AmateurRadio.com

Lots of changes

As those of you know who have been reading my blog that I have no problem selling items that are no longer being used here at VE3WDM....and it would look like I am not done but that is a whole new subject. Since I have sold and bought items, things here at the shack have changed a lot. This afternoon I was looking at the pic on my blog of me sitting at the op desk and boy is it out dated!!! Some of the gear in that picture no long find it's home here but are being used at other op's. Just some of the items that no longer call it home are the LP-Pan (along with it the external sound card) that I built and was very hard to let go seeing it

The KAT100 and 100w amp enclosure

P3 and AKG headphones

was a project of mine. There was a second MFJ 1026 noise canceller which by the way went to soon in hind sight I would had sent it down to Larry W2LJ. I now know that he is looking for one due to Plasma TV troubles...would had sent it to him to try and buy. Then there was the K1ELUSB keyer that seemed to just be taking up space. Some the additions to the shack over the last little while are Elecraft P3 and all I can say is "it's excellent"!! I have remote mounted my Elecraft KAT100 tuner and 100 watt module in a separate enclosure. This allows me to run the K2 both at home and then grab and go for portable op's. Soon the battery and internal tuner will be installed in the K2 for the full portable operation experience. Another addition to the ham family was the CMOS-4 Logikit keyer by Idiom press. That seems to be about all the changes that have gone on here and I will be updating my profile picture soon to reflect the changes. I also sold the Heil Pro headphones since I am 100% CW then the Pro set plus was a waste. I read glowing reviews of the AKG K240 headphones I decided to go with those.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

A couple of weeks ago Jeff KO7M wrote that he had acquired a binocular microscope for the workbench to enable him to work with SMT components. Although I have no particular desire to do SMT work at the moment I do have trouble with close-up work due to my eyes’ limited focal range and becoming very far-sighted. So I thought a binocular microscope would be a good addition to my workbench too.

Jeff wrote that his binocular microscope was not cheap and from the look of it I would imagine the cost ran well into three figures. The one I got was £30 from a firm that disposes of liquidated stock on eBay. I’m sure it isn’t as good as the one Jeff got but hopefully it will be useful. If not I can always start another hobby looking at plants and insects or growing bacteria!

Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].

Over the Chinese New Year’s holiday I managed to start and (almost) finish a project I have been brooding over for months: a Cobweb antenna. Lightweight, small, multi-band, no tuning needed, in one-word “ideal.” There was a very interesting thread over at QRZ.com about building one and I read all the other literature I could find on the subject. I finally settled for the alternative design by G3TXQ using single wire dipoles which would be easier to tune, but required a balun for impedance transformation.

I’m still on a very tight budget, so the antenna had to be build on the cheap. That means thinking outside the box and starting with taking a good look around you. Fishing rods are expensive here. The cheapest I could find were almost 400 NT dollars per piece. But hey, we’re in Asia: bamboo is cheap, but it is also strong and lightweight. So I spend 200 NT dollars (5 euro’s or 7.50 USD) on bamboo instead of 2000 NT on fishing rods. Aluminium is hard to get in Taiwan, because people find it too soft. Stainless steel is widely used, so the local iron monger cut me two pieces for a little less than 200 NT dollars. U-bolts were also cheap at the local hardware store. Twin lead costed me 400 NT dollars for 50 meters and after two days of work it all looked like this….

The G3TXQ version requires a 1:4 balun to bring up the impedance to 50 ohms, as square folded dipoles have an impedance of 12 ohms (which every one knows, right?). The ferrite of choice is the Amidon FT140-61, but ferrite is not easy to get in Taiwan. Over in Taipei there is a little shop called RF-Parts, run by Mr. Dong, so I went to see what he got. He only had the FT-114-61, so that would mean two stacked together and that twice. Suddenly the Cobweb started to get expensive, because when I left Mr. Dong my wallet was NT$720 lighter. Add another 160 NT dollars for two meters of RG316 coax and the cost of the balun gets close to NT$1000, That’s almost more than the rest of the materials for the antenna together! But the final result looks like this….

After Chinese New Year we had two days of mild weather. Great for pruning the antenna on the balcony. Centimeter by centimeter I started cutting the wires until I had the SWR 1:1 on the frequency I wanted. The five dipoles influence each other, so it was going back and forth from 20 to 10 meters, measuring and cutting. The balcony was full of little pieces of wire afterwards, which refused to be swept up, so they were picked up by hand. But after two days the job was finally done and I could start enjoying my new creation.

NOT! Where are those sun spots when you need them? The bands were pretty empty and my first QSO was with 4W0VB in East Timor on 30 meters, at night. I know, that is not one of the band the Cobweb covers, but the TS-440S build-in tuner did it’s job well. And then it started to rain and I started to cry. Because the rain caused my carefully tuned 1:1 SWR to wander off two to 300 kHz below the resonant frequency that I tuned it for. Again, the TS-440S tuner could manage that, but why? Why does a little bit of rain de-tune my new baby? I don’t want to use a tuner. That’s not why I build the Cobweb.

