Monday, 9th September, 2024

Feel like I’ve made a rod for my own back with writing a blog post for each sota summit I do on my radio blog. Had four to catch up on yesterday, although unlikely to do four in a week again for a while.

It’s nice having them done though. Not sure what I’ll do when I revisit sites next year. Maybe keep a page that’s just a list with no links or pages but then each time I do a unique summit I write about it? I’ll worry about that when it comes along.

Makes me wonder if I should write some things for my original blog now…👀

The Atari is fun although I don’t really have time to faff about with it

Friday, 6th September, 2024

Went to Trespass after work to look for some boots. They had lots of backpacks and other clothes I thought about buying but not quite sure what I want. I want to be able to go out in the winter period as you get bonus points but not sure how well I’ll be prepared.

Tried on several pairs of boots and didn’t really know what I wanted. Bought some with nice big tread, seemed useful for boggy places which, if it’s been raining, most place round here can be quite boggy.

I don’t know if I should try and go out again this weekend but feel bad that I take off by myself for half the day. Wife and daughter are away tomorrow at a swimming competition. Might take the others up a small hill that I want to cross off the list. If I could take someone with me then I wouldn’t feel too bad but I’d like to do some higher hills and they’re probably too much for them. The boys have a party in the afternoon so that helps, but I like to go in the morning when it’s wasted time. Oh I don’t know.

Annoyingly I had to work today and it’s beautiful sun. Another guy went up a high peak and the views were spectacular. I’ve done that hill and the views were good even when overcast.

Solar install has started. Scaffolding went up today, panels should go on Monday. Need to refresh my home assistant setup for solar to do things…which I’ve forgotten what they were going to be. I’ll enjoy generating our own power but the excitement of it has worn off as it’s been ages since we first started looking into it. What with summer holidays and power company process etc. I’m sure once I see them on the roof and the boxes in the garage I’ll be excited again.

Thursday, 5th September, 2024

Kids smashed an iPad screen this morning. My iPad in fact, although they always use it so I never do. I wasn’t even that mad about it. I shouted at them but mostly as I was annoyed they still hadn’t got dressed for school.

Part of me wants to rid our lives of devices, and so this helps. But also maybe this is the excuse I need to buy that remarkable pro 😅

Wednesday, 4th September, 2024

Was off today, instead of my usual Friday, as there are meetings at work I can’t skip or change. Went up three hills with radio and tried out my new homemade yagi antenna - all worked well which was nice. Tired now after all that walking! Also think my shoes are done for as they were leaking on the first hill and my feet were sodden for the whole day. They were okay but I wonder if washing them didn’t help, or maybe as they were still damp this morning from drying (after washing) that that let the water come in easier? It was pretty muddy and wet with long grass and things so maybe shouldn’t be unexpected. I need to get some proper boots and maybe gaiters too.

I had thought up a big rant I was going to write about politics and Brexit and how stupid people were to vote for it, because the country is collapsing into nothingness and taxing everyone all the way to the bottom. Plus make large sweeping generalisations about the racist generation who benefited from no means tested benefits from the government, had all the house price rises, and so on, who now complain over losing a heating allowance when they most probably life in a huge drafty house they had when they had kids at home. If they sold it and moved to somewhere right sized, their heating bill would be considerably lower, and probably they’d have several 100,000s of pounds extra. But it’s too late for all that.

Monday, 2nd September, 2024

Wrote up my big radio hike today, which was good. Reminds me I need to upload my log into my logbook. It’s a web based logbook which is fine but there are lots of things I don’t like. Someone made a fork of it, I forget who and what they called it, hopefully I wrote that in the wiki, and I’ve been wondering about changing to it. It’s slightly annoying I have to make a new station location for each summit I do. Not sure why I can’t just have callsign and callsign/P for portable operations.

