Category Archives: Tech

Wrightwood Cabin OTA TV Reception – Part 1 (UHF)

When we first got our cabin in Wrightwood almost ten years ago, I briefly looked at the possibility of putting an antenna on the roof and getting free TV. The consensus was that reception was limited to a few homes on the east side of town with a clear view of the high desert, where the Los Angeles area stations are rebroadcast from the Victor Valley Translator.

So with cable or satellite the only options, we got an entry level package for Dish Network, which we were able to later scale down to $7/month for local channels only. Over time that has crept up to $15/month, and given that now have other viewing options such as Netflix, I decided to revisit the idea of free TV. Continue reading

The Search for Hardware to Mount Kenmore Dryer on Pedestal

TL;DR: A Kenmore dryer pedestal I bought at a Sears Outlet store didn’t come with the mounting hardware, and (unlike any other part) it was not possible to get the hardware from the Sears Parts Department, so I had to buy a new pedestal (and return the old) to get the hardware. I was hoping that the higher levels of Sears Customer Service realized they have a problem and fix it so that it’s not an issue for others in the future, but that has not happened. Later, someone (who commented before I disabled comments site wide) was able to get a hold of a part number, and I quote them: “We ended up crossing our Kenmore dryer to an LG unit. For others who may find themselves in the same unfortunate position the part number for the retainer clips is AAA30793426. The kit includes 4 clips, a wrench, and instructions. I ordered mine through Sears Parts Direct for just under $22, but they are also available at mcmelectronics.com (an LG parts distributor). Neither supplier provides much in the way of a description, but the clips are identical to the one in your picture, and fit my Kenmore dryer perfectly.

Normally, I’ve found getting parts for Sears appliances to be real easy, as they have schematics with parts numbers on the internet for even the oldest models.  Yet I was frustrated trying to find a mounting bracket for a new Kenmore washer and dryer. Here’s the email I just sent to the store manager: Continue reading

How I Blogged Bicycling Across the USA in 2001

(This page was originally written in 2001 to describe the setup I used on my cross-USA bicycle tour.  The content on this page is now hopelessly out of date, but archived for historical interest.  My modern day version of this setup is described in an another blog post.)

When I travel, or go on multi-day bicycle tours, I like to type a log of my travels as I go.  I like to travel light, and if I’m bicycle touring, I’m usually camping, so I don’t have electricity to run a laptop.  So I use my Palm Professional (upgraded to a Palm III with the 2 MB IR card), with a GoType keyboard, and the Palm modem.  On bicycle tours I have a second Palm mounted on the bike running BikeBrain. Continue reading

Broken Air Compressor

I went to use my Husky H1506F air compressor last weekend.  When I saw that it wouldn’t get higher than 25 psi pressure, I knew there was something wrong.  So when I called their technical support, they were thinking it was probably a damaged valve plate.  They asked me to open up the compressor and take a look.  (I didn’t have an 8 inch long 3/16″ allen wrench to take the cover off, but luckily a really long 5mm allen wrench for an old bicycle suspension fork was close enough and did the trick.)  I removed the valve plate, which is sitting on the tank in this photo. Continue reading