Wheels, Wings and Radio Things

Classic Universal Sound Card Interface

2012-01-10T15:06:00.001-05:00

This interface by Skip Teller was put to use this past weekend with the FT-817 and a laptop running N1MM and using an end fed half wave wire down the 2nd floor hallway during recent trip to Lovettsville, VA.

The interface is described in the Jul 2010 QST
The Classic Universal Interface has two isolation transformers and an opto isolator to run the PTT line from the computer serial port. I used a Radio Shack Gigaware USB to Serial Converter and this works well once you figure out the port the converter is using. It helps to look at the Device Manager on the computer. Then you have to tell the program you are using to use the correct pin on the serial port. An earlier and later ver of KH6TY Skip Teller interface using an audio derived VOX signal to trigger the PTT line which will also work.

All of the interface boards seem to be sold out on Skip Teller's site but FAR Circuits lists the VOX board from the June '09 QST Sound Card Interface for FM Transceivers.
http://www.farcircuits.net/modem1.htm

New DigiVox Interface Mar '11

There is also a newer ver of the VOX interface from Mar 2011 QST article.

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T13:03:00.001-05:00

J38 on Straight Key Night

Happy New Year
When I was a boy starting out in radio I bought one of these keys from a TV repair shop in Madison NJ for One dollar. It was brand new in a Lionel box and I used it for many years. Eventully I sold it at a hamfest but bought another years later to use for ARRL's straight key night. I try to get on and make a contact or three on New Years Eve or New Years Day. This year only made one contact with KA2PJO 'Tony' in NY on 40M CW.

FT-1000MP Mk V CAT Port Failure

2012-01-01T12:54:00.001-05:00

MAX232 chip in MP

I found out that the 'CAT' port chip a MAX232CWE is not very robust. When testing the End Fed antenna at hi power the computer connection dropped out and this chip is a common failure. The CAT cord has home made and not well shielded for one thing. The chip is pretty direct to the cable on the computer side and they tend to fail in hi RF situations in other types of gear as well. The good thing is that they are inexpensive and I ordered two from DigiKey for about $3.70 each. Some experience with replacing SMD parts is suggested. You will need a jewelers hood and a bright light as well as a small pair of flush cutters, and a small enough iron to complete the job. The chip is accessible with removal of the covers only. No other dis-assembly is required. Unfortunately I did manage to pull some traces off the board due to not being gentle enough in removal. I was able to repair on trace with a single strand of copper from a CAT V wire and I wired two pieces of enamel wire direct to the connector pins. Not pretty but it works. I did not follow the advice of another repairer who suggested using a cutter to remove the chip. I cut one side off but I heated the other side with the desolder gun. Usually I have had good luck removing SMD parts this way but NOT this time! Using a cutter and then removing the pieces carefully is the way to go. The desoldering gun or braid can be used to assist removal of the pieces of leads that are still on the board. When the board is clean and smooth place the chip over the pads and solder it back on using the smallest iron you can get. Pins 8 and 9 pads lifted off the board too but there is no connection to these two pins so that is 'OK' Use the schematic and make sure that all the connections to the new chip are good. Here are some notes I used at the bench for my ohmmeter checks.

Pin 1 and Pin 3 C5011
Pin 2 and Pin 16 C5012
Pin 4 and Pin 5 C5018
Pin 6 C5018
Pin 7 RS162
Pin 8 N/C
Pin 9 N/C
Pin 10 Busy Pin 15 on Q5035
Pin 11 C90 CAT TX 8pinchip
Pin 12 C81 CAT RX 3pin
Pin 13 TX pin 3 RS-232 connector
Pin 14 RX pin 2 " "
Pin 15 GND
Pin 16 C5012

Check all these with ohmmeter to make sure the chip is soldered in correctly and that all the traces are good and it should work. I used no real static protection.
In addition to replacing the chip I also purchased a fully shielded RS-232 Cable with RFI hoods on the connectors and put some 'Beads' on each end of the cable. Not sure this will help but changing the chip is not going to be any easier the next time.

Thanks to Hal for these directions
Dear Paul, Unfortunately for me, I did the same thing on my MarkV,and had to
change the chip. There are web sites that have good explanations on howto
perform the surgery. The chip is a huge SMD with what looks like a billionwires.
The idea is to buy more than one replacement so you feelcomfortable if you screw
up. The good procedure is to clear a table top, put down layers ofterry cloth
towels, get some good high-intensity halogenlighting up above your head and
aimed from two differentdirections, plus a smaller halogen goose neck to getreal
close to the board. The next good idea is to fabricate a chassis ground gromthe
radio frame to the a.c. electrical ground. Then, obtain a static wrist strap and
secure it to thegrounded radio frame. Now you are ready to yank off the covers
to the radio. Start with all the top stuff, flip the radio over andremove t
bottom covers. Have the rear apron close to you and look down intothe radio near
the left edge as appearing upside down. The '232 chip is close to the rear
apron. Tie off as much of the cabling as you can to exposethe chip. Make sure
you identify what direction the chipnumber one lead faces! Use a flush-cut
dikes, ( a good pair, not junk) and cutall the wires off the '232 chip. The pull
the chip body away. Using a needle-point soldering iron like a Weller W60P andan
electronic tweezers, heat and pull up the remainderwires from all the pads. When
done, clean pads with 10 % MEK / 90% Alcohol mixture,and a toothbrush / rag. Use
a magnifying glass to absolutelyconfirm all the debris is gone. This clean up
process may takehours. Go slowly, don't overheat the board. The chip lands need
to bebright and shiny when you're done and the tiny spaces between the landsneed
to be clear of debris. A #11 scalpel lightly applied with blade upis a good way
to shovel this debris, followed by the toothbrush and rag. Tin the iron well.
Tin the lands, one by one with a tiny addition ofsolder to each one. Get yer new
chip, face it correctly and use 1 tiny drop of Barge cementunder it and lay it
down so all the lands and wires line up exactly. Holduntil you feel the chip is
settling into the cement. Wait 1 day. Recover your nerves. Back to it: Tin the
iron's tip well, and do this every lead. Heat every lead so it melts the solder
under it. Be quick about it, which is why the iron is important to beclean.
Inspect carefully. Use the toothbrush, scalpel, magnifier. Removedebris. Yer
done. Button up and continue hamming. HalW4HBM

8:1 Transformer and Air Variable Cap as EFHW Matcher

2011-12-09T23:20:00.004-05:00

8:1 and Air Variable Cap

Today I made a 8:1 Transformer out of a piece of 18 ga. house wire. 24 turns as Secondary and 3 turns as primary. Using the Air Variable that I recently purchased on eBay that has about 3/8" plate spacing the half wave 40M wire tunes to 1.2:1 with the plates of the cap meshed about 2/3 of the way. The wire is probably still a bit long as I cut it to 468/F + .05% and then added about a foot to be sure it would not be too short.

Although it tuned well using a tuner and the 4:1 Unun on 80-10M the SWR and RF in the shack was too much for the CAT port on a FT-1000MP Mk V. The MAX232CWE chip failed. These are available from Digikey for less than $4 and I ordered two but installing them will be a challange for later. In the meantime I have pulled the MK V off the op bench and replaced it with the back up FT-1000(almost a 'D'). Several contacts were made on 40M with the 8:1/cap matcher today with good results. I did not notice any RFI and the SWR was low but this was with only 200W. Later I switched back to the 4:1 Unun and internal tuner for the 10M contest and made another 20 or so contacts some on QRP and some on CW. Comparing the 8:1/Cap combo and the 4:1 and internal tuner on 10M it looked as though the 4:1 had a one 'S' unit or so advantage.

On the right is the 4:1 Unun (Rybakov style) in a radio shack box.

CQ WW DX CW 2011

2011-11-27T19:12:00.001-05:00

Band QSOs Pts Cty ZN
3.5 22 54 18 10
7 183 513 76 19
14 102 280 63 17
21 127 354 68 22
28 163 453 89 26
Total 597 1654 314 94

Score: 674,832

Had a great time working the CW contest this year. This was an personal best for me at this station. Running the Cushcraft R7 vertical on a pole in the backyard.

Working conditions

N1MM logging software

DM780 running in background to 'help' with decoding

K1EL USB Winkeyer

FT-1000Mk V (with all the filters)

Alpha 78

Cuschcraft R7

Dentro MT-3000A tuner Used to load the R7 on 80M (works ok with 130 ft feedline)

W3LPL or K1TT for Telnet

Go PVRC!

After reading Zen and the Art of Radiotelegraphy I really came to understand that many of the operators are so much better at CW than I am it seems to help them to go a bit faster. Going faster than the pile up seems to help. After 49 years of hamming my CW is still improving (but is still not very good). I found this year that I made many QSO's with the keyer set at 29-33 WPM with only a few slower and a few faster. One by accident I set the key at 42 and the op came right back --no problem!

Rybakov 4:1 Unun

2011-11-23T14:55:00.002-05:00

Started working on another End Fed Half Wave matcher that will take a bit more power. I have been using the PAR 40 Meter at 10-15 ft and it works well for the ECARS regional net on 40M.

Coil ready to go int box t200-2

Here is a T200-2 core with 14 turns of Zip Cord sitting in a radio shack project box getting ready to be mounted. (Still under construction)

Here are some interesting links for end fed half wave antennas or other hi impedance wires.

Rybakov antenna the start of the 4:1 Unun idea for me

http://www.iv3sbe.webfundis.net/html/Rybakov806.htm

Steve Yates excellent article on End Fed Half Wave Antennas
http://aa5tb.com/efha.html

Amateur Radio (G3TXQ) - UnUn experiments

http://www.karinya.net/g3txq/unun/

Good write up on the Cushcraft R5/R7 matcher

http://www.iol.ie/~bravo/r7_vertical.htm

Good write up on Inv-L multiband

http://www.hamuniverse.com/slopinginvl.html

UV3R

2011-11-23T14:54:00.000-05:00

UV3R with broken Display

Heathkit Shop P/S board in Drake AC-4

2011-11-12T16:35:00.003-05:00

AC-4 Bottom

AC-4 Top View

Installed the 'Heathkit Shop' power supply board today and got it working on the AC-4. I followed the directions as well as I could but had to put the board on the 'wrong' side of the transformer because that was the way the screws were installed in the transformer. The board fits but it is closer to the end of the chassis as there is more room on the other side. Also the wire kit does not really fit when the board is on the opposite side. It works find and the AC ripple is now lower.

