Subject: Start From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sat Jun 25 07:10:08 1994 Return-Path: id AA17341; Sat, 25 Jun 94 07:16:06 EDT id AA17478; Sat, 25 Jun 94 07:09:32 EDT by kc4sa.biol.scarolina.edu (Linux Smail3.1.28.1 #1) Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk id m0qHVfn-00082QC; Sat, 25 Jun 94 11:13 GMT Message-Id: From: brigman@kc4sa.biol.scarolina.edu (Gene Brigman) Subject: Variable coils To: marine!THINK.com!qrp@Think.COM Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 11:13:23 +0000 (GMT) Reply To: brigman@biol.scarolina.edu X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 829 My $.02 on the nail issue: Nails aren't made to 'exacting' specifications and the material certainly is homogenious. I know the value of good core material first hand. In the late 70's I bought one of the first Ten-Tec Triton IV's with permeability tuning. They managed to get a 'sour' run coils that went into those vfo's. That thing would move around the band faster than a cat on speed. The great folks at Ten-Tec quickly caught the problem and replaced those vfo's, but it made a lasting impression on me about the quality of core material. For a quick 'lemme see what would happen' it might be ok, but don't put that on our ham bands. -- ,---------------------------------------, | brigman@biol.scarolina.edu | `---------------------------------------' From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sat Jun 25 08:39:55 1994 Return-Path: (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Sat, 25 Jun 1994 05:39:14 -0700 id AA20276; Sat, 25 Jun 94 07:39:27 -0500 (rama) id QQwvuw02558; Sat, 25 Jun 1994 08:39:21 -0400 (Smail3.1.28.1 #5) id m0qHX1l-0001YtC; Sat, 25 Jun 94 08:40 EDT id m0qHX3Y-0008WuC; Sat, 25 Jun 94 08:42 EDT From: Mike.Czuhajewski%hambbs@wb3ffv.ampr.org (Mike Czuhajewski) To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: More on toroids/2 of 2 Date: Sat, 25 Jun 94 08:42:00 EST5EDT Message-Id: <1994Jun25.084200.3712@wb3ffv.ampr.org> X-Mailer: UniBoard 1.21f S/N 329931 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Toroids, part 2 of 2-- Next, I did some experiments this week to look at the effect of varying wire size vs. removing turns or compressing/spreading turns. I dug out the T68-2 core with 16 notches and wound it with 16 turns of #18 wire, the largest size that would fit on it. I resonated it at 7.9 MHz on the Boonton 260A, which took 278.0 pF, corresponding to an inductance of 1.459 uH. I removed the wire and rewound it with #32; this resonated with 269.3 pF, 1.507 uH, an increase of about 3.3%. (The Q with #18 was 222, while #32 only had a Q of 138, which is to be expected.) I used these two sizes to maximize the difference; my original experiments used every even numbered size from 18 to 28. Next, I took a fresh, unnotched T68-2. I put 16 turns of #18 on it, spread out to leave a 30 degree gap between the ends. This resonated with 254.3 pF, for 1.596 uH. I removed one turn, to 15, without disturbing the spacing of the turns. It resonated at 280.2 pF, 1.448 uH; going from 15 to 16 turns showed an increase of 10.2%, or a 9.3% decrease if you go the other way. That is quite a bit larger than the 3.3% increase obtained by simply rewinding with considerably smaller wire (with corresponding drop in Q). Next, I replaced the turn--back to 16--and compressed the turns to leave a 180 degree gap. This resonated with 200.5 pF, for 2.024 uH or a 27% increase over the 30 degree gap. Finally, I compressed the turns as much as possible, leaving a gap of about 260 degrees. It now resonated with 177.4 pF, or 2.287 uH. Going from a gap of 30 to 260 degrees resulted in an increase of 43%. Agreed, this is a pretty radical compression, in light of the rule of thumb of winding toroids with a 30 degree gap, but it does give a good illustration of the magnitude of inductance changes possible by simply varying turn spacing. Recap: Core 1: T68-2, notched to insure uniform turn spacing from coil to coil. Test frequency = 7.9 MHz. 16T #18 = 1.459 uH 16T #32 = 1.507 uH Core 2: Different T68-2 (not notched); 7.9 MHz. 15T, no compression, 1.448 uH 16T, 30 degree gap, 1.596 uH 16T, 180 degree gap, 2.024 uH 16T, 260 degree gap, 2.287 uH (And what would that compression from a 30 to 260 degree gap do to a tuned circuit? It takes about 324 pF to resonate 1.596 uH at 7 MHz. With 2.287 uH instead, the resonant frequency would drop to below 5.9 MHz.) Of course, winding wire on a T68-2 core makes it a bit difficult to control the spacing with extreme precision, even with the notches--while each turn is always the same distance from its neighbors where it passes the notch, the remaining 90% of each turn could vary by a few thousandths of an inch from coil to coil. How about a coil form where the entire length of each turn is rigidly controlled? Easy--wind it on a screw! While this results in a solenoidal rather than toroidal inductor, it would still show the effects of changing wire size. Using a screw has its own problems--the metal would not be an appropriate core at the frequency of test [see my earlier message on using nails!], and the relatively small size of a screw would result in a coil of low inductance and increase the effects of parasitic capacitance and inductance in the test setup. The answer was to use a large, nonmetallic threaded rod. During my lunch hour at work I put a scrap piece of 1" diameter teflon rod on the lathe in the machine shop and threaded it at 16 threads per inch. I screwed solder lugs onto each end, and soldered on 4" leads of stiff #10 wire. I calculated the inductance of the leads from data in the ARRL handbook and subtracted it from the results. (What's the permeability of teflon? Probably quite close to 1, which I would expect, since measured inductances agreed closely with the calculated value.) With 40 turns of #32 wire, I resonated the coil at 2.500 MHz with 309.3 pF. After subtracting the inductance of the #10 leads, the measurement was 12.928 uH, Q = 79. Rewinding the rod with #18 wire I got a net inductance of 13.013, Q = 204. Interestingly, going to the smaller wire resulted in slightly lower inductance, while a slight increase was seen with the toroids. However, the change on the rod was even smaller--0.6% vs 2 to 3% on the toroids. Naturally, the Q was higher with the larger diameter wire. Why did a smaller diameter give a slightly higher apparent inductance on the toroids but slightly lower on the solenoidal core? I'll leave that one to the engineers and physicists, but once again the point is that dramatic changes in wire size (with all other factors remaining constant) have generally insignificant impact on the net inductance of a coil. 73 and Queue Our Pea de WA8MCQ/24 June 1994 -- Mike Czuhajewski, user of the UniBoard System @ wb3ffv.ampr.org E-Mail: Mike.Czuhajewski%hambbs@wb3ffv.ampr.org The WB3FFV Amateur Radio BBS - Located in Baltimore, Maryland USA Supporting the Amateur Radio Hobby, and TCP/IP InterNetworking From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sat Jun 25 08:39:56 1994 Return-Path: (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Sat, 25 Jun 1994 05:39:13 -0700 id AA20274; Sat, 25 Jun 94 07:39:25 -0500 (rama) id QQwvuw02554; Sat, 25 Jun 1994 08:39:19 -0400 (Smail3.1.28.1 #5) id m0qHX1j-0001boC; Sat, 25 Jun 94 08:40 EDT id m0qHX11-0008WuC; Sat, 25 Jun 94 08:39 EDT From: Mike.Czuhajewski%hambbs@wb3ffv.ampr.org (Mike Czuhajewski) To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: More on toroids/1 of 2 Date: Sat, 25 Jun 94 08:39:23 EST5EDT Message-Id: <1994Jun25.083923.3712@wb3ffv.ampr.org> X-Mailer: UniBoard 1.21f S/N 329931 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk In a recent message on winding toroids, Chuck Adams said, > "If you have a choice on the wire size and a larger wire size, >i.e. next smaller wire number, will work, by all means do so. It'll >increase the Q and reduce the bandwidth. I'd bet that in most cases >you might have to reduce the turn count by one or two due to >increased distributed capacitance within the coil. I can do this >calculation, but I have bigger fish to fry. :-) > > dit dit Chuck Adams K5FO CP-60 adams@sgi.com" I'll counter his bet with my own, based on actual experiments: For most of the toroidal coils that we typically use at HF, I'll bet you will NOT need to reduce the turn count by one or two due to increased distributed capacitance. It does increase, but I contend that it's not enough to worry about in the real world, and that you can make a larger change by varying the spacing of the turns instead. I did some very carefully controlled experiments a while back along these lines, and saw only insignificant changes in apparent inductance due to changes in wire size. (It was detailed in both the QRP Quarterly, long form, and in Technical Correspondence in QST, condensed.) If you have a number of different cores which are nominally identical, such as a half dozen T50-2's, and wind all of them with the same number of turns but different sizes of wire (and insure that turn spacing is identical for all coils--a critical variable), you may see some noticeable inductance differences. But the cores are probably NOT identical, and the actual permeability can (and does) vary from core to core; the inductance variations may appear to come from different wire sizes but actually be due to a combination of that and core-to-core permeability variations. (If you can get a Micrometals catalog for their powdered irons, look up front--they cite inductance tolerances of plus/minus 5%.) In my experiments I carefully notched a T68-2 core around the edge with a knife (each turn had its very own notch) so I could wind many different coils on it with different wire sizes and be sure the turn spacing was identical each time. (It's well known that turn spacing has a significant effect on inductance.) I used only one core to eliminate the core to core permeability variation. I also eliminated the variable of turn spacing with the notches, so any inductance change would (theoretically) be due solely due to wire size. That would include, among any other effects, the differences in distributed capacitance due to different diameters. I repeated this with a couple different core sizes, and variation due to wire size changes was on the order of 2 or 3%. (On the T68-2 core with 16 turns, measured at 7.9 MHz, going from #18 to #28 caused an increase from 1.47 uH to 1.50 uH, or 1.7%.) My test equipment was a Boonton 260A Q meter. While they are getting pretty old now, unlike Rodney Dangerfield they DO get respect, at least from the "old timers." (They were very well respected in their day, as well as high priced. I have a 1964 ad for them, and the price was exactly one half what my parents paid for a brand new Chevrolet the previous year!) Hardly new and modern, no bells and whistles, full of vacuum tubes, but still good units and lots of fun to play with. The basic principle is a signal generator feeding a tuned circuit, which consists of a well calibrated variable capacitor and unknown inductance which you connect. Tune for resonance and read the Q off the meter, and inductance off a scale on the capacitor dial if you're using certain test frequencies, or else plug the capacitance and frequency into the standard formula to get inductance. I also wound coils on many different T37-6 cores, all with the same number of turns, to try to chart the variations in permeability between cores. (Remember, Micrometals, who makes those powdered irons that Amidon sells, cites a plus/minus 5% inductance tolerance.) I couldn't do the notching trick, of course, but wound the coils as identically as possible. How did I take care of the turn to turn spacing? I wound each one with the same number of turns (15), same wire size, carefully chosen to just fill the coil completely. I used every last T37-6 in the house, eventually borrowed every T37-6 I could from every local ham I knew, and by the time I was done I had wound coils on 58 of them. (Yes, it cost me a lot of wire, and yes, it got pretty old after a while!) The inductances were measured by resonating the coils at 14.0 MHz on the Boonton, reading the capacitance off the dial and plugging that into the standard formulas. The inductances ranged from a low of 0.688 uH to a high of 0.745 uH. The mean value was 0.722 uH and most were clustered around it, although the two extremes are close to the +/- 5% tolerance cited by Micrometals. The moral here is that you can have a number of cores which are nominally identical and yet produce coils of somewhat different inductances. References: QST, Technical Correspondence for June 1993, "Getting to the Core of the Problem", WA8MCQ QST, April 1983, page 39, "Choosing Wire Size for Toroidal Inductors," W7EL QRP Quarterly, Jan and Jul 1993, "Effect of Wire Size on Toroid Inductance," parts 1 and 2, WA8MCQ. End of part one; part 2 follows. DE WA8MCQ/24 June 1994 -- Mike Czuhajewski, user of the UniBoard System @ wb3ffv.ampr.org E-Mail: Mike.Czuhajewski%hambbs@wb3ffv.ampr.org The WB3FFV Amateur Radio BBS - Located in Baltimore, Maryland USA Supporting the Amateur Radio Hobby, and TCP/IP InterNetworking From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sat Jun 25 11:51:41 1994 Return-Path: id IAA11810; Sat, 25 Jun 1994 08:51:28 -0700 Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 08:51:28 -0700 From: btoback@netcom.com (Bruce Toback) Message-Id: <199406251551.IAA11810@netcom10.netcom.com> To: jeffrey@math.hawaii.edu, mswmod@sage.unr.edu Subject: Re: Variable coils Cc: qrp@Think.COM Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Jeff writes: >Ron suggests varying the inductance by stretching or compressing: how >about using a Slinky (tm)? An all purpose variable inductor for >audio to daylight... There's a VHF amplifier project in some recent editions of the Handbook that uses this approach. The coil is made of thin tubing that's mounted between two PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) blocks. One of the blocks is affixed to the chassis; the other is mounted on a PTFE leadscrew turned by a front-panel control. The trick is obviously to mount the inductor in such a way as to minimize slop and vibration. -- Bruce KN6MN From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sat Jun 25 18:56:09 1994 Return-Path: <01HDYX0ZLOCW8X2GPW@desire.wright.edu>; Sat, 25 Jun 1994 18:55:41 EDT Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 18:55:41 -0400 (EDT) From: NYOUNG@DESIRE.WRIGHT.EDU Subject: QRP Clubs around the world To: QRP@Think.COM Message-Id: <01HDYX0ZLY028X2GPW@desire.wright.edu> X-Vms-To: IN%"QRP@think.com" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I noticed in the pages of SPRAT that there is a QRP club in Spain. According to the article, the club publishes a newsletter (_QU-ERE-PE_). I just sent off a letter to the club contact person, requesting information on subscribing. The whole process started me to wondering how many similar QRP clubs (with publications) there are "out there" beyond the great wall of terminals. Looking through back issues of SPRAT (I joined in 1987), I've found notices on Polish and Czech clubs, but they were all set up before the fall of the wall. And then there's a memory of an article in a now ancient QST (around 1968), written by a ham in India. He'd designed and built a completely solid-state rig (a marvelous feat, when you con- sider the state of international trade and the condition of India's financial system at the time). Judging from the postings on USENET and from this mailing list, there must be thousands of QRP-loonies out there. And with all the non-British hams listed in the rolls of the G-QRP club, I'd expect that there are local clubs in other countries around the world. So, to make short of a long ramble: Is there perhaps a list of QRP clubs around the world? And where can I find it? Nils R. Bull Young | If I can't get it to work WB8IJN (ex-WP4DKA) | at full power, then I'll The Tagalong Press | modify it until it blows u in log book. But 126 W. Main St. | at least it keeps me off Medway, OH 45341 USA | the street & out of the whiskey. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sat Jun 25 22:41:17 1994 Return-Path: id AA00904; Sat, 25 Jun 94 16:40:53 HST Date: Sat, 25 Jun 94 16:40:53 HST From: jeffrey@math.hawaii.edu (Jeffrey Herman) Message-Id: <9406260240.AA00904@kahuna.math.hawaii.edu> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Lc vs lC Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Gang: We all know that there are an infinite number of choices of L and C that will resonant a specific fixed frequency. I've always wondered what the optimum choice would be: Large C and small L or small C and large L. Q must determine the designer's choice of values, so for this layman which of the above would provide the highest Q? Jeff NH6IL (an 18 year General still asking Novice questions...) From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sun Jun 26 14:57:09 1994 Return-Path: (5.65/1.35 for ); Sun, 26 Jun 94 14:56:34 -0400 X-Mailer: WinNET Mail, v2.11 Message-Id: <353@ted.win.net> Reply-To: mjsilva@ted.win.net (Michael Silva) To: QRP@Think.COM Date: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 11:52:35 Subject: Re: variable coils From: mjsilva@ted.win.net (Michael Silva) Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I've been having trouble with my system and I don't know if this made it to the list. I think it's intriguing enough that I'm sending it again to be sure. Please excuse the repetition. >Well now, what would happen if you mounted a space (air) would >coil so that you could compress or stretch the turns????? > Another old technique (an awful lot of this stuff was known by the '20s) is to use two coils in series (or parallel), one fixed and one rotatable. The rotatable one can either be inside or next to and in line with the fixed one, and as it's rotated the coupling goes from maximum (coils aligned) to minimum (coils at 90 degrees), corresponding to maximum and minimum inductance. Mechanically this is much more stable and repeatable than turn scrunching. I don't know how the inductance will vary as the coil is rotated, but I suspect it starts dropping gradually and falls off quickly at the end. For our purposes, we might want to limit the rotation to a few degrees or tens of degrees. The advantage of this method over a tuning slug is that the required movement is a rotation (easy) rather than a linear displacement. BTW, if you rotated the coil a full 180 degrees the coils would fully oppose, giving an even lower inductance. Same principle as a non-inductive wirewound resistor. 73, Mike, KK6GM From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sun Jun 26 16:43:26 1994 Return-Path: id NAA01535; Sun, 26 Jun 1994 13:41:28 -0700 Date: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 13:41:28 -0700 Message-Id: <199406262041.NAA01535@holonet.net> To: qrp@Think.COM From: rohrwerk@holonet.net Subject: QRP on vacation... Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk After slaving for hours to build up a little 40/20 meter TX to go with my R2 receiver for vacation, it turned out I had only one night available to try it out. All those Rocky Mountains... Funny what a 15-month-old will do to take up your time on vacation... Anyway, after throwing up a wire around 9:30 p.m. mountain time last Thursday (in the Black Hills of South Dakota), then helping get baby to sleep with Mom in the tent, I finally spent time at 10:30 trying to fiddle with the radio on 40. As luck would have it, I had -- would you believe -- BROADCAST INTERFERENCE! At home, I have a 50 kW transmitter about 5 miles away which I can see on my oscilloscope when I'm careless with grounding -- and this rig was fine there. Imagine my chagrin when I heard such interference in what I thought was the boonies... Funny, though, it faded in and out. Maybe it was a 40 meter signal -- religious broadcaster with country music would not be totally impossible. Anyway, I just gave up for the night. Not many signals anyway. Admittedly, my antenna tuner was designed for balanced lines, and realizing I had not obtained the wire to make my planned 40 meter loop, I just used the 50 foot end fed random wire I had used for a while. Maybe now I can just enjoy the rig in my own backyard -- getting out of my window-less basement shack... John K0JD Minneapolis, MN -> Alice4Mac 2.3 E QWK Eval:05Mar94 From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sun Jun 26 17:08:52 1994 Return-Path: (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Sun, 26 Jun 1994 14:08:28 -0700 id AA10019; Sun, 26 Jun 94 16:08:24 -0500 (rama) id QQwvzw08125; Sun, 26 Jun 1994 17:08:18 -0400 (Smail3.1.28.1 #5) id m0qI1Rt-0001YtC; Sun, 26 Jun 94 17:09 EDT id m0qI1FC-0008X7C; Sun, 26 Jun 94 16:56 EDT From: Mike.Czuhajewski%hambbs@wb3ffv.ampr.org (Mike Czuhajewski) To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Free Counter Date: Sun, 26 Jun 94 16:56:02 EST5EDT Message-Id: <1994Jun26.165602.24976@wb3ffv.ampr.org> X-Mailer: UniBoard 1.21f S/N 329931 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I offered this on a semi-local distribution list on packet with no takers--either no one wanted it or they didn't want to drive to Severn to pick it up, so here's your chance-- Free (for shipping charges) to good home: Relatively old, sort of heavy, rather clunky frequency counter with somewhat limited resolution. (Not a pocket sized, 2 ounce LCD readout model with 17 digits.) Watkins-Johnson model DRO-309A--the DRO probably stands for Digital Read Out, and is obviously a plug-in part of some larger electronic system although it functions as a stand-alone counter as well. (No charge since it was given to me free by someone when he retired from the Coast Guard and went back to Alaska.) Size is 8" wide, 3 1/4" high and about 16" long including knobs. Has no cabinet--designed to slide into an open spot in the main unit, whatever that was. It's heavy, solid and well built. Runs off 110/220 (selectable on rear). Has 4 ranges: 0.1 to 50 MHz, 30-300 MHz, 235-500 MHz, 490-1000 MHz. Inputs are through 3 BNC connectors on the rear: DIRECT/0.1-50 MHZ, "VHF LOW (VHF/UHF)", and UHF LO. Display is red LED dot matrix (6 digits); legend over the display says "MEGAHERTZ". On the low range the decimal point is after the first 2 digits, giving readout to 1/10 KHz. On the other 3 ranges the decimal point is after the 3rd digit, giving readout to 1 KHz. No good for matching crystals for a homebrew filter but could be used as frequency display for a VFO, signal generator, etc. No clues to date of manufacture, probably in the '70s. No idea what sensitivity or maximum input level is. I tried it on some HF frequencies on a signal generator and got stable readings with about 3000 microvolts output (0.003 volts RMS). On the other 3 ranges I got stable readings with 10,000 uV, or 0.01 V RMS. I checked it up to about 400 MHz, the limit of my generator and seemed to work OK. (See "Quirks" section below.) Other features--switch and output BNC for DAFC, whatever that is; has a non-functioning tuning meter (indicator for main system?); round connector for BCD output (no data on pinouts available); has capability of display frequency preset--off, internal presets, or external input; internal/external range control (lets you override the front panel range switch with external control). I have no documentation of any sort; W-J is still in business and may or may not be willing to dig into their archives (perhaps at a large cost), but basic frequency counter use is pretty straight forward. (I haven't played with the feature, but if it still works you could use the preset input to accommodate odd VFO frequencies.) Quirks--sometimes displays random frequencies on one or more ranges when there is nothing connected to the input, or even with a 50 ohm termination, but connect the signal generator and it functions OK. Also requires use of appropriate BNC input connector for the range selected, or you can get other odd effects (and bogus readings) if you don't have the "correct" one for the range. If interested, reply by e-mail. First request gets it unless there are several messages waiting for me when I log on, in which case the person with the best "story" wins. (Estimated shipping charges well under $10.) 