familiar with this term. It simply means that if a material has a resistivity of 100 ohms/square, one square inch with have the same resistance as 1 square mm, or 1 square foot or 1 square yard or 1 square mile all equaling 100 ohms but the power handling capability is proportional to the size.

One batch of material can produce resistors in a wide range of values. These rods are cut to the length required for a specific size of the resistor. These rods can then be spiral cut to a wide range of values. The original method of spiraling these was done with grinding wheels on a machine similar to a lathe. I am sure that later processes use lasers that are programmed to cut to specific values. The maximum ohmic value of this group is the highest in the discrete resistor group.

A tolerance of 1% can be achieved without measuring and selecting. Tolerance of less than 1% can be achieved by measuring and selecting. You should use caution in getting tight tolerances in this type because the temperature coefficient, voltage coefficient, and stability may mean that it is only good for that tolerance at the time it was installed. The TCR of carbon film resistors is in the neighborhood of 100 to 200 ppm and is generally negative. Measuring and selecting can yield even tighter TCRs.

The frequency response of this type of resistor is among the best, far better than Wirewounds, and much better than carbon composition. The wire wound resistors are inductive at lower frequencies and values and somewhat capacitive at higher frequencies regardless of value. Also, wire wound resistors will have a resonant frequency. Carbon Composition Resistors will be predominately capacitive.

[bullet] METAL FILM RESISTORS

Metal Film resistors are the best compromise of all resistors. They are not as accurate have a higher temperature coefficient of resistance and are not as stable as Precision Wirewounds. They are more accurate, do not have a voltage coefficient, and have a lower temperature coefficient than Carbon Film. TCRs of 50 to 100 ppm can be achieved.

They have a very low noise level when properly manufactured. In fact, some of the screening processes measure the noise level to determine if there are problems in a particular batch of resistors.

Metal film resistors are manufactured by an evaporation/deposition process. That is the base metal is vaporized in a vacuum and deposited on a ceramic rod or wafer. Several attempts have been made to vaporize low TCR materials and deposit on these substrates, but to my knowledge, these attempts have not been successful. This is partially due to the different boiling points of the various base metals in these alloys (I use the word alloy not entirely accurately, for these materials are not true alloys but amalgamations — they do not bond to form a molecule as does a true alloy). The very low TCR resistive materials are heat treated to achieve the resistivity and low TCR. This is not compatible with an evaporation process.

The frequency characteristics of this type are excellent and better than Carbon Films. The one area where carbon films exceed metal films is the maximum values. Carbon films can achieve higher maximum values than any other group.

[bullet] FOIL RESISTORS

Foil resistors are similar in characteristics to metal films. Their main advantages are better stability than metal films and lower TCRs. They have excellent frequency response, low TCR, good stability, and are very accurate. They are manufactured by rolling the same wire materials as used in precision wire wound resistors to make thin strips of foil. This foil is then bonded to a ceramic substrate and etched to produce the value required. They can be trimmed further by abrasive processes, chemical machining, or heat treating to achieve the desired tolerance. Their main disadvantage is the maximum value is less than Metal Film Resistors.

The accuracy is about the same as metal film resistors, the TCR and stability approaches Precision Wirewounds but somewhat less because the rolling process and the packaging process produce stresses in the foil. The resistive materials used in Precision Wirewound Resistors is very sensitive to stresses which result in instability and higher TCRs. Any stresses on this material will result in a change in the resistance value and TCR, the greater the stress, the larger the change. This type can be used as a strain gauge, with strain being measured as a change in the resistance. When used as a strain gauge, the foil is bonded to a flexible substrate that can be mounted on a part where the stress is to be measured.

[bullet] FILAMENT RESISTORS

The Filament Resistors are similar to the Bathtub Boat Resistor except they are not packaged in a ceramic shell (boat). The individual resistive element with the leads already crimped is coated with an insulating material, generally a high-temperature varnish. These are used in applications where tolerance, TCR, and stability are not important but the cost is the governing consideration. The cost of this type is slightly higher that the carbon composition and the electrical characteristics are better.

[bullet] POWER FILM RESISTORS

Power film resistors are similar in manufacture to their respective metal film or carbon film resistors. They are manufactured and rated as power resistors, with the power rating being the most important characteristic. Power Film Resistors are available in higher maximum values than the Power Wirewound Resistors and have a very good frequency response. They are generally used in applications requiring good frequency response and/or higher maximum values. Generally for power applications, the tolerance is wider, the temperature rating is changed so that under full load resistor will not exceed the maximum design temperature, and the physical sizes are larger, and in some cases, the core may be made from a higher heat conductive material and other means to help radiate heat.

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Ginger Beer Plant

The following is basically some recipes and some notes about Ginger Beer Plant. The notes are ongoing and so newer notes will be placed at the top of the page and older ones at the bottom. Once I get it tacoed out much of the information may be deleted since it will be obsolete.

Most current base recipe (7-4-06):

2 Fingers Ginger
Zest of 1 lemon
150g Brown Sugar (7-9-06, trying 125g Brown Sugar)
1/4 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
Juice of 1 lemon
Water (no chlorine)
Ginger Beer Plant
Peel ginger and process in food processor till minced. Add zest of 1 lemon and ginger to pyrex measuring cup and top up to 1 cup of water. Microwave to boiling, remove from microwave and cover with plastic wrap to cool. Add lemon juice, brown sugar and cream of tartar together and allow to sit. When ready to combine ingredients, put cooled ginger and zest in yogurt or other fine mesh strainer and mash to get all the ginger juice possible. In quart mason jar combine all ingredients with GBP, top up with water, stir to combine, and cover loosely with mason jar lid and ring. Place on window sill for two days.

After two days put into one liter plastic bottle, squeeze all air out of bottle and cap. Allow to carbonate for two days. Place into fridge till ready to consume.

CAUTION:

Do not bottle in crown capped beer bottles, the pressure exceeds 60 psi during carbonation.

For Ginger Beer Plant information please see:

http://www.plantcultures.org.uk/plants/ginger_food_ginger_beer_plant.html

http://www2.parc.com/emdl/members/apte/GingerBeer.pdf

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GingerBeerPlant/

Notes from talking with Raj and others (all may not be proven)

No sanitation is required.


The longer the minced ginger sits in water the hotter (more spicy) it will become. (note: 7/7/06, this has proven to be true)
The shorter the fermentation with the GBP the more spicy the ginger, the longer the more lactic the beverage.
The GBP creates lactic acid and CO2 unlike normal yeast which create alcohol and CO2, this is why the beverage remains low abv.
The GBP can be dried (unlike kefir grains).
Water MUST be cholorine free.
Reason for using of Cream of Tartar is not known. (note: 7/7/06, CoT is for head formation)
GBP from Raj came from lab in Germany.
Questions (that I keep wondering)

Does the GBP ferment the ginger or the sugar? – (it would appear to be the ginger since the residual sweetness as of late has been pretty high and with yeast nutrient in a simple sugar fermentation the flavor becomes very dry.)
How much Jamaica (Hibiscus) is needed to give the desired color and flavor?
How would a 100% ginger and no sugar Ginger Beer ferment, would it ferment with GBP? – (if so, one could sweeten to taste with Splenda and have a sugar free ginger beer)
Will more Cream of Tartar result in larger and longer lasting head?
Does the ginger really need to be microwaved or could it just be made to a slurry in the food processor?
Batch Notes

Upcoming trials – Hibiscus, no lemon, lime, lemon/lime, different sugars, etc…

Batch 10

No lemon or lime till bottling time. Ran out of BS so 95 g BS and balance of 125 g was table sugar.

Batch 9

Using 4 Key Limes for their zest and juice. 125 g BS and continuing the bit of water in the food processor. Removed GBP for sharing, the GBP had not grown considerably as was though. Refilled the contained given to me by Raj and only had about 1/4 of the amount of GBP as before. However, the batch fermented just fine.

Batch 8

Lime zest and lime juice instead of lemon zest and juice. Still using 125 g BS. This time added a smidge of water to the food processor after intial cut up ginger was processed which made a fairly smooth ginger slurry which was easier to squeeze against the yogurt strainer. The amount of GBP does not seem to be increasing, might be time to pull some out to share on the next batch, I was hoping it would increase more.

Batch 7

Still 125 g Brown Sugar, but added about 1/4 oz (wt) dried hibiscus to the water/ginger/zest after heating in micro. Might work out better to do less in it’s own steeping liquid. Seemed to absorb a fair amount of the liquid when rehydrating. Left it and the ginger to rest overnight (12 hours). Forgot the CoT so added at the time GBP was added.

Batch 6

125 g Brown Sugar trial. Only fermented for 1.5 days.

Batch 5

Just about enough GBP to share. The sweetness on this batch was still a bit too strong for my tastes. If later batches with 100% brown remain this sweet after cutting back the sugar, it may get cut a bit with table sugar since those batches did not seem quite as cloying. The heat from the ginger was just about right, could have been boosted a smidge, but on target for my tastes.

Batch 4

100% brown sugar, continuing the food processor and yogurt strainer routine. The head was perfect and well lasting on this batch, the CoT really seems to do the trick. The sweetness was a bit too high on this batch, will cut it back for B6 trial. Seemed fine with 50/50 cane/brown, but too sweet with 100% brown.

Batch 3

Ginger processed in food processor and allowed to sit and cool for 8-10 hours before mashing against yogurt strainer. Much easier process. Pressure measured on plastic bottle, 35 psi at one day, over 60 psi at day two. Still 1/2 table sugar and 1/2 brown sugar. As suspected, the food processor and allowing to sit caused the ginger to be very spicy and peppery. The Cream of Tartar definitely is used for head formation and causes a huge head to form. The head does not stay around for a really long time, but rises very tall and large bubbled.

Batch 2

Two fingers of ginger, no head, sugar about right, 150g – 1/2 table, 1/2 light brown. Ginger chunked and then squeezed in garlic press after microwaving. Fermented for two days and carbonated for two days. Process seems to speed up in window sill, perhaps the GBP prefers light. All air squeezed from bottle. Very spicy, though not overly so. Sugar was fine, but was told that it may have been a bit light by the wife. Wife did not like slight lactic flavor, I found it refreshing.

Batch 1

Only one finger of ginger was used and too little sugar with 1/2 sugar being table and 1/2 light brown sugar. Ginger chunked and then squeezed after microwaving. No head on ginger beer, not very spicy and low on residual sugar, slight lactic aroma. Took forever to ferment, 3 days to even begin. Started with small amount of GBP given to me by Raj at the AHA convention.

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Vulcan 800 Modifications!

Do you have Vulcan modifications on your website?? Please drop me a note at [email protected] so I can link to you!

Carb Info and Modifications!
This is info on how to fix the “sneezing” and “backfiring” some of the 800’s have, “out-of-the-box”

My experiences and experiments to eliminate the Vulcan Sneezes/Backfires

Here’s an exploded view of the CV carb used on our Vulcans.

This is a cut-away drawing of the CV style carb used by our Vulcans. I’ll give you a good visualization as to how the carb works.

Here’s a good CV Carb Adjustment tutorial on the BikeTech website.

Here’s a CV Carb Adjustment tutorial on the FactoryPro website.

Hypercharger notes…
How to Hypercharge a Vulcan 800 by Cap’n Kirk

How to Hypercharger Mods to stop surging. Modifications to pressurize the carb bowl and improve performance with a Hypercharger. I’d recommend doing this to any Hypercharged Vulcan. These mods are described for the 800 Vulcan, but I’ve also modified a 1500 Vulcan the same way with great results…no stuttering in heavy head winds, etc.

Here are Cap’n Kirk’s Hypercharger observations

Afterburner mods…
This is the poop on how to remove the “Afterburner” that can cause your pipes to “blue”, exhaust to backfire, and generate more heat to blow across your legs in the summer…

Exhaust pipe mods…
Convert the Stock pipes to Super Megaphones!

More Stock Pipe Mods and Sounds!

This is a picture of the stock pipes on my bike after I drilled the end plates with a 1/4″ drill. It relieved enough back pressure that the engine was somewhat more responsive, and the plug color still looked ok. Sounded MUCH better, too.

Seat/Backrest/Saddlebag mods…
How to make hard bags from soft bags! A beautiful job found down on “Chop’s Pad”

Convert your stock seat into a Solo Saddle! You must see this cool piece of work over at Chop’s Place.

Lighting mods…
How to mod your turn signals to work Double Duty as Brake Lights!

Cap’n Kirk, VROC #928, made some cool changes to improve the lighting on his bike by changing the lamps to High Intensity Lamps. This info outlines the lamps he found to work.

800 Drive Train mods…
How to mod your 800 to eliminate the chain and switch to Belt Drive! This beautiful piece of work is by scootworks.com . This is the one of the original versions of the Belt Drive that I built about mid-1998. Click the button in the menu on the left to see my early belt drive, or go straight to Scootworks for more info.

How to mod your 800 to eliminate the chain and switch to Belt Drive! This was the early drive on my bike. Click HERE to see LoRidr’s beautiful belt drive system with intergrated disc brakes, attached to her custom rear wheel.

New Brake Pedal for the 800!
Here’s a great solution to the rear brake pedal design problem that many of us suffered through for thousands of miles. This is another beautiful piece of work at Scootworks.com.

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Starters and Pressure Canning Wort

When I originally started brewing, I never made a starter. I had decent results, and whenever I made a beer with an original gravity higher than 1.060 I always tried to reuse yeast from a previous batch. The reason I didn’t make a starter was not because I didn’t think I needed to for proper fermentation and reduced lag times, it was because I HATE TO MAKE A STARTER. More on that in a second…

If you want to make a starter the traditional way, then Mike Uchima has an excellent page on that called Making Yeast Starters.

My problem was, I just could not stand spending 20 minutes to an hour getting yeast ready for the brew day. What I really wanted to be doing was brewing. Also, I hated being a slave to the smack pack. I always found that waiting on those things to swell was an absolute pain.

Then I found the “Confesions of a Yeast Abuser” page, although recently Domenick Venezia has renamed the page Yeast Starter – With Stirring Aeration.

I swapped a buddy some homebrew for a stir plate, and was off to the races. I modified the original procedure slightly. I figured if the outer pouch contains the yeast and the inner nutrients necessary for yeast growth, why am I adding YNB. So I just smack the pack and immediately put the package contents into the stirred starter.

Also the article refers to the stirring as aeration. I believe this to be true initially, but after the fermentation of the starter begins, the starter is giving off CO2, so with an outflow of CO2 from the starter container, I cannot see how much additional air can be getting in. I believe the stirring helps get the yeast in contact with the wort and adds air, which leads to a larger yeast population. Of course all this is conjecture on my part, but it works like a champ.

Here is a picture of my stirrer, an Erlenmeyer flask, and a mason jar.

Now I was no longer a slave to a smack pack, but I still had to make the dreaded starter. Very soon I tired of making the starter. I found it to be boring and tiresome.

So I searched a little more and read a few articles on Canning Wort. Unfermented beer wort pH is not low enough (4.6) to be considered safe for just water bath canning. A temperature of 240 F for 15 minutes is necessary to kill Botulism spores that could eventually produce deadly toxins. 240 F happens to be a pressure of 10 psi in the canner. In my own pressure canning of wort, I use 15 psi, 250 F, for 15 minutes. For more on canning you should check out the National Center for Home Food Preservation, and for more on botulism take a look at the CDC website.

This is my pressure canner.

It is an All American, and I obtained it off Ebay for $25 (a steal). It will hold 7 quarts, or 6 quarts and 2 pints, as shown in the picture below.

I like having some of both size canned, that way if I want to step up a starter while stirring, I can use more or less wort as needed. Wort will darken slightly in the canner, and will also undergo the boil. The picture below shows wort that has been pressure canned on the right, and on the left is wort awaiting canning.

It is a little difficult to tell the color difference, but you can definitely see the hot break in the bottom of the jars.

My procedure is to mash a grist of 100% Pils or Pale malt and after the sparge to can the unboiled wort. This gives me quite a few starters. The day I took these photos, I canned 22 quarts and 12 pints, as shown in the photo below.

So for starters, my procedure is to first use impeccable sanitation. The I smack the smack pack and dump the contents into a flask or mason jar and add the canned wort and the stir bar and place the starter on the magnetic stirrer. I then cover the top loosely with plastic wrap, or an airlock. Usually I have aerated the wort by splashing before and as I add it to the flask or jar. I really like the method because I am not tied to a smack, and I am not tied to a starter. Also when I pressure can starters I am brewing an entire batch of beer, which is what I wanted to do in the first place!

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Five County Stadium Page …

Welcome to the Five County Stadium Page …

“A Fun Place for Young and Old Alike …

Five County Stadium was the brain child of Steve Bryant, who was looking to relocate his baseball team located in Columbus, South Carolina. Five County Stadium was possible because of the work and co-operation of Steve Bryant, the Town of Zebulon, the Wake County Commissioners, Nash, Franklin, Wilson, and Johnston Counties. The Stadium has many unique features. The score board was an experiment by the company that constructed it. Standing 60 feet tall it with stood the hurricane force winds of “Fran” in September 1996. No small feat when 70 percent of all the panels on the out field walls blew off. It is the largest score board of its type in an outdoor setting in either minor or major league baseball.
NOTE: The score between the “AA All Star Team and the Seattle Mariners”

The stadium grew out of a “Tobacco Field” into one of minor leagues finest stadiums. The stadium has been comprised of all temporary structures thru the end of the 1997 season. Plans are to start on the 13 million dollar up-grade of the stadium. The Wake County Commissioners approved and released 5 million dollars to join Steve’s $750,000.00 to begin construction of a permanent stadium.

The expansion of the stadium was scheduled to begin in October 1997. The expansion will have to be in stages until all funds are secured.

News Flash – Construction Delays …

Due to the small window between fiscal years and construction dead lines, most contractors were not interested in bidding on the first phase of the stadium until next fiscal year. This is a big disappointment to all. But we hope this will allow for more planning and preparation for the construction. We all had high hopes for a new stadium in 1998, but will settle for one in 1999.

