Good Morning!!!! 59F @ 5:45AM. Sunny. High 62F. Winds light and variable.
The satellite internet repair tech was out yesterday morning, made a small adjustment to the dish and cleaned off a couple spots of bird poop, and left. We also ran upload/download tests, which looked good while he was standing there, but now seem about what they were before, if not a little slower. We even used his phone to run the test, and the results were the same. I was told that the readings were pretty much average for the service I have, even though the download speed is half what is advertised, and uploads are only one sixth as fast as they should be. But not to worry, service on a new satellite is soon to be available in my area, offering faster speed and no data caps. Yeah, right. And I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I'll sell you cheap, too.:confused2: I'm just glad I didn't let Hughesnet charge me $100 for the house call, telling them I'd switch providers before I'd pay them that kind of money.
Installed LED "bulbs" in the turn signals and brow lamp above the headlight on the touring bike yesterday. Also had to install ballast resistors on the turn signal leads to simulate the load of real bulbs. That partly defeats the power saving feature of the LEDs, but they are much brighter than the old bulbs. Even with the resistors, they still flash twice as fast as the bulbs, and I chalk that up to the over engineered, horribly expensive BMW flasher module. A simple bimetal strip wasn't good enough for the boys in Bavaria, who came up with a breadboarded LRC circuit and lord knows what else in their magic, non user serviceable, box. There is an aftermarket replacement available that may be a cure for the flash rate issue, but I think I'll run for a while with it as is to see if it's really a problem. The LED strips I used for the brow light are about ten times brighter, and perhaps good enough to serve as a daytime running light instead of the headlight. I'll have to see on that, too. Overall, it could be that LEDs are one of those two steps forward, one step back kind of deals.
Another nice campfire at dusk last night, and after it burned down to embers it was nice to sit next to it and watch for shooting stars. The Geminid meteor shower peaks tonight, but I was still able to catch a half dozen or so streaks and pinpoint flashes in the hour I watched. They came in all different directions, and only one lasted as long as a second, covering about an eighth of the sky. Gemini was just below the horizon at full dark, so tonight if I watch I'll give it a little more time to get higher in the eastern sky and see if the viewing is better. Orion is just a little to the right and above Gemini this time of year, and at least for me, is a lot easier to find, to I tried to watch to the left and below Orion.
Happy Hump Day gang!
I still like to try new gadgets but make sure about the return policy.
