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I’ve always wanted to operate my radio on Solar Power. This was a fun to do project. I can’t wait to bring it to a Field Day Event.

I bought the aluminum from Metals Depot in Kentucky. (link attached)  They have lots of aluminum shapes and parts to choose from. The parts arrived via UPS. It nice to have a good source like this for ham radio projects.http://www.metalsdepot.com/

HQRP is a good company to buy solar panel parts and controlers from. The QRP part of their name is just coincidental to this being a QRP project.  http://hqrp.com/

de AA1IK

Ernest Gregoire

72

Baofeng UV-3R Mark II

So, as some of you may have guessed, I like to tinker.  For some reason I’m never satisfied with things the way they are when I buy gadgets.  I have an Acer NetBook running Mac OS X, an old Windows Mobile phone running Android Froyo, and a $50 CVS 7″ WinCE NetBook running Debian Linux.  If there’s a mod, I want to know about it.  I had been reading about the Baofeng UV-3R and its capabilities before I ordered the his and hers models and made sure I ordered a programming cable too, so that I could attempt the 220 mod that’s been talked about.  I ordered the cable from someone different than the radios, so as of Thursday it had not arrived yet.  Could I wait?  Of course not.

I also own a Radio Shack Pro-137 scanner.  This is a 1000-channel model that was marketed as a racing scanner.  You can usually pick them up on the cheap because of the racing moniker.  In reality, these are great all-around scanners, with a stalker function that helps when testing commercial radios.  I have a programming cable for the pro-137 that I used, along with ARC software and a RadioReference account, to load all of the local frequencies I wanted.  I was thinking that day, after dealing with several other forms of USB-to-serial adapters that these cables are not all that different.  Just the pins are different.  The scanner uses a 3-conductor 3.5mm plug, and the Baofeng uses a 4-conductor one.

I examined the pinouts for both radios, and realized that the ground and first ring are the same, but the third ring on the scanner’s plug corresponds to the fourth ring on the Baofeng, so it was probably not going to work.  I know this because when you plug standard stereo headphones into the UV-3R, you short

Radio Sack 20-047

out pins 3 and 4 in the radio, causing the radio to transmit.  When using headphones though, if you pull the plug out just a little (about a mm), you get one ear (left) of sound.  I wondered if this would work with the programming cable.  I started the software. and hit the button to download the radio memories onto my computer.  After a couple of tries I found the sweet spot.  About a mm out there is a slight detent you can feel.  That is where you need to be.  It works!  I will post the results of my experimenting with the software and the mod later.  If any of you have one of these cables laying around, it will work.  The stock drivers in Vista and Win7 will even work!  Some Radio Shack’s have these on closeout still.  Stock number 20-047.

The funny thing is this:  Guess what was waiting in the mail when I got home?

–Neil  W2NDG

I have a bunch of chores and chauffeuring to do today.  I probably won’t get around to continuing the build until this evening.  To paraphrase John Lennon’s quote: “Real life is what happens while you’re busy making Ham Radio plans”.

However, here are a couple of thoughts about the progress so far, for those of you who might be inclined to get one of these but are undecided.  This isn’t meant to sway anyone either way – just some observations.

The assembly manual is superb.  No ambiguities at all.  Each step is very clearly outlined.  If you have any questions, they are always readily answered on either the regular Elecraft reflector or the KX3 reflector.  It’s a big community.  Even though the number of kits shipped so far has been less than the number of factory built units shipped, the Elecraft folks and the Field Testers are quick to supply answers.

Elecraft was super quick to answer my query about missing screws and supplied me with a tracking number the next day.

In the opening pages of the manual, the words appear “Even easy for first time kit builders”.  This is true – don’t think that just because you’ve never built a kit before that you can’t undertake this.  I know that the price point can make the effort seem foreboding, but it’s really not. 

Do make sure to do the parts inventory, though.  I am sure the missing screws incident is due to the haste to get product out the door.  As the opening rush subsides, I am sure missing parts will become rare.  I ordered my K1 and my K2 way after the initial release and neither of those kits were missing anything. Indeed, I had excess screws which are proving to be a real life saver now.  But in the meantime, if you have ordered a kit and will be getting it soon – DO THE INVENTORY.

Hopefully, I’ll be posting more photos later tonight.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Although the special callsigns for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee have been available for some weeks, I had decided only to use mine over the immediate Jubilee period.

I’m only using it for a bit of fun rather than to generate pileups!

As I said to Richard G4ERP last night, it’s the radio equivalent of putting it the bunting and celebrating our Queen’s jubilee.

The internet keeps spewing forth a river of bits, some of it actually useful information.

Reliable sources tell me that the date for the 2013 Hamcon Colorado has been set: June 28-30 in Estes Park, Colorado. This event is the best hamfest in Colorado and happens every 4 years. (It is the ARRL Rocky Mt Division Convention which rotates between Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico.) The date is a little later in the year than previous Hamcon Colorado’s which I think will be even better for attracting out of state visitors. The 2012 division convention will be held July 27-29 in Bryce, Utah.

The ARRL June VHF QSO Party is coming up on June 9-11. This is my favorite ham radio event of the year, since it stimulates VHF activity and (usually) has some good propagation on 50 MHz. Get on the air and have some fun!