73 and Queue Our Pea DE WA8MCQ -- Mike Czuhajewski, user of the UniBoard System @ wb3ffv.ampr.org E-Mail: Mike.Czuhajewski%hambbs@wb3ffv.ampr.org The WB3FFV Amateur Radio BBS - Located in Baltimore, Maryland USA Supporting the Amateur Radio Hobby, and TCP/IP InterNetworking From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sun Jun 26 17:25:52 1994 Return-Path: (1.37.109.9/16.2) id AA2717762465; Sun, 26 Jun 1994 14:32:49 -0700 Date: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 14:32:49 -0700 (PDT) From: Tom Kerns Subject: Post Sony 2010 for me? To: qrp@Think.COM Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Dear folx - Several of you suggested that I post my Dad's Sony 2010 for sale on some Usenet lists/newsgroups. After asking around, tho, I guess we do not have access to Usenet groups. So I'm asking someone a favor: Would someone mind just copying the message below and posting it on one of the Usenet groups like rec.radio.swap or rec.radio.shortwave. My message has instructions about responding to me via email, so I think this one post is all you'd have to do. I would much appreciate it. Here's the post: Folx - I have a virtually new Sony ICF 2010 short wave receiver for sale. Actually it is my Dad's. Mother got it for him (on my recommendation), but he didn't ever use it. So it's still in its original box, all original packaging, etc. They're asking $300 for it, firm. I am not able to read this or any Usenet group, so someone has been kind enough to post this for me. You can respond to me at the following addresses. Many thanks. - Tom AA7ZG Dr Tom Kerns, Professor of Philosophy North Seattle Community College 9600 College Way North Seattle, WA 98103 email: tkerns@seaccd.ctc.edu voice/voicemail: (206) 528-3827 FAX: (206) 527-3734 Amateur radio callsign: AA7ZG Packet: AA7ZG @N7DUO.WA.USA.NA From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sun Jun 26 19:08:29 1994 Return-Path: (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Sun, 26 Jun 1994 16:07:35 -0700 id AA14029; Sun, 26 Jun 94 18:07:58 -0500 (rama) id QQwwae28944; Sun, 26 Jun 1994 19:07:49 -0400 (Smail3.1.28.1 #5) id m0qI3Ja-0001ZiC; Sun, 26 Jun 94 19:08 EDT id m0qI3LM-0008X7C; Sun, 26 Jun 94 19:10 EDT From: Mike.Czuhajewski%hambbs@wb3ffv.ampr.org (Mike Czuhajewski) To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: More on toroids Date: Sun, 26 Jun 94 19:10:32 EST5EDT Message-Id: <1994Jun26.191032.28579@wb3ffv.ampr.org> X-Mailer: UniBoard 1.21f S/N 329931 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk In reply to one of my recent 'grams, Jack, W5TFB, asked what happened to the Q of the coil on the T68-2 when I compressed the turns from a 30 gap all the way to a 270 degree gap. I hadn't bothered to record it, so I dug it out and checked it again. The answer is, "not much." Here are the results; since the original spacings are impossible to duplicate exactly, the values are somewhat different. Core: T68-2, 16 turns #18 wire, measured at 7.9 uH. 30 degree gap between ends of the coil: 1.641 uH "apparent inductance", Q 221 90 degrees, 1.737 uH, Q 224 180 degrees, 1.962 uH, Q 217 270 degrees, 2.425 uH, Q 217 I'd take these Q figures with a quarter of a grain of salt, since this is read off an analog meter scale (albeit a rather large one) and thus subject to a bit of interpretation. The main point, though, is that there was not much change in Q when the turns are compressed. (All the gaps shown were eyeballed and are not exact.) By the way, as with all previously reported experiments, this was done on a Boonton 260A Q meter. Although I show values to three decimal places, such "precision" is going to be virtually unattainable, unrepeatable, and unnecessary in actual practice. For each measurement the coil was resonated with the variable capacitor in the 260A, the value (to a tenth of a picofarad) read off dials of the main and fine tuning caps and plugged into a calculator. (The fine tuning cap dial is calibrated directly to 0.1 pF points, the main dial to 1 or 5 pF, depending which end you're on. And no matter how carefully you set the main dial to the nearest 5 pF mark, you have to be just a tad suspicious of the reading on the fine tuning dial!) Calculators are neat devices--they give you answers to a gazillion decimal places, even when more than 2 or 3 are utterly unnecessary and, practically speaking, meaningless. I arbitrarily truncated the answers at 3 decimal places, but in the real world one place would be more appropriate. (After all, you can very easily get a 10% or larger change in inductance by varying the spacing of the turns.) These figures imply a precision in the coils that does not exist; they are simply a reflection of the exact value at that instant, and may never be seen again. As Zack Lau said in Tech Correspondence in the June 93 QST, "...home-brewed inductors are rarely precision components. Why specify their inductance to three significant digits? Sometimes, even two significant figures is a bit absurd." And I heartily agree with all of that! While it's OK and educational to do it in a tightly controlled experimental setting, in the real world you'll never be able to duplicate the inductance value to that precision--and there is rarely any need to. (Circuits often contain variable components which can compensate for slight variations in inductance, and the inductors themselves can often be varied.) When I first started studying inductors several years ago (when I got the Boonton) I asked one of the truly brilliant (in both theory and practice) electrical engineers in my ham club some detailed questions about inductance and designing inductors. He told me the simplest thing was to forget much of the detailed theory, variables, microscopic permutations and oddball physical effects; just wind a roughly designed coil that was in the ball park and trim it until it worked as desired in the circuit. At the time I thought he was being a wise guy, but over the years I've come to realize he's right (except now I know why, and have a much better understanding and appreciation of the identity and effect of all those factors). There are so many variables in both the inductor and the circuit that you can drive yourself crazy trying to account for all of them. 73 and Queue Our Pea DE WA8MCQ -- Mike Czuhajewski, user of the UniBoard System @ wb3ffv.ampr.org E-Mail: Mike.Czuhajewski%hambbs@wb3ffv.ampr.org The WB3FFV Amateur Radio BBS - Located in Baltimore, Maryland USA Supporting the Amateur Radio Hobby, and TCP/IP InterNetworking From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sun Jun 26 19:21:14 1994 Return-Path: Message-Id: <9406262320.AA04365@Early-Bird.Think.COM> Date: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 18:20:28 -0500 (CDT) From: James Speer Subject: boatanchors address? To: qrp@Think.COM X-Vms-To: SMTP%"qrp@think.com" X-Vms-Cc: F_SPEERJR Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Could someone please remind me of the address of the boatanchors list? I dropped out sometime ago and misplaced it. Thanks! 73 Jim K5YUT From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sun Jun 26 19:27:45 1994 Return-Path: id TAA08327; Sun, 26 Jun 1994 19:27:24 -0400 Date: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 19:27:24 -0400 (EDT) From: WYNN C C Subject: Field Day '94 Report To: qrp@Think.COM Cc: WYNN C C Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Subject: Field Day '94 Report This station Class 1E, at home, on battery, using an ARK 4 and a folded dipole at 40 ft., worked 90 stations on 40M CW at 4 watts out. Location: 84.00 W, 35.48 N, near Knoxville Tn. Inet QRP'ers worked: None Comments: Worked about 12 hours out of the 24, started duping stations toward the close. More difficult to make contacts than a QRP QSO party. Need a better QRP strategy. Tried "channel master", "in your face", and "hit and run". Nothing works well. About two contacts per frequency change. Need a preprint of all of the ARRL Section ID's in the cockpit next time. Propagation seemed normal. Some QRN due to thunderstorms late Sunday. 40 meters was enough for me. Really didn't miss 20 meters like I thought I would. No 6's or 7's worked. 7ah gel cell down to about 11.7 volts at close. 73, C. C. (Clay) Wynn N4AOX wyn@onrl.gov  From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sun Jun 26 21:02:01 1994 Return-Path: id AA29402; Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:01:37 -0400 id AA07227; Sun, 26 Jun 94 21:03:21 EDT id AA14800; Sun, 26 Jun 94 21:03:20 EDT Date: Sun, 26 Jun 94 21:03:20 EDT From: jfw@ksr.com (John F. Woods) Message-Id: <9406270103.AA14800@kaos.ksr.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: FD 94 DE WB7EEL/1 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I actually managed to get on and do Field Day; I operated about 8 hours, total, using an antenna I lashed up against the side of the house Saturday morning (in the rain, of course -- this IS Field Day, after all) [40 meter inverted vee with a 20m inverted vee hanging from it -- lamp cord (unzipped)]; I used a QRP Sprint on 40m (1W), and an NN1G II on 20m (2-3W), operating from my garage on Saturday (lacking a suitable umbrella) and from the driveway on Sunday (acquiring the official Field Day sunburn); power supply was batteries (one 1.9Ah battery for the rigs, and dry cells for the light (hey, might as well go whole hog. Well, half hog: when I went in for dinner, the refrigerator wasn't on batteries ;-). Grand total: 21 contacts (one dup). Yow, have I won yet? :-) All of the contacts were made with the Sprint; I believe the NN1G must have been set for the "wrong sideband" (i.e. TX LO below the BFO, not above it where it belonged). In fact, in true FD style, I spent an hour and a half trying to fix it during the contest (but I had to use my AC-operated WWII-vintage aircraft receiver to help calibrate it, so I guess I'm further off of pure battery operation :-), and though I *think* I got it set right, [interjection: how in the world does one accurately measure the frequency of an NE602 crystal oscillator when touching any point in the oscillator circuit with the frequency meter probe shifts the frequency dramatically???] somehow in the process the receiver mute got screwed up: my first attempt to contact someone nearly blew my head off, and due to fumbling around and the general problem of being 30dB below everyone else, that contact got lost and I gave up on 20. The Sprint, by comparison, behaved flawlessly. Unfortunately, it is a direct-conversion receiver. Not all of you may have tried operating FD with a direct conversion receiver. I heartily recommend it -- once. :-) 40m in the morning and afternoon wasn't too terribly crowded, so I had relatively little difficulty separating signals, but once the band opened up it was brutal. I don't think I picked up any of the internet crowd, but notable contacts (for me, anyway) were W1AW (turned on the receiver this morning, and there they were; finished the contact before the receiver stopped drifting :-), and W1EEL (whom I should send a card). I don't know how other people found conditions, but it seemed like all I heard were 1s, 2s, and 3s (and a couple of 8s) -- could someone please assure me that there actually are hams in states other than NJ? :-) Well, back to debugging the NN1G again, and I had fun. 1W with a DC rig may be the hard way to do Field Day, but it worked better than I would have thought. It also would have helped if I didn't have to listen to most stations for 6 or 7 contacts just to figure out what their exchange was (I think my code speed improved :-). 73, John, WB7EEL/1 From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sun Jun 26 21:45:52 1994 Return-Path: id AA16578; Sun, 26 Jun 94 21:45:44 EDT id AA09785; Sun, 26 Jun 94 21:45:43 EDT Message-Id: <9406270145.AA09785@gvlf9-a> id AA05933; Sun, 26 Jun 94 21:45:41 EDT Date: Sun, 26 Jun 94 21:45:41 EDT From: rossi@VFL.Paramax.COM To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Field Day 1994 Report Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk CALL : WA3NNA ENTRY CLASS : 1B - battery SECTION / LOCATION : SNJ Between 21st and 22nd Street; Ocean City NJ. On the beach; About 50 yards from the ocean. RIG : OHR Classic (5 watts CW - 20 & 40 meters) ANTENNA : half-wave vertical wire - supported by a kite. POWER SOURCE : 12V Ni-Cad battery pack TOTAL ON-AIR OPERATION TIME : Less than 8 hours FINAL SCORE: 73 QSOs on 40 35 QSOs on 20 ----- 108 QSOs (x2) CW (x5) 5 watts = 1080 points 100% emergency power = 100 points Operation from a public place = 100 points TOTAL SCORE = 1280 points COMMENTS : The thunderstorms never materialized but the winds more than made up for it. High un-cooperating winds kept the kite antenna from flying early Saturday afternoon. Finally (with a longer tail on the kite) operations started shortly after 2100z. Operated from the beach from about 5 PM Saturday until dark and then returned 9 AM Sunday. 40 meters was much better than expected. 20 seemed much worse than last year. Tried a couple CQs and worked 3 stations. The rest were all from just tuning and calling. In general, worked about 80% of what I called. I finished off most QSOs signing /QRP. My personal goal was to make twice as many contacts as last year. Even with a late start, I managed to reach my goal with 3 QSOs to spare. LESSONS LEARNED: ;-) Delta kites do not like high winds unless they have a *very* long tail. A half-wave vertical on 20 works better than a full-wave vertical. Use a dupe sheet next year. Memory starts to fail after about 50 QSOs. You can still get a nasty sunburn even under a beach umbrella >ouch< FD is fun! ----- Pete Rossi - WA3NNA rossi@vfl.paramax.com Unisys Corporation - Government Systems Group Valley Forge Engineering Center - Paoli, Pennsylvania From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sun Jun 26 23:11:03 1994 Return-Path: (1.38.193.5/16.2) id AA08555; Sun, 26 Jun 1994 23:10:49 -0400 From: N9DD@aol.com X-Mailer: America Online Mailer Message-Id: <9406262310.tn55098@aol.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Date: Sun, 26 Jun 94 23:10:48 EDT Subject: Field Day Report de N9DD Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk First of all, let me say that it is great to finally get hooked up with the Internet QRP group. I'm really enjoying getting all the mail to read and look forward to seeing lots more from everyone. I'm reaching the group by way of America On Line's Internet service. I heartily recommend it to anyone who can't reach the Internet directly. With my wife out of town till Saturday evening, little league games for all three of my sons on Saturday, and a birthday party on Sunday, I was really expecting Field Day this year to be a real bust. For the last few years I've been dreaming about getting a group of QRPers together for an all homebrew effort. With everything going on, there was no way that was going to happen this year. I was determined, however, to at least get a little time on the air. The rain Saturday morning left us here in South Bend, IN about noon, so I decided to take my NN1G 20 mtr rig out on the deck for a few QSOs. First step was to run to the local Radio Shack to get 30 feet of zip cord speaker wire. This I fashioned into a crude dipole which I strung from the roof gutter to a tree out back. I finally got everything up and running by about 2000 UTC. The weather was beautiful and, upon firing up the rig, I found that radio conditions sounded great too. I spent the next 3 1/2 hours at it and managed to get answers from most of the stations I called. Total contacts for Saturday - 30. Sunday morning, I awoke to a bad thunderstorm. It rained steadily till about 1800 UTC. When things finally dried off, I hauled the "stuff" back out on the deck and managed another 12 QSOs. One unusual problem I had that made copy difficult was all the local "QRM" from all the birds chirping after the rain! I didn't hear any familiar QRP op calls but expect that at least a few of my contacts were with other QRP stations. I was pleased with the way the NN1G rig worked for me. I've used it for a couple other contests and have logged over 200 QSOs with it. Maybe next year I'll have rigs for 40 and 80 to go with it and will be able to mount more than a single band effort. Final tally - 42 QSOs in 6 hours, no sunburn, only a couple mosquito bites and a rather enjoyable weekend - even if it was only a solo effort. 72, Tom N9DD n9dd@aol.com From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 00:30:23 1994 Return-Path: id VAA10476; Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:29:40 -0700 Date: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:29:40 -0700 Message-Id: <199406270429.VAA10476@holonet.net> To: qrp@Think.COM From: rohrwerk@holonet.net Subject: CQ Internet: Results Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk On 06-22-94 burdick@interval.com wrote to qrp@Think.COM: > Right now my job is **dull** and at least for now I have time to play > Virtual Ham Radio :-) There's a ham radio "channel" on the IRC (Internet Relay Chat) I have access to. Had a few interactive "QSOs" on it, but can be a real time waster when you pay by the hour... * John Seboldt...Mpls, MN...As a ham, K0JD...as a human...well,... * | rohrwerk@holonet.net | * J.S. Bach of Borg: "Your style will be assimilated." * -> Alice4Mac 2.3 E QWK Eval:05Mar94 From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 00:30:59 1994 Return-Path: id VAA10481; Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:29:45 -0700 Date: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:29:45 -0700 Message-Id: <199406270429.VAA10481@holonet.net> To: qrp@Think.COM From: rohrwerk@holonet.net Subject: Re: variable inductors Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk On 06-24-94 lhalliday@creo.bc.ca wrote to jeffrey@math.hawaii.edu: > Funny you should mention variable inductors; I measured a permeability > tuning unit last night that I found in a box of miscellaneous > solid-state junk. The unit has three cores that move in and out of > their coils, with a smooth worm drive (about 6 turns) to run them back > and forth. > From a car radio, no doubt. I first saw this when I tried to move it up to 160 meters. The gearing on mine was not real tight for tuning purposes. * John Seboldt...Mpls, MN...As a ham, K0JD...as a human...well,... * | rohrwerk@holonet.net | * J.S. Bach of Borg: "Your style will be assimilated." * -> Alice4Mac 2.3 E QWK Eval:05Mar94 From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 00:31:01 1994 Return-Path: id VAA10465; Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:29:25 -0700 Date: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:29:25 -0700 Message-Id: <199406270429.VAA10465@holonet.net> To: qrp@Think.COM From: rohrwerk@holonet.net Subject: Re: construction methods Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk On 06-16-94 jfw@ksr.com wrote to teda@meaddata.com: > I usually use "ground-plane" or "dead bug" construction; grounded > component leads soldered directly to the ground plane, other > connections floating in midair (possibly suspended from standoffs made > from 1M resistors if necessary). It's quick and easy. So it is. > VFOs get etched > PC boards, however. This is contrary to some wisdom that floats around that a dead-bug VFO over a ground plane can be more *electrically* stable because of fewer random capacitances. Perhaps an etched board is more stable *mechanically*, but I was pretty successful in my dead-bug VFO using older, large components with heavy leads. * John Seboldt...Mpls, MN...As a ham, K0JD...as a human...well,... * | rohrwerk@holonet.net | * J.S. Bach of Borg: "Your style will be assimilated." * -> Alice4Mac 2.3 E QWK Eval:05Mar94 From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 00:31:12 1994 Return-Path: id VAA10462; Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:29:23 -0700 Date: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:29:23 -0700 Message-Id: <199406270429.VAA10462@holonet.net> To: qrp@Think.COM From: rohrwerk@holonet.net Subject: construction methods Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk On 06-16-94 teda@meaddata.com wrote to qrp@Think.COM: > Just curious as to what method the folks using "ugly construction" are > employing with their projects; (i.e. point-to-point using component > leads, push-in pins with bus wire, wire-wrap)? > Good ol' basic point to point for me. This can be remarkably compact. I just built up the smallest VFO/transmitter for 40 and 20 meters I could with standard-size components. I made each stage a little "cluster" of parts that was pretty much self supporting on one or two ground leads soldered to a PC ground plane. My .1 uF bypass caps were a bit large, about 1/2 inch diameter, but they could be tucked flat under the rest of the parts with the leads sticking up. * John Seboldt...Mpls, MN...As a ham, K0JD...as a human...well,... * | rohrwerk@holonet.net | * J.S. Bach of Borg: "Your style will be assimilated." * -> Alice4Mac 2.3 E QWK Eval:05Mar94 From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 00:31:13 1994 Return-Path: id VAA10475; Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:29:39 -0700 Date: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:29:39 -0700 Message-Id: <199406270429.VAA10475@holonet.net> To: qrp@Think.COM From: rohrwerk@holonet.net Subject: Re: wired radio Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk