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Did a ‘thing’ yesterday

First 2 chassis just arrived. Getting it tested!

Been working on this for a looong time. CFA3 from scratch mixed smd/thru-hole design. Currently assembled with NOS Toshiba 2SC3381/2SA1349 inputs, NOS MPSW TO-92L thru-hole transistors and bcxxx for the smd. Power consumption 75W no fan. Linear PSU with 20,000uf/63V filter capacitance — custom golden reference regulators. Final dimensions are 12x9x4.5” / 22lb+ the motorized 48 step attenuator w/ remote and display was a last minute addition. definitely interested in finding out the feedback for that, but would want it built backwards for a final design, I think.

Michelle and I met up with Shelly today for a few beers and a good post covid-times catch-up after what's been far too long. Great afternoon, and we even managed to find her Pliny on tap that was open in new years!

Meeting with Purk and his friend, Wut. Unfortunately, nothing new to show to them. But, as usual, we went out for a lunch together, and I had to make sure that I fed them enough. 😆

Upcycled redwood siding from the former house on the lot where my brother's new house is. This is the tack room in my sister in law's new barn. It's looking very sweet for a rustic utilitarian space. Still need to finish the ceiling and trim around the doors and window. And then there's another tack room in the garage, aka the tacky room.

Starting yesterday, drove about 120mil north to visit Al and Steve since I’d managed to make it all the way to the left coast and seemed a shame to not close the gap all the way. Had excellent drinks and dinner with the two of them and Claire last night, followed by breakfast this morning after viewing some (smallish) redwoods. Then decided that I should probably take the long way “home” back to Monterey so took Rt1/PCH stopping for a walk and a few photos on the way.

I have exactly one neighbor. His name is Gary. He's a genuine boomer, turning 70 this year. He is some kind of special needs. In his day, on Marthas Vineyard, there wasn't much in the way of diagnosis so he just kind of got by. He lived with his mother until she passed on my birthday this year at the age of 93(!) Now Gary lives alone, and I live here on MV. Gary does okay, but my (sainted, octogenarian) mother does have some worries about him. He mentioned to her that his electric bill was over $200 this month. She said to me "you have an awful lot of spare LED bulbs, you should see if Gary would let us replace some of his incandescents." She wasn't wrong. For reasons not entirely worth explaining, I have 3-4 boxes of LED bulbs I brought with me to the Vineyard. My father was a hoarder of antique furniture. He built barns to hold it all: In spite of the thousands of records and CDs I own, not to mention the nightclub's worth of lighting gear (and all the stereo equipment) I own, I have always rejected the notion that I am a hoarder. Except for lightbulbs. I have to cop to it. I compulsively bought CFL bulbs when those were a thing, and then moved on to LED bulbs when they arrived. I have done some pretty neat things with them. I restored a bunch of antique lamps: (For colored bulbs, CFLs are better than LED. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.) Even with the lamps above and many more, I have a vast excess of LED bulbs. Today, with Gary's permission I went through his house and wrote down all of the bulbs I thought he could use. Then I went up to my attic where it was 115 goddamn degrees and dragged down a few boxes. I then spent an hour replacing the bulbs in most of Gary's house. I did most of the living area, and discussed with him a few spots I could not get to (the garage and basement.) He seemed pleased. Also I have (slightly) fewer bulbs kicking around now.

Feeling pretty awesome, and hoping I can do more..... I got the OK to take an old work laptop, as well as using one of my own. Wiped disks, refreshed OS (Windows 10 Pro OEM for ~$10!), and donated them via a local "Buy Nothing" FB group. One went to a woman who has no computer (does have a Smartphone but not always easy to do a lot on the small screen), and goes to the local library for computer work. Second went to a woman who's husband was just laid off, and they are keeping money tight - don't want to spend anything on even a used laptop right now. So this will help with his job search. I told the work folks who OK'd the one laptop how this turned out, and I'm trying to do more. We have some laptops that come in and are fully written off and removed from inventory. I'm now checking with the CIO and our Legal team, to see if I can do more of these refreshes and donations. Such a nice thing, I love doing this and hoping it can continue....

