How I hate drilling boxes

This afternoon I have been "engineering" my dual lens optical transceiver mechanics. This consists of 2 34cm long 110mm drain pipes (with 100mm lenses at one end) fixed together on a tripod mount with a sighting scope attached to one tube and an end piece at the focal points which will support the aluminum box housing the detector, the TX LED and the electronics. I had to work out how to support the two tubes in close alignment and how to fix these and the electronics to the tripod mount. This has involved a fair bit of mechanical engineering, which is the part of the hobby I absolutely detest. By this evening I think everything is ready and fixed together OK. The electronics box has all the holes drilled for switches and sockets. Now all that remains is to build tidy versions of my sensitive detector and AM transmitter.

When everything is finished - the end is in sight now - I will ask Bernie G4HJW for a sked over a fairly short (2-3km) line-of-sight path to check alignment and that everything is OK. Assuming this goes well then it will be time to try a 481THz QSO over a reasonably DX path.