• 07Sep

  File under that just sucks

  Uncategorized No Comments

  So I’ve been having issues with my FT-7800r mobile HAM radio.

  I’ve been getting either no audio or a buzzing sound when I transmit, so I went into trouble shooting mode and I have made the discovery that the one part I can’t easily replace is the bad part. It seems that the control head of the radio isn’t passing audio. I borrowed Damon’s control head since he has the same radio and when his control head and either my mic or his is connected audio passes through just fine. You can’t just order a new control head from Yaesu. So the one part that I was hoping that wouldn’t be the issue ends up being the issue. So now I’m in a quandary do I send the radio in for repair at $75 per hour min 1/2 hour plus parts, or do I save and buy a new mobile radio? I’m kind of eying the FTM-350 which has APRS built in as a replacement.

  Tags: broken shit, frustration, ham radio

• 19Jun

  Cambrian to Woodside by opg4759 at Garmin Connect – Details

  Uncategorized No Comments

  Cambrian to Woodside by opg4759 at Garmin Connect – Details.

• 10Mar

  March updates

  Uncategorized No Comments

  Yeah I know bad blogger, I haven’t posted in ages.

  So far I’m doing fairly well with my weight loss goals I’m down almost 20 pounds since 1/1/10. I’m now at my historic plateau point that I’m working hard to break through. Getting under 230 pounds has been my wall for the lat 3 years. This year I got here much earlier so I’m hopping that I can push through it in the next week or so.

  I’ve also changed things up this year by adding road cycling into the mix so it changes it up from the gym all the time. So I’m hoping as I get more saddle time it will burn more fat and I can push my weight down. I’ll really hoping to be sub 220 come the Livestrong event in July. Other than this lingering cold/ allergy thing I have I’m feeling pretty good  overall. I’m seeing a noticeable difference in my gut and my chest. Need to work on my pec’s since I’m getting more defined moobs not good. Other then that I’m almost able to wear a size 36 shorts comfortably which rules other then I’ll have to spend money on new pants or buy more belts.

  As I start to train more I will look as using this blog as a training log and anyone that supports me for the Livestrong event can track that I’m doing my due diligence in getting ready to ride the hundred miles.

  
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• 04Jan

  2009 excuses 2010 changes

  health, sleep apnea, weight loss 1 Comment

  246 is where I weighted in today. Last year I weighted in at 257 so I’m down 11 pounds but far from where I want to be. I’m frustrated since I was down to 231 back in August, but I let myself go and I’m up 15pounds at the beginning of the year. It’s my own fault for not making the time to go to the gym and being less active then I was in the 1st half of the year. With the conversion to Ericsson from Sprint my workload increased and I felt guilty taking the time during the day to hit the gym like I had been. I made excuses to not go in the evening the place is too busy and  I have a hard enough time getting up in the morning I’m not going to go earlier. That is what they were excuses I made excuses to sit on my ass and my ass got bigger and I became less motivated in just about everything. I don’t like that person its not who I want to be. I’m going to go back on my old routine that made me successful until I fell out of my good habits and back in to old habits.

  This is not a resolution this is a life choice and I need to make sure I make these changes. As I get older I get a little more freaked out since I’m now at the age that I’m only 11 years younger then my dad was when he died suddenly from poor eating and lifestyle choices. I’m already healthier then he was getting treated for sleep apnea where he never knew he had it. That is just one piece of the puzzle.

  My 2010 weight loss goals laid out

  • 1/4/2010 Start 246
  • 2/1/2010 240
  • 5/31/2010 230
  • 12/31/2010 220

  Tags: weightloss, workout

• 18Oct

  T.E.D. 5000

  Power, tech stuff No Comments

  So after almost a year of PG&E jerking us around on billing, I read about the TED 5000 from Energy,Inc. over on Engadget when they announced their partnership with Google’s power meter. I’ve been looking for a data logger that I could save stats so I could figure out why the hell our bill was way out of whack, we are on some bills funding a small office.  The T.E.D. 5000 wasn’t the first power meter I bought.

  I first picked up a Blue Line Innovations power cost monitor which is very similar to the Black and Decker power monitor. I know Rice has been happy with the B&D version so I figured I would get one and I found the Blue Line Monitor and figured I would see if it would help me get our power usage in check or at least figure out what the hell is going on. Unfortunately it didn’t want to play well with my PG&E meter, it would run for about 30 minutes and then stop reading.  Which when your trying to figure out usage is aggravating. Also it does require that you read and document the reading. So for me at least the Blue Line Power Meter was a bust.

  So when Engadget had a article on Engery,Inc’s deal with google on the T.E.D. 5000 I was intrigued. I hadn’t seen or heard about the T.E.D. system before. So when I saw it was a plug-in web server that monitored power with induction clamps over the A & B phase and tracked usage down to 1 Watt in real time and then graphs and tracks month history back 2 years, I was sold. The google power meter support was just icing on the cake.

  

  So far I’m just dialing things in and figuring out usage since I installed and powered it up after the meter read date. It’s interesting watching when things go one and off, and finally understanding how much power something uses and really what 1kWH means (1kWH = 10 100 watt lightbulbs) . I think people not understanding kWH with all the electronics that we have on how much draw is on the grid even though we think we are turning things off is what causes drain on our wallets. If you figure that you have a 1kWH draw on your meter every hour that’s 24 kWH in a day, and if that happens everyday for 30 days you have burned 720kWH’s in a month as a base line, and that’s not including any additional draw like a clothes dryer, electric stove/oven, coffee maker, etc.

  I’m not saving energy to go green, I’m saving energy to save my green in my wallet.

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