I've been working on learning Terraform, Tofu (the forever open source version of Terraform) and Ansible this week, so I haven't been keeping up to date with the latest in tech. But here's a spattering of what caught my eye.
Atlas OS
Tired of all the spying that Microsoft does when you use Windows? There are several tips and tricks you can use to block all of the squealing that Windows does on you to Microsoft, but here's a unique solution: Atlas OS. It's not an operating system, but it changes your Windows 10 or 11 operating system such that it removes all the bloat, optimizes features, and disables all the spyware. It works best on a fresh install of Windows 11. As it turns out, due to hardware problems, I had to reinstall Windows 11 from scratch a few weeks ago, so I figured I'd give Atlas OS a spin. It did, indeed, remove a lot of bloat and improve performance. The one hitch I ran into was that I had to re-install the Windows Media pack to get some applications working. Atlas OS disables updates, which suits me fine, but it prevented me from re-installing the Windows Media pack. Fortunately, you can turn on updates again, download what you need, and then disable updates again when you're finished. The Atlas OS site says it's ideal for gaming. I don't play games anymore, but I still get a lot of benefits from installing Atlas OS over my Windows 11. It saves me from having to implement all those tweaks (like editing your hosts file and suppressing certain services) to get the same results.
Rotary Engines
Okay, it's not computer tech, but I'm intrigued by two developments in Rotary engines. First, Mazda is adding a rotary engine to their MX-30 Electric Vehicle (EV). It's called the MX-30 REV. No, the Rotary engine doesn't power the car. It powers a generator to keep charging the batteries. The batteries alone will get you about a paltry 53 miles, but the rotary engine generator extends the mileage to over 300 miles with a 13 gallon gas tank. The car gets poor reviews for driving and handling (even worse reviews for the original MX-30), but I'm happy to see Mazda putting the rotary engine to use once more, even if it doesn't propel the drive train.
There's a brand new take on the rotary engine called the Liquid Piston. It reverses the design of the original Wankel/Rotary engine. The original has a triangular do-dad with apex seals on the edges spinning inside an oval housing. The Liquid Piston engine has an oval do-dad spinning inside a triangular housing and puts the apex seals on the housing instead of the rotor. It's an intriguing solution to the problems inherent in the original design, although it has its own drawbacks. One unique thing about the liquid piston engine is that it has high compression, which allows it to run on diesel. In fact, a version of the engine can even run on jet fuel or other fuel with a very large percentage of ethanol. I'd love to see all the kinks worked out because I loved the way my ancient RX-3 performed with its rotary engine. Here's a picture of the design:
Ham Radio and Tetanus
Get it? Ham radio antennas - ham radio and tetanus? I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your waitress.
Here's another off-the-wall discovery I made. I have a copper ground rod just outside my window for use with my ham radio equipment. It turns out that according to electric codes dating back to who-knows-when, the 3 prong plug for ham radios provides a better ground than a grounding rod. So I don't use that rod anymore. But it's not going anywhere. Once you pound it in, it's harder to pull out than Excalibur. So, this last weekend, while putting up a new antenna, I scraped my legs on that corroded grounding rod several times. I thought nothing of it, but my sister insisted I get a tetanus shot. I discovered you can get one at your local pharmacy, so I went to Walgreens and got mine. It's a good idea to get one every 10 years.
My antenna is called a doublet. A doublet is a dipole antenna cut at a non-resonant length, fed with 450 ohm window line. I wound a 4:1 balun around two T240-43 toroids (240 describes the size, 43 describes the ferrite mix). I didn't use this kit, but it describes the way you build a 4:1 balun with two toroids.
A balun converts an unbalanced line (coaxial cable) to a balanced line. and the 4:1 part transforms the impedance from 200 ohms to 50 ohms, which is what ham radio (and other types of communication radios) expects at the antenna connection. Now, you'd think that I'd need a 9:1 balun since the feed line is 450 ohms. But impedance is affected by way more factors than just the feed line, so the ball park figure of 200 ohms and a 4:1 balun is generally appropriate for this kind of antenna.
Like I said, the 4:1 balun connects my unbalanced 50 ohm coax line to the balanced high impedance window line and doublet antenna. But that's not enough. I added a 1:1 current balun using this design (also wound on a toroid) so that current doesn't reflect back on the coax and cause radio frequency interference in the ham "shack". The 1:1 current balun (also called a choke) ensures that the coax going from my balun box to my room shouldn't radiate anything. I still get some radio frequency interference (RFI) from a section of my 450 ohm window line on certain frequencies, but there's nothing I can do about that.
So far, it seems to be working. My antenna is still crap due to my small garden and restrictions by the HOA, but this doublet is working far better than the one I replaced. It's based on what's called an inverted V, that is, the two legs of the dipole drop down from the center like an upside-down V. Normally, any dipole should be strung up in a straight line end-to-end, whether or not it's an inverted V. My antenna legs come down at a 90 degree angle from the center, and then one leg bends another 90 degrees at the edge of the fence and runs along the top of the fence. Looking from above, this is basically how the two legs come down from the flagpole at the center of the antenna:
The radiation pattern must look like a Jackson Pollack painting. So I call my antenna a "Perverted V". Here's what a doublet should look like (below). Instead of the antenna tuner, I put my 4:1 balun with the 1:1 current choke in the same box. Then the coax comes in through the window to an antenna tuner inside the "shack".
