AmateurRadio.com

Every once in awhile I’m reminded of the magic of radio and why this hobby is so much fun!

For the past week and a bit, in between power outages of up to four days, I’ve been optimizing a circuit from the December ‘36 ‘Radio’ magazine.





It looked like it might be something that would be fun to use during the weeknight NRN (Novice Rig Nights) activities ... a Jone’s-style push-pull crystal power oscillator using a pair of 6V6s. The original article called for 6L6s but my power supply can probably not provide much more power than is already coming from the 6V6s and these will likely be easier on my few precious novice-band crystals.





The circuit is lashed-up on my very well-worn 'aluminum breadboard', which is peppered with numerous convenient holes punched or drilled for mounting various crystal sockets, tube / coil sockets, variable caps etc ... it really looks awful but allows easy parts swapping to test out different configurations.



This afternoon I had the thing perking to my satisfaction, along with a very sweet-sounding CW note, using my WWII - era 7121kc crystal. Everything looked good into the dummy load so I connected the 40m antenna through the tuner, clipped the bug to the cathode resistor and at about 40 minutes before sunset, sent a short ‘CQ’, hoping for a nearby local but not really expecting a reply ... now this is the magic part. 

My CQ was immediately pounced-upon by John, N2BE, on the other side of the continent, in New Jersey! I shook my head at the dangling pile of clip leads and just-barely soldered components clamped in the bench vice and had to smile when he gave me a 589 report! John was working the AWA's Linc Cundall CW Contest, where rigs must be pre-1950 designs or builds. I was happily able to give him a legitimate point, using my 1936 Jones oscillator!



At 400V on the plates,  the little lash-up puts out 18 watts and seems to be about 45% efficient ... not too bad for a power oscillator. As well, the crystal current must be low as it keys nicely and doesn't sound stressed. 

I’ll soon be rebuilding the little transmitter into something more presentable, probably similar to my Tri-Tet-Ten, using the short-lived but visually attractive mid-30’s building style that mated a shiny aluminum plate to a nice wooden base.


Stay tuned ... I’ll hopefully have it completed over the next few weeks and will be looking for some 80 / 40m  NRN Monday night fun!
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 125 is now available for download.

The official unedited version of our almost 4 hour 2018 New Year’s Eve Celebration live stream.
An International group of guest help ring in the New Year with tales of the past year in Ham Radio and projects.
Plus classic AmateurLogic.TV ‘Half Speed Theater.’
George and Tommy welcome:
Mike Morneau, VE3MIC
Laird Nigel P Lawrence G0MEJ KG0PL
Andy Anderson, KP4AAN
Carmen M Centeno Calero, WP4QER
Dan Van Evenhoven, N9LVS
Amanda Alden, K1DDL
Jeff Carrier, K0JDS
A cameo appearance by Emile Diodene, KE5QKR.

3:56:45

Download
YouTube

George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

Closing out 2018, here are the top five blog posts at k0nr.com during the year. Apparently these posts are “evergreen content” because they were all written years ago, well before 2018. With the exception of the Baofeng cable article, they were all on the top five list last year.

Choose Your 2m Frequency Wisely

Getting Started on 2m SSB

Can I Use My Ham Radio on Public Safety Frequencies?

DMR Hotspot from SharkRF

Solving the Baofeng Cable Problem

Happy New Year and 73 from Bob/K0NR

The post Top Five K0NR Blog Posts for 2018 appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

