Gina

ArcEuroTrade was the first place I looked as I have bought spares from them before.

I do have a problem with my lathe though. The layshaft timing pulley is broken and I've been hunting for a spare. The lathe is one of those little cheapo Chinese jobs, this one badged Warco and called "Variable Speed, Super Mini lathe". I had this problem early on and designed and printed replacements in plastic which, of course, didn't last very long. I think the original was plastic. The pulley has 31 teeth, is 45mm OD, 10mm wide, with a 10mm bore with keyway. If I could source a metal one I might be able to keep the lathe running for more than a few days at a time. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions. (Buying a "proper" lathe will not be accepted as it's way out of my price range!)

I can assure you Sir, that I am not cleaning any springs! 😄

Been clearing some stuff to get to my little Chinese lathe.

Heavy showers this afternoon so nothing doing in the observatory. I might be able to do some more on the electronics though.

Lovely moon for seeing where you're going but for imaging anything other than the moon...

Had an invitation to a party at a neighbours' house which went on most of the evening. We all had a great time. I shall not be doing any imaging tonight - the moon was bright enough to see by! Which was just as well as I expected to be back well before dark and didn't take a torch...

Still feeling tired at present - may not do anything today. I have been known to recover in the evening though...

Yes, the radiation pattern of a dipole or monopole and earth plane is a doughnut shape. You can modify the pattern to be more directional by adding a reflector and/or directors if you want radiation or reception in only one direction. OTOH you can contravene the law of the land by increasing the radiation above permitted level.

I eat a large bowl of porridge for my breakfast every morning. I swear by it.

Don't worry, I wont. I shall continue checking my BP. I plan to increase my salt intake gradually and watch what happens. This morning's readings were 121/65 and 130/47 and I'm feeling tired. I know that any change of diet will take a while to take effect so I'm not expecting an immediate cure. I shall continue to pace myself according to how I feel.

Good point - hadn't thought of that (even though I have a fibre internet connection).

Seems the only really reliable connection method in difficult conditions is Ethernet (CAT5 or CAT6)

"Oh what a beautiful mornin'!" 🎶 Ha ha. Neither of those in fact - tongling down with rain, blowing a gale and it's not morning either! So why am I happy? Because I've just seen my doctor and got a clean bill of health with a recommendation to increase my salt intake a bit as I've gone too far in cutting down. That's why my blood pressure is too low, causing dizzy spells and lack of energy. Hopefully the answer to my problems health-wise. 😀

Torrential showers today and a strong wind getting stronger! It's not nice out there!

Wet here and we had torrential rain in the night.

Yes, that seems to be what's happening.

Yes, there's a problem of detecting rain/drizzle but not dew. It may be a question of getting the temperature right - just above dew-point.

I think I shall try a tray beside the rain detector so that water runs off onto the sensor. This would still allow rain to fall directly onto the sensor as well. I'll try some ideas in the next few days of showers.

At present the rain detector is on the roof but I can place it lower down so I can see it. I'll do that tomorrow morning if the weather forecast is right and it's fine. Meanwhile, here a quote from the web site.

The rain detector is a very strange unit. When rain starts it detects it as long as it's heavy enough but after a while it stops reporting even the heavy rain we have at present. That is actually alright as once rain is detected the roof will be closed and stay closed. I can only guess that initially the rain is a bit polluted (or there's dirt on the sensor) but later the rain has washed the pollution out of the air (or off the sensor).

Ah yes, I can see what you problem is.

I didn't have any joy with those either.

I went out earlier to make sure I had locked down my observatory roof and bolted the fold-down window. All secure and ready for the storms.

Here's a modified diagram showing the buck converter better.