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A Lakeland flirtation

Plenty has been written and said about the so-called Lakeland tobacco blends. These are a group of some fairly heavily flavored/scented flake tobaccos from the Lakeland region of England, produced by Samuel Gawith and Gawith & Hoggarth. The story I’ve read is that artificial ingredients were not allowed in English tobacco, but natural flavorants were – alcohols and flower oils. These tobaccos are fairly heavily topped with what is referred to as “the Lakeland essence”. Pipe smokers seem to either love Lakelands, or hate them. I will admit that in at least some cases, the scent of a Lakeland blend can be a little… unusual. Ennerdale has been compared to “Granny’s panty drawer”, for example.

I’ve tried two different Lakeland blends, Ennerdale and Bob’s Chocolate Flake. Ennerdale does, as people have claimed, have a sort of old-fashioned floral scent to it. Bob’s Chocolate Flake does have a distinct chocolate not to it in the jar. Both are dense, heavy flake tobaccos that benefit from a bit of drying time before loading the pipe and smoking them, as they do tend to be a bit moist.

I may be an outlier, but I neither love nor hate the two I’ve tried. I was a bit disappointed by Bob’s, as I had hoped for at least a trace of a chocolatey not when smoked – and it’s simply not there. The topping lends a distinct aroma to the jar, but does not add a corresponding flavor to the tobacco. There’s definitely a flavor added, but it’s nothing like the aroma of the unlit tobacco. The same goes for Ennerdale – heavily floral in the jar, not so in the pipe.

Maybe my taste buds are just different. For one thing, I can’t say that I really “taste” any tobacco, not with my tongue as with food or drink. Any taste I get from tobacco really comes from exhaling it through my nose, which the online pipe community in their eagerness to come up with oddball quasi-technical terms for everything has called “retrohaling”. Last night I cracked open my jar of Ennerdale and tried a flake crumbled into the bowl of my nice calabash pipe, which I especially love for its cooling and moisture-abating capabilities. [Here the online community is convulsively clutching at its pearls, swearing that this will “ghost” the pipe forever with a floral, soapy taste. They’re idiots.] After months of smoking primarily my own home-made and partially home-grown English and VA/Per blends, I really didn’t find it enjoyable. I may try some Bob’s today, with more drying time, perhaps in a corncob. I’m just glad I didn’t buy some massive quantity of this stuff. I started with two ounces each of Ennerdale and Bob’s Chocolate Flake. Even if I’m not crazy about it, I’ll eventually work my way through it.

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Getting back on the air – Part 3

I have a large, L-shaped desk in my home office that served me well for the last decade or so that I was working. I’ve got a pair of computer monitors mounted on a dual-monitor arm, and my old but still quite serviceable PC under the desk. There’s a KVM switch so I can connect another computer and switch between them – I used to just have my work laptop plugged into that. There’s enough room for a pretty good assortment of equipment, once I get al the junk cleared off of it. I’m experimenting with ways to arrange the shack. I have the TS-850 with its matching speaker. Then there’s the FT-817ND; quite useful since it covers not only ham HF but also VHF and UHF to include aircraft and FM broadcast frequencies. I’d also like to bring my Heathkit HW-16 and its matching HG-10B VFO up from the basement. I’ll need a spot for a keyer or two, a paddle or two, a straight key, computer keyboard, mouse, SWR meter, antenna switch, power supplies, a dummy load, and who-knows-what-else. I want to make sure that however I set it up, it’s convenient and ergonomic to operate – that means operate the radios, use the key and paddle for CW, and be able to use the computer keyboard. I don’t know how much (if any) I’ll be operating using digital modes, but I’ll also want the computer for logging contacts and looking up information.

While I work on that, I also have a new call sign. I checked the availability of some “vanity” call signs and much to my surprise found K0DB available! Unfortunately, several people had already submitted applications a few days earlier, and I knew one of them would get it. But – K0DLB was also available, and I got it. So after thirty-plus years as N0XAS, I am now KØDLB.

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Getting back on the air – Part 2 (Kenwood TS-850)

I presently own three HF radios. The most capable of the three, the one I plan to use first, is a Kenwood TS-850SAT, which was manufactured in Japan some time in the 1990s. At the time it was at or near the top of their product line; one of the last of the non-DSP radios. It really is a pretty nice rig; maybe not quite as posh as a TS-930, but the power supply doesn’t die every time you look at it sideways.

