The excellent article by Rajendra Bhatt explains not only how capacitance can be measured but also how a micro-controller can be interfaced to an analog circuit to create a useful piece of test equipment.

Capacitance meter by Rajendra Bhatt

I found the explanation of the RC time constant method of measurement as interesting as the micro-processor project itself and congratulate Raj on demonstrating a practical and workable real-life example of what can normally be a dry textbook subject.

I try very hard not to needlessly duplicate the offerings of my fellow bloggers. However, I caught Chris KQ2RP’s post and felt that it needed amplification (pun intended).

Rex Harper W1REX, member of the QRP Hall of Fame and primary owner/operator of QRPme has come up with a great idea – the “QRP Kit of the Month Club”.

This is such a cool idea!  Personally, I think it’s one of the best unexpected gifts a QRPer could find himself being on the receiving end of. Wow – bad sentence, but you know what I mean.  🙂

I’d much rather receive a QRP kit every month rather than a piece of fruit, or a cheese ball, or a beef log, or a jar of jam or jelly.  You can opt into different subscription plans; but for the full boat of 12 months, it works out to 12 kits at $15 a clip – not bad at all.  I know that sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t when you think of how it breaks down.

Kudos to Rex for coming up with an innovative idea!  It will be interesting to see if any QRPers are gifted this way.  I may have to start leaving some obvious hints myself, starting this coming October and November.

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

Like always this is my last contest before the summer and before I dismantle the horizontal loop antenna. Unfortenately I was a little exhausted from work last couple of weeks. No time for radio except once and a while with my little Baofeng HT on the bike. Besides that family life is getting more and more important as our little QRP Anneli is growing up fast, that means less time for the radio hobby. Anyway I had a difficult start at Saturday having no patience to work real DX, I was so tired I stopped at about 150 QSOs. Sunday was a lot better after a reasonable night sleep, although I didn’t have time till the afternoon I made 410 QSOs in the end with 80 DXCC in total on the list. Working a new DXCC (number 200) was my goal and at the end I managed that. I worked Z21BB (Zimbabwe) and TO7BC (Mayotte Isl.) both on 10m as “new” all band DXCCs. As the propagation was really good I concentrated my efforts on the high bands. I left 40, 80 and 160m for Sunday evening as I didn’t expect to hear many “new” DXCC for me at those bands. One thing did surprise me and that was a QSO with Japan on 20m Saturday evening I heard several VK stations as well on that time, very unusual and I guess it was all longpath propagation. I think I missed a lot of stations as well since I coudn’t be on the radio early in the morning, but as always I had a lot of fun in this DX contest.

You can find a log analysis here…

Some highlights:

10m: JA0JHA (Japan), B7P (China), V55V (Namibia), TR8CA (Gabon), PZ5P (Surinam), Z21BB (Zimbabwe), TO7BC (Mayotte), YB8Y(Indonesia), 

15m: VP52V (Turks & Caicos Isl.), JT5DX (Mongolia), TO5K (Martinique), KP2TM (US Virgin Isl.), WH7M (Hawaii)  

20m: JE1ZWT (Japan), 9Y4W (Trinidad & Tobago)

80m: UP2L (Kazakhstan)

At the weekend I noticed that the CQ WW WPX phone contest was on. I’m not a fan of phone contests – hollering your call into a mic over and over again is not my idea of fun – but I thought it might be interesting to see what I could hear or work on 10m when so many stations were on.

In the end I only made a handful of contacts. It was just too manic for my current state of mind. I couldn’t remember the serial numbers I was given before typing them into the log, so I would have to wait for the station I worked to make another contact and see what the next serial number was. I much prefer CW contests using a code reader to print up the exchange so that I can just double-click the information to enter it error-free in the log.

I’ve just started my final cycle of chemotherapy and it has knocked me back a bit. So I think I’ll stick to pastimes like WSPR and JT65 that have a more relaxed pace until I’m feeling better.

I registered with RS Components for a Raspberry Pi board (when they get released) and whilst I’m not expecting one this side of the summer it was nice to get an update from them. If the truth be told I’m having too much fun activating summits in at the moment. Especially now as we seem to have a warm spell. It certainly makes a change from hail and snow I had on Scafell Pike a couple of weeks ago. Anyway see below for the update from RS:

Welcome to the latest Raspberry Pi update from RS Components!

Much has been happening behind the scenes since you received our last update, not least the start of compliance testing on the Raspberry Pi.

Why are we doing this? Compliance testing is an essential part of bringing any electronic product to market. The Raspberry Pi is being tested to make sure it conforms to all the regulations that apply to electronic devices around the world. This means that we can be sure the Raspberry Pi we deliver to you meets the correct standards and is as safe as you would expect any electronic device you purchase to be.

We’re working with the Raspberry Pi Foundation to manage the testing process as quickly as possible, while ensuring all tests are carried out to guarantee safety. More information is being posted on the Raspberry Pi website , as well as on our own FAQ pages rswww.com or DesignSpark. We’re also regularly tweeting updates on progress. Follow @RSElectronics on twitter to catch the latest news.

Alongside this, we’ve also been contacting the first group of people who registered for a Raspberry Pi from RS, to help us plan delivery of the initial batch of boards. In next week’s update, we’ll provide more information on how we’re managing the queue and the order process.

RS Components

Series Five Episode Seven of the ICQ Podcast has been released. News Stories include :-

• RAFARS AOTA event
• London 2012 Games Final Update
• VO-52 to return soon
• 'Birthplace of Radio' awarded City status
• BBC highlight problems with PLT
• Complete collection of QRPp Journal is online
• DXCC Online
• Special Callsign for Naval Social Event
• HMS Collingwood Amateur Radio Special Event station
• Ham moves to 'ideal' North Dakota

Martin M1MRB gets ready for Spring with his Radio Spring Cleaning tips and Ed Durrant, VK2ARE provides an intro to the HF bands.

My antenna…

…didn’t wake you up at 3 AM last night with loud music.

…doesn’t mind it when you leave your curtains open and walk around naked in your house.

…doesn’t rev up its engine for two hours like Joe does down the street with his old Mustang on Friday nights.

…won’t pollute your water well.

…didn’t mess up your TV yesterday, but the signal coming out of it may have.  Sorry about that.  I can fix that if you’ll let me.

…won’t drive up over the curb and over your flowers and shrubs.

…doesn’t belong to a gang.

…isn’t as cute as the woman next door, but my antenna didn’t call the township office like the woman next door did when you didn’t get a building permit.

…will never be on a sexual predator list.

…doesn’t bark at everything that moves.

…is a technological sculpture…well, to me, at least.

…is a gathering place for birds, when they’re not over at your bird feeder.

Come to think of it, my antenna is a pretty good neighbor.