With the AC-4 running the T4XB I show 740 B+ (720 with PTT down but no audio), 278 V DC on the mid supply with about 4V AC and -60 VDC on the bias with .0 VAC . I don't think my VC-99 Auto ranging meter does well on the AC ripple measurment on the B+ it still jumps from 3 hundred to 4 hundred reading. Then I tried AC reading while putting more of a load on the supply by closing the PTT line and putting the T4XB in Xmit this gave .6 VAC on the B+, .4VAC on the 250V line and 0VAC on the bias so this is better than what I was showing before. The B+ reading was not accurate before so I can't comepare really. The 250 V line was dropping out of regulation and the OA2 was going 'dark' when the PTT was closed. This is now back to the OA2 just dimming a bit (normal) and the ripple went from about 5VAC to .6VAC so that is the big change.

In general the kit is well done and makes it easy to re-do these old things.

Drake PTO Question?

2011-11-03T14:41:00.005-04:00

Ready for Install with braid added

'Fork' Resoldered and Braid attached

PTO with cover off

Tuning rod end

Got the PTO rod out today Yea! Yes, the PTO is out of the rig. I ran the fork to the end of the screw then undid the tension adj hex screw. Of course then the balls started to drop out and I removed the plastic gear and it's rod by removing the 'clip washer' (not sure what it's real name is).

Next was to reattach the rod to the 'fork'. I decided to 1st try the 'heat gun' approach with a 1400 watt industrial type heat gun rated at 800-1000F. I was going to do it outside but decided to use my aluminum darkroom tray that I use under the Cantenna as a 'heat shield'. I placed the rod assembly in a 8" crescent wrench and let the rod stand vertically with the fork sitting on top. This worked OK but the 'fork' was not quite level and needed to be heated a 2nd time to get it closer to the proper 90 degree angle. While I had the heat gun I decided to solder a piece of solder wick braid to the end of the fork. I could not get the solder to flow on the fork by itself so I used my regular small Hakko iron AND the heat gun and got the end of the fork tinned with a small blob of solder, then the braid was put on top and held with the solder iron and gave it another blast with the heat gun.

Later I am going to clean off the rest of the old grease and try to reassemble the same way. The dial shaft bits are all still intact and I may want to disassemble it as well,

Today's question is: will I be able to get the balls back in without taking the dial shaft apart (same as it came apart for me) or is there a 'Better' way to get the bearing back together. Should I use a drop of new grease or just leave some of the old grease and add a drop of 3in1 oil to it?

As far as the re-soldering goes I wonder if the heat changes the iron parts enough to worry about. Will find out I guess....

New V-Tech Spectrum Analyzer

2011-10-21T21:49:00.000-04:00

V-Tec PS-2 1Ghz Analyzer

New addition to the bench. Bought it used for a good price and hope it will be useful for future projects. Specifically filter design for both transmitters and receivers.

Fall ARCI at Rhinebeck NY

2011-10-16T21:54:00.003-04:00

2006 VW at Rhinebeck NY

Radio set up in VW

Operated the ARCI Fall contest from Rhinebeck Aerodrome in NY. Here is the ATS-4 and the Palm Paddles in the car. The antenna was an end-fed half wave on 20M with the KI6J matcher. Some more of the pix are on Webshots

Vintage Sailplanes at Massey

2011-10-09T21:13:00.001-04:00

Hutter 17 taking off

Went up to Massey for their Vintage Sailplane event and was treated to seeing several sailplanes that I had not ever seen before. Here is a hutter 17 taking off. It is a reproduction of an early European design. It is made of wood and has a L/D of about 14:1.

Other pix on webshots at Webshots

1st Burn on New Stove

2011-10-05T22:11:00.000-04:00

1st Burn on New Stove

This is our new Hearthstone Mansfield in Seafoam trim. This is going to be a treat for the cold weather. The stove was a leftover item and the color is not in the catalog but we liked it. The replaces our 25 year old Hearthstone II which we gave away on freecycle.

UV200

2011-09-19T19:54:00.002-04:00

Seems to be unopened through customs

UV200 factory box

UV200 contents

This radio was $46 incl shipping from China. Had to try one. Will post review later. It arrived in one week from www.radioshop888.com

CC-20 Started

2011-09-19T19:48:00.001-04:00

The CC-20 Arrived a few weeks ago and yesterday I finally started the build. Here are some pix of the new kit.

In USPS Box

Parts ready to go

Board with pre mounted uP

Ready for test - almost!

New England Motorcycle Tour

2011-09-17T14:45:00.006-04:00

COG National in Mt. Snow VT

We had a great trip to VT for the 2011 COG National Rally at Mt. Snow VT

COG Rally Banquet

After a great week at the Rally we headed to Burlington to see our old friends Ross and Kathy who spend the summer at the campground there.

Lunch in Burlington VT

Leaving Burlington for ME. Rained All Day

Leaving Burlington we traveled to ME to visit my radio friend Norm KB1OV in Bridgton ME.
Another Norm also traveled down from Norway ME and we also met K1NAJ.

K1NAJ,K3PG,KB1OV

When it stopped raining we took off for the mid-coast of ME and stayed at a nice inn in Belfast. It was not too far and we had some time to sightsee in town and go to a state park in the afternoon. We had dinner and breakfast at the Inn and took off for home.

Belfast Harbor

We stayed at the Penobscot Bay Inn and I would recommend it if you want a nice place to stay. The food was good and the rooms were great for sleeping.

Penobscot Bay Inn

Leaving Penobscot Bay Inn in Belfast ME

We stopped once more in Stockbridge MA and headed home on the NJT. This was a full two week trip and we had a great time but were glad to be back home with our dog Jack.

Rest of pix on Webshots

Mike KD9KC in DL land doing a SOTA Activation

2011-07-13T21:41:00.002-04:00

Mike KD9KC

Yoga Teacher Training Compleated

2011-07-12T23:00:00.002-04:00

Meditation Chime received as 'graduation' gift

Teacher Training Class

Sunday was the last day of the Yoga Teacher Training Class. Now I am a 'registered yoga teacher'

Centreville Day July 2, 2011

2011-07-03T11:50:00.003-04:00

This was the 1st Centreville Day "Taste of Centreville" held on July 2nd to celebrate the new Wharf as well as the 4th. Tickets were sold and restaurants gave samples of their food and drink, there was a 'moon bounce' and face painting for the kids, as well as kayak and canoe rides. The weather was great and the event was well attended. More tickets than expected were sold at the gate so the food ran out a bit early but everyone was happy it seemed.
A few more pix of the event at http://community.webshots.com/album/580449536RHBUCs?vhost=community

Queen Anne Amateur Radio Club Field Day 2011

2011-06-27T17:06:00.001-04:00

Fred K3LMR

Generator thanks to QA County

John N3AAZ

CW setup

Pres. Mike N3ZHA

Rowan KE3AO

One of tripod mounts by old barn

Operating Position Overview

This was the clubs 1st Field Day and it was great. Mike N3ZHA got us a great location and did all the work of arranging the loan of the county generator and the use of the facility at Bloomfield Farm Park in Centreville MD. Fri evening some of the set up was done. Several antennas were managed, 3 wire antennas were hung from trees using a bow and arrow and a fishing reel to handle the 'carrier' line. An OCF 150' ft windom, a sloper set up for 40/20M and an end fed 'L' supported by a tripod and a tree.
Not in the photos were George Drake K3NQA who came to help set up and take down between operating with the Kent Co. Club. Vickie KB3QLW who did the catering and did a great job, none of use will forget the chicken BBQ on Sat Nite. There was lots of great food.

Staycation to Dayton 2011

2011-05-21T12:18:00.001-04:00

This year we could not make Dayton but found that a Staycation to Dayton might be just as good.

Here are a few tips to enjoy it.

Set up several internet connections in your house in different rooms.

Wear the proper cloths. Radio had with callsign or logo is a must. If you need to make your own go ahead. An aluminum foil hat with Yaesu or your callsign would pretty much fit in. For fashion tips watch the people walking by on. W5KUB Here you can also win prizes and watch the interviews with various people. Yesterday he featured astronaut-Doug-Wheelock kf5boc, An Indian ham who helped with emergency communications in 2004 and was recognized worldwide.

Get a name tag to wear around you neck you probably have one you saved from something. This is your chance to wear it again. What did you save it for anyway?

Get yourself a bag. You can use a backpack or whatever you take to your favorite hamfest. Even a plastic or paper bag would do, just write the name of your favorite radio on it with magic marker and you will be good to go. Go around the house and fill it up with all the brochures you kept from the last couple of years and put them in the bag. Now you will feel like you have collected some new brochures. You probably don't remember them very well anyway.

Take some walks around your neighborhood. This is like waking between the events at the Hamvention. Try to eat some food like you might at the hamfest.

If you don't have a mini bar in your bedroom just get a cardboard box and fill it with some of your favorite beverages.

Drive around some looking for some place you have never been. Take some maps or try and follow your GPS directions.

Set up a folding chair in front of your computer so you get the real feeling of going to one of the Forums. Drink something from a Styrofoam or paper cup. I found a good one under my car seat...

Take another walk and wait for at least 30 min at a bus stop then walk back home.

Watch W5KUB some more.

Then go to a different room and on a different computer (you do have more than one ....right?)

Try some of the other streams like http://yctu.hamparadise.com/ or http://fdim.qrparci.org/content/view/123/

I did get to hear Joe Taylor W1JT the Nobel prize winner and Princeton Professor talk about Weak signal propagation which was very interesting.

