Hanging Around the Park

Friday - Today's task was spraying for bugs around the foundation of the shed and anywhere the RV touches the ground. While cleaning things up, I saw this praying mantis in the driveway next to our propane hose. I hope I didn't spray it.

I did move the Class C back to the storage area. And left the inverter on, as the battery should be topped up by the solar every day.

It rained several times today, and it helped drop the temperature but raised the humidity. The RV A/C units actually were able to keep up and maintain the temperature in the mid-70s (°F). 

Saturday - There was a test session scheduled for early morning, but the candidate changed their mind. So no session. The morning temperature was a moderate 76°F, but with a relative humidity of 91%, I still didn't feel like sitting outside. I did take a short ½ mile walk around the perimeter of the park when it was only 81°F. Still too hot and muggy.

The mid-day test session was also cancelled due to a lack of candidates. Not unusual.

Monday - Finally, a reasonable temperature. At least at 8 in the morning. I’m sure it’ll be unreasonable later on today. I took the Jeep in for an oil change at the local quick lube shop. 

Tuesday -  We had a mobile RV wash service come in to wash both RVs. The Class C had 8000 miles of bugs, and the Class A hadn't been washed in over a year. They did a good job. They both look a whole lot better than they did before. 

Some Changes

Tuesday - A friend mentioned that the 100Mbps residential plan was $55. Since we aren’t traveling for several months, it made sense to change our plan to a fixed location. At least for now. I did a speed test, and it looks like the change took place. Earlier, the download was over 200Mbps.

The wind seems to pick up every night so I need to roll up the awning every evening. The awning is really needed during the day to shade the southern side of the RV. 

We drove halfway into San Antonio this morning and picked up a few more clothes for the upcoming trip. The goal is carry-on only. We don’t plan on renting any vehicles, so there will be a lot of walking and public transit. 

I did spend a little time this afternoon retrieving my Winlink email. I only needed to reassemble the antenna and tune it to the RMS frequency. I used the Lubbock RMS, and the throughput was pretty decent at 300 baud.

Wednesday - Thank you, Michael, for helping get the new A/C unit up on the roof of the class A and lowering the old unit to the ground. After a quick trip to the hardware store for some aluminum tape, I finished the wiring and ductwork enough to get the unit powered up. It's working great. The bedroom is probably 15 degrees cooler than the living room/kitchen.

I sent my Winlink check-in email this morning before coffee at around 4:45am. I used the Las Vegas RMS, as it always seems to be available. Most of the other servers seem to be shut off at night. Since it is connected to the Internet, I can understand why some folks would shut it down at night.

This is the ducted unit, so you can either have it push the cold air through the ceiling ducts or dump straight down. All of the ceiling ducts are connected, so either/both units can push air throughout the entire RV. 

Keeping Busy

Wednesday - I rode the Ural into Hondo this morning just to make sure it was running alright. It actually ran better than "alright". No flat spot at 58 mph, and it accelerated all the way to 70mph. It didn't run this well last June. Maybe the ethanol-free gas? 

Last night, I sent out the Winlink Wednesday check-in. All of the local RMS stations were pretty busy, so I used the station in eastern Oregon. During our summer travels, it had become my go-to station because it was centrally located in the PNW. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it worked from here. At ~1,800 miles, it's not very local.

Friday - The Winlink Wednesday website shows approximately where participants are located based on their grid square in the software. On the Windows computer, you need to manually enter your location (grid square) every time you move. If I used the phone with a VHF/UHF RMS, the RadioMail app would use the GPS in the phone to determine your location.

There was a midday test session today. By late morning, it was already in the low 90s (°F) and moderately high humidity. I did get a short walk in before 9, but it still felt hot and muggy if there wasn't any shade. The new A/C unit is on the UPS delivery truck right now, and it should be here by this evening. It is an 85# box that needs to get on the roof. Michael from church offered to come out and give me a hand. But our morning schedules don't match until next Wednesday. You don't want to be on the roof of an RV in the afternoon heat. The air distribution box (the inside piece) arrived a couple of days ago. 

This weekend, I'll remove the old distribution box and disconnect all of the wires. The Furion Chill Cubes don't use wall-mounted thermostats and I'll need to figure out how to control the rear furnace. Currently, it is controlled by the rear A/C unit and thermostat.

Monday - I don't seem to post very often anymore. Maybe there isn't much to say or going on. It is still miserably hot, with even the low temperatures rarely venturing very far into the 70s. The class C is very slowly getting unpacked, but with the temperatures and only one functional A/C unit, the class A isn't getting much use during the afternoons and evenings. Dinner may be prepared in the class A, but we sit down for dinner in class C. 

I guess this may be the entertaining category. Apple came out with a new version of the operating system for the Mac and it started to install. In the past, this would’ve been a long download and install. But over StarLink, the download was about 15min and on the newer laptop, the installation was under 10 minutes. 

This, by the way, is my corner in the shed. I have the JPC-12 antenna in the front “yard” and use it generally on 20m and 40m. I have the coax coming into the building in what originally was a small pvc pipe through the wall. There is a Windows tablet behind the Mac which has a USB connection to the HF radio to both control the radio as well as process audio when using digital modes. I have a small TV that I still need to install for the radio display. 

Still Getting Set Up

Saturday - We found a few issues with the class A upon returning. The rear A/C no longer puts out cold air. I ordered a Furion Chill Cube with heat pump to replace the Dometic unit but it won’t be here for a week. The class A will struggle with the heat.

We had a similar issue back in May and it was a failed thermal overload. I had an extra one and tried replacing it but it didn’t resolve the issue. 

Tuesday - It’s another hot day with today’s high predicted to be 97°F! Being Tuesday, I set up the JPC-12 in the front yard for the Winlink Wednesday check-in. It’s a very easy setup since I have an antenna cable passthru in the wall. 

I tried starting the Ural. Put the petcock to the prime position, waited a couple of seconds and it fired up after only a couple of revolutions. And idled great. I’ll credit it to the ethanol free gas I filled the tank with back in June. 

Now to get it on the road…

That, BTW, is my new helmet that I picked up in Salem, OR, during our summer travels.