On 06-22-94 dgf@netcom.com wrote to QRP@Think.COM: > My Lafayette HA-73 was my prized posession for a long time in the 60's > (I was about 9 or 10 at the time, in Sacramento, CA - pre-ham days). > It's case was all metal (aluminum, I suspect) - no plastic - and it > was *very well built*. It was two channels, and might have been the > same model you are describing! Quality unlicensed stuff in those days... Speaking of which, anybody remember the Internation Crystal kits and devices for the hobbyist? Believe it or not, they offered a setup for 100 mW tone- modulated CW on the Citizens Band -- you would put the TX unit at the antenna to get around the restrictions on antenna/feedline length, and they said you could legally work DX this way, being unlicensed! Was this for those who could learn the code, but not able to pass the theory? I'll bet they sold a ton of those ;-) * John Seboldt...Mpls, MN...As a ham, K0JD...as a human...well,... * | rohrwerk@holonet.net | * J.S. Bach of Borg: "Your style will be assimilated." * -> Alice4Mac 2.3 E QWK Eval:05Mar94 From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 00:31:32 1994 Return-Path: id VAA10469; Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:29:31 -0700 Date: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:29:31 -0700 Message-Id: <199406270429.VAA10469@holonet.net> To: qrp@Think.COM From: rohrwerk@holonet.net Subject: T-368 transistorization Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Here's my periodic plug for transistorizing the T-368 for homebrew use. It's a beautiful (and bulky, but this is the reason for its stability) 1950's piece of Collins military gear. A 1.5 to 3 MHz PTO, doublers to go to 3-6, 6- 12, and 12-24 MHz, and a driver tube. And a mechanical digital readout with very tight gearing -- no backlash even when multiplied 8 times! Real stable even in its tube state -- and transistorized, this baby won't move! You can get them, I last heard, for $45 from Fair Radio Sales. One of the most useful pieces of military surplus gear for today's use! Since building a more compact VFO/transmitter for portable use, I can appreciate how incredibly stable the T-368 is. Even following all the precautions the books tell you, with my professional musical ear, I can hear the drift in my homebrew job. Going back to the old/reworked T-368, even on its top range, I feel like I can hold my own with any synthesized rig. I have 14K of text about my transistorization and RIT modifications. Lemme know if you want it. * John Seboldt...Mpls, MN...As a ham, K0JD...as a human...well,... * | rohrwerk@holonet.net | * "Aaaaaahhh.... BAAAAACH!" -- Radar O'Reilly * -> Alice4Mac 2.3 E QWK Eval:05Mar94 From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 00:33:01 1994 Return-Path: id VAA10472; Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:29:33 -0700 Date: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 21:29:33 -0700 Message-Id: <199406270429.VAA10472@holonet.net> To: qrp@Think.COM From: rohrwerk@holonet.net Subject: GEL CEL QUERY Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk On 06-21-94 FOXG@WCSUB.CTSTATEU.EDU wrote to QRP@Think.COM: > They quickly charged to about 12.7 volts but then under the tremendous > strain of my NORCAL-40 quickly dropppped to approximately 10v or less > on transmit (the NORCAL is rated at 200 ma on transmit). I left them > under low load overnight (NORCAL receive is 13.8 ma on my unit) and by > morning they were down to 9.4 v under no load. > > Previously, I had been under the impression (mistaken?) that gel cells > could be 'floated' across a standard regulated DC supply (13.8v)... > and had done so for some time. > > Are my cells injured? Do they need to be rejuvinated in some way or > just tossed? > Geoff WA1U FOXG@WCSUB.CTSTATEU.EDU I'm having similar problems with Yuasa batteries available at our local surplus house. The NP1.2-12 is rated at 12V, 1.2 Ah, and can be charged at up to 15 volts for cyclic use according to the label. Well, I do that overnight, and it drops to about 13 volts after a short time. Under load, it drops below 12 volts even with about 200 mA -- interestingly, the R2 receiver board doesn't like that low a voltage. Another battery, a pair of Yuasa NP10-6's in series, is rated at 6v 10 aH (each battery). It drops to 13 volts after being charged at 15 volts (again per label), but stays there under load. It has been able to power my Ten Tec Argosy at 50 watts for a reasonable length of time, and of course can handle my QRP setup with ease. Are these "over-aged" batteries? * John Seboldt...Mpls, MN...As a ham, K0JD...as a human...well,... * | rohrwerk@holonet.net | * J.S. Bach of Borg: "Your style will be assimilated." * -> Alice4Mac 2.3 E QWK Eval:05Mar94 From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 08:44:48 1994 Return-Path: id IAA14887; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 08:44:32 -0400 (from nshore!seastar!jjw for qrp@think.com) id m0qIFzv-0002iOA; Mon, 27 Jun 94 08:41 EDT id m0qIFge-0004p2A; Mon, 27 Jun 94 07:21 CDT Message-Id: From: jjw@seastar.seastar.org (John Welch) Subject: Field Hay results To: qrp@Think.COM (qrp mailing list) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 07:21:18 -0500 (CDT) Organization: Welch Research Laboratories X-Location: McHenry, ILLinois 60050-1461 Operating-System: Linux 1.09 (Posix/386) Lines: 22 X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 1233 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Well, since I've seen several other FD results posts I thought I'd drop mine in here too. I ran 1A Battery (that's what I told everybody at least - I was the ILQRP station, in the parking lot of our apartment using a pair of 105AH Marine batteries charged for the last 2 months from a 4.8A solar array). Before FD started, I found 6 was open. Made several contacts, including HH7PV. Even called CQ a few times *and had people come back* running 8 watts peak (if I yelled) SSB. 6 stayed open most of Saturday, and opened up again on Sunday morning. 10 was somewhat open, if you ran some power it worked (60 watts pep, made 3 contacts, hardly worth the battery drain). 2M SSB late Saturday made a very few contacts, also running power (100 watts). QRP on 432 was a real bust - nada. The antenna is pretty directional, and the oldradio's ears are nothing to brag about these days. Total was about 60 stations QRP on 6m, 3 for kicks QRO on 10 and another 3 rag-chews on 2m QRO. Got Alabama, Florida, N. Carolina, Arkansas, Texas, Georgia, Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming on 6m. Antenna was a shortened dipole at 30 feet. Operated probably about 8 hours, had the radio on as background another 3. -- John Welch, N9JZW From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 09:30:58 1994 Return-Path: (1.38.193.5/16.2) id AA28409; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 09:30:35 -0400 From: JDuffy@aol.com X-Mailer: America Online Mailer Message-Id: <9406270930.tn64998@aol.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 09:30:35 EDT Subject: QRP Phone Freq.'s Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Have used QRP phone with a lot of success, but I would like to talk with other QRPers on phone. Have a list of the common QRP CW freqs, but what freqs are generally used for QRP phone operation? Thanks, Duffy de WB8NUT From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 09:41:12 1994 Return-Path: for <@sgi.sgi.com:qrp@think.com> id GAA12751; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 06:40:55 -0700 for @sgi.sgi.com:qrp@think.com id AA16792; Mon, 27 Jun 94 08:40:52 -0500 for @sgidal.dallas.sgi.com:qrp@think.com id AA26861; Mon, 27 Jun 94 08:40:51 -0500 Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 08:40:51 -0500 From: adams@chuck.dallas.sgi.com (Chuck Adams) Message-Id: <9406271340.AA26861@chuck.dallas.sgi.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Re: Toroids Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Mike Czuhajewski posted that the change in Q for a toroid varied very little with the compression of the turns from 30 degrees to 270 degree angle. The Q for a parallel resonant circuit is X(L)/R, where R is the resistance of the coil and X(L) is 2*pi*f*L. Since the resistance of the wire doesn't change (it is fixed length) the Q won't change much. Here is what does change. The resonant frequency of the LC circuit will be lowered due to increased capacitance distributed through the coil with the closer winding spacing as it is compressed. Remember boys and girls that the resonant frequency is 1/(2*pi*sqrt(L*C)), thus with increased C the frequency is lowered. If f is lowered then Q is also lowered since X(L)=2*pi*f*L and I'm assuming that L is not changed (see K5FO newsletters). Thus Mike's measurements seem to indicate that this is true as he shows a lowered Q value and the windings are compressed. Good work Mike, dit dit Chuck Adams K5FO CP-60 adams@sgi.com From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 10:23:28 1994 Return-Path: Message-Id: <9406271422.AA07505@Early-Bird.Think.COM> Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 09:21:44 EDT From: C=BAILEY%IS%211EIS@ANG193FS.ang.af.mil Subject: CONTEST QSL'S To: qrp@Think.COM Cc: Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I have requested QSL cards during contests where I need or want one. I also figure that the other person may not care if they get my card or not. So with this in mind I always send a SASE if I really want a card. I have had 80% success with this method, even for contest contacts. I have had many QRO types request my card because they were impressed that they worked a QRP station! 72 de Cameron, KT3A. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 10:25:19 1994 Return-Path: <01HE15K5B3TC9351B4@tntech.edu>; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 09:25:22 CDT Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 09:25:22 -0500 (CDT) From: "JEFF M. GOLD" Subject: Field Day To: qrp@Think.COM Message-Id: <01HE15K5DIMA9351B4@tntech.edu> X-Vms-To: QRP X-Vms-Cc: JMG Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Howdi, hope eveyone enjoyed Field Day. Our University club made a decidsion that it was more important for the prospective hams and new hams to get interested and operate and learn, than to stack up points. I decided this was a good opportunity to put some of my newer rigs through their paces. I was VERY impressed with how well the MFJ 20m SSB performed.. with no extra filtering.. had no problem working anyone I heard. I also was impressed with the performance of the Oak Hills Classic on both 20 and 40.. seemed to really get through and the selectivity was great.. also used it with no additional filtering. The ARK 4 did real well.. kept the audio filter in the narrow position (but I always do.. did the newest mod on it without blowing up anything).. for some reason.. the Classic seemed to get through a little better than the ARK4.. maybe voodoo or just luck.. but that is the way it worked. 73 Jeff, AC4HF From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 10:54:58 1994 Return-Path: by harbor.ecn.purdue.edu (8.6.8/3.5davy) id JAA05418; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 09:54:23 -0500 Message-Id: <199406271454.JAA05418@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu> From: Duane P Mantick Subject: Re: QRP Phone Freq.'s To: JDuffy@aol.com Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 09:54:23 -0500 (EST) Cc: qrp@Think.COM In-Reply-To: <9406270930.tn64998@aol.com> from "JDuffy@aol.com" at Jun 27, 94 09:30:35 am X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL21] Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 2333 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk > > Have used QRP phone with a lot of success, but I would like to talk with > other QRPers on phone. Have a list of the common QRP CW freqs, but what > freqs are generally used for QRP phone operation? Thanks, > > Duffy de WB8NUT > > Well, if you come onto 10meters probably the best area is the novice/tech segment from 28.3 to 28.5. You stand a good chance of finding some like minded folks there (it's where I hang out on ten, mostly due to the license :-) ). Within that segment, I'd say its wherever you can find a QSO! :-) Some folks claim 28.4 to be a general calling frequency, although that isn't universally recognized. Also in general, the area from about 28.480 to 28.500 is sort of a non-contest DX window - this seems a bit more generally recognized that the calling freq. There are a number of nets that meet below 28.4. I know there are some paperchasers that hang out at 28.345 or thereabouts. A couple others meet on 28.380 and/or 28.390. Watch out for 28.325. There are some mealy mouthed, mean spirited, nasty talking, obscene jerks that sometimes refer to themselves as the "lid net" who like to stay on that freq. for hours. The FCC listens to them frequently, so I'd advise anyone to stay away from it lest your call sign get accidently caught up in the mess. I have heard these guys pirate someone else's call, which is bad news. The worst of the lot was (I think) N5RLX or at the very least, somebody who likes that callsign. I think all these guys are located in Texas or nearby..... There are a number of folks who respond very positively to QRP ops on that segment of 10, but keep in mind that with the sunspot cycle low as it is, 10 is REALLLLLL spotty these days. Sometimes there is some good medium distance skip, I'd say in the 500 to 1200 mile range, and sometimes it is as dead as a brick. Not sure when the lowest of the low in this cycle is supposed to occur (quite possibly about NOW), but for those who have never experienced ten when it was GOOD, I can tell you that in 1988-89 ten was absolutely red HOT. A few watts would work anywhere in the world, especially during the winter months. Seemed like you couldn't HEAR the locals for all the DX! :-) Sure hope we get that again on the next cycle high.... Duane WB9OMC on ten wb9omc@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 10:56:52 1994 Return-Path: id AA21971; Mon, 27 Jun 94 07:46:29 PDT id AA772728477 Mon, 27 Jun 94 07:47:57 PST Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 07:47:57 PST From: janderson@polycom.com Encoding: 2526 Text Message-Id: <9405277727.AA772728477@ccsmtpgw.polycom.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: FD 94 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk My first Field Day since 1970 (when I operated as a Novice) and did I have fun! I set the station up along the top of a ridge in the Sierra Nevada mountains (about 5500 ft). This was reached by a half-hour hike/climb from the little town of Long Barn with a 20 pound day-back (containing HW-8, Gel Cell, MFG Tuner, sandwiches, etc.). Found a nice open spot with a great view of the mountains, and proceeded to string up my G5RV. In the process, Murhpy struck - while throwing wires into trees my prescription glasses fell out of my shirt pocket. Spent 40 minutes searching through pine-needles and brush - finally found them - the thought of spending several hundred dollars for a new pair was a great motivator. Set the rig on a stump and used a log as a chair - turned on 40 meters, and the first thing I noticed was the COMPLETE ABSENCE of electrical noise - I hadn't been aware of just how high the noise floor was in the city. Tuned around, heard a CQ FD, answered, and got a reply! Heard another CQ FD, answered, got another contact. Hey, this is fun! I finally quit after about 5 hours - I'd run out of water (the ridge top was HOT), the log/chair was becoming more and more uncomfortable, and I'd spent the last 20 minutes tuning around and hearing only stations that I'd already worked. But I'd made almost 50 contacts, from San Diego to British Columbia, all on 2 watts. And almost all of the contacts replyed on my first call. Next time: 1. Bring a QRP SWR bridge - the one in the MFJ tuner does NOT cut-it (I'd brought along another more sensitive bridge, but forgot a BNC/SO-239 adapter. I tried 20 meters, but I could never tell if the antenna was properly tuned.). 2. More water! 3. Bring a compass. (Antenna ended up facing close to North-South, mainly because that was the clear shot off the ridge). 4. Do NOT use a direct-conversion rig. Too much QRM from the images. (Next year I hope to be using a SIERRA!). From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 11:05:16 1994 Return-Path: From: Bruce Walker id AA01517; Mon, 27 Jun 94 11:05:00 EDT Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 11:05:00 EDT Message-Id: <9406271505.AA01517@zarathustra.think.com> To: tcarter@access.digex.net Cc: qrp@Think.COM In-Reply-To: "Todd W. Carter"'s message of Fri, 24 Jun 1994 19:19:18 -0400 (EDT) Subject: QRP digest table of contents? Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 19:19:18 -0400 (EDT) From: "Todd W. Carter" Does anyone know what happended to the table of contents that once was on the top of every digest message? It sure is handy for quickly seeing what messages I'd like to read. I'll see if I can put it back in...it went away during the recent majordomo upgrade. --bruce WT1M From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 11:22:34 1994 Return-Path: id IAA02169; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 08:22:35 -0700 Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 08:22:35 -0700 From: btoback@netcom.com (Bruce Toback) Message-Id: <199406271522.IAA02169@netcom10.netcom.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Re: Toroids Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk In the quest for a small, linear variable inductor, would it not be possible to place a second small winding on a toroid, then feed that with a variable DC voltage in order to change the permeability of the toriod material? The inductance wouldn't vary linearly with the current, but that could be compensated for in any number of ways. I've dug out my copy of Kraus's _Electromagnetics_, but I can't find an answer that I can comprehend in the time I have available for this! -- Bruce KN6MN From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 11:39:06 1994 Return-Path: id m0qIIlS-0001NrC; Mon, 27 Jun 94 10:38 CDT Message-Id: From: jason@persoft.persoft.com (Jason Penn) Subject: HW-9 Spotted in rec.radio.swap, FYI To: qrp@Think.COM Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 10:38:29 CDT X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11] Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I'll wager someone on this list wants to know about this HW-9 station for sale in rec.radio.swap... --snip-- From: ira@hamhead.com Newsgroups: rec.radio.swap Subject: Complete HW-9 Station for Sale Date: 27 Jun 1994 12:46:47 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Palo Alto, CA, USA Lines: 17 Message-ID: <2umhnn$g4p@usenet.pa.dec.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: wa1w.shr.dec.com HW-9 XCVR -w- WARC Band Pack SP99 Speaker with internal power supply (3Amp lamda type) HM9 - Wattmeter. HT9 - Antenna Tuner. Units vary in condition from very good to excellent with most original packing d manuals. I also have a large collection of articles on the HW9 including the Hot Water handbook im willing to throw in. Looking for best offer over $275.00 + shipping/handling. please reply to email address: ira@hamhead.com --snip-- -- Jason F. Penn N9RPT | Persoft, Inc. | jason@persoft.com Whenever I want to find something, it's always in the last place I look. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 12:36:23 1994 Return-Path: (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Mon, 27 Jun 1994 09:35:54 -0700 Message-Id: <199406271635.AA25435@halcyon.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 09:37:55 -0700 To: qrp@Think.COM From: xenolith@halcyon.com (Kevin Purcell) Subject: FD 94 in Seattle de N7WIM Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk CALL : N7WIM ENTRY CLASS : 1B - battery SECTION / LOCATION : WWA At the top of the Water tower in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill in Seattle, WA. RIG : Realistic HTX-202 2m FM handheld (2 watts out) ANTENNA : Rubber helical attached to rig (should have used dummy load!). POWER SOURCE : 8V Ni-Cad battery pack TOTAL ON-AIR OPERATION TIME : About 1 hour FINAL SCORE: 8 QSOs on 2m FM ----- 8 QSOs (x1) FM (x5) < 5 watts = 40 points 100% emergency power = 100 points Operation from a public place = 100 points TOTAL SCORE = 240 points COMMENTS : You can do FD with just a 2m FM handheld. The good front end on the HTX-202 saved me from most of the ravages of intermod. This site is on the top of a Captitol Hill which is more a ridge or escarpment than a hill and shares a good all round view of Seattle. Consequently it has a whole host of TV, FM, and PMR etc etc transmitters on the top of various buildings and towers. Fortunatly none are in the park itself. My first problem was not working the people I called until I realised I had the "low(er) power" button on. Unintentional milliwatting! Moving to QRO (2 watts) meant I could work almost all heard (except one). The tower is an brick enclosure around the water tower proper. The windows at the top have heavy iron fences and wire lattice work. Careful positioning of the antenna gave both full power with the antenna a little outside the grating. Those grating really do detune the antenna. Best "DX" was W7KM who was 1B about 10 miles NW of Mt Rainer, about 50 to 60 miles south of Seattle and probably line of sight from my QTH. He had a fully quieting signal. I also worked the Mike and Key club at Fort Flagler, K7LED. They're about 50 miles to the north on the Olympic peninsula. I was their novice/tech station last year. Wore my "QRP is not for cissies" T-shirt and carried a copy of QST and tried to explain why I was shouting gibberish into this black box! After an hour I packed it in and walked home to watch the World Cup (hey, I'm English, what do you expect!) LESSONS LEARNED: I really need an external antenna I can poke through a 1" dia hole -- a dipole will suffice. Carrying an external antenna with the HT is probably not a bad idea. The HTX-202 real does have a good front end. Packet would be fun from this location (heard quite a bit of packet activity). I have a cheap T1000 just need the modem or TNC. I need to bring a table and chair to sit at. I would look more respectable! You can make more points for location and power than making contacts. This would be particularly true if one picked up all the bonus points! Could be an amusing goal. You don't have to work HF to have fun, even 1 hour of 2m FM can be amusing, and its probably closer to what would happen when the big one hits. The capture effect on FM can make sharing a channel difficult, but I was amazed how the several folks on the same channel shared time although we could all hear each other (we all worked each other). Directional antennas would help here. The ARRL should designate particular simplex channels for people to camp on. Most of the contacts were on 146.52 (which is probably verboten by the rules). Even in a big urban area at a reasonable location I didn't hear many people but I had a great view to the horizon all the way around. Perhaps many of the new techs don't know why they should try FD or think that its a HF only event or think that VHF contesting is SSB/CW only. I think I feel an "New Ham" article coming on! Kevin Purcell, N7WIM / G8UDP Are you a Mac developer? Live close to Seattle? xenolith@halcyon.com We need you in the dBug Mac Dev SIG. Mail me! (206) 649-6489 "Organising programmers is like herding cats" From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 12:57:56 1994 Return-Path: (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Mon, 27 Jun 1994 09:57:22 -0700 Message-Id: <199406271657.AA26823@halcyon.