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MY HOBBY PAGE |
· HAM RADIO
Amateur
Radio or HAM Radio as it is also know by, has been a big part of my off spare time
for many years. I started out as a Novice class holder back in march of 1985.
Back then it took 5 to 6 weeks to receive your license after you successfully
passed the tests. So, in the first part of April 1985, with the new Novice
License in hand, I went to the once a month license upgrade session in town and
passed my Tech/General test to achieve a Technician class License. It took
several years of hard study and great perseverance to finally pass the 13
word-per-minute code requirement. The same night I passed the 13 wpm code test,
I also passed the Advanced written and instantly became the grade of Advanced
Class Amateur Operator. I am very proud of that milestone. It took me several
years and lots of personal effort to achieve. It is precisely for this reason
that I feel the way I do about code waivers and other methods for getting
around the code requirement. I mention this because of the incredible number of
people in the last few years who have come into the hobby because of the
NO-Code Technician license. Sure it is difficult to learn the Morse code, but I
believe it is worth it. Aside from the fact that I still believe in the Morse
code as a valuable method of communicating, I feel that a code requirement
establishes a barrier whereby, and applicant must prove not only to themselves
but to the rest of the HAM community the seriousness of their interest in the
hobby. Like the old saying about how great the reward is proportional to the
amount of effort put in. As in all things dealing with life, I believe if
enough effort is devoted to a goal, anyone can achieve whatever it is they
want.
· ASTROMONY
I
have had more than a passing interest in Astronomy for a number of years. I
purchased my first telescope back when Haley's comet last blew by. It is an
8" Meade Schmidt Cassagrain style scope, model 2080 LX3, with Tripod, Clock drive, Camera
mount, etc. Over the years since then, I have spent many hours viewing, and
photographing (using conventional film) a variety of deep space objects. More recently, I have taken a
few pictures with my new Meade Deep
Sky Imager. It is a Sony based
digital CCD camera integrated into a 1.25” telescope lens mount. It is designed
to fit virtually any telescope with a 1.25” diagonal prism.
The
DSI package comes with a very nice digital imaging software suite, that allows
you to manipulate the DSI in areas of exposure times and rate, contrast and to
digitally track and then overlay separate exposures to achieve a remarkable
clarity and brilliance. (CLICK on an image below to see a larger picture.) I am excited with the results so far. Also, my first atempt at photographing a deep space nebula has ended with the result you see below. It is of the Ring nebula, a magnitude 9.0 object. Very faint, and not visible at all to the unaided eye. If you look very closly, you can see the tiny white dwarf star that caused the nebula. The nebula was formed after the star went super nova thousands of years ago and then shrank down to the small white dwarf star it is now. I hope to very soon post more pictures of deep space nebulas or star clusters.
· OTHER INTERESTS
I
don't want to give you the idea that I am a person that stays in the dark
dungeon of my radio shack or ventures outside only under the cover of darkness
to gaze up at faint, blurry objects in the night time sky. Rather, I have other
hobbies that I am interested in which include Hot Rod cars, Jet Boats and
Snowmobiling.
My Hot Rod Car is a rare 1968 Chevrolet Camaro SS. I keep her secured
tightly under lock-and-key and alarmed whenever we are out and about. The
interior pictures show the very clean, original equipment seats, gauges, etc.
This car was one of the first California SS' produced in model year '68 in the
L.A. plant and as such, the console and gauge package was used from left over unused
'67 parts. This was the practice for the first 1,000-2,000 units made in '68.
The practice continued on the later '68 & '69 model as well. This has lead
to many discussions over the years with people who accuse me of having the
wrong console, etc. The only thing changed was the hood louvers. I hated the
OEM items and changed them out for the late '68/69 items because they look
better. As for the motor, the original SS 327 motor ( a very rare CA only item )
was replaced many years ago with a '71 400 cid 4 bolt small block. In july 2005 the 400
was replaced with a '05 Gen I, 350 4 bolt cid small block. More specifically, the block is
a GM Performance crate, ZZ4 short block with PM rods and 10:1 pistons. The heads
are very rare Chevy "Turbo" angle plug 202 "Fuelies", casting #340292.
Duel springs, screw-in studs, guide plates, case hardened pushrods and Comp Cams
Stanless Steel full rocker, 1.52 rocker arms top off the heads. Iskiderian provided
the camshaft which is a hydraulic flat tappet model #201292/6. Specs are a 512/512
lift with 292/292 duration and 106 deg valve center. The intake is an original Edelbrock
Torker intake and a Holley 750 CFM carburetor. A Mallory YL-22 distributor with a
MSD-6A fires the gas and Cyclone headers exhaust through 2.5" stainless pipes
into a pair of MagnaFlow mufflers. The Transmission is a Muncie M-21,
four speed close ratio manual & factory Hurst shifter that goes through a 11" Hayes 3400 Lb.
clutch into a 12 bolt, multi-leaf rear end with a Eaton 400 Lb Posi.