Go back to your bedroom and in the morning get your wife to dress up in her maid's outfit and know on the door.....Room Service?

Almost as much fun as really going to Dayton. If you feel the need you could even tell people you went and talk about what you saw . You know, like did you see the guy with the Cat in the Hat hat on? I did it was W0NEB, Joe from Nebraska who has been wearing the hat for over 25 years to Dayton! He's the Cat in the Hat guy to many , involved in the kit building forum at Dayton and the author of a CQ magazine column. Heard Col. Doug Wheelock an Astronaut talk about the different 'ride quality' of landing in the space shuttle (nice and smooth) vs. the Soviet Soyez (3 loud explosions and a bad car crash). Or did you hear the Mrs. D.Bharathi Prasad VU2RBI talk about how she meet the Queen of England when she was honored for her emergency communications work? One of the people that W5KUB interviewed said he heard the W5KUB streaming video mentioned on ECARS. Well I did mention it during my NCS shift only a few hours before so hey....Did you see that EZNEC antenna modeling presentation the contest guys did over at the Crown Hotel? Now you tell me was I there or what!?

Crystal Test Jig

2011-05-07T12:30:00.001-04:00

Crystal Test Jig

Made up a test jig for testing the crystal. It uses a 1k and 220 ohm resistor at each end and then two caps 10pf and 28pf so you can measure the fs1, fs2, fs3 and fp frequencies of the crystal and put them in the calculator athttp://www.giangrandi.ch/electronics/crystalfilters/xtaltest.html

This will give the motional parameters of

Cs = crystal series capacitance

Ls = crystal series inductance

Cp = crystal parallel capacitance

This values can then be used to empirically design a filter using the AADE filter design program at

http://www.aade.com/download.htm

Using the simple Sig Gen I am not yet confident of the values enough to build a filter but after three attempts I think that I am seeing enough correlation to begin to at least play with the values in the filter design program.

I have reread the basic few paragraphs in SSDRA (Solid State design for the radio amateur) and EMRFD (Experimental Methods in RF design) and am continuing to learn.

It will be possible to make a good filter out of the crystals that I have obtained but it may not be close enough to the stock Center Freq of the original Drake filter to work with the other filter. Using a single carrier oscillator between the two filters to give both LSB and USB the filters need to have center frequencies about 3kHz apart.

Drake TR-4 Filter Schmatic Redrawn

2011-05-03T12:14:00.001-04:00

Redrawn TR-4 Filter SSB 9M 2100 L

Chili Fly-In at Massey 2011

2011-04-30T22:19:00.003-04:00

The highlight at the 2011 Chili Fly In was seeing the 1911 Curtis flying.

This reproduction was built from original drawings and to celebrate 100 years of Naval Aviation.

More info on the plane is at http://elycurtisspusher.com/

More info on Massey at http://www.masseyaero.org/

More Pix at http://community.webshots.com/album/580130859VvEvQt?vhost=community

ATS-4a field tested with KI6J End Fed Matcher

2011-04-30T21:22:00.000-04:00

ATS-4a in use in VA at portable location

KI6J Matcher with #22 teflon 1/2 wave for 20M

KI6J Matcher 'hooked up' on 20M

Put both the ATS-4a and the KI6J matcher on a field test at the portable location in VA. The half wave wire was indoors on the 2nd floor and contact was made with an F8 with a 579 report! The LED worked on the matcher to tune the antenna and several US contacts were also made. The power supply was a 4.5 AH Gel Cell. The headphones were Skull Candy ear buds and the Vibroplex Code Warrior Jr. works without the plastic paddles too.

NorCal S1-S9 Xtal Socket Mod

2011-04-28T18:22:00.002-04:00

Original 10Mhz Xtal in Socket

Socket Added

A left over piece of the LCD socket from the Code Reader is the same pin spacing as the xtal if you cut off the 'middle' pin. After soldering the socket in position '3' now becomes a socket and I tried testing HC-29 and HC-6 crystals for testing.

Electrovoice Aristocrat

2011-04-20T16:42:00.002-04:00

Here is a 1952 Electrovoice Aristocrat Corner speaker with a Jensen 12" K-210 driver.

Catalog sheet for Aristocrat

Catalog sheet for Jensen K-210

If you are interested in this contact me

Bose 301 Series III

2011-04-20T16:29:00.000-04:00

Bose 301 Series '91-'96

Not sure about the 'bracket'?

KI6J End Fed Matcher in Box

2011-04-17T18:51:00.001-04:00

KI6J in plastic box

Matcher with Lid and 5000 Ohm 'antenna'

Got the Dremel and cut some holes in the Rat Shack box to mount the KI6J End Fed Matcher in. The 5000 ohm resistor will simulate a half wave end fed for testing. The switch will switch the bridge circuit and LED in/out for tuning with the capacitor. The LED will dim when the bridge is balanced and the match is close to 50 ohms. Then throw the switch to xmit without the bridge. A previous post has more info on this kit and a schematic.

More Drake 2B Fun

2011-04-16T21:07:00.002-04:00

Drake 2B

Pretty good copper!

14 Mhz computer crystal for 20M

Glow of tubes.

Before putting the tube tester away for the season. I tested all the tubes in the 2B. You can see the Hayseed Hamfest, the DigiKey computer crystal replacement for the 20M crystal that failed, it is soldered to the base of the original crystal.

Last of the C-4 Corvette Wheels and Khumo Victor Racers

2011-04-15T15:57:00.000-04:00

17" Sawblades

Still lots of tread for AutoX tire

275 40 ZR17

Rim Width 10? Tape is on ground

TR-4 Crystal Filter

2011-04-09T18:31:00.003-04:00

TR-4 Crystal filter (the Non -X) is dead on this radio and I thought it would be 'interesting' to open it up and see if it could be repaired inexpensively. I ordered a set of 9mhz crystals from DigiKey for about 50 cents each and though it would be fun to experiment.

Testing Crystals

Rewinding a transformer

Bottom of filters in TR-4

Another View from Bottom

Filters out of radio in holder

From the top

Some of the crystals are bad

Ready to try and schematic

The filter now works but only sort of and it is not usable but it was a good learning experience. The passband shape is not quite wide enough it sounds like a 1.6 khz filter, and it is not enough different from the other to really provide both sidebands with the Drake scheme of switching.

Crystals used were a handful of unselected 50 cent crystals from Digi Key. I made no attempt to characterize them.

Opening the filter box required enough heat that all of the solder inside the box melted and this meant that the original crystal containers came unsoldered. One cover even fell off when I got the box opened. I used a 1500 heat gun and when the solder starting to melt I sucked it up with the Hakko 808 desoldering irom. Massive amounts of solder wick and a LARGE iron will also work I am told.

Crystals were tested using the old Heathkit IG-102 and watching the sinewave on the scope. When the crystal resonates it causes a major decrease in the sine wave that can be seen. Some of the crystals did this and some did not. I really don't even know what frequency the originals were as they were unmarked and I do not have any documentation on this type of filter. I assumed maybe incorrectly that they would use 9mhz crystals and 'pull' them a bit for either the USB filter or the LSB filter to give the proper shapes with the filter circuit and caps and coils.

I suspect that either the crystals are not really 9mhz and maybe be a bit higher or lower. The working filter which is marked 'U' has a peak response on the low side of 9Mhz so the 'other' one would need to be a bit higher to give the two passband shapes.

The other thing that was interesting is that by using the RF Gen and a receiver you can do a crude 'sweep' to determine the filter shape.

Using the working filter I plotted my 1kc measurement points and actually came up with something that looks like a filter curve.

Crude plot of working filter

Another item of interest is that the insertion loss can be roughly determined using this method.

This simple test set up using the antique RF gen showed that the insertion loss of the working filter was somewhere in the 5db or less range.

I used a piece of coax with a RCA connector on the end and fed it to an unused port on my antenna switch (not that much isolation). This acts as an attenuator to avoid damaging the radio. The RCA connector tip is used as a probe and the shield was grounded with a short clip lead. Putting the probe on the input to the filter and tuning the generator (difficult with the antique) for max reading on the radio adj. the gen to provide a 20db over S9 signal. Then measure the output at your different frequencies. Using a spreadsheet program you can plot the curve and see what it looks like.

My repaired filter has about a 20db insertion loss compared to less than 5 for the working original and the peak response is not quite a khz higher than the original.

For extra fun I tried some 300pf caps in place of the 82pf caps and that did not seem to make much difference in frequency response.

Not sure what I will try next but am hoping to build or repair a filter for this old TR-4. Yes I know you can buy an INRAD and they do have great products.

Tested the old filters and the one spare using the signal gen and watching for min sig on the scope. The three good ones left from the original set tested at 8.993.0 and and the Digikey spare tests at 8.999.8.

The filter that is bad is marked as 2100L(SB) and the INRAD page lists their replacement filter with this data

2500 Hz 9000.0 kHz LSB 8-pole crystal filter

Details


Bandwidth	2500 Hz
Center Frequency	9000.0 kHz
Mode	LSB
Zin/Zout	1000 ohms
Typical Insertion Loss	< 6 dB
Ultimate Rejection	> 80 dB
Typical Carrier Rejection	30 dB
Physical Dimensions	SL case, same as OEM
Price:	$130.00

Options


Common design freqs for LSB and USB are 9.0015 and 8.9985 Mhz and the Center Freq of the filter pair really needs to be at these values.

Heathkit IG-102 RF Signal Generator

2011-04-06T15:30:00.001-04:00

While troubleshooting the TR-4 filters I thought it would be useful to see if this old Signal Generator still worked. This is one of the pieces from Bill's old heathkit test gear. I took the cover off to dust it off and check it out. I sparyed some DeoxITD5 on the pots and switches. The bandswitch felt 'locked' so I took the knob off and turned it with a wrench and it loosened right up so it was powered up and seemed to work once all the swithes and pots were 'exercised' a bit.