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 09:59:24 -0700 To: Duane P Mantick From: xenolith@halcyon.com (Kevin Purcell) Subject: Re: QRP Phone Freq.'s Cc: qrp@Think.COM Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk > There are a number of folks who respond very positively to QRP >ops on that segment of 10, but keep in mind that with the sunspot cycle low >as it is, 10 is REALLLLLL spotty these days. Sometimes there is some >good medium distance skip, I'd say in the 500 to 1200 mile range, and >sometimes it is as dead as a brick. Not sure when the lowest of the >low in this cycle is supposed to occur (quite possibly about NOW), but >for those who have never experienced ten when it was GOOD, I can tell >you that in 1988-89 ten was absolutely red HOT. A few watts would work >anywhere in the world, especially during the winter months. >Duane >WB9OMC on ten >wb9omc@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu But one should point out that the "short skip" (sporadic E) season is now approaching its height and you should see good sp-E on 10/6/2 (in fact that has already been reported here). See July QST for Pocock's article on 2m Sp-E. Kevin Purcell, N7WIM / G8UDP Are you a Mac developer? Live close to Seattle? xenolith@halcyon.com We need you in the dBug Mac Dev SIG. Mail me! (206) 649-6489 "Organising programmers is like herding cats" From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 13:00:53 1994 Return-Path: (5.67a/IDA-1.5 for think.com!qrp); Tue, 28 Jun 1994 01:00:06 +0800 id aa01822; Mon, 27 Jun 94 15:45:58 GMT (Smail3.1.28.1 #52) id m0qIQBQ-000Q6zC; Mon, 27 Jun 94 23:33 (Linux Smail3.1.28.1 #4) id m0qIIqI-000GvAC; Mon, 27 Jun 94 23:43 SST Resent-Message-Id: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 23:30:49 +0800 Message-Id: <2e0ef0a9.pandora@pandora.uucp> Resent-Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 23:30:49 +0800 Resent-From: "W. Daniel" Resent-Reply-To: "W. Daniel" Resent-To: pandora!qrp@Think.COM Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 12:31:06 -0700 (PDT) From: Stephen Lee Subject: Re: Few RF Xsistor Specs (fwd) To: pandora!daniel@Think.COM Cc: slee@u.washington.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Hey Cousin Wee, My reply bounced on the first attempt. Evidently the mailer doesn't like your "reply-to" address :( Hope this reaches you.... Stephen Lee KC7AVB ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 15:08:34 -0700 (PDT) From: Stephen Lee To: "W. Daniel" Cc: Stephen Lee Subject: Re: Few RF Xsistor Specs I can provide info on the MRFxxx and 2 of the 2SCxxxx transistors, as follows: MRF476: HF Transistor, 1.5-30 MHz, HF/SSB Vcc...................... = 12.5 or 13.6 Volts DC Output Power in Watts.... = 3 PEP/CW Input Power in Watts..... = 0.1 Watt Max Power Gain in dB @ 30 MHz = 15 Temp rating 17.5 Degrees C per Watt MRF475: HF Transistor, 1.5-30 MHz, HF/SSB Vcc...................... = 12.5 or 13.6 Volts DC Output Power in Watts.... = 12 PEP/CW Input Power in Watts..... = 1.2 Watts Max Power Gain in dB @ 30 MHz = 10 Temp rating 10 Degrees C per Watt MRF237: VHF Transistor, 136-174 MHz High Band Vcc...................... = 12.5 Volts DC Output Power in Watts.... = 4 Watts Input Power in Watts..... = 0.25 Watts Power Gain, dB @ 175 MHz = 12 Temp rating 22 Degrees C per Watt REF: Motorola Semiconductor Master Selection Guide, Rev 5, Page 5.8-5 and Page 5.8-7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2SC1945: NPN Transistor, Ic(max) = 6 Amps, V(BR)CEO = 40 VDC, Max Power Dissipation = 20 Watts, hFE(min) = 20, Max Temp = 140 degrees C, Package: TO-220 2SC1969: NPN Transistor, Ic(max) = 6 Amps, V(BR)CEO = 25 VDC, Max Power Dissipation = 20 Watts, hFE(min) = 10, Max Temp = 140 degrees C, Package: TO-220 REF: D.A.T.A. /D/I/G/E/S/T/ 1991 Power Semiconductors Page 378-36 and Page 378-25 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I did not send this to the entire QRP group so feel free to share it with other interested individuals. Stephen Lee KC7AVB -- +-------------+-------------------------------------+ | Daniel Wee | daniel%pandora@csah.com | ** Man needs more | UUCP1.12b | daniel.wee@f516.n600.z6.fidonet.org | than a new start, he | SNEWS 1.91 | csah.com!pandora!daniel | needs a new heart! ** +-------------+-------------------------------------+ From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 13:18:30 1994 Return-Path: id AA04832; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 13:18:04 -0400 id AA09856; Mon, 27 Jun 94 13:19:49 EDT id AA01350; Mon, 27 Jun 94 13:19:47 EDT Message-Id: <9406271719.AA01350@kaos.ksr.com> To: xenolith@halcyon.com (Kevin Purcell) Cc: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Re: FD 94 in Seattle de N7WIM In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 27 Jun 94 09:37:55 PDT." <199406271635.AA25435@halcyon.com> Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 13:19:47 -0400 From: "John F. Woods" Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk > ANTENNA : Rubber helical attached to rig (should have used dummy load!). You did :-). > I also worked the Mike and Key | club at Fort Flagler, K7LED. v ``click'' (Ah, I miss the old territory.) Something I forgot to mention in my FD description: I got my first ticket in 1976, about 1 month before FD. This time around, it has been about a month since I got back on the air after an absence of several years. Unfortunately, unlike the first time around, I haven't had enough time on the air to practice (thus FD was my contacts # 2 through 22...). I used to do FD with the Boeing Employees Amateur Radio Society (hence the old interclub rivalry mentioned above :-). From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 14:03:47 1994 Return-Path: Message-Id: <9406271749.AA25414@ig1.att.att.com> From: mvjf@mvubr.att.com (James M Fitton +1 508 960 2577) Date: 27 Jun 94 17:48:00 GMT Original-From: mvubr!mvjf (James M Fitton +1 508 960 2577) To: QRP@Think.COM Subject: Nothing Heard.... Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Operating from FD station W1FMR, W1FMR, WT1M, and WA1JXR listened and called CQ QRP on the 20m, 40m, & 80m QRP frequencies at 1800Z on Sunday, (after FD) with 0 replys. 1. There was too much digital operation on or near 14.060 mHz 2. There were still many stations calling CQ FD If you contacted N4AR, it was Chris, G4BUE as a guest operator (member's news for Sprat). I contacted Bill N8ET. Great FD.... Thanks to club manager Mark, NX1K. 72 Jim From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 14:18:10 1994 Return-Path: Message-Id: <9406271817.AA17686@Early-Bird.Think.COM> Date: 27 Jun 1994 14:15:36 U From: "Bob Scott" Subject: Re: QSLing To: "QRP" Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk re>QSLing Thanks to all for your ideas. I guess I am just a little disappointed that I have to go to the SASE for a domestic QSL. It appears that things have changed since I was a young man in the courtesy department. (Do you know how hard it is to mail a parchment QSL and keep it in one piece?) Thanks again to all. 73 Bob AC4QO From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 14:45:21 1994 Return-Path: id AA04498; Mon, 27 Jun 94 11:32:42 PDT id AA772742497 Mon, 27 Jun 94 11:41:37 PST Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 11:41:37 PST From: lhalliday@creo.bc.ca Message-Id: <9405277727.AA772742497@mail.creo.bc.ca> To: QRP@Think.COM Subject: FD at VE7BAR Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I was 15 meter team captain for VE7BAR (3A BC), a mainly QRO (100 watts) FD operation. We did, however, charge some NiCds from a solar panel and make some contacts with an HW-8. Other highlights included the 15A (!) station in Santa Barbara who told us to Have a Nice Day, and causing pileups on 10 (wide open with sporadic E) by innocently calling CQ Field Day. I'm toying with doing my own B or E station next year. My mom and dad live out in the country in the B.C. interior, with lots of land for stringing antennas, and minimal RF noise. 73 from Burnaby, laura VE7LDH From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 14:55:10 1994 Return-Path: id AA05884; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 14:54:33 -0400 id AA10517; Mon, 27 Jun 94 14:56:18 EDT id AA07403; Mon, 27 Jun 94 14:56:09 EDT Message-Id: <9406271856.AA07403@kaos.ksr.com> To: mvjf@mvubr.att.com (James M Fitton +1 508 960 2577) Cc: QRP@Think.COM Subject: Re: Nothing Heard.... In-Reply-To: Your message of "27 Jun 94 17:48:00 GMT." <9406271749.AA25414@ig1.att.att.com> Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 14:56:08 -0400 From: "John F. Woods" Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk > Operating from FD station W1FMR, > W1FMR, WT1M, and WA1JXR listened and called CQ QRP on the > 20m, 40m, & 80m QRP frequencies at 1800Z on Sunday, (after FD) > with 0 replys. > 1. There was too much digital operation on or near 14.060 mHz > 2. There were still many stations calling CQ FD Actually, I thought FD actually ended at 2100Z (with only A&B stations who do setup starting at 1800Z Saturday able to use the whole 27 hours). I had planned to get on at 2100Z, but wound up having to go food shopping instead. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 14:56:51 1994 Return-Path: From: Bruce Walker id AA02138; Mon, 27 Jun 94 14:56:29 EDT Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 14:56:29 EDT Message-Id: <9406271856.AA02138@zarathustra.think.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: QRP-NE field day... Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Mark (NX1K) is our FD captain, but he's going out of town for the next week or so, so I'll take liberty of writing up this quick summary to the list. Some of these guys had been coming to this site for five years or so, but this was my first time there. It is at a small wind farm high on the SW side of Mt. Wachusett in central MA (section WMA), about 1500' MSL. There are 7 wind-powered generators around the site (used to be eight until one was obliterated by lightning; we got to see some of the twisted remains in a barn). It was quite a thrill the first time they kicked on (they are fired up when the sustained winds reach a certain level). Tempting as it was to use the ~100' windmill towers to hang antennas from, we weren't supposed to and didn't. There was a line of ~45' trees on the uphill side of our clearing, and we strung wires from them. We ran 3A battery, focusing on 80, 40, and 20. It was foggy all day Saturday, rained for a while Saturday night before becoming beautifully clear for late night and Sunday. I was band captain for 40, and I made a vertical fullwave square loop hung from the top of the trees, with the bottom side about 8' above ground. Since the terrain falls off rapidly, antenna height isn't a big deal there. I was nominally in charge of 15m, too, but I just loaded up the loop for a while on Sat afternoon. Rig was my HW-9 at 4W for most of the contest, but used W1FMR's NorCal 40 for an hour or two on Sunday morning with equal success. We started off very slowly on 40/15 (about 3 Qs per hour for the first couple) until I figured out that my HW-9 was transmitting about 1khz below where it was receiving! Oops; worked fine back in my shack, but it must have gotten jostled out of alignment around in the car on the way over. That's what FD is for, I guess. Adjusted the RIT to compensate, and the Q-rate went way up! Count me in among the fans of the NorCal 40; it got me really excited about the Sierra! Greg (WA1JXR) was band captain for 80, and hung a ladder-line fed dipole from an uphill tree to a downhill tree; a perfect sloper to the west. He was running a Kenwood TS-450 and had rig PLL problems on Saturday, but the rig started working again in time for the 80 push Saturday night. He ran out of battery on Sunday morning (those power-hungry commercial rigs!), but I had a spare 24AH to get him back on to load up the long dipole on 15. He was working a great rate Sat night! Jim (W1FMR) was band captain for 20, and he set up a delta loop on 20 and ran a Ten-Tec Argo 509. No problems there that I know of, except that I think his speaker was louder in the 40m station tent than in his own. He can tell his own war stories! In general, it was a blast. Great site. I finally got to meet several of the people I know from this list. Dave NN1G even stopped by on Sunday. I got the OHR Wattmeter built just in time for FD (Friday night), but with one minor glitch: the reflected power reading always about the same as the forward power. Oops; no time to debug it then....I'll do that this week. --bruce WT1M Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 08:11:46 -0400 From: swart@curry.shr.dec.com (Mark Swartwout) To: bruce@Think.COM, carl@mv.mv.com, mvjf@mvubr.att.com, mvwkm@mvgpk.att.com, acito@asdg.enet.dec.com Subject: New England QRP - Preliminary QSO totals for Field Day Here are the unchecked totals, by band, with my comments. Band CW Phone Comments ========== ===== ===== ========================================== 160 meters 1 Worked every station we heard! 80 meters 126 Great solo effort by WA1JXR 40 meters 208 Super antenna and excellent effort by WT1M et al 20 meters 146 22 Jim got hoarse running SSB before breakfast 15 meters 71 33 Surprising propagation on this band 2 meters 29 Thanks again to 'JXR for these Q's ----- ----- Mode Totals 552 84 Total QSOs 636 Thanks to all who came, helped with setup and operated. The teamwork was great. Everyone had something to contribute. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't get a sunburn in the fog. The back of my neck is very red, and it is mostly from Saturday. I will be in Illinois from 28 June to 5 July. I'll get the logs checked and send out final results when I get back. Any and all comments are welcome, either suggestions for next time, or items to include in the QST and 72 articles. If any pictures turn out I would love to see them. Also I will check on the Wind Farm shirts and get back to you with prices. 73, Mark From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 14:56:52 1994 Return-Path: id AA05364; Mon, 27 Jun 94 14:57:02 EDT Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 14:57:02 EDT From: sas@opus.xyplex.com (Scott Sminkey - Sustaining Eng Group) Message-Id: <9406271857.AA05364@opus.xyplex.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Re: QSLing (was: Contest QSLs) Reply-To: sasminkey@xap.xyplex.com Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Bob AC4QO wrote: >Is it considered bad taste to QSL contest contacts? I *rely* on contest contacts to add to my DX country total. I now have about 115 worked, and 98 confirmed and well over half were from contests and most of them from the annual CQ Worldwide DX contests. I have found that contest stations are among the *best* QSLers. >Has QSLing gone out of style... Anyone, could >someone explain the current rules/guidelines/practices? and Duane WB9OMC wrote: > Some hams these days aren't interested in QSLing if you don't >send them an SASE... > DX folks often get inundated with QSLs, and unless they have access >to cash nearly equal to their entire nations Gross National Product, >can't pay for the postage to answer them all. The IRC (International >Reply Coupon), available from the Post Office, is helpful to them.. > The inclusion of a self addressed envelope to the DX station >can also be helpful. Duane all but comes out and says the first rules of QSLing: if you want the card, do what it takes to get it. I have been working toward DXCC so my focus is on overseas QSLing. I have never used IRCs, but use US dollar bills instead. I used to use $1 but with so many postal rates going up in different parts of the world, I now always include $2. I always include a self addressed envelope. On the inside of the flap, I stamp my callsign and write down the QSL information: call sign of station worked, date, time, band/freq, and report. This is so (1) the person opening the outer envelope knows which card my return envelope goes with, and (2) if my card gets separated from the envelope or otherwise destroyed, the data is some where so hopefully I'll get a card anyway. Remember that the person answering the QSL card may be a manager for several stations so make things easy for him or her. As for QSLs within the USA, I always include a SASE. I am about to get serious on 6m and perhaps 2m as well, so I am going to be doing a lot of USA QSLing and I will want the cards! Finally, Duane wrote: > But I gotta say it - keep in mind that there are a lot of >US hams these days who don't bother to QSL because they don't care, >and if you send them one it probably will go in the s***can because >they haven't even bothered to have a card printed (in spite of the fact >that now with computers being so commonplace, you can make them >SOOOOO cheaply....). These alleged hams :-) don't strike me as REAL hams >at all. For those hams who don't have cards, you could always keep a supply of "form letter" cards on hand, i.e., a card that you "make" for him or her to sign. Fill it out with his call sign, your QSO data, and send it with your card for him to sign and return to you. Remember that if you want confirmation of QSO, even a handwritten letter/note will do, but it must be *signed* by the operator. I must take issue with the tone of Duane's comment here. In my mind, QSLing is not an obligation and no ham should be chastised or make to feel guilty if he doesn't choose to print up QSL cards. Furthermore, I don't buy into this "the QSL card is the final courtesy" and initiating a QSL card for each and every contact I make. I know exactly where USA QSL cards end up at when sent to a rare DX operator: in the trash. The last thing he needs is his ten millionth card from the USA! There is no point wasting your time and his if you don't want his card. I go back to what I said earlier: if *you* want a QSL card, then *you* have to do what it takes to get one, i.e., initiate the request, provide return postage and an addressed envelope, and include a "form letter" card if you have to. 73, Scott WO1G ============= Scott Sminkey email: sasminkey@eng.xyplex.com Software Sustaining Engineering voice: 508 952-4792 Xyplex, Inc. fax: 508 952-4887 295 Foster St. (Opinions, comments, etc. are mine, Littleton, MA 01460 not Xyplex's...) From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 15:53:43 1994 Return-Path: id AA01905; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 13:51:13 -0600 for qrp@think.com Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 13:51:12 -0600 (CST) From: Peter Hardie Subject: FD To: qrp mailing list Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I didn't try hard because I wasn't feeling well (are there equalization multipliers for poor health as well as being in or near the Black Hole?). Did 1E battery with 5W out to 2-el quad but had the tower down to 20ft because of real good thunderstorm Fri night (one local lost all his rigs due to nearby lightning hit). Made one satellite contact on RS-10 and about 40 contacts on 15 + 20m. It was the first chance I have had to try out the CW filter I designed for the W9GR DSP kit. IMHAUO (And Unbiased :-) it worked rather well. It is centred on 780 Hz for my IC-735's sidetone and has a nominal -6dB bandwidth of 100Hz. I forget the shape factor but it's pretty good. I found the 250Hz one from W9GR to be a bit too wide for this kind of "contest" conditions and his 30Hz filter too hard to use. 100Hz seems to be about right. If you have the single function version of W9GR (single function PROMs won't work with the multi-function version) and can blast your own bipolar PROMs then you can get the Intel hex via anonymous ftp from ftp.usask.ca in pub/amiga/w9gr/cw780-100.lzh (which is an lharc archive). If anyone can't read a .lzh, I'll just explode the files into ascii - they're not all that big. ve5va.qrp@usask.ca From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 16:14:11 1994 Return-Path: (Smail3.1.28.1 #12) id m0qIN28-000MV5C; Mon, 27 Jun 94 13:12 PDT (Smail3.1.28.1 #2) id m0qIN39-000twfC; Mon, 27 Jun 94 13:13 PDT Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 13:13:03 PST From: Mark E Gustoff Message-Id: <940627131303_1@ccm.hf.intel.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: FD 94 in Phoenix Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk CALL : WO7T ENTRY CLASS : 1E - Solar/Battery SECTION / LOCATION : Tempe, Arizona In air conditioned shack. Like I was going out to a local mountain or park to sit in the hot sun (116 F on Saturday) :) RIG : Index Labs QRP+ ANTENNA : 5 ele. Log-Periodic POWER SOURCE : Marine Battery / 5 W Solar Panel TOTAL ON-AIR OPERATION TIME : 5 hours or so. Saturday the bands were great, but I had work duties that occupied about 7 hours on Saturday. Sunday I was free of obligations, but the band was pretty crappy. Checked WWV and sure enough K-index had taken a major jump. Oh well! TOTAL SCORE = 240 points COMMENTS : Next weekend I should be up in the cool pines partaking in my belated FD effort. 7,000 ft. up the daytime temps should stay around 85F. Will toss a wire into a pine tree, and operate OHR 20M QRP rig on and off. Hope to run across a few fellow QRPers this weekend. I listened this last weekend but did not hear any of the internetters. 73 - Mark. