On Saturday, 10 February 2018 00:18:13 UTC, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> On Fri, 9 Feb 2018 15:11:23 -0800 (PST), tabbypurr wrote:
> >it always struck me that the solution to cable theft would be
> >to move from copper to CCA where practical. The mix of metals
> >hugely reduces their scrap value, plus the cable is cheaper to buy.
> >NT
>
> Copper clad aluminum will work nicely at RF frequencies, where the
> only thing of importance is surface conductivity via skin effect.
> However, if one is looking for a low frequency 60 Hz ground for AC
> power wiring, or a DC ground for lightning protection, CCA won't work.
Maybe it's time to change the regs to permit CCA with a low %age of ali, purely to make it unattractive to thieves. US home CCA mains wire is 90% ali, which is more brittle than Cu. 10% ali would not be significantly affected.
NT
Reply by Jeff Liebermann●February 9, 20182018-02-09
On Fri, 9 Feb 2018 15:11:23 -0800 (PST), tabbypurr@gmail.com wrote:
>it always struck me that the solution to cable theft would be
>to move from copper to CCA where practical. The mix of metals
>hugely reduces their scrap value, plus the cable is cheaper to buy.
>NT
On Friday, 9 February 2018 20:25:51 UTC, Ingvald44 wrote:
> On Thu, 08 Feb 2018 08:31:26 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> >The price of copper is steadily climbing again since it bottomed out
> >in 2015:
> ><http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/copper/all/>
> >Copper theft protection services and products have become required for
> >unmanned mountain top radio sites and the cost of insurance has
> >climbed faster than the price of copper. Similar problem for the
> >homeowner:
> ><https://www.netquote.com/home-insurance/copper-theft>
>
> We had to replace some of our heavy tower grounding leads with
> aluminum cable. Less than idea. Tried spray painting copper ones
> with aluminum spray paint. That seemed to work. We actually caught
> one bunch of thieves in the act. Bunch of idiot rednecks. (warning:
> trigger).
>
> It was a public safety site--police and fire dispatch. They got in a
> fair amount of trouble.
it always struck me that the solution to cable theft would be to move from copper to CCA where practical. The mix of metals hugely reduces their scrap value, plus the cable is cheaper to buy.
NT
Reply by George Herold●February 9, 20182018-02-09
On Thursday, February 8, 2018 at 4:02:14 PM UTC-5, tabb...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Thursday, 8 February 2018 10:36:56 UTC, piglet wrote:
> > On 07/02/2018 20:44, tabbypurr wrote:
> > >
> > > Reflex and reaction are 2 different technologies. Sadly it seems the 2 refused to work well together.
> >
> > Sir Douglas Hall devised the gloriously named "Spontaflex" receiver.
> > Reflex and regenerative (aka reaction) - later designs had an RF buffer
> > between antenna and regenerative detector so were social to other band
> > listeners. Naturally he reflexed the RF buffer so it also amplified AF.
> >
> > All fun ingenious stuff. I built one circa 1970 and still have it, works
> > beautifully, with delicate fingers can resolve SSB speech on the 75/80m
> > ham band.
> >
> > Many were published in British mag "Radio Constructor" available on
> > americanradiohistory.com Also:
> > <http://www.spontaflex.free-online.co.uk>
> >
> > piglet
>
> interesting site. My brain just isn't following the circuits!
Oh good, I thought it just might be me. :^)
George h.
>
>
> NT
Reply by Ingvald44●February 9, 20182018-02-09
On Wed, 07 Feb 2018 15:18:37 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:
>On Wed, 7 Feb 2018 20:00:10 +0000 (UTC), Long Hair
><DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno@decadentlinuxuser.org> wrote:
>
>>The absolute best way is to have a nice say 22kW Generac backup
>>generator AND a good power conditioner on your system.
>
>I hope you don't mean a ferroresonant transformer as a "power
>conditioner". They work nicely, as long as you feed it with 60 Hz.
