Op Check Of Electronic Gear...

Recently at work....I took out my radiation detector...counter...and installed the batteries and did an op check on it. I ran it through the paces to see if it was working in both Severts and Rems scales. Then when I was satisfied...I removed the batteries and put it back in it's protective plastic bags and into it's gasket sealed fishing lure box....with batteries stored separately in double plastic bags.

I did the same op check with my radiation detector here at home...

I do need to once again make the circuit about town of the stores and locations I frequent and take reading of what the normal background levels of radiation is there as a baseline..should anything out of the ordinary happen there.

Same at work.



I also did an op check of my VHF/UHF walkie talkie and it's Abree 42.5 inch fold up antenna....to make sure it was working by getting into a few of the local repeaters....and also charged up the batteries in it.

Did the same charging routine with my cell phone and spare batteries for it
This Amateur radio walkie talkie has been returned to it's double plastic storage bag and the long antenna folded up and also stored in my locker.

I did the same with my new shortwave set....and charged up those batteries as well.....and back into the double plastic storage bags and covered by aluminum foil...in a metal locker.


It is good to know the status of this gear.....should anything out of the ordinary go down.

I try to do this to my gear stored in this locker at least three times a year..


And now you know the rest of the story.


Watcherchris
Not and Ishmaelite.

 

Hopefully I never need this gear at work.....and also have two way coms in my vehicles...either long or short range VHF/UHF radio in addition to cell phones. Definitely two way comms on by base station at home.

But one never knows ...concerning SHTF or God Forbid...TEOTWAWKI.

This gear needs to be OP checked from time to time...


Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

As to electromagnetic fields generated by power lines:

In my home state over 30 yr ago, new power lines were run adjacent to the grammar school one or two of our kids were attending. (We had kids in public, private, a university school, and a parochial school -- three among these at any given time -- whew!!!!! Add to this, the facility at which I was working had over 1,200 employees and my wife was working at the local university. Any virus coming through town, we contracted it! )

People weren't keen on those power lines running immediately adjacent to the school. Me, I wasn't keen on that either. So, we had their engineers come in and do field strength measurements inside and outside of the school. Their highest reading was near the motors of the school's heating and air handlers. The readings said that the power lines just didn't figure-in.

I was in electronics NOT high voltage electric feed. So, I ask one of those guys, "Is it that the three-phase configuration results in some field cancellation?" (The wires of the power lines were in triangular configuration.) He said, "Yes". At that point, my brain's "concern field" was cancelled, thus dropping my adrenaline and testosterone levels.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/791/1/012033/meta

https://www.pinterest.pt/pin/228909593537498561/


Linear config:

Linear config throws more field

 

Very interesting...Olde Geezer...

Next time I go across the James River Bridge...I shall have to take a closer look at the towers coming from the Surry Nuclear Power plant....into Newport News...for that triangular configuration and also in town at the towers coming from the James River Bridtge...further into the Península..

I too have an electronics background from working radar and Inertial Navigation Platforms, Doppler Radar etc etc with the Air Force....and understand three phase power ...even at 400 cycles....but never extended it to such high voltage systems.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention.


Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

When our kids were grammar school age, we had linear high voltage power lines running across our property. The wooden poles were very tall, 40 or 50 ft. One day I took my oldest son outside to show him the meaning of field strength and magnetic induction. He was age 8 or 9 ( his I.Q. was measured twice, I think the numbers were 143, the other test 147; he couldn't make it in school, he was surrounded by children, to include the teachers).

So, we go under the power lines. I drive a tomato stake in the ground, affix a steel wire, string out around 10 feet of wire, clip on the positive lead of my home multi-meter, and ground the other lead. I totally forget the voltage induced; Maybe 10 Volts AC (?). He had his questions.

Kids with brains wired for visual input/ visual thinking are best educated when shown a phenomenon. Translating words into the visual is an extra chore for their brain. He was wired like me, thus demonstrations, not talking. Our girl, we could teach via speech. But with any human, visualization is mega-important. We are what we are.
.

 

The last couple of days I have been checking the rechargeable batteries in my electronic gear kept in a locker at work.

