Mike - GM1PIE
@michaelrawlins
Mancunian in Aberdeenshire, making things better for people & communities by delivering #smartjustice across the Shire. Interested in 3D printing. Fairweather MX5 driver. Occasionally, G1PIE on the amateur bands. It's ok to be misunderstood.
Proper LOL at this toot that popped up on Mastodon. @willperrin.bsky.social will appreciate this.
I've written up a bit more about my 'witch's hat' thing for carbon fibre antenna masts. If you're interested... g1pie.co.uk/witches-hat-...
The birthday girl is off to see The Odyssey with the son & heir tonight, so I'm home alone.
G-KLCK 'Kermit' working on dropping water on the fires just south of Nethy Bridge this morning.
We can smell the smoke here now, even with the rain. Looking at the news it is getting worse
The evolution of my witches hat mast topper. 1 proof of concept 2 added mounting holes for antennas 3 reduced brim & tidied mounting holes 4 added additional space in centre for attaching to top section of the mast
2m alive and kicking with South Manchester Radio Club tech net this evening.
At ten I was looking at the lingerie section of the Grattan catalogue.
Another 3D printed prototype. A cap for carbon fibre poles, this will allow you to shorten it, using the thicker lower sections, while keeping the thinner top sections safely inside and helping them to not get broken by putting the pole down in the wrong order.
Finally got the 2730 fitted properly in the car. As close to a permanent installation as I want. No holes drilled and only one visible bit of cable
Hopo. I'm not sure 6.2% is wise at this time of night, but it's open now.
Just back from walking the dugs, this chap was pretty unbothered by our presence.
Last night of living the Premier Inn dream. Back up the road to the Shire in the morning. Had a good day with my mum looking at old pictures. This is me almost 57 years ago to the day, with my Great Grandma
You look like you are going on Stars In Their Eyes as Masta Killa from the Wu Tang Clan
In a hotel, in Manchester. On my own with a large bar of Galaxy and the latest edition of RadCom.
SWR is higher than I would like, but still acceptable. The new antenna, mount & cable and new power pole connectors on Monday, so that should help. I'll get some ferrites to clip on all the power cables
It was reporting 100% this morning, but now dropped to 60% and if I was TX for an hour at 50w that would be over stating it. Maybe the battery didn't get a full charge.
I tested the new battery today and noticed that when I was transmitting using 50w the radio would briefly reboot. Power draw issue? I need to check the SWR on the antenna as well in case it has gone high for some reason and the radio is doing some self preservation.
After jerry rigging my mast to the car wheel on Tuesday for an activation, I got myself a drive on mount. A couple of 3D printed spacers and we are good to go. No scissors or dusters here @timg5tm.bsky.social 😂
In other news, I applied for a passport yesterday; my old one was well expired. I have to say the whole system has improved massively. Less than 40 minutes end-to-end. So much better than having to get things wet-signed to prove identity.