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Blog Archive 2013 Nov

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Fri 11/1 - Sat 11/2 = At the
RC Park
Coyote Basin Park where guys fly electric RC airplanes and an occasional helicopter - east of the 101 Pima Freeway and Cave Creek Rd in Phoenix
I flew, looped and chased my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 on foot. Back here at home Saturday evening I retested the main circuit boards from my old, broken and retired Nanos then installed and tested my new, spare, main circuit board, after 96 flights and 16:50 hours of flying on the original board. Also I installed a new set of main rotor blades that I had painted fluorescent pink, hoping it would reduce the vibration a little. To simplify things and to leave the batteries at near storage voltage, I have decided to make all my flights four minutes. This is instead of running the batteries down to minimums, which amounts to about five minutes of flight.
- Not wanting to scratch my toilet bowls but wanting to get rid of the hard-water rings that have accumulated over the last 17 years of not being sure how to safely remove them, I did a series of tests and ended up using a pumice stone, part of a pedicure kit from Dollar Tree. Boy to they shine now!
- Saturday evening I joined a small group of ham radio operators

Sun 11/3 - Sat 11/9 = Some firsts in the
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 department out at the
RC Park
Coyote Basin Park where guys fly electric RC airplanes and an occasional helicopter - east of the 101 Pima Freeway and Cave Creek Rd in Phoenix
I did my first flips after practicing them on my
simulator
PhoenixRC flight simulator that contains my Nano nCPX and uses my DX7s controller
. I even got so I could briefly pause while inverted.
- Saturday morning I tried putting a various lengths of streamers on the heli. The extra drag slowed it a little while going upwind. The main thing is the streamers tended to get tangled up in the main rotor blades during flips. However, it was a fun experiment. I had what was probably my best flight yet on Saturday. I took off from my hand, spent the four minutes doing inside and outside flips, tail in, out, left and right and landed back in my hand, never touching the ground with the heli. I don't brag a lot about some of my other flights. Also John let me fly his little Blade Nano QX Quadcopter. For one launch he had me just throw it up in the air and advance the throttle. When I did, the electronics righted the quad and it flew under perfect control. The little tyke is mostly for indoors and does not handle wind well.
- Wed I bought a new feathering spindle from Action Hobbies in Tempe. It took care of the Nano's vibration problem. I did a few barrel rolls, way up high, without crashing.
- Dr. Habib, my allergy doctor, saw me for my annual check-up and did some follow-up testing, which found me to be mostly allergy free!
- I had some rather long and pleasant phone conversations. My Son, Scott called, his first contact in about 6 month. It was neat to catch up with his busy life. He bought a fancy Arturia 49 Keyboard with special software. I am anxious to see what he can do with it.
- With my new computer, I did a series of drive/fob file-transfer speed tests with various media in preparation for imaging the C: drive.
- Sunday I drove over to Mesa for the ordination of my nephew, David. It was neat to see someone with such a positive outlook and to be honored in such a well-deserved manner.
- Monday evening I went over to
Harold
Harold Dean Hayes, my techie X brother-in-law
's where we teched out. He showed me some of his optical adaptations and experiments as well as some of the fun clocks he has created.
- Some other things during the week included, for Duet, taking Carol to her radiologist, going to Gangplank where I participated in an Improv class session with Ken Ferguson who put me in touch with Tony Vicich who teaches stand-up comedy classes for ComedySchools.com. After reading a Kite World article I got so wrapped up researching Union Island in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean that I missed the Sat night Hamfeast at Gyro House.

- Sunday I had a Nano session that was my best out-of-doors session yet at, the RC park. For all four flights (I have four batteries, ya know), I took off from my hand. During each flight I did flips, pausing at inverted. At the end of each flight I landed back on my hand, never having the heli touch the ground and never having to walk out and pick it up from the grass.
- Also Sunday I ordered a new head for my Remington electric shaver and an HP document scanner, since my old one is not Windows 8 compatible.
- Monday evening was my first Stand-Up Comedy class :)
- Tuesday morning, with my Nano, I managed several triple flips and even one quadruple flip! Two flights later I crashed and broke the tail boom. I found an old good tail boom in my stash, so installed one of my many spare tail rotor motors onto it instead of buying a new tail assembly.
- Wednesday I transported Sharon to her appointment at the Southwest Eye Clinic.
- Saturday's trip was a big one, starting with my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 at the
RC Park
Coyote Basin Park where guys fly electric RC airplanes and an occasional helicopter - east of the 101 Pima Freeway and Cave Creek Rd in Phoenix
; then to Greg and Brenda's (neighbors) open house; then to fill up with gas on the way to the Saturday Night Hamfeast where I had my first vegiburger; then to LA Fitness on East Camelback Rd for a fast, light-weight workout and, lastly, to Goodwill where I found an electronic version of CatchPhrase and a Zenith remote control, which I had been looking for for ever since I bought a Zenith VCR about five years ago.