Great news! Our friend and Lance's former coach had his fencer take Bronze at the Paris world cup. Lance fenced Cheung, the bronze medalist years ago with Lance getting his ass kicked but it was a good high level almost Olympic ass kicking. Of note, while training here a few years ago we had all three of these guys plus the rest of the Hong Kong team over to the house for some post training 12 hour braised short rib tacos. The coaches and their wives loved my wine, what a surprise.

Finished the mini bedroom audio rack with Rubio Monocoat and glued it up. Now in place and making me happy. Also shown are the Bendy Head headphone stand from Peter @Iron_Dreamer and coasters from Nate. Thanks again guys, and thanks to Steve for the design, lumber, and help building!

This will be a long drawn out post. Just a fair warning for those with better ways to spend 15 minutes or so. I hadn't posted about this here, but the last couple of months have been extremely difficult for my Mother. As it happens her husband stopped making the payments on the motor home (unbenounced to her) that they lived in. To make matters worse, it was close to being paid off. She had 3 days notice of repossession (they're both in their 80's). Couldn't find a way to stop that from here. But I was able to find a used 40' bumper pull trailer in great shape, very close to her. She was able to make that purchase, and the trailer was supposed to be delivered in 3 days time. So just a short hotel stay. That turned out to actually take over 3 weeks and a $2000 hotel stay. She's on a very fixed income. Then, after locking up her old motor home and actually cutting the water and electric hook ups, the bank decided that the motor home wasn't worth repossessing. The giant slide-out had rusted frozen after nearly 20 years in the South Texas beach weather. Also with my Mother and her husband both being legally blind, they had no idea that they were living in a roach infested, mold infested, horrible environment. They had a pretty bad roof leak. My Mom has COPD, and could barely walk from one end of the 32' motorhome, to the other. So, this frozen up motor home that wouldn't start, and was going to cost almost $4000 to be removed from the RV park they live in, the bank decided to abandon at the RV park, leaving my Mother on the hook for removal. Mind you, the bank held the title, left the motorhome locked and unusable (no hook ups). After talking to several businesses, my Mother discovered that no one would even consider moving it without a title. Long story longer, the bank wasn't able to get away with their despicable activities. I fully understand that the mortgage was behind some eight thousand dollars ( however, even though he had missed 8 payments, he had made 6 payments after that. Payments that the bank had accepted). And again, they were literally a few payments away from being payed off, minus the 8 back payments. She did end up having to make rent on two lots for one month, once the new trailer was finally delivered, and the old motor home was still in the old lot space. So, to catch up... They found a company to haul away the motor home with a giant wrecker. This company charged the bank (the legal owner) space rent, while they started refurbishing the motor home. The bank settled with them for lot rent and removal fees. The bank also settled with the RV park for lot space rent (2 months) which the park gave to my Mother. The RV sales company that turned a 3 day delivery into 3 weeks has agreed to reimburse my Mother for 80% of the hotel bill, and the hook ups that they were supposed to do and didn't, which my Mom had to pay someone else to do. Also the payment on the trailer was knocked down $130 a month. They told her that to qualify for the loan, she'd need an extended warranty. Turns out that was bullshit. And she had only financed $7000, and paid cash for the other $11,000. People really like to fuck over Senior citizens! Today I got the news that my Mother qualified for Medicaid. This also qualified her for a helper to come in 14 hrs. a week to clean, do laundry and all the shopping. My Mother and her husband can't drive anymore. He's almost fully blind, and she's loosing her sight pretty quickly ( both have macular degeneration). The Dr. has told her that her COPD is vastly improved (no mold or roach poop for a few months now). And finally, South Texas has no real transit help for Seniors or handicapped individuals. The bus they paid for to get to Dr. appointments is now also covered by Medicaid. That and they qualified for Meals on Wheels (more of a logistics challenge than a financial one). So, what was a complete pain in the ass, and absolutely despicable behavior by the bank (at least in my opinion), has now turned into a bit of a rainbow after a bad storm. I can't thank my Cousin enough, who spent hour after hour moving, boxing, cleaning and redelivering all of the roach infested clothing and belongings. Also pairing down a ton of crap that they just didn't need. Happy ending!

