Kostverlorenvaart

Mr Jacob Brodsky wrote me that he suspects the lab supply powering an antenna signal amplifier may  introduce noise to the signal, especially the longish cable that I am using on it. I found that interesting so I bought a 9V battery and made a shorter connection from it to the amp. Here I switch between llab power supply and 9V battery and I also move the power supply way back to see if that decreases noise. I also test it with the power supply switched off, in case a noise radiation from it would cause noise through any of the wires into the receiver.  The battery was drained in one afternoon of listening, so that's one reason to use the lab supply.  

 

  Normally after a seal change, the day after one can see some grease buildup / disposal at the bottom end of the group where this excess grease could invisibly clog up the shower screen. Now it's nice and clean and 'dry'.

 

See also: https://swling.com/blog/2022/04/video-frans-compares-the-grahn-gs5-se-vlf2-with-a-large-loop-antenna/ Mr Grahn of https://www.grahn-spezialantennen.de/ had to stop working for a couple of months (medical reasons) but now he is back and I was able to get one of his highly sensitive Very Low Frequency modules to fit on my Grahn GS5-SE antenna tuner. As before, the delicate device ("treat like glassware, do not throw") was extremely well packed for its safe and intact arrival.

I ordered the transparent cup from https://www.singledosebrew.com/shop/accessories/angled-dosing-cup-switch-trigger-for-eureka-mignon and received it: It fits easily, looks good and works well!

If you notice that the pump is wonderfully quiet when pulling an espresso but somewhat noisy when refilling the boiler, check the solenoid. In an earlier video we demonstrated how to service the solenoid so I skip that part here and just show the result.  

A few examples of situations where the MFJ-1026 significantly improves listening (although it does not *always* work). It's obviously a matter of getting a feel for the tweaks. Nimble with the dials, not too fast, adjust, listen... almost like the cliché scenes where someone turns the dial of a vault until it clicks open. A pleasant extra exercise while playing with airwaves.

 

A fellow member ( QuantumCat76 ) of the Dutch coffee forum www.koffiepraat.nl mentioned that he had found a cheap tool to fasten the boiler of his La Pavoni to the base. He could swivel the boiler left/right when pulling the lever sideways. He explained that an 80--135mm oil filter wrench does the job and I bought one as well. Below I post some pictures, also indicating how it would fit on the base. I did not take off the pressostat pipe so the tool does not actually fit in the photo but the base of this Pavoni is fine so I did not want to take it apart.

See also: https://swling.com/blog/2022/04/frans-experiments-with-the-mfj-1026-noise-canceler/ It can be a challenge to find antenna configurations where the MFJ-1026 actually improves the radio listening experience. The first few days of trying the device seemed transparent and switching it ON or OFF did not make any difference to the radio. Neither did any of the settings of the front panel dials change the signal at all. I tried a wire antenna as MAIN and the MFJ whip as AUX,  the wire as AUX and one of the GRAHN loop antennas as MAIN, both GRAHN's next to each other on the desk, a GRAHN away from the radio and the whip as AUX. None of that nor any dial combo made a difference and it seemed the MFJ-1026 was transparent / indifferent. Now I found one configuration that works on a frequency that I tried. Both GRAHN antennas are somewhat distant from the radio. One is on MAIN and one on AUX of the MFJ-1026. While alternatively dialing MAIN and AUX to the max exclusively, I tweaked t...

The LR24 app has an option for times to switch the machine on and off(standby) which works using the cloud connection. When the machine is active and your home internet wifi is down, it will not automatically switch off/standby since there is no cloud connection. Also, when the machine is on standby and your wifi is down, the machine does not automatically switch to active mode. In that case, to activate, open side panel and long-press the left button on the contol box. And fix your wifi.  

See also: https://swling.com/blog/2022/04/frans-experiments-with-the-mfj-1026-noise-canceler/ Using a GRAHN antenna, (a VENHORST wire antenna for noise reference), the iCOM R8600 radio and optional bhi DSP audio noise canceling, trying to see what's the best way to cancel noise -- on the antenna entry point of the radio or at the speaker output end.  In this case the MFJ-1026 seems ineffective. The DSP at the audio output end works well and easy. I have also tried two GRAHN antennas on the MFJ-1026, one for MAIN and one for AUX but that was also not noticeably effective yet. I will also try the little whip antenna that MFJ supplied with the box. Further tweaking may turn out to be helpful on some other frequencies / signals. Before installing the MFJ i used the little TECSUN H-501x to scan the room for any devices producing radio noise. It turned out that the two Apple Homepods sit in a dense cloud of radio noise, the Macbook Pro also radiates noise, EVE smart plugs controlling lig...