I did manage to work some nice stations during the last week though: C31HA twice, 4W0VB twice more, XW3DT, PY6HD, CX3TQ and N7DR who mailed me to say I need to be patient, because conditions are indeed pretty lousy. I put up the CB whip to compare signal quality and indeed the Cobweb is quieter than a vertical. Signals are also a bit weaker, but only by one or two S-points.

So, am I happy now? No, because after the rain the wind started to play games. Longtan is not Port Martin, but it comes close. Winds howling all day long and gusts that make you and the house shiver. Longtan is situated on a plateau about 300 meters ASL and the area is known for wind and moisture. The Cobweb is light and strong, but the wires on my version were sweeping and swaying so much that SWR was not stable for a second. And the sectioned fiber glass pole that the Cobweb is mounted on was turning too much and the coax curled around it.

http://youtu.be/b5_BubymxzA

I need to start thinking about a sturdier construction. I saw some springs in a hardware store and I’m thinking about using them to keep the dipoles tight. That is the easy part, but I also need to figure out why moisture is influencing the SWR so much. Could it be the bamboo? Or is it the heavy reinforcement in the house?

I’ll keep the antenna up for another couple of days and then put the 10 meter vertical back up again. I miss roaming the upper bands at night and I want to keep my CW streak going. But a fun project it was and I learned a lot from it. And that’s what it’s all about, not?

Hans "Fong" van den Boogert, BX2ABT, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Taiwan. Contact him at [email protected].

This appeared on the KX3 YahooGroup reflector today:

All-

Attached is a photo of KX3 #6. It’s an outdoor shot with the backlight off. This unit is in Field Test here, which is its own type of milestone for all those waiting patiently. I’ll be writing objective appraisals of this FT unit. That will be my intent, anyway (objectivity). This email is a first cut. Read on.

My personal opinion is that this is the coolest amateur transceiver ever designed, built, or dreamed of. Perfect size, perfect weight, VERY respectable performance. You can *really* take the KX3 with you, and you’ll really want to. Mine’s going everywhere with me, including the workplace! I know my engineering staff will demand to see how Wayne and crew fit it all in, and how well the KX3 works.

After one day using this unit, I’ve reached the conclusion that the KX3 is basically ready for initial production. As is usual for a ‘young’ rig from Elecraft, firmware is still a work in progress. This should be no surprise to anyone on this list. The hardware is at near-100% shape, IMHO. There are a few minor issues – mostly features not yet implemented. And I mean minor. If I weren’t an engineering manager in the consumer products industry I would not have noticed any of them. The electronics seems solid, and I’ve done a bit of lab testing for MDS and selectivity. Most of my testing has been on the air though. My lab testing shows MDS better than -136 dBm, but my signal generator can’t extend any lower. No problems with rejecting out of band signals (away from the roofing filter’s coverage).

On the air: I’ve had about fifteen CW QSOs, using between 1 and 12 Watts output power. The antenna is a homebrew multi-band vertical, ground mounted. Four of these Qs were on battery power. No differences were found between operating on external and internal power, except for the output power limitations due to batteries. One Q was with an extremely weak QRP station in New Mexico. The APF helped with this, to the point that I could not have pulled him out without the feature. With APF engaged, his signal was 539 with rapid fades to 319. He was running 0.5W and I was running 3 W. Great ragchew, with very few repeats.

Except for Navy-Marine Corps MARS, I’m mostly a CW op. Several SSB contacts went successfully after a false start: I had to finagle the MH3’s input connection a bit (a virgin socket seating issue). I set the MIC and CMP values by listening on a second receiver and built in MONitor, giving MIC=18 and CMP=10 as the best combination. Audio reports using the MH3 and this setting were excellent – “clear as a bell” and “good presence”. Output using the internal speaker is adequate, though not amazingly loud. Some of that is probably my 55 year old ears and too many rock concerts when I was younger. The frequency response seems relatively flat and lows are surprisingly well-represented. Distortion is low (< 2% THD the way I hear it).

The FOC and NA contests run this weekend were an interesting environment for first-time ops on the KX3. Lots of strong signals, many in excess of S9+25. A majority of the QSOs mentioned above were near strong signals and with the roofing filter in place I had pretty good luck ignoring the big guns while working weak signals. I have to admit this is completely subjective, however years of experience with the K3 also tells me that the KX3 has similar characteristics in this regard. The best example from on-air testing was the NM CW station I mentioned above. His signal was marginal, meaning the APF was essential for pulling him out of the band noise. At the same time, 3 to 4 KHz up was one of those big guns thumping away. I could even hear key clicks from the contester, but only a tiny amount of blocking from his signal on the KX3. That’s what I mean by “similar to the K3”. It’s not identical though. I found instances where a little bit of a strong station’s signal was near- or in-band, and as you would expect some pretty severe blocking occurred. I’d recommend everyone make sure they have the roofing filter on the “essentials” list for purchase. In many ways the roofer makes the KX3 what it was meant to be.

