EricJ

Pour one out for the Bonanza and Barron. That was a hell of a run.

My antivirus system freaked out when I clicked on that and blocked it, so I would concur, don't click on it.

I've known a number of 99s members over the decades, and whenever I see a compass rose I check to see whether it has the 99s logo. Usually it does!

Yes, there are multiple competing systems that be will going up, including Amazon's (or Bezo's) Kuiper. Starlink has a temporary market advantage and is trying to capitalize on it. I was recently helping with an organization looking at doing fleet aircraft installs of Starlink, and the aircraft factory was offering to install them. I suggested temporary installations (like in the window, which is practical on those aircraft) would be better since nobody is going to want a five- or ten-year old system integrated in the airframe when something 10x better and cheaper is available, which is the normal expected technology cycle. And remember, Iridium has been around for 25 years. They just don't offer as much throughput, but they haven't caused nearly as many issues, either. As more of these systems go up, radio astronomy will likely be greatly diminished. If there are too many collisions, access to space may be greatly impaired as well. Much of space is unregulated.

+1 that speaker low should not be grounded. The diagram shows a shield which should be grounded, but the speaker high and low should only connect between the speaker and the tray pins.

Very cool! 10000 more to ya!

Yes, somewhere around there, 20-30 psi or whatever it winds up being depending on settings. So an actual clog won't come out super easy, but if somebody just puts 90 psi of shop air into a line it's likely just going to just blow everything out. If you creep the pressure up it's pretty easy to tell whether a line/nozzle is actually clogged or not, and then try to catch the material that's clogging it.

Typically you blow it out with low pressure over a catch cloth and see what comes out. If only oil splatter comes out, then there probably wasn't anything in it. If it was really clogged it'll hold several psi, because the fuel pressure is higher than that when it's making power.

You may be able to tell whether that sealant is conductive with a multimeter. Just put the two probes in the sealant on opposite sides of the fitting and see what you get. I'm guessing there's a conductive layer or conductive screen in the fiberglass which will serve as the ground plane, or a reinforcement plate for the antenna or something. If you're worried that there isn't sufficient ground plane, +1 that a layer of copper or similar tape on the inside will do the job as long as it is electrically connected to the shield part of the fitting. The bolt studs are probably part of the shield, so that may work, too. I doubt it would have made it out of the factory or had very good performance if there wasn't sufficient ground plane there already.

I use my 450B to split the channels as well, and it doesn't take much to be able to separate the two coms. Mine is on a setting for kind of low-level separation and it still works well.

Starlink user terminals use uplink frequencies around 14.0-14.5 GHz. Since a mini terminal max power consumption is around 60W, the average transmit power should be something significantly less than that. Unless it's pointed right at you or it's steering a beam right at you for some reason (e.g., you're standing between it and whatever satellite it is trying to talk to), you'll be getting a small fraction of the transmit power. Above 10 GHz not much electromagnetic energy penetrates the skin, so unless your skin is getting warm you're likely fine. For comparison, a home microwave transmits somewhere around 800-1500 Watts at 2.4 GHz (the same frequency as 2.4GHz WiFi), and they often leak around the door gasket. Electromagnetic energy at 2.4 GHz penetrates the skin and can reach internal organs. If you're okay standing near your home microwave when it's running, a mini terminal may not be any worse than that. Industrial microwave ovens sometimes use much higher power in the 902-928 MHz ISM band, which penetrates tissue even more easily than 2.4 GHz. It is a legitimate concern to worry about long-term exposure to high-energy electromagnetic waves, but for the most part people would be falling over pretty frequently if it were a high-risk sort of thing. It is definitely not a good idea to walk in front of a high-power, high-gain microwave antenna while it is transmitting, but generally that's nearly impossible to do, anyway. Remember that microwave ovens were invented when somebody walked in front of a high-power, high-gain transmitter (actually a magnetron, but the idea is the same) and the candy bar in their pocket melted. This is hailed as the glorious Aha! moment that led to microwave cooking, and nobody talks about any negative effects to the guy (Percy Spencer at Raytheon) who was wearing the pocket, because it is likely that there weren't any despite the melting candy bar.

Yes, that's kind of what SVFR is for, to get in the air and away from the airport where conditions might be better. You can't go anywhere you're not cleared or legal to fly, regardless of how you got there. FWIW, Part 91 airplanes (i.e., us), can take off in zero-zero, as long as you are legal wherever you go from there. There's a video somewhere of a Columbia taking off from Stellar Airpark, which is uncontrolled/untowered, in essentially zero-zero. I tried to find it but couldn't. You can't go anywhere that you need a clearance without one, regardless of how you got there.

Very cool! I would not have thought a C150 would be practical to go there, but apparently so!

My motor is currently at the overhaul shop getting redone, and they indicated that Lycoming has been making noises about doing a run of IO-360 cylinders, but don't hold your breath. I'd +1 that there doesn't seem to be any downside to DLC on the valve tappets, and it does reduce risk of future issues with the cam. The shop that has my motor says that they always do DLC on tappets now since it reduces the likelihood of a warranty claim, so it's not even an option to *not* get DLC on tappets. There's already a Lycoming-approved alternative to the silk thread, which is the use of particular sealant types that apparently work as well. That might be something to investigate rather than the STC. FWIW, I wouldn't personally trust a huge run of o-ring material in the long run over a silk thread or other approved alternative. The o-ring material won't be servicable, so when (not if) it leaks it's not any better than the existing methods. Also FWIW, proper silk-thread seals usually last the life of the overhaul. They're pretty much proven technology, which is why that technique has been used for so long.

It was always SOP whenever you saw an acoustic modem to casually drop your books or whatever you were carrying on the desk next to it and watch the string of garbage go across the terminal of whoever was using it. Usually a liberal dosage of swearing would immediately follow, and then you'd apologize profusely for your clumsiness. Unless, of course, you liked whoever was at the terminal or they were doing something you needed, in which case you guarded the acoustic coupler to prevent anybody else from putting their books or book bag there.