Heathkit IG-102

Top showing 12AT7 and 6AN6 both original tubes marked Mullard and Heath

Bottom showing variable cap and coils

I looked at the output on my scope and it looked 'OK' to use for a lot of test and repair purposes. I hooked up the two Drake TR-4 filters and could see the one that worked passed a signal about 3-4 DB down from the input signal when the generator was tuned to the filter frequency and the 'bad' filter would not pass a signal at all. With the frequency counter and the scope one could plot the response if the filter was terminated 'properly' .

Drake TR-4 Crystal Filters

2011-04-06T14:47:00.004-04:00

Drake TR-4 'Blue' Filters removed

Filters from Bottom of TR-4

Filters removed from radio

Measurement of Tedford SSB 9M 2100 U

Model 7970 Crystal Filter from TR-4

(the working filter)

Test conditions

Heathkit IG-102 set to read 20 over

Receiver FT-1000MkV

Rx F was set and Signal Gen was tuned for max meter reading on various F's

9.006.00 less than S1

9.002.00 less than S1

9.001.00 S8

9.00.00 S9

8.999.00 10 OVER

8.998.75 15 over

8.998.00 15 over

8.997.00 10 over

8.996.00 10 over

8.995.00 S9

8.994.00 S2

NO FILTER 20 OVER

Drake R-4b Calibrator power supply

2011-04-04T18:55:00.000-04:00

Top C190 Bottom C192 originals

The calibrator in the R4b was sounding very raspy until it had been on for a few min. (maybe 10 min) and then it worked normally. I decided to order some more cap with the recent DigiKey order and today I replaced C190 with a 25V 220uf Digikey # 4035PHCT-ND and C192 with a 16V 1000uf DigiKey # P13119-ND and the Calibrator worked right away and sounded good.

I tested both of the caps on the Heath C-3 tester and the 1000uf was definitely leaky and would not provide a good null on the bridge. The 200uf 6V original provided a good null at about 150uf but the min leakage test on the C3 is 25V and it definitely fails that which is probably normal for a 6V rated part.

The 1000uf is under the power transformer and it was not too difficult to get to and is the probable real fix. The other cap is on the Cal board and I removed the 2 screws holding the board to the chassis and then the cap was readily accessible .

Timewave DSP

2011-04-04T17:09:00.001-04:00

Timewave DSP-9 and 599zx

Received the correct TDA-2003 audio IC and some electrolytics for the DSP-9 today and tested it out. Sounds like new with some new filter and coupling caps. Will be great for some of the smaller rigs. I used Digikey # 497-2161-5-ND which is TDA-2003H. The H means horizontal and it is actually vertical mount but this just means you have to bend the leads. I put the leads in the board and bent the whole IC up bending all the leads at once. This is not a big deal. I also changed C38, C28 the large output coupling cap and the power supply filter. Both of these were showing some leakage on the Heath C-3 Cap tester. I also changed the input coupling cap to the IC and a couple of other 10uf in the audio amp circuit and two other 10uf coupling caps. The two large caps tested a bit leaky on the tester the smaller ones seemed to test ok but I changed the obvious audio coupling caps anyway. Sound like new now. I like the 599zx better but the -9 does a very good job for the features that it does have. Service is still available but it would have been $70 for the factory to change the audio IC.

More ATS-4 Contacts

2011-03-31T16:58:00.005-04:00

ATS-4 CQing

After packing up the Timewave again I took the ATS-4 off the shelf and hooked it up. Some of the 2M Chatter mentioned that 17 was open....hmmm maybe I should have built it for 17M anyway I called on 15M for a while with no takers so I moved down to 20 and worked an actual QRP station, KE4I in AL. He was running 5 watts to a G5RV and was solid copy to me. I was only Q4 with the barely 2Watts from the KD1JV rig. The Beacon mode on the keyer works well and I was reading emails and typing on the blog while it was calling CQ for me.

After the contact I decided to try the rig on a 'real' power supply rather than the Heathkit IP-18 that is current regulated and 'safe' for building projects. I hooked up a 30amp dc supply and turned the Voltage up to 6 volts and turned the ATS-4 back on. It was already putting out more power than it was at 12V on the little supple. I turned it up to 12V while the rig was in the beacon mode and it looked like it was hitting 5.5 watts so I turned it down to about 11V and it still seems to be hitting 3 Watts. So it seems my low output was just not enough power supply.

Went down a few KHz and called some more and worked KD0V in MN also QRP then heard and worked OK1KW near 14.058.550. Milan says he was running 100W to a dipole with his Kenwood TS-940S. This I believe is 9 QSO's on the ATS-4 from home using the R7 Vertical.

eMail QSL received - Thanks Milan

"To: K3PG

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the email and QRP connection. Your signals are quite good, but I was disturbed by the local station.
Thanks so much and wish you much success with your equipment on the HAM bands. BCNU.

73 and Best Regards from Prague
Milan, OK1KW"

Timewave DSP-9

2011-03-31T16:09:00.000-04:00

Took the old Timewave DSP-9 out to look at again.

DSP-9 Top

The Audio output on this is a 'chipamp' TDA2003 and when it went bad I ordered a TDA2006 because it is a pin equivalent but it did not work so I put it aside. I looked at the data sheets for the two chip amps and it although they are 'pin' equivalent there are major differences in the circuit that the chips want to see according to the sample circuits provided by the mfg. By changing some of the values I could tell the chip would come to life but sometimes it was oscillating and it would only run for a few seconds before overheating and shutting down. Now I notice that DigiKey does have some of the older TDA2003 in stock and I think I will try to get the original replacement before attempting to change the circuit to get the newer TDA2006 to work.

Timonium Hamfest

2011-03-27T16:02:00.002-04:00

Thanks to local ham KA3DCO, who rode a couple of us over in his mini van. K3JOI and KB3KXK. Picked up a few goodies, some bits of speaker wire for the hifi stuff. A piece of 300 ohm twinlead for another FM tuner antenna and a couple of more caps for the ST-120. Here are a couple of pix.

KA3DCO, K3JOI, KB3KXK

Funky Finger Lights!

Hustlers

N4TCM shows his HF Pack set the radio is a Harris PRC-138 that was MOD (UK) surplus and used in Kosovo for logistical support.

Want some Rocks?

Big Screwdriver

Dynaco ST-120

2011-03-27T15:46:00.001-04:00

Put a few new caps in the ST-120 yesterday.

One new Cap in Place one amp board loose

Couple of more new caps

I installed some new caps on each Amp board and a two new filters and two new output Caps. The output caps were zip tied to the old ones to perserve the coils.

Trying the amp it is not as quiet as the ST-80 so I will change a few more of the caps. The output with no signal is reading about 300 mv vs. the 15mv on the ST-80. Some of the other filters were not changed. Two of them looked to be changed before and there are a couple of others on the P/S board so this will be reworked again.

update Mar 29
Picked up some of the caps at Timonium and replaced a few more of the old electrolytics and there was still no change in the 300mv DC offset however the AC signal dropped a bit. I have not listened to it again yet.

Dynaco ST-80 Test Listen

2011-03-24T21:55:00.000-04:00

Got the rehabbed ST-80 online today after replacing all the electrolytic caps with modern replacements from Digi Key. It sounds great. I listend to some classical for a while then some progressive rock on the Yamaha T-1 tuner and C-50 preamp. I can turn the vol up all the way and hear NO noise with no input now. Next will try the same rehab on the ST-120 that also needs new caps. The total cost was quite reasonable.

I removed the two caps on the right side and zip tied the new ones to the mounts. I left the two caps on the left in place as coil forms and zip tied the new caps to the old ones. The two circuit boards were removed and the electrolytics on each were also replaced.

Here is some info from the unofficial Dynaco site.

The Dynaco Stereo 80 is an all silicon transistor basic power amplifier for use with separate preamplifiers such as the Dynaco PAT-4 or PAT-5, or for use with tape recorders or tuners such as the FM-5 or AF-6, which have their own volume controls. The Stereo 80 contains two 40 watt amplifiers on one chassis with a common power supply.
The components of the Stereo 80 are of the highest quality to protect against failure, both now and for many years in the future. All parts are used conservatively with close tolerances to assure continued proper operation, and etched circuit modules have been pretested under actual use conditions to ensure that every unit, after assembly, will meet the specifications normally associated only with laboratory prototypes.
The specifications of the Stereo 80 speak for themselves. The distortion and noise, up to levels well beyond those required to drive any conventional amplifier, are comparable to the finest tube designs while the high power distortion remains inaudible. Specifications do not reveal all the facets of superior audio performance, however. In use with varying program material, the Stereo 80 achieves its design goals of sonic ease and naturalness always sought but rarely achieved in solid state designs. There is remarkable clarity and an impression of direct contact with the original without the extra brightness or stridency which, unfortunately, is sometimes attributed to high fidelity sound, but rather there is an impression of limitless range and effortless handling of the highest power peaks.
Specifications:
Rated Power Output: 30 watts average continuous power per channel into 8 ohms, 20-20,000 Hz at less than 0.5% total harmonic distortion. Distortion reduces at lower power levels.
Power at Clipping, Single Channel, 1000 Hz, less than 1% distortion: 50 watts @ 8 ohms, 36 watts @ 4 ohms, 26 watts @ 16 ohms.
Intermodulation Distortion: Less than 0.5% at any power level up to 40 watts rms per channel into 8 ohms with any combination of test frequencies. Distortion reduces at lower power levels.
Half-Power Bandwidth: 20 watts per channel at less than 0.5% total harmonic distortion from 8 Hz to 50 KHz into 8 ohms.
Frequency Response: ±0.5 dB, 10 Hz to 50 KHz @ 1 watt into 8 ohms.
Noise: More than 90 dB below 40 watts output, full spectrum.
Channel Separation: Greater than 60 dB from 20 Hz to 20 KHz.
Input: 100,000 ohm load; 1.3 volts for 40 watts into 8 ohms.
Semiconductor Complement: 12 transistors; 10 diodes.
Size: 14" by 8" by 4" high.
Shipping Weight: 13 lbs.
Maximum Power Consumption: 35 watts quiescent; 250 watts maximum; 50/60 Hz, 100, 120, 220, or 240 VAC.
Designed by:
Ed Laurent
Year Introduced:
1969
Price:
$149.00 kit
$224.00 assembled
Comments:
A pared-down version of the Stereo 120, with 40 watts per channel, and an unregulated power supply.