The car is a 2 owner car and was
originally purchased for me by my Parents in 1975 and I drove it back an forth to
high school and work. It was in excellent condition and performed wonderfully.
However, like most young guys of my era, I was not satisfied with having a car
that simply ran nice. I had to have more. High school auto shop was what
started me and my beloved Camaro down the road to bad parts, abusive drag
racing and years of stupid decisions. A testament to the engineering by Chevrolet
is that the car is still around after all of these years. It is still here and
doing just fine. It needs alot of work to get her back to the pristine
condition that she was in when I first saw her, but I plan to eventually get
her there. I parked the car in 1985 and except for very rare exceptions, it
stayed garaged. On those rare occasions, I did bring her out and wake her up
from her long slumber. In 1997 I began bringing her out on a more regular basis
and as such, certain things needed to be done to increase the reliability of
the car. Along with the usual fluids and such that needed replacing because of
the effects of time. I found that the original rear multi-leaf springs were
well used and needed replacing. The front end suspension also was in need of
work so all new components were ordered and replaced along with the
installation of polyurethane bushings in the control arms, end-links, sway-bar
mounts and sub-frame. WOW !! What used to go around corners on the door handles
now can keep up with the imports !! Nowadays, it is a wonderful feeling to
climb behind the wheel of a streetable 450+ horsepower car.
CLICK here to watch me do a quick "NON POWER BRAKE" burn out.
CLICK here to watch me do a quick "NON POWER BRAKE" burn out.
It takes a while to get used to it, but once done, tire smoke and high octane exhaust fumes once again return to the neighborhood. Below are some recent pictures of my baby. I hope you enjoy them.
As
for Jet boating, I am the once proud owner of a Keaton jet boat. Do to
circumstances beyond my control, I needed to sale my priced boat a couple of
years ago. It is a bittersweet loss because of the fact that I had to give up a
very enjoyable activity, but it opens the door of opertunity for me to
eventually purchase a new one. And I do plan to do that. Jack Keaton has a
design that is magnificent. I did every thing from pulling 3 skiers at once to
hauling 7 adults across Lake Shasta, at 50 mph to racing flat bottomed Merc.
out drive boats and winning!!! The looks and performance of the Keaton design
is without any question, the BEST. I've been in other boats where wake hopping
will find the boat dropping in either the front or rear when grabbing air. But
not the Keaton. Once while on the river, I got into a race with four people on
board, we came up behind a 27' cabin curser producing a monster 5' wake. I went
over that wake doing 60 mph and jumped at least 7' high and flew for at least
30' through the air. The boat settled down flat and smooth n the water and we
continued on to win the race. What a blast! That was fun. That was what the
Keaton boat is all about. It is the most stable and forgiving platform I'm
aware of. Not only is the Keaton boat the most beautiful boat I've seen, it is
the best performing. It should go without saying, but I will have another one
some day.
Snowmobiling
is another one of my many hobbies. Up until a short time ago, I had a Polaris
Trail Deluxe snowmobile. What made me decide to purchase that particular model
was the advertisement for it started off by saying "Not a big fan of
roughing it? Well this sled is for you" It had everything on it. My Lady
friends of the time and I had many hours of great fun ridding around in the
winter wonderland of the high Serria mountains. We would meet up with several
friends of ours who also had snowmobiles and all go riding the trails at Donner
Summit or La Porte. The sport is not just for the young, though the youngest
driver was a 6 year old girl, there was a couple who were in their late 60's
who had a pair of sleds and nearly always attended our outings. It's been
nearly 6 years since they started sledding, as far as I know, they are still
active. As for me, the members of our group have moved away until I am the only
member remaining in the area. Though it was very enjoyable, it is simply not
safe to go by yourself, so I decided to sale it with its trailer and wait until
the next occasion arrived to pick up the hobby again. While the science of
snowmobiling has improved greatly over the past few years, riding a snowmobile
does take a bit of effort. Even if you stay on a trail, you will still do some
work, and don't think for a minute that they are slow either. Myself and my
rider could easily get up to 75 mph on my sled. What a BLAST! It is a wonderful
combination of exercise, sunshine and plenty of cool fresh air. Snowmobiling is
a hobby or sport I can highly recommend for anyone.
This page maintained by William Yeargain