My younger niece (11) and folks are visiting us in Durango. Took the train to Silverton and went on the Alpine Slide at Purgatory Ski Resort. 20230730_145026.mov IMG_5113.mov

Yesterday we visited Sterling Pond, which just so happens to be the highest elevation trout pond in Vermont

I did search but I couldn't find a dedicated thread about DIY electrostatics so in the spirit of getting the discussion started, here is something I've been working on. Well over a decade ago I bought up all the spare Sennheiser HE60 parts to assemble new headphones. The first thing to go out of stock was the main housing so to assemble the last pair, I had to adept a HD650 housing to take the HE60 drivers. Ever since then it has stuck in my head to make my own drivers for those housings and well... here is version 2.0: I bought a ratty old HD650 and completely stripped it apart. Headpad, earpads and cable went into the trash while the rest went for a long bath. First step is to make the baffle flat so a lot of cutting with nice, sharp, flush cutters. I naturally forgot to take a picture of that step... Next step was to fully measure what area I had to work with and design PCB's to match that, while maximizing the open area. The end result is three different PCB's, as they are all setup to be dual sided. One for the stators, one which holds the diaphragm and finally the simple outline which holds the dust covers and can act as a spacer. Some pics of them assembled in the housing: Four nylon screws hold the sandwich together, fixed with PEEK nuts to get extra gripping power as the assembly had to be as flat as is possible. Dust covers placed away from the stators so they don't cause any issues. Earpad side: Due to the screws, some earpad mountings have to be cut up to get the pads to fit but yeah, they are just cheap crap from China so who cares. I could cut a slot in them to try and make it fit but maintaining as much pressure on the drivers as I can is far more important. Final assembly with a King Sound cable as I have a couple of those sitting around. For the diaphragm I used my usual stock of 1.4um film and the earpads are just the cheapest leather pads I found on ebay. I have a couple of nicer ones but these are the thickest and that helps make them more balanced sounding. The diaphragms were stretched by hand on a mirror (which is my preferred way) and glued with wood glue (thanks for the tip Aumkar!) which is just perfect for this. Coating is anti-static spray which means they energize in five seconds or so which I can live with. Now for the sound... pretty damn good for something so simple and literally being the second set I assemble. Well that and zero effort has been put into sealing the baffle or just any sealing at all. I just stuck the PCB's onto the baffle and built up the stack. Overall sound signature is similar to the HE60 but not as diffused and with far more bass output. Maybe a tad too much at times as there are some oscillations that I can pickup at very high volume levels and under high excursion. I tend to go with slightly less tension on the diaphragm so that might be it. Treble is very pronounced with the thinner pads but with the ones pictured, it is just perfect. These are not forward at all and the soundstage is excellent for this size of a driver and non-angled earpads. Sensitivity is slightly lower than the regular Stax sets but still only marginally so. All in I'm very happy with the roughly 150$ outlay for these. Now this is version 2.0 but the first version used a HD58X from Drop, brand new in the box that I cut up. Same driver profile but thicker stators so the efficiency was really bad plus the stators had full solder mask on them. Now I'm out of the spacer PCB's for the dust covers so next time I order PCB's, I'll make another set. I also have some diaphragm spacers which would work well for normal bias as I've always wanted to mess more with that.

About two weeks ago I finished up a job (I'm now on a new job). The homeowner Chris always had a nice plaid shirt on. We got to talking about plaid collections. Although mine was much bigger, he had all Pendleton wool plaid shirts. Very nice plaid shirts, for those not in the know. Today my boss met with Chris and his wife. Pretty much a final meeting. Chris asked him to give me a box. This was the box... Pendleton has many styles. My favorite being the "Board" edition. It's a casual style, not too western looking. And made to be worn untucked. A beautiful Board edition! These are in the $150 neighborhood. I love my job!

Long live the beautiful, beautiful music!

Had a most excellent hike today out to see the waterfalls of Al’s back yard Tam. Flows are awesome after all the rain we’ve had. Dam at the bottom was spilling at full speed.

Yesterday I repaired a Canon ef 17-55mm f/2.8. I bought it broken for €150, the diaphragm didn't work and here the ST does not repair them, so you have to send it to the mainland. This lens cost arround 800€ new here. For 3 bucks I bought the flex wire conection that moves the diaphragm and after 5 hours of work (I had never opened an objective) and a hour cleaning glasses.... I was able to leave it as good as new. After a good while taking this thing apart: The damn broken flex wire: Its alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good news, everything appears to be working normally now. With some help from georgep and joamat I managed to track down what seems to have been the culprit: one dead 2SC3675 in one of the triplets of 2SC3675's. Probably the reason two of the LEDs nearby were dead too. I just need to plug in some stax now and have a listen... All batteries now measure +200V/-539V, and R42 measures 6.55V just as it should.

