It has been a busy new year. January is always full with bookkeeping, taxes, and Quartzfest, so we don’t really get cranked up on making until February. There was a bit of a backlog built up, and we had lots to make. Despite the time spent on April’s taxes we have caught up with the backlog, and as of today there’s only one order in the build que, and it will be done shortly. We have been giving the barrel paint the recommended 7 days to dry to make it as chip resistant as it can be, and we’ve made some new tools to streamline the processing. More component orders will go out shortly and we’ll restock those items we are low on.
It is time to get those Field Day orders in so we can make those in plenty of time for the event. Thanks for your support!
Soon we will head out for Quartzfest, and if you are going to join us for the best week long Ham Gathering of the Year – we’ll see you there. I’ve been invited to do a couple of presentations, one on Antenna Launching where we’ll show you some of the new things we’re working on, and another on DIY Ebike conversions. Come by and say hi! We can’t do business there due to rules regarding the land that we’ll be on, but we will bring some free upgrade parts for AKBeng launcher owners. I’ll try to put some kind of sign on the rig so you’ll recognize it, but be on the lookout for a 20 foot Dunesport trailer and our very rare white 3/4 Ton Avalanche! Hope to see you there!
We had a great Field Day again this year, I hope everyone else did as well. While we were setting up we refurbished one of the original 8 launchers that we made kits for when we started making launchers in the early 2000’s. We put a new barrel-chamber spacer in, and added a new plastic strut from the trigger to the launcher. These are easy and not very expensive upgrades that make a launcher far more rigid.
This year we tested a new launcher design that packs a lot more barrel and chamber length into that 17 inch form factor. More on that later.
The new mini coaxial reel worked out well. More on that later as well.
We also tried a drone line launch. It is not as easy as one would think. After a couple of tries we pulled out the launcher and finished the job quickly. Drones are an interesting way to launch lines but neither easy nor quick. 🙂
Now we’re working on our shop space. A new segmented garage type door was installed and everything is out of place due to clearing things out for the work. At the same time we’re making some improvements in layout. We’ll be back on line in a few more days.