One thing that’s notable and exceptional: I haven’t seen any of the typical issues of a “zero IF” architecture. No image problems, no ripple in the passband (in either SSB or CW), no audio artifacts. The advantage to a zero IF architecture is that there’s no “donut hole” around the IF frequency; there are others too – one single conversion takes less space than multiple conversions, less power consumed, less heat generated.

As a Navy-Marine Corps MARS operator, I’m looking forward to using the KX3 in our ECOM exercises. Its size and power consumption are perfect for such types of portable operation. It’s the item that will take the least amount of space in your Go Kit.

Sorry so much of this is non-quantitative. I’ll try to get more out after another day or two.

Standard disclaimer: I am not employed by nor do I have a fiduciary interest in Elecraft.

73,

Matt Zilmer, W6NIA / NNN0UET / NNN0GAF THREE
NMCM RMS Winmor: NNU9ET-5: Upland, CA.

W2LJ is …..trying…….to……..remain calm ……….not get………too………..excited ……….

Not working – not working – not working !!!!

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

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Now this is REALLY Freeze Your Buns Off / Polar Bear Moonlight Madness !!!

QRP’ers – are we dedicated or just plain crazy?

Gatineau Park and the Wolf Trail sure look beautiful!  Thanks Martin, for sharing, you have shown us the quintessential FYBO / PBMME effort.

FYI, the HK0NA DXpedition ended today.  Thanks to the crew and its supporters for their efforts.  I got them exactly once and that’s plenty for me.  According to the Team, even after 190,000 +++ QSOs, the pileups were still very deep.  Hope all of you were lucky enough to have worked them, if you were trying.

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

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

OK, I know…. This isn’t a steals and deals kind of blog, but I wanted to share with you a great promotion Amazon is running on the Elenco Snap Circuits SC-300.

I paid over $60 when I bought one for my kids a year ago and it’s on sale right now at Amazon for just over $30 with free shipping. If you have kids or grandkids who are interested in electronics and science experimentation, this kit can’t be beat. Do a little early Christmas or birthday present shopping and get them something they’ll really enjoy — and learn something from, too! You’ll be truly amazed at the projects they can create with this kit.

 OK, here’s the best part! If you buy it through this link, you’ll be helping to support one of my favorite podcasts, Jerry Taylor’s Practical Amateur Radio Podcast. Jerry does a tremendous job and there are many costs associated with creating and distributing a podcast. Buy a fantastic product (the Snap Circuits SC-300) for a special youngster and support a great cause (KD0BIK’s Practical Amateur Radio Podcast). It doesn’t cost you anything to use the link, but he’ll make a dollar or so to help support his podcasting efforts. Win-win!

And lastly, being from New England… GO PATS!

 

Matt Thomas, W1MST, is the managing editor of AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

Yesterday a packet from the USA dropped on to the doormat. It was the LCD UI module from Gadget Gangster. The cheap international shipping option is pretty quick!

LCD UI module ready for assembly

On opening the envelope I was taken by surprise as I hadn’t realized the module was a kit. But there aren’t too many components and they are all through-hole so I should be able to manage it. I will take my time and double check everything to ensure I don’t do anything stupid like solder headers on the wrong side of the board. More than a few K2 builders have done that!

The instructions on the Gadget Gangster website are very comprehensive with several colour photos showing different stages of assembly. But on checking the parts against the parts list I found that I was missing one 2×8-pin header socket. Fortunately I found one (a pack of 2 actually) for a couple of quid from a UK based eBay component supplier so I should have it in a couple of days. eBay is my main source of electronic components these days as the usual sources like Farnell or Maplin all have hefty minimum order and postage charges that make ordering the single part you need to complete a project quite uneconomic.

Kits and Parts Universal RF Amplifier

 A few days earlier I received another kit from the USA: a QRP RF amplifier from Kits and Parts. I got this with the idea of using it with my Propeller beacon but it is probably too good for that. The beacon really needs only a simple class C amplifier to raise its output to a couple of hundred milliwatts. I had been tempted to go for a couple of watts but whilst WSPRing on 20m today and monitoring the signal on the K2 I noticed a weak in-band spurious around 14.05 MHz which no low-pass filter will eliminate. So it is probably best to stick to QRPp if using the Propeller as an RF source.

Another new arrival in the G4ILO shack was a GPS module from Hong Kong. This was used, ex-equipment, and cost about £12 including postage. I’m not sure what I am going to use it for but if I don’t put it in the beacon to provide a time reference (and locator) for WSPR it would be interesting to try to make an APRS tracker using the Propeller chip.

So many projects! But I am convinced that having this amateur radio hobby to give me so many different and interesting activities is the reason I remain cheerful and positive unlike so many people who have the same health condition and seem to fall into a slough of despond and hopelessness. I may never complete them but at least they give me something to stop me dwelling on darker thoughts.

Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].