Disappointment Arrives – When the bids for the Stadium are received they were all higher than expected. The delay in the construction has caused a funding deficit. Money will have to be located before the bids can even be accepted. Due to the expiration of the pre-cast concrete bid coming to an end the money must be in place and the contracts signed very early in August. With only a little over $5 million in place for the expansion … the project is $3.5 million short of that bid. To complete the expansion another $6.5 million will have to be secured by the summer of 1999. It’s time to visit the County Commissioners again …

August 5th marked a mild stone in the development of the Stadium. The Wake County Commissioners voted to approve $10 million additional dollars to the Town of Zebulon to start the two year construction project. It seemed as if the stadium might come up short due to an attempt by the Raleigh City Commissioners to play some politics. Thanks to the majority of the Board, the project will progress. A special thanks to Commissioners Vernon Malone, Stewart Adcock, and Chairman John Converse who were vocal in their support. And with the help of Leo Tew, Betty Lou Ward and Yevonne Brannon the vote was made to continue the support the Board made in 1992. Commissioner Malone pointed out that the Board started their support of the project in 1992, but had neglected to follow thru with additional money.

The main objection to the money for the Stadium was that it was coming from a 1 cent tax on prepared food sold in Wake County. The money has been collected since 1992 and has funded many projects in Raleigh, such as the soccer complex and the sports arena. The Raleigh Board was upset that the tax, which was scheduled to end in 2000, was extended without an ending date to provide funds for the Stadium. Raleigh Mayor Tom Fetzer was unhappy with the tax extension. The tax is collected on any prepared food in restaurants or eating establishments. The Mayor acts as if the only ones paying this tax are citizens of Raleigh. I myself eat in Wake County and gladly pay the 1 percent tax knowing that anyone, including travelers that visit Wake County also help to pay for these funds. It reduces the Wake County tax rate by sharing it with everyone that eats out. And as Raleigh will be a 50% recipient of the revenue collected, I can’t see why they are so upset. The greatest means of collecting revenue and blaming someone else!!!

Zebulon’s Mayor Bob Matheny and Steve Bryant have worked long and hard to keep “the dream alive” and with the help of the Wake County Commissioners the “Field of Dreams” will finally come to its completion. Both Mr. Bryant and Matheny have had to work hard to satisfy the Pittsburgh Pirates and Minor League Baseball who have patiently waited for this moment. The Stadium and Team have until the 2000 season the have the completions in place.

NEW STADIUM GROWS FROM THE “FIELD of DREAMS” !!!

From the old to the new stadium … construction progresses …

First phase will construct the primary section of the stadium, which is the hub of the complex. It will have a covered sky box seating area constructed of concrete. All 6000 seats will have seat backs and access to concessions to their rear. The press box will over look the field as will the 6 to 12 sky boxes. These sky boxes will have their own concession area and rest rooms. They will be high above the playing field and offer an excellent view of the game. Climate controlled and comfort will be ideal settings for companies or individuals who want the best view of AA Professional Baseball on the East Coast.

With the additional money secured and the short time between ball seasons the construction will have to be performed in two phases. The 1st completed the center section of the seating and the moving of the box seats there to their permanent location near the outfield walls. This will leave a gap in the seating between section C and the outfield sections. This gap will exist thru the 1999 season.

Beginning in September 1999 this section will be completed finishing the upgrade. The 1999 season will see a reduction in the seating capacity from around 6000 to 3900. But the completed stadium will have 6011 seats.

The new stadium will also give the players a new 3000 square foot club house with many spacious areas they have lacked in the past. They will have a weight/training room. Increased shower area. Twice their current dressing area, larger area for the coaches and trainer. A covered batting/pitching practice areas that were out in the elements in years past. There will also be a family area that players families can wait for the players after the games.

The new stadium when complete will eliminate all the temporary buildings that houes the office, bathrooms, concessions, bait shop, and kitchen.

We look forward to the beginning of the construction in September!!! More pages will be added on a monthly basis to up date on the stadium’s progress. —– Return often to keep up with the NEW STADIUM Construction !! —–

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Stock Pipe Conversion Photo page…

Here are the photos that were taken of Tommy “Road Runner’s” stock pipe conversion that we made.

We made this conversion in the 1st 500 miles since we wanted to get 1000 miles on the bike before jetting and EPA mods were performed. We wanted to add some after market pipes then … but wanted the deeper mellow sound bikes “are supposed to have” …. HeeHee.

We were going to do Mo’s conversion on Tweeks page but did not like the way they looked. We figured that cutting out with a Dremel tool was too slow and a torch would be faster and safer.

We drilled off the outer plate from the end of the pipes to expose a solid pipe with an opening to vent the exhaust. I then took an torch and cut out the inner baffle. This was done by cutting as close to the outer edge as possible but not close enough to heat the chrome to a blue color. I cut close to the center then re-cut to get as close to the edge as possible.

Once the inner baffle is then grasp with a pair of vice grip plyers and twisted out. This leaves a gaping hole with jagged edges around the opening.

This is then ground down with a circular grinder. This tool work very well but throws off tiny needle sharp filings. It is very important to wear protective clothing and eye ware.

Grinding down the rough edges to where there is no sharp edges and it looks like the pipe was rolled that way is a time consuming process.

As seen by the metal filings inside the pipes it is very important to wear good eye protection.

Once the edges are ground down you will have a lot of scraps inside the opening. I then spray a Hi-Temp flat black paint inside the pipe to cover the scratches as well as make it look well smooted up. It also protects the metal from rusting in the weather.

Well here is the final look of the pipes on Tommy’s “Road Runners” bike during its break in period.

I hope this has helped with the conversion. Because of the size of the exhaust input and the inner baffle there is very little change in back pressure. Therefore we did not have to re-jet the carb.

All that is left is to hop on and ride. Enjoy your new deep and melow sounding pipes.

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KnowledgeQuest – Yagi Antenna Design

Experiment with Yagi designs on your computer!

WAIT!! If you came to this page directly from a search engine or link, you’re missing out on hundreds of pages of amateur related info on our server. CLICK HERE, or click the floating TEARA link on the page, to move to the top of our site. From there, you can select ‘KnowledgeQuest’, and return to this page, complete with all of our site navigation tools. Enjoy your visit with TEARA!

There are many software packages on the internet useful in designing various types of antennas. I’ve been playing with a software package named “YagiCad 4.1” since about 1992. I first installed a copy of it on our TEARA webpage back in late 1994. Since then, I’ve received many emails from users of this software who praised it’s performance and simplicity. Here, many years later, I find myself updating this website with ‘work-arounds’ and tips, as the user base continues to grow. Seems the software’s author has developed quite a following!

Yagicad 4.1 was written by Paul McMahon VK3DIP. It’s shareware, so you can download it (and lots of antenna profiles) below. It’s a DOS program and can be run outside of windows if you like. It requires a minimum of a 386 PC platform to run and a math co-processor really speeds things up, but isn’t required. The program runs best in DOS (‘real DOS, not the fake stuff rolled up inside of WIN95/WIN98/NT, hehehe) or when executed from WIN3.x, but there are simple ‘work-arounds’ for 95/98/NT users. As computers and operating system have become more complex, users have come up with methods of keeping Yagicad4.1 running. Despite a little bug with newer operating systems, I LOVE this program and have designed/built many antennas with it. I’ve used a lot of other programs, but find myself back using VK3DIP’s YagiCad 4.1.

Hey, this is a great reason to drag out one of those older PC’s you’ve had packed away, trying to figure out a ‘real use’ for it! I used to toss everything that wouldn’t run on my newer computers, but have since discovered there were MANY great programs that were somewhat simpler to use and developed for the older PC platforms. Don’t automatically discount software just because it won’t run well on your newest machines or operating systems. Anyway, c’mon and lets get started with YagiCad 4.1!

Download YagiCad 4.1 here. This file will download as yagi.zip. Once the download is complete, unzip the file into an empty directory. To start the program, type yagi41 from the dos prompt (first, switch to the yagicad’s working directory) or double click on yagi41.exe from your file manager in windows. First, before trying to start and run this program, read the rest of the notes and tips below.

NOTES FOR WIN95/98/NT USERS:

1- Keep the .yag file names exactly 7 characters long (not counting the extension). Example: 1234567.yag or WB4IUY1.yag , etc. Since I didn’t write the source code for this program, I can’t explain why it grumbles over files names of other lengths. When running on older systems with Win3.1 or just DOS6.22 (or lower), you can name the files in any length you like, but WIN95/98/NT etc only allows file names of 7 characters long to be opened. Windows NT is especially finicky about this. Since you may wish to send me your files to add to this page, share with others, or maybe run Yagicad on a newer operating system in the future, I’d recommend always naming them 7 characters long. Simple fix. Also, if you download a file somewhere with a name of a different length, simply rename it to something 7 characters long, and you’re set. Easy!

2- When you design or modify antenna designs, you’ll want to give them a unique name (so you’ll know what they are!). Never use more than 60 characters (spaces included) in the NAME/TITLE or COMMENTS sections. No problem, another easy work-around.

3- NEVER us a COMMA (,) in the NAME/TITLE or COMMENTS sections. It’ll keep your work from opening later, and sometimes crash the program. Yet another easy work-around.

4- When used with WIN95/WIN98, Yagicad will only display/open the first antenna file (.yag files) it finds, when they reside in the same directory as the program. It doesn’t do this when running under DOS or 3.1 and earlier systems, and works OK on Windows NT…go figure, heheheheeh. If that should ever happen to you, I recommend you make a directory named ‘yagicad’, and a subdirectory called ‘template’. Once you unzip the file contents into the ‘yagicad’, move all of the .yag files into the ‘template’ subdirectory. Only move the file you’re going to model from or look at into the ‘yagicad’ directory. In nearly EVERY instance of a user having problems with WinNT, Fix #1 above solved it.

I’ve not found any other oddities when running Yagicad on newer computers with WIN95/98/NT. Should any of you run across other glitches, or come up with a better ‘fixes’, please drop me a note to [email protected].

USING THE PROGRAM:
The program has all the help files contained within, and can answer most questions. It will allow you to design a basic antenna based on a NBS antenna standard, and then scale it to your desired frequency. You can then modify element diamaters, boom length, match type, element spacing and lengths, etc. You can also generate E and H plane radiation plots. All data can be sent to a local printer. You can save your designs once complete.

Yagicad 4.1 comes with a host of sample antenna designs, thus allowing you to use a working design and simply scale it to your operating frequency. You can add or subtract elements, compensate for different element diameters, conductive or non-conductive booms, etc. A word of warning, however… When you open a sample antenna, click on “create” and name the antenna session to your own unique file name BEFORE you make changes (scale it, etc). Otherwise, your sample antennas will be forever modified. Remember, when you name a file, use 7 characters as outlined in Note #1 of ‘NOTES FOR WIN95/98/NT USERS’ above.

Once you’ve designed/modified your antenna, go to “calculate”, select “auto”, and then select “resonate”. Set a residual reactance of 0.0 ohms. This step of the program will alter the driven element to be resonant at your target frequency. If the Actual “Z” (impedance) is not approximately 50 ohms, go to “edit” and move the location of the driven element back and forth on the boom a little and then resonate the driven element again. Continue this process until the actual Z is about 50 ohms.

You can add files that you and others design to your library for future reference. You can also store the designs of commercially manufactured antennas in your library and scale to other bands later. Below is a list of the supplied antenna designs (to replace yours when you forget tip #1 above, hehehe), and a few others I’ve added. If you scale or design any antennas of your own, send me a copy of the .yag file and I’ll include them here for others to play with.

The following files are available from this page in 2 formats. The first is the .yag file in text format. You can copy the text from the page, paste it to a text reader like notepad, and save it as whatever.yag. Then move that file into your yagicad 4.1 program directory. You can also read the .yag file from here. The first info in the file is the title and description. The first number is the forward gain in db. The second number is the front-to-back ratio. The 3rd number is the actual impedance of the antenna. The 4th number is the reactance. The 5th number is the # of elements. The columns are: element length, distance from the end of the boom, and element diameter. All measurements are in meters.

Following the .yag file is the same file in a zip format that can be downloaded and unzipped directly into your .yag storage directory (may be ‘template’ if you’re running yagicad4.1 on WIN95/98/NT, or the main Yagicad4.1 working directory if you’re running it in DOS or Win3.x or lower).

chchg10.yag chchg10.zip 10 element optimized yagi by Chen and Cheng. 13 db fwd with 11.59 f/b

chchg6e.yag chchg6e.zip 6 element optimized yagi by Chen and Cheng. 12.35 db fwd with 17.42 f/b

DL6WU20.yag DL6WU20.zip 22 element long yagi by DL6WU. 15.98 db fwd with 21.66 f/b

foxant1.yag foxant1.zip Simple 2 meter narrowband “sniffer” antenna. 7.45 db fwd with 47.33 f/b

foxant2.yag foxant2.zip Simple 2 meter wideband “sniffer” antenna. 6.93 db fwd with 23.77 f/b

lawson3.yag lawson3.zip One of Lawsons 3 element yagi designs. 7.45 db fwd with 47.33 f/b

lawson4.yag lawson4.zip One of Lawsons 4 element yagi designs. 8.61 db fwd with 19.27 f/b

law4new.yag law4new.zip One of Lawsons newer 4 element yagi designs. 10.53 db fwd with 35.92 f/b

lawson5.yag lawson5.zip One of Lawsons 5 element yagi designs. 10.17 db fwd with 27.99 f/b

lawson6.yag lawson6.zip One of Lawsons 6 element yagi designs. 10.45 db fwd with 27.68 f/b

nbs3ele.yag nbs3ele.zip A NBS 3 element yagi designs. 9.09 db fwd with 12.89 f/b

nbs5ele.yag nbs5ele.zip A NBS 5 element yagi designs. 10.32 db fwd with 22.43 f/b

nbs6ele.yag nbs6ele.zip A NBS 6 element yagi designs. 11.22 db fwd with 15.15 f/b

nbs12el.yag nbs12el.zip A NBS 12 element yagi designs. 13.09 db fwd with 17.99 f/b

nbs15el.yag nbs15el.zip A NBS 15 element yagi designs. 14.44 db fwd with 15.05 f/b

nbs17el.yag nbs17el.zip A NBS 17 element yagi designs. 14.18 db fwd with 18.10 f/b

iuy2m-6.yag iuy2m-6.zip A 6 element modified VK3DIP 2 meter yagi design by WB4IUY. Designed with a gap in the right place for the mast mount. 11.41 db fwd with 17.99 f/b

wb2hol3.yag wb2hol3.zip A 3 element 2 meter ‘sniffer yagi design by WB2HOL for Fox hunting. Designed for easy transport during foxhunting, and a great front-to-back raito. 7.3 dbd fwd with > 50 dbf/b !! Visit WB2HOL’s Website for a full write up on this cool antenna!

22011el.yag 22011el.zip This is an 11 element 220 yagi I (WB4IUY) designed for KG4D. It was designed around materials from an old 2 meter Cushcraft 11 element yagi.

432atv8.yag 432atv8.zip This is a 8 element ATV yagi for 432 mhz scaled from a 144 mhz Rutland yagi and optimized by KD2BD for ATV use. Constructed on a PVC boom. Very wide banded and excellant for 70 cm ATV use.

900-6el.yag 900-6el.zip This is a 6 element ATV yagi for 900 mhz that I (WB4IUY) designed on a 0.32m PVC boom. 10.47db fwd with 17.52db f/b.

900-10e.yag 900-10e.zip This is a 10 element ATV yagi for 900 mhz that I (WB4IUY) designed on a 1.05m PVC boom. 12.73db fwd with 11.44db f/b.

900-24e.yag 900-24e.zip This is a 24 element ATV yagi for 900 mhz that I (WB4IUY) designed on a 1.5m PVC boom. 14.55db fwd with 16.09db f/b.

900vhfc.yag 900vhfc.zip This is a 24 element ATV yagi for 900 mhz designed by DL6WU on a 2.5m PVC boom. 15.54db fwd with 20.92db f/b.

Visit WB2HOL’s Website for a full write up on this cool DF antenna built from a metal Tape Measure! Optimized on YagiCad.

Visit VK3VT Fox hunt beam from an article by Lawson in Ham Radio Magazine.

Other antenna design programs can be found on the TEARA software page.

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A Brief History of the Band

The Rollins Band was formed in 1987 less than a year after the demise of the mighty Black Flag. After Flag broke up, Rollins thought about quitting music altogether. Fortunately he decided against this and ended up going to England and reuniting with an old friend from his D.C. days, Chris Haskett. By late fall/winter of 1986, the Hot Animal Machine LP (as Henry Rollins) and the Drive by Shooting EP (as Henrietta Collins and the Wifebeating Childhaters) were in the can with Haskett on guitar. The rhythm section was made up of Mick Green (who played with Chris Haskett in a group called Surfin’ Dave and the Absent Legends) on drums and Bernie Wandel (of Nuclear Crayons and Guilt Combo) on bass. They were ok guys, but pretty straight ahead in their ex-punk stylings. The album follows that last comment for the most part as well with a few exceptions. The Drive by Shooting EP is all a big joke from the onset (see release name) and one of the few times Rollins combines his humorous side with his music. And what the hell, they rip off Queen! Still, the release had nowhere as much force or power as Rollins was capable of providing. A real rhythm section was necessary.By the spring, the Rollins Band engaged on its first tour with Sim Cain and Andrew Weiss (the drummer and bass player of the former Ginn band Gone.) They hit the road running, going across the United States and deep into Europe in the first few months of being together. This despite the fact that they’d only really begun practicing a few weeks earlier, possibly after the tour had already been booked. They picked up their fifth member/longtime soundman/occasional producer Theo Van Rock along the way on that first tour as well.
Rollins at Lollapalooza

Their first album, Lifetime, was recorded (produced by Ian MacKaye of Fugazi) before 1987 was out. Several more albums followed fairly quickly, including Do ItHard Volume, and Turned On. By 1991, their reputation as a live powerhouse was strong enough to secure them a spot on the first Lollapalooza. Less than a year later saw the release of their major label debut, the End of Silence. While not a huge hit, sales were respectable and the release warranted videos for Low Self Opinion and Tearing.

The band hit the “big time” with the 1994 release Weight. With this album came the band’s first and only line-up change: Andrew Weiss left the group due to the eternal “creative differences.” He had already begun working with Martin Atkins, et. al. in the supergroup Pigface and had earlier masterminded the Wartime release for which Hank had provided lyrics and vocals, so he really was working in different directions. His replacement was the talented Melvin Gibbs, a jazz/funk bass player of a very different strain from Weiss. Gibbs originally turned down the offer to join… it really was totally different from anything else he’d done before. He thankfully had a change of heart and has proven himself a solid addition to the band. His presence has provided a definite change in the styles and playing of both Cain and Haskett.