>Low in frequency, and the output voltage drops. High in frequency,
>and it climbs. Details:
><http://www.powerqualityworld.com/2011/04/constant-voltage-ferroresonant.html>
>Also, they're not very efficient (about 75%), get rather warm, and
>buzz loudly. Despite these disadvantages, I've used them effectively
>with computers in place of a UPS. I was doing some programming during
>a lightning storm. The overhead fluorescent lights were flashing
>intermittently as the power flickered on and off, but the computah
>never missed a beat.
>
>Most generators do not produce a clean sine wave or deliver a constant
>60.0 Hz. The result is an even worse looking waveform from the
>ferroresonant xformer, wide voltage variations, or both. Therefore, I
>would recommend *EITHER* a generator or a ferroresonant power
>conditioner, but not both.
>
>>Then, you simply go to sleep without a worry about what happens or
>>happened to your power that night.
>
>What, me worry? Most of my critical gizmos are DC charged or
>operated. I went through considerable difficulty finding phones,
>answering machinery, modems, routers, switches, media players, TV,
>hi-fi, etc, that run on 10-14VDC (also known as 12VDC nominal). These
>are run by several big lead-acid or gel cell batteries, and charged by
>either a marine battery charger during the winter, or a solar panel
>during the summer. If the power goes out at night, I usually don't
>notice.
>
>>Put some of your lights, your heating and air system, your kitchen,
>>and your computer UPSs on it.
>
>The desktop computahs and one big monitor are the only devices with
>UPS protection because my battery system simply doesn't have the
>capacity to run them. Also, finding desktops that run on 12VDC is
>rather difficult. The plan is to switch to lower power desktop
>computers (laptop in a box) which will run on battery power, and
>dispose of the UPS.
>
>>Your neighbors will always say "he's the
>>only one on the street who's lights never go out.
>
>That's been a problem. We had a storm a few years ago that dropped
>quite a few trees in the area. The power utility (PG&E) ran around
>fixing downed power lines. Mine was one of the last to get fixed
>because the lineman saw that my house was normally lighted and drove
>by thinking that I had working utility power. I switched to kerosene
>and propane lamps for emergency lighting and have not had that problem
>again.
We've had a good number of the Sola conditioners go off. Bad oil caps
I guess. They don't regulate much from the load side either.
Done with them now.
Reply by Ingvald44●February 9, 20182018-02-09
On Thu, 08 Feb 2018 08:31:26 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:
We had to replace some of our heavy tower grounding leads with
aluminum cable. Less than idea. Tried spray painting copper ones
with aluminum spray paint. That seemed to work. We actually caught
one bunch of thieves in the act. Bunch of idiot rednecks. (warning:
trigger).
It was a public safety site--police and fire dispatch. They got in a
fair amount of trouble.
Reply by Dave Platt●February 8, 20182018-02-08
In article <da7bf34d-78a3-408f-95eb-3c26eacd8ece@googlegroups.com>,
<tabbypurr@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Please provide some links to reaction radio. I could not find any. I
>> would like to read about it.
>
>I googled for too long, but found nothing that explains the basic concept & issues. A variable amount of rf is fed
>back from rf amp anode to grid circuit. The result is massive gain & good selectivity, but it's very unstable. The
>slightest thing sends it over the edge into squealing oscillation. Most 1930s radios were this type.
On Thursday, 8 February 2018 10:36:56 UTC, piglet wrote:
> On 07/02/2018 20:44, tabbypurr wrote:
> >
> > Reflex and reaction are 2 different technologies. Sadly it seems the 2 refused to work well together.
>
> Sir Douglas Hall devised the gloriously named "Spontaflex" receiver.
> Reflex and regenerative (aka reaction) - later designs had an RF buffer
> between antenna and regenerative detector so were social to other band
> listeners. Naturally he reflexed the RF buffer so it also amplified AF.