Mon Nov 18 = Morning Routine. I had left the van's key turned on overnight so the battery was down (to 5.? Volts). This was the first time I used my
LiFeMnPO
our van's Lithium/Iron/Manganese/Phosphate/Oxygen house battery
 battery to jump start the van, without jumper cables. Just had to combine the batteries and I was on my way. Late afternoon, on the way from my urologist to the Stand-Up Comedy Class in Tempe, I stopped by Frank's Hobby House to buy a carbon fiber rod for tail booms to go with my supply of about seven
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 tail motors.

Tue Nov 19 = Morning Routine. I quit doing flips this morning with my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 after the canopy went one direction, the battery another and the rest of the heli a third direction as the result of a precautionary crash landing in the grass at the
RC Park
Coyote Basin Park where guys fly electric RC airplanes and an occasional helicopter - east of the 101 Pima Freeway and Cave Creek Rd in Phoenix
.
- This afternoon my big trip was to Sky Harbor Airport, Terminal Four for my GOES interview, then to Hobby Acton in Tempe for a new main frame for my Nano, then to the LA fitness on East Southern in Tempe, then to
Harold's
Harold Dean Hayes, my techie X brother-in-law
for our weekly tech-out session. Amid freeway traffic, a 9-level parking garage and an accident (not involving me) I managed to meet my appointments on time, but with only seconds to spare.

Wed Nov 20 = Morning Routine. It took 50 minutes this morning for me to disassemble my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 and reassemble everything on the new main frame that I had reinforced with hot glue. Now the heli weights 3% more than the factory weight (which includes the flight battery) with the hot-glue-reinforced main frame and landing skits and the 1.6cm longer tail boom. This afternoon, its maiden flight out at the
RC Park
Coyote Basin Park where guys fly electric RC airplanes and an occasional helicopter - east of the 101 Pima Freeway and Cave Creek Rd in Phoenix
went well. In spite of a couple crashes, I didn't break anything. One flight was hand to hand! I did a few flips with inverted pauses and tried my first hammerhead maneuvers.
- Around noon I lay in the sun for about 20 minutes. Later in the day I practiced some for my stand-up comedy class and caught up on my emails.

Thu Nov 21 = Morning Routine. I reconfigured my
DX7s
Spektrum RC controller
out at the
RC Park
Coyote Basin Park where guys fly electric RC airplanes and an occasional helicopter - east of the 101 Pima Freeway and Cave Creek Rd in Phoenix
this morning, changing the idle-up switch from a constant pitch function to true idle up, so now when I throw the switch, I get full RPMs, regardless of the throttle position. I left the pitch curve unchanged. This configuration was a little different in flying, but will allow me to fly sustained inverted when I get good enough. This evening I shored up a split in the tail boom with a waxed dental floss wrapping and CA glue that I picked up at the 99-Cent-Only Store on my way home from the gym.
- Out in the driveway this afternoon I inflated my 12m Epic Screamer, discovered that three struts and the main bladder were losing air for the same reason (bad port-valve seals) so I removed the offending bladders to re-attach the valves with vinyl glue I bought at Home Depot on my trip.

Fri Nov 22 = Morning Routine. Since we got lots of rain last night and it was still raining this morning and most of the rest of the day, I flew my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 in the Fitness 1 boxing room - my first flight indoors using the Idle-Up feature. No workout since today was my rest day after three "heavy" days. sand phone back with the result. When I pumped her for more information, she explained that if the reset didn't fix the battery problem they could send me a replacement WITHOUT 3G for $61.20 or I could purchace new PaperWhite unit with 3G at the full price of $179.
- I have been hampered for 10 days without the third screen for my
Vaio
new Sony Vaio Duo 11 with 11.6" touch screen, Windows 8, 8gb memory and 256gb SSD
. It had stopped working after I upgraded from Windows 8 to 8.1. In the second case of customer service stupidity, Kensington told me that my Kensington USB docking station (which drives the third screen) was out of date, there was no software support for 8.1 and that I would have to buy a newer unit for $200, which had features that I did not want or need. I solved the problem without spending any money, online, by finding and installing v7.4 M2 of the DisplayLink software from http://www.displaylink.com/downloads

Sat Nov 23 = No luck today getting the USB driver installed on my
Vaio
new Sony Vaio Duo 11 with 11.6" touch screen, Windows 8, 8gb memory and 256gb SSD
for my iCharger. I did get things organized for deciding which to use as my primary photo editing program between PhotoXcape, Paint, Photos and Windows Photo Viewer. The latter three came with my Vaio.

Sun Nov 24 = Morning Routine. Although it was very brief, this morning I held altitude while briefly flying my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 inverted. Also I did my first inverted touchdown (not intentional). After that I noticed that something was wrong when the heli started doing loops and such without any controller input.
-
Cindy
my younger brother George's wife
phoned during her late afternoon walk. We visited while she walked and while I removed and stowed the sunscreens from four of my west and south-facing windows to let in more sunlight and heat during the days.