SuperCap as Memory Back Up

2011-03-14T19:15:00.002-04:00

Here is the supercap that was removed from a 80's vintage Yamaha T-500. It is used as a memory backup battery and was replaced with DigiKey P/N 604-1000-ND. Mfg P/N DB-5R5D473T. Desc Cap Double Layer .047F 5.5V RAD. Fit was perfect and old unit now has memory back up again.

Lunch at Mt. Vernon

2011-03-14T18:06:00.001-04:00

Mt. Vernon

Took a trip to Mt. Vernon for lunch with daughter and wife. Had not been there for 25 years. It was a great almost spring day in March.

Drake R-4b Bias Filter R&R

2011-03-10T15:38:00.001-05:00

Receiver would not fully mute, S-Meter would not go past S-9 when turning RF Gain Counter Clockwise. TP2 Voltages were not correct. Bias Voltage was good when circuit was 'unhooked' from the P/S board. Cap tested leaky compared to new one on the old Heathkit C-3 Cap checker. The new filter Cap from AES is a Sprauge Atom 10uf @ 500v which was a close as I could find to the original from Digi Key or AES at order time. The fit is a 'B' fit and required slight enlargement of the holes on the board which I did with the point of an exacto knife in just a min or two. Clearance is 'OK' if you fit it in close to the board. I added some heat shrink but it is probably not needed. After fitting the new Cap the AVC voltages all aligned up as per section 6.4.9 of the manual.

Pix of original Cap CDE 'Beaver' 8mfd @150V

ARRL DX SSB

2011-03-07T14:44:00.001-05:00

Had a weekend commitment and only got on for the last 3 hours or so of this one. Highlights were working JA and Alaska on 15 and even some SA on 10 coming in strong late in the PM. It has been years since I have heard 10 this open! So not much score but it was good to get on for a bit. N1MM is nice it makes SSB closer to CW or RTTY with the button pushing.

Band QSOs Pts Cty
   7 6 18 5
   14 38 114 32
   21 31 93 16
   28 7 21 3
Total 82 246 56
Score: 13,776

QA RACES visit to MEMA

2011-03-02T13:55:00.001-05:00

The Queen Anne's RACES group took our second field trip to MEMA and had the opportunity act as net control for the monthly COMMEX.

K3PG at the Central Region Net Position

Other photos are at RACES trip to MEMA on Webshots

Books About Radio listening in the USA

2011-02-23T11:59:00.008-05:00

"Something in the Air" by Marc Fisher

Lots of good stories about the development of music and radio's Rock and Roll era through the 90's. Easy to read and in a humorous style.

Hello Everybody

Early radio broadcasting in America in the 20's and 30's. Lots of good history of radio and the country during this period.

Listening In by Susan Douglas

More of a sociological treatment than the others AND talks a LOT about hams as an influence on early radio.

ARRL DX CW Contest 2011

2011-02-22T10:59:00.000-05:00

Managed to get on some for the ARRL International CW this weekend.

Rig FT-1000 Mk V, Alpha 78 and Cushcraft R7
Puter N1MM, K1EL WinKeyer USB, DM780

Was nice to make some contacts on 10 and 15. Highlights were working the T30YA on 40M. Working VK, JA, ZL etc on higher bands. Trying to figure out 145 Watts as NR from somebody!

Band QSOs Pts Cty
   3.5 1 3 1
   7 118 354 55
   14 141 423 68
   21 83 249 47
   28 29 87 19
Total 372 1116 190
Score: 212,040

CQ WPX RTTY 2011

2011-02-14T10:09:00.001-05:00

CQ WPX RTTY Contest

Managed some hours on the WPX RTTY this year and made a few contacts. Was able to hold a frequency and run quite a bit more than is 'normal' for my small station. On Sunday the last 4-5 hours was mostly 'running'. The N1MM program was working except the band map was not filling with spots for some reason. The station used was Cushcraft R7 vertical, MK V and Alpha 78.

DX highlight was working the S9 Sao Tome and Principe. S9DX Homepage

Band QSOs Pts WPX
   7 77 270 53
   14 123 216 82
   21 21 42 18
Total 221 528 153
Score: 80,784

ATS-4a Ready to test Now Finished

2011-02-02T18:31:00.004-05:00

ATS-4a is now finished and fully operational. The audio coupling Cap C55 was a problem that I solved by putting an additional .1uf in parallel with the existing cap. Some folks have suggested swapping C55 and C61. In any case it seems that C55 needs to be larger in value for the audio chain to provide adequate output. At this point I am getting about three watts output at 12V with a weak 9V battery in the Oak Hills QRP Wattmeter into a dummy load.

ATS-4 Finished

ATS-4 Top

ATS-4 Bottom

Today the missing (lost) 'Red' SMD Cap came in the mail. The last component was added and the unit was inspected and looks ready for final assembly and testing.

Quoted from ATS Yahoo Group

Another ATS4A on air.Posted by: "rv3apm1" rv3apm1@yahoo.com rv3apm1Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:49 am (PST)

Thanks for this group and thanks Steve for nice job.
Now Built my small nice ATS4 A. Good CW tone , Pout 5-6W and only 15 m 4W. Good RX.
Note:
Not used liquid flux for switches, C55 really 1.0 uF, C46 0.01 uf
BS170, 2N7002 careful to do solder - not good for static
73 Serge

ATS-4a with two torroids

2011-01-27T13:41:00.000-05:00

ATS-4a w 2 torroids

Have been working on the KD1JV ATS-4a project some this past week. Here is the board with most of the parts on it. The rest of the coils and push button switches are the main parts left to add.

Monster Jr. Receiver

2011-01-03T19:32:00.004-05:00

Technics SA-600

Under the hood

Am still cleaning out the attic bedroom and found this nice old Technics SA-600 70 wpc receiver from 1978-79 according to Vintage Technics Data Base. Great place for Technics Specs and Manuals

New $ Yr wpc dist thd pwr bd S/N mono sen cap db THD sep db lbs

Technics

SA-600

530.00

78-79

0.04

20-20

10.8

1.2

13.7

37.2

0.15/0.3

This is definitely one of the 'they don't make em like this anymore' products.

Fisher 500B and Phillips 312 Turntable

2011-01-02T22:06:00.000-05:00

Fisher 500B and Phillips 312

The Fisher 500B looks better with two now knob 'brights' from Tube Audio Design (new ones on far left) Record on the Turntable is Dire Straits "Dire Straits" 1978. The turntable is from about then and the 500B is from about 1962 and is a MPX receiver (Stereo) with about 30 wpc. The sound from the tubes is very nice.

New Years Day in Centreville

2011-01-01T21:23:00.000-05:00

New Years Day in Centreville

Stayed home today and went on a few dog walks. This scene is about a 10 min walk from the house and is a route often taken on nice days. It was over 50 today and was the warmest day in about a month. The ground was nice and squishy to walk on for a change and most all the snow melted. We made a fancy breakfast for each other and watched the Tournament of Roses Parade, which always reminds me of my late friend Paul Schou KE6ET who among many other activities worked as a communications volunteer for the parade and received commendations for his service. We watched the FL State football game, we rooted for Penn St because our nephew is there working on MS in mechanical engineering. Later on I worked on some Christmas pix for the family and enjoyed the holiday.

NorCal S9 Signal Gen

2010-12-30T12:21:00.001-05:00

NorCal S9 Signal Generator became available for a short while and I ordered on a few weeks ago. It went together in a couple of hours and worked right away except for a few solder joints on the Xtals that needed to be redone. If doing this again I would clean the leads on the Xtals and make sure the plated through holes are really plated through, as the connections to the circuit are on the top of the board. The test oscillator reads right at S 8.5 or so (with a low battery) on all four frequencies on the FT-1000 Mk V. Later I plan to do some measurements on the 3 DC receivers that I have here, using the MFJ attenuator that I purchased used to go with the test oscillator.

NorCal S9 Test Oscillator

Fisher 500 B

2010-12-21T13:38:00.004-05:00

Fisher 500 B

This is a Fisher 500 B that my dad bought used out of the Washington Post classifieds in 1978. I went with him to pick it up along with a pair of AR2a speakers and a Garrard Type 'A' Turntable. He had it serviced at Audio Associates at Tyson's Corner and I have used it once in a while. It still sounds great! The On/Off switch failed when I tried it this year so I installed a 'jumper' and now it is on when plugged in. About ten years ago these sold for $75 or so but now I have seen them for much recently after a good review in Stereophile magazine. This review is actually for a 'C' but they are similar. Some seem to prefer the earlier and simpler 400 models.

From the Stereophile Review

"A Fisher 500-C sold for $369 in 1964. That seems like chump change today, but in 1964, $2368 bought you a brand spanking new Ford Mustang (the 1964 New York Auto Show was the pony car's debut). Collector-condition Mustangs now trade for between $10,000 and $15,000. A mint, low-hours 500-C rarely goes for more than $600.

Where do you find a 500-C? Well, if it weren't for the Internet or a national marketplace (Pierre Omidar's eBay), these trusty old soldiers would be gathering yet more layers of dust in grandma's attic or the neighborhood thrift shop. But they're plentiful and shamefully affordable. Current market prices of functional 500-Cs run from $175 to $600. The top of the range is reserved for cosmetically mint and electronically restored units. But you'll be buying blind and deaf, so caveat emptor."

Palomar R-X Noise Bridge

2010-12-21T13:06:00.000-05:00

Another Ham was looking for one of these. I have had several and they work well for tuning antennas. Usually I have used them to tune mobile HF whips because you can hear the null in the Receiver. They are often available and it can be a useful piece of test gear.

