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This morning I completed the wiring of the test-bed MOPA's Hartley oscillator circuit. I was using the 80m tank at the time, wound with 3/16" copper tubing. Oscillator keying is about what I expected ... stable but with some ripple on the note. Even with DC on the filaments, many of these open-breadboard oscillators suffer from RF-modulated notes. Sometime wrapping the power supply or keying leads in a ferrite toroid help or eliminate the slight rasp. On the other hand, some builders prefer to have a note that sounds more '29-like, as in all likelihood, not many notes sounded like pure DC back in the day.
I'm really having second thoughts about my construction method and may just jump to the next (final) construction phase rather than slog through completion of the test-bed model. I've already learned much about the layout by getting to this stage and the extra work involved in completing the test-bed model may not tell me anything new.



I'm using a VT-25 version of the somewhat pricey and hard-to-find type '10' tube. The final version will be built in a similar fashion to my Tri-Tet-Ten, on an aluminum sheet atop the breadboard. Hopefully having the groundplane and shorter leads, will lead to a cleaner note in the final version.

I'm rather dreading this next final phase as there is little room for error. The aluminum sheet must be precisely pre-drilled, as well as the breadboard, and protected at all times (especially when making soldered connections) to prevent any finger marks or scratching on the aluminum sheet. There are still several drilling details to be worked out before I can move forward.


Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

As a young boy I recall listening to long distant A.M. radio stations in the evening on my transistor radio. As a young boy I had two hobbies that thrilled me, that was rock collecting and electronics. At a very early age my parents would buy me Radio Shack perfboard kits, 101 in 1 project kits and then an AM radio kit to build and then I was fortunate enough to get a Radio Shack Globe Patrol SWR to put together and listen to the world.

But what I recall most of all was having a tie to many of the local AM stations as I had an Uncle who was a DJ on many of them and then he eventually became Chief News Editor in Thunder Bay for CBC (CBQ). In the day we had 3 A.M. stations that ran full time, 580 CKPR , 800 CBQ and then 1230 (CJLX, CFPA), and then not being too far from Duluth MN where we are located I could usually hear at least 2 stations from there both day and night, one in particular was around 560.

I best recall listening to many programs at night, everything from Grand Old Opry, CBS Mystery Theater, The Great Gildersleeve and The Life of Riley, Dragnet and others. Of course WLS 890 was always loud here in Thunder Bay, ON (Formerly The Twin Cities of Fort William and Port Arthur)

There are no more A.M. stations in Thunder Bay, all have migrated to F.M., however as you drive along the North Shore of Lake Superior you will find many low power A.M. stations that rebroadcast some of the larger stations.

Here is a look at a few of the reminders of those once powerful and notable stations that once took on the air waves.

Fred Lesnick, VE3FAL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Thunder Bay Ontario, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Ham College episode 2 is now available for download.

Ham College, the new show for those new to the hobby and those wishing to get into Amateur Radio.

In episode 2 we’ve got early Radio Receiver History, a Crystal Radio Demonstration, 12 more questions and answers from the Technical class question pool, and more.

1:00:37

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].

Completed 40m Pixie assembly

This evening, I completed the build of the 40m Pixie PCB assembly. It will get checked over for dry joints or shorts in the morning and air-tested shortly.

A very half-hearted attempt at the 6m UKAC this evening was aborted because of my poor voice but I only worked 3 locals in the short time I was on with my V2000 vertical.

I really wanted to crack on with the Pixie build, although I was not expecting to finish the built today.  The small PCB based kit does represent very good value.

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.

It has been a busy year on several fronts. My day job has kept me extremely busy, my band competed in the International Blues Challenge (IBC), getting to play two nights in BB Kings on Beale St. in Memphis, TN to packed houses and I've been accumulating a lot of SOTA points.