2018 was one of the coldest Winters we have had for many years in the UK, followed by one of the hottest Summers, that brought out our shorts, burnt up our lawns, and farmers were talking up the price of food because the drought had caused the yield to fail, so they said anyway? But the crisis wasn't just down to the weather, the high street was under attack from changing times! Expensive rents, high business rates, the new living wage hike and shoppers that were migrating in droves to the Internet, that were being blamed for causing the end of famous names to quit the towns and cities and made to go bust. Getting caught up in all this mess was MAPLIN the last electronic major retailer of electronic components, gizzmos, electronic toys and computer components, on the high street. Stores were mainly confined to big retail parks, after they had embarked on a rapid expansion program in the late 1990's.     I had caught a smell of Maplin's demise for quite a number of years before the rumour had ever hit the fan. Everytime I had gone into a store, I kept asking myself how were they surviving, as very few customers could be seen in the stores when I had made a visit? Maybe they did well at weekends, Christmas and holiday time, but every visit I had made hardly a soul was seen? I have to admit, Maplin never filled me with much enthusiasm either, they were expensive! I never really bought much from them, but they were handy, if I was in the area and just short of one component to finish a project one had been itching to get going quick!   This one was the well presented store I visited at Walsall, West Midlands in early February. But already there was a sign something was not quite right, shelves were begining to look empty and not being refilled, the rumour was already in the air.   By the end of February the game was up, Maplin was surrendering, the receivers were called in to try and save jobs and stores. How did they get it all so wrong? Whatever Maplin was doing, was already being done, by the likes of RS and CPC for next day component delivery, or if you were the small constructor willing to wait a couple of weeks an abundance supply can be had from Ebay and Chinese sellers and the likes of Banggood. Store closurer came quite rapid, nothing could be done to save over 200 stores and all the jobs that went with them, the shutters were finally brought down on the whole operation by the end of July 2018 all was closed, or was it? Out of the ashes the name survives and has been bought by Dragons Den Tycoon Pete Jones, already the Website is getting ready to run again  and the name is alive once more here: Maplin!  What will 2019 bring? A Happy New Year to you all.  
Steve, G1KQH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from England. Contact him at [email protected].

Ham College episode 48 is now available for download.
General Amateur Radio Exam part 19. Overmodulation and Test Equipment.

1:16:01

Download
YouTube

George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

Well Christmas has past and now it's the New Year that is being pushed with the full force of the media.....join a gym, loose weight and change your career. I'm good with all three of the mentioned BUT lets get back to Christmas shall we........ or to be more precise about a month before Christmas. My wife has been listening to me "mutter" now and then about my ham radio adventure. My blog readers are well aware of my purchase of the Expert Electronics Sun SDR2 Pro SDR transceiver. I was thrilled with the rig and how it preformed was amazing. I did mention how I truly missed the knobs and dials of a "real" radio but at the same time it was somewhat worth giving up for the
waterfall, SDR funtionality and 2 independent receivers. Little did I know Julie was listening to my now and then comments about radios as I read QST. My wife who is not a ham and has made it very clear she has no interest in radio what so ever but she was able to hear my interest in SDR radio and my missing an actual rig put it together and get in touch with our local ham radio dealer. The pictures tell the story of what was under the tree on Christmas morning!!
There is going to be an Expert Electronics Sun SDR2 pro rig that is just over 6 month old up for sale very soon.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Well G3XBM is always reminiscing about his time at PYE, I wish I could do the same for Thorn Automation days, but as most of the work was restricted very little of their products have made it into the Amateur world. .

Rogers recent ramble here made me reach for the desk drawer. Out I pulled a PF1 receiver still complete with case.



I cut my teeth on a PF1 with my first taste of 70cm receive back in the early 1980's. What I seem to remember I picked  up quite a few of these at a radio rally for about £5 each! But the crystal was about the same price again, which was required to replace the original to get them working on one lonely channel, or tuned up on a single repeater frequency, in my case being Stafford GB3ZI (433.275MHz). What I seem to remember tune up was quite a fiddle, they used to break into oscillation, as the pull was quite a bit out of the zone of where they had originally been working in the commercial world.






This one has seen better days, but most of it is still quite complete apart from the metal shield over the front end. The battery was rechargeable 9V long time expired, but soldering in a 3F23 or PP3 would make it burst into life. So as you can see I have been around quite a while to remember the older PYE generation, but not quite as long as G3XBM. :-)



Steve, G1KQH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from England. Contact him at [email protected].