For the EEs in the crowd, my friend Ken Wyatt (WA6TTY)  is now writing an EMC Blog for Test and Measurement World. Ken is a industry expert on Electromagnetic Compatibility and a pretty darn good author as well.

This article in The Atlantic says that people are using their WiFi SSID to share their political position (“I Heart Obama”). This is sad, really sad.

Neil Armstrong is one my personal heroes, not just because he was the first man on the moon (I mean, if you believe that really happened). He has had every opportunity to promote himself as a celebrity but instead he keeps a low profile. I like that. I came across the video of an excellent (and rare) interview with him on an Australian web site.

There is a new ham radio podcast on the air: Ham Radio Podcast. Check it out and give it a try. And, in case you haven’t found this one, check out the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast by my friend Jerry Taylor (KD0BIK).

The ARRL has launched the digital version of QST magazine. It seems to work but it’s not a very satisfying experience on my little netbook. Probably better with a large monitor. See comments from AA6E and KE9V.

- 73, Bob K0NR

This morning was the monthly meeting of the West Central MN Amateur Radio Club. I joined this club about four months ago thanks to the invitation of Dean Herzberg, NYØI.

June 2, 2012 meeting of the West Central MN Amateur Radio Club. Photo taken by Antonio Mitchell.

It’s the first amateur radio club I’ve ever joined. I wish I’d joined one sooner! Certainly I wouldn’t have had to drive as far to attend club meetings while I lived in the Twin Cities. This club meets in Madison, about 45 minutes away from my house. It’s worth the drive, though. I get to put faces with call signs and catch up on local developments. Speaking selfishly, it’s already benefited me a great deal. Dean helped me mount my dual-band antenna on the roof, and he allowed me to borrow the club’s antenna analyzer, too. I hope I can return the favor somehow. That’s the sort of thing that happens in an amateur radio club.

My son, Antonio, came along this morning, hoping to take his Technician exam. Unfortunately the test-materials hadn’t arrived yet, so he was understandably disappointed. I invited the Volunteer Examiners to my house for dinner when the materials do arrive. Since my son has become adept at grilling, maybe he’ll be the one to serve them steak if they decide to make the trip.

One of the things we discussed this morning was the possibility of helping out at the airshow two weeks away here in Granite Falls. There is a gap that needs filled in their operations, namely the coordination of shuttles running between the airport and remote parking lots. It remains to be seen whether we can muster enough volunteers, but if we can it would be a great way to demonstrate our capabilities and practice working together for the day we assist in an emergency. I’m hoping we will get some more volunteers from another ARES® group nearby. It would really be neat if we had enough hams with APRS to put the shuttles on a map, but that’s a pretty tall order right now. I’ll be happy just to put one ham in each parking lot, one at the airport, and perhaps one NCS at the midpoint if we decide to use simplex. The local sheriff has a portable tower that he has offered for our use, and it might be just the thing for an NCS to use. All these details need to be worked out, but that’s exactly why these opportunities are so valuable — better to figure out how to do these things now rather than in a time of crisis.

If you aren’t a member of a local amateur radio club, I encourage you to look into one. It is well worth your while!

The build continues.  So far I have put about 2 hours into this.  While I’m not quite done, I can see this being done in the 2 hours that Wayne mentioned on the KX3 reflector.  But being uber careful, I am going slow and really taking my time (and also taking time to take photos).  At this point I am “basically“ finished.  I still need to install the battery holders, the auto tuner and the roofing filters.  That won’t take long.  While I am done for the night, I should have this completed and will hopefully make my first QSO (God willing and the creek don’t rise) tomorrow.

This is what the top half looks like from the back. You can click on any of these photos to get a larger image.  The speaker and VFO encoder are towards the top right.

Here’s a close up of the speaker hooked up to the CP board.  Directly below that is the VFO encoder (and shield).

Here’s the finished top half.  If you look at the bottom right hand corner of the plastic bezel you will see where I have a temporary “make do” silver screw holding the bezel down.  This is where I was shorted one screw. I will put a black one in whenever it arrives from Elecraft.

This is the RF board in the bottom housing.  That big black square to the upper left is a magnetic shield.  Things are really crammed onto these circuit boards, I can only imagine the effort it would take to build these boards as a “conventional” kit.

This is the BNC connector. It was a bit tricky to get this in, as with the RF Board in place and screwed down you have to finagle the connector part way into the hole, then get the lock washer and nut in place and started.  Then you have to push the BNC to its final resting place against the chassis wall while simultaneously tightening the lock nut.  There’s just not a lot of space!

Here’s the two final transistors tightened down to the chassis/heat sink area.  This is another area where you have to be careful as Elecraft makes sure to mention (with a big caution) not to disturb that electrolytic capacitor.

So far this has been real easy as kit builds go.  The assembly manual is superbly done. The hardest part so far was installing some nylon screws for the rubber feet.  You want to make sure you get the screws started at exactly the right angle so you don’t end up cross threading or otherwise mucking up the screw threads.

And except for that one silver screw at the bezel, I have been able to make do and keep the build going using those extra screws I had left over from my K1 and K2.  Kudos to Elecraft for basically staying with the same hardware so that my “junk box” screws blend right in.  The hardware that I have coming from Aptos will go to replenish my “extras”.

The bad side of all this ????  This is really making me want a K3 now!  Maybe if I sell off some of my baseball memorabilia collection …………….

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!