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 16:18:49 1994 Return-Path: id AA13394; Mon, 27 Jun 94 13:16:07 PDT Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 13:16:07 PDT From: dh@deneb.csustan.edu (Doug Hendricks) Message-Id: <9406272016.AA13394@deneb.csustan.edu> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: FD 94 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk FD 94, Zuni Looper Style by Doug Hendricks, KI6DS 862 Frank Ave. Dos Palos, CA 93620 dh@deneb.csustan.edu The Zuni Looper Mountain Expeditionary Force was represented this year by the following: Fred Turpin, K6MDJ, Keith Clark, W6SIY, Ralph Irons, AA6UL, Kim Irons, KD6WJK, Rob Roberts, N7FEG, Bill Young, WF6D (+ grandson Chris), Charlie Lofgren, W6JJZ, Wayne Burdick, N6KR, Doug Hendricks, KI6DS, Clark Turner, WA3JPG and Belinda Turner, KC6TKO. We were missing old stand by's; Cam Hartford, N6GA, (in Europe), Jim Cates, WA6GER, (unable to make it from Sacramento), and Richard Fisher, KI6SN (ill with the flu). Chuck Adams, K5FO was to have made his initial appearance, but was a no-show. We used the call N6GA, as Cam had appointed Keith as a control op. We operated 5A from LAX with the following rigs: OHR Classic, NorCal 40, Sierra, Argo 509, Argo 515, Kenwood TS130, Icom 735, and a couple of other commercial rigs that I forgot to get details on. I was too busy having fun!! The Zuni's are famous for their antennas, and this year was no exception. We had a 4 element Quagi up 90 feet on 40, 3 Phased elements on 6 meters, the Six Shooter on 20, a 5 half wave loop on 80, ZL special on 10 and 15, G5RV, and a Skelton Cone. We were short on ops this year, so the decision was made to have a "social" Field Day. We would try out all of the home brew rigs that were there, take some time to visit, and make contacts as they came. Wayne, Keith, Ralph and Fred made most of the QSO's, the rest of us made a few, but we all had fun. I don't know how many QSO's we made, as Wayne and I had to leave early for the 6 1/2 hour drive home, but will report later when I have the results. Field Day with the Zuni's is never boring, i.e. the famous "Bob and the Bear" story, and this year was no exception. I was putting up the Skelton Cone and had just finished at 11:00. Boy was I proud, it was up at 50 feet, in a perfect configuration, and I was hurrying over to have Keith and Wayne look at it, when I looked up into the sky and saw the camper's worst nightmare, a FOREST FIRE! Folks, this thing was big, and was getting bigger in a hurry. Smoke was billowing up into the air, and the scary thing was that it was close, about a mile from us across 2 ridges. Several others saw it at about the same time, and we gathered together to watch and discuss our options. Fred got on the 2 meter repeater and received a report that it was out of control and that we should alert the others in the campground to be ready to evacuate on a moments notice. So, I guess we get extra points for relaying emergency traffic!! The next 4 hours was spent nervously watching CDF airplanes fight the fire. We had a great seat and it was neat to see the borate bombers do their thing. I have the upmost admiration for those pilots. Talk about a dangerous job! Luckily for us the wind was blowing towards the fire and kept it from spreading our way. But, it did nothing for our scores. The fire was still not under control when Wayne and I left Sunday morning, and it had burned several hundred acres, 7 structures, and did huge amount of damage. Finally we decided to get back to field day, and we went to our separate stations. About this time Clark and Belinda arrived, with yet another story to add to the excitement. On the way in to the campground, they lost the brakes completely on the Volvo. Clark said that his heartrate increased dramatically when his foot went all the way to the floor and there was no response to the brake pedal!! Thank goodness he was able to gear down and use the emergency brake to get stopped. Field Day was fun. The homebrew rigs performed really well, and the NorCal 40 and Sierra both passed the test. Wayne said that he was happy with how the Sierra worked and he just wants to make a minor tweak or two in it. But he had a big grin on his face when I asked him how the Sierra worked. Another highlight was when Kim came running out of the tent, yelling, "I did it, I did it, I made a CONTACT!!" It was her first HF qso, and we all looked at her and grinned. I know I was thinking of the first qso that I made and what a thrill it was. Sure was neat to be there and enjoy Kim's first qso. It brought back fond memories to all of us. As we were packing to go home, Bob Heussner, K6TUY, a NorCal member from the LA area drove up. He came all the way up to Table Mountaing hoping to meet Wayne and I. That's what he said, but I think the real reason was to see the "Sierra" that he had ordered. It was really nice of Bob to drive up to see us, and Wayne and I both appreciated his efforts. There you have it, a brief account of FD, 1994, for the Zuni Loopers. Oh, by the way, Chuck, I had to eat the huge New York Strip that I brought for you. It was delicious. The other Zunis want to see if you can really do 60 wpm, as they think you chickened out!! I tried to defend your honor, but it was difficult. See ya next year. 72, Doug, KI6DS Permission is granted to reprint this in any club journal. Just list me as the source. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 16:25:42 1994 Return-Path: by harbor.ecn.purdue.edu (8.6.8/3.5davy) id PAA18986; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 15:25:19 -0500 Message-Id: <199406272025.PAA18986@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu> From: Duane P Mantick Subject: Re: QSLing (was: Contest QSLs) To: sasminkey@xap.xyplex.com Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 15:25:18 -0500 (EST) Cc: qrp@Think.COM In-Reply-To: <9406271857.AA05364@opus.xyplex.com> from "Scott Sminkey - Sustaining Eng Group" at Jun 27, 94 02:57:02 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL21] Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 3651 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk > > > Finally, Duane wrote: > > >These alleged hams :-) don't strike me as REAL hams at all. ^^^ please note the smiley here..... > > I must take issue with the tone of Duane's comment here. In my mind, QSLing > is not an obligation and no ham should be chastised or make to feel guilty > if he doesn't choose to print up QSL cards. Furthermore, I don't buy into True, although sometimes it would be nice if they'd even acknowledge receiving your card by taking a pre-stamped plain post card and writing on it "yes, I got it - go away!" or something like that...... > this "the QSL card is the final courtesy" and initiating a QSL card for each > and every contact I make. I know exactly where USA QSL cards end up at when > sent to a rare DX operator: in the trash. The last thing he needs is his > ten millionth card from the USA! There is no point wasting your time and > his if you don't want his card. I go back to what I said earlier: if *you* > want a QSL card, then *you* have to do what it takes to get one, i.e., > initiate the request, provide return postage and an addressed envelope, and > include a "form letter" card if you have to. > In self-defense, I *did* include a smiley face which is the internet way of suggesting some humour is intended. I think when combined with my other comments about the cost of QSLing, it can be seen that this was a bit of humour..... In reality, I generally have to agree with the writers comments about being obligated and so forth. I definitely do NOT even attempt to send a QSL card for every contact *I* make, primarily because the time I'd spend doing so, for one thing, could be better spent on the air MAKING contacts (or any one of a hundred other things that need to get done). For another thing, the postage alone would kill me, and I'm not even a real MAJOR ham player! Guys that spend more time on more bands than I could conceivably wrack up one hell of a bill just doing QSLing. Which for many people, is why there are bureaus..... If someone asks for my card, I send it. If someone is a contact I need confirmation for, I send it. If someone has an interesting callsign, I send it. If someone tells me he has a rather neat QSL card, I send it. (there is a lot of humour in certain cards, if you haven't noticed.....) Certain special event stations have rather attractive cards/certificate, and so I send for them. I will take issue with what I perceive as a widespread and often incorrect attitude regarding DX or rare DX operators - that all US cards automatically go into the round file AND DON'T GET ANSWERED. Yes, I know that isn't precisely what the writer said - but his comments on the subject bring that up. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have asked people if they have an address for so-and-so DX station that I worked, and have been told "Why bother? He'll just throw your card away and keep your IRC's and you won't get squat." Yeah, I've had that happen. Probably we all have, or will have at some point. Quite frankly, I've had MUCH better luck getting DX cards than US ones by a LONG shot. Although 9Y4JL is an exception to that...don't know if he's dead, or what, but I've tried about 5 times to get a card from him, and sent him countless SASE with IRC's (probably about 12 IRC's by now) and never got diddle. Screw him. In the meantime, I worked another 9Y4 who was very prompt and courteous so I don't NEED 9Y4JL anymore! It just goes to show you, Amateur Radio is a cross section of society, in that WE get bozos too. :-) :-) <<<< <01HE1PDV7MCW94DZWF@desire.wright.edu>; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 18:59:38 EDT Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 18:59:38 -0400 (EDT) From: NYOUNG@DESIRE.WRIGHT.EDU Subject: QRP Delights of the Past & Other Foibles To: qrp@Think.COM Message-Id: <01HE1PDV7MCY94DZWF@desire.wright.edu> X-Vms-To: IN%"qrp@think.com" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk At this point in the day, my brain is toast and most of what follows will bear witness to that and to the lame condition in which I am now typing these words. SO..... Many years ago (as in maybe 20), there was an article in the now defunct _Ham Radio_ magazine in which the author described an itsy-bitsy, teeny- tiny little QRP rig that used a 350-something pf cap as a vxo tooner. The board upon which a bunch of 1/4 watt resistors and other doo-dads was placed was available from MFJ. I know that I am not halucinating, because I actually had the board and put all the parts on it before I blew it up. I'm good at blowing things up. Anyway, does anyone remember that rig and can they think of something in present time that is about as small. (And yes, I know about the G-QRP clubs "Oner" boards. I think they're spiffy and if I ever regain my sanity and health, I'll just have to put one together). I'm always game for some teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy, eensy-beensy little 40 meter rig that will be smaller than the bag that carries the rig, the key, the battery, the earphones and antenna. Second: What is the name of the place in the States that handles the Howes transmitter and receiver QRP kits? I have the 40 meter version, much modified and often blown up. Now I need a schematic so that I can fix what I blew up the last time I messed with it. It's a nice rig. I mean, I went to a lot of effort to fit all those boards into a tiny Ten Tec box, with a dual jackson drive on the tuning capacitor and all. Hints will be gladly followed. Flames will be gobbled up whole. I need 'em to blow more stuff up. Third: I don't know about you-all, but I print my own QSLs on antique cast iron presses. That's one cost that I can absorb with dignity. But sending them little puppies out is breaking my bank. That's where I think QSL burros (or is that bureaus?) come in handy. Too bad they're so expensive. I will QSL anyone crazy enough to send me one. And upon special occasions (like a really lively conversation over the air with someone who knows more than the weather and the rig and the antenna and the wattage and the time of day in China) I'll even send one out before I get a card. After all, to me they're free. All but the postage. Fourth: I used to QSL every contact in every contest. Seriously. I sent my stuff to W1EP DX QSL Service and waited for the mailman to faint. Ah, them was the days.... But I must be off. (Everyone says that I am.) There are things out there needing a good blowing up! 73 Nils WB8IJN From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 19:01:30 1994 Return-Path: id AA01025; Mon, 27 Jun 94 13:00:39 HST Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 13:00:39 HST From: jeffrey@math.hawaii.edu (Jeffrey Herman) Message-Id: <9406272300.AA01025@kahuna.math.hawaii.edu> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: QSL Cards Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk No need for any ham to be without a supply of QSL cards. My cards come from one of the hundreds of tourist shops down in Waikiki. I buy many different postcards: sunsets, beaches, topless Hawaiian girls, sailboats sailing on the ocean, airplane-view of the island, et cetera; only about 10 cents each. I'll write my callsign with a felt-tipped pen up in the corner, and the QSL info on the back. So if you are without cards find a cheap supplier of post cards, and get a black felt pen and you're done. Oh, I always ask the other op if he wants a G-rated or R-rated card (which is the topless Hawaiian girl)... The general response is ``The XYL will get mad - better send the G-rated card''. .73, Jeff NH6IL From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 20:06:59 1994 Return-Path: id UAA09602; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 20:06:21 -0400 Date: 27 Jun 94 20:04:54 EDT From: Craig LaBarge <74740.3166@CompuServe.COM> To: Subject: El Cheapo Headphones Message-Id: <940628000453_74740.3166_EHB204-1@CompuServe.COM> Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I've grown accustomed to using those little "ear bud" stereo headphones with my MFJ. I'm pretty rough on these little things and, since I like to carry a spare set, I like to pay as little as possible for them. (This is one area where it pays to scrimp, since the cheaper headphones generally have poorer high frequency response, thus less hiss from the rig.) Well, while strolling through K-Mart the other day, I struck pay dirt. They had a pile of Philco (Model 321K) ear buds for less than $3 a pair. They also included a set of replacement foam covers; all in a nice, compact little carrying case. I bought two pair to try and, much to my delight, they had better volume and less hiss than the more expensive ($5 -- it's all relative) pair I had been using. I shoulda stocked up while I was there! 73, Craig WB3GCK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ P.S. PERSONAL NOTE FOR DOMENIC RYAN: I know you're out there! I have info on gel cell batteries for you but your email address bounced. Try sending email to me so I can reply and get the info to you. =================================================================== | Craig LaBarge WB3GCK/QRP | | | Email: 74740.3166@CompuServe.com | Just say no to QRO! | | CW: 30 & 40 Meters | | =================================================================== From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 21:56:26 1994 Return-Path: (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for qrp@think.com); Mon, 27 Jun 1994 21:08:45 -0400 Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 21:08:45 -0400 Message-Id: <199406280108.AA21907@yfn2.ysu.edu> From: ah301@yfn.ysu.edu (Jerry Sy) To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Re: Field Day Reply-To: ah301@yfn.ysu.edu Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk >hope eveyone enjoyed Field Day. Our University club made a >decidsion that it was more important for the prospective hams and >new hams to get interested and operate and learn, than to stack up >points. > > well, that was what was agreed upon by club members at the meeting before field day (which was my first field day). But on field day, the more experienced CW'ers hog the rigs and didn't give us slow-coders (20wpm and below) to use the rigs. Only hams who can work 25-35 wpm had fun. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 21:57:36 1994 Return-Path: (rama) id QQwweh15685; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 21:57:10 -0400 id AA25183; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 21:57:05 -0400 Message-Id: <199406280157.AA25183@world.std.com> To: NYOUNG@DESIRE.WRIGHT.EDU Cc: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Re: QRP Delights of the Past & Other Foibles In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 27 Jun 1994 18:59:38 EDT." <01HE1PDV7MCY94DZWF@desire.wright.edu> Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 21:57:04 -0400 From: Daniel C Halbert Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I believe the tiny rig Nils is thinking of from Ham Radio magazine is the "Miniature 7-MHz Transceiver", July 1974, p. 16, article by Howard F. Batie, W7BBX. I recognized the description and have the article in front of me. It's a simple direct-conversion VXO rig, with a CA3028 for the mixer, and a CA3018 (transistor array) for the AF amp. The VXO is an HEP735, and the final is a 2N3866. The VXO tuning cap is actually not a 365-pf one, but is a 63-pf transistor radio variable cap (the kind with thin plates with thin plastic in between, in a plastic case). The PC board pattern given is ridiculously small, about 1-1/8"x3", and is claimed to be full-size. I always wondered about that - it didn't seem to me that the parts would fit, and the parts overlay is given in a larger size (1.5"x4") which looks more like actual size. MFJ did have the boards. Always seemed like a really cute little rig to me. Dan Halbert, KB1RT From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 23:14:15 1994 Return-Path: (5.67a+/IDA-1.5); Mon, 27 Jun 1994 23:13:58 -0400 Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 23:13:57 -0400 (EDT) From: prvalko Subject: Power Mite Questions To: qrp@Think.COM Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Hello Again Everyone. I have quite a collection of those goofy Ten*Tec Power Mites and that brings up a few questions. If *YOU* have, or know someone who has one of the little devils, please check into the following... 1) DID the Power Mite 1 *ever* include a case? I always understood that the PM-1 was a simple stamped chassis, yet my PM-1 HAS side panels and a top panel. 2) What do the knobs and tuning dial look like on a PM-3? I have two of these (incredible, but true!) one is the PM-3A, the other is the "B" version. The "B" version is supposed to just have a semi-break in keying feature to make it different. MY PM-3B has the same front knobs as my Ten*Tec Argonaut 505. The PM-3A has the same knobs as the PM-1 and PM-2. 3) Anybody have a manual for a PM-1? How about a PM-2B manual? I have a manual for the PM-2A but don't own one of those (yet ). I'd sincerely like to hear from ANYONE else who has one of these hidden in your closet. I'd also like to thank the folks that have been so kind as to forward my messages on to other PM owners. 73 =paul= wb8zjl From owner-qrp@Think.COM Mon Jun 27 23:54:41 1994 Return-Path: (1.37.109.9/16.2) id AA0220941116; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 21:01:32 -0700 Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 21:01:32 -0700 (PDT) From: Tom Kerns Subject: Re: Field Day Report de N9DD To: N9DD@aol.com Cc: qrp@Think.COM In-Reply-To: <9406262310.tn55098@aol.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Tom - South Bend, eh. I spent four years in South Bend as a student at Notre Dame, and have many memories there. 'course, that was back in 61-65, so it's a while ago. Your experience of weather on your back deck on FD was very similar to mine. Short, sporadic, fun, filled with rain, also sunshine, here in Seattle. Do you know if Notre Dame has a ham station? If so, do you know if it operates HF with any regularity, and/or if it has a packet address, and/or does it have an internet address? 73 - Tom Dr Tom Kerns, Professor of Philosophy North Seattle Community College 9600 College Way North Seattle, WA 98103 email: tkerns@seaccd.ctc.edu voice/voicemail: (206) 528-3827 FAX: (206) 527-3734 Amateur radio callsign: AA7ZG Packet: AA7ZG @N7DUO.WA.USA.NA Fly Fishing is The Answer. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 00:27:59 1994 Return-Path: (1.37.109.9/16.2) id AA0241643103; Mon, 27 Jun 1994 21:34:39 -0700 Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 21:34:39 -0700 (PDT) From: Tom Kerns Subject: Software for the Mac To: Kevin Purcell Cc: qrp@Think.COM In-Reply-To: <199406271635.AA25435@halcyon.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Kevin - Sounds like your FD experience up in the tower was a blast. Wish I had thought of that. You've inspired me to think of some other locations around the Seattle area that would be fun. Top of the Columbia Tower? Space Needle? etc Anyhow, I see you are a Mac person. Do you know of any software for the Mac that is designed to handle the creation of bibliographies for scholarly papers? I'm looking for something. I use MS Word, but it doesnk't seem to have anything special for bibliographies. If you don't know of any, do you have a suggestion for how I could find out? Many thanks. (I know this isn't qrp related, but it's a shot in the dark.) - Tom Dr Tom Kerns, Professor of Philosophy North Seattle Community College 9600 College Way North Seattle, WA 98103 email: tkerns@seaccd.ctc.edu voice/voicemail: (206) 528-3827 FAX: (206) 527-3734 Amateur radio callsign: AA7ZG Packet: AA7ZG @N7DUO.WA.USA.NA Fly Fishing is The Answer. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 00:29:58 1994 Return-Path: (5.67a/IDA-1.5 for think.com!qrp); Tue, 28 Jun 1994 12:29:30 +0800 id aa07449; Tue, 28 Jun 94 3:56:00 GMT (Smail3.1.28.1 #52) id m0qIahK-000Q76C; Tue, 28 Jun 94 10:47 (Linux Smail3.1.28.1 #4) id m0qISp2-000GvCC; Tue, 28 Jun 94 10:22 SST Tue, 28 Jun 1994 10:22:28 +0800 Message-Id: <2e0f8964.pandora@pandora.uucp> Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 10:22:27 +0800 From: "W. Daniel" Reply-To: "W. Daniel" To: pandora!qrp@Think.COM Subject: Gary Performance Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Hi Gang, I need some general feedback on the performance of the Gary Breed kit. Please state if you are building from the Handbook, which year, or if you are building from the A & A Kit (date). I am looking for comments and hints or advice on the RX board for now:- 1. Corrections, errors in schematic or PCB. 2. Sensitivity and front-end. 3. Crystal matching (for the filter) 4. Mods, RIT etc etc. The Gary Breed I am working on now seems to be suffering from a lack of sensitivity and the audio filter/attenuator stage is very noisy. I would appreciate any help getting this going. Tks. 73, daniel -- +-------------+-------------------------------------+ | Daniel Wee | daniel%pandora@csah.com | ** Man needs more | UUCP1.12b | daniel.wee@f516.n600.z6.fidonet.org | than a new start, he | SNEWS 1.91 | csah.com!pandora!daniel | needs a new heart! ** +-------------+-------------------------------------+ From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 00:35:15 1994 Return-Path: id AA01610; Mon, 27 Jun 94 18:34:43 HST Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 18:34:43 HST From: jeffrey@math.hawaii.edu (Jeffrey Herman) Message-Id: <9406280434.AA01610@kahuna.math.hawaii.edu> To: halbert@world.std.com Subject: Re: QRP Delights of the Past & Other Foibles Cc: qrp@Think.COM Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Hmmmmm, I *thought* (as do many others) that those variable caps from portable AM/FM bcst band radios were 365 pf. 63 pf sounds a bit low... Jeff NH6IL From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 03:02:27 1994 Return-Path: From: Bruce Walker id AA04297; Tue, 28 Jun 94 03:02:14 EDT Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 03:02:14 EDT Message-Id: <9406280702.AA04297@zarathustra.think.