The first single from the album, Liar, hit heavy rotation on Mtv and was even a “Buzz Clip!” Oooooo! But it garnered excellent sales for the album and gave them the opportunity to do a video for the follow-up single Disconnect, with images based very heavily on the film Taxi Driver. It also gave Rollins a little more pull with the infamous network and was probably a bit of help in getting him a gig in hosting the big M’s Spoken Word thing on Mtv Unplugged. “Hey, he’s that famous guy with the tattoos, right? Cool!” Of course Hank has been guest-hosting shows like 120 Minutes and making little appearances (usually with Kennedy) for years… that and the fabulous Mtv Sports Soundbites… pheh…

Come In and Burn was released in March, 1997 on the new Dreamworks label. After a public drag through the soil with Imago (a label that was reportedly embarassed to have the Rollins Band as their most popular act), Rollins says that he’s pleased to be on Dreamworks. They’re much more facilitating and willing to allow the band some freedom in the studio. Whether or not this will continue remains to be seen considering the press so far about the new release. Reviews… haven’t been good. Rolling Stone, Spin, and Details have all basically panned the album and said that grunge is dead, so’s Rollins. Oddly enough, I tend to disagree with them (go figure.) The new album has some of the tightest performances by the band on record and some truly remarkable sounds. Songs like Starve, On My Way to the Cage, and During a City prove to me that this is a band doing quite well for themselves musically despite their inability to pander to the crippled and dated wills of the critics. Now go out there and buy a few copies and play them for your friends.

The release supposedly forthcoming in time for Christmas, 1997 comprising unreleased tracks and overflow from Weight and Come In and Burn was pushed back. I’ve not heard anything more recent.

The band had also recorded a track for a one-hit wonders compilation. What else but the Lipps, Inc. song Funkytown? Right. Better. It’s a duet with RuPaul! I think the project was for Elektra Records. Oddly enough, someone in the chain found this to be inappropriate and unfunny and has more or less nixed the release. Frankly, I know this deserves to be heard and I’ll try and see what I can find out.

You might find it a good idea to check out the news at 2.13.61 for the latest info, dates, and happenings. I’ll try to cover anything that they miss…

You may also have noticed this, but the Rollins Band has been around for a decade now. Pretty nifty, eh?

You must check out the spoken word page now…

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Incarnations

Winter/Spring 1977
Greg Ginn
guitar
Keith Morris
vocals
?
bass
?
drums
Ginn and Morris form the group Panic with an undisclosed rhythm section.
Summer 1977
Greg Ginn
guitar
Keith Morris
vocals
Chuck Dukowski
bass
Brian Migdol
drums
recordings

Nervous Breakdown (e.p.)

selections from
Everything Went Black (compilation)

Spot, the band’s longtime producer and sound engineer, sat in on bass temporarily during practice sessions before ex-Wurm player Chuck Dukowski settled into this position.

In Winter/Spring 1978, the band finds the name Panic is taken. Ginn’s brother Ray designs a logo and suggests a name:

Black Flag
.
Under the name Raymond Pettibon, he designs flyers for the group. He also designs the infamous bars logo, which is an impressionistic rendering of a… you guessed it… black flag (a historic symbol of anarchy and rebellion.)

Morris left because he was basically sick of the arguments and taking orders. He quickly went on to form the Circle Jerks.

Ex-Happy Tampons front Ron Reyes was brought in as lead vocalist less than a week after Morris quit.

Morris was referred to as Johnny “Bob” Goldstein on the Everything Went Black recordings, released in 1983.

1979 Summer/Autumn
Greg Ginn
guitar
“Chavo Pederast”
(real name: Ron Reyes)

vocals
Chuck Dukowski
bass
Robo
drums
recordings

Jealous Again (e.p.)

selections from
Everything Went Black (compilation)

Chavo quit onstage after two songs during a show at the Fleetwood…the rest of the band then went into Louie Louie for an hour and let anyone who wanted to do so take over the vocals. They continued on for months without a singer.

Although he refused to play with them on stage (or the band with him,) he did come into the studio to finish up the Jealous Again tracks. Spot was apparently so pleased with his attitude afterwards that he remarked “Why didn’t you quit sooner?”

1980 Summer
Greg Ginn
guitar
Dez Cadena
vocals
Chuck Dukowski
bass
Robo
drums
recordings

Six Pack (e.p.)

selections from
Everything Went Black (compilation)

Dez joined the band several months after Chavo quit. He had been a longtime fan and Dukowski told him to try out. He worked very well as singer, but then decided to give up the mic due to the very real strains touring had on his voice.

Dez called Rollins in D.C. while the band had several days off in NYC. Several days earlier Henry had jumped on stage to sing a song with the band at a show. He was asked if he wanted to “jam” with the band. Suspecting they were trying him out, Rollins went up to NYC. He tried out, the band talked it over, offered him the slot, and Rollins accepted. He joined them on tour several days later.

1981 Summer
Greg Ginn
lead guitar
Dez Cadena
rhythm guitar
Henry Rollins
vocals
Chuck Dukowski
bass
Robo
drums
recordings

Damaged (l.p.)

selections from
Wasted Again (compilation)

Immediately before departing after the UK tour dates, Robo was detained by customs at the end of 1981. Bill Stevenson of the Descendents was called in to temporarily fill in for the seven dates left in the tour. Robo did not return to the fold of Black Flag, but rather ended up joining the Misfits.
1982 Winter/Spring
Greg Ginn
lead guitar
Dez Cadena
rhythm guitar
Henry Rollins
vocals
Chuck Dukowski
bass
Emil
drums
recordings

TV Party (single)

It’s been said Emil left the group to go to college, but also been said that he had a dispute with SST employee Mugger and left on rather bad terms. Biscuits (of Canadian group D.O.A.) was recruited by Ginn and Rollins while on the road.

.

1982 Summer
Greg Ginn
lead guitar
Dez Cadena
rhythm guitar
Henry Rollins
vocals
Chuck Dukowski
bass
Chuck Biscuits
drums
recordings

It was with this line-up that the infamous 1982 Demos were recorded. These were never officially released, but have been heavily bootlegged. Many of the songs were re-recorded and showed up on the two subsequent lps, but the songs “Yes, I Know”, “Beat My Head”, and “What Can You Believe” are still officially unreleased in any form.

Biscuits was apparently kicked out of the group for unspecified reasons. Rollins hints in GitV that he messed up several gigs and was irresponsible. It has been remarked that he had not the personality for the band. It has also been said that he was one of the most ferocious drummers they had. He later went on to join Samhain, which developed into Danzig.
1983 Winter
Greg Ginn
lead guitar
Dez Cadena
rhythm guitar
Henry Rollins
vocals
Chuck Dukowski
bass
Bill Stevenson
drums
Cadena left the group because he wanted to form his own group. This resulted in the formation of the group DC3.
1983 Spring
Greg Ginn
guitar
Henry Rollins
vocals
Chuck Dukowski
bass
Bill Stevenson
drums
Reasons for Dukowski leaving Black Flag differ greatly. He maintains that “it was over” for him and it just wasn’t what he wanted to do anymore. Rollins stated that Ginn more or less edged him out of the group against Dukowski’s wishes. Regardless, Dukowski continued to work for SST and went on to form the group Swa.
1983 Summer
Greg Ginn
guitar
Henry Rollins
vocals
“Dale Nixon”
(real name: Greg Ginn)

bass
Bill Stevenson
drums
recordings

My War (l.p.)

selections from
Wasted Again (compilation)

Ginn handled all of the bass duties for the recording of My War. Oddly enough, My War features two songs written exclusively by Dukowski. Soon after, Kira was recruited when Ginn heard her jamming with Dez’s group DC3.
1983 Autumn
Greg Ginn
guitar
Henry Rollins
vocals
Kira Roessler
bass
Bill Stevenson
drums
recordings

Family Man (l.p.)

Slip It In (l.p.)

Live ’84 (l.p.)

Loose Nut(l.p.)

the Process of Weeding Out (e.p.)

In My Head (l.p.)

selections from
Wasted Again (compilation)

I Can See You (single)

Stevenson was apparently forced out of the group by Ginn against his will. Ginn maintains that while he liked his enthusiasm and work ethic, he did not care much for his drumming. Stevenson rejoined the Decendents, which later evolved into All.
1985 Spring
Greg Ginn
guitar
Henry Rollins
vocals
Kira Roessler
bass
Anthony Martinez
drums
recordings

Who’s Got the 10 1/2? (l.p.)

Kira was more or less excised by the band due to personality and musical conflicts. She went on to perform with Mike Watt in the group Dos.
1985 Autumn/Winter
Greg Ginn
guitar
Henry Rollins
vocals
C’el Revuelta
(pronounced “Sal”)

bass
Anthony Martinez
drums
In August, 1986, Ginn broke the group up to concentrate on running SST and to record with his group Gone. Gone broke up within a year and Simeon Cain and Andrew Weiss went on to join/form the Rollins Band with Henry.

Information compiled from various sources; including but not limited to:

Get in the Van
Henry Rollins (2.13.61)

the liner notes of Everything Went Black
various (SST)

Everything Went Black: a Complete Oral History
David Grad (Punk Planet #20. Chicago. Sept/Oct 1997).



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Lowering the Rear…

Below is a picture of the rear suspension, partially disassembled. Tweek lifted the rear of the bike up off of the shop floor with the Centerstand lift, then used an automobile-type floor jack to take a little pressure off of the swingarm. You can see the floor jack under his hand (blue paint). The rear shock absorber bolt was removed and the shock was allowed to dangle freely. The part Tweek is pointing at is the part he had modified. He removed the trailing link assembly, had the bars cut (one on each side), had them extended by 1/2″, and a reinforcement plate welded over the top of the splice (he’s pointing at the reinforcing plate in the pic).

Below is a drawing of the work that Tweek did to the trailing link (called a ‘tie rod’ by mamma Kaw).

The next picture is of the long bolt that passes through the frame to secure the trailing link Tweek had lengthened. Lengthening that part provided about 3″ of lowering to the rear. This is Tweeks left hand in the photo..his middle finger points to the bolt that secures the trailing link, his index finger points to the little splice that was added to lengthen it.

Finally, Tweek compressed the shock, loosened the lock nut behind the shock clevis, and screwed the clevis all the way down on the rod. This dropped the bike another inch. By the way, we didn’t have to buy that $30 shock compressor, as you’ll note by the use of a couple of $.50 hose clamps used to squeeze the turns of the spring together in the photo…

Below is another method of lowering the 800’s about 1 1/2″. It is similar to installing the replacement lowering kit from cobra, but is free and no special shock compressor is required…

Tweek adjusted my rear shock preload to position #5, and the ride is perfect. The bike ‘floats’ across bumps, and as I say : ‘It drives itself!’. You can learn more about the rear preload adjustments on Tweek’s site by clicking HERE.

The parts originally designed by Tweek have been enhanced considerably since this mod was done to my bike in 1999. Tweek designed a new assembly, that allowed for adjustability from 0″ to 3″, and later refined the snubber position in the shock to minimize the possibility for scrubbing and bottoming out. The entire lowering kit can be purchased online, ready to install and complete with an instruction manual, from Scootworks on their Lowering Kits/Suspension page.

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The Vulcan Classic

Here are a few pictures of my Kawasaki Vulcan Classic. I’ve spent a lot of time on it, customizing it to my taste… I’m very proud of my bike, and ride it nearly every day. It has gone through many different looks since 1998, and the pic of it below was taken in the spring of 2005.

[bullet] Within this website, you’ll no doubt notice that I’ve added a lot of “non-Vulcan” stuff to my scooter. Contrary to a few notes I’ve received, I’m _not_ trying to make my Vulcan look like a Harley, but I have a lot of fun modifying or building parts to customize my bike as opposed to buying “bolt-on” goodies (it’s often cheaper, too!). It makes my scoot a little more personalized, and is just another part of the hobby. There are Zillions of neat sparkle parts (manufactured by Nempco, Custom Chrome, Drag Specialties, Chrome Specialties, etc) for Harley-Davidson motorcycles and their variants, so I’m often browsing the local bike shops and catalogs for another piece to hack on…

[bullet] Even though this bike is manufactured by Kawasaki, it’s built in Lincoln Nebraska. Yep, American made. Kawasaki is no ‘Johnny come lately’ in the motorcycle industry, having been in business since 1878 with motorcycle lineage dating back to 1924. I’m collecting info now, to try and build a little ‘Kawasaki History’ page here…

[bullet] If you live in or around NC, and are interested in a somewhat localized mailing list about NC riding weather, local runs, and Kawasaki Vulcans/Nomads/Drifter, subscribe to the ‘NC Vulcan Mailing List’ on the NCVulcan Website at http://www.ncvulcan.org.

[bullet] Here’s another view of my scoot, taken since I just added a few more goodies… I get much of my stuff from Scootworks in North Carolina. They have great prices on all sorts of stuff! You can visit the website above, email them at [email protected], or you can call them at: (919)269-0986.

[bullet] Below is a picture I snapped, while cruising through the Florida Keys on a ride in May of 2000. I held the camera down alongside the Hypercharger on my engine. You can just make out some of the scoots up ahead of me…

[bullet] The Vulcan was actually designed by John Hoover when he worked for Kawasaki, in a computer simulation that morphed a 1941 Indian Motorcycle image to see what it _might have_ looked like today, if Indian had stayed in business throughout the evolution of Cruisers as we know them. He plugged in the styling trends that most companies followed over the last several decades, and the result was my beloved Vulcan Classic. Cool!

[bullet] Anyway, this website is about my Vulcan Classic and modifications that I’ve done to it, modifications that other Vulcan Owners have done to their scoots, and other Vulcan related links and info. Enjoy!

[bullet] Email me with your input and ideas at [email protected]

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Remote Carb adjustment mod…

While trying to eliminate the sneezing and backfiring problems I was having with my new 800 Classic, I found that a 1/16″ shim under my needle seemed to cure my problems. When I posted this to the internet, a few people emailed asking specifics on how to do this. They also mentioned not wanting to change pipes, etc. This got my curiousity up a bit.
Since I was waiting on a set of full length heat shields for my Cobra Classic Slashcuts, I was back on the stock pipes. I’d been reading about the CV carb tuning procedure on the biketech website at http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/carbadjust.htm. They mentioned that you should idle the bike as low as it would go, then “tweak” the low speed needle for peak rpm, and blip the throttle. Open the needle in 1/4 turn increments until the bike no longer “sneezes”, or some such. They cautioned that poor fuel economy could occur if this proceedure isn’t followed and the low speed circuit was unnecessarily opened too much.

Since I’d been cranking the screw out to 3 turns and letting it fly, and since I didn’t really know when I’d reached the peak RPM range because one has to take so much stuff off of the stock setup each time to make the adjustment, I decided to fabricate a remote method to adjust my low speed (pilot) needle.

Below is a picture of my remotely adjustable low speed needle assembly. This picture was taken from the left side of the bike, looking at the bottom of the carb bowl when it extends down below the “Y” intake manifold. In the picture, my finger is holding the fuel line to one side. Do you see the remote needle? It’s the black hose in the left center of the picture with the spring clamp around it. Fabrication was easy. I drilled the plug that covers the low speed needle, removed the needle, and soldered a piece of brass stock to the “head” of the needle where the screwdriver slot is. I then pushed a short section of flexible vacuum tubing on the brass stock and secured it with a spring clip I had left over from the EPA system removal. I reinstalled the needle in the carb, and routed the hose out below the air cleaner cannister and cut it off so only a short piece remained (but was long enough to grasp).

[vulcan pic]

I then removed the 1/16″ shim I’d stuck under the needle and re adjusted the carb’s low speed circuit according to CV’s recommendations. (By the way, my low speed needle was only backed out from “closed” 3/4 of a turn from the factory!!! Damn, I couldn’t beleive it!). Wow…no backfires or sneezing. It’s still a little cold natured, but once warmed up, she runs like a champ. With the 1/16″ shim back in, I only need the choke to start it, then shove it in and go.
My “gut” feeling, based on CV’s procedure and the results I got, the needle shim isn’t necessary with the stock intake, airbox, and pipes. With my low speed needle set at 3 turns out, it idles and runs great into the factory pipes. The fuel economy is barely changed, and it still gets over 50 mpg.

[bullet] I think, for those with the stock setup, I’d knock out the plug on the carb that covers the low speed needle and crank it out to three turns and ride. Maybe, the remote needle adjustment mod I made might allow you to tune it perfectly for your altitude, but I don’t know how much affect altitude has on the stock system.

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So who is this Jello guy anyway?

“So who is this Jello guy anyway?”

Jello Biafra is one of the country’s most outspoken supporters of free speech and freedom (constitutional or otherwise.) He has released four albums of material recorded during the spoken word tours that carry him across the country. Each of these contains a great deal of legal and social information that he has compiled from various sources over the years. The scope and quality of the information is sure to shock even those who thought they were well informed on subjects they’ve heard about.

Jello Biafra also ranks as the first musician ever to be put on trial because of the content of a record album. The Frankenchrist album he released with his old group the Dead Kennedys contained in its original release a reproduction of a painting by Swiss artist H.R. Giger (known best for winning the Academy Award for the 1979 film Alien.) It was because of this painting that the L.A. City Attorney filed a charge of “Distribution of Harmful Matter” against Biafra and several others. During the trial however, the DA spent a great deal of time analyzing the career and lyrics of Biafra in an attempt to incriminate him on subjects other than the painting in attempts to set legal precedence. Fortunately the jury was deadlocked 7:5 in favor of acquittal and the judge dismissed the case in lieu of granting a re-trial. The fact remains, however, that this trial took over a year out of Biafra’s life and ended up costing over $100K in legal bills despite the fact that the penalty was a $2000 fine and no more than a year served. The full story of this trial and he tactics used by the legal forces behind it may be heard on Biafra’s High Priest of harmful Matter album.

In order to avoid corporate censorship of Dead Kennedys’ music, he started the Alternative Tentacles record label. Every single Dead Kennedys album and 45 was released on this label, as well as all of his spoken word albums. Other groups released on this label include the Butthole Surfers, Lard (A. Jourgenson and P. Barker from Ministry plus J. Biafra,) D.O.A., Neurosis, and Alice Donut. They, along with SST and Dischord, represent some of the earliest and longest running indie labels in the US that have stayed true to their ideals and origins.


