NEAR-FEST and news about 15m dipole.

So, I went to NEAR-Fest today and picked up some things I needed. I got a mike stand, a four way  antenna switch and a mag mount 2m/70cm mobile antenna. All at really good prices.

Some good news about the 15 meter dipole. It works. I don't know why, but when I hooked it up to the antenna switch, it seemed to be fine. Go figure. Maybe not making good connection to the radio?

But I was able to make two PSK31 contacts and one CW contact. Believe or not it has been 30 years since my last 15 meter CW contact, but won't be my last for sure.

More to come!!

15 meter dipole.. not so good.

Hello again. Well I finally got to put up my 15 meter antenna last Sunday. A big disappointment! It didn't really work all that well. Just by accident I decided to see if it was something wrong with the antenna and swapped with my 40 meter dipole and guess what? The 40 meter dipole worked great. I was getting a very strong signal! Then after thinking about and doing some research, it turns out a 40 meter dipole will also work on 15 meters because it is a 3rd harmonic of 40 meters. So I have been able to use 15 meters all this time but didn't realize it.

Anyway, here is a picture of the antenna. I will probable replace it with a home brew bazooka later on. I have already bought the coax for it. You can actually see all six of my antennas in this picture. The vertical one is my Slim Jim 2 meter/75 centimeter antenna. That antenna works great!

Had a couple of CW contacts this weekend. One with Chris N3GBJ. Very nice guy and very supportive. He suggested that I try the CWops academy, so I signed up for the April/May class. Thanks Chris!

Also been doing some web design using a program called "Kompozer" . I am trying to get a web page started on qsl.net. More on that later.

All for now.

New Radio!!

Well got my new 2 meter radio last Saturday, a Kenwood TM-281A really nice! I am only using it on low power at the moment. If you look at the picture, the power supply is just to the right. I bought it off eBay for $30.00, 30 Amps at about 13.3 volts. It will handling the load, just don't want to use more power then required for the repeaters I mostly use.

New this radio was $137.00 from GigaParts. One sold on eBay used for $160.00! no bargain.

My new Kenwood

On a different note I have received all the parts for my projects. I have no excuse for not starting it. hihi

All for now

Back already! Well I found the problem with my HW-8. It was a bad electrolytic cap in the power supply. Easy fix.

Since I have it in the "shop" I think I will do the project that I have been planning for over a year now. I have a SWR meter, frequency counter and audio switched capacitor filter that I want to build and put into a box. I bought the box the other day on eBay. I think it will be big enough to fit all the components into.

Right now I have the frequency counter tack soldered to the HW-8 PCB. I want to add pins to the 6 pin Molex connector on the back of the radio so I can disconnect the radio from the rest of the circuits. I want to keep the radio as original as possible.

More later.

Been a long time. Lets see if I can remember what happen this summer.

I did go to NEAR-Fest. A lot of stuff. I am not calling it junk, but..... Oh well. I will probable go again in October to see if I can get a 2 meter rig cheap.

My HW-8 started having problems. I am getting a very load buzz on the audio. I can still receive so most the radio is OK. Probable a filter cap has gone.

I bought a couple of headphones, A Hamilton MPC-2900PC (32 ohms)  and a Califone 3068AV (1000 ohms). The HW-8 manual says it requires a 1000 ohms impedance where the TS-520S requires 8 to 16 ohms. So I use the Hamilton on the Kenwood and the Califone on the HW-8.

Still have not made any contacts on the 80 meter sloper. 80 doesn't seem to have a lot activity on it so I don't know if the antenna works properly or not. I can tune up on it so I assume it will work.

I also bought a 15 meter dipole but haven't put it up yet. real soon now hihi.

As far NTS, the Boston repeater is somewhat working again with a temporary antenna. But now the Paxton repeater has problems with its transmitting antenna so I can't hear it very well. This limits my activity on the cm2m net. HHTN is still good and I still check in as often as I can.

Not real happy with the key I bought from MFJ. It is too stiff and it is kind of lopsided. The Navy keys look great!!

Here is a picture of my keys, two Navy and one MFJ. I am using the one on the left right now.

My straight keys

In addition to being a member of NAQCC and SKCC, I have joined FIST. I feel CW is an important part of amateur radio, even though it is not required. It is still very exciting to make CW contacts. I get a real feeling of accomplishment.

Tried running EasyPal software but I am having issue with the PTT on the serial port. It seems that Windows 7 initializes the RTS and DTR to on (or + voltage)  and the EasyPal software apparently leaves it in this state when in the receive mode. It only effects the RTS and DTR when it goes in the transmit mode. I know this because if I set the RTS or DTR to be low ( - voltage) during transmit, it puts the radio in the receive mode when is should be transmitting. Tried to get some help from the developer but he never answered my email. Well you get what you pay for.....

