Tag: hobby

Thoughts 26/4/24

What topics do you like to discuss?

To be honest I’ll talk about anything. The only things I try to avoid are religion and politics because both subjects can get a bit heated.

I also love talking about sports. Especially football and my local football Club where I’m a season ticket holder. I love discussing football with people who support other teams. I love to hear their points of view. We share anecdotes, we sing silly songs and we have a tribal atmosphere as such and this all provides hours of stuff to talk about.

King power stadium

I also love my hobbies. You probably already know that hence the reason you’re probably looking at this blog. You may have just stumbled across it and if you have, “hello” and welcome to the Foxes Den where I’ll try and fix things. I’m not always successful but I’ll get immense fun and enjoyment out of it. It all helps me keep a level head.

Our garden pub door sign – same as this site

I’ll try to avoid talking about Work because to be honest it’s starting to get on my nerves now. I’m getting to the end of my working life, I’m looking forward to retirement if I can make it. I just hope nothing occurs in the short period of time between now and then. I don’t want to bore people about my work, i just try to keep people safe but you don’t always get recognised for doing that. You represent a big organisation and that’s it for you really, you’re no longer an individual. You’re just a number and I don’t like that.

Work

I hope this answers the question that was originally put to me for this blog post as I’ve gone on a bit I must admit, but hey it’s 02:30 in the morning. I’m sitting at work waiting for the next job to come in and I’m contemplating whether to have another cup of tea

I think I’ll have that cup of tea. I deserve it.

I wish a happy day to everyone who is reading this. I hope you are successful in all you do, I hope you’re kind to people and at peace with your lot. Be kind to yourself as well because at the end of the day you are the most important person on this planet.

Take care

Roberts Blutune T2 breakdown and fault finding

The radio has been received see here: Not just Dead….Fully dead and if I can’t get it going, I have at least brought a very tidy storage box.

What surprised me when first opening up this radio was the immense amount of boards and circuitry inside, I must admit I took a gulp at this and questioned my reasoning for purchasing the item. However it’s all a learning curve and I have to start somewhere, gone are the days of simple circuits on traditional radios (with big components).

Roberts blutune circuitry
Roberts blutune power board
Roberts blutune circuitry

I arrived home from work and sat myself down in the conservatory surrounded by test devices for about 4 hrs until I totally overloaded my self with information, creating more questions than answers, i decided to give up for the day and further research the potential faults for this unit via other sources.

To me the power board seems fine, power is going where it should, there appears to be no short circuits or component damage however in places there does seem to be some signs of leakage so I may have some components that need replacing or maybe it’s just remnants of flux and stuff left behind after initial construction.

Blutune board under microscope
Blutune board under microscope

None of this can be seen by the naked eye but it becomes apparent after being placed under my new toy an Andonstar microscope viewer. It’s at the entry end of the range but it is already becoming a game changer for me, due to my failing eyesight.

Andonstar AD106S

Copyright Andonstar

Further investigation appears to highlight an inherent issue with this range of radios when they just seem to stop working (probably why Roberts ceased production).

Generally the power board isn’t an issue, it all focuses around the display board where a controller to the screen has failed or the amplifier chip has failed, hooray I say! And then I find out both components are about the size of a grain of rice… Boo I say.

I have no experience at all in components this minuscule in size, but if I can’t get to the root cause and eliminate all other possibilities I will give it a go. In the meantime fault finding will go on between other jobs and this will continue to be a job in progress that will be revisited and updated as time goes by.

The plan short term is that I’m going to borrow a thermal camera and check if there are any hotspots under electrical load. You never know I might just find something.

I shall comeback to this project at a later date.

Thanks for passing by. Stay safe, be superb. You’re a star 🌟

Not just Dead….Fully dead

I have just brought this inoperative Roberts Dab Blutune T2 digital radio off of EBay for £8 (GBP). I managed to barter the price down a bit from £12 and I was quite pleased with myself for doing that.

Roberts Blutune T2
Roberts Blutune T2

So today I have received the package. A lovely little item cosmetically in good condition with the only external damage being that the speaker cover has a tiny tear in it , and the very tip of the aerial is broken along with the plastic stop that secures it when in the down position….no real issue, all easily dealt with.

The concern is the label on the top of the unit. Fully Dead!

Roberts Blutune T2

So what’s that then? Is there an in between? Some sort of purgatory for audio systems, or is it a way of saying that someone has ensured it will never work again?