>
> All fun ingenious stuff. I built one circa 1970 and still have it, works
> beautifully, with delicate fingers can resolve SSB speech on the 75/80m
> ham band.
>
> Many were published in British mag "Radio Constructor" available on
> americanradiohistory.com Also:
> <http://www.spontaflex.free-online.co.uk>
>
> piglet
interesting site. My brain just isn't following the circuits!
NT
Reply by ●February 8, 20182018-02-08
On Thursday, 8 February 2018 09:13:27 UTC, Rob wrote:
> Pimpom <Pimpom@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> > On 2/8/2018 4:29 AM, bitrex wrote:
> >> On 02/07/2018 01:50 PM, Rob wrote:
> >>> Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:
> >>>> Developing world? A fairly high percentage of people in Africa have
> >>>> cell phones or smartphones (to discourage POTS line copper theft):
> >>>
> >>> Over here, making such a statement would result in you being called
> >>> a RACIST and being trending on Twitter all day.
> >>>
> >>
> >> An unqualified statement "Africans tend to steal stuff" probably would.
> >> That isn't what he said
> >>
> >
> > The implication would be enough to set off a lot of people.
>
> And indeed it is.
>
> Here, a big row resulted from a referral to average IQ vs country, not
> even made directly but from the refusal to it being withspoken.
>
> Of course only because the IQ of Africans tends to be much lower in
> such statistics. Nobody had a problem with the IQ of Asians tending
> to be higher.
Africa suffers from brain drain. We benefit from it.
NT
Reply by ●February 8, 20182018-02-08
On Thursday, 8 February 2018 07:40:57 UTC, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> On Wed, 7 Feb 2018 23:16:57 -0800 (PST), tabbypurr wrote:
> >> Refilling a hot lantern in the dark is dangerous. LED
> >> lights would probably be better and easier, but I prefer mantle type
> >> lights because the light seems rather "relaxing" while LED's tend to
> >> be "harsh". Incidentally, I currently have 6 assorted Coleman
> >> lanterns, down from about 12 a few years ago. All are functional.
> >> Some of my friends are collectors and have many more.
>
> >We rarely lose power over here, and when it happens it's not
> >for long enough to be a real problem.
>
> In the People's Republic of Santa Cruz (California), we have
> successfully extended a previous 30 minute line restoration process,
> into a bureaucratic exercise in power politics last most of the day.
> I'll spare you the details. Minimum time to restore for a simple wire
> down is now about 3 hrs. If a tree or pole is involved, about 8 hrs.
I wonder why. Ours can be as short as 10 minutes. Underground cable meltdowns are fixed overnight.
> >Having maintained both electric & gas backup lighting I'd choose
> >gas any day, far more reliable long term.
>
> I'm undecided. When the power goes out, I usually just grab a book
> and spend the time reading. I can do that by either electric or gas
> lighting. Electric is easier, but gas or kerosene are more relaxing
> and romantic.
>
> >I'm not sure why you're refilling lights in the dark if
> >you have 12 of them.
>
> Repeating, I currently have 6 lanterns. I once had 12 lanterns.
>
> Unless I'm trying to work on some storm damage to the house at night:
> <http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/Storm-Damage-2011-12-03/index.html>
> I only run one or maybe two lanterns (upstairs and downstairs) at a
> time. I move it around the house as needed. I really don't think
> it's a good idea to refill one lantern with kerosene, while having the
> work area illuminated by the open flame of another lantern. If
> possible, I use electric illumination during refilling. However, it's
> still dangerous to refill a hot lantern (or generator).
It's a long time since I ran paraffin kit, though IIRC it was frugal on fuel. Gas lights contain enough to last many power cuts. I also don't know why you would refill them while still hot when you have 5 others to use. And fwiw, a ceiling hung lantern in the same room as a live kero refill isn't hazardous. Different story for gas of course, or the more volatile fuels. Boiling petrol lanterns are not recommended on safety grounds.
NT