Legendary San Francisco promoter Dirk Dirksen during Biafra’s 1979 mayoral campaign.

Biafra has always been one to speak his mind and take risks. What started out as a practical joke became a very serious campaign for the position of Mayor of San Francisco in 1979. While he did not win, he became a magnet for the vote of those dissatisfied with the leading candidates and came in fourth with 3% of the total vote. He never lost his sense of humor during the campaign with a platform that consisted of requirements for all downtown businessmen to wear clown suits between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm, legalized panhandling at a 50% commission for all state workers laid off due to deficit caused staff reductions, and legalized squatting of the homeless in all buildings left vacant for tax write-off purposes. During his campaign, he wore T-shirts from an opponent’s (Quentin Cop) previous campaign and vacuumed leaves off of another’s (now US Senator from CA, Diane Feinstein) front lawn. His effect on the campaign upset the election so much that they later passed a resolution stating that no one would be able to run for office under anything but their christian name. Unfortunately Jello isn’t his real name… it’s Eric.

With an abrasive voice and a sarcastic and cynical mind, he speaks his opinions based on facts which are irrefutable. Like the late Frank Zappa, he is one of those distinct individuals who is willing to go to up against the government to fight for those rights that they seem to think of as out of date and disposable.

Jello Speaks!

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TEARA’s Reflector List

Email Reflectors available by topic…

WAIT!! If you came to this page directly from a search engine or link, you’re missing out on hundreds of pages of amateur related info on our site. CLICK HERE, or click the floating TEARA link on the page, to move to the top of our site. From there, you can select ‘HAM News’, and return to this page, complete with all of our site navigation tools. Enjoy your visit with TEARA!

Mail lists are really nice, and you only need email access to get them. What they actually are, is a mail reflector. Everyone sends their mail to the same adress, and the reflector sends it to all subscribers. Similar to the way repeaters work for VHF/UHF RF.

I’ll give you the list of reflectors, and you can subscribe to those that have topics of interest to you. The subscription is via an automated service, so it’s pretty simple. With most, you send a message to an adress, and only have a simple statement in the body of the message like:

SUBSCRIBE [listname] [your email adress]
Don’t forget to turn ‘off’ any signature lines that might be automatic in your email program. That’s it. OK?? Well, here goes…

For the Yaesu reflector…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type only: subscribe
For the Drake reflector…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type only: subscribe drake

Ham Equipment reflector at UCSD…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-equip

For the Ham-Tech group…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: subscribe ham-tech

For the Qrp group…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: subscribe qrp-l
Once subscribed, send all messages to: [email protected]

For the KnightLite list…
(This is an excellant QRP group)
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type only: subscribe

The Fast Scan ATV reflector…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-atv

For the HATS (Houston Amateur TV) group…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: subscribe hats

For the ATV mail server…
mail to: [email protected]
Include in the body of the type the following line: SUBSCRIBE ATV

A reflector about SSTV…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-slowscan

VE7TCP DX reflector…(great list!)
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: subscribe

DX reflector at UCSD…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-dx

Another DX reflector at UCSD…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-dxing

For the Cq-contest group…(mail to both)
mail to: [email protected]
ALSO mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: subscribe cq-contest

For the Topband (160 meter) group…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: subscribe topband
Once subscribed, send all messages to: [email protected]

A reflector about HF operation at UCSD…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-hf

For the BOATANCHOR group…(vintage radio)
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: subscribe boatanchors
This is a pay reflector (costs $12/yr) and is worth every penny in my opinion if you like vintage stuff. You can subscribe for free for a month or two to see if you like it first.

Another Boatanchors reflector at UCSD…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-boatanchors

The Hallicrafters reflector…(Hallicrafters collectors)
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: subscribe

The Old Time Rig reflector… (Vintage rig collecting and restoring)
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: subscribe otrig
Once subscribed, post all mail to: [email protected]

The A.M. reflector…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-am

To get on the VSS (vintage solid state gear) list…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE vss

For the glowbugs group…(homebrew with tubes)
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: subscribe glowbugs

A reflector about home-brewing equipment…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-homebrew

To get on the Microwave reflector…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the message type: ADD ham-uwave

To get on the VHF weak signal list…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE VHF

EME reflector at UCSD…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-eme

VHF-UHF reflector at UCSD…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-vhf-uhf

6 meter reflector…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: subscribe six
Once subscribed, all mail should be sent to: [email protected]

To get on the ARRL bulletin reflector…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE

To get on the Dayton hamvention list…
This list doesn’t run year-round, so just keep trying to subscribe every few weeks until it works…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Dayton-l

To access QRZ via email…
send a message to: [email protected]
leave subject line blank

in the body of the message type:
lookup callsign
lookup callsign
lookup callsign
lookup callsign

Do that for as many calls as you need to lookup. That’s it!

Example:
(in the header)to: [email protected]
(in the body of the message)
lookup n4nto
lookup wb4iuy
lookup ke4tzo
lookup k9mx

Another callsign good database accessable via email. This one is mostly for DX qsl’s…
send a message to: [email protected]
leave subject line blank

in the body of the message type:
callsign
callsign
callsign
callsign

Do that for as many calls as you need to lookup.

Example:
(in the header)to: [email protected]
(in the body of the message)
n4nto
wb4iuy
ke4tzo
k9mx

To get on the w4atc (NCSU) reflector…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the message type: subscribe w4atc

To get on the BitBucket reflector…
(BitBucket is a mailing list (reflector) devoted to specialized amateur radio communication techniques.
-RTTY, Packet, Pactor, GTOR, Clover
-ATV, FAX, APT, DSP
-R/C, Telemetry, Balloons, Rockets, Robotics
-homebrew, modifications, interfacing, widgets, etc
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE bitbucket
To get on the Land Mobile reflector (commercial 2-way)…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE

The Amtor reflector…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-amtor

Amateur Digital reflector at UCSD…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-digital

A reflector about packet radio…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-packet

A reflector about Spread Spectrum…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-spread

A reflector for Exotic modes of operation at UCSD…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-exotic-modes

A reflector about FM operation at UCSD…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-fm

A reflector about RTTY…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-rtty

The Antenna reflector…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-ant

A reflector about modifications to equipment…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: add ham-mods

The Tower reflector…
mail to: [email protected]
In the body of the note type: subscribe towertalk

I may be off on the syntax a tad on one or two of these (it’s been a while since I subscribed to some of them) but the list processor will mail you back with the correct subscription info if so. Have fun!!

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Cecil Adams vs. Ed Zotti

The photograph on the right is of Ed Zotti. It appeared on page 15 of the September 1995 issue of Parenting magazine. Ed was the author of an article, “Book ‘Em”, which appeared in this issue. The cute tyke also pictured supposedly is one of Ed’s offspring, although it is possible the child is actually a cardboard cutout, hired for the occasion through one of those “Rent-a-Kid” photo centers.

The photo on the left, purportedly of Cecil Adams, appeared on page 147 of the February 1995 issue of American Libraries magazine. It was part of an article entitled “What makes Cecil Adams the world’s greatest reference librarian?”, written by one Paul S. Piper, described as a reference librarian living in Hawaii. (Incidentally, the individual responsible for the Dec. 20, 1996 Straight Dope question, Did medieval lords really have the ‘right of the first night’ with the local brides? was said to be Paul S. Piper of Honolulu, Hawaii, although this is likely no more than a coincidence.)

Clearly, these are two photographs of the same individual. (I’m talking about the adults here). And some people will jump to the conclusion this means that “Cecil=Ed”. These individuals (the ones making the claim) are beneath contempt. Nothing could be further from the truth. Look closely at the pictures. You are no doubt familiar with Unca Cece’s magnificent and illuminating work. Does the person in the photographs, while pleasant enough, appear to be in any way capable of producing Cecil Adams-caliber work? Hardly. (I know phrenology has been discredited, but still, you’ve got to wonder…)

On the other hand, does this individual look like an editor? Of course. So, what you have here clearly are two photographs of Unca Cece’s editor, Ed Zotti. Thus, one of Ed’s photographs was used as a stand-in for the American Libraries article. According to The Straight Dope, “Cecil Adams… has never been photographed…” There is no reason to believe this has changed.

There are two possible reasons for the substitution. It may be that, under pressure, Paul S. Piper felt he had to supply some sort of image, so he sneaked in a photo of Ed, hoping no one would notice. Literary fraud has a long history–if this was indeed the case, we can only hope that Mr. Piper will receive a long prison sentence.

Another possibility is that Paul S. Piper was himself duped, and Ed supplied the picture of himself, either to protect Unca Cece’s privacy, or to gain his own “15 seconds of fame”

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AMATEUR RADIO

One of my favorite hobbies!

This page has lots of pictures, so it loads a little slow. I have a lot to show you, so let’s get started!

Ham radio is a family affair at the Hockaday household. My wife, Debbie, is a radio amateur with an Extra Class license and her call
is AC4QD. My oldest son, Chris (age 28), is also a “ham” and his callsign is KF4DBX. My youngest son, Brandon (age 26), is interested in amateur radio thinking about getting his license. Radio Amateurs are often called “Radio Hams”, or simply “Hams”. Both of my parents are hams, their names and calls are: Duke KD4NNK and Florence KD4NYT. They both hold General class licenses (and those pics were taken back around ’96). HERE is a picture of My dad KD4NNK with my oldest son, KF4DBX, also taken back around ’96.

On the right is a cam that runs from my shack from time to time. I retransmit the R/C Flyers Net, heard on 3.933 mhz at 6am EST Daily. You’ll likely hear and/or see other random ham radio operations at other times, including live video of QSL cards saved in my electronic picture frame.

Dave’s Online Hamfest. This is a listing of stuff I have for sale…
I have been a radio amateur since I was 14 (mid-1974). I “cut my teeth” on tube gear, building from old ARRL Radio Amateur’s Handbooks and using scrap TV sets for parts. My first commercial receiver was a Hallicrafters SX-42 that was given to me in true “scrap box” condition. Looking back at my early stations, it’s a wonder I actually ever made contact with anyone! They were good days, though, and I learned much more about radio than if I had bought everything. I only wish I had taken pictures of my old station equipment…

At the top of this page is a picture of my “QSL” card. A QSL card is like a postcard. Hams often exchange these unique cards with each other and hang them around their radio room to remind themselves and others of the ability to contact distant locations. Some QSL cards have pictures of the Amateur Radio station, the operator of the station, their pets, drawings, etc. Some hams also call them “wallpaper”. You’ll see several hanging on the walls of my radio room (usually called a “shack” by most hams) in the photos below.

I hold an Extra Class amateur license. I’m active on the amateur bands 160 meters through 70cm (440). When on HF, I enjoy operating CW (morse code) and RTTY (radio teletype), AM on my mid-60’s vintage station, as well as SSB and 10 meters FM on my newer equipment. I also enjoy working 10 meters through 70 cm FM via repeaters and simplex. More recently, I’ve discovered how much fun some of the digital modes like PSK31, Olivia, Domino, and SSTV are. Below is a partial picture of my “shack”. Click the image below for an older picture of the shack…

The Equipment, from left to right is:

The Table: First, the table was built by my good friend, Glenn KD4BSP. Glenn is an interior trim carpenter, and works magic with wood. He built this table for me from some misc plywood I had, 2×4’s, and formica. I’ve had this radio table in service since 1993. It’s 8′ long, and hasn’t sagged any from the weight of all this gear on it for all these years!

Tabletop: The keyboard (black) for my Hal Telereader RTTY interface, monitor and keyboard for my logging/packet computer, Yaesu FT-901DE, Icom 756. In front of the monitor, you’ll see my Bencher Iambic paddles. Next, a Heathkit SB-301 rx and SB-401 tx with a JPS NIR-10 on top, a Speed-X Straight key, an Ameritron AL-82 HF amp, a modified Turner mic stand with an electret condenser element (no preamp), and the mic on the far end is an old Astatic JT-30 I restored. You’ll notice a small box attached to the bottom or the first shelf, between the Icom and Heathkit gear…this is a homebrew control that allows me to switch my DSP unit between the different rigs by flipping a switch. I route and switch all DSP connections via rear apron connectors on the rigs, thus leaving the headphone jacks and exernal speakers all working as normal.


1st shelf up: An Astron VS-35 and and a 26 amp Pyramid 12vdc power supply that is backed up by a homebrew trickle-charge circuit and a 35aH gel-cell battery. It powers all of the DC stuff in my shack. Next is a Daiwa cross needle VHF/UHF wattmeter, an Azden PCS-7500H 6 meter FM rig, an Alliance antenna rotator control head, a small DC voltmeter to keep an eye on things, a Hal Telereader RTTY interface with the Amtor R/T converter on top, a Radio Shack HTX-202 and external speaker that is used primarily on the local VHF DX Packet Cluster, a Heathkit HM-102 wattmeter, Heathkit SB-620 “Scandalyzer”, Heathkit SB-600 speaker, Heathkit SB-500 2 meter transverter, and Heathkit SB-610 TX monitor scope.

2nd shelf up: A Radio Shack 2 meter radio for the local SEDAN network, a Kantronics 9612 dual-port TNC and Kantronics Kam Plus. I use the 9600 baud port of the 9612 on 223.70 mhz for W4RAL packet BBS access, and the 1200 baud port is used as a port/node for the W4RAL BBS on 145.090 mhz. I use the 1200 baud port of the Kam Plus for my SEDAN work and mailbox, while the 300 baud port is currently unused…I plan to use it on the 20m packet network one of these days 🙂 . Next is a stack of 3 rigs: A Kenwood TM-621 2m/220 dual bander (bottom), a Kenwood TM-331 220 fm rig (middle), and another Radio Shack 2 meter rig (top). I use the TM-621 for connection to the W4MR DXCluster, the TM-331 for connection to the 9600 baud port of the W4RAL Packet BBS, and the Radio Shack rig for voice connection to the WB4IUY Repeater on 147.39+.

Next is a stack of 4 more packet TNCs: an old PK-80 (bottom), with 3 Kantronics KPC3’s on top. The PK-80 is currently just a spare, while the three KPC3’s are for APRS, the WB4IUY-7 west-bound node on 145.01, and my DXCluster connection. To the right of that is an old Johnson commercial rig I use on the WB4IUY-7 145.01 mhz node, and a Yaesu Memorizer for the RF part of my APRS station. All of the packet radio operations at WB4IUY are active 24/7… non-stop packet racket, hehehehehe… Next, a vintage Tymeter [radio pic]24 hour GMT clock, and lastly is my Antenna Mart remote coax switch used to control 4 40 meter sloping dipoles at 100′.

The picture to the right is my old Gonset GSB-201a amplifier. I bought it from my a good friend M.M Preston K4SQC (now SK). It runs 4 each 572-B tubes, and will run near the limit on SSB and CW, about 500 watts on RTTY, and about 250 watts on AM.

In the picture to the left, and hanging just under the edge of the table, is a Motorola Micor that I converted for use into the local 10 meter repeater’s UHF gateway and on the local 444.950 FCARC repeater. I also have an old Yaesu FT-901DE that I use from time to time.

Here are a few older pictures of my shack

  • An older pic of my shack while still under construction at our new home back around 1994.
  • Another old pic of my VHF/UHF stuff…
  • A older picture of some of my Heathkit gear

    Here’s a picture of my tower. My antenna system for 40 meters is currently a set of 3 switchable full slopers built into the top guy wires of the tower and starting at 95 feet. You can see the coaxial current chokes about 35 feet out from the tower in each of the top guy wires. The feedline from each dipole swings down from the coaxial chokes and over to the tower, where a remote coax switch provides control. A dipole for 75/80 and a dipole for 160 are also mounted on my tower at 95 ft. The flat top and thrust bearing for the rotatable yagis are at 97 feet, with a 2 3/16″ inch galvanized steel mast used for support. The yagis are: Cushcraft A3S for 10/15/20 meters, Cushcraft 5 element 6 meter yagi, Cushcraft 13B2 horizontally polarized for 2 meters SSB, and Cushcraft 13B2 vertically polarized for 2 meters FM. On the very top, with the base mounted at about 115′, is my 10 meter vertical. You’ll notice a side-mounted 220 yagi in this photo at about 70 feet, and you can just barely see a small 440 yagi mounted behind it (off of the rear tower leg). In the following photos, you’ll be able to see some of the other side-mounted yagis that I use for specific repeater control functions and dedicated connections.

Here are a few more pictures of my tower and antennas…

  • This is an older photo of my tower, before it had sooooo many side mounted things…
  • This is a fair photo of my tower and antennas from a distance.
    [bullet] There are still several pieces of my vintage gear in various stages of restoration. I collect primarily Heathkit, but I have a few other various rigs of other manufacture. Here are a few pictures of my other “boat anchors”…

-Heathkit SB-101 transceiver -Heathkit SB-630 Station Console and SB-600 Speaker -Heathkit SB-303 receiver -Heathkit SB-401 transmitter -Heathkit SB-301 receiver -Heathkit SB-310 receiver -Heathkit SB-650 digital frequency display -Heathkit HR-10B receiver -Heathkit DX-60B transmitter -Heathkit HW-101 transceiver -Heathkit HW-101 transceiver -Hallicrafters SX-42 receiver -Collins R-391 receiver -National NC-300 receiver -Boat Anchor! -Lafayette HE-50a/HE-62 -Old mics -WRL Galaxy -Broadcast receiver -Craftsman Broadcast receiver -Craftsman Broadcast receiver -Transformers

Now that you know I like to tinker/ build/restore radio gear, let me take you on a quick tour of my dungeon, where I spend a lot of time “playing”.

I have W.A.S. on 10 meters phone, WAC, and am currently tracking W.A.S. on all bands. It’s a lot of fun, but will take a few years, yet. My DXCC count is about 240 worked/156 confirmed. Boy, it’s a lot more difficult to get contacts confirmed than I thought it would be! Contesting is one of my interests, but I’m certainly not a “die-hard” at that facet of the hobby. I have been a “homebrewer” of ham radio gear for 28 years, and enjoy the hands-on aspects of the hobby. I have built/maintain several amateur repeaters, and have the makings of an ATV repeater in the shop. 900 mhz is a new frontier for me, and I’m working on a ATV project for that band with a couple of other local hams now.

