Report by Beth
Last time, I talked a little bit about electrical work. As part of this section of the course, we spent two weeks studying electronics in depth. IYRS brought in a specialist; Hugh Lupo has about 50 years of experience in electronics, starting with a stint with the Navy SeaBees. He’s installed just about everything, and does a lot of work on commercial vessels subject to regular and intense federal inspections. He’s also a ham radio guy. Hugh shared with us tons of practical knowledge about radio installations – how to test your installation for adequate power at the antenna, how to troubleshoot equipment that the owner says isn’t quite working right, how to connect different manufacturers’ equipment and get all the pieces talking to each other.
In this picture, you can see an NMEA 2000-compatible backbone (yes, now I really know what that means) in the upper right corner; all the wiring is connecting electronic components and providing power.
At the same time, we were studying for the NMEA Marine Electronics Installer exam. Hugh did a great job preparing us, and we all passed.
One thing all of us in the Systems program share is a love of tools. The shop has a good collection of hand and power tools, and when we enrolled, we got a list of tools we were encouraged to buy or have for the course. This list has evolved over time, and before we finish, we get a chance to suggest changes for the next class.
I already had a lot of tools, collected over the years, but of course, once I saw other guys’ nicer ones, I wanted them. My favorite new tool is my Makita 18v lithium battery-powered drill. It has a light that comes on when you pull the trigger, and it is about half the weight of my older DeWalt 18v nicad battery drill. Plus the lithium battery charges in about 15 minutes vs. 3 hours for the DeWalt. I use this drill almost every day here, and then I bring it home and use it there, too.