Went for a hike yesterday on Paine Mountain, right behind our house

Started the day with a healthy dose of liberty Finished it by closing out a rooftop bar with Kerry

Finished putting the new grill together I owned two original Weber kettles previously and loved how they performed as grills. But the original had two major problems. First, the ash collection was simply awful it was exposed and removing the ash tray was an ordeal. No longer … Both the original premium and the Master-touch have the new and improved ah collection. The second problem was adding charcoal during the cook as you had to lift up the main cooking grill. That is no longer a problem on the Master-touch with side panel hinged grates It also has the gourmet BBq system that allows you to remove the center section and replace it with another option such as the griddle a wok, pizza stone or sear grate it also has a removable heating grate So all-in-all it is a pretty nice upgrade from the last Weber kettle I used.

Small towns are not usually the best places for gay men to live. They don't offer a lot in terms of entertainment. People are usually not that inviting to gay men and women. I've spent a significant portion of my life in small towns, and generally don't feel that welcomed. Not my current small town! There are at least 100 rainbow flags flying for gay pride month! Hell, they even repainted a crosswalk with rainbow stripes. It just feels very welcoming when I'm coming home from work, grocery shopping or whatever. I love Fairfax and it's people! I am home!

Not today, but yesterday: had an interview with a hiring manager, it's a really good fit both ways. They called me back THE SAME DAY to set up an (actually) in-person interview, which means they will probably move forward with an offer. I am excite.

Oh no! My social security services have been put a stop to! I better soon be touch because the notice was sent with strictness!

This is how the night went... I picked him up at his jobsite after work. He does not drive, and usually rides with his Uncle. We just made small talk as I drove him to his home to shower and change clothes. I chatted with his Uncle while that took place. I think his Uncle was more excited than anyone. When he was ready we went to a local (Daly City) Greek spot for Gyros. He had never experienced a Gyro, and he absolutely loved it. While having our Gyros, I directed the conversation straight (no pun intended) to his sexuality. I wanted to get that out of the way. He was a bit embarrassed as we talked openly, but was very forthcoming. He is a virgin, and has never really been attracted to girls. He does seem to be a bit confused about exactly what his sexuality is, as he's also never done anything with another guy. He just said that he feels good whenever he's around me. He definitely has Father figure feelings toward me, but is confused regarding the other. He did say that he thought I was very handsome, to which I joked "well of course, you do have good eyesight", and that managed to get a chuckle from him. He's such an innocent young man. Warm and friendly with a curiosity about everything. I do enjoy being around him. But I'm certain that in no way do I want to be his first sexual encounter. We've agreed that we will be friends for now, and I've offered to slowly introduce him into the gay community. Then he can better determine where he fits in. I'm about 95% sure that he's gay. But want him to take all the time he needs to figure that out for himself. I'm also determined to steer him toward guys his age. Your first sexual experience is extremely important in setting the tone for future relationships. And those would be easier if they involved similar ages and stages in life. I realized that I do feel very protective toward him. And maybe a Father figure/mentor will not only be beneficial for him, but myself as well. We ended our outing watching Mario at the theater, where he did snuggle into me a bit, and I didn't discourage that. Very innocent, but kind of cute.

Worked with Rev. Run on a virtual event this morning. That was a hoot.

TL; DR: I’ve wanted to build a Blue Hawaii ever since I read about it on head-wize. I finally got around building a mini BH-BJT packed into a small enclosure like a can of sardines. Many small tweaks were done in attempt to reach the measured performance of the original Blue Hawaii. The details of the journey are recorded here. Many thanks to Dr. Kevin Gilmore for designing this legendary project. Thanks to Kerry, JimL, Joamat and many others for making it such a fun journey. KGBH1.pdf

Went for a nice hike today. But the best part was when it was over. Karen informed me that she wanted to drive home. Not unusual, so I thought nothing more about it. As I was sitting in the passengers seat she asked me if I had any coffee left from this morning. That was a little weird as I rarely finish my coffee before our hike and she never asks me. I say yes and she hands me a bottle of her turmeric/ginger Kombucha. I looked at her quizzically and she just said, “open it up and smell it”. So I did, and it was definitely not Kombucha, in fact my nose immediately informed my brain that it was bourbon. So I poured it into my coffee and had a very nice ride home. Did I say that I love my wife?