Here are a few of the certificates and awards I’ve collected:

  • 1000 miles-per-watt, for contacting another station 962 miles away on 20m RTTY at a power output of .1 watt, the equivalent of 9620 miles per watt!
  • VE Certification, required to administer amateur radio exams.
  • The Great Lakes Award, for having contacted every state surrounding the Great Lakes on 10 meters SSB.
  • WAC, for having contacted every continent on the planet.
  • IARU HF Championship, for having taken 1st place in the NC division (single op, mixed mode) in 1994.
  • AMI (Amplitude Modulation International) membership certificate, for those interested in preservation of AM as an enjoyable mode.
  • SKN (Straight Key Night) participation certificate, an event that is held each year on New Year’s Eve.
  • RCC (Rag Chewers’ Club ) certificate.
  • 1st place in the US/NC division of the Nebraska QSO Party
    I enjoy working amateur radio while driving. I spend a lot of time behind the wheel, and ham radio is a perfect way to pass the time. My mobile amateur radio station is comprised of a RCI-2950 10 meter monoband rig coupled to a 200 watt rf power amplifier. I use it primarily to work into my local 10 meter FM repeater on 29.620. For VHF/UHF operation, I use a Kenwood TM-621 2m/220 dual band radio.

Another facet of ham radio is all the organizations that one can enjoy. I’m a member of the ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League), SERA (Southeast Repeater Association), TEARA (Triangle East Amateur Radio Association), and the 5CRG (Five County Repeater Group). These organizations enrich my enjoyment of Amateur Radio, and they all have various attributes that make them interesting.

Hey, check out an antenna party at my friend’s home, Tom W4SIS…

Look at another antenna party at my friend’s home, Jay KQ4MS…

Check out the following ham radio links at my buddy Steve KD4WIW’s website:

  • The Framed KD4WIW Website
  • The KD4WIW Amateur Radio Page Webpages
  • The KD4WIW Hardline for Sale Page
  • The KD4WIW Hardline Connector Installation Page
  • The 5 County Repeater Group Site
  • The KD4WIW 145 Foot Tall Self Supporting Tower
  • The KD4WIW Tower Equipment Page
  • The KD4WIW Tower Construction Page
  • Steve’s Motorcycle Shop Pages
  • Steve’s Personal Motorcycle Pages
  • Steve’s Zebulon NC Rescue Squad and EMS Page
  • Steve’s Vinson’s Family Information Page
  • Steve’s Carolina Mudcats Page

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Daily Recovery Readings

Daily Reflections

    PROTECTION FOR ALL

         At the personal level, anonymity provides protection for
         all members from identification as alcoholics, a safeguard
         often of special importance to newcomers. At the level of
         press, radio, TV, and films, anonymity stresses the
         equality in the Fellowship of all members by putting the
         brake on those who might otherwise exploit their A.A.
         affiliation to achieve recognition, power, or personal
         gain.
         "UNDERSTANDING ANONYMITY," p. 5

         Attraction is the main force in the Fellowship of A.A. The
         miracle of continuous sobriety of alcoholics within A.A.
         confirms this fact every day. It would be harmful if the
         Fellowship promoted itself by publicizing, through the
         media of radio and TV, the sobriety of well-known public
         personalities who became members of A.A. If these
         personalities happened to have slips, outsiders would think
         our movement is not strong and they might question the
         veracity of the miracle of the century. Alcoholics Anonymous
         is not anonymous, but its members should be.

      ***********************************************************

     Twenty-Four Hours A Day

      A.A. Thought For The Day

         We have slips in A.A. It has been said these are not slips
         but premeditated drunks, because we have to think about
         taking a drink before we actually take one. The thought always
         comes before the act. It has been suggested that people
         should always get in touch with an A.A. before taking that
         first drink. The failure to do so makes it probable that
         they decided to take the drink anyway. And yet the thoughts
         that come before taking a drink are often largely
         subconscious. People usually don't know consciously what
         made them do it. Therefore, the common practice is to call
         these things slips.  Am I on guard against wrong thinking?

         Meditation For The Day

         "The eternal God is thy refuge." He is a sanctuary, a refuge
         from the cares of life. You can get away from the
         misunderstanding of others by retiring into your own place of
         meditation. But from yourself, from your sense of failure,
         your weakness, your shortcomings, whither can you flee? Only
         to the eternal God, your refuge, until the immensity of His
         spirit envelopes your spirit and it loses its smallness and
         weakness and comes into harmony again with His.

         Prayer For The Day

         I pray that I may lose my limitations in the immensity of
         God's love. I pray that my spirit may be in harmony with
         His spirit.

    ***********************************************************

    As Bill Sees It            

    How Much Anonymity?, p. 43

    As a rule, the average newcomer wanted his family to know
    immediately what he was trying to do.  He also wanted to tell others
    who had tried to help him--his doctor, his minister, and close friends.
    As he gained confidence, he felt it right to explain his new way of life
    to his employer and business associates.  When opportunities to be
    helpful came along, he found he could talk easily about A.A. to almost
    anyone.

    These quiet disclosures helped him to lose his fear of the alcoholic
    stigma, and spread the news of A.A.'s existence in his community.
    Many a man and woman came to A.A. because of such conversations.
    Since it is only at the top public level that anonymity is expected, such
    communications were well within its spirit.

    12 & 12, pp. 185-186
    ***********************************************************

    Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Our Southern Friend

Pioneer A.A., minister’s son, and southern farmer, he asked, “Who am I to say there is no God?”

I am blue again. I want to sell the place and move away. I want to get where I can find some alcoholics to to help and where I can have some fellowship. Will I take a young fellow who has been drinking for two weeks to live with me? Soon I have others who are alcoholics and some who have other problems.
I begin to play God. I feel that I can fix them all. I do not fix anyone, but I am getting part of a tremendous education and I have made some new friends.
Nothing is right. Finances are in bad shape. I must find a way to make some money. The family seems to think of nothing but spending. People annoy me. I try to read. I try to pray. Gloom surrounds me. Why has God left me? I mope around the house. I will not go out and I will not enter into anything. What is the matter? I cannot understand. I will not be that way.

p. 217


     Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Four – “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”

If, however, our natural disposition is inclined to self righteousness or grandiosity, our reaction will be just the opposite. We will be offended at A.A.’s suggested inventory. No doubt we shall point with pride to the good lives we thought we led before the bottle cut us down. We shall claim that our serious character defects, if we think we have any at all, have been caused chiefly by excessive drinking. This being so, we think it logically follows that sobriety– first, last, and all the time–is the only thing we need to work for. We believe that our one-time good characters will be revived the moment we quit alcohol. If we were pretty nice people all along, except for our drinking, what need is there for a moral inventory now that we are sober?

p. 45


      A loving heart is the truest wisdom.
      --Charles Dickens

      "Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all
      yourself."
      --unknown

      He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has.
      --Henry Ward Beecher

      All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.
      --Ralph Waldo Emerson

      "To love another person is to see the face of God."
      --Victor Hugo

       ************************************************************

     Father Leo's Daily Meditation

      FATE

                                                 "I am the master of my fate; I
                                                  am the captain of my soul."
                                                      -- William E. Henley

      Things do not just happen, we make them happen. For years I thought that my getting
      well was dependent upon my family getting well. I rooted my recovery in the recovery
      of others. I was the typical co-dependent.

      Then somebody said, "Why don't you start taking responsibility for your own life?" I
      thought about that remark for weeks. I spent nights dwelling on the implications of
      those words. I am sure that I had heard similar sentiments a hundred times but that
      night, that special night, I was ready to hear them. A spiritual moment.

      Today I believe that such spiritual moments produce a spiritual process that I must
      keep alive. I am the deciding factor in what happens to me and what I can achieve.
      God has created me to be involved in my recovery.

      May I always steer my life in the direction of truth and love.

      ***********************************************************

      "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the
      body is weak."
      Matthew 26:41

      But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
      gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
      Galatians 5:22-23
    ************************************************************
      Daily Inspiration

Accept yourself for who you are because who you are has a purpose and an important reason for being. Lord, Your love for me makes me special and lovable.


Never let the abundance of gifts from God cause you to forget the Giver. Lord, may I start and end each day with a thank you to You for all of my blessings including those which I take for granted.

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TEARA’S HOMEBREWERS’ PAGES

Links to info about building radio equipment and accessories…
WAIT!! If you came to this page directly from a search engine or link, you’re missing out on hundreds of pages of amateur related info on our site. CLICK HERE, or click the floating TEARA link on the page, to move to the top of our site. From there, you can select ‘TEARA’s Links’, and return to this page, complete with all of our site navigation tools. Enjoy your visit with TEARA!

AIM Electronics
All Electronics Corp
AllTronics
American Milspec
Antique Electronic Supply Online!
Byers Chassis Kits
Cable Experts
Chip Directory!!!
Circuit Works Custom PC board fabrication
Cirrus Logic
Coax – Davis RF
Component Forums at EIO. These are Wonderful, check them out!!
Consolidated Electronics Inc
Dan’s Small Parts
Digi-Key Corporation Home Page
EIO, a HUGE electronics surplus outlet in Redondo Beach, CA!
Electronics USA Unique Ham Radio products, electronic kits, and cool gadgets.
Exar Analog Devices
Fair Radio
Far Circuits Supplier of kits and parts
Greenstone USA Manufacturer/Distributor of Vacuum Tubes for all applications
Greg’s page Nice photos and loads of links
Harry’s Homebrew Homepages
HAMMOND MFG. CO. Enclosures, Transformers & Power Bars
Hitachi
HMC Electronics
Homebrew Radio Gear-K9GDT
HW-7 Mods Better rx for the HW-7!
John’s page Well done page about John’s homebrew station and more
Kanga USA QRP kits and parts.
Intersil
MCM Electronics
Motorola
Mouser Electronics
National Semiconductors
Newark Electronics
NTE Electronics
Ocean State Electronics
Pacific Semiconductors
Parts Express
PennState Component Database page
QRP Homebuilder’s Page Loads of great projects!
Radio Shack
RASON Projects Page Many projects for the shack from N1HFX
RF Connection Specialist in RF Connectors and Coax
RF Parts
Transmission Line Calculator
Value Surplus
Wireman Coax, connectors, antenna wire, etc…
Do you know of any additional Homebrew websites that I could add to this page? Are any of the links you tried on this site broken?? If so, please drop me an email by clicking –>HERE<–, or email to [email protected]

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The Triangle Kite Association

Welcome to the home page for the Triangle Kite Association. The group is currently forming. Our first meeting was on August 23, 1997, and we decided to create a loosely organized club that meets monthly and simply flies together. This page is was created to showcase kite related information on the net. Look for much interesting information from club member bios to a gallery of pictures from both the club and others.

Now, some of you may be asking, ” WHAT is the Triangle? ” Here in North Carolina we have a wonderful area situated between three major univeristies called the Research Triangle Park. Thus, the cities of Raleigh and Durham together with the various smaller towns like Cary and Apex just form one metroplex which we affectionately call the Triangle.

The Gallery

As it grows, look for more in the gallery both from us and from others. Right now we just have a few pictures of me, Dan Amerson, and Hunter Brown flying indoor with custom kites that Hunter made and a Shanti Allegro. Feel free to send any pictures that you might want on the web to me as well. Email is at the bottom.

  1. Closeup of the Allegro
  2. Dan with the Allegro in background
  3. An action shot of Dan doing a flat spin
  4. Hunter in flat spin motion
  5. Randy Tom’s Disney Film Ribbon Kite
  6. Hunter’s Giant Soccer Ball.

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Feeding your Black Flag cravings since 1996!

Feeding your Black Flag cravings since 1996!

The big shows really did go down on September 12th & 13th, 2003. Thousands of Black Flag fans came out in all their punk rock glory to see it and the stories are already streaming in. For a change, I’m updating the site in a timely manner to post a section that shares your opinions, thoughts, experiences, and feelings of the shows so that the people who weren’t able to go can get some kind of sense of how it went down. That and I’m also curious how other people felt about the whole thing. So far, the responses are anything but dull!

Now it’s your turn! I want to hear any stories or opinions from the reunion shows! Also, if anyone has pictures or video, please let me know. I’ll post my own thoughts later, but I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU NOW!

Just to let you know, I kept track of the songs and should be posting a complete setlist very shortly. I also have some film that’s going to be developed and hopefully a few good shots will result. Keep checking back!

Oh, apologies to all of the people who actually wanted to meet me at the show… all three of you. I had no idea of the layout of the venue and no idea how to coordinate the whole thing.


Feeding your Black Flag cravings since 1996!


The big shows really did go down on September 12th & 13th, 2003. Thousands of Black Flag fans came out in all their punk rock glory to see it and the stories are already streaming in. For a change, I’m updating the site in a timely manner to post a section that shares your opinions, thoughts, experiences, and feelings of the shows so that the people who weren’t able to go can get some kind of sense of how it went down. That and I’m also curious how other people felt about the whole thing. So far, the responses are anything but dull!

Now it’s your turn! I want to hear any stories or opinions from the reunion shows! Also, if anyone has pictures or video, please let me know. I’ll post my own thoughts later, but I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU NOW!

Just to let you know, I kept track of the songs and should be posting a complete setlist very shortly. I also have some film that’s going to be developed and hopefully a few good shots will result. Keep checking back!

Oh, apologies to all of the people who actually wanted to meet me at the show… all three of you. I had no idea of the layout of the venue and no idea how to coordinate the whole thing.


If you heard the Rise Above compilation or saw Rollins Band this summer and you’re interested in reading more about the West Memphis Three, this book was recommended to me at the show by a girl whose name I’ve forgotten. It gets into the details of the case in a straightforward manner and lays pretty much all of it out. As always, see if you can get it at your local indie bookstore!


Oh, just to let you know, I have NO idea what’s up with the counter. At one point it listed over 30,000 visitors. Then it dropped down to nothing. Currently it’s over 54,000 (again) but I’m sure it’ll blow up again. Even though it’s been insanely busy lately, we generally get about 50-100 hits a day. Figure that over 6 years if you want to get an estimate. Oh joy…


www.officialcirclejerks.com is the official site for the Circle Jerks. The word is someone stole their original URL from them at renewal and tried to sell it back to them. I guess they hadn’t heard cyber-squatting went out of fashion with bola neck ties and alligator skin Pez dispensers. Back to the Jerks, the tour in July apparently went well (but I couldn’t make any of the dates, damn it!). Check the site out for some great interviews with the boys.

I know I offered to help direct those of you who wanted to contribute: now I’ve got a link that might be of some use. Try sending e-mail here to see about helping Keith out!


Not only was Henry Rollins in Dogtown and Z-Boys, he was also in Jackass: the Movie! He takes part in "Off-Road Tattoo" where he drives a Hummer over rough terrain as Steve-O gets a tattoo. The background music? Black Flag‘s Drinking and Driving. Yes, I know… Jackass is far too mundane for your highbrow tastes (otherwise you wouldn’t be here…) Honestly, I thought the show Jackass was retarded, insane, inane, pathetic crap. And it is. But it’s still one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. Watch it with a crowd and you’ll see. Would I lie to you… sugar?

Rollins was also in Bad Boys II playing a DEA Agent in Charge. He talked about this experience on his last spoken tour… interesting stuff. He’s also going to be the voice lead in a new video game called Mace Griffin. Does he ever stop?


Due to a few repeated questions over the years, I’m thinking of coming up with a FAQ for Black Flag. It’s kinda redundant considering how much info is already on the site, but there are some things that don’t fit into easy categories.

At the risk of cheating slightly, feel free to ask some questions with some relevance to the band. Please, no questions about favorite foods or with whom they would want to be stranded on a deserted island.


It appears as though Screw Radio has gone forward into the past. It’s not clear whether Ginn wanted to focus on other things or if they were forced off the air, but they’re gone regardless. Sorry to all who missed it.


A Note About The Content: Like I said above, I really do appreciate everyone checking out the site… that’s why it’s there: for all of you! But one thing that’s bothered me a bit is how much of my content ends up on other people’s sites. The original Black Flag logo I designed using Paint Shop Pro clear back in autumn of 1996 has finally been retired because I’ve seen it now on at least 3 other sites as their main banner (believe it or not, even SST used it when they first put up a Black Flag page in 1999!) A lot of the images I scanned and edited have shown up on other sites as well. That doesn’t bother me much as I acquired those by scanning published books and such; however, I also try to give credit by telling people to pick up a copy of Get In The Van or Hardcore California. I believe in giving credit where credit is due.

The biggest offense I’ve taken thus far, however, is with 2.13.61. Before their recent website overhaul, they lifted absolutely everything from my own history that’s been up since 1997! Sure, most of the pictures were from Rollins book, but they took every single scan from my site and put them up unedited. What was most offensive is that my text was posted both unedited and uncredited. While I was flattered that my text graced their site, I was also somewhat offended since they never asked (or even notified) me, nor was I credited in any way. I sent them a polite e-mail regarding this in summer 2001, but I never received a response. Though the site has since been removed, it existed between at least 18 August, 2000 and July 20, 2001. Feel free to check it out at The Internet Archive!

Do I blame Rollins? No. He pays people to design his site for him. I blame the website designers for cheating Henry out of some money he paid to them to design a page and then stole content from me. Do I feel cheated? Only in that I wasn’t given credit. I never asked for money, just the credit. I also know of a ton of people out there who provide pictures and such and never ask a dime… just the credit for doing the work. With this in mind, I’d just like to request that people do the right thing and give the artist or technician the credit they deserve in creating something. It’s not asking too much.

Note: Another guy who’s upset me a wee bit is this guy. He’s just regurgitated a large portion of my site (hastily rewritten, but all the info is reiterated) and flat out stolen most of my pictures and custom graphics. And not one link or mention to me despite this little rant put up a year ago! Not to mention that his e-mail address didn’t work when I tried to e-mail him about it.

Yet another one has taken my histories of both Black Flag and Henry Rollins word for word and posted them. Thanks, bud!

Thanks for hearing my piece. I’m stepping off the soap box so you can go on about your day. Enjoy!

As always, I’ll update the page when I can! Feel free to suggest things or just write!