Bell 2122 Classic 6V6 Tube Amp

2010-12-17T12:35:00.001-05:00

Bell 2122 Working Again!

When I was in 4th grade I listened to this amp playing classical hi-fi from a FM Tuner in Chatham NJ. Years later I took it to college with me as a freshman. The next year I upgraded to real stereo. The Bell worked until a few years ago when the power supply had the dreaded 'Hummmmm....' of a bad filter capacitor. A quick Internet search led me to a post by someone else who had one and I acquired a nice copy of a 1948 Sams Photofax for the unit. This year an internet search led me to Ampmonster, an Austin TX guitar amp company that had a good write up on restoration of the Bell. With this site and the photofax I made a list of parts needed to redo the amp but when I opened it up yesterday I tested the caps and found many of them to test close to value the electrolytics were bad though. I took a 220uf and clip leaded it in parallel with the HV filter and the hum went away and the 2watt resistor connecting the two filter sections opened with some sparks and a small amount of escaping smoke. An old replacement resistor was found and seemed to run cool so I wired the cap in for a more permanent temporary fix which will allow me to play with the amp a bit if desired. Some DeOXit sprayed into the controls seemed to help and the tubes were tested and one bad 6SC7 (dual triode similar to the 12AX7 in a metal octal package) tube was replaced.

New Filter Cap in place

Sticker inside bottom plate

Rear panel

Pair of 6V6's

CQ WW CW 2010

2010-11-28T19:15:00.005-05:00

CQ WW CW Contest Summary

Band QSOs Pts Cty ZN
   3.5 43 117 29 10
   7 161 455 74 19
   14 161 457 69 21
   21 88 248 53 15
   28 17 47 12 8
Total 470 1324 237 73
Score: 410,440

Big DX pedition for the Fall Contest season was ZL8X to Kermadec.

1st link is 'expedition homepage

2nd is charter boat co which provided transport to the island. The ClaymoreII offers a nice 32 hour trip to Pitcairn Island which would be a fun vacation trip.

http://www.kermadec.de/index.php

http://www.visitpitcairn.pn/visitpitcairn.html

Made it into the log during the contest for 40M CW. Woke up early to work it on the 'grey line'

HW-9

2010-11-23T12:49:00.000-05:00

This is the HW-9 set ready for cleaning ad testing.n

National Electronics Mueseum

2010-11-23T11:43:00.000-05:00

On the way back from Northern VA yesterday I took a quick side trip over to the National Electronics Museum . The Museum is Free and is located in the hotel complex at BWI Airport. Saw many familiar items in the ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) exhibits.

Communications Display including W3HEM in the background

Sunday Dinner in Lovettsville

2010-11-15T16:37:00.000-05:00

Aunt Julie, Cora, Evan, Heather, Lilly

Dan, Lilly

Lilly learning to walk!

Lilly with 1st real shoes!

WAS on LOTW

2010-11-12T17:24:00.001-05:00

Worked on States confirmed by Logbook of the World

WAS Map by Call Areas

As a result of the recent CWSS I picked up the last few states to have WAS by 'electronic confirmation' This is 'mixed', 49 are confirmed on SSB and 49 on CW. I have never been issued a WAS certificate and I may not ask for one now either. CW DXCC count is now at 100 and 120 'mixed' Also the Triple Play WAS is quite close as well. Not something I really strive for but it is interesting to see the 'electronic confirmations'. The eQSL confirmations though are much more fun to look at because many users have custom designed graphics with pix of something interesting. The ARRL system is quite boring and most find it cumbersome at best.

Entity	Basic
Alabama	K4HAL
Alaska	KL8DX
Arizona	K7SID
Arkansas	KD5J
California	WN6K
Colorado	W0KIT
Connecticut	WA1EHK
Delaware	AA1K
Florida	K4SN
Georgia	KJ0R
Hawaii	KH6LC
Idaho	NX7TT
Illinois	N9LAH
Indiana	AJ9C
Iowa	N0NI
Kansas	WD0BWM
Kentucky	N4QS
Louisiana	AA5AU
Maine	KA1C
Maryland	W3DQN
Massachusetts	K6ND
Michigan	WW8Q
Minnesota	WA0LPV
Mississippi	KK5OQ
Missouri	N0KMA
Montana	KB7Q
Nebraska	WN0L
Nevada	K7SFN
New Hampshire	K1FWE
New Jersey	KI2P
New Mexico	WA5ZUP
New York	W2TB
North Carolina	N3CZ
North Dakota	W0TUP
Ohio	WA8LBZ
Oklahoma	NX5O
Oregon	N7MQ
Pennsylvania	NE3H
Rhode Island	KI1G
South Carolina	W4UK
South Dakota	WA0JH
Tennessee	K4RO
Texas	AA5VU
Utah	W7CT
Vermont	KE1FO
Virginia	N3JT
Washington	W7MRC
West Virginia	N4ZR
Wisconsin	K0TG
Wyoming	WY7LL

CW Sweepstakes 2010

2010-11-08T19:02:00.004-05:00

New Logo by CT2IRY

The CW contests especially SS with it more complex exchange is much more fun (read easier) for me with the use of the computer. The logging and reporting is really simplified with a good logger software and N1MM is the current winner for sure. Their recent logo contest winner is shown above and is by CT2IRY. Nice Job Julio! One thing I find that works reasonably well for me is to use the HRD CW reader in the background to 'help' copy the exchanges. This works reasonably well for me. Load the N1MM 1st then start DM780 ONLY in the 'normal' NOT Winker mode and then adjust your windows so you can see a bit of the DM780 screen. The water fall is very helpful for spotting and to check what is going on with the audio passband filters and some limited panoramic type display.

Using the 'APF' filter on the FT-1000MP MK V and watching the results on the waterfall of the DM780 was an eye opener for me. The APF works quite well and requires no adjustment other than selection of the desired bandwidth. The 240 hz worked most of the time once or twice there may have been some advantage to going a bit narrower.

CWSS is a good opportunity to get on and do some fast CW with a bit more of a 'message' than 599 whatever. With the Section, Precedent (power/class), and Check (yr of 1st license) you get a good amount of practice copying longer strings of code 'in your head'.

Highlights for the contest for me were the good conditions on 80M on Sat. night. Nice quiet conditions enabled me the opportunity to pick up a number of sections using the 40M with a long (close to 1 Wavelength on 80M) feedline. Using the Alpha 78 that was acquired from Vince Thompson K5VT (sk). Using the logging program also enables me to easily report the score so that my local club, PVRC gets to count my score. The K1EL keyer and software interface in N1MM works great. Hearing the QRP stations with good loud signals. One station in the QRP class gave me a S/N of 809 on Sunday PM and several Q stations were successfully 'running' on prime frequencies near the low end of the band. OK so they were not 40 over but they were S8 and had great ops with probably great antenna systems. Working KA3DRR my 'twitter' buddy, not sure where he was but he was doing great! Also worked fellow bloggers W4KAZ and AE5X.

Areas for improvement will be to continue to develop better 'running' skills and increase score by spending more time 'running'. Antennas will need to be improved too.

A new Chinese Amp will probably be in the works soon for many hams see the video. http://www.56.com/u40/v_NTYxNjg5MzM.html

K3PG CWSS Summary
Band QSOs Pts Sec
   3.5 98 196 31
   7 121 242 14
   14 108 216 31
   21 15 30 1
Total 342 684 77
Score: 52,668

CW/PSK Reader by KD1JV

2010-11-05T19:15:00.005-04:00

Today I had some time to work on the OK1IAK /KD1JV Morse and PSK31 reader kit. This was my 1st attempt at hand soldering SMT (surface mount technology) parts. The new (used) Hakko 936 Iron was also used for the 1st time. All the parts are now mounted except one resistor which could not be located.

Front of reader showing LCD display

Back of reader

Hakko 936

My only other SMT soldering has been on the still untested Soft Rock 40 ver. 6.22 where I used solder paste , candle warmer (from craft store) and my wifes 'hot air embossing' gun which flows all the solder at once. If you go to Amateur Logic TV # 15 you can d/l a video of this technique The hand soldering is not too hard if you have a steady hand. I used my smallest jewelers screwdriver to hold the part down and set the Hakko Iron to about 800 degrees. Just wet the tip (very small pointed tip) with solder, a drop is way too much and solder one side while holding the part down with the screw driver.

Zombies and the CQWW SSB

2010-11-02T12:15:00.000-04:00

Friday Nite Zombies

I always look forward to the announcement of the Zombie Shuffle. My Friday night even included TWO actual QRP CW contacts this year.

Heard a fair number of stations but just worked two:

AC5JM in OK
WA5BDF an 'Elvis' station

At one time I had an actual Zombie # but I am now using my Area Code.

Sat we had to work but Sun I woke up early and got on the CQWW SSB test. Phone contests are usually not my favorite but I am finding them more enjoyable with the use of HRD. Once the voice keyer is loaded up with some wave files (made on Audacity usually) it possible to make many contacts without using the mic so much. After about 6 hours I had to leave on the motorcycle to go to Northern VA and then WV to attend and family B'day Party for my sister Amy. On the way home stopped in Harpers Ferry to check on my son's well that quit working. The leaves were about at their peak crossing the Appalachian Mountains and the electric vest and heavier gloves were needed on the two hour ride home to the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Band QSOs Pts Cty ZN
   7 4 8 4 3
   14 28 77 21 10
   21 83 236 48 12
   28 5 15 4 3
Total 120 336 77 28
Score: 35,280

NSA Cryptologic Museum (some QRP rigs)

2010-10-27T20:14:00.004-04:00

Only Enigma Machine in the World that you can touch

This week I stopped at the Cryptologic Museum and got to see a few QRP rigs as well as actually touch a WWII Engima Machine. It was raining while took a short tour. There were several people working on a new PR video for the museum and one of the people who was there to be interviewed gave me a quick talk on the 'Engima', the US counterpart called 'Sigabra' and the Japanese 'Jade' machine.