I have two Baofeng BF F8 HP radios and spare batteries...the large 3800 milli amp batteries.....and I made sure the were all charged up and op checked the HT radios by checking into a local repeater...and using my 42.5 inch Abree folding Antenna..

Amazon.com: BAOFENG BF-F8HP (UV-5R 3rd Gen) 8-Watt Dual Band Two-Way Radio (136-174MHz VHF & 400-520MHz UHF) Includes Full Kit with Large Battery : Electronics

and two of these type antennas in addition to the factory rubber duckies.
.
Amazon.com: 42.5-Inch Length ABBREE SMA-Female Dual Band 144/430Mhz Foldable CS Tactical Antenna for Baofeng UV-5R UV-82 BF-F8HP UV-9R Plus Ham Two Way Radio : Electronics


These Baofengs have programmed into them the GMRS/FRS frequencies as well as the MURS frequencies...along with local ham simplex and repeater duplex frequencies and the PL tones.


Also I recharged my Tecsun PL 368 shortwave AM/FM receiver with SSB capabilities....and the spare batteries I also keep with them..two spare batteries.

All this gear is kept in a metal locker in waterproof plastic bags..


I need to take time to carefully figure out how to rig up an long outdoor shortwave long wire...receiving antenna for this rig....as the factory telescoping antennas on these receivers are marginal at best...very similar to the Baofeng walkie talkies ...the factory antennas are marginal at best..


Also recharging my personal Dosimeter...tonight....


Geiger Counter, Personal Radiation Detector Nuclear Dosimeter Emf Radiation Meter Nukalert Micro Beta Gamma X Ray Radiation Monitor GM Tube Device Meter for Home Thyrosafe Uranium Survival Gear: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

I have a spare dosimeter at work in a metal locker....and two spares here at home wrapped in foil.


Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

Only small book sized panels......out in my garage....but have not worked with them as of yet....they are just stored out there..

Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

This morning I restrung my long wire loop antenna wherein it had come down on one end due to high winds.

I have it sitting up into the tops of the trees on this property but it is often subject to high winds doing a rub on the support srrings.

It has been about two years since I have had to put it up with no problems until the recent high winds.

This antenna consists of a 500 foot roll of 12 gauge stranded wire from Lowe's....and it is configured up in the tops of the trees...into an olde time wire loop...and I can tune it across a number of bands from the very long wave bands just above the AM Broadcating band to 50 MHZ including the CB band...and hence it is very inexpensive and also convenient.

I will try it out later tonight and hope to catch my friend out in Tennessee....near Johnson City.....some 400 miles distant on the long wave 75 meter band...on single sideband mode.

That should tell me if my system is operating Q5. I have been able to make this trip with as little as 20 watts....and this particular radio...an Icom 706 can be adjusted from less than 10 watts to 100 watts.

I can run much much more power .but the general rule is to make the trip with as little power out as necessary. I do not need to be lighting up the whole neighborhood including the people with pace makers....etc etc.

Nonetheless...too much heavy hitters out there now.....and generally I like the long wave bands at night...75 and 40 meters. On occasion 40 meters will go very long and one can go cross continent with it.

And now you know the rest of the story.


Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

Got to cleaning out my back room and found a plastic bag with some 6 olde Baofeng UV 5 R radios in it.

I put them on the chargers and topped the batteries off......

Two of these Olde Baofeng radios are tri band instead of the dual band models. These two have in them the 220 MHZ band which is not that active around here...but I will learn to monitor it.

These are the two Baofeng radios in which I was interested in finding....,.these tri band models....as they also had in them the 2 meter and 70 CM band in addition to the 1.25 meter band..or what is often called the 220 MHZ band.


Also got in today my sets of thread files in both American SAE measurements and also another set in Metric threads.
This is a tool one seldom needs if one is careful...but damaged threads have a way of stopping a project and quickly.

One thing we have learned to do in this shipyard is drill and tap holes....even thread using die nuts...but also to repair damaged threads if not too far damaged. If so replace the fastener....particularly if it is a very critical fastener...


Watcherchris.
Not an Ishmaelite.