Labor Day Weekend - what are you doing?

[Opcom]

What are you doing Labor Day weekend?
This could be a topic that gets resurrected each year..


I began to sort through about 150LBs of mixed power resistors and put them in bins. I'm separating them in 1-3-5 decades due to the many values. 6 hours got about 1/3 way through. I had no idea what a tedious job that would be and was glad my apprentice was helping.

I added a 1TB external disk to the desktop computer. That was frustrating.

[KF8XO]

Trying to get the boat in the water. It was down all summer with a trailer issue that I finally got resolved this weekend. That and recapping a DX-60 and a Knight T-60. Don't do all the holiday type things we did when my parents were living. Strange.

[John K5PRO]

Rained all day, odd weather for New Mexico. So I finally emptied out all my tools from my trusty old portable tool box that I used to carry in my van, into a new Sears tool box/drawer in my shack/garage. They are all sorted in drawers, probably the only time they will be this way. Then I cleaned up the bench (been piled with tools for a year) and fixed up a 462 MHz commercial radio from Epay with a Lambda linear power supply, very old thing. Works fine, 25W, now need to get the radio re-channelized for GMRS. Lastly, I started gathering parts to repair a Harris/RF Communications RF-101 linear amplifier that i just found a month ago. Has blown rectifiers, so am replacing 32 little diodes with 4 potted blocks in the FW bridge.

It may rain tomorrow too, so I get a chance to finish the amplifier refurb. If that hurricane continues to follow the coast to Texas during the week, we may get even more rain, but i will be back at work Tuesday.

Happy Labor Day
K5PRO

[N3DRB The Derb]

I am finishing up (for good ) the Matchbox Custom and calling it done. some pr0n pix later. It's been fortified with copper!

When I get the stuff I need in the mail and built from Rich Measures, Maul #1 will be ready for testing into the termaline with the 572B's. 

edit: also hook up my ground system, which has been JS dangling crap since March, properly. Dual copper buss bars,
insulated wih Glastics, 6 #6 wires, 6 outlets/inpoots for 1/2" STRAP. Pr0n later -  back to work.

[ka3zlr]

At present Morning Coffee.. ,  I finished getting the Cabinet sides on my System Power supply, all turn lock fasteners That's nice and handy, and got the dolly and Moved the beast to it's Resting Spot That was yesterdays Bench time, then mowed grass did the yard chores.

Today, I'm cleaning the work bench off and making room for the RF deck and clean it Dust and dirt from the Fan pulled in ...general maintenance...and back in it's case it goes..

A Monday Off Great...

[W3SLK]

I was off all last week and was going to clean-up the shack but I managed to screw-up my back playing golf. So, I'm going to work on the Apache's VFO problem and enlist my son, before he heads off to college, to help me put it back in place. Isn't today the day when most babies are born? That's why they call it Labor Day

[W1AEX]

What are you doing Labor Day weekend?

I spent all Saturday and Sunday making my new AM Forum avatar. On Monday I tweaked the overclock settings of my new beast of a computer that I brought to life last week (running @ 3.6 GHz dual core air cooled, yay!) and beat the snot out of it playing COD4 multiplayer. Many infidels paid the price today.

[W1QWT]

I guess I will join the work fray and finish up a few jobs I had started. Yesterday I went to the beach.
Brought  a 900 Mhz walkie and operated 900 MHz through a new local repeater while sitting in my beach chair.
When the conditions improve enough I would like to bring something to operate 10 meter AM from the beach chair.
Have to head out and see if the hardware store is open.
One thing I will work on is a 'Fallen Soldier' display I am making for my American Legion Post.
I brought some sand back from the beach and will glue some to the base with clear glue so it looks like
the boots are on sand. I stained the based a red oak color.


Best Regards
Q, W1QWT

[K1ZJH]

Started laying out the parts on the sub chassis's for my vintage W6TC HBR project.
Its fun trying to get everything to fit in the space that's available.

Pete

[k3zrf]

Looks like most of you are quite busy.

Out here just practising drunkeness and debauchery for the weekend.

Much more relaxing 

[WQ9E]

The fun part of today is getting a recently acquired AR-88 ready for its first power test.  Several of the bathtub caps had sprung a leak so that was a nice mess to clean up and a previous owner had installed a meter out of an SX-42 so I need to find something a bit more suitable.  About another hour and it will be ready for the smoke test.

For the rest of the day I have to get back to an article that needs to be finished and then this evening will be spent putting together a PowerPoint presentation for a conference in Minneapolis later this month.  Not as much fun as soldering but the writing does spin off into consulting which provides boatanchor acquisition funding.

Rodger WQ9E

[KA1ZGC]

Sitting naked in front of my computer.

[KB2WIG]

Mow the lawn.
Clean out the garage (it IS labor day).
Talk laundry off of 10m dipole.
Take SX 28 out of vehicle.
Start recapp on Viking 2.

Grill.

klc

[Carl WA1KPD]

Finished up the T-160 project with a minimum if smoke on along the way.

