Martin F. Jue Documentary – Coming Soon

Here's a short article over at Dan Romanchik's place about the in-production Martin F. Jue documentary, with links to the filmmaker's page, which has a film trailer.  Go read & watch.

What a remarkable man.  I've used many of his company's radio-related product over the years, and commented on them here at the blog.  Here they are, pre-searched.

Contemplating a Resilient but Lower Gain Antenna

Referring back to Sunday's post, the new Carrabelle repeater antenna is expected to have about 4 dB less gain than the old one.  That's a lot.  But how much of a real difference in range will this make?  Consult the Egli model.  In it, range drops as the fourth root of gain (remember to convert from dB to magnitude), so 4 dB down corresponds to about a 21% drop in range, all else being equal (which it never is, but you have to start somewhere).  Here's a map of repeater-to-vehicle range predictions for the two antennas:

Not great, but not a deal-breaker either.  That's engineering trade-offs for you.  If this one is unacceptable, upgrade your vehicle's antenna.  Going from a 1 dBi shorty used in the above modeling to a 5/8ths wave antenna will get you nearly all of this range back.

Elijah Craig Toasted Rye – meh

I mean, it's a perfectly good rye, and its value is in the subtle notes.  But if you're looking for subtle notes, why are you drinking rye whisky?  Probably one best saved for bourbon drinkers with discerning palates who want to occasionally try something a little different.

I'll save the rest of the bottle for when oak pollen stuffy nose season is over, but frankly it's more clutter in the cabinet than it's worth.  If you want the Better option, go with Old Overholt Bonded (especially if you're mixing with say, sour mix); for the Best option and neat sipping, go with the High West.

And That Was The Month That Was

February's gone?  Already?  A busy month of many time-eaters.  But here are some highlights of life lately:

• Picked out a new antenna for the Carrabelle repeater that was zapped by lightning two weeks ago.  This one, an all-aluminum j-pole-ish thing.  It checks three of the main boxes (lightning resistant, not too heavy or big to go on the existing mount, and good wind survival – reportedly 153+ mph), while losing some of the gain we formerly had – about 4 dB's worth.  All engineering is a compromise, and the lower gain is something we'll have to live with.
• Dealt with some loose-and-flapping questions about a proposed antenna tower at the new-still-in-planning Franklin County EOC.  Messy.
• Wrapped up construction and testing of the "PRC-26" backpack radio.  This was one of those projects that fought back, first with minor but time-wasting construction details on its antenna, and then with a radio that wouldn't program via computer but required hand programming.  In the end though, it all came together and it works.
• Two bizarre flat tires on the gravel bike, one a thorn, the other a big ol' square-cut tack.
• And for the tubeless mtb, I got How To Use Dynaplug Tire Plugger sorted out too.  So weirdly simple.
• Federal. Taxes. Done.
• State. Taxes.... undone, but help is lined up, so should be done Real Soon Now.
• Two visits from two brothers that both got rescheduled twice.  I mean, what're you gonna do but roll with that?
• New brake pads all 'round on the Mustang, and in time before the rotors took a beating.
• Oh yeah, a new war, and this one looks.... concerning.
• And finally something good today – Holly Williams (yes, THE Holly Williams) in a short concert, within walking distance of home!  Her song Waiting on June seemed to suddenly put some dust in the air in the venue..

I'm taking a little time off over the next week or so.  Will post pics of any worthwhile adventures.  Not even going to try to tag this post, it's so scattershot and mostly ephemeral.

ps: Saw this a day later on Monday the  2nd.  Somehow  fits the overall theme here.

Gap Point & Catfaces

Hiked the Gap Point Trail again today (see 2021 & 2022).  Nothing really new, though I did talk with a nice couple from Thomasville who are staying in Apalach.

Anyway, on to today's pics.  While discussing a recent talk by Kermit Brown hosted by the Apalachicola Area Historical Society at the Rainey House (no links; search engine use left as an exercise for the reader) with a friend, the topic of catfaces came up.  These are scars left on pine trees decades ago by the turpentine industry, the idea being to drain off some of the tree's sap without killing the tree.  Anyway, my friend had no idea what I was talking about, so here are some pictures.

A tree with a catface.

Closeup of the same catface, showing a metal gutter to guide sap into a Herty cup.  The nail to hang the cup is still there too, just below the gutter.

In fact, here's an entire documentary from the 1940's showing how it was done.  Looks like incredibly hard work.  These days, I understand that turpentine and rosin are by-products of the paper industry, and of course petrochemical products have replaced many of the former uses for pine-sap products.  BTW, turpentine from St. George Island was particularly prized for its clarity.  It reportedly didn't affect light paint colors as much as other turpentines.

Finally, on the way out, here's a shot of East Slough.  You can see where the main creek winds through by the change in the color of the reeds and needle grass.

I'm tired now.  Going to hit 'post' and hit the rack.

Caffeinated Thought for Today

 Eh, all I got for today.  Go build a j-pole.

Jurassic Duck Mk III & PRC-26

From that last post, you could probably tell that I've been up to something.  Following up on last month's Three Days In The Woods, it was painfully clear that we needed serious radio power in a backpack-able format.  Some discussion of updating the old AN/PRC-25/77 radio concept was batted around.  Starting with the Jurassic Duck Mk II as a prototype antenna and building up a backpack frame with a TYT-9000D 2m radio and a 20 AH LiFePO4 batt, we took the original DoD realization from 42 pounds and 2 watts for $5000 (inflation adjusted) to a much improved 14 pounds and 60 watts for $300.  Of course, that's 60 watts on 2m, which for the typical 40 MHz used with the PRC-25/77 series, has about the same punch as 5 watts at that frequency.  OK, so a third the weight and two and a half times the power for a sixteenth the cost.  Wrap it up, I'll take it.  Also, this being 2026, we dubbed it the "PRC-26."  Picture on the right.

Of course, any project such as this one will naturally bring in a few refinements and construction notes.  Here they are for this iteration:

• We used a cam-lock lever to allow the antenna pole to pivot over to half-size for storage and transport.  This has caused all kinds of havoc, and I don't recommend it.  First, it necessitated bringing the coax out through the side of the PVC pipe above the pivot, which makes slipping things in and out during adjustment a bear.  Also, it necessitates a longer lower segment, which makes the whole thing wobbly.
• Recommended for next iteration: Two glue-on male threaded adapters with a female threaded coupler to join them.  Note, the UHF plug connector can slip through all of these and come out through the bottom of the lower pipe.  Much simpler, more rugged, and easier to construct.
• Be damned sure to get thin-walled PVC!  Bring a section of 450 ohm window line to the hardware store with you and try slip-fitting it in.  It'll be snug, but make sure it fits fairly easily.
• Revised lengths for the j-pole internals: 
• main radiator = 38" with an inch or so of loop-over (cut it a little long and tune down 1/4" at a time)
• 450 ohm segment = 17" total length, remembering to leave enough to solder the bottom legs together and an extension on the hot side for the main radiator wire attachment
• tap 1.75" from the bottom of the window line

And that's it!  I'll be building up my own personal copy of this revised version in the near future.