Jim, stay away from all sharp objects for a while. Stick to the soldering iron.
Bought myself a bottle of Sicilian wine of the local Nero d'Avola grapes. Guess I need it tomorrow evening after a day of gender-separated discussions, internal feministic secretaries and so$ciali$t talks at the annual regional leftist party summit ....
I can recommend the Nero d'Avolas to anyone that likes foll-bodied wines but don't really appreciate the heavy Amarones. This kind has lots of taste and buckets (spelled differently) but still feels light enough.
Bought myself a bottle of Sicilian wine of the local Nero d'Avola grapes. Guess I need it tomorrow evening after a day of gender-separated discussions, internal feministic secretaries and so$ciali$t talks at the annual regional leftist party summit ....
I can recommend the Nero d'Avolas to anyone that likes foll-bodied wines but don't really appreciate the heavy Amarones. This kind has lots of taste and buckets (spelled differently) but still feels light enough.
The 280mA batteries have a fully charged voltage of 9.4V.
I ended up getting two Energizer "Recharge" 175mAH 9v batteries from ukraine and I just looked on them and they both say that they are labelled as 8.4v but they measure at 8.84v and thats with it sitting for a while. Noticeably higher when they've just been charged but I forget the voltage that I measured it was at least 6 months ago now.
Can I ask what charger you're using for the lithium ones and the batteries make and model? Mine are just NiMH but there is nothing wrong with LSD NiMH.
Thanks a lot for the kind words & advice, everyone. I'm just glad to be home - 2 days of hospital food was more than enough!
And yes, this has certainly gotten my attention; never been through anything like it before. I'm not a smoker, but I do need to lose weight. I've done that before, I can do it again. I'd love to hear that I can stop taking the blood thinners eventually, and I've been told that's a possibility. We'll see how it goes.
Also, for any of you who might do a lot of long highway driving like I do, I've been told by more than one doc that these clots likely formed in my lower legs (from sitting in the car all those hours), before traveling through the heart to the lungs. In my case, the blood thinners are supposed to counteract this for now, so I can resume the road trips without too much concern (gotta get back to work so I can start paying all the bills coming shortly). Sans the medication, they recommend compression hosiery, also stopping more frequently to move around, keep the circulation up. (You guys probably already know about this stuff; I was pretty clueless.)
Thanks again, guys.
-- Jim
And yes, this has certainly gotten my attention; never been through anything like it before. I'm not a smoker, but I do need to lose weight. I've done that before, I can do it again. I'd love to hear that I can stop taking the blood thinners eventually, and I've been told that's a possibility. We'll see how it goes.
Also, for any of you who might do a lot of long highway driving like I do, I've been told by more than one doc that these clots likely formed in my lower legs (from sitting in the car all those hours), before traveling through the heart to the lungs. In my case, the blood thinners are supposed to counteract this for now, so I can resume the road trips without too much concern (gotta get back to work so I can start paying all the bills coming shortly
). Sans the medication, they recommend compression hosiery, also stopping more frequently to move around, keep the circulation up. (You guys probably already know about this stuff; I was pretty clueless.)Thanks again, guys.
-- Jim
George, I do admire your spirit - SMPS is tricky stuff (to me at least). The closest I ever got to it in terms of DIY was a circuit in a Popular Electronics mag back in the 70s. I got the supply running, but had some trouble with the audio amp portion. Before I figured it out, I found a deal on something of a white elephant - a 72-watt Craig Powerplay amp with a SMPS that ran at about 400 Hz. Perhaps it was adapted from an aircraft design? Anyway, it sounded reasonably good, but I could always hear the PT singing faintly under the dash.
My bad, the 280mA are NiMH:
Amazon.com: EBL 9 Volt 280mAh Ni-MH Performance 9V Rechargeable Batteries, 4 Packs: Electronics
The 600mA version are also ELB brand, but are Li-Ion from ebay:
EBL 600mAh Li-ion Rechargeable Batteries & 9 Volt Charger 9V 6F22 High Volume US | eBay
Amazon.com: EBL 9 Volt 280mAh Ni-MH Performance 9V Rechargeable Batteries, 4 Packs: Electronics
The 600mA version are also ELB brand, but are Li-Ion from ebay:
EBL 600mAh Li-ion Rechargeable Batteries & 9 Volt Charger 9V 6F22 High Volume US | eBay
I left the Olson store (repair tech) for my career at Motorola before those things came out. The Tenna Ranger Mindblowers appeared right after I left. They used a BJT amp with a step - up OPT.