Large Hi Profile Sign

Engima

SINCGARS Military Radios

SINCGARS (Single-Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System) is a family of lightweight, very high frequency (VHF) frequency modulated (FM) or frequency hopping (FH) radios for infantry, tactical vehicles, naval and airborne employment. SINCGARS replaces all AN/PRC-77 manpack and AN/VRC-12 series vehicular mounted and most other airborne and ground VHF frequency modulated (FM) radios in the Department of Defense.

SINCGARS Tactical Radios. Top unit is SINCGARS ASIP while bottom unit is SINCGARS ICOM, in vehicle mount rack.

SINCGARS and SINCGARS-compatible radios have been a core component of U.S. military tactical communiations since the 1980s. The version table on this page shows many of the models that have been issued to Army, Marine Corp, Navy, and Air Force units but more have been and will be fielded to provide interoperable radios with different configurations. Suffixes are added to existing model numbers or new nomenclature is created when functional changes are made. There is also a large complement of auxiliary equipment for functions such as encryption and frequency hopping code generation, key loading and management, power supplies and batteries, mounting racks, cables, antennas, switching, interop and retrans, and much more that can be found in the SINCGARS manuals.

Different type of HF portable

The KY-57 is the man portable ground equipment and is only contains the voice encryption function so it needs to be used with a radio or wire line.

Note that the classical KY-57 uses a digital data stream at 16 k bits per second and so needs what's called a wide band radio channel. This is why military radios have 25 kHz channel spacing whereas commercial plain text radios use a 5 kHz channel spacing. Becasue of this need for bandwidth the VINSON system will not work on H.F. radios, only VHF and UHF wideband radios.

The Frequency hopping aspect of radios like the SINCGARS and Have Quick makes it difficult for an enemy to get a bearing on a transmitter, but does not provide secure voice transmission. That's why these radios either use a KY-57 or KY-58 or have an equivalent function built-in.

The KY-57/58/67 support OTAR, Over The Air Rekeying. This can be done once the KY-57 has a Key Encryption Key (KEK) loaded in variable slot 6. The new dkeys are transmitted in the clear as Black keys and converted into Red keys by the KEK as they are loaded into the slots. Note the KEK can not be sent over the air and needs to be loaded locally.

Cray Super Computer

PRD-1 in Vietnam display

The PRD-1 is an H.F. receiver designed for direction finding.

It can be mounted on it's special tripod (included in this auction)

or using a special mount that allows leveling of the radio,

on the fender of a jeep like the willys Jeep or M38A1.(check other auctions),

First used in the Korean War, the AN/PRD-1 Direction Finding Set

was the workhorse during the Vietnam War for determining from what

direction enemy radio signals were coming.

It could pick up continuous wave, interrupted wave, frequency-modulated (fm)

and amplitude-modulated (am) signals and, by rotating the antenna

to determine w the maximum pickup was obtained, home in on

enemy radio sources.

R-395/PRD-1 Receiver Covers 100 Kc to 30 Mc with High sensitivity

Sigabra (US Enigma type machine) Never broken!

n 1943 , the Americans and British together a Combined Cipher Machine (CCM). The British and American Typex SIGABRA could thus send messages to each other. Although the British Typex does the Americans showed, the Americans refused their machine to the British show. The CCM was used by the British Navy in 1943 . The CCM represents an improvement for both the U.S. and Typex SIGABRA .

Typex 22 (BID/08/2) and Typex 23 (BID/08/3) were late models include plug boards for even more security.

It is estimated that by the end of World War II more than 12,000 machines were produced Typex.

The Typex machines remained in use until the seventies. In 1973 the New Zealand government stripped away from the last machine.

Voice Scrambling Technology

n cryptography, SIGSALY (also known as the X System, Project X, Ciphony I, and the Green Hornet) was a secure speech system used inWorld War II for the highest-level Allied communications.

It pioneered a number of digital communications concepts, including the first transmission of speech using pulse-code modulation.

The name SIGSALY was not an acronym, but a cover name that resembled an acronym—the SIG part was common in Army Signal Corps names (eg, SIGABA). The prototype was called the "Green Hornet" after the popular radio show The Green Hornet, because it sounded like a buzzing hornet— resembling the show's theme tune — to anyone trying to eavesdrop on the conversation.

Telemetry RX

VC Code Key

Visiting Lilly

2010-10-26T11:44:00.001-04:00

Dan under the Pathy

For the last few weeks I have been riding the motorcycle over to Lovettsville, VA and Harpers Ferry WV to visit family and help my son work on his truck.

Lilly Smiling at Heather!

Lilly is now about 10 mo old and is 'crusing' crawling and she holds her hands up when the football team scores!

Pass at the VA = WV state line with some new road construction Fall Colors starting to show.

HW-7 Versus HW-8 a Subjective Face off

2010-10-15T15:25:00.006-04:00

HW-8 Versus HW-7

HW 7 Top, HW 8 Bottom

HW 8 Transmit Test with WM-2

Back at the end of '08 I purchased both a HW-7 and a HW-8 to compare the DC receivers to the Willamette20 that I was constructing at the time. I had tried them briefly but not head to head. The HW-8 is going to be traded so before packing it up I thought I would test it for the next person and then I decided to put the HW-7 on the test as well.

These are some very unscientific findings based on yesterday's test. The test setup included a Cuschcraft R7 vertical which is more or less tuned to CW frequencies, an Oak Hills QRP wattmeter and a Heath IP-18 regulated supply which is only rated at 500 ma so may not really be quite large enough.

The differences in the rigs include the the addition of 80M in the '8' in exchange for the crystal option on the '7'. The other main differences are improvements in the receiver which manifest themselves as increased sensitivity and less microphonics on the '8' There is also improved resistance to broadcast interference. I owned an original HW-7 in 1972 or so that I built and used fairly often for several years and don't remember the broadcast interference but then again I usually used indoor dipoles tuned for one band rather than the R7 multiband vertical.
Anyway by careful tuning of the preselector knob I could still get readable signals with the '7' but it does not have the sensitivity of the '8' which has an RF Gain control. The '7' though actually had a nicer CW 'note' (IMHO) than the '8' though with a good signal tuned in. The sidetone however sounds much cleaner on the '8' vs a rather harsh sounding sidetone on the '7'.

On the transmit side I found both units to put out about 1 watt with the '7' being somewhat higher on all three of its bands. The '8' put out just at 1 watt on 80M and then a bit less on 40M then a bit less on 20 and maybe 750mw on 15. The '7' was over 1 watt on all bands. This could be a result of weak p/s or individual tuning.

I have made maybe 50 or so QSO's with the Willamette20 now and it is a much better rig in some ways on 20M but of course you don't have the multiband option of the '7' or '8'. The receiver in the Willamette20 is better than the '7' for sure and it sounds better than the '8' audio wise. The tuning on the '20' is different because it uses a variactor diode instead of a capacitor. The 10 turn potentiometer on the '20' makes for a nice although not linear tuning rate. The HW's have a more linear tuning rate and a calibrated dial that is actually fairly accurate although not in the way we are now used to with modern radios.

Either of the Heaths will net you plenty of QSO's at the one watt QRP level but the '8''s receiver is overall better in sensitivity and resistance to Short Wave B/C interference.

The single Band Willamette20 is at least equal and probably better than the '8' in the number of signals it will hear. The 20 has a beautiful sounding sidetone and very smooth all solid state semi break in as well as a relatively hefty 4.5 watt output.

HW - 7 Story

In 1972 I purchased one of the 1st hundred or two HW-7's I ordered it new as soon as Heath was taking orders. I lived in NC and built the rig and took it with me when I joined the Air Force in 1972. Using a 15M dipole with 'clip lead extenders' taped to the WWII style barracks at Lowery AFB in Denver CO I made many contacts all over the world with the little rig. Later on living 'off base' in a small house I was able to put a dipole up in the yard and continued to make contacts for several years. This was my 1st QRP rig and getting another one was a trip down memory lane. Later when the HW 8 came out I had been happy enough with the HW 7 that I did not think it would be worth buying another kit. Well it is a step up as far as the RX but I think I will keep the '7' 'just because'.

Another HW-8 on the way.

Links of lots of info Thanks to William Mcfadden WD8RIF
Good link to lots of HW-7 info http://home.frognet.net/~mcfadden/wd8rif/hw7.htm
Good link to lots of HW-8 info http://home.frognet.net/~mcfadden/wd8rif/hw8.htm

CARA Hamfest

2010-10-09T23:32:00.000-04:00

Columbia Amateur Radio Ass'n Hamfest at Howard Co Fairgrounds was last weekend and I took a ride over there on the way to some family visiting. I met W3PO there and we got to visit and socialize some with some other hams that I have know for quite some time and they all seemed to be a lot older now. I came home with some new connectors and purchased a new 'mini-mag mount' for the old Icom 24at that was pressed back into service with it's new battery from Batteries America.

Tailgating Old and New

M/C Bob's Mobile Rig

APRS Stuff

APRS Prius Install

Small Car LOTS of Antennas

At the Howard Co. Fairgrounds

QRP QRSS MEPT

2010-10-01T20:05:00.004-04:00

QRP Labs Transmitter working on bench

This is the QRP Labs QRSS Transmitter available from Hans Summers. I purchased the kit at FDIM at Dayton and the tropical depression with 2 days of rain seemed like a good time to work on it. Today I got the kit running on the bench still on 12 wpm with 36 ohm dummy load I am getting 5.08V p to p output on the scope. This is somewhere around 50 mw and is set somewhat below max output as max output causes the transistor to run pretty warm. I also found out that you can reverse voltage the PIC enough to cause a 2nd degree burn on the finger and it still seems to be working. I am letting it run overnight or for a few days before I put the antenna on it. Before it started working I had a bad looking sine wave at very low level. Also the final was amplifying this spurious signal. After poking and prodding and reheating some connections it starting running properly.

