Coming Soon!

It's been waaayyy to long since I last updated the blog! I wanted to let you all know that there is some really cool stuff coming your way this last half of 2016...be on the lookout for my update emails. Here's a sneak peek at what all we will cover during these upcoming months:

- I'm developing a three to four part posting dedicated to all things tactical, we will look at the infamous Kalashnikov rifle, next-gen AR-15s and the latest gear and accessories available.

- 2016 Election Coverage (mainly about important policies stemming from the 2016 Election)

- A deeper look into Radical Islam and what it's doing to the world today

Stay tuned for more!

Obama Admits to Being a Muslim Socialist

Obama admits to being a muslim socialist during his 2013 White House Correspondents Dinner speech. Watch as the crowd, made up predominately of Democratic supporters, cheers him on as he comes out of the muslim closet.  This is a travesty and should have been answered with far more outrage by conservatives, constitutionalists, and patriots alike. Instead this video gets broadcast once on CNN a year ago, and has pretty much disappeared into the web of the internet until this Crow stumbled across it playing in the background of a tv show he happened to have been watching late one cool December night in Houston.  I am posting it here so the whole world can watch on and see for themselves, this is not made up, this is reality folks. The truth is out there!

My Quest for the Ultimate Tactical .45: A Detailed Look at the Springfield Long Beach Police Operator

Springfield Long Beach Operator 1911

Recently I had the great pleasure of being able to trade my Remington R1 and a Glock 19 for the most amazing production model Springfield Operator I've ever laid eyes on, a Springfield Loaded Operator Long Beach Police Department Mod 1911. I'm a huge advocate of Springfield's firearms, especially their 1911's - not so much the XD's (I have always been a Glock Fanboy when it comes to Polymer pistols) but I've heard great things about the XD .45's and the XDm in all calibers. Springfield Armory is well known for their extensive lineup of 1911's and M1A/M14 rifles. These two weapons systems are where they excel in my opinion and the rest of their product line is just to retain market share and brand saturation (I'm not knocking the XD and XDm - I've shot both, just wasn't a fan). 

The Search for the Ultimate Tactical .45ACP

HK Mark 23

About six months back I started a quest to find a full-size .45 ACP caliber handgun with at least a 5" barrel, a picatinny rail for light/laser mounting, that could fire in some of the most extreme conditions without a single malfunction. Those specs were clear and the gun had to at least meet those to be considered. There were of course things that I could go either way on, such as Threaded Barrel or Not a Threaded Barrel, Lanyard Loop was a plus but not a must, and magazine capacity had to beat the 1911 capacity of 8+1. When I first started spec'ing out this handgun 6 months back, I really wanted a high capacity 45, so my search had me looking at a lot of polymer framed pistols. I started with the
HK Mark 23, but it was way out of the price range I was looking for, then I went to the HK USP .45, but it sure seemed expensive for a polymer pistol and it doesn't have a picatinny or universal rail. It has some weird HK propriety designed rail that requires the use of adapters for all lights/lasers - can

Glock 21

you say "Stooopid"? Talk about an engineering flaw, what were they thinking there? This is where all those HK Collectors and hardcore HK owners start cursing me....and that's fine if you are but remember, HK was my first choice, I love their guns, and would buy one but the prices have always held me back. I moved from HK to the Glock 21 and 21SF. I am very familiar with the Glock platform having owned a few of them in my day and modified and built many more. I like the modularity of the Glock platform and the fact that if you've shot one Glock you can shoot them all, they all fit your hand the same and function the same, very simply. I also like the fact that Glock does not use a lever safety of any kind (not a big fan of lever safeties, I like my guns ready to go and requiring as little work as possible by the shooter). I like the fact I can purchase a Match Grade Stainless Steel Barrel from Wilson Combat, KKM, BarSto, Storm Lake, or Lone Wolf for the Glock 21/21SF (I like choices)! From Glock I went to FNH and looked at the FNX-45 in FDE Tan with a Threaded Barrel. It has a magazine capacity of 15+1! That's awesome for a 45, but how wide is that grip?? I liked parts

FN Herstal's FNX-45 Tactical

of what I saw from each manufacturer, but I wasn't completely satisfied with anyone of them in particular. The Glock 21 was the winner as far as price and durability were concerned, but it sure is awfully plain looking and has minimal features. The HK's were great looking, had all the features I wanted, but have the wrong style rail for mounting lasers/lights. The FN FNX-45 was by far the coolest looking pistol, that incorporated all the features of the HK's with the standard picatinny rail of the Glock, not to mention the high round count of it's magazines. But the FN was a polymer pistol and it's price tag is inline with some of the better all steel guns on the market. There's two arguments on this but I personally would rather have an all metal gun for tactical usage. Some may argue that every ounce of weight you can subtract helps, so polymer is the way to go here so as to keep the weight down when your loaded down with gear. I feel like theres better ways you can shed weight so as to allow yourself to carry a steel gun.

The more I thought about what I truly wanted and needed from a Tactical .45, the more I realized that

Springfield Loaded Stainless Steel 1911

MEUSOC 1911 built by Marine Armorers from a WWI Era
Ithaca frame and mid-1980s Springfield slide.

a polymer frame just wasn't going to cut it. This pistol was developing into something more specific as time went by and I read more reviews and forum postings. I finally decided that I needed a 1911. I currently owned a Stainless Steel Springfield Loaded 1911 that I have had for about 5 years now. I love it! It's the most accurate shooting gun I've ever owned, I can punch 2" circles out of paper at 30 yards (90 feet) with it all day long! It has little recoil, is super accurate, very durable, and factory and aftermarket parts are readily available. My spec's were closely aligned with the MARSOC pistol that won Colt a government contract for their M45A1 (a Desert Tan Cerakoted SS Colt Rail Gun). My research led me to discover the MARSOC's predecessor/father the MEUSOC 1911, which were/are built by Marine Armorers for the Marine Expeditionary Unity Special Ops Command. These MEUSOC 1911's have round counts upward of 100,000 to 250,000 and they are still running strong! The MEUSOC 1911's don't have an integrally forged picatinny rail since most are built on WWI/WWII era Colt, Ithaca, and Remington Rand frame. The slides are much newer as the slide is scared after 50,000 rounds or so and new ones are installed, provided by Springfield Armory. Springfield has been doing this since the mid '80s according to their website.  So, I could just buy a Colt Rail Gun and I would have a gun that fits within my specs. Colt makes great 1911's, after all, they are a legend in the industry, but I own a Springfield 1911 and it's awesome, more reliable than any Glock

Colt's Rail Gun won the MARSOC contract a few years back.
The new Marine pistol, the M45A1, is a SS Colt Rail Gun like
the one pictured above, but finished in Cerakote's Desert Sand
and dons G10 Grips to match.