Below is a picture of my BiTX20 project. Hasn't changed since May hihi. They are about to sell a complete kit with a case. I think I will buy it.

BiTX20 transceiver 

Well it has been over a month since I last posted. Since last month I have joined the SKCC, bought an audio filter for my HW-8 and made some more CW and PSK31 contacts. Actually made a California CW contact. with my Kenwood TS-520S on 20 meters. Since I am fairly new I don't know if the better prop for 20 meters is seasonal or sun spot cyclic.

I have also bought a couple of straight keys on from MFJ and another Navy flame proof key 
(CMI-26003A) off of eBay. I also bought a couple of bases for the Navy keys. Look real nice.
Still been busy with the NTS nets, thought the EM2M net has been out of service due to antenna problems. I understand they can't get up there to fix it due to OSHA. Don't know exactly why.

NEAR-Fest is coming up in May. I plan to get there this year. At least for Saturday hihi.

Tried a new mode this last month called "digital voice" see http://freedv.org/tiki-index.php
Interesting but not very reliable yet. They are working on it and it is fun to try doing a QSO. If you can do PSK31 then you can do this.

Everyone knows the tragedy we had here this last week. All I will say is I hope all those affected will recover, and those that died are in a better place.

Here is a picture of me in my shack. Has been awhile since I posted. Here is what has happened.

Finally was able to put up a 40 meter folded coaxial dipole and a 80 meter sloper. Haven't tried the sloper yet but I have used the 40 meter dipole with my HW-8 and was able to make three contacts that day.

I will try the sloper this weekend.

Finally got some Molex pins and a crimping tool so I can connect my frequency counter to the HW-8 via the Molex plug in the back. There are six positions on the Molex but only two are used. Right now it is just soldered to the circuit board so I can not put the cover on yet. I also have a SWR meter to build. I just need a case to put both the freq counter and SWR meter in.

My biggest accomplishment to date has been a QSO with an Australian station on 20 meters with PSK31. That was cool.

All for now. See you soon!

Well today is my birthday so I thought  I would do a new posts. Of course I am the only one that reads it.
I finally got a MC-50 mic for my Kenwood and it works great. I bought a VSWR meter for my HW-8 rig and plan to build it soon. I think I will put it in an enclosure with the freq counter I have connected to the HW-8.

 I bought a 80 meter sloper antenna and I have finishing making a 40 meter dipole. I will use these with the Kenwood for now, but some day I will buy a multi-band antenna for the Kenwood and use the other antennas for the HW-8. Just need a warm weekend to put them up.

Too cold in the basement to work on my BITX20, but I will get to it soon. Actually saw a "better" version of this type of radio. It uses CMOS analog switches instead of diodes to do the mixing, and fewer transformers.

I have been logging into several NTS nets the last month or so and been handling traffic. It is mostly "caned" messages not too many original ones but it helps to practice these messages. People are friendly and willing to help you learn. I feel it is important to know how to handle traffic and to keep the practice going.

Till next time.

OK It has been awhile. Got my Kenwood TS-520S setup on 20 meters and doing a lot of PSK31. Last night I chatted with an amateur on board an oil tanker in the Gulf. This wouldn't be unusual except it was about 8:00 pm and 20 meters is usually very quite then. He came in very strong. The benefits of operating on water. He said he can make contact with people in the south Pacific from the Gulf. Couldn't believe it! After I finished our QSO, he was talking to someone on an island east of Madagascar. That blew my mind.

I have moved my shack from the porch to the spare bedroom right next to the porch. It was just getting too cold.

Also made a CW contact on the Kenwood. Things are starting to come together. This weekend I will work some more on the BitX20 See if I can get the power amp running.

All for now and thanks for dropping by!

While trouble-shooting my BitX20 I realized the VFO was oscillating at twice the frequency. Turns out the VFO inductor, which happened to be half of a FM IF coil, was suppose to be rewound to obtain the correct  frequency. So I replaced it with a toriod wound with 50 turns and it it was pretty close to the correct frequency.

I still had problems with the audio circuit. After closely looking at the the schematic and actual circuit, I notice the an electrolytic cap was installed wrong. That made it better but it still oscillated, but only when the volume control was not fully turn to either the full on or full off position. (A clue)

I decided to look at the output of the transistor that drives the audio amp with a scope. Guess what? It stopped oscillating! Another clue! I assumed the probe capacitance neutralized the circuit, so I soldered a 220pf cap(because that was the smallest I had)  from the transistor collector to ground and that has solved the problem for now.

So I got the receiver working somewhat now for the transmitter. More to come!!