I’m still considering moving this site to a different locale sometime in the near future. Please keep your eyeballs peeled if you can and help me with the transition and updating them silly search engines…

Got a Black Flag story? Any pictures you want others to see? Opinions?
Please mail me and send your stories and info…

AVOIDING OR CORRECTING DOMINANCE PROBLEMS

Experienced dog owners and breeders rarely have dominance-related problems, because they are accustomed to presenting a “benevolent Alpha” image to their animals. This comes naturally to some people, and less so to others. It is easily learned, and not difficult to do. You must, as in all other training forms, be consistent. If you don’t it is confusing for the dog, and he will not learn or progress.

With young puppies, 8 to 12 weeks, mouthing is gently discouraged. Any mouthing is almost always dominance related, whether is is directed at your hands, legs, clothing, or the leash. Sometimes the only discouragement needed if the mouthing is directed at you is a loud “OWWEEE!! THAT HURTS!” Another excellent and non-violent deterrent is a distasteful substance squirted into the mouth. A plastic lemon that comes with lemon juice inside is ideal. Vinegar may also be used. It should be squirted directly into the mouth when the mouthing occurs, while you say “NO BITE.” Ignore the ensuing theatrics. More persistent puppies may need a gentle grasping of the muzzle, a look into the eyes, and a firm “No Bite” in a low, growly tone. Ballistic cases may need more drastic measures such as grasping the skin around the sides of the face with each hand, lifting the front feet off the ground, giving a brisk shake, and a VERY growly “NO BITE!!” with direct eye contact close to the puppy’s face. If possible this puppy should be held with the front feet off the ground until he stops struggling. In some cases, a better response is obtained by gently turning the puppy on his side, with his legs facing away from you. Hold the puppy with one hand on the scruff area, and one hand on the flank or rear area. The puppy should be firmly held in this position until all struggle stops. Once the puppy is quiet, stroke him gently. If he continues to be quiet and still, let him up. If struggling resumes, continue to hold him. After this sort of correction, the pup should be ignored or crated for a brief period, and then allowed to make up. If the mouthing continues, another correction is in order.

Jumping up or pawing should also be discouraged in puppies. The easiest solution to this problem is to train the puppy to sit on command. When jumping is likely, use the sit command, and reward a proper response with quiet praise and a food reward. If the puppy needs further assistance, I find that a gentle but firm grasp of the muzzle, and an easy, slow, push into the sit position while holding the muzzle seems to help. A hand on the chest may help with larger puppies. The puppy must be GENTLY helped into the sit. Never slam or use extreme force to make a puppy sit. You may injure growing bones and tissue. The puppy should be praised, and perhaps offered a treat when he assumes the sit position. If a puppy is persistent, or is leaping instead of just mildly placing his paws on you, he should meet the palm of your hand with his nose as he rises to jump. The hand should be STILL, not swatting at the puppy. His impetus should provide the correction, not the movement of your hand. As he contacts the hand in the way of his nose, you should say “OFF! Sit.” Praise immediately as the puppy sits.

Puppies should learn from the word go that possessiveness over food or toys will not be tolerated. I start with puppies by having 2 of each toy. We play “trade”, either for another toy, or for a cookie. The food bowl is held on occasion, and the dog is hand fed a few bites of food. He should learn that you are not going to take it away, but he is not allowed to be possessive of it. If the pup growls, he should be corrected as for the “ballistic mouther”. I personally press for the puppy to get to a point where he will growl at me, so that I can use this correction. I want to be able to express to the puppy (while he is still a puppy) that growling or challenging THIS Alpha will not be accepted. I have never had to correct a puppy more than once. If you do it correctly, neither will you.

Begging from the table, or staring during mealtime should not be tolerated. I give my dogs direct eye contact, sit as tall in my chair as I can, curl my lips to show my teeth, and growl seriously. Most (almost all) dogs will retreat and lie down. If they do not, they should be crated during your mealtimes until they show more respect for the Alpha (you!).

Positive obedience training can and should start very early. Puppies can begin training as soon as you acquire them. It is NOT necessary, NOR advisable, to wait until 6 months. You should observe at least one training class, preferably a beginners class, WITHOUT YOUR DOG, before you decide on an instructor. Find a trainer who has titled dogs, and who uses positive methods. If they are yanking and jerking dogs around on a slip collar, you are not in the right place.

With dominance problems concerning older dogs, these sort of physical corrections may not be in order, or possible. However, proper pack order can still be restored by a persistent owner.

Regular obedience training is a must, and positive, reward-based methods should be used. Harsh corrections may cause a problem to escalate. Choose your instructor wisely, and avoid anyone advocating harsh or violent corrections.

At home, the dominant dog should be required to do the following:

  1. Sit before going out or coming in any door. Handler goes first. Ditto for in and out of the crate. No charging out allowed. A well-timed crate door closing will quickly teach the dog not to rush out. You should get to the point where you can open the door, and the dog will wait for you to say “OK” to come out.
  2. Sit before mealtime, any treats, or any petting. If petting is demanded by the dog, he must at LEAST sit first (down is better), and then you should pet the dog briefly (30 seconds), fold your arms, and say “That’s it”. No more petting for at least 10 minutes after the dog demands to be petted. Games should be initiated and ended by the HANDLER, not the dog. No tug of war, or any other type of game that pits the dog’s strength against you. Retrieving is the only game recommended for large dogs exhibiting dominance problems. The dog must be trained to retrieve the object and release it to you. A retractable lead is very handy to use in this sort of training.
  3. No stepping over the dog in the house. If he is in the way, he must move.
  4. The dog should learn to stand still for regular grooming sessions, including toenail cutting. This may need to be done gradually.
  5. A long down should be taught and enforced each night. The dog should learn to do a 20 minute long down, preferably during your mealtime. No staring or begging allowed. If this cannot be discouraged by direct eye contact from you and growling, the dog should be placed on his down behind a sofa or other piece of furniture so he cannot see you. The down should be enforced by simply returning the dog to his original position each and every time he moves. Neither the stay nor the down command should be repeated. If the dog gets up 100 times, you must put him back 101. No toys, cheweys, or other distractions should be provided to the dog during this long down. The dog should be formally released with an “OK!” afterwards.
  6. No getting up on the furniture with or without you. Dog should not be allowed in your bedroom at all. Free access to all parts of the house is not allowed. Dog should be denied access to “key areas” like a staircase where he can “survey his domain”, or doorways with a view of larger areas. This is easily accomplished with baby gates. The dog should sleep in a crate away from your sleeping area at night.
  7. Crates are not recommended for use as punishment, however, in some dogs with dominance problems, a “time-out” area has been successful in shaping better behaviors. This time out area should be away from the main living area of the house, perhaps in a spare bedroom. If the dog is not behaving in the expected manner, and the recommended methods are not helpful, he may be isolated in this room in a crate for a brief (10 minutes) period.The adult dog with dominance problems is a very serious issue. These dogs are often euthanised because of the inability to resolve these undesirable and possibly dangerous behaviors. Humans are not equipped to confront an adult dog on a physical level to resolve these pack-leadership problems. The methods described can help in many situations to return the HUMAN to his/her rightful position as pack leader.If you have a puppy, especially a male, be wise, and don’t ever let him feel that he is the alpha. This is not cruel. Dogs are much more comfortable and happier when they have a strong leader figure to guide them. The pressure is then off of them to make decisions. In my home, a slightly gentler regimen is always followed. Sits before meals or treats are regular procedure. No food or toy guarding is ever demonstrated. No begging is ever done at the dinner table. There is no correction needed. The dogs know what is expected. I even occasionally give the dogs a treat from the table. They know, however, if they beg or stare, no treat will be forthcoming. As mentioned in the beginning, I do not have, nor have I EVER had a dominance problem with any dog I have raised. In the event one of my dogs “forgets” her manners, a direct look from me is all that is needed. Everything runs smoothly, because there is an absolute pack order. Your home can be the same way. Just be the benevolent Alpha!Bibliography (and suggested reading):

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Sailing Events Page, 24 February 2005

The Raleigh Boat Show:
We had a great show and we were really glad to see all of our old customers and friends. It didn’t snow or rain, but it was very cold on Saturday. The Show Picnic Cat found a new home and decided to stay in Raleigh.

A Cape Island Trawler At The Boat Show:
The Sailboat Company will be showing our new Cape Island 21 Pilot House Trawler at the Raleigh Boat Show 18 to 20 February. This boat is a traditional working trawler built in Nova Scotia. A little boat with lots of room that’s affordable. Come see us at the Show.

A New Use For The Com-Pac 23:
It looks like the Com-Pac 23 may become a true trailable boat. It has always been a big job moving our 3000-pound boat with the heavy rigging from point to point. Launching and putting it in a slip took an hour or more of hard physical work. It appears that we now have a solution for the setup and launching problem. We have a new mast tender system designed like the Com-Pac 19 featured under our “Com-Pac Conversions” link on this web site. The problem with the mast tender system and Com-Pac 23 was the way the mast compression post was designed. The Com-Pac 23 uses two bulkheads to support the mast and the other mast tender boats use a mast stub inside the boat. Our new mast tender design for the Com-Pac 23 should solve the mast support problem and maintain the original cabin appearance. The new design will use the existing mainsheet and the original mast to reduce cost. The boat will still be a sloop with the original sails. We should have a boat sailing in May 2005. A Horizon Cat trailer is the other component that’s going to make the Com-Pac 23 trailable. The side by side picture of the old Com-Pac 23 trailer and a new Horizon Cat trailer show a 10-inch difference in height.

Com-Pac 19 With The Mast Tender:
An old Com-Pac 19 that’s almost as good as a new Eclipse 20. Notice in the picture that the spreaders have been removed. The uppers chain plates were moved back on the hull. The backstay was removed. The unused backstay was converted to a forestay with a tension device. A mast hinge, a boom gallows and a new longer boom was installed. The sailcover was modified and that’s it for this boat. A new lower Eclipse trailer with bent axles would have completed the conversion to a more trailable Com-Pac Yacht.

Boat Show In Raleigh:
The Raleigh Boat at the State Fair Gounds will be 18th through the 20th of February. I hope everyone can come.

Trip To The Factory:
The Com-Pac Factory is alive and well. Five new boats were shipped to Oregon just before Christmas. We picked up the first Com-Pac Eclipse sold to a customer in North Carolina. It was hull number 23. We have been selling Eclipse and Horizon Cat trailers for the old Com-Pac 19s and 23s. Those trailers have bent axles that make them lower to the ground and their length helps the launching process. We picked up a new main sail for the first Com-Pac 23-converted gaff sloop. That boat should be sailing in the spring. All the parts are in Richlands for the first converted Mast Tender rig for a Com-Pac 19. Pictures will be available soon. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Road Closed:
The Sailboat Company is located 2 miles outside Richlands, NC on Gum Branch Road. Traffic on Gum Branch Road has been interrupted because a small bridge between Richlands and The Sailboat Company is being replaced. The best way to reach The Sailboat Company if you’re coming from Raleigh is to continue east/south through Richlands on highway 258/24 for another 3 miles. Turn left at the second paved road (Detour Sign). Continue on that road for another 4 miles until you reach Gum Branch Road. Turn left on Gum Branch Road and we are about 3 more miles on the left-hand side. Follow the local traffic signs.

Air Conditioning:
Our little window air conditioner mounted inside a Com-Pac 23 is doing a great cooling job. The unit is quiet and sleeping is going to be good. Air temperature inside the boat can be reduced to 64 degrees. That’s a little cold for most people. We tested the system on a humid 85-degree summer day. Temperatures inside the seat locker reached 100 degrees with the seat hatches closed and 98 degrees with the seat hatches open.

This 5K-window air conditioner can be powered with shore power or a small generator. Anchoring out with air conditioning is now possible for most sailboats. No bugs and a comfortable nights sleep are possible at a very small cost.

Web Messages:
Sometimes we can’t communicate. The SPAM problem has reduced our means of communications via e-mail. SPAM filters can block normal e-mail communications between our customers and us. Most small businesses use local servers that can also be used by people that generate SPAM. Our solution to the problem is web mail. A new link on our web site is “Ask Questions”. Fill out the form and ask your question. We will answer your question by the next business day. Our answers will be posted on “Answers”. Talk to you soon.

Anti-Hurricane Discontinued:
I hope everyone has a copy of our Hurricane Program that needed one. Maintaining the web site and doing downloads from an Earthlink server became a real chore. Anyone interested in Yacht Performance, The Hurricane Program and North Carolina Navigation software should talk to me via e-mail. We can still download copies via e-mail if you have a hi-speed connection.

The Sailboat Company Is Leaving Raleigh:
The Sailboat Company is consolidating its sales efforts in Richlands, NC. The Raleigh sales office will close on 1 September 2004. Boat Show participation in Raleigh will not change. We hope to see all of our Triangle customers at the Raleigh Boat Show in February.

Second Hurricane:
Charley was another small hurricane for us. It was a big hurricane for Florida. The eye and the eye wall passed over Richlands with about 70-MPH winds and 6 inches of rain. Damage was limited to treetops and some power outages in the area. Our Internet service provider (ISP) for our hurricane program took us off the air because we had excessive traffic on the site. Downloads for the month exceeded 1GB of traffic on the 13th of August. Service should be available again on 1 September.

First Hurricane:
This is a small hurricane. The wind is going to be about 60 knots. This is low wind and we are going to be on the good side of the storm. Our position will see the wind and hurricane movement opposing each other on this track.

Hurricane Damage:
We have just finished repairing the last hurricane damaged boat from Isabel. Sailboats are normally damaged from contact with docks, from other boats in an anchorage and sometimes trees if your boat is on a trailer. This is the time to start planning for the current hurricane season. It’s important to have a plan.

Your degree of concern should be based on the path of the hurricane. Anti-Hurricane software is available over the web and it’s free. The link is on the left. It will show you the hurricane’s path and the time remaining before landfall.

Most boats in coastal NC do well if anchored out with one big anchor and lots of room to move around. This is the time to check your anchor, line and anchorage. If you do sustain hurricane damage, we like to think that we can repair anything and make it better than new. The pictures below are the before and after pictures of the same boat. Good boat insurance is really important.

Air Conditioning:
Sometimes technologies designed for one purpose can be used in other applications. Small inexpensive window air conditioners for home use are going to work well in small sailboats. The AC units cost about $79. There size is a small 12 inches by 12 inches by 18 inches. That’s small enough to fit inside most small sailboats. The hot end lives in the seat locker, the cold end operates in the cabin and the condensation water drains into the bilge. The seat locker area should be separated from the cabin with a bulkhead. If you don’t have a bulkhead, you need to build one.

When window air conditioner were bigger, we would position a unit in the cockpit in front of the main hatch. This system worked on hot nights, but the AC needed to be stored when the boat moved and you had to step over the unit going in and out of the cabin. Our new smaller units are secured inside the boat. They are not going to move around while we are sailing. No special storage is required and the it’s out of the way.

A small Honda generator can power the AC. The Honda runs at idle speed with the AC at maximum cool. We should sleep well. You can see my air conditioner inside the Com-Pac 23 seat locker below.

Locator System:
We have a new toy at The Sailboat Company. It’s a locator system for our mobile operations. A large part of selling small sailboats is moving boats from point to point. We purchased a Pocket PC with a built-in cell phone to provide emergency communications on the road. We have Sprint’s minimum minutes (300) plan with their optional data services. The data service cost $15 per month for unlimited use.

We have been using Pocket PCs for several years doing GPS navigation and recordings. Our GPS receiver plugs into the Pocket PC and a little software program measures our progress on the road or on the water. I think the Pocket PC is a great knot meter for most boats. I can see the big numbers with my limited vision. The units are portable and I move them from boat to boat.

The locator system is a combination of both systems with the Pocket PC in the middle. A GPS receiver gives me my coordinates every 2 seconds. Our software program processes the GPS coordinates and then transfers my position to my web server using the Sprint PCS phone system. Sprint cell phone coverage in my area is excellent.

When we get 100% coverage in Coastal North Carolina waters, everyone will know where we are when we go sailing. I think that’s going to be good safety feature for most sailors. Three files on your personal web site and the hardware above is all you need. The link on the left, “Company Mobile” shows my current location and when the last fix was obtained. I only operate the system when I’m on the move.

Com-Pac Pictures:
Com-Pac owners should check out the club web page. We have new factory pictures. The 23 looks good.

Com-Pac 23 Change:
A new model of the Com-Pac 23 is being built. It will have the Com-Pac 25 rub rail and other major improvements. It will be called a Com-Pac 23 Mark IV. I thought old boat was a great looking boat.

Com-Pac Club Outing:
The details of the June Com-Pac Club outing are posted on the CPYANC news letter page.

Chesapeake Bay Ferry Trip:
We were going south and everyone else was going north. The first day was a 70 mile passage from Patuxent River, Maryland to Deltaville, Virginia. The wiggles in the track is maneuvering to avoid crab pots in our path. The distance across the mouth of the Potomac River is about 10 miles. Lots of pots in that area. The first anchorage was Fishing Bay in Deltaville, Virginia. A big storm required an extra day at anchor in Fishing Bay. The next leg was a short trip to Norfolk, Virginia. I’m sorry I didn’t save that track. It was a boo boo on my part. The next leg shows our departure from Water Side in downtown Norfolk and our progress south. That leg is about 30 miles long and moved through an area with lots of bridges. One bridge broke and we waited for 2 hours until it was fixed. Our engine failed at the end of the track at Pungo Ferry Marina. The engine was over heating and it appeared to be a catastrophic failure. A decision was make to transport the boat to Flordia by truck. Check out our pictures by clicking the Florida Ferry Trip link on the left.

Good Times Are Here Again:
The Hutchins Company has orders for big boats through January 2005. Their big boats are the Com-Pac 25, 27 and 35. Small sailboats are still available in about 6 weeks.

A Quick Passage:
Bill DeHart departed Jacksonville, NC April 19 for Oriental, NC in his new Com-Pac Horizon Cat. He stopped at Casper’s Marina in Swansboro for one night and pressed on the next day. The wind was 25 knots on the nose during the first afternoon. The second day was better. The little boat did a fast 6 knots at 2200 rpms. A dry bilge and a good sleeping boat made for two happy sailors. Bill’s home port is Pierce Creek at Oriental.