I've ever owned. Marine armorer's chose to purchase Springfield slide's for the MEUSOC 1911 not Colt, a couple divisions of the Marine's carry the Springfield MC Operator, the FBI HRT and some DEA Agents carry the Springfield Professional, not to mention the countless number of other LEO's that carry the Professional and other 1911 models from Springfield's lineup. There's a reason so many of these Government agencies equip their people with Springfield 1911's and it's not the price (the Professional cost's $2400 when you can find one for a good price).  It was at this moment I decided to add one more spec for this 45, it should be a pistol that is in service by a US Government LEO or Soldier, a duty or service pistol so to speak. Before I continue let me list out the spec's again incase I've confused any of you, I know it's changed and I've added to it since the beginning!

The Ultimate Tactical 45 Specifications

• Full Size (Government Model) 1911 Handgun
• Barrel Length of at least 5 inches
• Magazine Capacity of at least 8 rounds
• Picatinny Rail
• Must have Non-Adjustable Night Sights (Novak's preferred)
• All steel Frame and Slide (Stainless or Carbon doesn't matter but must be durable)
• Can have a threaded barrel but not a must
• Should have a lanyard loop but not a must either
• Accurate and extremely reliable
• Should have a next-gen firearm coating to prevent rust and provide adequate lubricity
• Must be a Service/Duty Pistol that is currently in use by a US Gov Official/Soldier or State LEO

These specs really narrow the gap down, especially if I say it should also be a Springfield Armory

Springfield Loaded MC Operator

1911. The brand isn't a must but I was definitely leaning for Springfield over Colt or Kimber. At this point I was dead set on the Springfield MC Operator, it met all my requirements, but as the days went by, there was just one thing that really began to bug me - that OD Green Armory Kote frame! The more I looked at pics of the MC Operator the more I didn't like the OD Green. Yes I could send the MC Operator into SACS and get the frame Armory Koted black for $80 to match the slide but that would cost extra, require me to ship my gun and be without it for a couple weeks or longer. While searching different retailers stores and websites I ran across a limited supply of the Springfield Loaded Operator Long Beach Police Department Mod 1911's. It's identical to the MC Operator in all ways except it's completely black (Armory Kote Satin Black), has G10 grips by 10-8 Performance (instead of the Pachmayr Wraparounds that are used on the MC Operator), and it has a magwell like most custom and higher end production pistols have. What I especially liked was the fact that these Long Beach Police Operators aren't production pistols that are featured standard in their product lineup, it's a limited edition model that is built in limited quantities once every year or two when Springfield has some extra Satin Black Armory Koted National Match Frames on hand. Since the only other pistols that use a frame like this would be the TRP, Springfield knows they can sell this limited run mod.

How the Long Beach Police Operator Came to Be

The Long Beach, California Police Department sent an RFQ to Springfield for a custom spec'd gun very similar to the MC Operator. They wanted it all Black, with 10-8 Performance Grips and to come with a magwell.  Originally when the RFQ was sent they were requesting enough of these guns to be able to issue one for each officer in the entire city, so several hundred at most. Springfield made the arrangements, entered into a pre-contract with LBPD, and started to build these fine pistols. Now,

Springfield Professional Operator 1911, the handgun
used by select FBI and DEA Agents, is built
by Springfield's Custom Shop Master Gunsmiths 

obviously these aren't Custom Shop guns, or the slides would be engraved with it like the FBI/DEA Professional Models. However, it is my understanding that any pistol made for a Government Agency for duty or service use is hand fitted and built by Springfield's Master Gunsmiths and not a regular joe working the assembly line for their production models, but keep in mind that a lot of these pistols are also sold to the Civilian public so the Gunsmith working on the pistol does not know if the gun he is building will be carried by an FBI Agent, a DEA Agent, or on a CHL holders hip on his next trip to the grocery store. This is what I was told by Springfield Armory in an interview I did with them over the phone several months back, so this is the law of the land until I see or am told by them otherwise. LBPD decides to finally follow through with their purchase of these Springfield Operators, but instead of issuing them to the entire force they decided to issue them only to SWAT, lowering their total purchase to only 146 handguns. Meanwhile, back in Genesso, Springfield has already assembled well over five hundred of

these guns. They fill the order and ship LBPD their 1911's. Springfield has no problem selling handguns, they ship the remaining LBPD 1911's out to distributors as a limited run pistol. This was almost 6 years ago......the LBPD 1911's were a hit and sold quickly at prices upward of $1700! Every year or two since, Springfield has continued to build this same Operator 1911 in limited quantities (typically less than 500 of them a year they say), dubbing it the Springfield Loaded Operator Long Beach Police Mod. The MSRP on one is $1450 and most will sell from reputable retailers for $1200 to $1300.

An In-Depth Look at The Long Beach Operator and it's Parts

Springfield Long Beach Police Operator field stripped. Note
that the recoil spring guide rod has been swapped out for a
Wilson Combat Bulletproof version, made from a Tool
Steel Billet. Not only is it much thicker and heavier,
but also secures to the recoil spring better than the stock part.

Springfield spared no expense with this handgun. They start by using one of their highly sought after NM (National Match) serial numbered frames with an integral picatinny rail and then they pair it with an Operator slide. Both the frame and slide receive a coating of their trademarked Armory Kote finish in Satin Black. Yes, I'm aware many think that Armory Kote is nothing more than Gun Kote, especially since the colors are identical between the two, and this could quite possibly be, but I do not know so I'm referring to it as their propriety coating, Armory Kote for the remainder of the article. The slide contains a titanium firing pin as is used in all of their Loaded model 1911's, as well as  Novak Night Sights which contain Trijicon's Tritium for that cool glow in the dark effect we all like so much! The extractor fits snuggly and is not quite flush fitting on the back of the slide but it's close. The slide stop also features a snug fit that could only be achieved by hand fitting. The barrel is Springfield's NM Stainless Steel .45 ACP barrel that are used in their Loaded and Trophy Match

Springfield Long Beach Police Operator Slide with Barrel.

model 1911's. A stainless barrel bushing is used and a standard GI recoil spring plug and spring guide, both finished in the same Satin Black Armory Kote as the Slide and Frame are finished in. Recoil Spring weight measures 16.5lbs and appears to be built from Chrome Silicon. This gun, like all Springfield 1911's is a series 70 style 1911 so it does not feature the firing pin plunger that is used to prevent the firing pin from moving unless the trigger is pulled. I'm not going to get into a debate on Series 70 and Series 80 1911's, I've owned both and I've never had issues with either, but I do prefer the Series 70 due to less moving parts, which in turn means less stuff to break and/or maintain.