It’s much better than some of the programs people use. Mostly as lots of hams have been doing radio for decades, when the first computer program came along they started using that. Now 20 years later they don’t want to move from it, but my goodness does it look horrendous. Like this. Called Logger32 as it’s 32 bit…A new version was released in 2021, so not bad. Anyway, if it works…

Updated my book list, also on this site, as I’d not done it in a while. I’ve been reading lots of short stories in a series by Lois McMaster Bujold. They’re easy reading before bed and it’s nice just continuing with the same characters. It’s like a TV series and each book is an episode. I’m on book 12 out of 13, so nearly finished. Then I’ll have to find something else to read. I’m torn between reading all the discworld again or something new. Next year will be 10 years since I finished the last one. So maybe 2025 is a good year to start them again, not sure I could read them all in one year, think there’s about 40 odd. Most aren’t that long, so feasible to do one a week, I’ll see. Really I should read them to the kids, although I think they’ll want to be a little older?

Maybe go for another hike on Wednesday, had to swap my day off, weather is so-so, end of the week looks much better but too many difficult things to move at work to go then. Chance of rain is low, each time I look it’s between 5-30% and moves around all day, so likely not know until I’m actually there. Also looking at getting a mountain bike as there are several summits which have a long run up and either makes a long boring walk, or a nice cycle. Probably don’t need anything special as I won’t use it that much, but used is always a pain. I do have the cycle2work scheme I can use to buy a new bike pre-tax…just then risk end up spending more!

Sunday, 1st September, 2024

Went for a big walk today with a local friend I met via radio. Was a 26km route, some biking and rest walking, summit was 1150+ m. Took us about 6 hours including activating the summit on the radio. Weather was fine although the cloud didn’t lift off the summit until we were on our way back down, but the views were spectacular. I left at 5am so I could be back home early afternoon for kids activities. Was going to go out again tomorrow, but the weather is looking terrible, maybe Wednesday might work? I normally have Friday off but have to work this one, and typically the weather is lovely on Friday.

Also need to clean and dry my shoes, but really I need some walking boots.

Been busy, although now that I think of it, I’m not sure with what.

Thursday, 29th August, 2024

Signed my contract to commit to 4 days a week.

Wife has been playing Lemmings on the Amiga emulator.

Feel like I’m constantly buying radio things yet I still have a list of stuff I need.

Tuesday, 27th August, 2024

Made a bit more progress on the yagi last night. Just need to fit a connector then I can test it out…see if it’s anywhere near the frequency it’s supposed to be. There’s room for improvement as I’m not sure I can remove the driven element arrangement like I can all the rest. The only way is a screwdriver to remove the rods. Which can be done easily enough although not sure I want to be fiddling with tiny screws on a summit. Alternatively I just keep it attached and find a way to carry it in my backpack.

I should get a small junction box and remake it inside there with a connector so I could remove it.

I also feel like I’ll probably just buy one…or make a mount for the one I already have…

I was at the kids tennis sitting with all the mums. They were talking about vinted app. Now I’m on it looking for active wear for walking. There are good bargains, just need to find what I actually want.

The mast mounting stuff arrived, which raised some questions. The brackets are so heavy, feels like the wall will struggle to hold them up let alone a mast! Still not sure if it’s a good idea or not…

Sunday, 25th August, 2024

Had a nice walk with some of the kids up a summit this morning. Managed to get in some radio too.

Making some progress on my home made yagi. Went to the hackerspace last night to make use of the pillar drill. Just trying to figure out the coax to element setup. Could do with some small eyelets and crimpers…which I found at the hacker space. Not sure I can be bothered to drive back there this evening. It’s 30 minutes each way. Maybe I can find something at home…

Going back into the office tomorrow. Feels like I’ve not been at work in ages…

Meant to be working more on my yagi this evening but I ended up just sitting on the computer instead. Got a small blog post out on my radio site which has been sat in draft for ages. What I should do is prepare today’s summit outing as well, even if just the photos from my phone. I’m enjoying the new radio blog. I should add some pages for other stuff but not got round to it.

Friday, 23rd August, 2024

I want to build a 2m yagi for taking up hills, but there are so many permutations online I’m sucked into and just get stuck in a loop of looking at them all not quite knowing what I should do. Then 2 hours go by and I’ve done nothing.