A Pocket PC With An Internal Cell Phone:
I plan on updating this web site from a Pearson 32 as we ferry it down the Intracoastal Waterway. A link featuring the ferry trip is located at the bottom of page on the left. Our departure point is Patuxent River, Maryland on or about 7 May 2004. There is a fine line between an ordeal and an adventure. We tried the same ferry trip in early April and it was definitely an ordeal. Cold, big winds and waves. We decided that maybe May would be a better departure month. You should be able to see the boat’s progress on our web map and read my daily comments as we try the ferry trip one more time.

Chesapeake Bay Ferry Trip:
There are good days and there are bad days. Bad days have big wind and cold conditions. Spring weather conditions on the Bay were forcast for 6 foot seas and 60 mph wind gusts. Waiting for the weather to moderate in a slip with the boat heeling 25 degrees and 30 degree temperatures at night isn’t fun. However, being in the slip was a lot better than being on the Bay were we would have been the only boat out there. The wind reduced the water level on the Bay by 3 feet and that made getting into marinas located in adjoining rivers and creeks impossible. Once you made it to the Bay, you could be there for a long time. We cancelled the ferry trip and decided to do it next month. The Pearson 32 is going to move from the Patuxent River in Maryland to Jacksonville, FL. Next month should have more good days than bad days. Stopping for long periods of time for weather can be expensive.

A Mast Tender System For The Com-Pac 16:
The best looking boat at the Raleigh Boat Show was a good looking green hulled Com-Pac 16. The boat was equipped with the popular mast tender system and was sloop rigged. The mast tender system is a stub mast with the boom resting between the stub and the boom gallows. The main sail is ready to be raised. Hinge the mast up and go sailing. The boat is a restored 1986 model that looked as good as new. Everyone liked the green color.

The Com-Pac 20:
The new boat is selling well. Com-Pac has 11 boats sold or on order as of this date. It going to be a winner.

NC Coastal Mapping Software:
Our NC Coastal Mapping Software is still available for downloading. The price is the same, free. Send me an email if you want a copy.

Travelers:
IdaSailor makes a pretty traveler for sailboats without a standard traveler installed. We just purchased an IdaSailor traveler for a new Precision 23 and it going to work really well. The purpose of the traveler is to adjust the mainsail’s angle of attack or trim. The main sheet adjusts and maintains mainsail twist. IdaSailor’s address is www.idasailor.com. We do custom installations on most sailboats using IdaSailor hardware.

The Raleigh Boat Show:
The North Carolina Power Boat And Sailboat Show is scheduled for 20 to 22 February at the State Fair Grounds. The Sailboat Company will be showing a new Precision 185 and a pretty little Com-Pac Picnic Cat. Come on by the show and we can talk sailing and boats. We hope to have a restored Com-Pac 16 for the show. See you there.

The Com-Pac Eclipse or Com-Pac 20:
The boat looks good. The boat sails good. The boat’s retail price is $19,995. That’s better than the 24K rumor we heard several months ago. It’s on a one axle trailer and that’s good for price reasons. The climb-up rear cockpit area is going to work well. Life lines are optional and a furling jib is standard. The inside has the Horizon Cat’s jointer work, a full galley and bunks for 4 adults. Pictures are on the Com-Pac Club web site. We can start calling it the Com-Pac 20 anytime.

The Com-Pac Eclipse:
The last of the new boat’s construction tooling is being processed at the factory and a new Com-Pac Eclipse will be rolling off the assembly line soon. The planned debut will be at the Atlantic City boat show this winter. This boat has a new modern look for a Com-Pac Yacht of this size. The reverse transom and stainless steel stern arch are contemporary design features currently found only on the Com-Pac 35. The mast raising system for the Eclipse has the popular Com-Pac cat boat system redesigned for the Eclipse. The mast will fold with a hinge like the cat boats, but will be pinned and unpinned for movement fore and aft to accommodate the longer mast configuration. The cockpit features a built in stern pulpit for those sailors concerned about an open transom. The small stern pulpit will still allow easy access to the cockpit while the boat is on the trailer. The trailer is going to be single axle and low to the ground. The keel has room for a center board and a diesel motor. The diesel will be an option in future boats.

This design of this boat is going to retain the sailing qualities of the old Com-Pac Yachts and satisfy the modern need for an easy to launch coastal sailboat. Spending an hour in the parking lot getting ready to go sailing was never fun and the cost of a slip can be expensive. This may be the ultimate sailboat for the masses and maybe the “Boat of Year” for 2004.

We Lost Another Pioneer:
Jerry Koch was the owner and builder of Nimble Boats. He passed away this month in Florida doing what he liked to do best, building boats and talking to people about boats and boat building. Jerry was a positive person that really liked innovation and change in his boat business. He was blessed with a great personality that everyone enjoyed. He could sell you a boat in one conversation most of the time. His boats were full of great ideas that originated with Jerry. We are going to miss Jerry Koch and his enthusiasm for small boats.

The Annapolis Boat Show:
The economy has improved. There were more vendors at the sailboat show this year than last year and maybe for the last several years. Business is good. Com-Pac had a 35 and 25 in the water and a Horizon Cat and Sun Cat on land. Precision had a 23, 18 and 185 on land. The city docks were under water during hurricane Isabel, but that didn’t stop the city from cleaning it up and getting on with the show. The shops around the dock area were operating like normal. The food was excellent as usual. Why are all the shrimp in that area so large? I always gain a pound or two at the show.

Precision and Com-Pac have backorders into next year. If you need something for the 2004 season, order it early. The canvas people and sail makers are going to have their hands full. It takes time for businesses like that to hire new people and ramp up for new business. New boat models like the Com-Pac 19 may be pushed back a little because of increased business in their existing line of boats.

Isabel:
We exceeded our 1GB monthly data transfer quota with our Earthlink ISP in July and September and our downloads were cut off. The heavy transfer rate was caused by individuals downloading the hurricane software during those months. NC Navigator and Hurricane software downloads were effected by the outage. We apologize for any inconvenience. Sorry about that.

The Sailboat Company will be concentrating on sailboat repairs and maintenance during the next few weeks. Trawler construction has been suspended until our customer’s boat damage has been repaired. We anticipate that everything will be back to normal by the new year. We are taking enough time off to go to the Annapolis Boat next week and will make a report when we return.

Sailing School For New Sailors:
We have an on line sailing school for new sailors. The link is on the left under “New Sailors”. This free program provide lots of fundamental sailing information for anyone interested in sailing. Maybe more information than we first anticipated. We plan on answering questions if you want clarification on some of the details via e-mail. Your questions and my answers may be published on this web site for the benefit of other sailors.

Post Hurricane Isabel:
Richlands had 70 knots of wind and 3 inches of rain. We were in Isabel’s eye wall on the south side, but didn’t receive any boat or property damage from the wind. If your boat is on our yard, it’s OK. The sailors in the Neuse River and points north were not as lucky. We will be doing coastal cleanup for a long time to come.

Hurricane Isabel:
Boats that’s can be pulled out of the water started the evacuation process early. They were moving on the roads going west during the weekend with Isabel expected on Thursday. Isabel is a slow mover at 7 to 9 knots of forward speed with landfall somewhere on the outer banks of North Carolina. Hurricanes that track EAST of your position will produce north winds at your position as they move north. Hurricanes that track WEST of your position will produce south winds at your position as they move north. That’s why tracking a hurricane is important if you have property, relatives or friends on the coast. Maximum winds will be in the northeast quadrant of most hurricanes. The speed increase in that area is because the counter clockwise rotation speed adds to the forward motion speed. On the backside of the hurricane, the opposite effect takes place reducing the overall wind speed in that area. If you live on the coast, you need to know the big wind direction if your boat is in the water. Large boats can’t be pulled out of the water and marina docks can be a dangerous place for your boat during a hurricane. If you know the wind direction, you can tell if your boat going to on the dock or being held off the dock.

Boats on our yard are pointed north with blocks behind the trailer wheels. The big boats have extra supports and are pointed in the same direction. Trailer boats are tied to their trailers and everything loose is secured. Local marinas in the area have boats anchored out or removed from the docks before the hurricane arrives. We have another 6 hours before the rain starts and the big wind will arrive tomorrow. We expect a maximum wind speed of 60 knots at our location 20 miles inland from the coast. We are going to be on the good side of the hurricane if our calculations are correct. The red dot on the graphics is Richlands.

Wind On Kerr Lake:
Michael Young and his first mate are enjoying some good wind on Kerr Lake. The Precision 18 is in the grove and doing its thing.

Precision 18.5 Coming Soon:
The new Precision 18.5 will be arriving in September. We plan on doing a computer race with the 18.5 after it arrives. We are going to race the Precision 16.5 and the 15 when we get some wind. Racing this year has had its problems. No wind and lots and lots of rain has made summer sailing difficult. We are hoping for an outstanding fall sailing season.

A Jib For The Sun Cat:
We are working on a bowsprit and jib for the Sun Cat. The Sun Cat could use a little more sail area if your a lake sailor. We hope to offer the modification as a kit some time soon. Some older sailors will remember the first Island Packet 26 back in 1986. That boat was originally created from the hull and deck molds of a Bombay Trader cat boat. Long bowsprits have always been very popular in traditional boats.

The New Com-Pac 19:
The Com-Pac 18 is going to be the New Com-Pac 19. The boat is longer than originally planned. We should have new pictures in about a week. I’m on my way to Flordia to pick up a new Picnic Cat and I plan on taking my camera.

The Com-Pac 18 Sloop:
A line drawing of the new sloop is on the Com-Pac Club web site. It may not be an 18 when it’s finished and the boat is suppose to be out in the fall. Good looking boat.

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Counter Pressure Bottle Filler

Soon after most brewers begin kegging, they find the need to fill a few bottles for competition or to give away. If all they are filling is a couple of bottles, then there is no better way than the Poor Man’s Counter Pressure Filler. It can be fabricated for less than $10, and works like a champ once you get the hang of it.

If you are filling a six pack or more, then you start to yearn for a better solution to bottle filling from a keg. I looked at the currently available models on the market, and most were either too costly, or forced me to move a keg in order to use the filler. I found this unacceptable, so I decided to build my own. What set’s my design apart from the rest is that I can hook it up to any keg without moving the keg in just a couple of seconds, and I can fill any size bottle from a small squatty 7 oz, to a Champagne bottle. Also I can switch the stopper and fill growlers, or other bottles.

Here is a picture of my filler.

I originally planned to sell the filler to homebrew shops and let them sell them to the public. With the homebrew shop markup being as much as 100%, most people would look for a cheaper filler.

Then I decided to make custom built fillers to match each individual system for those interested, but most people still opted for a less expensive filler. For the time being I have decided to stop making custom fillers.

If you are in the market for a Counter Pressure Bottle Filler and would like to find out what I think about a particular filler, or what I would suggest, please drop me a line and I will be glad to help you in any way I can. There are at least two decent fillers currently on the market.

Mike Dixon

[email protected]

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Mike’s Homebrewing Page

Welcome to my Homebrewing page!

I hope you will find something here that helps you in your own brewing, or that you might find interesting.

History
I have been brewing since 1998, and have progressed from Extract Brewing to Extract with Grain on my 3rd batch to All Grain on my 25th batch about a year and a half after I started brewing. I have increased my knowledge of brewing over the years and served two years as the local homebrewing club’s, CARBOY, Education Vice-President. Since I began brewing, I have won several awards in competition for my beers, and I have taken and passed the BJCP exam to become a Beer Judge and currently I am ranked as a Certified Beer Judge and after a few more judging points will be ranked National. In 2002, I came in third for North Carolina Brewer of the Year. I generally brew multiple batches on the same day with different mashes to end up with two to four 5-gallon batches at the end of the day. I prefer variety, and if I brew a recipe twice, I usually tweak it some the second time around. I post frequently on rec.crafts.brewing, and I lurk around on the HBD and Brews&Views as well as many other homebrewing and beer sites.

Pages
Below are some pages about my brewing equipment and techniques.

Fermentation and Serving – I think I am unique in this aspect. I know a few folks with more elaborate systems, and some with similar equipment, but I cannot think of anyone with more flexibility and variety.

Inexpensive Rectangular Mash Tun – This is the mash tun I started with, and still use to this day. It generally runs in the 80-85% efficiency, and I think once you see the simplicity and low cost of it, you will no longer be scared of the potential costs people often associate with All Grain equipment.

Malt Mill and Large Hopper – This is my malt mill that I motorized, and the large hopper I made for it. I wrote an indepth article about motorizing a mill that you can link to.

Propane Burner conversion for Sanke Kettle – This is how I made a three legged propane burner work for my converted Sanke kettle which was originally too large in diameter to fit on the burner.

Setup and Mashing Techniques – This is a rundown of my brewing setup, and the techniques I use to make the brew day more productive.

Starters and Pressure Canning Wort – This is how I make starters and the procedure I use for pressure canning wort for starters.

Freezing Yeast – This is my method from freezing yeast and then bringing them back to life.

Measurement Devices – This page details some information on Thermometers, Hydrometers, and Refractometers.

Counter Pressure Bottle Filler – This is my filler that I designed.

Great Taste of the Midwest 2003 – Twelve of us from North Carolina made the trek to the Great Taste in Madison, WI. This is highlights of that trip!

Articles
Here are several articles I have written.

Building a Keg Pressure Tester – This is a device all people who are kegging must either purchase or make. It is the only way you can insure the pressure in your keg is exact. (Word version)

Cleaner or Sanitizer? – This article lists a majority of the cleaners and sanitizers on the market and their recommended concentrations to properly do the job. (It is about midway through the newsletter or Word version.)

The Brewing Library – This is a list of the publications you might want to get to establish a decent brewing library. (It is about midway through the newsletter)

Motorizing a Malt Mill – An indepth article on how to go about motoring your mill. The article should be applicable to any type of mill that can be motorized. (Word version)

Yeast Washing, Quick and Dirty – An article taken from the information on the Wyeast website, and an old article by Robert Arguello. (Word version)

Cleaning and Rebuilding Ball Lock Kegs – A slightly dated article but with good information. It should be updated to suggest cleaning with Straight-A, and sanitizing with StarSan. (Word version)

Lubricants for Keg Parts – An article describing what “keg lube” is and might be.

Base Malt Steeping Experiment – An article on whether base malts can be steeped or not. I conclude they must be mashed, and not simply steeped.

Recipes
Below are links to many of my recipes that have done well for me in various competitions.

(The recipe Aye Corona was meant to be a crowd pleaser for a party, and has become a favorite of many of my homebrewing friends, some who brew it fairly often.)

Fuggled Up Pale – ESB recipe I brewed to get rid of a plethora of Fuggle Hops, 5 gallon recipe.

140/- Shilling Historical Scottish Ale (1850) – Very strong historical Wee Heavy, 3 gallon recipe.

IP Freely – IPA recipe that was brewed to get rid of Cascade Hops, 10 gallon recipe.

Klassic Kolsch – Very good Kolsch recipe, 5 gallon recipe.

Altstadt Alt – Very good Dusseldorf Altbier, 5 gallon recipe.

Red Mild – Very good mild that uses quite of bit of cane sugar, 5 gallon recipe.

Bigfoot + – Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Clone that doesn’t miss by much, 5 gallon recipe.

Weizenbock Party – Helles Weizenbock that is excellent, though very light, 5 gallon recipe.

Historical Porter – My first shot at what a historical Porter would been like, and a great beer, 5 gallon recipe.

Spaten + – A decent Oktoberfest/Maerzen recipe, 5 gallon recipe.

Red Ryder – A California Common recipe originally given to me by Mike D’Brewer, 5 gallon recipe.

MD CAP – My Classic American Pilsner recipe, 5 gallon recipe.

Berlin-Er-We-I-See – My Berliner Weisse recipe, 5 gallon recipe.

Wit or Witout – My Belgian Wit recipe, 5 gallon recipe.

Now We’re A Bruin – My Oud Bruin recipe, 5 gallon recipe.

Mike’s Hard Lemonade – An experiment that got out of hand, 5 gallon recipe.

SinSaisonal – A very good Saison, 5 gallon recipe.

Aye Corona – A no style beer that is a crowd pleaser. Plenty of alcohol, and a really nice finish. You can increase hops and other ingredients as you please. The key to this beer is the corn, the honey malt, the mash temp, and the yeast. 5 gallon recipe.

Historical Recipes
Below are a list of the Historical Recipes I have brewed and some notes about them.
A few appear above and have won awards in competition, but most were brewed just to see how beers you cannot purchase today would have tasted originally.

1908 Kentucky Common – This recipe is a naturally soured brown ale that was brewed in Kentucky around the turn of the century. I decided to go the route of yogurt to sour the mash, if I made it again, I would use grain. It is a quite refreshing, slightly sour brew that was a favorite of many.

1837 Historical IPA – This recipe was send to me by Andy Davison before I had a copy of Old British Beers and How to Brew Them. It is an 1837 IPA recipe. It uses nothing but pale malt, and the original hops were Kent Goldings. I substituted Fuggle for bittering, and used Kent Golding for aroma and dry hopping. The beer is surprisingly balanced and very good.

1850 Historical Scottish 140/- – A recipe from Noonan’s style book. This beer is only a 3 gallon recipe and requires a large amount of malt, and caramelizing the first runnings. It only gets better with age, and stands the test of time as good as any strong beer. It is a very potent brew.

Historical Porter – When reading the book on Porter, I decided to try and brew one based upon the recipes and descriptions given in the book. This was and excellent beer, and one I will try again.

Classic American Pilsner – This is a pre-prohibition recipe. CAP only exists in homebrewing, and this recipe is a good one for the style. In 2000 CARBOY brewed a commercial sized batch of CAP for NHD. The details on that can be found here NHD2000.

Beer Judge Exam Study Aids – BeerStud
In our area we have a YahooGroups site that has many good links and lots of files that help brewers prepare for the BJCP exam. (Current BJCP Exam Schedule) If you are interested you would need to join the group. It is called BeerStud and to be included, you would need to send an e-mail to BeerStud to join, and give your name and city/state in the body of the e-mail. Once signed up, you can change the format, to read on the web, digest, etc. If you are not going to take the exam when given in our area, I suggest you change your format to digest.

Here are some Palm versions of the BJCP Study Guide and the BJCP Style Guidelines. These will require an E-book reader to view. I use CSpotRun.

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Basic Information and Introductions to AVR

 Basic Information and Introductions to AVR

Finally an AVR Mailing List Archive – Thanks Les Grant for putting this together!