Moving down to the frame - this 1911 features Springfield's three hole slotted Lightweight Aluminum

A view of the Long Beach Police Operator
frame from the top, looking down into the
frame. The lighting makes it difficult to see,
but the feed ramp is polished to a mirror shine.

Match Grade trigger and Springfield's standard sear and internals found on all Loaded models as well as a Delta style hammer. A flat, checkered mainspring housing featuring Springfield's ILS is installed with a bolt-on style maxwell attached to the bottom. The front of the grip is smooth and has no checkering. A S&A high ride grip safety has been hand fitted and blended to the frame with moreattention to detail than the one installed on my SS Loaded. The Long Beach Operator has a Wilson Combat Ambidextrous Safety identical to the one installed on the Custom Shop Professional model. The slide stop is the standard Springfield slide stop found on all Loaded model 1911's. Springfield installed an extended ejector like they do on most Loaded models, however this one has been pinned to the frame unlike the ejector on my SS Loaded. The inside of the frame and slide are immaculate, with superb attention to detail there are no machine or file marks, and the feed ramp is smooth and polished. Of course since this is an Operator model 1911 the front of the frame features the integral picatinny rail with 3 rail indentations offering a high level of flexibility when choosing laers/lights. 

View of the ejection port side of the Springfield Long Beach
Police Operator

Lets combine the slide and frame and take a look at fit with the recoil spring assembly installed and without. Without the recoil spring, guide rod, and spring plug you can really feel if a 1911 has any play in the slide to frame fit.  Now slide to frame fit should typically only have slight movement, and I'm talking microns of a millimeter in movement, only after it has been completely broken in. Even then it should still be nice and snug, especially when the recoil assembly is installed. The Long Beach Operator exhibits slide to frame fit on par with some of the finest production and semi-custom production model 1911's I've ever shot. Springfield has always been really good as far as slide and frame fit are concerned with all of their upper level pistols. I have never had the pleasure of handling or shooting any GI, Mil Spec, or Lightweight Springfields so I cannot vouch for these entry level 1911's slide and frame fit, but all of the Loaded, Trophy Match, TRP, and Custom Shop models exhibit some of the tightest fits.  Lastly, taking a look at the overall finish on the beautiful pistol reveals a perfectly applied Satin Black coating of Springfield's propriety coating, Armory Kote. At first glance, I was really impressed with Armory Kote. I have never owned a pistol with it before. The  Remington R1 that I traded had a very simple black painted finish, almost a low grade matte bluing, that wore very quickly with handling and holstering of the firearm.  What really impressed me about the Satin Black Armory Kote is the Satin look of the finish. It has just enough shine to it to make it look very nice, but not shiny enough to produce glare during daylight shooting or tactical situations. I use Teflon based Rem Oil to wipe down all my firearms, and it really soaks into the Armory Kote and makes the surface slick! I'll share my thoughts on this finish and how it holds up to the normal wear and tear of Shooting and Holstering after a week of cary and use on my family ranch in West Texas.

Optional Mods

Before I went out to shoot my new Long Beach Operator I made a few mods that I feel are necessary for reliability and to enhance shooting. Wilson Combat sells what they call a "1911 Reliability Kit" it's a bunch of springs to enhance overall reliability and to rebuild or respring a 1911. I took some of my mods from the reliability kit and I change out at least two springs on every 1911 I buy, yes, even

Left side view of the Long Beach Police Operator with a
Surefire X300 Ultra installed and VZ's Slant Tiger Stripe
G10 Grips

if they are new. First spring I change out is the recoil spring - stock rating is 16.5lbs and I install an 18.5lb Wolff Chrome Silicon spring as spec'd in the Wilson Combat Reliability Kit. Secondly, and this is something I never hesitate to change out, I install an Extra Power Firing Pin Spring. This not only adds enhanced safety to the gun by keeping the firing pin from being able to strike the primer if dropped, but also ensures that the pin returns to it's zero position within the slide so as to not allow the firing pin stop to drop out the back while the slide is moving through it's motion. The Wilson Combat Reliability Kit utilizes a 20lb hammer spring (mainspring) to lighten the trigger pull up a hair and ease the shooters ability to cock the hammer back by hand. I attempted to change this spring out with a Wolff 20lb hammer spring and it didn't work out. 22lb's is standard for the hammer spring on a 1911 but what happened with the Long Beach Operator was that the factory hammer spring was almost a half inch shorter than the new "lighter" hammer spring from Wolff. I swapped them out and had a hell of a time putting the mainspring housing back on the gun. Once I did, I couldn't pull the hammer all the way down. Anyone familiar with Springfield's 1911's knows that the hammer clicks 3 times while being pulled back. The second click is a halfway spot, while the third and final click happens when the hammer is pulled all the way back - I never could get this third click to happen, the hammer wouldn't go any farther than the second click, which is only halfway back. So, I opted to stick with the factory hammer spring and everything functioned fine during dry testing.

Besides springs I changed out the recoil spring guide rod with a Stainless Wilson Combat Bullet Proof version. Wilson's Bullet Proof line of 1911 parts are cut from a block of tool steel which allows them to don the Bullet Proof name. The factory recoil spring guide from Springfield is made from

Ejection port side view of Springfield LB Police Operator

carbon steel and is hollow through the center, and could very possibly be a MIM part. While the factory recoil spring guide is sufficient for shooting this pistol, remember I was looking for the Ultimate Tactical .45 and part of it being "Ultimate" is that  the internals need to be extra tough, I don't want parts breaking and I feel like Wilson's Bullet Proof line of parts enhance reliability as well. I also changed out the grips with a pair of VZ Slants in their Tiger Stripe G10 pattern. I prefer VZ Grips on my 1911's and have used their Recons, Operators, and Aliens so I decided to try out a pair of the Slants. They feel and look great, especially when shooting with gloves which is how I do the majority of my shooting.

Though it did not necessarily need it, I decided to polish the barrel chamber and feed lip. I started with 1000 grit wet paper, moving up through the grits until I finished with a 10,000 grit cloth based

Left side view of Springfield LB Police Operator

paper. It left a mirror shine. I also run a bit of JB Bore Polish down the barrel several times to really clean it up. The barrel did appear to not have been cleaned after test firing at the factory, polishing it really cleaned and shined it up. I had a Guncrafter Ind's Flat Checkered Mainspring Housing with Integral Lanyard Loop in the toolbox, so I attempted to install it on the Long Beach Operator to use with my Gemtech Lanyard. After installing it and seeing the color difference between the blued Guncrafter MSH and the Armory Koted Springfield MSH, not to mention losing my magwell, I decided to keep the stock setup here. Like I said before, a lanyard loop was not an absolute must but it's nice to have on a tactical handgun. Someday I may in fact go back to the lanyard loop MSH when I'm ready to get the gun recoated in Armory Kote Satin Black.