Check the Yahoo Group on QRP Labs for info on this inexpensive kit.

Also check W4HBK's FL Grabber

This has now been on the air with a marginal 40M half wave wire on 10.140.70 sending 3 sec dits

'Stink Bugs' at Portable QRP location

2010-09-28T09:40:00.000-04:00

I left the End Fed Antenna up at my mom's house in Lovettsville for a couple of weeks with the lead in coming through a window left cracked open and the room was infested with brown marmorated stink bugs when we came back this time. There were so many on the curtains I took them down and threw them into the garden, then they all try to get back in! They will climb on to the coax lead in and walk right back inside. Finally I gave up and threw the antenna lead out the window and latched it. No more radio with the window cracked open here!

This Penn State paper offers a good background info http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/brown-marmorated-stink-bug

There were so many of these creatures it was like a biblical plague. The vacuum cleaner method seemed to be the best approach to getting them out of the house. They are resistant to many pesticides and they do give off a mildly offensive odor when they are threatened or die. We found they liked dark folds in the curtains, crevices in upholstery, behind pictures and mirrors on the walls, and other nice dark easy to get at spaces. They come indoors in Sept -Oct looking for places to 'winter over'. For collecting them without a vacuum cleaner, a large tall glass with some soapy water is good. One of their defense mechanisms seems to be to fall so if you tap the glass on the wall underneath them they often just let go and fall into the glass. They are good swimmers but the soap kills the surface tension on the water and they will sink and drown. The best defense seems to be sealing all the cracks around the doors, windows etc.

Have fun with these creatures! It is a bit like a bad Sci-Fi movie.

QRP End Fed Tuner Kit

2010-09-23T12:59:00.007-04:00

A few months ago KI6J mentioned he was going to do a kit of his end fed tuner that he designed for SOTA use and it came last week. Here are his pix of the kit. Mine went together this far with no problems and I am looking forward to getting it finished and tested with one of the QRP rigs here.

Parts included in kit

Top Side of board with 3 bridge resistors

My tuner build

Bottom of board with tapped inductor, switch and polyvaricon

KI6J SOTA Station Tuner in upper right of pack, rig is ATS-3

4/4/2011 Still have not actually field tested the tuner however I noticed that Stu said he still had a few of the kits left for $25 shipped. Contact him at KI6MWN@yahoo.com.

9/2910 Added the 5100 ohm test resistor to the output and tried it with the MFJ 259B set to 40M. A nice dip was obtained in both switch positions. With the bridge 'in circuit' the Analyzer read about 1.5 and with it switched out it read about 1.2 to 1. This was done holding some of the connections and it was somewhat sensitive to hand position.

Schmatic of End Fed Tuner de KI6J

Post taken from AT Sprint Yahoo Group

To all: here's a link to three pictures related to KI6J's little, teeny, efficient and just down right cute end fed half wave antenna tuner:
http://cid-cda74515702b545d.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/End%20fed%20halfwave%20tuneer

One pic is a snap shot of the antenna analyzer's view for the original prototype version - Stu, KI6J, told me today that improving the parts layoout in Version 2 has reduced the reactive component to nearly zero, but I don't have a copy of that snap shot to share!

One picture shows Version 2 - the tuner and SWR bridge assembled and installed in a small project box - darn cute little thang!!

The last picture shows just the tuner board in the ugly style of construction.

Stu is commiting to produce 100 kits for the EFHW tuner with built in SWR bridge. He has found a source for all of the components and is working on the PCB artwork now. He expects to have the kits - tuner and SWR bridge - available by the first week of August 1, and expects the kit to sell at $30 plus shipping. Note: the board is being designed to fit in the Radio Shack 2x3 inch project box ($3 at radio shack) but the builder will have to provide the enclosure and RF connector of choice.

He also has available, at this time, a few tuner-only boards, already built, like the one in the picture with the quarter for size reference. Note: this board does not include a SWR indicator but is a ready-to-go end fed half wave tuner for 40 through 15 meters and is priced at $18 per board, plus shipping. You supply an enclosure, connectors and SWR indicator and you are good to go.

Thanks to all that have already contacted Stu and myself, and others interested in this end fed halfwave tuner - it works GREAT! I've got one and find it to be the easiest antenna system to set up, tune and get operate.

Stu's e-mail address is: ki6mwn@... and you have mine. Please let Stu and I know of your interest in purchasing one of these sweet 40-15 meter end fed half wave tuners; notifying him/I will make it easier for Stu to plan his off-work hours accordingly and have the tuners ready as close as possible by that first week in August - if that date slips more than a couple of days, Stu or I will notify you individually. If you have technical questions, address those with Stu.

Please pass on, as appropriate, to other hams you interact with and think might be interested in this tuner and SWR bridge.

Best regards, Jim Rodenkirch, K9JWV

Disclaimer: I have no financial interest in this endeavor - Stu and I are friends and I appreciate all he's done to get this end fed halfwave system up and running; I, simply, believe in this product, LOVE how it works for me and want to share it with other QRPers! I, probably, will handle the shipping of the orders for Stu as there is no sales tax for out of state deliveries here in Utah; whatever my shipping costs are to your specific locale will be the cost to you.

Note added Sept 2, '11
Hendricks now has a very similar kit see Hendricks SOTO EFHW

Coroplast Gel Cell Cover

2010-09-15T16:31:00.002-04:00

2 4.5 AH 6V gel cells

Primary are over and using a piece of Coroplast I borrowed an idea from Bob AD7BP and made a cover for one of my QRP gel cells and added a Powerpole connector to help prevent shorts and provide a bit of cushion in the pack, go-bag or luggage.

Coroplastic Batt cover

Powerpole Connectors are oriented according to Orange Co. Races info

Aural Exciter with Big Bottom

2010-09-14T17:48:00.001-04:00

Aphex Aural Exciter

Just added an Aphex Aural Exciter Type C2 with Big Bottom to the station. This unit is something I have wanted to try because it is so famous in the recording business. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphex_Systems
These are now available for a reasonable price on eBay and require a mic preamp. At the present I am using the soundcard as part of the audio chain.

NoVA QRP Sept Get together

2010-09-13T15:16:00.003-04:00

Attended the 2nd Annual NoVA QRP Get together last Saturday and took the Willamette20 over for 'show and tell' We also got to see the host's 'Shack' which is more like a radio mueseum than anything I have seen. NoVA QRP has now been around for 11 years!

Link to NoVA QRP
Link to some pix on Webshots

Back to the 70's

2010-09-03T18:41:00.004-04:00

Drake TR-33c from the late 70's

Received two NOS Comm Spec Tone boards. They program to only one tone and you use 'solder blobs' to select the tone that you want. One went in a FT-726 V/UHF All Mode from the early 80's and the other went into the Drake (actually Kenwood-Trio) TR-33c which was an upgrade to the much more famous TR-22 that was probably the 1st really sucessful transistor FM Transceiver for the Amateur Radio Community. These units helped fuel the 'repeater craze' that was a forerunner to modern Cell Phone systems. Now the radio will make a good Emergency Monitor for the local repeater because it draws very little power it will run for days off a small gel cell battery. 35ma on Rx with no signal. Rig underneath is the home made 20M CW transceiver called the Willamette20.

Comm-Spec Tone Board

This is similar to the tone boards used but this is a newer model with a DIP switch instead of solder blobs for the tone selection and this one will do 64 tones instead of 32.

Salter Path Beach Trip

2010-08-28T12:50:00.003-04:00

A few days at the beach with some QRP operating and a trip to the Aquarium.

Ann walking the beach

House in Salter Path

Inverted Doublet

Working some QRP with FT-817

Worked

S51WO Solvenia on CW

7X4AN Spain on CW

DL4KCA Germany on CW with QRP too

WB3AAI near Philadelphia PA on CW

KI4ZXZ in Fayetteville NC on SSB

K6YLG in TX on PSK31

You lookin at me?

More Pix on Webshots

Cambridge Wing and Wheels

2010-08-28T12:39:00.002-04:00

A nice hot summer day at the Cambridge Wings and Wheels sponsered by B&B Sport Aviation

Nice Globe Swift

RANS S-12

VW Bus on the Eastern Shore

New Chinese Bikes

More pix on Webshots

Vermont Bash - Mt. Snow COG

2010-08-09T19:56:00.001-04:00

This years VT Bash was great! 92 attended the Mt. Snow COG event this year. The weather was great too with two days of riding that felt like Sept. with temps in the 70's(F) and clear blue skies with white puffy clouds.

Hogback Mt. Overlook

Weston VT Church

Vermont Country Store with lots of Sports Cars

Getting ready to Ride

More Pix on Webshots http://rides.webshots.com/album/578351223kdmlNv

Berryville Hamfest

2010-08-02T11:45:00.002-04:00

Sunday was the 60th Annual Berryville Hamfest and it was just a beautiful day for it. Last year it rained all day and today the forecast was for rain but the weather guessers were wrong and it was a great day for a hamfest.
http://www.svarc.us/hamfest/

Nice shady Hamfest!

This probably the prettiest hamfest venue I have been too.

There were actually some good 'ol radios here too

Several sets of nice radios, a bunch of nice FT-1000's too. D's and MP's

I met up with one of my old ham 'buddies' and talked to many folks over coffee and some of the good 'Bar B Que'. There were actaully some nice radios for sale. Bunch of Yaesu contest type HF rigs, older HT's for cheap and some nicer looking Drakes, Collins etc. Good selection of the 'good' stuff. I only bought some wire and and connectors but had a great time.

Nice Keys March Magnetic Paddles

66 Corvair

Our family probably owned 10 of these in the early 70's

More old stuff and folks

R.F. Connectionsa good place for connectors and coax

The Google 'route' to the hamfest was close to Harpers Ferry so we stopped to visit Lilly my Grand Daughter at Dan and Heathers house, then stopped at Lovettsville to visit there for a couple of hours. This trip took 14 hours and 300 miles of driving but was a good day.

Hey I Just Woke UP!