My first high power car stereo amps used a similar power supply technology. The HF marine radios of the 60's and early 70's used a pair of big germanium power transistors in a cross coupled free running multivibrator circuit to switch raw battery into a step up tape wound toroid to make B+ for the tube RF final amplifier. Power levels up to 120 watts were possible. With some creative dumpster diving behind the Simpson Marine Electronics plant in Miami, I managed to get some scrap chassis and subassemblies containing the goodies needed to make my own version. We would strip the HV secondary off the toroid and wind our own capable of running the SWTPC Tiger series amp boards, usually 2 or 4 of the 35 WPC Plastic Tigers.
The 400 Hz whine was a problem until a friend came up with the cure.....mount the power supply up front, under the hood, or under the dash. Mount the amp in the back, in the trunk, or under the bed in our shagged out 70's vans.
I had the van with the amp until the body rusted off the van in the mid 80's. The amp went into the closet where it remained until reusing the amp boards for the school project in the 90's.
I found a picture of the partially completed 90's version of the amp. It contains the power supply (upper left) and a pair of Plastic Tiger boards (upper right). It would get two more Plastic Tigers, and one Universal Tiger before the paint job and name went on. It would be called "Master Blaster" for it's capabilities and the Stevie Wonder album.
My end game for SMPS this time is power for a 1KW tube amp that I can get up the basement stairs by myself. I''ll probably use several lower powered switchers in series to get there, with independent supplies for each channel.
I worked the night shift for 10 years, and was at Ft. Lauderdale beach most weekday mornings on my Hobie Cat (sailboat) from 10 AM (when the wind picked up) to about 2PM (time to go to work). I have been fighting skin cancers for over 20 years. The insurance will not pay for Aldara, but there is a generic for it.....still not cheap though. That stuff will totally kill a nickle sized basal cell carcinoma in a month or so.
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Thanks a lot for the kind words & advice, everyone. I'm just glad to be home - 2 days of hospital food was more than enough!
And yes, this has certainly gotten my attention; never been through anything like it before. I'm not a smoker, but I do need to lose weight. I've done that before, I can do it again. I'd love to hear that I can stop taking the blood thinners eventually, and I've been told that's a possibility. We'll see how it goes.
Also, for any of you who might do a lot of long highway driving like I do, I've been told by more than one doc that these clots likely formed in my lower legs (from sitting in the car all those hours), before traveling through the heart to the lungs. In my case, the blood thinners are supposed to counteract this for now, so I can resume the road trips without too much concern (gotta get back to work so I can start paying all the bills coming shortly
Thanks again, guys.
-- Jim
Yeah, deep veinal thrombosis (DVT) definitely is a major issue with sitting for long periods. Those pee breaks matter, even if you don't need to go to the bathroom.
If I'm remembering my lit work well, exercise (and by that I simply mean getting more walking in, much less ramping further up) help tremendously. Start small (15 minutes a day or something, and choose to walk certain things rather than use a motor), but do get the straight dope from your doc, as there might be a window of a couple weeks where they want you to break up clots before starting an exercise regime. Best of luck. Really.
Couple of HDMI "port savers" from Amazon. Basically just little 6" male-to-female things.
The only downside of the new video projector is a considerably shorter throw distance. I'd built an 84" screen to match the throw from the old unit, which I mounted under the ceiling right near the back wall. The new one won't zoom down small enough from that location, so the permanent choices would be:
1. Move the mount out toward the center of the ceiling (nah)
2. Build a bigger screen! (yes please!)
The temporary solution is to set the projector on a TV table in front of the couch, which works surprisingly well for now (it's really quiet). But of course it needs to be disconnected & moved out of the way when not in use, hence the port saver. The HDMI spec declares a finite number of connect cycles.
The only downside of the new video projector is a considerably shorter throw distance. I'd built an 84" screen to match the throw from the old unit, which I mounted under the ceiling right near the back wall. The new one won't zoom down small enough from that location, so the permanent choices would be:
1. Move the mount out toward the center of the ceiling (nah)
2. Build a bigger screen! (yes please!)
The temporary solution is to set the projector on a TV table in front of the couch, which works surprisingly well for now (it's really quiet). But of course it needs to be disconnected & moved out of the way when not in use, hence the port saver. The HDMI spec declares a finite number of connect cycles.