Range Results and Impressions

I finally got a chance to fire the Long Beach Operator about a week after aquiring it. I ran several mags of 230r M1911 Ball Ammo through it as well as a few mags of +P 185gr Atomic Match Hollow Points. 100rds later I had not a single malfunction or misfire. Recoil was smooth, accuracy identical to that of my SS Loaded 1911 and sighting targets was quick with the Novak Night Sights.

From left to right: 2 Mec-gar 8rd mags that came from Springfield,
2 Wilson Combat 47D mags, 1 Kimber Kim Pro 8rd mag, and
1 Chip McCormick 8rd Power Mag - all have performed
flawlessly with the Long Beach Police Operator.

Springfield has shipped the Long Beach Operator with a variety of different mags over the years, but this particular version came with 8rd Mecgear mags with the polymer slam pad on the bottom. I also grabbed a Chip McCormick Power Mag and a couple Wilson 47D's when I picked up the pistol from the gunstore. I already had a couple Kimber Kim-Pro 8 rounders at home that I use in my SS Loaded, I installed the slam pads on them that came with them and now use them with the Long Beach Operator. I know some 1911's can be very particular with what brand and type of mag they function with, using such a wide variety of mags - Mecgear, Wilson, Chip McCormick, and Kimber - I wasn't sure what to expect, but all fed smoothly and locked the slide back on the last round. Shooting the +P Atomics definitely produced slightly more felt recoil but nothing unmanageable by any means.  However, with that said, I do not prefer to shoot +P's for target practice, but I like to shoot a few mags of them through my guns when breaking in new springs. Nothing will help set those stiff extra power springs like some +P ammo leaving the muzzle of your 1911 faster than 9mm velocities (1200fps+). 

Finish wearing on the left side of the slide by the muzzle from
 holstering the weapon

Finish wearing on the right side of the slide by the muzzle
 from holstering the weapon

I spent Thanksgiving week, Deer and Turkey Hunting on my family ranch in West Texas. This was the week after I acquired the Long Beach Operator so I really got to put it through its paces and shoot a couple hundred rounds through it off the bat. I would have liked to shoot somewhere around 1000 rounds but that was near impossible to do since I was there to hunt, not target practice. Remember my initial impressions of the Armory Kote finish were something along the lines of "Wow this is really nice!" I use a Blackhawk Serpa Thigh Rig when at the Ranch with a Level 2 Serpa 1911 holster, it carries railed and non-railed 1911's without accessories attached. After a few days of holstering, drawing, and shooting, the pistol started to exhibit some signs of wear by the muzzle of the slide. At first it was more like dull rubbed areas, which would disappear after allowing a heavy coating of Rem Oil to penetrate the finish. Soon, after carrying the pistol for the 4th or 5th day, what was once a dull rubbed area, started to reveal bare metal. Most of my guns are Cerakoted, I know a guy that does a great job Cerakoting firearms for some of the most impressive prices I've ever seen. In my experience, Cerakote doesn't wear like this, it has a much higher abrasion resistance than most finishes do. Normal wear and tear don't doesn't phase Cerakote, it really takes a beating. So needless to say, I was expecting Armory Kote to wear similarly, but this would mean that it is equally as hard as Cerakote. I guess I should have known right there that I was expecting too much since Cerakote is by far the hardest spray-on gun coating on the market at the time of writing this.

It'll take some time longer for me to really decide how I like Armory Kote's finish overall, I still love the way it looks, but looks aren't everything now are they? Slide wear is normal and prevalent on all well used tactical firearms so it really doesn't bother me as much as it may seem, I just didn't expect it

Notice the finish wear on the top of the slide by
the ejection port. This is from holstering the weapon
for a week.

to show up so quickly I guess. That's fine though, the frame still shows a solid finish with no signs of wear at all, and after all SACS only charges $80 to refinish a Slide in Satin Black Armory Kote or $150 for an entire gun, which really isn't bad considering it's a professional full featured custom shop at one of the largest and oldest gun manufacturers in America.  The Long Beach Operator is a smooth and accurate shooting forty-five, it retains the GI recoil spring system to make it easier for the operator to field strip, clean and reassemble the gun by hand (without any tools). These are necessary attributes of any great tactical pistol.  I feel that with the few modifications I made and regular maintenance this gun will take anything I throw at it, shoot any type of ammo I feed it, and function flawlessly in a variety of different environments! It was definitely worth trading my Remington R1 and a Glock 19 in so that I could grab this limited run pistol. Unfortunately, for those of you that are now out looking everywhere for one, I hadn't seen one for under $1,500 yet! It's one of those things that if you're wanting one, you just gotta pick it up when the gun store has one. They MSRP at $1300, so a reputable gun store will sell them for just under or right at $1000 - or a trade of two good quality handguns.

Question of the Day

Do you agree that a 1911 with the right setup is the Ultimate Tactical .45? If not, what is the Ultimate Tactical .45 to you? Please post questions and answers in the comments section below!

A Modern Day Gold Rush - My First Experience with Bitcoin Mining

If you aren't familiar with the latest tech and cyber trends, then you may not have heard of Bitcoin, a virtual currency (also known as a "Cryptocurrency") that exists only in cyberspace and is created by user's computing power. Bitcoin is currently trading at 1 BTC = $628 USD at the time of my writing this post. This is certainly not the highest or lowest price it has traded at since it's inception in late 2009. Bitcoin is a software based digital currency that was written/created by Satoshi Nakomato, a secretive asian dude that lives in LA. There are many rumors about whether or not Satoshi is a person or a group of hackers or if he is a person at all, but several sources have confirmed more recently that he is just some dude who has nothing to do with Bitcoin nowadays and reaps no benefit from it, he just wrote the software and that was it. His billion dollar baby transformed itself into what it is today. So, lets find out how it works.

In 2010, if you wanted to mine for bitcoin you would download a simple dos based program that would run on your computer and use your CPU's idle processing power to run SHA256 based 'hashes', or what is easier explained as decryptions. There are a bunch of these 64 digit passwords that are created everytime a Bitcoin transaction is processed, in order to verify the transaction and approve the transfer of funds, someone must decrypt the 64 digit password.

