Bernhards Random Ramblings BACKUP

It's raspberry season. For a change I joined the family for berry picking at Berry Island Farm . After a quick 45 minutes we had filled a good portion of our trays.

This afternoon I turned a sheet of 1/8" hardboard into a case for Untergroeningen segment one. Now I can store it with the other modules in the storage rack in the garage, instead of having it take up space in the train room.  You can never have too many clamps. I'd like to protect the underside better, but this will do. All packed away.

Another morning hike in friendly company at Santa Teresa County Park. It was overcast, but I'm not complaining as it kept air temperature low for most of the hike.  The Bay Area's golden brown is now in full swing even with only a moderately warm July. As we left the parking lot, a flock of wild turkeys was having breakfast nearby.

When I last played with connecting an FRS radio to the computer , I didn't connect the radio directly to the computer, because a) I didn't know what the pin-out of the radio was, b) I read that connecting line out to microphone input can blow the microphone circuit, and c) I didn't have enough time to test things out. In the meantime I learned that connecting output to microphone input works if you are careful with volume levels. I also found out what the pinout of the headset plug in my Motorola Talkabout EM1000R is. Hence, tonight I sat down and butchered some cables. The wiring is very simple: The Motorola EM1000R FRS radio has a 2.5mm plug with a shorter than normal shaft, i.e. only 2.5mm plugs specifically designed for this (and similar) radio fit. I solved that problem by cutting the plug off my crappy and uncomfortable Motorola headset purchased years ago. The photo below shows the cable in operation with separate microphone and stereo 3.5mm plugs. The wiring works s...

On our second attempt this weekend, we did get to see Comet NEOWISE. Despite all the hype, so far I hadn't bothered to try and catch it. Tonight Tatjana and I drove out to Barker Pass, which has nice open views near the Pacific Crest Trail trailhead . And indeed after sunset, as the sky darkened and the stars came out, the comet showed up prominently on camera. Once we knew where to look exactly, we could barely make out the comet with the naked eye, too. The photo above is taken on a Canon T7i with kit lens, 20 seconds exposure, ISO 3200. I zoomed in all the way to get a close-up, too. This photo is taken with 30 seconds exposure. Movement of the earth is clearly visible with exposure that long, so the stars turn into streaks. However, the comet's tail is coming out more pronounced that way.

[ CabCam posts ] When mounting a camera on a flat car for layout videos or remote operators, a common approach is to set the camera close to the front of the flat car, since we want to give the illusion of being in a locomotive cab. Seeing the front of the flat car destroys that illusion. However, doing this has an unfortunate side-effect: Depending on the length of the flat car used viewers now complain that they can't see as much of the scenery along the track as they had hoped. Especially in tighter curves there is a distinct lack of scenery visible on the inside of the curve. The camera doesn't "look around the corner". Part of the reason for this is basic geometry: The car rides on a curve. The center of the camera view is on a tangent off the center of the curved track. Hence, the center line of the camera image and the center line of the track diverge. The tighter the curve, the larger the divergence, the more scenery on the outside of the curve is taking up s...

My eye sight used to be better. I guess I'm getting older ... Working with small detail parts or soldering in tight quarters is a bit of a gamble. The  Brightech LightView PRO is a 5 inch magnifying glass with built in LED light. The arm mounts to the work bench.  I tested it with soldering the parts for the SWD Fredi . It takes a little bit practice to get used to the magnifying glass, but then it's a real joy to work with.