Here's a step by step of a project that I finally completed ...

There may not have been enough Bacon for Mikey, But there was a Ferris Wheel. Superannuated rockers (BöC) playing all the hits. And fireworks. And a train to take us home avoiding all the crowds.

Did you fall in love with it? Today I took delivery of my new car.

We hiked a little higher than usual to the summit of Mt. Abraham.

Dropped Peter and Karen off yesterday for their four day backpacking hike up a chunk of the Long/Appalachian Trail

Returning from Tribune KS with this travel trailer

DIY T2 amplifier with 300B tubes. Amplifier is built on Kevin’s board. Only modification is decreased high voltages, +/-400V instead of +/-500V. Homemade 300B to EL34 adapters connected to four Traco 5V switched PS for filament power. I only replaced the EL34 with 300B along with the filament power supply. No other adjustments. It works – I’m in no harry to change back to EL34.

Got up at 3:30AM to get to Boston to catch a plane. Next stop, left coast and the Navy Post Graduate School.

I learned a ton and had a blast at my Driver's Academy class on Saturday. There were 24 students, about 16 of the 24 were teens and young-twenty-somethings and the other 8 of us were older drivers. For the 24 of us they had 6 cars and 6 instructors, so we were four to a car plus an instructor. The day was almost entirely cone drills and was all about car control. While car control is obviously important to the enthusiast, I really do think this is a class that anyone could benefit from. Knowing how to handle your vehicle in an emergency like a sudden lane change, slide, or emergency braking situation is something all drivers should know. Getting to learn these skills on a closed course in a safe environment rather than doing it for the first time out on the public roads under duress is tremendously valuable. I think auto insurance companies should offer discounts or subsidies towards paying for one of these types of classes. They really are that beneficial. As an experienced driver I found that while I intellectually know what a lot of car control theory is, there is a difference between knowing it and being able to execute it while under stress. There is also a "feel" component to things that a video game or simulator just can't replace. A lot of driving at the limit is being able to feel what the rear tires are doing through the seat. It was great to be able to ride along as a passenger while the other students were getting instruction. Not only could you soak in what the instructor was telling them, you could feel through the seat what the car was doing. The difference in feel between doing something the right way and the wrong way is really something you have to experience in person. Most of the drills were done in normal cars. Camry, Altima, Malibu, CLA250. Tires were shitty all seasons. All drills were done with traction and stability fully off. I think the idea behind this was you can find the limit at much lower speeds than you could in some of the race cars they had. It worked great. Driving a slow car fast is a heck of a lot of fun, as always. We cycled between three drills in a morning and an afternoon session. In the morning the drills were: Skidpad (my favorite!) - Go around until the car understeered, learned how to handle understeer. Then oversteer. Get a feel for how to catch it, what it is like to not catch it and spin. I was good about counter steering but I needed to learn to wait until the rear end hooked back up before correcting my steering input. ABS emergency brake + maneuver - Do a full ABS slow down and then maneuver to avoid hitting a "wall" of cones. I was familiar with doing ABS stops but adding the maneuver element to end was a new twist. Under full ABS all the available traction is going to braking so if you don't lift a little on the brake you are just going to understeer and plow in to the cone wall. Proper cornering - they had a hairpin turn set up with cones. Drill was to trail brake in, hit the apex, power out as you unwound the wheel. Hairpins are hard because everyone's natural tendency is to turn in early. The apex on a hairpin is well past the geometric center of the curve, so this drill was all about eye training and visualizing your line. It is amazing how much speed you can carry when you get the line right. Afternoon drills were: Introduction to autocross - They took the hairpin in the morning session and added a bunch more corners to make an autocross course. I loved this. Taking it slow at first and then building up speed on consecutive laps felt great. Emergency Lane Change - Speed towards a cone wall with a lane to the left and right of it. A second before you get to the wall the instructor shouts "left" or "right" and you have to make an emergency change to that lane, then slow the car. Scariest drill of the day, as you feel like you could roll the car. Doing this kind of emergency lane change at 45mph felt extremely FAST, but we built up to it. Driving a Manual Transmission Car - I basically have never driven stick before ever, but I know how things are supposed to work. We did this one in the Mustang race cars they had, which was fun. After stalling once I got a feel for how heavy a race clutch is. After that it was pretty simple. I don't think I need to go out and buy a car with a stick, but I get the appeal. On the whole, an awesome day. I feel like I learned a lot and it was the kind of learning that I only get by actually doing the thing. As I said before, I'd recommend this kind of Driving Academy or defensive driving class to anyone. It was pricey, but worth it. Instructors were great and we got plenty of seat time.