To do this the dos based program, CGMiner or BFGMiner (the two most popular), run the SHA256 protocol using your computer's CPU to process the calculations at a few megahashes a second. A Megahash is measurment of processing speed. Many 64 digit passwords make up what is known as a block, once all of the passwords within that block have been decrypted correctly, the block is completed and 50 Bitcoin would be issued to the user who finished decrypting first. In early 2010 it was easy for anyone to get into Bitcoin mining and earn a few 50 BTC payouts quickly, of course the Bitcoin was not worth more than a couple dollars at that time either. As more people began to mine, the software adjusted for the increased processing power which would mean quicker block decryptions and faster payouts, the difficulty level of the decryption sequence was raised, basically adding more 64 digit passwords to each block making it take longer to decrypt an entire block.  Bitcoin miners soon found that they could use their Graphics Cards GPU's to process the SHA256 algorithms more quickly. GPU mining moved almost 100 to 120 times faster than CPU mining could ever. In early 2012 half of the 21 Million Bitcoin limit had been created and was now in circulation, the software re-adjusted itself once more to compensate for the large amount of Bitcoins created in such a short amount of time, it reduced the 50 Bitcoin reward from decrypting a block to a 25 Bitcoin reward. This in turn helped to prevent the currency from ever experiencing any type of inflation, the difficulty level also continues to rise as more processing power comes online.  Private companies start to develop ASIC's, or Application Specific Integrated Chips, whose sole purpose is to run SHA256 alogrithims and process the 64 digit keys. These ASIC's are a huge hit for Bitcoin miners, they increase the potential processing power another 100 to 120 times what it was when using GPU's and use a lot less electricity when operating. Here we are, halfway thru 2014, a little over half of the 21 million Bitcoins are in circulation and the currency trades across the world for every major countries national currency as well as many other virtual currencies such as Bitcoin's newest competitor, Litecoin. There are over a hundred thousand merchants accepting Bitcoin across North America with another hundred thousand across the globe. Bitcoin ATM's are being installed in every major city across the US, allowing people to purchase Bitcoins with US Dollars or cash out Bitcoins for US Dollars. China has banned the Bitcoin and the US Government is seeking ways to regulate it. Every government is pissed because they have absolutely no control, no taxing power, and no say in how the Bitcoin currency works, and affects global markets.  All I can say is that they need to get over it, thats what Bitcoin was created for, as a alternative to the failing US Dollar and all the other major fiat currencies across the world. Bitcoin is freedom, thats what it stands for and what it creates. It is also the most secure currency in the world to date, it can't be counterfeit, it can't be pick pocketed, it can't be destroyed, and it can't be minted at will to inflate the national economy. It can however, like all things digital, still be stolen by hackers, but only if the owner is a complete idiot! There are many ways to secure ones Bitcoin wallet, and with two-step verification a modern day common place security measure, the hacker can only gain access to your Bitcoins if he has your cellphone in his hand as well.....how likely is that to happen? Not very!

This is a great 1 minute video that explains how Bitcoin works with pictures and animation, it's very simple to understand and presents the details in an entertaining way. I highly recommend you play it, even if you are anti-bitcoin, this video will clarify things for you.

Now that you know how Bitcoin works, lets look at my experience and see if it even worth trying to mine Bitcoin so late in the game.....afterall, we've all heard the stories, and perhaps you even know someone first hand who has become a millionaire just from mining Bitcoin. Is it still possible to become a millionaire at the end of July 2014 by mining Bitcoin? Read on and decide for yourself.

Like most Bitcoin miners I started by using my CPU and GPU and using a program called GUI Miner on a computer running Windows Vista Business. My 8 Core AMD FX-8120 is overclocked to 4.3Ghz and runs at a very low 81 degrees Fahrenheit under full load with liquid cooling.  I only run NVidia GPU's as I've had very bad experience with ATI cards in the past and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Having said that, I will put it out there that Radeon cards achieve much higher hash-rates and they run the SHA256 algorithms much more efficiently than any NVidia Card. This does not mean that you can't mine Bitcoins on NVidia Cards because you can, and with enough of them running you can mine pretty quickly. With that said, my NVidia Geforce GTX 560Ti is overclocked using the NVidia Performance Settings in the software that came with the drivers. It's not overclocked much, core clock runs about 100Mhz faster than default and the memory clock runs a little over 200Mhz faster than it's default setting. I have the fan set to run at 65% speed to keep the card a little cooler than it would run at the default clock settings.  With this setup, my highest hash-rate acheived was something around 96MH/s which is the equivalent of producing about $0.0000295 US Dollars worth of Bitcoin each day by mining 24/7/365. As you can see, this is not very profitable and I knew this would not get me anywhere since I was consuming more electricity running the GPU and CPU cores at full load for long periods of time. This left me with only one way to go. I needed to purchase a couple ASIC's and recalibrate my computers, all of them, and my internet connection, so that I could squeeve every last Megahash out!

I was unsure of which ASIC to purchase but I decided I would go with a USB stick styled ASIC since they use less than 2 Watts of electricity and are purchased for under $10/each. I highly recommend anyone wanting to get into Bitcoin mining or just experiment with it to look into a USB ASIC as you won't be out much if you decide that mining Bitcoin is not for you.  I bought 1 ASICMiner Block

 A pair of Bitmain Antminer U2 USB Bitcoin Miners
They run at 2.0GH/s and cost about $15.

Erupter and 1 Bitmain Antminer U2. The U2 hashes at 2 Gigahashes a second (2 GH/s) which is the equivalent of 2000 MH/s and the Block Erupter runs at 336 MH/s. Its obvious which one is the winner for the price here, but I was not concerned with that at this point, I wanted to find which ASIC would be the most stable and the easiest to install and run 24/7/365. I found installing both of these USB ASIC's to be somewhat challenging for the beginner Bitcoin miner, even though I am quite savvy when it comes to computers. Windows happens to be the most difficult of all the Operating System's to set these up with. Here's a brief explanation

After I had my Windows desktop mining away, I was curious to see how it would work with my Mac. Of course, all things are much simpler on a Mac as anyone who has ever used one knows, there is no need to install drivers for any device that you plug into your Mac and it is no different for the USB ASIC's. The other plus about Bitcoin mining on a Mac is that you don't have to type a bunch of long drawn out commands each time you want to run CGMiner. You will plug you USB ASIC into a free USB port of your Mac, download CGMiner for mac, and input the same command line that you used in Windows (minus the cgminer.exe part at the beginning) into the text box that appears when you launch CGMiner, and it will begin mining away. Next time you launch CGMiner the commands you typed are already there, it saves them! How genius is that? Like I said, everything is simpler on a Mac, it is true, Mac just makes more sense that Windows, not to mention the fact it is so much more stable, but that's a story for another day.