Sometimes my busy schedule gives me opportunities to activate summits that I wouldn't otherwise get to activate. A case in point was travelling to the IBC in Memphis. My drive from San Antonio took me through eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. Both areas are target rich environments for SOTA activators so I was able to accumulate a lot of points. So many points in fact that, when added to a recent trip to Santa Fe, NM and the Davis Mountains in Texas I am knocking on the door of the SOTA Mountain Goat award which requires 1,000 activator points. I am now at 965 points.

Not just because I am getting close to earning MG status, but I believe this is one of the toughest awards in ham radio if you factor in the physical side of it. Nearly all awards in the amateur radio world require you sit on your derriere for hours or even days at a time. You will never mistake a ham convention for a gathering of tri-athletes. Staying fit enough to do these climbs has me in the best shape I've been in  years. That said, you don't have to be in fantastic shape to participate in SOTA. There are mountains or hills  that qualify that can be driven up or just a short walk will get you there. But it does require that you get outside, which is a good thing. And I promise, the more you do it, the more you will want to do.

I've learned some much about portable QRP operating while working toward this award. It's been said that when you achieve MG status, you have a Ph.D in portable radio operation. When I think about my first activation versus the way I operate now, it's night and day. I travel so much lighter and my station is much more efficient. I can be operating within 10 minutes of arriving on the summit with a station that will generate a pile-up and make DX contacts on multiple bands.

So I am anxious to get the 1,000th point, which hopefully will be within the next couple of weeks. Below is a video and picture from a couple of summits I activated last weekend in the Davis Mountains of Texas. The Davis Mountains are the home of the McDonald Observatory which, as you will see below, is a dominant feature on the horizon in that area. BTW, Mount Locke, where the observatory sits, is a 10 pointer that you drive up, however you have to get of the house to get there. The picture is from Mt. Arabella, a fairly steep 8 pointer that will take the average person 30 -45 minutes to ascend. The video is from Peak 6411 outside of Ft. Davis. It also is a drive-up. I use the Alex Loop on drive up mountains, but End Fed Half Wave (EFHW) on hikes of any distance.

Since beginning my chase for MG my longest hike was doing Santa Fe Baldy, in Santa Fe, NM. A 15 mile roundtrip up to 12,000+ ft. ASL. The tallest mountain I've done is Mt. Sherman in Colorado at 14,036 ft. ASL.

I 'm sure I will make another posting to the Blog when I get the 1,000th point. I can't wait to become a certified Old Goat!

McDonald Observatory from Mt. Arabella

Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Over on Reddit, there’s a discussion going on about an Android smartphone with some sort of built-in UHF radio (FRS/GMRS). It appears to be a Chinese-made Android phone from Otium called the Otium V8. It’s for sale on Amazon for about $300.

Below is a screenshot from someone asking how it works. The frequency is a shared FRS/GMRS channel (in the U.S). I would expect a radio like this to be “channelized” and not show a frequency directly on the screen — which makes me wonder what other frequencies one might be able to enter…?

Are GSM phones with built-in radios common? Has anyone ever used one of these?

From the screenshot of the built-in PTT app, it looks like it has an adjustable power level, does frequency splits, PL/CTCSS, and even has a narrow/wide bandwidth selection.

What chip are they using to do this? Can it be tweaked with software to transmit/receive “out of range” in the 70cm ham band? I’m curious!

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

As Brick also mentioned in in his last post about Anytone Tech: the reactions on the new models vary wildly. I think Brick said all there is to say, but I’ll add this thought:

– If a radio is cheap but crap, we complain, but buy it anyway.
– If a radio is good but costs more, we complain, but suddenly the price is all that matters.

Let’s see how these radios perform and at what price point before judging them. I know John of Miklor.com gets (or already has) review samples, and I’m on the list too. To give you some more insight in what these radios can and cannot do, here are some preliminary user manuals (PDF).

ANILE-8R User Manual (Preliminary)

NSTIG-8R User Manual (Preliminary)

OBLTR-8R + TERMN-8R User Manual (Preliminary)

Hans, PD0AC, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Almere, The Netherlands. Contact him at [email protected].