Unfortunately, after several years sitting in a closet in my office, a couple of the front panel buttons were balky. Also, the display is an LCD backlit with a small CFL tube; as one would expect, either the CFL tube or its power supply is starting to fail, meaning the display occasionally goes blank. Time to take it apart again.

The switches were relatively easy to fix. With the switch board removed, they’re just common 6m square tactile buttons. I replaced the UP and DN buttons – only one was bad, but the new switches have a different actuating force than the originals, and I wanted the button feel to match between the two.

I removed the display panel and found that the inside of the plastic lens over the display was pretty well coated with a grungy tan film of dirt or, more likely, tar from a previous owner’s cigarettes. You can tell where the air flows through the radio by the brown deposits on the parts. It’s not bad bad, but I’ll clean up what I can while I’m in there. I spent a while with some lens cleaning solution, Q-Tips, and a microfiber cleaning cloth getting that cleaned off again.

While I had the radio apart waiting for the LED strip, I checked the DDS chips – these are Direct Digital Synthesis chips that generate the various frequencies used by the radio. Early TS-850s are known for developing problems with the carrier board that these chips are on. Fortunately, mine has the newer part number chips that are supposed to be good and not prone to failure.

The new LED display backlight was relatively straightforward. With the strip cut and stuck in place, I wired it to the white wire from teh front panel power switch. Too bright. It’s a 12V strip, and the power supply is at least 13.5. After some fiddling and experimenting, I ended up de-soldering the dimmer switch and removing two pins to isolate it from ground. Power now comes from the supply switched line (white wire of the power switch), through four 1N4001 diodes in series to drop the voltage to a good level for a dimmed display. The dimmer switch is wired across the second pair of diodes to bypass them for full brightness — in other words, two diodes for full brightness and four for dimmed. It works quite nicely, and the display is now nice and crisp and easy to read.

I still have no antenna up, but last night with about 8′ of wire strung across my office the receiver seemed to work a well as my FT-817ND receiving the very, very few signals I could hear.

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Getting back on the air – maybe – Part 1

I’ve been a licensed ham radio operator, off and on, since about 1981. Early on I learned Morse code and the required knowledge to pass my Novice license test in ’81, and was issued the call sign KA5MSS. I passed the exam while we were living at Fort Sill, OK, but didn’t actually receive the license until we’d already moved to Atlanta for a six-month stint. Living in an apartment with nothing but a Heathkit HW-16, I didn’t get a chance to get on the air. In fact, I held KA5MSS for five years until it expired (and a Korean call sign, HL9CA, for the yer I was in Korea), having never gotten on the air

Later on, in the late 80s or early 90s, I took the Technician exam and was issued a new call sign, N0XAS. I upgraded to General class in 1994, and to Extra in 2002. I’ve operated with that call sign ever since it was first issued, making a lot of contacts. I primarily operated CW (Morse code) and much of that was QRP (using low power, 5 Watts output or less), but I’ve operated SSB (voice), VHF and UHF FM voice, packet, PSK31, and probably a few modes I tried once or twice and forgot about. I never got into contesting.

I could write a book about how I drifted away from operating – though a lot of it involved a new side business developing and selling ham related kits and even a fully assembled Morse keyer. It was nice, but it did eventually consume all of the time and energy I might have devoted to operating. A new steel roof over my attic dipole antenna drove the final nail in the coffin.

I’m hoping to get back in the air before winter sets in, so I’ve been working toward that. I need to get my station set up again, get an antenna up and working, get up to speed on changes to the regulations and operating practices since I was last active, and get my Morse code copy speed back up to snuff – at least 10 WPM solid, preferably 13 or better. More to come.

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My own take on Israel and Iran

As irritating as it may be to see Israel initiating attacks on and in Iran, I can understand why they’ve done it (more than once). First you have a theocratic dictatorship that has publicly sworn, for decades, that their goal is to wipe Israel and everyone in it off the map. Then you have that theocratic dictatorship doing everything they can to build a nuclear arsenal… for one reason.