Now that I was mining away on both my Mac and my Windows machine I was actually making some Bitcoin. I still ran GUIMiner and had my graphics card mining in the background while CGMiner was using the Antminer U2 USB ASIC to mine in the foreground, on my Mac I had CGMiner running with the Block Erupter USB ASIC and I even downloaded GUIMiner to two antique Dell

ASICMiner's Block Erupter USB Bitcoin Miner
runs @333MH/s and can be had for about $7

Inspiron 2200's running Windows XP and had them mining with their super non-powerful single core Intel Celeron M processors. With all four computers running around the clock my hash-rate hit 2500 MH/s! Yes that's right I was running at 2 and a half Gigahashes a second and earning about  $0.000495 US Dollars worth of Bitcoin a day! It went up an entire decimal place, I was earning 20 times what I was earning before!  And now I was addicted, I had caught the Bitcoin mining bug!

During a weekend trip out to my parents house I attempted to explain Bitcoin to my father, who was less than impressed with it's awesomeness, however he did see that I was impressed and he gave me a ton of spare computer parts and even an old Compaq to help further my Bitcoin addiction! Upon returning home I started to lay out all the computer parts I had and take inventory. I had a goal at this point, I wanted to achieve a hash-rate of 6.5 TH/s (6.5 Terahashes a second) or 6500 Gigahashes a second which is also 650,000 MH/s! After conducting significant research and running several calculation simulators I had discovered that upon achieving a hash-rate of 6.5 TH/s I would be earning in excess of $100,000 US Dollars a year worth of Bitcoin (To achieve $100,000/year, I would have to be mining at 6.5 TH/s 24/7 as of early May 2014 and the network difficulty would have had to stay exactly where it was, of course this didn't and will never happen so one can expect to earn about $5,000 to $10,000 less than the estimate due to difficulty fluctuations)! To get to that rate though it was going to take quite a bit of work, a lot of computing power, and some more ASIC's....a ton of ASIC's to be exact.

I have now been mining Bitcoin for a little over 97 days. I am currently averaging a hash-rate of 1720.25 GH/s or just slightly around one and three quarter terahashes a second (I'm 1/5th of the way to achieving my goal hash rate of 6.5TH/s). My current power consumption is estimated to be about 3000 Watts just for the computers and hardware that are currently mining. I have turned one computer into a Stratum Mining Proxy for Getwork ASIC's, I run my USB ASIC's on Linux since it seems to be more stable than Windows when running the USB sticks, I have just finished installing Preev.com, the Bitcoin Network Difficulty level, length of time it takes the pool to complete a block, and each individual worker's (the device doing the mining) performance and hash-rates.

One of Bitmain's Antminer S1's cost about $250 and can
hash @200GH/s or 1/5 Terahash! The S1 uses an ATX PSU
for power and consumes about 380 Watts of power.

Linux on two more computers that will be used as part of a Dedicated Bitcoin Mining Cluster I am currently setting up, I have several Block Erupter Rev. 2 ASIC Cards running as well as a few of the Bitmain Antminer S1's thanks to my fiancé who decided to invest in some hardware. At our current hash rate ~1.7 Terahashes a second. I am earning anywhere from $18/day on the low end up to $35/day on the high end with the most I've made in one day being $55. I pay my fiancé based on the percentage of work her hardware contributes to our overall hash rate. For example, her Bitcoin Miners produce about 24% of the total hash rate so they are doing 24% of the work. She earn's 24% of each day's take, which I pay out to her weekly in Bitcoin's. Depending on the block difficulty and the speed at which the pool solves the blocks on a given day the amount of money earned varies. I have certainly come a long way from that $0.00002 a day! I have been keeping highly detailed logs each day about my mining progress, I am inputting the data into spreadsheets and producing charts from the spreadsheet data to provide myself with a graphical analysis of my Bitcoin Mining Performance, the Pool's Cluster Performance, and the entire Bitcoin Network's Performance. I track the BTC:USD exchange rate through

The latest from Bitmain Tech, the Antminer S3 is set to be
released this month. The S3 is a major step up from the S1,
hashing @480GH/s almost a 1/2 Terahash and using only
366 Watts of electricity, these are sure to raise the bar!
MSRP is $900/each but you can pre-order these from
Bitmain in pairs for about $850 in Bitcoin.

Since I've only been mining Bitcoin's for a few months it's hard to tell whether or not anyone can get rich mining Bitcoin if they start now, but I can tell you these facts: It IS getting more difficult to solve a block (it takes longer and more processing power each day), hundreds more people begin mining each day (adding to the overall Network Hash-rate, which in turn increases difficulty), the daily rewards ARE going down, and the value of a Bitcoin IS going up. I find these truth's to be self-evident, I can back them up with raw data, and can prove to anyone who wants to claim otherwise that these are the facts. Each day more merchants start accepting Bitcoin, more Bitcoin ATM's are
installed around the world, and Bitcoin gets noticed by more people.  As time continues on, if these trends remain consistent, small time Bitcoin miners like myself, will HAVE to significantly upgrade their hardware, we will HAVE to get faster hash-rates in order to make the same amount of money we made yesterday. With that said, the best advice I can give you if you're planning on mining Bitcoin, is to make a plan, set a goal hash-rate, and work to achieve it. I'm not stopping at 1725 GH/s, my goal is 6.5 TH/s, and once I get there I will re-evalutate and set another goal, the faster you mine the more money you make.

On a closing note, I would like to leave you with this thought: as of today, July 20th, 2014, if you were to take $40,000 US Dollars and use it all to purchase Bitcoin Mining Hardware, you will make your $40,000 back in less than 45 days, and after one year you will have earned $225,000 on top of the $40,000 that you earned back in just over a month! This takes into effect the difficulty rising twice each month and daily rewards decreasing. With that said, if the trends remain constant, lets say you purchase $120,000 worth of Bitcoin Mining Hardware, in 6 months you will have earned $497,000 which is a $377,000 profit! If that isn't a solid return on your investment I don't know what else is!  You could almost go take a loan out at the bank and have it paid back in full before you incur any interest charges! I'm not suggesting you go and do this, and I can't be held responsible if you do and lose your ass, but I will say that the numbers don't lie, IF the trends remain consistent and nothing changes, then you can expect these returns. It should now be apparent why so many businesses are pouring their money into Bitcoin mining hardware, they have the deep pockets to purchase Massive Servers and Supercomputers capable of super fast hash-rates, they can setup these huge Mining Clusters and make their money back in a month, then just pocket the profits from that point forward! I've made money mining Bitcoin, you can too, it's a real thing........happy mining :)

Electronics: Tube Amplifiers Explained

While watching the new Iron Man 3 movie a while back, I found myself thinking how cool it would be to have a "lab" of sorts in my house that was dedicated to research and building new technologies or even older, tried and true technologies with a Crow Twist on them.  Electronics have always fascinated me and now that I've gotten older I often wish I had gotten a degree in Electrical Engineering in College instead of a Business Degree.....but who knows at 18 what they want to do with the rest of their life anyways??? If you did, then good for you but like most of the people I know, it took a few years of REAL Life Hardwork to figure out what I DON'T want to do for the rest of my life.  Anyways, this is a totally different topic for another day....I would love to discuss more with you if you would like, but not here and not now.  So, back to the topic at hand.  Last year I started reading and studying about HAM Radio and other forms of Radio Communications, including Morse Code, Packet Radio, etc.  Radio really intrigued me, the more I read, the more I longed for my own Radio Station, the more I studied, the more I wanted to start building my own High Powered 2 Meter VHF Amplifiers and Long Range Yagi Antennas.

