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A disaster with my Digitrax Zephyr Express meant I had to ship it to the factory in December for repairs with no firm return date. 😬  What should I do? Build a DCC-EX Command Station ? I had the parts 1 . This had been my intent all along. But at the time, I lacked confidence, punted, and bought the Digitrax. An opportunity to correct a mistake? The command station is built around an ESP32 WROOM Arduino UNO compatible board with built-in WiFi I followed DCC-EX's instructions . They're thorough. And include workarounds to the bugs on the Espduino board. Everything came together as intended. Then I uploaded the software using EX-Installer. 2  Easy-peasy. The motor driver shield with 2x 1-1.5 A channels to drive main and programming tracks. Workarounds are visible from pins bent out from the side and jumper wires in the headers.  The combination of the 2 boards is smaller than my mouse. The cables are the power and track connections. Once the command station was assem...

NY Central #1906 steaming down the mainline I have two #6 turnouts and a double crossover in my first layout. I thought the #6 turnouts we're non-power routing based on my reading. But the first attempt layout proved that wrong.  With a power routing turnout, the track in the direction of the turnout's setting is powered, and in the other branch, non-powered. When the turnout is toggled, power is moved to the other branch, and the previously powered branch is now non-powered. I learned this multiple ways. First, I thought my dual loop layout could be powered by a single piece of terminal track powering the entire layout. The layout is small, so I thought that would be good enough. However, the power routing turnouts and crossover break current in the non-powered direction. So, initially only one of my loops worked. Second, the initial layout had a second spur leading off the first. But without a power connection on that spur, it would always be dead.  Third, attempting to r...

I think a lot of you thought I had lost my mind when I mentioned I was interested in model trains. Perhaps. But it's been a great stress reliever. Here's status.  One can spend a bundle on model trains. So, I've tried to pace myself and be judicious. Since we don't have a lot of room, I've selected N scale, half of HO size and 2nd most popular scale behind HO. I've only spent half a bundle. : /  I'm going to try and keep the train to an era from the 1880s to the 1940s. Pretty wide range, but it's hard to find everything at a reasonable price in one narrow era. I've also decided to go digital. I'm interested in control more than scenery. The model train digital control standard is called DCC. It's much different than the DC my dad and I played around with in the '60s. It's very cool, allowing levels of control that weren't possible earlier. While I bought a DCC starter set, I hope to build my own. I've purchased track from...

Hey Noah, "Can you suggest where to begin among his 250 or so podcasts?" That's a harder question to answer than it might seem because he covers so much. Also, because I find a lot of this fascinating, I do the deep dive and have trouble filtering. But I'll give it a shot.  I'd consider the zone 2 interviews with Iñigo San Millán. He's a Prof at Colorado State whose specialty is metabolic disease. He's one of Tadej Pogacar's coaches, 2x winner of the Tdf. He's also a former pro cyclist who got badly overweight and out of shape as he was finishing his academic program. He talks about metabolic health and how he used his own advice to regain health. Episodes 85 and 201.  I'd listen to episodes where he talks about the centenarian decathlon, what it means, and what one has to do today to achieve it. #204 and 261.  There are some AMA (ask me anything) episodes, which are typically abridged for non paying subscribers. But there's good info, even...

This post takes a look at the ILS (I Love Sushi head race series in Seattle) Mixed 2x Smackdown 2023 edition and considers the question of how well the US Rowing handicap adjusts for age in this 5.2K race.  Course description The start was off the Pocock dock with crews heading east under the University Bridge into Portage Bay. The course continues tight along the houseboats until the "Diabolical Turn", close to the Seattle Yacht Club. A miscue on this turn can cost lengths or worse.  The course continues east through the Montlake Cut to Fox Point. The Big Turn (180˚+) begins at the navigation buoy off port at Fox Point and continues until crews are pointed back at the Cut. Another opportunity to lose lengths and to hit things. The line to the finish follows the shoreline with a slight turn to starboard and ends at Fritz Hedges Park, approximately 5.2 km from the start.  The competition 26 c...

Hey Magda and Dale, this is a goofy follow-up to your brief conversation I overheard where Dale feigns mock concern that we'll never be able to match our reference 6K due to such favorable rowing conditions.  Well, I got to thinking about it and, while I agree last Friday (1/26) had exceptional conditions, it probably did not represent the fastest conditions we'll encounter on the 6k sushi course. In particular I was thinking about water temp, the cold temp of last Friday versus the warmer temps we see at the beginning of sushi. Plus there are other considerations like eastbound head-currents from rain runoff and actually-not-that-great wind. All contribute to slower than the fastest conditions. In this note I consider water temp differential. Today's Lake Washington water temp is reported as 8.3° C.  Believe it or not, the water temp was around a degree colder last Friday, but to err on the conservative side let's call it 8°. You can find historical a...