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 Previous: The Amateur Radio Crossword Puzzler |  Next: ARRL Challenges FCC Dismissal of Virginia BPL Interference Complaints |
By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor
December 22, 2006
This week, enjoy the holidays by minimizing your forays into the world of assembly and repair.
When a handy ham is presented with a broken holiday gift to repair, he or she should visit HowToMendIt.com. |
Being an Amateur Radio operator for many years has taught me that I should never own a truck.
Just because I have an Amateur Radio license, friends and relatives believe that I can assemble and repair anything. Not just things involving RF or electronics, but things involving electricity, plumbing, carpentry, septic systems automobile mechanics, just to name a few..
How many times have I visited friends and relatives during the Christmas holidays with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head, only to be presented with a partially assembled toy, home entertainment center, computer system, you name it, and asked to finish assembly? It does not help that I am good at assembly and repair with my wife referring to me as "Mr. Fix-It" to her friends and relatives, but I do have a life and I do not want to spend the rest of it with a box of tools at my side.
I often thought that a pickup truck would be handy for hauling stuff to and from the house, but I fear that being a ham with a truck would just compound Mr. Fix-It's nightmare. Not only would everyone expect me to assemble or repair things, but they would expect me to haul those things to and from their houses, too! No thanks.
If you do get volunteered as a Christmas present assembler in the next few days, I found some advice on Dr Toy's Tips on Putting Toys Together Web page, which is a primer for both the assembler and the purchaser of toys that require assembly. And if you are faced with the worst-case scenario and are asked to repair something that little darling Darla broke five minutes after the unwrapping, I point you to HowToMendIt.com, which claims that their "database has information explaining how to mend just about anything."
For specific fixes, you can always try Google. When my Powerbook's hard drive recently gave up the ghost, I searched on "fix powerbook" at Google and found iFixit, a Web site that provided detailed instructions on how to disassemble my Powerbook in order to replace its hard drive.
Until next time, Merry Christmas and keep on surfin'.
Editor's note: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, remembers receiving Amateur
Radio equipment that was dead on arrival on Christmas morning! He is also
in hiding, fearing his editor will ask him to help her move or fix her
laptop -- or both! To discuss broken stuff
and just about anything else with Stan, send e-mail or add
comments to his blog. By the way,
every installment of Surfin' is indexed here,
so go look it up, whatever it may be.
| Previous: The Amateur Radio Crossword Puzzler | Next: ARRL Challenges FCC Dismissal of Virginia BPL Interference Complaints |