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: OHR Wattmeter Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I received my OHR Wattmeter kit late last week, and I tried to hastily assemble it for FD, but it always read reflected power == forward power, so I didn't use it FD. The problem was extremely stupid and simple: they forgot to supply the 50 ohm terminating resistors R1 and R2 in my kit. So, I built the rest of it, and then when I went back, I convinced myself that there were no instructions for R1 and R2 either, so it must have been intentional :-), so I went ahead and wired up the switches and tested it out. Of course, the first instruction says to install R1 and R2, but I was in a hurry and too hopeful! Lack of termination of the pickup coils caused pseudo-reflected power and incorrect forward power. I don't have much of a parts junkbox, but I do have a computer junkbox, and I was clever enough to realize I had some old ethernet terminators. I pulled them apart and used the 4 parallel 200-ohm 1/8W resistors that I found in each terminator in place of R1 and R2. Re-calibrated and it works perfectly; nothing like tuning out the last milliwatt of reflected power :-). For grins, I tried calling CQ for a few minutes with 100mw output on 40 with my long-loop antenna, but no answer. Band was pretty dead anyway. Tomorrow, the 40 loop I used at FD is going up at home, and I begin work on the QRP-NE 30/40, which I also received in the mail late last week. --bruce WT1M From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 07:12:26 1994 Return-Path: for <@sgi.sgi.com:qrp@think.com> id EAA09682; Tue, 28 Jun 1994 04:12:06 -0700 for @sgi.sgi.com:qrp@think.com id AA28657; Tue, 28 Jun 94 06:12:03 -0500 for @sgidal.dallas.sgi.com:qrp@think.com id AA28889; Tue, 28 Jun 94 06:12:02 -0500 Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 06:12:02 -0500 From: adams@chuck.dallas.sgi.com (Chuck Adams) Message-Id: <9406281112.AA28889@chuck.dallas.sgi.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: FD K5FO Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk No stations worked, no stations heard. I did not receive directions to Zuni QTH through the mail by friday, thus the no show. Sorry guys. It was my understanding that there would be plenty of ops there. BUT I did get #2 ready (albeit late again) of the K5FO newsletter and 250 copies go out today. #3 goes out Friday, thus getting me on schedule. The sacrifices I have to make. :-) In fact guys/girls do you realize that I have not been on the air in almost six to nine months? Or it seems like it. As soon as I find my log books I'll look it up. On the QSL'ing. I send out cards to all contacts for the QRP ARCI contests and get a healthy return. No SASE. If I get one back, OK. If not, OK. I leave it up to the individual. I would guess about 80 percent return, but then again it may be my call. We ought to do an experiment that everybody send out cards for the July 10th test (I hope I can make this one :-) ) and see how it goes. If we start a trend maybe it'll catch on. dit dit Chuck Adams K5FO CP-60 adams@sgi.com From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 08:34:47 1994 Return-Path: id IAA04465; Tue, 28 Jun 1994 08:34:16 -0400 Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 08:34:13 -0400 (EDT) From: WYNN C C Subject: Field Day Class 15A?! To: qrp@Think.COM Cc: WYNN C C Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk >Other highlights included the 15A (!) station in Santa Barbara >who told us to Have a Nice Day, and causing pileups on 10 (wide >open with sporadic E) by innocently calling CQ Field Day. >I'm toying with doing my own B or E station next year. My mom and >dad live out in the country in the B.C. interior, with lots of >land for stringing antennas, and minimal RF noise. >73 from Burnaby, >laura VE7LDH I thought the 9A I worked in Georgia was incredible. 15A has to be bizzare! How in the world can 15 stations be managed in a 1000 ft. circle? I wonder what the Guinness Book of Records states for the maximum number of stations operating in a 1000 ft. circle? Maybe they were all QRP. That would help. 73, C. C. (Clay) Wynn N4AOX wyn@ornl.gov ======================================================================== = Cooperation requires participation. Competition teaches cooperation = ======================================================================== ..._ .. ..._ ._ _ . ._.. . __. ._. ._ .__. .... _.__ From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 08:47:14 1994 Return-Path: id AA24952; Tue, 28 Jun 94 08:48:03 EDT id AA16473; Tue, 28 Jun 94 08:47:09 EDT id AA08065; Tue, 28 Jun 94 08:47:07 EDT Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 08:47:07 EDT From: teda@meaddata.com (Ted Albert) Message-Id: <9406281247.AA08065@rain.meaddata.com> To: NYOUNG@DESIRE.WRIGHT.EDU Subject: Re: QRP Delights of the Past & Other Foibles In-Reply-To: Mail from 'NYOUNG@DESIRE.WRIGHT.EDU' dated: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 18:59:38 -0400 (EDT) Cc: qrp@Think.COM Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk > Second: What is the name of the place in the States that handles the Howes > transmitter and receiver QRP kits? I have the 40 meter version, much > modified and often blown up. Now I need a schematic so that I can fix > what I blew up the last time I messed with it. Townsend Electronics, Inc. P.O. Box 415 Pierceton, IN 46562 1-800-944-3661 They had a nice display of the kits at Dayton this year. 73 de Ted, KF8EE From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 09:52:25 1994 Return-Path: id AA12535; Tue, 28 Jun 1994 09:52:03 -0400 id AA13493; Tue, 28 Jun 94 09:53:50 EDT id AA24003; Tue, 28 Jun 94 09:53:49 EDT Message-Id: <9406281353.AA24003@kaos.ksr.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Re: QSL Cards In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 27 Jun 94 13:00:39 -1000." <9406272300.AA01025@kahuna.math.hawaii.edu> Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 09:53:47 -0400 From: "John F. Woods" Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Jeffrey Herman: > No need for any ham to be without a supply of QSL cards. My cards come > from one of the hundreds of tourist shops down in Waikiki. I buy many > different postcards: sunsets, beaches, topless Hawaiian girls, sailboats > sailing on the ocean, airplane-view of the island, et cetera; only about > 10 cents each. I'll write my callsign with a felt-tipped pen up in the > corner, and the QSL info on the back. Heck, the card I got from my first-contact-in-a-decade was just a 3x5 card with the info written on it, and I was quite happy with it. (Of course, 3x5 is too small for postal regulations, hence has to be sent in an envelope, costing as much extra in postage as a postcard would cost :-). If you're asking for a card for a reason that's likely to inundate the other ham, making their life easier (SASE, cash, filled out card, whatever) is only polite; but for something that's just a once-in-a-while thing (like the card I've just sent to W1EEL), while I don't *expect* a card as a matter of right, it's certainly not something I'd refuse if asked myself. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 10:09:22 1994 Return-Path: id AA12683; Tue, 28 Jun 1994 10:09:01 -0400 id AA13597; Tue, 28 Jun 94 10:10:48 EDT id AA24669; Tue, 28 Jun 94 10:10:45 EDT Message-Id: <9406281410.AA24669@kaos.ksr.com> To: WYNN C C Cc: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Re: Field Day Class 15A?! In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 28 Jun 94 08:34:13 EDT." Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 10:10:45 -0400 From: "John F. Woods" Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk > >Other highlights included the 15A (!) station in Santa Barbara > >who told us to Have a Nice Day, > I thought the 9A I worked in Georgia was incredible. 15A has to be > bizzare! Well, VE3NAR (the station I accidently worked twice) grew from 9A to 10A over Saturday night, if my copy is to be trusted (errrrrr...). > How in the world can 15 stations be managed in a 1000 ft. > circle? How do you fit that many stations in the ham bands? It's one per band, after all (well, the Novice/Tech station can double on a band). They must have been doing several VHF bands, for which good antennas are relatively compact (well, compared to a 160m rhombic, anyway :-). 73, John, WB7EEL From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 10:26:35 1994 Return-Path: From: Bruce Walker id AA05571; Tue, 28 Jun 94 10:26:17 EDT Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 10:26:17 EDT Message-Id: <9406281426.AA05571@zarathustra.think.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: QRP All-Star products Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I just wanted to thank all of you for the product recommendations so many of you have supplied over the past 15 months or so since the birth of this list. I'm beginning to realize that my station is beginning to look like an All-Star set of products based on product reviews from this list. Thanks Vikki (WV9K) for the enthusiastic recommendation of the Kent paddle key last year. Got mine a few months ago and think it's unquestionably the best deal in keys. A couple of other people expressed interest based on using mine at FD. Jeff (AC4HF) also contributed a nice review after Vikki. Many people recommended the CMOS Superkeyer II from Idiom Press and others. I had thought I was satisfied with a Curtiss keyer, but this really is a nice memory keyer and has a good sending feel (especially with the Kent!). Chuck (K5FO) has never missed a chance to tell us how wonderful the OHR WM-1 wattmeter is; just got mine running last night, and it's already a favorite item. I'm ready to milliwatt! I'm currently building the QRP-NE 30/40 transceiver. Decided to build the 30m version because I expect the Sierra to be my 40 and 20 rig (and eventually 80 and 160!). By the way, NorCal people: you mentioned that prototype band module for 160 had been made, but it wasn't on the order form...here's one big vote for offering a 160 module! Love the top band! --bruce WT1M From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 10:38:08 1994 Return-Path: (Smail3.1.28.1 #12) id m0qIeGU-000MPzC; Tue, 28 Jun 94 07:35 PDT (Smail3.1.28.1 #2) id m0qIeHX-000tweC; Tue, 28 Jun 94 07:37 PDT Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 07:37:03 PST From: Mark E Gustoff Message-Id: <940628073703_2@ccm.hf.intel.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: RE: Gary Performance Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk ---------------------------- Forwarded with Changes --------------------------- From: owner-qrp@Think.COM at Internet_Gateway Date: 6/27/94 9:53PM *To: pandora!qrp@Think.COM at Internet_Gateway Subject: Gary Performance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daniel: Have built the Gary Breed (revised) transceiver from 624 kits. You didn't say what band your rig was for. I built one for 17M and I find the sensitivity marginal, so I'm about to stick in a 10dB RF preamp to see if that perks it up. I put a 12dB preamp into my 20M OHR rig, and it made a big difference. As far as Pat Bunn's kits at 624 kits, I find them quite complete, quality parts, excellent instructions, and help via the telephone if you do happen to get into a jam. I didn't have to match crystals, and have no mods in mind at this point, although I believe an RIT mod was written up in recent QRP Quarterly. G.L. Mark ______________________________ Forward Header __________________________________ Subject: Gary Performance Author: owner-qrp@Think.COM at Internet_Gateway Date: 6/27/94 9:53 PM Hi Gang, I need some general feedback on the performance of the Gary Breed kit. Please state if you are building from the Handbook, which year, or if you are building from the A & A Kit (date). I am looking for comments and hints or advice on the RX board for now:- 1. Corrections, errors in schematic or PCB. 2. Sensitivity and front-end. 3. Crystal matching (for the filter) 4. Mods, RIT etc etc. The Gary Breed I am working on now seems to be suffering from a lack of sensitivity and the audio filter/attenuator stage is very noisy. I would appreciate any help getting this going. Tks. 73, daniel -- +-------------+-------------------------------------+ | Daniel Wee | daniel%pandora@csah.com | ** Man needs more | UUCP1.12b | daniel.wee@f516.n600.z6.fidonet.org | than a new start, he | SNEWS 1.91 | csah.com!pandora!daniel | needs a new heart! ** +-------------+-------------------------------------+ From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 11:55:42 1994 Return-Path: (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Tue, 28 Jun 1994 08:55:14 -0700 Message-Id: <199406281555.AA15017@halcyon.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 08:57:19 -0700 To: WYNN C C From: xenolith@halcyon.com (Kevin Purcell) Subject: Re: Field Day Class 15A?! Cc: qrp@Think.COM Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk >>Other highlights included the 15A (!) station in Santa Barbara >>who told us to Have a Nice Day, and causing pileups on 10 (wide >>open with sporadic E) by innocently calling CQ Field Day. >>I'm toying with doing my own B or E station next year. My mom and >>dad live out in the country in the B.C. interior, with lots of >>land for stringing antennas, and minimal RF noise. > >>73 from Burnaby, >>laura VE7LDH > >I thought the 9A I worked in Georgia was incredible. 15A has to be >bizzare! How in the world can 15 stations be managed in a 1000 ft. >circle? I wonder what the Guinness Book of Records states for the >maximum number of stations operating in a 1000 ft. circle? > >Maybe they were all QRP. That would help. > >73, >C. C. (Clay) Wynn N4AOX >wyn@ornl.gov The best I have heard of (mentioned here I beleive) was a Tektronix club station down in Oregon with 47A -- they operated on every band from 160m up to 48GHz. Its not too difficult to do (assume you have two stations per band CW/SSB and add a few more for color) The also commented that they sent the details to QST but their photo never got published. Kevin Purcell, N7WIM / G8UDP Are you a Mac developer? Live close to Seattle? xenolith@halcyon.com We need you in the dBug Mac Dev SIG. Mail me! (206) 649-6489 "Organising programmers is like herding cats" From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 13:14:29 1994 Return-Path: (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Tue, 28 Jun 1994 13:13:43 -0400 From: Magnus Krampell id AA05980; Tue, 28 Jun 94 13:13:36 EDT Message-Id: <9406281713.AA05980@calypso.ctt.bellcore.com> Subject: CMOS Superkeyer II from Idiom Press ? To: qrp@Think.COM Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 13:13:36 EDT X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11] Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Bruce WT1M wrote: > > Many people recommended the CMOS Superkeyer II from Idiom Press and others. > I had thought I was satisfied with a Curtiss keyer, but this really is a > nice memory keyer and has a good sending feel (especially with the Kent!). Does anyone have the address to Idiom Press? I have heard about this keyer for some time, but I have not seen any ads for it. I have a curtis keyer already, but that may go into the NE-30-40 I am building if the CMOS Superkeyer is as good as I hear... - Magnus (SM7IFK/W2) magnusk@ctt.bellcore.com From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 14:43:03 1994 Return-Path: (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Tue, 28 Jun 1994 11:42:37 -0700 Message-Id: <199406281842.AA29362@halcyon.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 11:44:43 -0700 To: "John F. Woods" From: xenolith@halcyon.com (Kevin Purcell) Subject: Re: Field Day Class 15A?! Cc: qrp@Think.COM Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk >How do you fit that many stations in the ham bands? It's one per band, >after all (well, the Novice/Tech station can double on a band). A couple of corrections you can have two stations per band (one CW and one SSB). Check the rules! One novice and one VHF station are free (if you meet certain requirements). And you could have 2 stations each on: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, 2, 220, 440, 900, 1.3, 2.4, 5.6, 10, 24 and 47. And in infinity at > 300GHz :-) And then there are satelite, and packet etc. Kevin Purcell, N7WIM / G8UDP Are you a Mac developer? Live close to Seattle? xenolith@halcyon.com We need you in the dBug Mac Dev SIG. Mail me! (206) 649-6489 "Organising programmers is like herding cats" From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 14:46:27 1994 Return-Path: id AA16140; Tue, 28 Jun 1994 14:45:37 -0400 id AA15149; Tue, 28 Jun 94 14:47:23 EDT id AA10114; Tue, 28 Jun 94 14:47:21 EDT Message-Id: <9406281847.AA10114@kaos.ksr.com> To: xenolith@halcyon.com (Kevin Purcell) Cc: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Re: Field Day Class 15A?! In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 28 Jun 94 11:44:43 PDT." <199406281842.AA29362@halcyon.com> Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 14:47:20 -0400 From: "John F. Woods" Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk > >How do you fit that many stations in the ham bands? It's one per band, > >after all (well, the Novice/Tech station can double on a band). > A couple of corrections you can have two stations per band (one CW and one > SSB). Check the rules! What? You can use SSB during FD? :-) Alas, my copy of the rules is at home, so I was going from very dim memory. 73, John, WB7EEL From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 18:47:40 1994 Return-Path: id AA21287; Tue, 28 Jun 94 18:47:04 EDT From: nmodena@unity.ncsu.edu Message-Id: <9406282247.AA21287@cc01du.unity.ncsu.edu> Subject: QRP FD in Raleigh NC To: qrp@Think.COM Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 18:47:04 -0400 (EDT) Cc: ab4vj@mercury.interpath.NET, ab4el@Cybernetics.NET, rdkeys@csemail.cropsci.ncsu.edu X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23b2/POP] Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 1159 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Well, I broke down and slept three hours...and I accidently had my Seiko World Clock in Daylight Saving mode for GMT, so I accidently quit one hour early. Field Day 1994 QTH: Schenck Research Forest, Raleigh, NC Power: QRP Antennas: one multi-dipole for 80-40 and one multi-dipole for 20-25 sailing on the shoulders of tall pines Shelter: A tarp lean-too under the pines...plus white plastic ground sheet heavily sprayed with Deep Woods Off to keep the ticks (successfully) away. Operated 80-40-20-15-10 CW & SSB Class: 1B-battery-single op Rough QSO count: CW 220 x 2 x 5 = 2200 SSB 132 x 1 x 5 = 660 ---- 2800 points Comments: In recent years, I've had great success in working everything I could hear on 40 SSB day and night...this year it was a muddle with poor propagation....ditto 75 SSB at night. 80 CW was a disappointment. I'm a big SSB guy QRP and mobile on 40 and 75...these are the "pleasure" bands for me. 10 SSB surprised me!! But I guess it goes along with those who picked up 6 m and 2 m "dx" openings. :^) Weather: It could not have been finer! 73/Steve/AB4EL ab4el@Cyberneics.NET From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 23:41:32 1994 Return-Path: (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Tue, 28 Jun 1994 20:40:19 -0700 id AA01281; Tue, 28 Jun 94 22:40:57 -0500 (relay) id QQwwig01100; Tue, 28 Jun 1994 23:40:50 -0400 (Smail3.1.28.1 #5) id m0qIqWp-0001cSC; Tue, 28 Jun 94 23:41 EDT id m0qIqRb-0008WuC; Tue, 28 Jun 94 23:36 EDT From: Mike.Czuhajewski%hambbs@wb3ffv.ampr.org (Mike Czuhajewski) To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Where are archives? Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 23:36:15 EST5EDT Message-Id: <1994Jun28.233615.18965@wb3ffv.ampr.org> X-Mailer: UniBoard 1.21g S/N 329931 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I never worried about this before since I didn't have FTP capability; I only get USENET (and only the rec.radio.whatever part of that) and e-mail from the BBS I use. However, at work we recently got full Internet services so now I can FTP to my hearts delight (even if I do have to pay the dollar an hour for the time I use that goes over our 6 hour daily limit). Can someone tell me where and how to get the QRP list archives? Thanks. 73 and Queue Our Pea DE WA8MCQ -- Mike Czuhajewski, user of the UniBoard System @ wb3ffv.ampr.org E-Mail: Mike.Czuhajewski%hambbs@wb3ffv.ampr.org The WB3FFV Amateur Radio BBS - Located in Baltimore, Maryland USA Supporting the Amateur Radio Hobby, and TCP/IP InterNetworking From owner-qrp@Think.COM Tue Jun 28 23:41:31 1994 Return-Path: (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Tue, 28 Jun 1994 20:40:17 -0700 id AA01277; Tue, 28 Jun 94 22:40:56 -0500 (relay) id QQwwig01094; Tue, 28 Jun 1994 23:40:48 -0400 (Smail3.1.28.1 #5) id m0qIqWo-0001cQC; Tue, 28 Jun 94 23:41 EDT id m0qIqOK-0008WuC; Tue, 28 Jun 94 23:32 EDT From: Mike.Czuhajewski%hambbs@wb3ffv.ampr.org (Mike Czuhajewski) To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: More coils Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 23:32:52 EST5EDT Message-Id: <1994Jun28.233252.18965@wb3ffv.ampr.org> X-Mailer: UniBoard 1.21g S/N 329931 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I recently reported winding two coils on the same piece of threaded teflon rod, with #18 and then #32 wire, and reporting unexpected results, ie, a slight decrease in inductance rather than the expected increase. While discussing the experiments with one of the engineers at work today I realized why--the coil with #32 wire was a smaller diameter than the one with #18, even though were wound on the same identical coil form. I had taken the rod to the machine shop and threaded it with a lathe--the threads are V grooves (a single groove, actually); with a larger diameter, the #18 wire sits up farther in the groove than the #32 and thus has a larger diameter (slightly); the #32 sits farther down toward the bottom of the groove and thus is a smaller coil. (I'll sit down with a wire chart some day and do the calculations for fun.) 73 and Queue Our Pea DE WA8MCQ -- Mike Czuhajewski, user of the UniBoard System @ wb3ffv.ampr.org E-Mail: Mike.Czuhajewski%hambbs@wb3ffv.ampr.org The WB3FFV Amateur Radio BBS - Located in Baltimore, Maryland USA Supporting the Amateur Radio Hobby, and TCP/IP InterNetworking From owner-qrp@Think.COM Wed Jun 29 02:31:12 1994 Return-Path: id AA05694; Tue, 28 Jun 94 23:28:15 PDT id AA18897; Tue, 28 Jun 94 23:28:13 PDT id AA00859; Tue, 28 Jun 94 23:30:20 PDT Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 23:27:27 -0700 (PDT) From: stark Subject: Re: CMOS Superkeyer II from Idiom Press ? To: Magnus Krampell Cc: qrp@Think.COM In-Reply-To: <9406281713.AA05980@calypso.ctt.bellcore.