Helped my wife's friend move into her new antique shop- I had better earned some major points with that!

Continued the brush clearing in the back yard

Installed the new (used) motor on the drill press

Smoking up some ribs for dinner. (Demonstration ribs shown for illustrative purposes only)

[K0ARA]

TMI!!! Tom 

[w8khk]

Working on the Valiant that followed me home from Huntsville.  The unit had apparently been dropped, breaking the VFO shaft coupler, and severely warping the chassis around all the transformers.  I have stripped it down, and straightened and cleaned the chassis.  Solid Stating the power supplies, leaving room for a UTC S-21 115 watt mod tranny, and adding sockets for another pair of toobs.  Modulator will be four 6146s in push pull parallel.  Stripped out all the audio, rebuilding from scratch.  Obviously, it will take more than the weekend to complete.

Even tho it was not in advertised condition, I still think I got a real good deal.

[N3DRB The Derb]

damn, lying on the cement garage floor is harder than I thought.  

might have to save the Matchbox finishing etc. until tomorrow. the ground install is by far the hardest job crawling around.

[WA2TTP Steve]

Spent a great weekend on Great Sacandaga Lake. Boating, BBQ and good times with friends and family. Weather in upstate NY has been perfect this weekend. To bad the summer is ending

Steve
WA2TTP

[WZ1M]

Spent the weekend tearing down an old house of an "SK" amature, licensed back in the early thirtys. He was an avid collector of National stuff. He had no relatives and the town called me to clean out what I could, no charge, before it came down. Well, came home with the following National Items. "FB-7", "SW-58", "SRR", "AGS-X", a couple of "A" and "AB" power supplies, two HRO50's and an HRO-60 carcas. Tubes, parts and manuals up the kazoo. Still sorting parts.
Gary...WZ1M

[WU2D]

Big Day,

I got a call from a ham buddy who said that his dad dropped off a couple of boxes that were mine if I drove down (15 miles) but he would not say what they were.
Turned out to be two LM-221 frequency meters, one in wood
 and one in black crink! Nice addition to any military shack.

I also had an eyeball QSO with a local ham who is so loud I knew he had to be close - , W1VTP, Al who had a look at my shack.

Then another neighbor burst into the house and told me I was going fishing tonight.

Nice day

Mike WU2D

[Carl WA1KPD]

an HRO-60 carcas.
Gary...WZ1M

Hi Gary

I'm in need of a new cabinet. Mine works but was in a room that must have gotten to hot...
Maybe we can work a deal for pickup at Nearfest?

Carl
/KPD

[W2JTD]

Staying off he computer. oops.

[W2JTD]

Seriously, cleaned the garage and sorted tools - an ongoing congenital difficulty passed on to me by my father and grandfather. What is is that makes us think that we can have an orderly workshop with family constantly dumping things there because it's the "garage"? The more crap I boost up to the attic, the more "materializes" in my shop. A wonder of science.

But, one kid is moved out, and she took her GD bird today - sweet! The other is in college, so it's me and Maggie and the radio makes three. Now we can wander around nekkid - not that we didn't before, but now we can do it without worrying about DYFUS. Prudes.

Gonna grill up some chicken and play some guitar. The evening is ours.

Best wishes to all for labor day.

[WA1GFZ]

I finished my Daughters bedroom and I don't have a drop of French Canadan blood. Bleepim sanded sheetrock it 4 times and still found places to fill in.
Almost 6 gallons of paint to do a 10 by 12 bedroom and closet.
1 down and 5 1/2 to go.   
I need to get back to work and recover.

[NE4AM]

One of the Labor Day weekend traditions out here in Collins Country is the Mount Pleasant Threshers Reunion.  Lawdy, what a gear-head's dream!  The grounds are probably 100 acres of antique tractors, steam engines, threshing machines, baling machines, saw mills, draft horses, antiques, funnel cakes, tenderloin sandwiches, old guys in overalls, y'know, the stuff that made America Great.  There is a train track that goes around the grounds, and working steam locomotives that carry passengers from one end to the other.  Everything from Crosley cars, to Isettas, Stanley Steamers, Wincharger Windmills, Maytag engines, Rumeley Oil-Pull kerosene tractors, and coal smoke everywhere.  My 10 year-old son was  hypnotized by the big Corliss stationary engines - he had just watched _Steam Boy_ last week (great movie BTW).  I got to show the kids tractors like the ones I used to own  - like Grandpa used to own - like Great Grandpa used to own...
In one of the museum buildings, there is a room devoted to antique electronics, and the curator explained to me that 60 years ago he used to run a radio shop in Burlington, and had hired Jim Winegard as a kid to repair radios  - but had to fire him, since Jim wanted to re-engineer every radio the shop took into repair.  Winegard, of course, went on to found his antenna company, back in 1954. 
One wall of the room was covered with a display of old tubes, and the old guy was astounded when I told him what some of the old audio triodes sold for these days.
Attendance was down some from years past, as it takes a lot of expensive gas to haul in the big tractors, but the kids and I will be going as long as the coal fires burn.