Russia Turns off Data from IGS GPS Tracking Stations
Is the tit for tat true? Maybe, but whatever the case, global political action is slowing down everybody. As usual.
It would seem like a convenient excuse to turn off the data, but who is it actually hurting. On either side decisions are made in an attempt to punish the other side, but it only ends up hurting everybody. Constant posturing...
Roger Easton, Father Of GPS, Dies At 93
First Tomlinson and now Easton. Losing some big timers in GIS and GPS. We get to stand on the shoulders of giants though. They leave the legacy that pushes the science forward.
Something else was going on though. It took me the bulk of Monday to figure it out. The hubs that keep the propellers on kept popping off. On Monday 'motor 1' hub and prop came off and I could not find the hub. I looked all over, but I live next to a city park and there is a massive bush/hedge thing that it must have landed in. So that is where the 5 cents comes in. Just an aluminum screw on hub. It is a nothing part until you do not have one. Naturally, despite all advice to always have extras, I do not have an extra.
It is infuriating because on Saturday I bought a couple of 'luxury' items. I bought a LED light that would show status of the controller and a prop balancer. It is really important to balance your props because they can actually vibrate your aircraft apart. I do not know why I did not buy one earlier. Had I known on Saturday that I would lose a part on Monday I probably would have purchased them at that time.
My only saving grace is that there is a warehouse here in Washington and I can get the US distributed parts relatively quickly. My new hubs should be here in a few days.
So why are my hubs popping off? Well 'motor 1' and 'motor 3' are the issue. Both keep losing their hubs. Maybe it was the fever induced by the heat in my home office, but it finally occurred to me that the hub screws on clockwise and the motors turn clockwise. So in that 1 millisecond where you throttle up and the motor is moving before the propeller is moving my hubs are unscrewing themselves. No matter how tight I make it that force will pull them out just enough and the vibration will jiggle them all the way out.
And to top it all off I knew it would happen, but conveniently forgot. I have not tightened everything down and I have not used 'loctite' or 'thread lock' products on everything yet. I wanted to get everything configured and then make final choices on placement of wires before I went in and added adhesives. But in the end, it is quite alright that I have this set back because it gives me the opportunity to tear the entire aircraft apart and put it together again properly. That was the whole point of this exercise. To learn the ins an outs.
Here is a pic of the control board powered up. You can see the motor wires coming in on the right and the receiver wires coming in from the bottom and to the left. Zip ties all around. I still have to figure out how I am going to keep the board and receiver in place. I do not want to glue them in case I want to upgrade. I am thinking maybe keep the zip ties. They seem to do a good job, but I can just clean them up. Maybe some velcro.