We’re not burning, but there are fires all around us. The air quality has dropped during the night, just don’t inhale. Our power has stayed on, though many neighbors are out of power. I’ve been charging radios and readying the generator as well as refreshing lists of what to grab if we have to leave. The 3D Printer is busy printing launcher parts, so at least it is not distracted… Many relatives and friends are displaced from their homes, and many are without power. It is a bit of a mess.

I’ve made some updates to the design of the 3D printed version of the Ball Holding Tool. Does anyone actually use this tool? We supply one (either a piece of schedule 40 PVC pipe or the 3D printed tool) with Super Kits, but judging by the lack of orders for loop kits I wonder if anyone actually makes their own launch balls. We do get many orders for launch balls, so it seems like we are always running out. The cashiers figure I must play a lot of tennis the way I buy tennis balls. I do play tennis, but rarely open a new can for that since I use a pressure can to store the balls in and they last a long time. Often folks give me their slightly used balls to put into the pressure, so I don’t open too many of mine. If you need a tennis ball pressure can I have some nice ones that I make, contact me.

We had a great Pacificon and a good flea market. Sold some radios and stuff and talked to a lot of folks about the launchers. Next on the calendar is Quartzfest in January. We are signed up for three presentations there, one for the Antenna Launcher, one on Electric Bicycles (another of my hobbies), and a new one on Designing for 3D Printing with Open SCAD. Hope to see you there.

We’ve had a problem this month with a website update that broke the site. We’ve selected another theme so things look quite different, but the same content is present. We will work on it further but for the moment it is stable. The theme we were using has been abandoned and is no longer supported, so we will have to choose another theme and work out the details. Many things like videos are not showing up with the present settings. We may try some different themes, so the website may change suddenly.

We had a great Field Day this year, and used a number of new things including some updated launchers and a new air source, as well as the return of CO2. In the past we used Paintball bottles of CO2 to pressurize launchers. A few years ago the regulator failed and we set it aside. I sent email to the manufacturer about getting it repaired but didn’t hear back. Earlier this year I sent them another email and received a reply – I could return it for repair, or get a rebuild kit. I found instructions on the web for disassembling the regulator and tried replacing some of the O rings while waiting for a couple of rebuild kits.

To make a long complicated story short I found that the O rings had failed, and the new ones worked for a day and then failed. The supposedly compatible O ring lube I had was destroying the new O rings (despite saying it was compatible on the bottle). After getting new lube and new O rings again the regulators worked. So CO2 is back.

The new air source is HPA or High Pressure Air. In the Paintball and AirGun businesses CO2 has largely been replaced with HPA. Similar tanks are available, but instead of 1800 psi ratings for CO2 these are rated at 3000 psi or 4500 psi for air and they have a built in regulator for 800 psi so they are compatible with CO2 setups. I used a 13 cubic inch tank (which is quite small) and it was good for about 9 launches. I got a 26 cubic inch tank after Field Day that still fits in the barrel for storage (barely) and will be good for about 18 launches. This is about half the capacity of a CO2 bottle the same size, but HPA has a few advantages. One is that it has a pressure gauge and you can read that and know what you have left. It can be topped up any time easily, no scale or pre-cooling required, from a larger 4500 psi bottle which can be filled at various places. It doesn’t have the extreme temperature sensitivity or change as much when you use it. The O rings will last a lot longer, CO2 is very hard on O rings. Overall it is in most ways an improvement. 4500 psi compressors or even hand pumps are available too, for those who want to fill their own tanks.

I don’t expect many folks will invest in HPA for antenna launching, the gear is not inexpensive. But if you have access to it already for Paintball or AirGuns you might consider using it for launching as well.

We also did a bunch of launching with CO2 this year. It worked great now that the pressure regulator has new O rings.

Pacificon in San Ramon is fast approaching. We plan to setup in the flea market as we usually do, come by and say hi. If you want anything for delivery at the Pacificon Ham Radio convention let me know right away.

For those assembling kit Antenna Launchers a new cement is available that is easier to use and looks great. This single step cement is easy to apply (no primer needed) and the clear color avoids the tricky stain control required with purple primers. Check your local hardware store or online vendor for Oatey Fusion Single Step PVC cement. Make sure to follow directions and use plenty of cement to lubricate the joint and facilitate fully meshing the parts, and hold long enough to insure they are set before releasing pressure. Get ready for Field Day – time is running out!