Posts

Hurricane AM modulator

Afbeelding
  I bought the Hurricane AM Modulator. Here in my living room the hum was considerable even though I had an EARTH connection. So what I did was use a coax cable made of two different ends of coax cable, just the isolated kernel of both taped close together so the signal is transmitted on one, received on the other without the wires touching. One end in the antenna OUT of the transmitter, the other end in antenna IN of the receiver. Now I can wirelessly send music from my laptop or telephone to the Hurricane and ‘receive’ it on the radio of my preference. A little hum remains... PS: I later used the INC button on the front to increase frequency to 2016 kHz and now there is no hum or other noise audible on my setup.

MRA QRP little loop antenna

Afbeelding
Antenna bought at https://a.aliexpress.com/_EHGugUd   On arrival one of the parts, the semi-transparant box with variable capacitor for antenna tuning turned out to be broken due to the bigger box having been thrown around in transit. The seller promptly provided me with the necessary part (plus extra) for repairs. Yesterday I repaired it and today I assembled the antenna and tested it a bit in the afternoon and early evening as soon as reception started to get well enough. It’s a fun antenna, affordable too. The video shows how effective the variable capacitor is.    

Londinium VECTIS shower screen removal and installation

Afbeelding
A full and complete procedure of how to remove the shower screen and how, if one has accidentally dropped it on the floor, to re-attach it to the group by hand:  

VECTIS 7 espressos in 14 minutes

Afbeelding
 I tried out how fast it can produce back to back shots without overheating and that works very well. 7 shots in 14 minutes That was using the fast etzMAX grinder doing grind by weight, no time consuming grinds distribution, just a few hand taps to let the 'mountain' of grinds flatten, then the quick automatic PUQpress tamper, locking in, pulling lever, count to ten, lever up, pulling the cup after about 30s when the stream turns to drip, pulling the lever a little bit to get lower pressure on the puck (avoiding the little explosion of coffee mud when taking out the PF too early), taking out the portafilter, rinsing it, back to the grinder etc. The last two shots:  

LONDINIUM Vectis espresso shot

Afbeelding
Vectis size:  36.5cm front-back,  42.2cm high box,  20cm wide (top),  lever tip at rest 65cm high  weight (with full boiler) 20kg one shot measured: 18.1g grinds, wet puck weighed 35.6g so 17.5g water soaked up. Max shot weight 42g plus water in puck 17.5g means one shot consumed 59.5g of boiler water.

BRRRniche

Afbeelding
 

Vibe the Grinder

Afbeelding
There's almost always some grinds sticking in a grinder's chute (except when there is no chute like in the EtzMAX) and one needs to click / hammer / puff / shake to get it out. I tried a strong vibe on the chute and although fewer grinds hang on inside the chute, a whack is still needed so the vibe is not the solution.