jeffbayly.com

Blog

Filter by Tag

August 4, 2011
by jeff

Dog fence

Although I am not big on fences, I finally fenced in my back yard. Niko gets at least 3 or 4 walks a day but deserved more than the 100ft dog run he was on when in the back yard. I needed to fill in the sides and half the back line as the rest had been done by 3 of my neighbours. Lowes had 50 feet of 4ft utility fencing for only $44, so I went with 4 rolls of that. Interesting part is that I used the 3ft fence post spikes from home depot ($8). They are made to hold a 4x4 fence post and be pounded into the ground with a hammer, to save on digging and cement. I actually didn't think they would work, but they go in easy and really are sturdy holding up the 4x4 posts. For the posts, I once again avoided the pressure treated stuff and used normal 4x4x8ft spruce, cheaper and less toxic. I also cheated along my back line, where I had a row of trees that I planted years ago. All I did was trim the branches off all the trees from 5ft down and used the trunks as fence posts. It looks surprisingly good, in my forest setting. In the end it may not look like a fence for Beverley Hills, but it looks clean, simple and keeps the dog in. Although Niko may utimately be able to jump over the fencing, he actually hasn't realised and may never know that he has the jumping ability to do so! Niko is very happy with the result.


0 comments

January 27, 2011
by jeff

Snow Dams & Metal Roofs




Every year we have an issue with ice dams on my metal roof. It really isn't much of a problem except for the danger factor and the occasional very loud crashing due to the dams breaking apart and avalanching down. Usually the crashing occurs late at night waking us up. On one or two locations, the noise was so loud, I really thought one part of my house had collapsed (until I remembered the snow dams). The sliding ice sheet has also previously ripped off one of my roof plumbing exhaust pipes.

This year hasn't been so bad but we are concerned about our dog Niko being outside during an avalanche.

0 comments

January 12, 2011
by jeff

Making a custom cut antenna for channel 21

Well with the advent of digital TV, I figured it was a good time to revisit over the air television reception. Unlike the spoiled crowd in Toronto, Kingston and Montreal, getting US television networks in Ottawa has been hit and miss.


Close up view of one end of the antenna







In my case I was aiming to received channel 7 from Watertown. If I can receive channel 7 (CBS & Fox) regularly, along with all the Ottawa Off the Air (OTA) stations, I would be able to finally get rid of Rogers cable. All the US stations are now digital, Canadian stations within the next 2 years.

The trouble with a channel 7 (VHF) single cut yagi antenna is the length. The design I required for a 14 dbi gain would be almost 15 ft long. Thus I decided to try a shorter antenna for my first try. I decided to try for the other Watertown station channel 21 (Real channel 21 - Virtual channel 50). Watertown 21 is ABC and CW. Digital stations such as Watertown 21 and 7 can carry sub channels such as Fox and CW. A channel 21 design for 14 dbi gain is only 8 ft. It would still be a long shot as channel 21 is a weaker signal in Ottawa than channel 7, but would, worst case, I would still be able to use it after to get channels 20, 22 & 23.

Best information to build an antenna is available on www.digitalhome.ca under the OTA forum. My actual design is shown here using www.k7mem.150m.com :

The Antenna was designed for 515 MHz or channel 21. I used a 1 inch square alum. boom and 1/4 " alum rods and 1/4 brass tubing for the DE. It was a 8ft, 13 director, 14dbd design. My elements were all isolated using the shrink-wrap method. I tried to radialize the DE but gave up as my brass bender did a pretty neat 90 degree bend on my brass tubing, so I went with it.


I figure the cost was $35 (metal supermarket plus hobby shop). I also had to buy a brass bending tool ($12) and radio shack project box ($6)


Results are interesting. I previously received channel 21 (WWTI) with my channel master 4242 once in a while. So far on many nights, my channel master 4242 does not register WWTI at all, but my new antenna is at 40+%, excellent but just short of locking in. It seems to lock it in a couple of nights a week. Maybe I'll need to buy a proper preamp for it. It seems to be much better than the CM around channel 21. It pulls in 20,22,23,25 & 27 extremely well. Higher than ch. 27 and for anything in the VHF range the CM is much better of course. As channel 7 is a much stronger signal, I have decided to go ahead with a 15ft channel 7 antenna. My only problem is that I”ll have to build it in my garage and my garage is just too cluttered at the moment. Probably won’t have it clean until late August.

Beyond all the standard analog stations , this is a list of current OTA digital stations I can receive.
7-1 is CBS, 7-2 is Fox, 20-2 is SUN TV, 50-1 is ABC and 50-2 is the CW network. The rest are all PBS variants or the two CBC.



2 comments

January 4, 2011
by jeff

Well we bought a Jeep

Last thing we expected was to buy a new vehicle. We kind of liked our Dodge Caliber. But the car salesmen have their tricks. In this case they were right. I had gone so over miles, returning the car at the end of the lease would have meant an extra $6000! Keeping it meant I would pay more than the vehicle was worth on todays market. On top of it, I was slightly concerned it may begin to show its age soon. Thus we made a deal.


Yup, a 2009 Jeep Wrangler Sahara Unlimited in Black!

This summer we tried the soft top , it is the only 4 door convertible e in North America.

Tuire had always wanted a real Jeep. I never thought about it. I thought the Nitro’s were a good deal with $8000 worth of rebates but they had none anywhere. Tuire didn’t like the Nitros. First time I saw a 4 door jeep I was surprised. It looked great, and wasn’t as truck-like as I expected. In a way in was a combination of our previous 2 vehicles (Ford Ranger 4WD FX4 and Dodge Caliber). The Ranger was rolled on black ice in Feb. and was totaled, and I really missed the utilitarian aspect of it. Thus we bought the jeep.

Interesting thing about the Wrangler would surprise most people. A recent study in the UK showed the Wrangler to BE THE MOST GREEN CAR SOLD IN THE UK! Unlike the blinder vision of a David Suzuki and Al Gore, the study took into account eco-cost to build and design, years of use and corresponding consumption/pollution and finally recyclability. A car recycler rubs their hands in glee when they see a Wrangler, not so much a Prius with its toxins and spent batteries.

So far so good, we really like it, I just need a roof rack for oversized items. Still getting use to the Jeep wave!

0 comments

January 13, 2011
by jeff

Making a back yard laavu

For years, I had wanted to make a screen house or pagoda at the back of my property. Tuire was showing me some Finnish cottage pictures, one with a Finnish laavu. I thought this would be ideal for the area in my backyard near my firepit.


No not a wooden spaceship from stargate but our new backyard laavu






A laavu is a Finnish lean-to. It is typically a 3 sided leaning tripod structure used as a shelter in the woods. One side is open to the elements. It could be used for boaters, hunters, hikers, whatever, and is usually paired with a fireplace or BBQ. Ideally you rest in the shelter, cook some sausages/hot dogs over the fire with a couple of beer or mickey of vodka (when available!).

Our laavu was constructed for less than $200. The base is 4 railroad ties I found in my yard. The main structure is based on 3-4x4 posts, two 10ft and the middle one 12ft. Spruce is best, cheaper than cedar, and safer than PT wood which I really try to avoid. I used tongue and groove pine for the walls/roof, as home depot had it discounted. You could use plywood and shingles or even cheap aspenite. Mounting the tripod on the ties was done with cheap deck type post metal brackets. You could also bury the post if you don’t have anything for a base.



You would need longer posts in that case (2-12 and 1-14ft posts). The inside bench was also done with my favorite wood - 4x4x8 spruce posts - about 7 of them. We stained the structure with a small can of cherry stain. Looks good.

We are happy with the results - next the firepit.



0 comments