I can't fix a thing...

I give up. I don't have my father's patience and knack for
engines. Maybe I'll change the cable later this week. Or maybe,
I'll just bring it to  the shop...

Motorcycle

I am having difficulty changing gears.  I can hear a grinding sound as I change from low to high gear. I am not a motorcycle mechanic but my father has taught me enough about motorcycles to know that the problem is with the clutch.

This motorcycle has manual transmission and the mechanism uses cables that runs from the hand lever to the engine clutch. The cable is not broken but the tension is loose.  I suspect that the one I had installed about six months ago is not a genuine clutch cable. I don't travel much maybe a few meters a day to school and then home every other day or so, and from Highway 2000 to home and I seldom go  beyond 40 kmh ( don't see the need to rush) so I don't expect anything to go wrong this early.

But, anyway...I think it's Murphy's law that says: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." It did.  Whatever...

Personal Amps

I am not sure that this is SHURE.
All our models looked like these but
some have different brand names like SONY,
Piooner, but they all looked the same.
Of course, I am still gratefull for this. This is still
Gov Issued and did not cost me anything.

I was happy that I received this personal voice amplifier last school year, but I noticed that after using it for the field day and graduation practices it started to crackle and hiss. Aside from the crackling and hissing, I also had problem controlling the volume. It was now  broke and useless.

I opened it up and checked if it had some loose connections or something else, but finding there was nothing visibly loose or had short circuited, or burned, my suspicion was the speaker was broken.

Being nearsighted has its advantage, I can work
on little things without my  eyeglasses on.

I checked again and the speaker sounded terrible, maybe the fiber was torn or the coil was busted.


I disconnected the speaker and brought it to the electronics store so that the storekeeper could check the specifications for a new one.

I need a new camera. The lens is already cloudy.
Maybe its becuase I wipe it with my shirt every
now and then.

To help me remember what is what and where is where, I took a lot of photo for reference. I used to take apart things when I was small, but the problem, I was never able to put them back together. At least, now I had a digicam, an external memory device.

Being nearsighted had its advantage, I could see more clearly without my glasses, less interference. Anyway, I re-connected then  soldered the new speaker in place and then put all the parts back together.

I checked the photograph if I had the polarities correct and then I screwed back the cover. I charged the batteries for a few minutes to make sure there was proper power supply.

I was looking at the control and I noticed
the word PALY. Now, I supposed it meant
 Play but somehow the quality control or the graphic
designer did not know his/her Dolch
sightwords. I am sure that this is not
SHURE. Shure is an American Company
so I'm pretty sure that they know
their spelling. Guess, that's why it
broke easily. I am sure.)

I was excited for the result of my handiwork. I turned the dial on, connected the lapel microphone, and tested the amplifier.

My wife, who was a few feet away cooking, was looking at me while I was saying "mic test, mic test..."

I turned the volume up, "mic test, mic test, mic test..."

Finally my wife told me "I can't hear you..."

I shouted,"mic test, mic test..."

"That's loud enough," my wife said.

Well, at least I learned how to solder wires properly.