Well, I’ll get the back off tomorrow and have a rummage to see what’s in store for me. Maybe my bartering of the price has meant the seller has removed all internal contents so that I now have a nice “Empty box”.

I just love some of these descriptions sellers use, makes me giggle and wonder what was going through their minds when they decided to sell an item that is fully dead.

Maybe there is just different grades of death that I was just not aware of.

You can find the assessment and repair attempt here: Roberts Blutune T2 breakdown and fault finding

Anyway, thanks for passing by, be safe, be happy.

Kodak Brownie reflex repair – video

Following on from the earlier repair blog. For those who can’t be arsed to read it here’s two minutes of faff for your delectation…enjoy 😂👍

Hey, I’m not a Cinematographer

Painting the Bob Ross way

Bob Ross Golden glow

In many ways and forms, no doubt about it, the Covid lockdown had people looking for other things to do for numerous reasons, for me it was to preserve my sanity.

I always enjoyed painting, however I was unsure of just what I wanted to use for subject matter, that’s when I looked for local painting groups in my area and stumbled across a lovely chap called Ray who offers tuition in the Bob Ross way of painting.

Ray states on his site that you can turn up at one of his classes and go home with a masterpiece and to be fair he’s not wrong, I have seen many attempts from his classes and all are of a very good standard.

I enrolled on Tays “Golden glow” course in Jan 22 and the result is below, I’m happy with this to be fair. Not fantastic but hey it was my first attempt.

Bob Ross Golden glow
Bob Ross Golden glow
Bob Ross Golden glow
Bob Ross Golden glow

The pictures are in stages from start to completion. When I took this home the wife didn’t believe I’d painted it and even contacted Ray via Facebook to check with him… what a cheek 😂

I booked a second course “ Crimson tide” with Ray and the results are below, I wasn’t so pleased with this one but I know where I made the mistakes. That’s the point of learning you learn from your mistakes.

Bob Ross Crimson tide
Bob Ross Crimson tide
Bob Ross Crimson tide
Bob Ross Crimson tide
Bob Ross Crimson tide
Bob Ross Crimson tide

A session with Ray is about 6hrs and the peace and tranquility is fantastic, it’s quiet the tuition is second to none and doing your own thing is actively encouraged when adding your own touches to your painting. For me I have found the distraction I wanted and now book in a session with Ray when the world is starting to get on my nerves. I’m overdue a session and must get another one in soon….

River scene charcoal on paper

First steps

So most of my adult life I have convinced myself that despite having a hatful of interests there was nothing that I was particularly any good at. It’s strange really how you always knock yourself back if you don’t have that much confidence. In truth it really is quite the opposite. I started out in Photography way back in the days before digital when you had to get your hands wet to produce results, for me the old Silver halide era of photography cannot be matched or equalled and personally I think anyone can be a photographer these days, however give them developing tanks, print dryers developers and fixers an enlarger and then ask them to dodge and burn prints and then retouch them and the result might be slightly different. I remember days when I used to photograph weddings and shoot maybe 6-8 rolls of film, a friend of mine in the digital arena shoots maybe 2-3000 exposures per outing! Wow, she will never experience the fear of having a blank film post processing.

On top of this I’ve had an interest in electronics from an early age, I used to visit jumble sales as a kid, buy old radios and repair them and sell them on to get some pocket money. I obtained a city and guilds in electronics back in 2000 as well as an “A” class Radio Amateur qualification (M0ESB) so yes I’m a Radio amateur as well. I could have ventured into a job role utilising this however I preferred to maintain it as a hobby as I didn’t want to fall out of love with electronics.

I also enjoy arty stuff, I love painting both pictures and stuff, tarting stuff up – you know what I mean. I have recently had lessons in the Bob Ross method of painting with a local tutor and I really enjoy this. I’ve always enjoyed making models and painting them and I like building small dioramas as well so I can be quite crafty when I put my mind to it.

So to return to the start when I was searching for my worth as such, I have decided to combine a number of these hobby/experiences and I will be purchasing old unloved equipment, making it good “Tarting it up” and hopefully moving it on either for decorative purposes, for use as props or even returning it to its original purpose.

The site is new and I’ve kind of jumped the gun by getting this up and running before I have any projects on the go or even stock to use in those projects. Hey ho, that’s the way I roll is anyone else as ass about face at doing things as I am?

Hopefully I can record my progress through this site that is a new venture for me as of Feb 2023.

Maybe you as a visitor will follow my journey, maybe you will pass on through, however please feel free to feedback any constructive advice as we can all learn from that.