Iran knows that if they want to wipe out Israel as they have sworn to do, they would first need to transit Iraq (good luck with that), and then either Syria or Jordan, or both. That, or cook up some viable sea route. Either way, Israel would have at least days to pick off Iranian assets en route. They would doubtless be quite successful at that, and in the end would probably leave Iran with no viable land or sea forces.

Israel knows and has shown that they can operate in Iranian airspace with impunity. Iran knows it. Iran also knows that they can lob every missile and drone they own or can afford to buy or build at Israel, and the result will be summarily shrugged off. Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system has proven more than capable of rendering mass air attacks from Iran ineffective at best, and it’s got to be getting embarrassing by now.

Iran is still trying to develop its nuclear capability for only one apparent reason: nuke Israel. Israel is unwilling to make the gamble that their Iron Dome system can be 100.0% effective, given that a single nuke getting through would be utterly unacceptable.

So… here we are, and here we will likely remain. Israel is unwilling to allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, and Iran apparently is unwilling to give up in their quest to nuke Israel. Even if Iran agrees to limit or stop their efforts to do so, no reasonable person would believe them. It’s 100% guaranteed they would continue enrichment in secret, the Israelis would discover those efforts, and the air strikes would begin anew.

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More engine assembly

Over the past several days I got the intake manifold installed and the bolts torqued. I took a look at the valve covers. Originally I’d planned to scrap them and buy new, but more recently I’d been contemplating either stripping them of the overspray and polishing them up, or just painting them to match the engine. On close inspection, though, I confirmed my initial plan. There’s a bunch of residual RTV that suggests to me that they’re not straight, and one of them has a split where someone had over-torqued a bolt. They’re junk; I’ll keep them on as dust covers for the valve train until I pick up a new set. I really want to buy new chrome covers, but I’m going to keep talking myself out of it. Eventually, some day, someone will have a set of nice finned aluminum valve covers for sale at a price I like and I’ll scoop them up. Or not.

The carburetor is done and in place, though not attached – no studs yet. I cleaned up the air cleaner lid. Once the car is back together and I have the engine back in, I’ll measure the hood clearance and put the tallest air filter I can fit on it.

I got the thermostat housing cleaned up, painted, and installed with a new 195 degree thermostat. Today I got the distributor installed and ran a vacuum line to it. I also installed the little 90 degree elbow from the water pump to the thermostat housing, it just needs clamps. I also installed the pipe plugs in the unused intake manifold holes – a couple of 3/8 NPT plugs front and back. I left one open for the water temperature sender, and a 1/2 NPT for the heater hose.

Finally, I installed the power steering pump bracket and pump, mostly to get them out of the way of other stuff. I’m getting the garage cleaned up enough that I’ve got a little room to work, so it’s getting closer to the time when I’ll be able to get under the car and drop the transmission and driveshaft. I’ll rebuild the C4 – at 93K miles it’s probably about due. I’ll likely just replace the U-joints as well, unless they’re in really good shape.

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Carb and intake

I got the Summit carb cleaned up and rebuilt with new gaskets, seals, fuel valves, and so on. I also got the exhaust manifolds cleaned up, painted gray, and reinstalled. Engine isolators are bolted on, and I ordered a Weiand Street Warrior intake that’s ready to install as soon as I buy some RTV silicone for it. The distributor is rebuilt, re-curved, and ready to go. Now that I have a fresh engine almost ready to run, I suppose I should see about getting a sound car I can drop it into. Just need to pull the transmission and drag it over to the body shop and see how bad the news will be there.

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Carburetor score!

I’d been wanting to put a 4 barrel carb on the Mustang’s mostly stock 289. By “mostly stock” I mean I’ve put in a different cam and done some minor head porting – nothing fancy, but they should flow a little better than they did. It’s never going to be a race engine, for sure. So the prospect of dropping over $700 to put a 4V intake and carburetor on it was not terribly attractive to me, and I’d pretty much resolved to just put the old 2-barrel back on it.

A few days ago I saw the exact carburetor I was looking to buy listed on Facebook Marketplace, by a local seller. He said it needed rebuilding, as it had leaked gas everywhere one day and he just replaced it with a different carb. Since there’s not a lot that a rebuild kit won’t fix, I offered him half what he was asking and he took it. So, $75 later I have the carb in hand.