Without protective coverings... Without protective coverings...

Head-case will be undergoing maintenance starting at ~8PM eastern on Saturday September 23, 2023. This work is expected to take a couple of hours and the site will be in maintenance mode or offline during various parts of the maintenance.

I've always been an aircraft nerd since I was a kid, particularly military, particularly WWII aircraft. I had the chance this weekend to see one of the two flyable B-29s, Fifi, up at the DuPage Airport, so made it up there. There was also a B-24 (very early model, serial number 18 of ~18,000 built), as well as a Stearman biplane, a T-6 Texan, and a Beech RC45 transport aircraft. I could have bought a ride on any of them (B-29 was $1,800 for the bombardier seat), but they were all sold out. Was cool to go up there anyway, and be able to go inside the B-29.

I got my Walkman back from repairs. The muting module had issues and it needed a new belt. Sounds great again.

Took the S.M.A.R.T. train from Larkspur to Santa Rosa For the Railroad Square Music Festival https://www.railroadsquaremusicfestival.com/ Where there was plenty to enjoy. And a variety of bands On multiple stages. We also enjoyed food and drink in other Santa Rosa locations. But now we are heading home on the last southbound train of the day. Overall, I'm impressed by the system, the ride quality and the quietness of the (Japanese) Rolling stock. The system has been several decades in the making, and I wish it well. The sad part is what we have lost, and are unlikely to see again, If you consider the electrified rail network that existed previously.

Yesterday we took a day trip to Montreal so I could practice not speaking French. Visited the Archaeology Museum, had a nice lunch at an Asian bistro and walked around the city for a few hours.

We just got back from Disney and... we couldn't miss the photo of our idol: And some boys wanted to take some cool photos with Ale.

I don't know where the rest of the chumps are but the cool kids are all here

It happened!

Thanks! I've got to bump this thread to page one with some real stuff 😀. The GGPT (Grounded-Grid Pentode/Tetrode) now gets a proper PCB laid out: I made a few deviations to the common choice of parts: 1) I found some 2SK332, could be Sanyo's answer to the low noise dual N-JFET market back in the day. They cost me about 60 cents a pop, so I ditched the LSK389. The footprint is also usable for a pair of 2SK170s. SOT-23 footprints are added for the 2SK209, and a few others that share the same pinout. 2) Through-holes on the SMD pad for the SOT223s are a big no-no for machine assembly due to solder wicking, but works okay for hand soldering. It allows the use of A970/C2240s. I found some from a Chinese manufacturer Foshan Blue Rocket Electronics, pretty decent build quality, good low-current linearity, and cheap (14 cents a pair). 3) All through-hole RCs. I know the world has moved to SMD but I have quite some through-hole resistors accumulated over the years, and personally prefer leaded components on tube PCBs due to the thermal and mechanical stress they have to endure. The FU50 tube sockets are so big and everything else have to dance around them. I chose not to use slotted pads at the exact socket pin locations, instead having soldering pads on the side allows flexible or semi-rigid connections from PCB to the tube socket contacts, which can absorb the strains. The scheme is similar to what Stax had on the original T2 PCB. A couple more mounting holes are added to allow other types of tube sockets to be used. The board mounting holes have the same distance compared to the Carbon board. This board can overlay on top of the Carbon board in the chassis where I have enough Z space left. They can share the heat sink and the power supplies. The goal is to be able to switch between them with a flip of a switch. The GG Pentode with GU-50s and the GG Tetrode with 807s, side by side: The 807s have slightly better measured performance, at the voltage level that I probably never going to drive my phones at (when I'm wearing them).