I bought two books, one, the "ARRL Operating Manual" and the other, "The ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications".  Both should be owned by anyone wanting to get into Ham Radio, I can't recommend them enough.  The first, the Operating Manual, takes an in depth look at all areas of Amateur Radio. It does not contain any math, nor does it get technical and scientific. There are kids under 12 years of age that are Licensed Ham Radio Operators in this country and they too have read and understand this book.  It is also a great reference for the experienced Radio Operator as it provides information on the newest modes and technologies available.  The second book, the Handbook, is really an engineering manual. It is correctly subtitled "The Comprehensive RF Engineering Reference". I will tell you straight up, I have NOT read this book all the way through and I WON'T ever. However, I have looked up a specific topic in the index and read a few chapters here and there, and I often reference it for information on non-radio projects.  This Handbook covers many different aspects of Electronics, not just radio, and it should since it is an "RF Engineering Reference" (RF - Radio Frequency).  RF encompasses way more than just radio, your iphone, laptop, home phone, alarm clock, and keyless entry to your car all had an RF Engineer on the design team.  With that said, the Handbook is a great reference for any electronics project. It is made up of simple and complex electrical formulas, circuit diagrams, projects, and tutorials. A 12 year old could not comprehend the things going on in this book, but someone who has a desire to learn and truly WANTS to know these things, will be able to read and understand whats going on in the Handbook. 

Reading through these books, led me to the internet, to research more about radio and electronics in my spare time.  Finally, one day toward the end of July I was thinking about Circuit Diagrams/Circuit Schematics. These are basically the blueprints of any electronic item.  With a detailed circuit diagram in hand, one can assemble any electronic device pretty easily.....that is, if you can read the damn thing! To me, these circuit diagrams had always been just a bunch of cool looking lines with abbreviations everywhere, I had no earthly idea what any of this meant or what the hell it was. Seeing more and more of these circuit diagrams during my Radio studies, I decided that I needed to learn to read one (which makes a huge difference in studying for the HAM Radio licensing test - more on this later).  Circuit Diagrams are readily available for any electronic technology, you can find them in books, magazines, the patent office, and of course my favorite encyclopedia of knowledge - the internet!  For example, this is the complete circuit diagram for the iPhone 3GS - now go build yourself an iPhone....seriously, you could, now that you have this.

iPhone 3GS Circuitry

But, this is a very complex and highly sophisticated circuit. It also requires programming software into chips, and tiny little fingers to grasp the tiny little components and solder them to the circuit board.  With that said, you won't find me ever building an iPhone 3GS in my garage, but this circuit does allow me to work on it if I need to. This is the main reason these circuit schematics are so readily available, so that technicians can service a device and replace parts, etc.  You'll find the circuit diagram for your  Washer or Dryer on the inside of the Washer or Dryer Housing, the same with your AC or Refrigerator. The repairman will use this circuit schematic to test certain parts of your appliance and to make repairs as needed.

So, I set out to learn these circuit diagrams, and I did learn how to read them, and fairly quickly I might add. Think of a circuit diagram as a map, lines are roads to different areas and the shapes are the different sights and landmarks to see along the way.  Here's a much more simple circuit than the iPhone 3GS circuit above, and one that is the reason for this post.

Poindexter's 2006 Musical Machine Audio Circuit Diagram

At first glance, it should be apparent how much more simple this circuit is over the iPhones. However, this circuit only represents 1/3 of the entire electronic device, a tube driven stereo amplifier.  This is Stereo Tube Amp's Audio Circuit was designed by a genius named Eric Kingsbury, aka - Poindexter. Poinz is a HiFi tube audio aficionado whom hails from the islands of Hawaii. He ran a company for many years named AudioTropic, and I won't say that he does not still run this company but, it's website no longer exsists and every contact email address I have found for him is no longer valid. Poindexter seems to have fallen off the web sometime after 2010, maybe he will resurface though at some point in the future.  Continuing on with the circuit, as I said this only represents one third of the entire device, it is in fact a single channel of the 6V6 Musical Machine Stereo Tube Amplifier that Mr. Kingsbury is so famous for designing and manufacturing.  There are many different variations of the 6V6 Musical Machine out there, with the earliest version, that I found, dated 2002 and the most recent, dated 2008. The circuit we see above is actually identical to the 2002 circuit in all respects except the addition of the 1ohm 10W cement resistor on the signal ground.  Each symbol represents a component in the circuit. The small Zig Zags are resistors, the round circles with dashed lines in them are the tubes, the up and down small parallel lines are capacitors, and the two smaller circles with the black dot centers on the far left are the RCA input jacks (the place you would plug your iPod or CD Player in).  I just Googled "Circuit Diagram Components" and found many different pages listing each and every component possible. The Europeans use a few different variations of some symbols but they aren't so different that it's difficult to decipher, these are readily available on Google as well.  Let's say we were going to build this Tube Amp, we would have to build the above circuit twice, one for the left speaker and one for the right speaker, and lastly we would have to give it some power so that it can actually amplify the sound and make music....isn't that the purpose of a Musical Machine?  That's where the second circuit diagram comes into play, the Power Supply Diagram shown below.