New! AVRFreaks.Net – The Ultimate AVR Web Site with complete information about devices, tools, applications, discussion forums.

Blitzlogic – A nice page with lots of information about AVR and other micros. Compiler and getting started information.

What is an AVR? An explanation by me, the author of this page.

Atmel Home Page – Atmel Corporation, Maker of the AVR, Flash Memory, EEPROM, RF Devices, and more! Get the latest datasheets from here. Check out the FPSLIC with 30 MIPS AVR and FPGA to create a system on a chip.  The entire Atmel web page recently was updated.  Check it out!

Omega V’s AVR Resource Page – a growing collection of links and projects. Very good list. Site is in Norway.

Cornell University EE476 Course Page – Home page for college course which deals with microcontroller design and embedded control using the AVR. Currently taught by Bruce Land. Bruce and his students have produced some outstanding projects and code examples over a couple of semesters now.

Dr. Claus Kuhnel – look on the Mikrocontroller page for some links to products, programming languages, etc. For AVR, 8051, and other micros. Page is in German. Click here to translate.

The AVR Forum – Good Collection of links, FAQs, Sample Code for STK200 and STK300. Sponsored by Kanda Systems Ltd.


Project Ideas

VK6BRO Homepage Ham Radio Related Projects including: VFO Counter/Stabilizer and Programmable PLL board.

Henry Carl Ott, N2RVQ has a nice project page with POCSAG encoder, AVR Based TNC for APRS, Radio to RS-232 interface, and more.

New collaborative effort headed by Jason Kyle to develop and AVR board that can support ISA Ethernet cards for embedded TCP/IP, web server, etc.

New! Fred Eady’s Page – Lots of good embedded stuff.  10/100 Ethernet board that interfaces with the AVR and more!

More on the Embedded Ethernet Hardware – Information about interfacing an Ethernet card to the STK 300. By Dave Hudson.

Embedded 10BaseT Ethernet – This project was originally done with a PIC, but was converted to a MegaAVR Controller. Uses Crystal CS8900 Ethernet Chip. Responds to IP Pings in 10 mS. Glad to see another convert to the AVR! This page is back!! Gary’s original source file up here in case the site disappears. Source File. Gary has done a nice job with his new site. Glad I found it again.

Cornell University EE 476 Spring 2000 final Projects – Bruce Land’s students have outdone themselves again! Some real nice efforts again this year. This course applies the AVR to embedded control projects. It is good to see the AVR making headway into the academic world. These students should be well-prepared for the real world.

A Really Cool Site – With IR, Robots, Keyboard Interface, Example Code and more! Has some good information on Neural Networks and Basic Stamps as well.

Digibox Interface – A project for repeating IR control codes from a VCR to control a Satellite Receiver

Local Interconnect Network (LIN) – This protocol is a low speed subset of CAN and is supported by the AVR using this new Atmel Application note. Since this app note supports the slave function, how about a master LIN controller? LIN is a single master, multiple slave architecture.

Alberto Ricci Bitti Home Page – The author of this page has some award winning designs. Video generation by an AVR controller, simple and elegantly useful circuit ideas, some PIC stuff too.

Atmel AVR RISC Controllers – This page contains some excellent ideas for microcontroller based projects. The pagemaster, Dhananjay V. Gadre, has a book in the works. I want to build the 2343 based Morse keyer.  Buy the book to get all the source code.

Omega V’s AVR Resource Page – a growing collection of links and projects. Very good list.

An Interesting AVR Page – has RC5, PC Keyboard, Printf, and some other interesting stuff.

Claudio Lanconelli’s Home Page – Look under his projects for a programmer for AVR and PIC as well as his AVR Mini Threads Kernel and future work using AVR with CAN.

AVR+USB – Interfacing an AVR to National Semiconductor USB Controller. Includes Pascal source code. Part of Antii Lukats’ Sistudio site. Home of the original SimmStick.

Jack’s AVR Page – Home of JAVR Basic. Jack has some nice projects including interfacing a Dallas Semiconductor Real-Time-Clock to an AVR. Check out JAVR Basic and the floating point library as well as the handy timer and baudrate calculator. Highly recommended site!

Larry Barello has some great code examples for some various robotics functions. Also check out the nice RTOS kernel and monitor for AVR that he has done.

90 day timer – A project that I have been working on. This is a work in progress, so it may change and suggestions are welcomed. This is a little timer using a 90S2343 with internal RC oscillator and 4 LEDs. One LED flashes to let you know the thing is running. The other LEDs turn on after approximately 30, 60, and 90 days. Uses EEPROM so you don’t lose more than an hour when power goes out. I haven’t implemented the reset yet.

Steve Lawther’s Page – has some great projects including WX Station, LCD tester, DS1820 Thermometer, Robotics, USB, and some PIC stuff too.

AppleCyber – Grant Stockley has some outstanding projects that involve the AVR, including a sound player. This site may have moved. Anybody know where?

Stelios Cellar – Home of the AVR Web Ring. The site contains many code examples, projects, and great links.

SniffStick – A low cost data logger based on the 90S2343/2323.

Updated! Eddie’s Composting Loo fan controller – A good example of using a 90S1200 with sensor inputs and power control output. Also check out Eddie’s Home Page and VCR IR Remote interface.

What am I working on now? I probably need badly to update this list. 🙂


OS Kernels

Larry Barello’s AvrX Kernel looks really nice. Also check out his great robotics code and other projects.

AVR Kernel – This page describes a small OS kernel for the AVR. The author also has an assembler, avra. Hopefully the kernel will be ready and posted soon.

Claudio Lanconelli’s Home Page – Look under his projects for a programmer for AVR and PIC as well as his AVR Mini Threads Kernel and future work using AVR with CAN.

Terse RTOS – Anyone want to port this to AVR? Currently runs on 8051. The author has an interesting book called Flow Design for Embedded Systems.

Myke Predko – has a site packed full of information on 8051, PIC, and AVR. He has an RTOS for 8051 that looks good. Might be a candidate for porting to the AVR.

Jean Labrosse’s uC-OS has been ported to AVR. I can’t find the page right now but here is the file.


Getting Started Code

AVR Software Examples – Has source code for a full duplex software UART.

Wagner Lipenharski has a very helpful microcontroller page. His page is packed with lots of code examples and interesting ideas for the AVR as well as 8051. A good resource for the beginner or expert!

Kanda Systems Ltd. also has some unsupported code for getting started. There is a PIC to AVR code converter that is useful for learning the AVR code. Look here for tools that convert IAR assembler code to/from the Atmel assembler.

The AVR Forum – Good Collection of links, FAQs, Sample Code for STK200 and STK300. Sponsored by Kanda Systems Ltd.

Dontronics Atmel Devices – also has some getting started code for the 8515.

My Infrared Security System Code. Transmitter and Receiver asm files.

K5HJ AVR Page – A fellow ham operator who has a great repository of example code. Dallas 1-Wire protocol, LCD Code, Serial, and more.

Stelios Cellar – Home of the AVR Web Ring. The site contains many code examples, projects, and great links.


Programming Languages – Compilers and Assemblers

Jack’s AVR Page – Home of JAVR Basic. Also an AVR Floating Point library and some good applications like a graphic LCD controller. Check out the handy Baud Rate, Timer, and Floating Point calculator. Look at Jack’s detailed evaluation and comparison of the various compilers available for the AVR.

AVR-GCC FAQ – Bluecollar Linux page with new AVR-GCC FAQ by Kurt Stevens. This is very useful for those of us learning AVR-GCC.

Small Device C Compiler A new open-source compiler with versions for Z80 and 8051 with versions for AVR and PIC under development. The compiler runs under Linux and Windows. This page also has some good links.

FastAVR basic compiler    – A new compiler for AVR.  Give it a try!  Bojan is looking for resellers.

E-Lab Pascal for AVR – Reportedly good for fast application development for AVR. Also provide programmers and other AVR tools. Now have Mega 161 and 163 support in the compiler.

AVR-GCC Page – The Gnu C compiler for AVR. Other GNU tools also available. Produces very good code and is freely availble. See the FAQ above.

AVR-GCC for Windows – Nice job making the GCC compiler run under Windows! This is the Atmel fur Dummies page also listed above.

AVR SmallC CompilerA great effort being made here by Ron Kreymborg. The full version is $49 US.

CodeVision C Compiler by DHP Technology –  Another GOOD C compiler at a reasonable price.

Imagecraft – Has a reasonable cost commercial C compiler for the AVR and for several other microcontrollers too. Look for the new compilers that support the Tiny AVR family. Their prices are low enough for the hobbiest, but the products are good enough for serious development.

IAR C Compiler – A premium C compiler for the AVR. Rumored to have the best code optimization, but compare for yourself. IAR also supports a number of other microcontroller with their embedded workbench. Good if you want to keep the same IDE as you develop for different micros.

TK’s Page – His AVR assembler for Linux never made it. Now links to Tom Mortensen’s Page. Maybe TK will put something else up, so I’ll keep the link for a while.

Freeware Assembler by Tom Mortensen. Distributed under the GNU Public License with source code. Compiled versions for Linux and DOS. I like to see free tools!

Roberto Biancardi has some information about a C compiler for AVR, lcc-avr. I’ll be checking this site out more thoroughly later.

Atmel für Dummies – Site is in German. English version available  AVR-GCC for Windows and AVA.

Sistudio.com – by Antti Lukats, creator of the original SimmStick. I hope that Antti gets his page back running soon. He had some good things to offer.

Dunfield C Compiler – $99 US compiler and development kit. Also available for 68HC08, 68HC11, 68HC12, 68HC16, 8051, 8085, 8086, 8096, and 6809.


Development Tools , Programmers, and Boards

New! BocaLabsA source for Atmega development boards.  Their MegaStack boards are available at a great price and offer expansion modules to provide RF and other functions.  Recommended site!

New! AVaRICENew Open Source Program for connecting the Atmel JTAG ICE to the GDB Debugger running under Linux.  Sorry, no Windoze version yet.  Just Linux.

Johann Aichinger’s Page – Another AVR Programmer for Windows and more. This one is freeware for non-commercial use. Can connect to either serial or parallel port and supports Tiny22 and other AVR parts up to 8K. Johann also has some good information on a general electronics “Home” page.

ATMega Board – Complete with reset, ISP program connector, and more in a small form factor. Allows you to use the SMT ATMega 103 for easy prototyping. Connection by two dual row header strips. Includes 32 kHz and 4 or 6 Mhz crystals. Ideal for a robot or other project.

Horizon Electronics – a young entrepreneur ham who has an AVR single-board computer as well as some other useful tools for HTML, robotics, and VC++.

Jerry Meng’s Page – The BA1FB Programmer is the lowest-cost way to get started programming the AVR parts. This is probably the most cost-effective way to start with any microcontroller.

Test of the BA1FB Programmer – this guy has tried out the programmer. Also with AVRBASIC.

MAPP Home Page – This page has GNU Assembler, C Compiler, ISP for AVR. Also a RTOS for the AVR and an RS232 to SPI interface. Mostly geared toward Linux, but you may be able to compile the tools for other platforms as well.

Wirz Electronics – This site has a IR sensor tutorial as well as their serial LCD interface and other products. Carries the X-Programmer from JPK Microsystems for the AVR.

Lawicel – A company in Sweden that provides AVR based boards and development tools. Their new CANDIP is an AVR with CAN controller mounted on a DIP carrier. Nice!

MicroAsm by Ole Saether – A nice windows editor that can drive any command line assembler. Good to use with avrasm or the IAR assembler.

S51KQ – A site with Mega-AVR development board as well as a variety of interesting projects. Mostly Amateur Radio and Television projects. A neat site to explore! The Hams in Slovenia are doing a lot of great stuff.

A Non-Commercial AVR Parallel Mode Programmer – One of only a few available. Parallel mode programming allows you to set the RC Oscillator bit and other things you cannot do with serial SPI programming.

Claudio Lanconelli’s Home Page – Look under his projects for a programmer for AVR and PIC as well as his AVR Mini Threads Kernel and future work using AVR with CAN.

SimmSticks are miniature single board computers in 30 pin SIMM form factors. There is a $500 US design contest.

Flash Designs Ltd. – Offers In Circuit Emulators for AVR as well as several other embedded microcontrollers. Their emulator can reportedly run at 30 – 40 MHz, 3.3 or 5 volts and has good C compiler support. They also sell the ImageCraft C compiler and offer low-cost rental and evaluations of their emulators. Prices are in UK Pounds, but don’t look too bad. Watch for add-on’s. I would suggest renting or evaluating any expensive development tool before committing to purchase.

Leon Heller’s Page – has some PIC information as well as an AVR prototype board.

MicroTronics – Provides some nice looking boards for Atmel controllers. The boards would be great for developing prototypes or small volume custom solutions. They also have an ISP board for 89S and 90S parts. They support the PIC too. Check this page out if you need a target board. Some good links to tools too.

Baritek AVR Development tools – This site has some development boards and socket adapters to help with the Atmel AVR.

The DCK AVR pseudo-parallel programmer – This programmer is supposed to enable you to program the RC Osc bit and other things that you can’t do with the serial ISP.

AVR-1 Programmer Utilities for Linux – Linux command line tools for the AVR-1 programmer sold by the now defunct ITU Technologies.


Miscellaneous Information and Useful Links

The AVR Forum – Good Collection of links, FAQs, Sample Code for STK200 and STK300. Sponsored by Kanda Systems Ltd.

http://www.eg3.com/Ultimate Internet resource for board level, embedded, real-time, and MCU-MPU markets. Thousands of links and a search engine for the EE.

Wirz Electronics – This site has a IR sensor tutorial as well as their serial LCD interface and other products.

Stefan Wimmer has an Orcad library of AVR parts and some information on a good serial programmer. Expect to see more here soon.

Stelios Cellar – Home of the AVR Web Ring. The site contains many code examples, projects, and great links.

SMT Assembly Tips – My page of how to do quality assembly of prototype and low volume surface mount boards without investing a mint in equipment.

Bray’s AVR Related Stuff – Links to some tools, ideas, and applications. STK 200 ISP Programming dongle information from Claudio Lanconelli. Good PC Keyboard and AVR terminal projects.

Cadsoft Eagle is a schematic capture and PCB layout program that has a good AVR parts library.


Crystal and Oscillator Links.

New Section – Thanks to Stefan Wimmer! There seem to be a lot of questions about this topic so I am adding these handy links.

http://www.tla.co.nz/xtal1.html

http://pr.erau.edu/~lyallj/ee412/pierce_exp.html

http://www.ieee-uffc.org/freqcontrol/quartz/vig/vigtoc.htm

http://www.aelcrystals.co.uk/tech.htm

http://www.ecsxtal.com/techtalk.htm

http://www.murata.com/ – Murata makes ceramic resonators – a viable alternative to crystals for AVR and other micros. See their Application Notes on Resonators. I have used Murata’s 4 MHz ceramic resonator with the 90S2313 and 4333 at both 5.0 and 3.3 volt supplies. Works well.

These links are to help you design in the proper crystal, oscillator, or resonator and select appropriate capacitors.


File Formats – New Section

A listing of links that explain the file formats output by development tools for use in programming devices.

Intel Hex

http://margo.student.utwente.nl/el/misc/intl_hex.htm

Motorola S Records

http://www.hitex.com/chipdir/oth/srecord.txt

OMF

http://www.edtn.com/scribe/reference/appnotes/md0075fc.htm

Binary

Etc.


 

Where to Buy Atmel Parts

Insight Electronics – Stocks the STK200 and STK300 starter kits. Willing to fill small orders of 100 pieces or less. If you have trouble with the online ordering, give the local office a call.

Arrow Electronics – Distributor of Atmel Parts.

All-American – Distributor of Atmel products as well as a variety of micro, memory, application specific, power, and display components. Have been willing to deal in small quantities.

Pioneer-Standard Industrial Electronics Division – Another Atmel Distributor. For small quantity orders, check out their online store.

Dontronics – Don McKenzie stocks AVR devices in Australia.

Alcom Electronics – Imports Atmel Parts into Holland

DigiKey – Is selling the STK200 and the AT91Sxxx ARM microcontrollers. Expect to see AVR parts as soon as they are available.

Beau says “Thanks for stopping by”.

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The Modified Classic pipes…

 This is a picture of the stock pipes after I drilled the end plates with a 1/4″ drill. It relieved enough back pressure that the engine was somewhat more responsive, but the plug color still looked ok. Sounded MUCH better, too. Click HERE to have a listen to them. Whew..I believe there’s a bit too much echo in my garage!


Convert the Stock pipes to “Super Megaphones”!

Pipe mods by “Mo” (from the VROC Archives)

[bullet] This is a picture of stock pipes that were modified per the following instructions. Actually, Tommy modified the first pipe via these instructions, and found that it was much easier to use a cutting torch. They look great, and sound almost as good as Debbie’s Cobra SlashCuts! Don’t let this picture scare you away…there’s actually another baffle plate about midpoint in the chamber, so it’s not entirely an open shell. Click HERE to have a listen to them.

[bullet] Click HERE to learn even more about the Stock Pipe Mods on the Pusher’s Website!
From March, 1998 **************************** OK, heres the deal. First, ya gotta drill out the three rivets on the endcaps. Real easy. Enjoy a cold beverage. Now comes the hard part. Get a good sharp bit, about a 1/4 inch should work. Take off the exhaust system to make this easier on you. Start drilling aound the inside diameter of the end of the pipe. Make each hole as close to the next one, and work your way around the pipe. Take your time, and it will turn out good, I promise! Enjoy a cold beverage. Now all that is holding the baffles in is the small amount of metal between the holes. Take a chisel, or an old screwdriver you don’t much care for and start punching out the area between each drilled hole. Soon you will be to the last one. Enjoy a cold beverage. Now pull out the baffle/diffuser. You will have a ragged looking hole about the size of a grapefruit in the end of your exhaust now. Get yerself a rotary file, or a grinding stone from the tool store, put it in your drill, and start grinding. I got mine to clean up real nice. Enjoy a cold beverage. Put your exhaust system back on your bike, double check all the fasteners, and start it up. It will produce a much nicer noise than before. If you were enjoying the same beverage I was, you will turn the key off, go inside, and watch TV for about 4 hours before you ride. MO 95 VN800A 83 YZ490 San Diego, CA CARS SUCK ******************************

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