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk On Tue, 28 Jun 1994, Magnus Krampell wrote: > Bruce WT1M wrote: > > > > Many people recommended the CMOS Superkeyer II from Idiom Press and others. > > I had thought I was satisfied with a Curtiss keyer, but this really is a > > nice memory keyer and has a good sending feel (especially with the Kent!). > > Does anyone have the address to Idiom Press? I have heard about this keyer > for some time, but I have not seen any ads for it. > > I have a curtis keyer already, but that may go into the NE-30-40 I am building > if the CMOS Superkeyer is as good as I hear... > > - Magnus (SM7IFK/W2) magnusk@ctt.bellcore.com > From page 178 of QST, July 1994: Idiom Press Box 583 Deerfield, IL 60015 Price is $48 for U.S. and $50 DX address. Check or MO. NO credit cards. ........................KU7Y........................ .................Monte "Ron" Stark.................. .................Sun Valley, Nevada................. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Wed Jun 29 02:37:22 1994 Return-Path: id AA05727; Tue, 28 Jun 94 23:37:07 PDT id AA19085; Tue, 28 Jun 94 23:37:06 PDT id AA00899; Tue, 28 Jun 94 23:39:13 PDT Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 23:32:16 -0700 (PDT) From: stark Reply-To: stark Subject: Manual help To: QRP Net Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Hi all, I just got a very nice bug, chrome with red knobs in it's nice little carrying box. Needs cleaning and some plastic knobs replaced. In return, I have to check out some radios for the Red Cross. One is a TS520. I need a manual or a copy. I relize this isn't qrp related but would appreicate any help I can get. (Including where it would be best to post this). I will also be needing one for a Swan and a KDK 2 mtr rig. Not sure of the models yet. Thanks and 73's, Ron ........................KU7Y........................ .................Monte "Ron" Stark.................. .................Sun Valley, Nevada................. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Wed Jun 29 02:39:07 1994 Return-Path: id XAA12441; Tue, 28 Jun 1994 23:38:40 -0700 Subject: archive access To: qrp@Think.COM Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 23:37:12 PDT From: "Stan Goldstein, N6ULU" X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL0] Message-Id: <9406282337.aa10982@cruzio.com> Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Mike in my prior message to you, I didn't get the directory correct. the directory at think.com is /pub/radio/ham/qrp/archives ( note correct spelling of qrp..). To change directories, "cd dirname" 72/73 Stan. -- Stan Goldstein , N6ULU From owner-qrp@Think.COM Wed Jun 29 10:02:15 1994 Return-Path: id AA09802; Wed, 29 Jun 94 10:01:50 EDT From: nmodena@unity.ncsu.edu Message-Id: <9406291401.AA09802@cc01du.unity.ncsu.edu> Subject: QRP archives...via gopher To: qrp@Think.COM Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 10:01:49 -0400 (EDT) Cc: mike.czuhajewski%hambbs@wb3ffv.ampr.org, ab4el@Cybernetics.NET In-Reply-To: <9406290730.AA24782@mail.think.com> from "owner-qrp-digest@Think.COM" at Jun 29, 94 03:30:10 am X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23b2/POP] Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 3912 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk > ... > qrp-digest Wednesday, 29 June 1994 Volume 01 : Number 028 > ... > From: Mike.Czuhajewski%hambbs@wb3ffv.ampr.org (Mike Czuhajewski) > Subject: Where are archives? > > ...... However, at work we recently got full > Internet services so now I can FTP to my hearts delight... > .... Can someone tell me where and how to get the QRP > list archives? Thanks. 73 and Queue Our Pea DE WA8MCQ Advisory on GOPHER-accessible archives of: rec.radio.amateur.antenna rec.radio.amateur.homebrew ==>> QRP@Think.com Subject-threaded articles from the above mentioned topics can be read via GOPHER (and presumably MOSIAC and WWW). Individual articles can be retrieved via the built-in email mailer (press 'm' to pop the menu). One can assess these archives in one of two ways: 1. Telnet to the public GOPHER server at SunSITE. 2. Via your local GOPHER client At the present time, simple FTP access to these archives is not possible. ACCESS INSTRUCTIONS ------------------- METHOD 1. TELNET to a GOPHER server (an example session) >telnet sunsite.unc.edu Trying 198.86.40.81 ... Connected to sunsite.unc.edu. Escape character is '^]'. ***************** Welcome to SunSITE.unc.edu ***************** SunSITE offers several public services via login. These include: For a simple gopher client, login as gopher ............ Internet Gopher Information Client 2.0 pl11 Root gopher server: gopher.unc.edu --> 5. Worlds of SunSITE -- by Subject/ ............ Worlds of SunSITE -- by Subject --> 3. Browse All Sunsite Archives/ ............ Browse All Sunsite Archives --> 8. academic software written by researchers in different disci.../ ............ academic software written by researchers in different disciplines --> 3. agriculture information about scientific farming, horti.../ ........... agriculture information about scientific farming, horticul..... --> 3. agronomy/ ........... agronomy --> 8. Electronics & Computers / ........... Electronics & Computers 1. Ham Radio Callbook Server - SUNY at Buffalo 2. Archives of rec.amateur.radio.ANTENNAS / 3. Archives of rec.radio.amateur.HOMEBREW / --> 4. Archives of QRP ... threaded from Think.com / 5...... Archives of sci.ELECTRONICS / - - - - METHOD 2. Use the following profile to point your local GOPHER client to the appropriate part of sunsite.unc.edu: +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ # Type=1+ Name=Electronics & Computers Path=1/../.pub/academic/agriculture/agronomy/electronics+computers Host=calypso-2.oit.unc.edu. Port=70 Admin=Jonathan Magid and Simon Spero, 919-962-9107 ModDate=Sat May 14 16:54:22 1994 <19940514165422> URL: gopher://calypso-2.oit.unc.edu.:70/11/../.pub/academic/agriculture/ agronomy/electronics+computers +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ NOTE: The URL: line was too long to send on Usenet. Join the line subsequent to the URL: line back to the URL: line before putting the profile item in your .link file. The GOPHER directory will look like this: Internet Gopher Information Client 2.0 pl11 Electronics & Computers 1. Ham Radio Callbook Server - SUNY at Buffalo 2. Archives of rec.amateur.radio.ANTENNAS / 3. Archives of rec.radio.amateur.HOMEBREW / ---> 4. Archives of QRP ... threaded from Think.com / 5. .... -- 73/Steve Modena/AB4EL MODENA@sunsite.unc.edu From owner-qrp@Think.COM Wed Jun 29 12:06:21 1994 Return-Path: (1.38.193.5/16.2) id AA17909; Wed, 29 Jun 1994 12:05:50 -0400 From: W0HEP@aol.com X-Mailer: America Online Mailer Message-Id: <9406291205.tn164227@aol.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 12:05:49 EDT Subject: CQC FD 94 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk The Colorado QRP Club had our first FD this year in the Golden Gate Canyon State Park n.w. of Denver. A beautiful high meadow setting. Our FD chairman was a new CO resident, Paul KF7MD, formerly from the NW QRP group. I was told he was the best in the U.S. by Bill Todd and Bill, you were right! Extensive planning and good equipment, antennas and operators made our first FD a huge success. Call: N0BF (Big Foot) Class: 2A plus free VHF and packet stations Rigs: Ten Tec (Argosy, I think) and Kenwood TS-680S + VHF Power: less than 5 watts c.w. and less than 5 watts p.e.p. ssb. Ants: Cushcraft tri-bander on 40' alum. tower; phased verticals on 40; delta loop on 40/15; inverted vee on 80; beams on VHF. Power: Deep cycle R.V. batteries and gel cels. Solar charger. OPs: Total 10 ops and loggers. 6 other members attended. Time: 24 hours with antennas set up prior to start. WX Condx: Fabulous. A bit cold at night and in the 90's during the day. No rain! Band Condx: Couldn't be much better!! 6, 10, 15 were all open and QRP was really fun. Over 200 QSOs on 6 meters ssb and cw. Total: The scoring has not been completed yet, but we had approximately 930 QSOs total. We were very pleased for our first FD. Paul was great and Doug, W2CRS, was sure a great help with his VHF gear, tower and h.f. tri-bander. He was knocking them dead on 6, too. Except for 2 vehicle problems before and after the contest, Murphy did not strike at all. No problems at all. We are looking forward to FD 95. 72, Rich W0HEP Pres., CQC From owner-qrp@Think.COM Wed Jun 29 12:12:57 1994 Return-Path: X400-Received: by mta NT.COM in /PRMD=NT/ADMD=MCI/C=US/; Relayed; Wed, 29 Jun 1994 11:12:28 -0500 X400-Received: by /PRMD=NT/ADMD=MCI/C=US/; Relayed; Wed, 29 Jun 1994 11:12:13 -0500 X400-Received: by /PRMD=NT/ADMD=MCI/C=US/; Relayed; Wed, 29 Jun 1994 08:06:00 -0500 Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 08:06:00 -0500 X400-Originator: william.redfearn.cmwdr01@nt.com X400-Recipients: non-disclosure:; X400-Mts-Identifier: [/PRMD=NT/ADMD=MCI/C=US/;mcigate.nt.718:29.05.94.16.12.13] X400-Content-Type: P2-1984 (2) Content-Identifier: Index Labs Ph... From: william.redfearn.cmwdr01@nt.com Message-Id: <"5728 Wed Jun 29 11:12:18 1994"@nt.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Index Labs Phone Number? Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Anyone have the phone number for Index Labs ? I've lost my ad for the QRP Plus and it is not in CQ or 73, maybe they advertise in QST. ==================================================================== Dave Redfearn, SR PC LAN Analyst Northern Telecom RTP, NC. ph.(919) 992-3925 email: cmwdr01@nt.com qrl? de N4ELM/qrp All opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer, co-workers or any other person, real or imaginary. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Wed Jun 29 15:58:38 1994 Return-Path: id AA07514; Wed, 29 Jun 94 15:58:24 EDT Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 15:58:24 EDT From: sas@opus.xyplex.com (Scott Sminkey - Sustaining Eng Group) Message-Id: <9406291958.AA07514@opus.xyplex.com> To: qrp@Think.COM, dx@unbc.edu Subject: More on the QST compact loop antenna Reply-To: sasminkey@xap.xyplex.com Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk A few weeks ago, I posted a lengthy review of the compact loop antenna described in an article in the May 1994 QST. In that review, I mentioned that Art NT1M and I built both the small (30-12m) and large (40-20m) versions of the loop. The small loop loaded up and worked fine on all bands it was specified for. The large loop loaded up and worked ok on 40m, but had a poor match on 30m, and would not resonate at all on 20m. Both loops were taken to the Field Day setup for the Wellesley (Mass.) Amateur Radio Society. I took this opportunity to troubleshoot the large loop. I am happy to report that I was able to get a very good match on 40m and 30m. The key to this was to adjust the shape of the coupling loop. After experimenting for awhile, it became apparent that the coupling loop needs to be as close as possible to the main loop. I was able to do this by squashing the loop down toward the main loop. It now looks more like a deformed oval than a circle! I was completely unable to get the loop to tune anywhere in the 20m band. There was not even a hint of a peak in forward power nor a dip in reflected power. I suspect that the variable capacitor I am using simply has too much residual capacitance and that capacitance exceeds the amount needed to tune the loop on 20m. This theory would seem to be verified by theoretical capacitance needed as computed by the formula described in the Communications Quarterly article. For example, on 40m the computed capacitance needed is about 105pF but in reality the 100pF capacitor I have is about 75 percent closed for 40m. This would imply that the residual capacitance of my cap is around 30pF which is more than the computed 25pF required for resonating on 20m. Of course I could shorten the main loop so I would need more capacitance for 20m, but then my 100pF cap probably would not have enough capacitance for 40m! I did not get a chance to do side-by-side comparisons at Field Day for the loop versus any other antennas except our 20/15/10 triband yagi at 20 feet which seems to work only slightly better than a Cantenna. :-( I can report that the small loop worked great on 20m CW running about 30 watts. We worked many stations all over the USA with that setup. 73, Scott WO1G ============ Scott Sminkey email: sasminkey@eng.xyplex.com Software Sustaining Engineering voice: 508 952-4792 Xyplex, Inc. fax: 508 952-4887 295 Foster St. (Opinions, comments, etc. are mine, Littleton, MA 01460 not Xyplex's...) From owner-qrp@Think.COM Wed Jun 29 19:42:22 1994 Return-Path: id <01HE4JSZYNRK8ZMSGG@delphi.com>; Wed, 29 Jun 1994 19:41:52 EDT Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 19:41:52 -0400 (EDT) From: N8ET@delphi.com Subject: R1/R2/T2 info To: qrp@Think.COM, rlcampbe@mtu.edu Message-Id: <01HE4JSZZ72A8ZMSGG@delphi.com> X-Vms-To: INTERNET"qrp@think.com" X-Vms-Cc: INTERNET"rlcampbe@mtu.edu" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I am still recovering from the lightning strike..... but tonight finally got some info typed up about the R1, R2, and T2. I have not yet added anything about the miniR2 because all I have is a stock of the PC boards and a hand drawn schematic and layout. I need to get one built up before I can say much about it. Rick does have an article in the works for the miniR2..... I have a pretty good idea about where the pricing will be, but I need to go over my numbers one more time before I publish the price. Look for a note about that this weekend. It will go via e-mail to all who have sent me e-mail expressing interest in the kits. Barring any further lightning strikes (it is thundering outside right now...!) I hope to build up the boards this weekend, and also get the pricing out. What I intend to do is offer a reduced price for advance orders that I receive for R2 kits, T2 kits, and miniR2 boards before I leave on vacation the latter part of July. I will order the parts at that point, and then package and ship the kits when I return around the first week of August. I currently have a stock of boards for the R2, T2, and miniR2. Rick is upgrading the R1 and will have new boards available for the R1 in about 6 weeks. Anyone who sent me an e-mail expressing interest in the kits should have received an e-mail response - if you did not (or are just now getting interested) - send me another note (n8et@delphi.com). Here is the brief description: R1 Module - High Performance Direct Conversion Receiver The R1 module is a 6.5 x 9 cm (2.5 x 3.5 inch) circuit board containing a diode ring mixer, bandpass filtering and low distortion audio amplifier. With an appropriate local oscillator and input tuned circuit, it can serve as a direct conversion receiver for frequencies between 1 and 500 MHz, or as the last conversion stage in a superhet. Detailed circuit description and construction information is in August '92 QST. R2 Module - High Performance Single Signal Direct Conversion Receiver The R2 module is a 9 x 13 cm (3.5 x 5.1 inch) circuit board containing an RF splitter, I and Q diode ring mixers, matched bandpass diplexers and audio preamplifiers, a 90 degree audio phase shift network, summer, bandpass filtering, and an audio power amplifier. With an appropriate quadrature local oscillator and input tuned circuit, the R2 module is a single sideband or single signal CW direct conversion receiver for any frequency between 1 and 500 MHz. The R2 is also an excellent last conversion stage in a superhet system. The wide frequency range of the R2 board permits construction of single conversion microwave SSB and CW receivers and up-conversion HF receivers without the usual limitations on IF imposed by the need for narrow band crystal filters. Detailed circuit description and construction information is in January '93 QST. T2 Module - A multimode Phasing Exciter The T2 module is a 6.5 x 9 cm (2.5 x 3.5 inch) circuit board (same size as the R1) with a +3 dbm output multimode phasing exciter, sine wave CW sidetone generator, and TR switching on the circuit board. This board will provide USB, LSB, DSB, AM, NBPM, or CW from 25 KHz to 1000 MHz, with appropriate choice of mixer and RF combiner. All that is required to build a high quality low power exciter is a +10 dbm LO and a phase shift network operating on the desired output frequency. The T2 board was designed as a companion to the R1 and R2 boards to facilitate construction of direct conversion SSB transceivers for frequencies below 1 GHz. Typical performance is +3 dbm USB output with carrier and opposite sideband 40 db down and distortion products more than 30 db down at 144 MHz. The T2 board is described in April '93 QST. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 00:53:30 1994 Return-Path: Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 0:52:05 -0400 (EDT) From: FOXG@WCSUB.CTSTATEU.EDU To: QRP@Think.COM Message-Id: <940630005205.27a3fd07@WCSUB.CTSTATEU.EDU> Subject: RELAYS Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Is there something special in the relays that are used for remote antenna switching, or will any relay that can handle the current and voltage do? Will the insertion of a relay in an otherwise matched system cause problems? Enquiring minds want to know. Geoff WA1U FOXG@WCSUB.CTSTATEU.EDU From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 03:55:24 1994 Return-Path: Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 02:54:41 -0500 (CDT) From: James Speer Subject: Re: RELAYS Cc: qrp@Think.COM Message-Id: <01HE4YU521JU8WW0SJ@CCSVAX.SFASU.EDU> X-Vms-To: IN%"FOXG@WCSUB.CTSTATEU.EDU" X-Vms-Cc: SMTP%"qrp@think.com",F_SPEERJR Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk > >Is there something special in the relays that are used for remote antenna >switching, or will any relay that can handle the current and voltage do? >Will the insertion of a relay in an otherwise matched system cause problems? >Enquiring minds want to know. > >Geoff WA1U >FOXG@WCSUB.CTSTATEU.EDU Ideally, you'd like a coaxial relay matched in impedence with the transmission line. It is almost universal, however, to use ordinary relays at HF. The losses don't amount to much. 72 Jim K5YUT From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 08:28:28 1994 Return-Path: id AA28011; Thu, 30 Jun 94 08:26:52 EDT id <2E12E3DE@msmailer>; Thu, 30 Jun 94 08:25:18 PDT From: Ed Stratton 5637 To: qrp Subject: RE: More on the QST compact loop antenna Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 16:24:00 PDT Message-Id: <2E12E3DE@msmailer> Encoding: 57 TEXT X-Mailer: Microsoft Mail V3.0 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk is this a mail group for QRPrs? AD8V estratto@chipcom.com ---------- From: dx-request To: qrp; dx Subject: More on the QST compact loop antenna Date: Wednesday, June 29, 1994 3:58PM A few weeks ago, I posted a lengthy review of the compact loop antenna described in an article in the May 1994 QST. In that review, I mentioned that Art NT1M and I built both the small (30-12m) and large (40-20m) versions of the loop. The small loop loaded up and worked fine on all bands it was specified for. The large loop loaded up and worked ok on 40m, but had a poor match on 30m, and would not resonate at all on 20m. Both loops were taken to the Field Day setup for the Wellesley (Mass.) Amateur Radio Society. I took this opportunity to troubleshoot the large loop. I am happy to report that I was able to get a very good match on 40m and 30m. The key to this was to adjust the shape of the coupling loop. After experimenting for awhile, it became apparent that the coupling loop needs to be as close as possible to the main loop. I was able to do this by squashing the loop down toward the main loop. It now looks more like a deformed oval than a circle! I was completely unable to get the loop to tune anywhere in the 20m band. There was not even a hint of a peak in forward power nor a dip in reflected power. I suspect that the variable capacitor I am using simply has too much residual capacitance and that capacitance exceeds the amount needed to tune the loop on 20m. This theory would seem to be verified by theoretical capacitance needed as computed by the formula described in the Communications Quarterly article. For example, on 40m the computed capacitance needed is about 105pF but in reality the 100pF capacitor I have is about 75 percent closed for 40m. This would imply that the residual capacitance of my cap is around 30pF which is more than the computed 25pF required for resonating on 20m. Of course I could shorten the main loop so I would need more capacitance for 20m, but then my 100pF cap probably would not have enough capacitance for 40m! I did not get a chance to do side-by-side comparisons at Field Day for the loop versus any other antennas except our 20/15/10 triband yagi at 20 feet which seems to work only slightly better than a Cantenna. :-( I can report that the small loop worked great on 20m CW running about 30 watts. We worked many stations all over the USA with that setup. 73, Scott WO1G ============ Scott Sminkey email: sasminkey@eng.xyplex.com Software Sustaining Engineering voice: 508 952-4792 Xyplex, Inc. fax: 508 952-4887 295 Foster St. (Opinions, comments, etc. are mine, Littleton, MA 01460 not Xyplex's...) From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 08:55:13 1994 Return-Path: Thu, 30 Jun 94 08:54:49 EDT id 8549; Thu, 30 Jun 1994 08:54:48 EDT with TCP; Thu, 30 Jun 94 08:54:48 EDT id AA1407; Thu, 30 Jun 94 08:54:34 -0400 Message-Id: <9406301254.AA1407@bobea.watson.ibm.com> In-Reply-To: <9406290730.AA24782@mail.think.com> Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 08:52:58 EST From: "Robert E. Easton 8-862-3241" Reply-To: "Robert E. Easton 8-862-3241" To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Home Brew Sprint coming up X-External-Networks: yes Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Is there a standard exchange for the QRP ARCI Home Brew Sprint? 