Protected: Milwaukee

September 13th, 2010 | Posted by tonyscha in Personal - (Enter your password to view comments.)

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Protected: 1st Day of 1st Grade

August 19th, 2010 | Posted by tonyscha in Personal - (Enter your password to view comments.)

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July Update

July 18th, 2010 | Posted by tonyscha in Personal - (0 Comments)

Wow, the summer moves fast, technically speaking its already peaked and we are heading toward fall. The 4th of July was an exciting weekend, got to visit family, did some fireworks, and accidentally found our first geocache.  We decided to checkout the geocache and logged it, I signed up for an account that evening.  World cup came to an ending which was be a big disappointment for me. Still playing soccer every Wednesday at our work league. Its been extremely hot!!!! Other then that, I haven’t been up to much, playing xbox, enjoying the summer with the family, and just relaxing!

First GeoCache.

So back when the whole TV transition was just starting and I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, I bought an antenna that I thought would cover my needs. Its an Antenna Direct DB2 antenna. Its a nice Multi-directional UHF antenna and at the time it worked great because there wasn’t any VHF stations. However after the final transition, two of the major stations switched back to VHF to the channels 7 and 9. So when the world cup started on TV, I decided I needed ABC which was on channel 9. So I researched what I needed to do, and obviously I needed a VHF antenna, but I didn’t want to get rid of my current DB2 antenna. In basic I needed a simple half dipole antenna to add to my UHF antenna at the center.

Since I wanted channel 7 and 9, I found out which freq the channels broadcast in.
VHF HIGH 07 174-180 Mhz
VHF HIGH 09 186-192 Mhz

Found the calculations to get length of wire for frequency from this website here.

Formula: Length of wire = 468/frequency
Example: Length of wire = 468/180.000 Mhz (upper range of channel 7)
Length of wire = 2.6ft feet or approx 30″

I think the exact length was about 30.5″

The material I used for the antenna was some aluminum wire rod I picked up at Menards. I forgot to get the exact size but it was slightly larger then the original wire. I flattened the ends with a hammer and drilled a hole so I could mount it to the balun.

Here is the finished product. I would like to mention it picks up channel 7 and channel 9 now!!! So I would say this has been successful.

Here is the finished product.

Here is the back side and how it mounts to the balun.

Maybe after the two antenna projects I have done, maybe I should take an Electromagnetic fields Class from school…

I would like to note this may be unsafe to modify your antenna! NO guaranteed results!

Protected: Soccer

June 20th, 2010 | Posted by tonyscha in Personal - (Enter your password to view comments.)

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Chicago Day 2

June 12th, 2010 | Posted by tonyscha in Personal - (0 Comments)

More Random Photos!

L-Train, thought I would snap a photo of it going by.

Photos from the skydeck at Willis Tower.

Chicago Day 1

June 9th, 2010 | Posted by tonyscha in Personal - (0 Comments)

Random photos from Chicago

Lamborghini Superleggera in downtown chicago

Holy Name Cathedral?

Bentley, Yes please!

They also have a ferrari at the bentley dealership?

Old water tower

Macy’s!

Random art

Navy Pier in the background

Farris Wheel

Beer garden at the Navy Pier.

Crazy looking building.

Decided to take a picture after eating 3/4 of the pizza!

Ginos Menu

Gino’s East pizzeria!

Disney Store?

The Captain!

Had to stop and get my photo taken in front of Wrigley Field!

John Hancock building.

Navy Pier from on top of the John Hancock building.

Picture from my Hotel room

First day in Chicago, just got off the L train, and just started walking in downtown, and I seen a Lamborghini Superleggera!!!!

June Update

June 5th, 2010 | Posted by tonyscha in Personal - (0 Comments)

Hello everybody!!

In my world summer has officially stated (since school is done for the semester), and its been super busy. Today we went to Cedar Rapids Farmers Market, and picked up a few items, Salsa, BBQ Sauce, and Wine. There wasn’t very much produce out yet, but its early in the summer. Tomorrow I am going to the Embedded Systems Conference in Chicago. It will be my first trip to Chicago, and my first conference. I will post some pictures after I get back.

May Update

May 17th, 2010 | Posted by tonyscha in Personal - (0 Comments)

Thought I would post a May update. Schools done for the semester, 1 year down 1.5 years to go.  I am enjoying my summer even if it hasn’t been hot. My goal is to get caught up on movies, enjoy the outside, play some video games (forza3 😀 ) , get my truck running, make a VHF antenna for channels 7 and 9, fishing, soccer, and maybe read a book or two if I get bored.