Teardown revealed the likely cause of his problem – the power valve was packed solid with some sort of white flaky crud that I thought at first was aluminum corrosion. If it was, it didn’t come from the carb – there’s no trace of pitting or corrosion anywhere in it. The rebuild kit comes with a new power valve as well as the two fuel valves that were also candidates for being the cause of his problem. For a total of just a bit under $150 I’ll end up with a fresh 4-barrel for the car. I splurged on a new intake for it. There was an intake listed locally also, but it was a no-name – probably some Chinese copy of an Edelbrock manifold that I’d already decided against. I ordered a Weiand Street Warrior. I’m sure I’ll end up needing the odd bit or two for the throttle and kickdown linkages, but I haven’t ordered anything yet. I’ll see what can be taken from the old 2100 2-barrel and reused.

I hadn’t torn down a carburetor for a car in many years, and I don’t recall ever having done a 4-barrel. Most – actually I think all – of the carb rebuilds I’e done were Ford Autolite 2100 2-barrels, which I had on an AMC and a Mustang. There have been no surprises here, and it’s cleaning up nicely while I wait for delivery of the parts order from Summit. With a little more cleaning I’ll be ready to put it back together with new guts.

This one is a Summit Racing manufactured version of a Holley 4010, which was largely based on an Autolite 4100 with some Holley-ish modifications. I like it because it’s got the 4100’s annular boosters and a few other features, but uses a lot of Holley parts – jets, floats, valves, and so on, so parts support is excellent. I think it will work well on the Mustang, despite maybe being a little oversized – 600 CFM rather than the 500 the engine actually needs. But it was readily available, inexpensive, and gives me a little headroom in case I decide later on to swap the heads and exhaust for something that flows better.

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My VA/Per blend, Round Two

After finishing up what I had labeled as simply “Batch 6”, the VA/Per blend I tried earlier, I decided to make some more. This batch is a small run of 16 grams, slightly altered with a 50/50 mix of Samsun and Izmir for the Turkish portion. After 3 days under fairly high pressure in the noodle press, it was like a dark, solid little puck of tobacco. I let it sit in a jar for a day before slicing off a small chunk to try out. It’s good, and I know from experience it will get substantially better with some additional age.

At this point I plan to make a larger batch with the same mix. the largest plug I’ve made in the noodle press was 100 grams, and it was a challenge to get it out of the press. I’ll probably limit future plugs to 50 to 65 grams.

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Modifying a good blend

I’ve been smoking a good bit of my “Towers of Antioch” blend, and overall I’m pretty happy with it. It does, from time to time, display a rough edge here and there. It’s not a big deal, but I’d love to figure out exactly what’s causing it and maybe smooth it out a bit. I’ve also been tring out some of my very early stuff – like the pressed plug straight VA from late ’23, and my first Cavendish attempt. Both have a pretty bold component to them that can get a little harsh if you’re not careful. So, I decided to see what would happen if I tried some ToA without it. In its place I simply substituted the lemon VA that I bought from Whole Leaf. I mixed up a small test batch, enough for half a dozen pipes maybe, and pressed it for 24 hours in the noodle press. Not a long press, just enough to smooth it and blend the flavors a little better.

The result is… less interesting. It’s not bad, but it reminds me of the difference between two commercial English/Balkan blends I tried last year. One was the Sutliff Sobranie match, the other was – I don’t really remember what, I just remember it was tinned and enjoyed a lot of good reviews. Anyway, while it had VA, Oriental, and Latakia, it was notably less complex than the Sutliff and bordered on uninteresting by comparison.

So, back to the drawing board. I do have a 100 gram plug of ToA sitting in the jar that I haven’t sliced up yet. I’m still working my way through the other 50-60 grams that I sliced and rubbed out. I’m wondering whether letting the plug age in its semi-compressed form will make a substantial difference. I’ll just leave it in the jar until all the rest is gone, and maybe even longer than that. I do have probably half a pound or more of various commercial pipe tobaccos sitting in jars on my shelf. Orlik Golden Sliced, some Sutliff Sobranie match, some Ennerdale and Bob’s Chocolate Flake, My Mixture 965, little remnants of several others. There’s even some 1-Q there, along with an ounce or two of Haunted Bookshop and Bayou Morning – neither of which I like, so they’ll probably just stay there indefinitely.