Plumber came and fixed the leak. I’ve messaged insurance to cancel the claim. No doubt it’ll still haunt me even though they spent nothing. Did a trip to the hardware store and got all the bits for the yagi I’m building. Debated between 4 or 5 elements but that means 1m boom or 1.4m boom and this is meant to be a thing I carry up a mountain, so less is more.

A new radio by Yaesu was announced…bit like a new camera has all these features but you don’t quite know everything, like weight and price. It could fill a gap there is, which is good. I don’t really want it though, still has shortfalls that annoy me, which no one seems to overcome except Elecraft and the KX2, which I have. It’s basically a Leica…but more affordable 😅

I wonder if I can take the kids up another hill this weekend…the weather is nice, but they might’ve had enough. There’s always the tea room incentive to try.

Been slacking on my DayOne family journal pretty badly. Missed half the summer holidays and back to school.

Thursday, 22nd August, 2024

I could’ve sworn I’d already written here today. I can remember writing about how I went to bed super early last night as I was so tired, possibly from the anaesthetic at the dentists. However, every device that I would’ve written it on doesn’t have anything, so here I am writing it again?

I’m going to find it later and then it’ll somehow mess up the git repo and I’ll have to delete it from that device and start again.

Found Rooibos tea, somewhat randomly by picking it in the store as the packaging looked nice and I didn’t like the alternatives. I quite like it. People say you can have it with milk but that sounds horrendous. Although I suppose people say that about black tea which I drink with milk.

Had a scaffolder around today measuring up for the solar install. Good job I was working from home as no-one told me he was coming. Anyway, we were looking at the roof, and I’d said I could take down the antenna. He asked what it was about and away we went talking about it. Ended with him going to give me a price on a pole and some fittings for the side of the house. It’ll only be 21ft/6m tall but that’s probably good enough to start. Most I want is 10m, probably 9 to keep things below the ridge line of the house. So I could mount a 3m pole on the side of it to get a bit extra height. I say I could…not exactly sure how I’d do that other than having it laid down and then walking it up. Anyway figure that out later. So I ordered some fittings for it all, just to have in ready. Although still need bolts and a big enough drill bit to fit it.

Wanted to get some parts tomorrow to make a portable antenna, but doesn’t look like the local stores sell what I need. Also the annoying thing seems to be the reflector element needs to be slightly more than 1m, and obviously things are sold in 1m lengths. Now maybe I can buy a 2m length and cut it so it serves two elements.

Wednesday, 21st August, 2024

I wish I blogged more about the things I do, not necessarily because they’re so interesting but so I remember them. I just never get round to it…

I was trying to work out if I had time to do a mountain activiation this Friday. Youngest has started school and they just do half days for a bit, but I’d only have between about 9:15am and have to be back at the school by 12:55. I’ve done all the nearby ones already, so I don’t think there’s enough time, maybe I could do it but it doesn’t leave much contingency, so probably best I don’t. Also it’s meant to be raining on Friday so that’s that. I should do something constructive though…maybe literally and make an antenna…but that does mean having the parts ready, and so ordering stuff…unless I can find all the parts at the hardware store. Also, what are the parts?

Had a filling at the dentist today…not had one of those in over 20 years…but still terrible. No pain, just uncomfortable and the whole numb mouth thing. Plus the smell of drilling teeth. Brings to the front of my mind the thoughts of not eating sweets anymore.

I haven’t had a cup of tea since this morning, almost 10 hours ago due to the filling. This then reminds me of my thoughts to stop drinking tea, or specifically drinks with caffeine in them. My friend actually did this recently. He stopped coffee, then stopped black tea, just has decaff or herbal. Said it was two weeks of headaches and other issues until he finally broke through to the otherside. Funny he told me that as before the summer holidays I started to stop drinking tea at work. Mostly as it’s terrible. I replaced it with hot water. Still has a nice feeling to drink it. Anyway, I had weird dizziness and headaches, which at the time I didn’t consider was the lack of tea, but now that I look back and after speaking to my friend, is probably what it was. It was quite rough. I had to fidget, adjust my glasses, comb my hand through my hair or just generally do things to distract from the feeling of dizziness. I think I should’ve done it this past two weeks whilst being at home recovering. Now I tell myself there’s not a good time to start, so best not to.

