Sea Journeys: October 2018

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Future Boat Projects: Software Defined Radio (SDR) Receiver

The Beginner's Guide To Software Defined Radio RTL-SDR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB6XQSEFwVA

5 Cool Things You Can Do With An RTL SDR Receiver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QzklSyKqQM
NooElec SDR Receiver

Decoding Weather Satellites Using An SDR Receiver NOAA-19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wXjsCvHKI0

How to Pull Images from Satellites in Orbit (NOAA 15,18,19 and METEOR M2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjClTnZ4Xh4

NooElec NESDR SMArt Bundle - Premium RTL-SDR w/Aluminum Enclosure, 0.5PPM TCXO, SMA Input & 3 Antennas. RTL2832U & R820T2-Based Software Defined Radio.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GDN1T4S/

NooElec NESDR SMArt HF Bundle: 100kHz-1.7GHz Software Defined Radio Set for HF/UHF/VHF including RTL-SDR, Assembled Ham It Up Upconverter, Balun, Adapters & Cables
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0747PX3NZ/

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

2018-10-24 Wednesday - Mast Adventures

The new mast step was installed yesterday (Tuesday) - and the mast is schedule to be re-stepped tomorrow (Thursday)

Some of the improvements the yard has done:

Trimmed some minor corrosion from the base
Newly fabricated mast step (deck-stepped)
New VHF antenna
New LED Spreader Lights
New halyard pulley at the top of the mast
All wires now run down the inside of the mast
New Mast Head assembly (for wind instrument, speed & direction)
New Wind Vane
Spreaders painted
New wiring to the steaming light
Old TV antenna removed
Fixed a problem with a bend in the gooseneck assembly that had a jammed clevis pin (for the main tack cringle)

I originally had the mast un-stepped May 29th - and hopefully will have it re-stepped Thursday October 25th.

2018-10-26 Update:

The mast re-stepping went (mostly) well...

As I suspected, the yard built the new mast-step much taller than the section of the mast base that they trimmed...

...which resulted in the aft-lower shrouds now being too short to be secured safely with cotter pins. The rigger is supposed to drop by sometime next week to sort out some kind of a solution (e.g. add additional rigging toggles above the turnbuckle).