Mon Nov 25 = Morning Routine. This morning I turned on the furnace for the first time - to my winter setting of 68 degrees - to take the 63 degree chill off the house. The furnace ran 16 minutes to do the trick.
- I did not get out to the
RC Park
Coyote Basin Park where guys fly electric RC airplanes and an occasional helicopter - east of the 101 Pima Freeway and Cave Creek Rd in Phoenix
until about 5 this evening. I spent the morning updating my busy calendar, replacing the Nano's swashplate with the one from my Nano#2 and making a main rotor motor break-in cord from a motor socket that I unsoldered from an old main circuit board.
- Recently I have been eating and sleeping comedy in preparation for Friday's Class clown Comedy Showcase until this evening's class when I was informed that the date they previously gave me was not correct and that the show in which I would participate was going to be six weeks later on Jan 3, 2013. I have invited a lot of people to the show, so will be spending the next few days trying to let everyone know about the new date. I hope I can contact everyone. The good news is that I will have five weeks longer to create and perfect my routine. The class went quite well, with only four of us students there.

Tue Nov 26 = Morning Routine. Also I made a Nano main rotor motor connector by attaching wires to the motor socket that I unsoldered from an old main circuit board. I also organized my busy calendar for the next month or so. I have to be careful. If I get to busy I tend to forget some important things.

Wed Nov 27 = Morning Routine, flying my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 and practicing and organizing my comedy routine. What was going to be my Friday routine has now become my Thursday routine, as a couple people have told me they'd like to hear it at our Thanksgiving get-together. They might be sorry. As I am working on it, I realize how unpolished it is, compared to the good comics.

Nov 28: Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and my 72nd birthday = They say it'll be 77,000 years before Thanksgiving and Hanukkah fall on the same day again. I'll probably be out of luck because it is unlikely to also be on my birthday. This morning started with only half a grapefruit and a mushroom for breakfast, a heavy arms workout at Fitness One, stopping by home for food to share at the Thanksgiving dinners, flying my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 at the RC park, getting four gallons of gas and heading to Mesa. The Nano session did not go well, as the heli did not have enough power to climb out of ground effect much of the time. Next it will be time for diagnosis.
- First Mesa stop was Niece's, Becky and Matt's with their kids and grandkids and parents,
Harold and Bernadette
my X-brother-in-law and his wife
. In addition to the good food, a birthday cake from Bernadette and good company I got to pedal around the block with Bernadette and then Harold on Becky's Red Rooster, a little three-wheeled tubular car with two seats and two setts of pedals.
- Then on to Dick and Debbie Bradford's, the parents-in-law of Kim and Andy. Kim is one of
George & Cindy
younger brother and his wife who live in Mesa, Arizona
's girls. Highlights were the delicious food, good visiting and the first presentation of my stand-up comedy routine to a live audience. Andy was my agent and introduced me as Arizona Lou. The group of about 20 seemed to enjoy my performance, although it definitely was not polished and I was working from memory, having left my notes at Becky's house. Probably not a bad thing.

Fri Nov 29 = Morning Routine.
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 news for today is that I I crashed it and broke the tail boom socket on the main frame that I recently installed. It's a wonder there was enough power to get high enough to do a decent c rash, considering that the heli is barely climbing. I fixed the socket with CA glue, which seems to have done the trick. We'll see if it holds up.
- This afternoon I phoned and had a delightful conversation with Scott (my son).
- This evening I went to the Tempe Center for the Arts for the Class Clown Comedy Showcase - a pretty good show. This is the same series in which I will be appearing on Jan 3rd after I have graduated from the advanced stand-up comedy class.

Sat Nov 30 = Morning Routine. Three firsts today involving good news and bad news with my
Nano
fourth RC micro helicopter: Blade Nano CPx that has a tail rotor, no flybar and true collective positive and negative pitch
 at the
RC Park
Coyote Basin Park where guys fly electric RC airplanes and an occasional helicopter - east of the 101 Pima Freeway and Cave Creek Rd in Phoenix
this morning. The heli has never climbed well - especially since I replaced the swashplate. At the RC picnic table I worked on the heli about a half hour. Lengthening each servo link by one revolution increased the positive collective pitch. Now the heli climbs like a trooper and, at the same time, has good negative pitch for inverted flight. Good news and the first time I adjusted a Nano's links!
- For the first time I did sustained inverted flight for four seconds. Good news!
- For the first time I got my heli in one of the shade trees at our flying picnic table. It lodged near the top of the south tree. Bad news! I acted like a monkey, climbed the tree and shook the root branch until the heli fell out of the tree. Good news!
- I have started heating and excercising my wrists before going to the gym and icing them after. Also being very careful with them at the gym.
- This evening I went to the
ARA
Arizona Repeater Association (ham radio operators)
hamfeast at the Original Hamburger Works on 15th Ave.

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