Well, I was hoping spring had finally arrived, but it's snowing again this morning and the forecast calls for some more later this week. Yesterday was beautiful, and it even got up to about 75 a few days ago, so I was hoping we were out of the woods. However, I guess we'll have to wait another week or so.
I'm not sure if it's related, but I've been a bit under the weather myself for the last few days. Sorta like flu symptoms, but nothing serious. I made some progress yesterday and got everything aired out, so I think I'll take the day off today and get some sleep.
21 March 2011
13 March 2011
Heavy Rain, Wet Clothes, and Mildew
We had a heavy rain a few days ago and took on a significant amount of water. I'm not sure if it came from the leaky toerail or the hole in the deck made by the chainplate when it broke, but in any case, all my clothes got soaked. I noticed the water on the cabin sole and cleaned that up pretty quickly, but didn't notice the clothes till yesterday. The ones on top where dry, but the ones on the bottom where soaked.
It's not too bad, but there was a bit of mildew, so I've got them spread out on deck drying. I'll probably take most of them down to the laundromat later, but might throw out some of the old t-shirts -- or use them for rags. I've got a bunch of running shirts that take up too much space and aren't good for much more than running or working on the boat, so a few less won't make much difference.
A bigger problem is the new pair of khaki's that have a few spots of mildew. I'm not terribly domestic, so I don't know if I can get the mildew out or not. Oh well, I'm not trying to impress anyone on the boat, so I guess it doesn't matter. However, I need to prepare better for the next leak, which will surely come. I guess I'll have to put everything in zip lock bags, much like we used to do in the Corps -- but that was mainly so our pack wouldn't sink if we fell in the water.
This was an extremely wet boat when I bought her, and although she's much better now, she's still pretty wet. I can't wait till I get her down to Houston and into Paul's warehouse so I can pull the toerails and permanently fix all these leaks. It'll change the look a little, but I think it's worth it. I might make a few other changes while I'm at it, but the main goal will be to make her act more like a bottle and keep all the water out. At least it's relatively warm out.
It's not too bad, but there was a bit of mildew, so I've got them spread out on deck drying. I'll probably take most of them down to the laundromat later, but might throw out some of the old t-shirts -- or use them for rags. I've got a bunch of running shirts that take up too much space and aren't good for much more than running or working on the boat, so a few less won't make much difference.
A bigger problem is the new pair of khaki's that have a few spots of mildew. I'm not terribly domestic, so I don't know if I can get the mildew out or not. Oh well, I'm not trying to impress anyone on the boat, so I guess it doesn't matter. However, I need to prepare better for the next leak, which will surely come. I guess I'll have to put everything in zip lock bags, much like we used to do in the Corps -- but that was mainly so our pack wouldn't sink if we fell in the water.
This was an extremely wet boat when I bought her, and although she's much better now, she's still pretty wet. I can't wait till I get her down to Houston and into Paul's warehouse so I can pull the toerails and permanently fix all these leaks. It'll change the look a little, but I think it's worth it. I might make a few other changes while I'm at it, but the main goal will be to make her act more like a bottle and keep all the water out. At least it's relatively warm out.
05 March 2011
20-meter Dipole
I finally got tired of using my makeshift random wire antenna, so last night, I used my new antenna analyzer to make up a 20-meter dipole. Since it's still more or less a temporary antenna, I just used some old speaker wire for the antenna and some old RG-58/U coax for the feed line. I really love my new AA-230Pro antenna analyzer. It made it easy to trim the dipole and get a good SWR. It's about 1.8:1 right now, but I should be able to trim it a little more to get it closer to 1:1.
When I made it last night, I alternated between it and the old random wire + AT-130 tuner and found the dipole was a much, much better receiver, however, I didn't try to transmit. It started raining a little this morning, so I adjusted it and added a few coils of coax at the feed point to keep out the rain and help prevent RF on the outside of the coax. This changed the SWR, so I trimmed another foot off it and she seems to work pretty well. It's starting to clear up, so I'll probably tune it a bit more once everything dries out.
Band watch:
When I checked in this morning, the band wasn't very good and their was a lot of noise. Part of that is due to an ongoing contest -- contests are basically where stations try to contact as many other stations as possible, with an emphasis on distant stations, e.g., the most different states and different countries. With all the traffic, 14300 can get really noisy due to distance stations contesting either on frequency or close by. The contesters don't seem to care too much about the net -- perhaps they don't know about it.
Anyway, I was 59 into Florida this morning, so the dipole seems to be working pretty well. I doubt anyone would have heard me with the old setup. The key to a good random length vertical is of course height, which is severely limited without a mast. I can only get about 9' right now, but that seems to be okay with a horizontal dipole.
Weather watch:
It's finally starting to warm up, so I plan to start working again. But, since I can't really count on good sailing weather until May, there's really no hurry. It's pretty warm right now, but it rained this morning, and should rain this afternoon as well. Therefore, I'll probably spend the day listening to the MMSN and reading. However, I may crawl down in the bilge and work on the transmission if it clears up this afternoon. If nothing else, I should have my radios in good shape by the time I put her back in the water.
When I made it last night, I alternated between it and the old random wire + AT-130 tuner and found the dipole was a much, much better receiver, however, I didn't try to transmit. It started raining a little this morning, so I adjusted it and added a few coils of coax at the feed point to keep out the rain and help prevent RF on the outside of the coax. This changed the SWR, so I trimmed another foot off it and she seems to work pretty well. It's starting to clear up, so I'll probably tune it a bit more once everything dries out.
Band watch:
When I checked in this morning, the band wasn't very good and their was a lot of noise. Part of that is due to an ongoing contest -- contests are basically where stations try to contact as many other stations as possible, with an emphasis on distant stations, e.g., the most different states and different countries. With all the traffic, 14300 can get really noisy due to distance stations contesting either on frequency or close by. The contesters don't seem to care too much about the net -- perhaps they don't know about it.
Anyway, I was 59 into Florida this morning, so the dipole seems to be working pretty well. I doubt anyone would have heard me with the old setup. The key to a good random length vertical is of course height, which is severely limited without a mast. I can only get about 9' right now, but that seems to be okay with a horizontal dipole.
Weather watch:
It's finally starting to warm up, so I plan to start working again. But, since I can't really count on good sailing weather until May, there's really no hurry. It's pretty warm right now, but it rained this morning, and should rain this afternoon as well. Therefore, I'll probably spend the day listening to the MMSN and reading. However, I may crawl down in the bilge and work on the transmission if it clears up this afternoon. If nothing else, I should have my radios in good shape by the time I put her back in the water.
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