Poindexter's 2006 Musical Machine Power Supply Circuit

This diagram also comes from Poinz's 2006 design. He revamped the power supply design in '06 using these three fairly inexpensive Transformers so that the DIYer could easily obtain supplies and build this amplifier.  Now, you don't necessarily have to go out and buy these exact transformers, and that's why the voltages are listed as well.  I've found myself recently salvaging parts from old electronics that no longer function, such as the early large box style flat screen TV's, broken VCRs, powered 2.1 computer speaker systems, old video game systems, surplus PC power supplies, and other various devices that were taking up closet space and collecting dust like a 7 to 1 video distribution switching box, CD players and radios, and of course any type of electronic found on the roadside during heavy trash pickup day.  Back to our Tube Amp circuit - essentially, three things must happen in order to provide power to the Audio Circuit. First, the filaments within the Tubes must be heated prior to the Main Power (HT - High Tension power) being switched on. Different vacuum tubes take different voltages, some use 6.3Vac, some use 12.6Vac, some don't use AC at all, but use DC instead which would require some type of rectification built into the heater supply. That's another story and not required for this simple yet elegant build. You will need a 6.3Vac Transformer for this build. If you are lucky enough to have an old non-working Tube Amp on hand, your HT Transformer (High Tension - Main Power Transformer) may in fact have a filament winding on it as well and you would only need to use one Transformer in place of the first two Hammond Transformers listed above.  Poindexter offers a few other circuit designs for other various voltage Transformers at the only website of his that currently exists today - Poinzie's DIY Audio Pages. The site has not been updated since 2002 so the info may be old, but is still very relevant as Tube Amplifier design has not changed much since the 1970s. The second thing that must happen, is that the power circuit requires negative voltages of -160Vdc and -20Vdc, however you get there does not matter so much, as long as you have these voltages by the time you reach the Audio Circuit. The Amveco Toroidal Transformer can take care of this for a really good price if you can't salvage a Toroidal Transformer with dual windings on both primary and secondary sides. For my Houstonians out there, Amveco is a local Houston company, so if your all about buying local then I would definitely use Amveco over the other Toroidal choices.

As Poindexter stated in an article about the Musical Machines Design, he utilized a KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) mentality while designing and building this amplifier. So, many fancy features, that would require lots of additional circuitry and wiring, were left out. For example, on most Super-High End Commercial Tube Amps made within the last 30 years, you will only have a single power switch. With this design we have two. Having two power switches actually allows the builder to split the power supply into 2 sections: 1. The Filament Heater PSU and 2. Everything Else (HT and Negative PSUs). This design is known as a Human Powered Delay. It is simple yet effective and removes excess circuitry from the amplifier. To power on such devices one would simply flip the first switch (the Filament Heater PSU) allowing power to flow to the Tube's filaments, warming them up. Within 20 to 30 seconds the user would flip the other switch, sending power to all other components of the amplifier. This is necessary in Tube Driven devices for a reason; tubes must be allowed to warm up at low voltages, if full power (usually very high voltages in the range of 400 to 1000 Volts) is applied to the tubes without them having warmed up, it can shorten their life span or worse case scenario - damage the tubes permanently, resulting in poor audio quality.
The third and final thing that must happen to provide power to the Audio Circuit, is the most important, providing a clean and stable, rectified DC Power Supply to the Output Transformer's B+ wire (typically a red wire on the input side of the OT). There are many different ways to rectify AC power before filtering it and sending it on its way to the Audio Circuit. When tubes were first invented and used for everything electronic, tubes were used to rectify power by using various styles of tubes such as diodes, half-wave, or full-wave rectification tubes. When semi-conductors became common place in modern electronics, power rectification could be achieved much more efficiently in less than a quarter of the space in used to take when using tubes. Some tube amp designers still prefer to use tubes to rectify the power, but for this amp, Poindexter chose to use silicon diodes. This is smart for this particular amp as silicon diodes have very little voltage drop, can be purchased by the 100s for a dollar, and put off very little heat.

The schematic symbol for a silicon diode 

Silicon diodes are actually used in three of the four sub-circuits within the PSU of this amp. For the HT sub-circuit, the circuit calls for only two diodes arranged in a voltage doubler configuration. It is in this configuration the diodes rectify the power exactly like the name states, the power is doubled in voltage and converted from AC to DC. After being rectified through the silicon diodes, the newly converted DC power must be filtered to reduce ripple and power spikes. The capacitors following the voltage doubler rectifier steady the power and reduce the ripple and spikes, essentially filtering it. Before it can leave the HT circuit and enter the Audio Circuit on the B+ wire of the Output Transformer however, the power MUST filter through a Choke (Chokes are essentially inductors but housed similar to power transformers in bell housings).  Using a Choke on the HT power is not 100% necessary but it is highly recommended if you want the cleanest, ripple free DC power possible, which is essential for great sounding audio. I use chokes in all of my Tube projects now, and I recommend you do to! If you decide to not use a choke, then a 2 - 5 Watt 60 ohm Resistor could be used in it's place for this circuit, but you won't get the same level of power filtration. Immediately following the choke you will see the largest electrolytic capacitor in the HT circuit. This capacitor is the last filtration seen before the power supply feeds the Output Transformer on the Audio Circuit. This capacitor is usually the largest as this is where the largest voltage fluctuations will occur as a result of high decibel level sound reproduction, extended bass notes, and loud highs. The larger this capacitor is, the more power reserves for feeding the Output Transformer during those moments of extended bass or loud highs, although you don't want to go too large here as it will negatively impact the entire HT circuit. So, power leaves this capacitor, in this case a 120uf cap, and goes two places - one being the B+ line of the OT in the Audio Circuit, and the second place being through a resistor, which drops the voltage down, and into a last electrolytic cap before it goes out and feeds power into the preamp tubes of the Audio Circuit (this is the 295V section labeled with a circled B on the Audio Circuit schematic). The preamp tubes don't draw near as much power as the power tubes being fed from the OT, so the electrolytic cap feeding power to them is typically half the size of the previous cap, for the 6V6 Musical Machine this caps value is 56uf, a little less than half the value of a 120uf cap.
So, our Power Supply is complete and made up by four sub circuits - an HT circuit that feeds the Preamp stage and the OT's B+ of the Audio Circuit, a Filament Heater circuit that delivers power to all of the tubes filaments, warming them up before HT power is turned on, and then two negative power circuits feeding negative DC power to the both the Preamp stage and the Power Tube stage of the Audio Circuit.

It may come as no surprise to you, but all electronics are made similarly. With a tube amplifier you have the two main circuits, the Audio and Power Circuit. With a solid state amplifier using silicon chips, you still have the two main circuits, the Audio and Power Circuit. Every electronic can be broken down into at least two sections, and then those sections can be broken down into even more sub-sections. If you're interested in learning more about electronics and how they work, I suggest starting small like I did with a simple electronic device, learn to read the circuit schematic and then following the schematic trace the circuit board and wires throughout the device if you have it handy, or build it yourself to learn how it works.  Building this tube amp, the 6V6 Musical Machine, taught me a lot about electronics that I never knew, and I've always considered myself to be pretty tech savvy. Even though I was tech savvy and could work just about any electronic device put into my hands, I was unaware of how the device actually worked. I now have a decent understanding of how the power flows through the circuit of an electronic device, how each electronic component functions, and how it all works together to allow that particular device to operate. Recently, I've gotten into working with resistors and LED's as well as powering actuators and small motors to move larger objects. I'm also looking into teaching myself some basic C++ programming and using micro-processors to control different sensors, solenoids, actuators, and motors (basic computerized machinery or robotics). Who knows what I will build next, now that I've conquered the Tube Amplifier the possibilities are truly limitless!