Prescription for blood thinners.
Actually this is very good news. What we've been thinking was the flu, or pneumonia, turned out to be a pulmonary embolism (multiple blood clots in the lungs). Left untreated, it could've been much, much worse. As it stands, there's no permanent damage, full recovery expected.
Feeling pretty damn lucky tonight.
Pleased to hear that it was caught in time Jim.
[I've been on Warfarin for past 6 years along with beta blockers for 20; now have to have a quad bypass inn next few weeks; fortunately I'm said to be an ideal non-critical candidate!]
Pleased to hear that it was caught in time Jim.
[I've been on Warfarin for past 6 years along with beta blockers for 20; now have to have a quad bypass inn next few weeks; fortunately I'm said to be an ideal non-critical candidate!]
Had a double bypass 3 years ago.
No symptoms whatsoever. Just chronic angina.
I felt worse immediately afterwards but now feel great.
Good luck.
Andy
I think that one is a 3525, similar but different.....can't remember the differences though. The 3525 was probably recommended by the Motorola Semiconductor Sales rep. He was a fellow ham radio operator and friend.
There were Tigers in flavors from 20 watts per board (Li'l Tiger) up to the 250 watt Tigersaurus in the late 60's and early 70's. I could find power transformers for tube stuff in the trash (discarded TV's), but a power transformer for a solid state amp wasn't junkyard material yet. I built several of the two small Tigers because they could be powered with several 24 V, 1 or 2 amp Radio Shack transformers wired together. I used them for guitar and HiFi amps.
My career led me to spend countless 10 to 12 hour days sitting in front of a computer. As I began to see that coming to an end, I started making 1200 mile (each way) trips often pulling a heavy trailer with a small Honda, again long periods of sitting.
At work I started taking a walk around the campus every two hours. The indoor loop was about 3/4 mile and passed by nurse's office (blood pressure machine) and the shipping dock where we could stand on the digital scales. There were two outdoor loops 1, and 1.6 miles. Within a year there were 5 to 10 people on the morning walk including the boss.
On the 1200 mile road trips I would pull into every rest stop. Often I would just get out of the car and walk, jog, or run a lap or two around the place, then get back in the car and drive on. It will definitely get you some strange looks from the other travelers. It takes maybe 5 extra minutes per stop, but may save your life!
Coumadin / Warfarin is a blood thinner also used to dissolve blood clots. It is also the cause of my mother's aneurysm that led to her death. Unfortunately her two doctors (in two different states) each prescribed the same drug, but with different names, causing her to take twice the recommended dose for several years. She was also prone to bleeding as am I. Myself and both of my brothers were advised never to take these drugs, and to even avoid aspirin. Combining aspirin and blood thinners is also a no-no.
My sleeping heart rate is around 70 bpm, however any movement will cause that to immediately increase into the 100+ range. Doctors prescribed a beta blocker (Atenolol / Tenormin). After a few years I started having tingling in my extremities. It progressed to numbness and got really bad during periods of little movement (sitting or driving) hence the walks.
After about 20 years of use the symptoms turned into pain and blue skin in my hands. This would wake me up in the middle of the night, requiring a 10 minute or so walk before I could sleep. About 2 years ago it got so bad that I could not drive a car, play my guitar, or type on the computer due to pain and numbness. The doctor's answer was more pills, sleeping pills and "happy pills." Neither worked. A random moment of frustration caused me to ditch ALL of my meds. Within a week, the pain and most of the numbness stopped. One by one I retried my meds to find that the beta blocker was responsible. Unfortunately some of the resulting nerve damage is permanent. There is always some tingling / numbness in my finger tips. Playing the guitar is almost impossible, and typing is best done in small sessions.
Similar experience, Coumadin made my mom prone to transient ischaemic attacks (TIA) or "mini-strokes" and one of these made her have a big fall that started the end for her.
And back to buying. My wallet squeaked open more than it normally does to buy a new big sat dish for $150, but I can't get a straight answer on a sat forum about whether it will do the job. Ah, the oblique CYA pronouncements of technical people are impossible to avoid in life
Not happy with answers I am getting about how to compare elliptical dishes to round dishes. Satbeams.com says I need a 30" dish. I am told to consider it optimistic. I bought a 36" elliptical dish and LNB designed for 2 satellite targets. Is it enough of a design margin or not? I can return the elliptical if I need to.