Email notifications to end & other things

Apparently the email notifications to subscribers of my posts will end in July and the function will not be replaced. Hmm. 

This week in my ham news: Not much. I briefly got my ears on to the local 80m net for about 1 minute yesterday before the XYL materialised putting an end to such things.

Earlier in the week I started poking around non-HAM bands to see what I could hear, amused at the volume of Asian SW stations I could here. The XYL didn't seem terribly amused when I finished. Possibly there's a bit of a theme here.

It has actually been a busy enough week with work and family commitments, so I haven't had a lot of "radio friendly" time, and the one night I do, I'm too tired, and as soon as I finish typing this, having briefly thrown out an SSTV CQ and a couple of replies on FT8, I'm going to go back to sleep in front of the TV.

I did get the Nitro RC car out on Wednesday afternoon and had a world of fun. We had a budget of 250ml of fuel, and we managed to use it quickly. I made my first attempts at tuning the engine now it's had time to run in, and the performance increase was noticeable immediately. 

I did roll it a couple of times; the final time I was too preoccupied with a non-compliant harmonic and managed to grab the underside of the exhaust silencer as I flipped it. I knew when it stopped hurting about 5 seconds after that I had a real problem. 

I managed to collect the car, my tools and the boy and get them into the car and drive home before the pain returned with a vengeance. The XYL having been a registered nurse materialises with an appropriate dressing to protect the burn. I burned it around 5pm. Around 3am it finally stopped hurting after random periods where the nerves in the fingers around it screamed in agony.

By Friday night.. just a normal looking blister...

Yes.. the gesture towards that silencer is intentional....

I noticed Thursday when I got around to cleaning it up that I had some drama.. in a week where I didn't want to spend any money on the car...

One of the shockers had leaked. It seems I may not have tightened it adequately when I was replacing the boots. It's empty. Given that the shocker fluid is likely years old, it's reasonable to be replacing it anyway. It's considered something that should be replaced regularly. 

This evening, whilst continuing to clean up the mess from Wednesday, I noticed that the drive shaft to the rear diff had a rub mark on it. A quick spin and I realised it has a slight bend and was just touching the side of the engine mount. Sadly, I'd thought about ordering new shafts when I ordered the shocker oil the day before, but my preferred supplier didn't have any. eBay to the rescue. 

When I did the shocker oil order, I ordered replacement wheels to make it worth the shipping. The existing tyres are buggered. The tread is wearing on them, and for an "off road" buggy, the tread was distinctly "on road". I ordered a set of 3.3" to replace the existing 2.8" wheels. The 2.8s are harder to come by with any variety. I've gone for full off road 4x4 style tread. Cheaper and I suspect will deal with hitting the longer grass better.  At some point I'll probably order a set of "on road" tyres as well so I can drive it on the bitumen. Right now, the reserve I've been using is convenient so off road it is. 

Two of these wheels have had the tread glued together more than once. There's also a lot of wear on the edges of these tyres.

Having pulled the rear end out, I should probably have ordered some diff oil as well. It appears to have been a bit leaky, but I'm not entirely sure how to get it out much less pull it apart as yet. It seems to move freely still, so it's probably good enough for the time being. I can't afford to be fixing problems that I don't have yet. 

With some luck, the bits will arrive early next week and I'll be able to get it back together and make the most of the odd days where the weather is still suitable for such things. 

Hopefully this will be good enough to keep it going for a week or 4. We have something of a mouse plague at the moment as a result of major works in the paddock behind us transitioning into the next phase of this estate. They are quite simply never ending.  I resorted today to buying bait boxes so we can use significantly more aggressive bait (and the XYL knows an exterminator who is able to refill them with *the good stuff*). 

We also need to do something about the dog door. It's something of a freeway for the little horrors to enter via our laundry. There are a few surprises in there for them now with baits hidden in places the dog can't get to, but we need to look at a second dog door for the internal laundry door. 

It needs to happen anyway - he's a big dog, so it's a big door, and a lot of weather comes in through that door (and flies). In the cooler months when the central heating is on, the house pressurises causing the flap to pull in. That lets the rain straight in. Then there's the wind. 

The door I'm looking at is to be mounted at a height at the top of his legs so he has to climb. High enough that a rodent won't be jumping over it. It should also have adequate weight that it should be able to cope with the central running without it opening. Hopefully that'll mean significantly less cold coming through the back of the house saving a fortune in gas and possibly a few less laundry floods from rain. The laundry will be cold, but given how much washing we do, the dryer is on often.