I have a note pinned to my river in tiddlywiki about “less”. Because it’s there all the time I’ve stopped seeing it. Today I looked at it, and read it.

Stop buying the unnecessary. Toss half your stuff, learn contentedness. Reduce half again.

Yeh…I should do that. The problem is, that I then go “well to reduce to one thing, I’d best buy the best one thing” and somehow I’ve ended up buying things when I’m meant to be reducing. Radio hobby is a hard one as you end up with various bits and pieces of things that could be useful, or you start buying bits because of it. I saw some tent pegs and clips today that were £4, so I bought them. I don’t have a specific use but they seemed handy.

I should use the hackerspace more, as there are lots of consumable things there which are meant to be used. I could go there on Friday, but it’s 30 minute drive each way, I’d still get about 3.5 hours there though. We’ll see.

After thinking and talking about lock in and not being able to join signal etc. last night, I end up reading this long article about the state of the internet.

Tuesday, 20th August, 2024

I feel better just deciding the flex is a bad idea. Now I just need to sort out the computers…I’m torn between selling them for not much but they’ll be gone or keep them for future projects or if the kids want a computer to tinker with when they’re a bit older. It’s terrible but there are 2x 4TB SSDs just sat in them doing nothing but now I reinstated the server with storage they seem unnecessary. Again, should I sell them? Or keep for something…other than the storage I could replace everything with a rpi5. Also the kids would probably enjoy that more than some random box…

A guy at the hackerspace has a Ubuntu touch phone (or a phone running it) but was complaining as he couldn’t join the group signal chat. My answer is just suck it up and get a regular phone. Which isn’t what he wants to do but life is so hard otherwise. We talked about Android emulators and general songs and dances to get round to it. Meanwhile I’m sat next to a Debian developer with similar freedom views but runs and MacBook and iPhone and says “I haven’t got time for that shit”.

The MacBook was nice. 👀

Monday, 19th August, 2024

Buying that flex radio is a dumb idea. I’ve got too caught up in stuff…literally stuff.

The guidance is “spend 90% of your money on antenna” … not radios. But buying radios is easy and making antenna is hard/people don’t like looking at them. Which is why going up a mountain is fun as then no one cares what it looks like, plus you have to optimise it as you’re carrying it all.

I think I have enough radios…and maybe I should try and reduce? Well at least not add.

A local, who I met via SOTA and his YouTube channel, has his home station on his qrz profile. I don’t need to copy people but I do admire the simplicity but effectiveness of his home station. I should go back to my idea of remote setup with the IC-705. I actually think I care more about remote VHF (2m and 70cm bands) as local activators are going to be calling on those and looking for contacts, whereas HF they can get anyone nation or worldwide.

I put up the big vertical at home over the weekend. Was great fun and going to write it up on my radio blog at some point. Could I install that permanently home? I suspect not…

I should focus my efforts on building a 2m yagi for SOTA, maybe a 10m moxon or equivalent and then sort out my home VHF/UHF.

Had a leak from the bathroom into the garage last night. Called insurance this morning to raise a claim as I figured it would be pricy with needing new tiles and ceiling but now I’m doubting that. Plumber came and found the issue is the water pipe to the toilet bowl. Fix is easy enough and the only damage is the ceiling and the tile grout in the bathroom. I suppose the joists could be wet but would they really need replacing? This could’ve been going on a long time as it’s the guest room bathroom and rarely gets used.

I just dislike insurance as it always feels like a trap and a small claim now will cost us for the next 5 years. But if the plumber came and it was a big job then I’d be glad I raised it with them and their “tell us immediately” rules. Ugh. Just feels like every choice is the wrong one.

Back to school for the kids tomorrow. Summer holidays over…that was fast.