73 - Bob, N2IPY From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 09:11:27 1994 Return-Path: id AA08101; Thu, 30 Jun 94 09:09:26 EDT Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 09:09:26 EDT From: sas@opus.xyplex.com (Scott Sminkey - Sustaining Eng Group) Message-Id: <9406301309.AA08101@opus.xyplex.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: FD de W1TKZ Reply-To: sasminkey@xap.xyplex.com Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Here's a brief report on Field Day for the Wellesley (Mass.) Amateur Radio Society, W1TKZ... We ran 3A and were mostly a QRO (100 watt) operation. I'm sure noone on this list wants to hear about QRO, so I won't mention that part. :-) I was in charge of the solar station. The setup was four 6x12 inch panels, each providing a maximum voltage of 14.5V at somewhere between 300 and 500 ma. (I forget the exact specs) These were mounted on two 2x2 foot pieces of plywood, hinged to close like a book for transport. The rig would be either my Argo 509 or my KH6CP QRP Three-bander, powered directly from the panels, i.e., no batteries. The antennas our group ended up putting up were a 40m dipole half in the trees at about 25 feet or so, a 20/15/10 triband yagi at about the same height, and a 30-12m QST compact loop and a 40/30m QST compact loop. I also have several resonators for my mobile Hustler antenna system. There were a few brief moments of strong sun on Saturday afternoon so I fired it up on 40m SSB with the large compact loop. Nothing. Switched to CW. Nothing. Gave up. Sunday brought steady strong sun so I settled in with the large loop again on 40m CW. Heard a lot of signals, made a lot of calls, came up with nothing. The triband yagi and dipole were in pretty much constant use so I tried the small compact loop on 20m CW. Same story: heard a lot, couldn't work anything. Tried 15m CW with the Hustler. Still nothing. I didn't bother to try the Three-bander since it runs even less power than the Argo. I packed it in at about 1745Z. Oh well, it was fun anyway and I got the solar panels checked out. Oh yeah, the loop antennas worked the best of all our antennas with the QRO rigs. I swear that our tribander is not much better than a dummy load, and the dipole being buried in tree branches must have hurt its performance. Live and learn... .0073, Scott WO1G, VP Wellesley ARS ========== Scott Sminkey email: sasminkey@eng.xyplex.com Software Sustaining Engineering voice: 508 952-4792 Xyplex, Inc. fax: 508 952-4887 295 Foster St. (Opinions, comments, etc. are mine, Littleton, MA 01460 not Xyplex's...) From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 09:17:32 1994 Return-Path: (relay) id QQwwnl15314; Thu, 30 Jun 1994 09:17:15 -0400 id AA24187; Thu, 30 Jun 1994 09:17:11 -0400 Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 09:17:11 -0400 (EDT) From: howie cahn Subject: Survey: ham magazines / computer operating systems To: qrp@Think.COM Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Hi all... I'm thinking of writing up some projects for publication in a ham mag and I'd like some feedback about where they're likely to be seen. The projects are qrp-related so I'd particularly like input from this group. Just check off the appropriate boxes and mail it back to me (NOT to the list; I'll post a summary of responses I get). Thanks for your help! 72/73... howie wb2cpu@world.std.com ___________________________________________________________________________ Which of the following publications do you subscribe to or read regularly? QST __ CQ __ 73 __ QEX __ Communications Quarterly __ Nuts & Volts __ Hambrew __ QRP club publications (QQ, QRPp, 72, T5W, Sprat, etc., specify) ______________________________________ Other ham/hobbyist magazines _____________________________________ Comments on any of these: Also, the project involves computers. Could you also answer: At home I have computers that run the following operating system(s): (check all that apply) No computer __ DOS variant __ Windows variant __ System 7 (Mac) __ UNIX variant __ Other machine O/S (C64, Amiga, Atari, etc., specify) ___________________________ If more than one, please specify primary (preferred) O/S ____________ Comments on computer operating systems: (thanks again!!) From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 10:19:32 1994 Return-Path: From: Bruce Walker id AA14037; Thu, 30 Jun 94 10:19:22 EDT Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 10:19:22 EDT Message-Id: <9406301419.AA14037@zarathustra.think.com> To: QRP@Think.COM Subject: QRP List Status Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I've been meaning to ask whether anyone is interested in taking over administration of the QRP mailing list. Chuck (K5FO) put out the initial call for the list, and I pretty much immediately assumed the list management role; that was 16 months ago. I'm in no hurry to get out of the role and enjoy being of service, but it's always good to pass around responsibility. To do it, you should have a clue about Internet SMTP mail and the types of bounced error messages you will receive, and you should have the facilities to do the list. If you're familiar with majordomo for list management assistance, it would be very easy to move the list to a new location; I could leave aliases at Think.COM pointing to the new home of the list, since the qrp-request@think.com and qrp@think.com are well-published addresses. Statistics update: There are currently 274 addresses on the QRP list and 138 more on the QRP-Digest list. Some of these addresses go to redistribution points, so the actual number of people reading this stuff is well over 400. There has been approximately 10MB of mail to the list since it began, and June 1994 mail alone has been well over 1MB. --bruce WT1M From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 12:15:44 1994 Return-Path: Message-Id: <9406301615.AA07939@Early-Bird.Think.COM> (1.37.109.4/16.2) id AA12384; Thu, 30 Jun 94 10:15:09 -0600 From: khd@karloff.lanl.gov Subject: 589 QRP from TX To: qrp@Think.COM Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 10:15:09 MDT Reply-To: khd@lanl.gov Mailer: Elm [revision: 70.85] Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I saw a Texas license plate in the parking lot at work yesterday. It read 589 QRP. It wasn't a vanity plate, was it? Keith, ab5qe khd@lanl.gov From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 12:56:41 1994 Return-Path: id AA20391; Thu, 30 Jun 94 11:55:19 -0500 via Charon-4.0A-VROOM with IPX id 100.940630115444.352; 30 Jun 94 11:53:16 +0500 Message-Id: From: "Evert Halbach" Organization: Nicholls State University To: qrp@Think.COM Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 11:54:42 CST Subject: Same list Priority: normal X-Mailer: PMail v3.0 (R1a) Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Is qrp@think.com and qrp-digest the same info except that one is in digest form or do they have different information????? Thanks de WA5OJIncarcerated Evert Evert R. Halbach WA5OJI Internet - cs-erh@nich-nsunet.nich.edu Phone - (504) 448-4999 Snail - P.O. Box 2168 Thibodaux, La. 70310 From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 13:02:31 1994 Return-Path: Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 12:01:53 -0500 (CDT) From: James Speer Subject: Re: 589 QRP from TX Cc: qrp@Think.COM Message-Id: <01HE5I0M6SCA8WW3OU@CCSVAX.SFASU.EDU> X-Vms-To: IN%"khd@lanl.gov" X-Vms-Cc: SMTP%"qrp@think.com",F_SPEERJR Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk >I saw a Texas license plate in the parking lot at work yesterday. >It read 589 QRP. It wasn't a vanity plate, was it? > >Keith, ab5qe >khd@lanl.gov Probably not. It's the right sequence of letters and digits for a regular Texas plate. Shame you couldn't have gotten a picture for _QST_. 72 Jim K5YUT From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 13:24:50 1994 Return-Path: id NAA10472; Thu, 30 Jun 1994 13:23:49 -0400 (from sct@pop.cwru.edu) Message-Id: <199406301723.NAA10472@thor.INS.CWRU.Edu> From: Stephen Trier Date: 30 Jun 1994 17:23:15 GMT To: bhs@fh100.ubszh.net.CH Cc: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Re: ham-expo friedrichshafen In-Reply-To: bhs@fh100.ubszh.net.CH Mon, 20 Jun 94 16:30:38 +0200 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk > Is anybody else on this list planning to go to the Friedrichshafen > (D) ham-expo? Grrr! I missed it by a week! I was in the area with the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony's tour of Europe, but one weekend too early. Posters for it were up everywhere. Oh, well. I guess I'll just have to go back one of these days. ;-) Stephen KG8IH From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 13:45:39 1994 Return-Path: From: Bruce Walker id AA14564; Thu, 30 Jun 94 13:45:11 EDT Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 13:45:11 EDT Message-Id: <9406301745.AA14564@zarathustra.think.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: more administrivia Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I'll be out of town until mid next week; list requests or personal mail requiring human intervention will have to wait until then. --bruce WT1M From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 14:11:06 1994 Return-Path: id OAA17192; Thu, 30 Jun 1994 14:10:10 -0400 (from sct@pop.cwru.edu) Message-Id: <199406301810.OAA17192@thor.INS.CWRU.Edu> From: Stephen Trier Date: 30 Jun 1994 18:10:02 GMT To: "W. Daniel" Cc: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Re: In-Reply-To: pandora!daniel@Think.COM Thu, 23 Jun 1994 09:58:07 +0800 Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk > Regarding the mini iambic keyer PCB, how should I post it? Should I > post it as a .rtl which can be dumped to the HP Laser printer direct? GIF format is probably the most universal form, but you will need a scanner or convertor in order to get your image into GIF. I'd suggest posting it in EASYTRAX and GIF. If you can't do that, substitute that .rtl for GIF, but there will be fewer people who can use the result. Above all, do not use JPEG. It will blur the sharp edges one wants for PC work. Because of the large size of images, I suggest putting the files on FTP, gopher, or WWW, sending only a pointer to the list. There are a couple of FTP sites available for radio stuff. For gopher and WWW, I might be able to provide space on the W8EDU WWW page. Anyway, I think it's most helpful to use GIF and the original format. GIF makes it possible for just about anyone to print the image (heck, my 10 year old Tandy CoCo can print GIFs), and the original format lets people modify the design to fit their requirements. ("Gee, all I need to do is to change the spacing of these two pads...") Furthermore, I am hereby extending an offer to host more project material on the W8EDU page. Just give me a holler. Stephen From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 23:28:14 1994 Return-Path: 30 Jun 94 20:27 PDT To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Ten Tec PTO adjustment Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 20:27:54 -0700 From: Clark Savage Turner WA3JPG Message-Id: <9406302027.aa03642@paris.ics.uci.edu> Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Anyone have experience with the Ten Tec PTO rebuild? I just rebuilt mine, and the thing works fine, but the backlash is awful. I would like to "loosen" the action. The instructions do not indicate how to do that. I did add one extra washer (3 total) to the back cup screws, since the instructions did mention that you might need to add more than one in order to avoid binding and stuff (or something like that). Anyway, anyone good at getting these things to feel nice? 72 Clark WA3JPG From owner-qrp@Think.COM Thu Jun 30 23:41:23 1994 Return-Path: 30 Jun 94 20:41 PDT To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: NorCal 40 backpacking Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 20:41:05 -0700 From: Clark Savage Turner WA3JPG Message-Id: <9406302041.aa04508@paris.ics.uci.edu> Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk This may be old hat, but..... I finally built my NorCal two weeks ago (during a bout of pneumonia) and just before a planned backpacking trip. Funny thing, when it first went together, I included the ammeter as needed and when I first added power, it drew 10 amps. Fully 10 amps. Well, I shut down real fast, nothing warm - but found a solder bridge in the power circuit. After that, it powered up and worked first time. I put together a 40 meter dipole from thin insulated wire and RG 174/U feedline, with 20 lb test monofilament on the ends. I wound it on a paper towel roll. I used a 10 AA cell battery pack (15 volts) and the cheapo key that everyone sells. Cheap earplugs finished it. Put it into a little box altogether and took it in my (now 60 + lb) backpack with about 10 days worth of food and tent and all. Went up into the mountains around Big Bear (on the PCT) and had a ball with it. Found cooperative trees several times and hung the antenna with the stone and fishing line method. Setting up in the middle of nowhere with no one within many miles in the dark of night is a thrill I won't soon forget. I am going out for longer next time (only a week this time) - and will hang out on 7040 again. Had a couple of good qso's and look forward to more. My trip culminated in the Table Mountain gathering of the Zuni Loopers, and I am sure you all heard about N6GA FD, but I was thrilled to death to use the Sierra there. It is an impressive radio and I look forward to getting one. 72 Clark WA3JPG, QRP #3526, active on HF, VHF and UHF. ARRL Volunteer Counsel NorCal volunteer attorney (see that, Doug?) From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 03:24:31 1994 Return-Path: 1 Jul 94 0:24 PDT To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Happy "G5RV" antenna change Date: Fri, 01 Jul 1994 00:24:15 -0700 From: Clark Savage Turner WA3JPG Message-Id: <9407010024.aa12072@paris.ics.uci.edu> Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Well, I did what everyone seems to say we should do with our so-called "G5RV" type antennas (the 100 foot dipole fed with 30 foot matching section followed by coax choke balun and coax....). I took off the coax and fed the whole thing with twin lead (cheapest Rad Shack variety). I brought it into a 4:1 balun right outside my shack window, and used about 4 feet of coax to bring it into the window frame and into my tuner. Several things: 1. It works on 15 meters now, didn't before. 2. My TVI has disappeared (above 20 meters even 5 w CW chopped the pics, but now even 100 watts doesn't hurt the picture). 3. It seems to be happier on all bands ( 80 - 10 ), though it is hard to measure. I am sure that my 60 + feet of coax had more loss at higher SWR's than my 300 ohm twin lead does, and that is the most apparent advantage. Clark WA3JPG P.S. Can anyone recommend the best articles / texts on general, very basic antenna tuner circuits? I would like to know about the basic 5 or 6 designs, and elementary theory of operation. I have the ARRL Antenna book, which is not what I want. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 06:42:20 1994 Return-Path: (1.38.193.5/16.2) id AA12539; Fri, 1 Jul 1994 06:41:54 -0400 From: Bensondj@aol.com X-Mailer: America Online Mailer Message-Id: <9407010641.tn246553@aol.com> To: QRP@Think.COM Date: Fri, 01 Jul 94 06:41:52 EDT Subject: Field Day Results Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Hi gang- Field Day Results: Al Bates (W1XH), Randy Jones (KA9HAO) and I ran 1A from N. Kingston, RI from a site about 50 feet from a salt water inlet. Talk about QRP elevations- about 10' above MSL! Antenna height was limited to 15-20' by the vertically-challenged nature of surrounding trees. No rain. Steady wind kept the mosquitos entirely at bay! Output power was under1 watt. 80M- 8 QSOs 40M- 75 QSOs 20M- 36 QSOs 15M- 6 QSOs All contacts on 40M were made using a "40-40"- this held up well under contest condx. We got a real kick out of running homebrew for Field Day, hope to expand on this next year. Contacts on other bands used an Argo 515. We accomplished our primary goal: FUN! Next year we'll work on the score. 72- Dave, NN1G From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 08:32:41 1994 Return-Path: (1.38.193.5/16.2) id AA16943; Fri, 1 Jul 1994 08:32:20 -0400 From: JimN0OCT@aol.com X-Mailer: America Online Mailer Message-Id: <9407010817.tn247756@aol.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Date: Fri, 01 Jul 94 08:17:37 EDT Subject: Tuners Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Clark Savage wrote >P.S. Can anyone recommend the best articles / texts on general, very >basic antenna tuner circuits? I would like to know about the basic >5 or 6 designs, and elementary theory of operation. I have the ARRL >Antenna book, which is not what I want. The book _Reflections_ (walter Maxwell, W2DU) talks about general theory of tuners, but really only discusses the T-match in detail. The t-match is a good general tuner, and can be used for coax or balanced lines (with a balun). At QRP, I put the balun at the input from the transmitter and run nothing but 300 ohm twinlead. If you consider one of these, it isn't necessary to have a split stator cap in the design. W2DU tells why (it doesn;t affect the performance, basically). I also use an SPC transmatch (ARRL Handbook). It works well, and i've used it for coax and balanced line. It too will match darn near anything (as the T-match does). I'm also building a Z-match (recent issue (late 93?) of Communications Quarterly). Nice thing about the Z-match is that it requires no balun to run coax, random wire or balanced feed line. We used one at FD built by WN9V, and it too will match darn near anything. There was an article in (october '92?) 73 mag that detailed a t-match that had two switched variable inductors as the top of the T and a cap as the stem. This is basically a low pass filter--the classic T-match is a high pass filter. Just another twist. One thing to keep in mind in general, since there are usually a couple of settings at which you'll get a match for a given load: try to use max capacitance and minimum inductance. This is taken directlly from W2DU's book, and apparently results in lower loss (lower circulating current) from the tuner. All in all, i've found that QRP tuners are a cinch to biuld--use BC varicaps and torroids, if you want to. Hook up the feedline and go......................isn't ham radio great?? 72 (+/- 1) Jim N0OCT From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 08:48:42 1994 Return-Path: Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 08:47:26 -0400 From: "Justin Rains" Message-Id: <199407011247.IAA05937@tso.uc.edu> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: DataBase of Users--PSE Read Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Hello all, name here is Justin. I am going to try to compile a database of the users of the QRP forum. What I need is your call, your name, city and state, your E-Mail address, and your packet address if you have one. Thanks & 73 de AA9KM Justin PLEASE SEND YOUR INFO TO My Other E-Mail Address, it is: JCRAINS@HEARTLAND.BRADLEY.EDU From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 09:09:25 1994 Return-Path: <01HE6O2FDQJ49368P9@tntech.edu>; Fri, 1 Jul 1994 08:09:57 CDT Date: Fri, 01 Jul 1994 08:09:57 -0500 (CDT) From: "JEFF M. GOLD" Subject: LCK for sale To: qrp@Think.COM Message-Id: <01HE6O2FGOMA9368P9@tntech.edu> X-Vms-To: QRP X-Vms-Cc: JMG Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I have a Kanga (English) L.C.K transceiver for sale .. it is a compact unit .. built on two pc boards about 6x2x4.5. It is for 80 meters. the receiver section is a superhet complete with crystal lattice filter made with 4.608 Mhz crystals. Two NE602s are used in the receiver.. current drain is only 15 ma 9volts. the transmetter section uses the output from the oscillator int the receiver. 2-3 watts. on board low pass filtering. I think I have most of both sections built.. it has the air variable included.. may have a couple of coils left to wind. I purchased this from Bill Kesley for a review. so only catch is that if you buy it..you need to finish it and write about it on the net and let Doug publish it in the QRPp. Kit sells for $70 without air variable... $40 shipped. 73, Jeff, AC4HF From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 09:26:28 1994 Return-Path: Message-Id: <9407011325.AA26069@Early-Bird.Think.COM> (1.37.109.4/16.2) id AA24371; Fri, 1 Jul 94 07:25:50 -0600 Date: Fri, 1 Jul 94 07:25:50 -0600 From: Mark J Schreiner To: QRP@Think.COM, owner-qrp@Think.COM Subject: Re: Field Day Results Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk VERTICALLY-CHALLENGED -- C'mon, we don't need to be politically correct on behalf of trees! If they were short, call them short! If the salt water makes them not as green, call them brown! PC is getting to much when we use it for plants and other animals. Mark, NK8Q/3, APCS (Anti-Politically Correct Society) From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 09:45:14 1994 Return-Path: id AA16652; Fri, 1 Jul 94 09:48:43 -0400 Reply-To: bmitchel@CBA.Kodak.COM (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Fri, 1 Jul 1994 09:43:48 -0400 Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 09:43:48 -0400 From: Brad Mitchell Message-Id: <199407011343.AA06694@hobby1.cba.kodak.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Wanrted Ann Landers of QRP help Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Hello all. We started a club about a year ago, not necessarily qrp, but ham radio in general. My interest in ham radio was regaining after a big slump. Well, to make a long story short, I met several (anonymous people) that were interested in building qrp rigs as was I. We had building sessions with qrp rigs as the basis, we copied several designs and brought them to the club, we brought copies of Danny's catalog etc. A lot of people were having fun. Interest by other people was sprouting and other non qrp projects were showing up. Everything was great.. but there were certain parties that apparantly despised the qrp stuff, and suggested things like "we do projects that people want to do" instead of that same old qrp stuff. When it was suggested that they come up with a group project, they always seem to come up with an excuse not to do it. My question is for all of you with some club experience.. 1. Is it time to break off the qrp sector and go solo? 2. Is this just one of those things that is common with all clubs, and I should just ignore it? 3. Why are there jerks in this hobby, I thought that the 20 wpm test was a pretty good filter.. :-) That's a joke guys.. Signed: QRPieved From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 10:34:46 1994 Return-Path: id AA16332; Fri, 1 Jul 94 07:34:21 PDT id AA04783; Fri, 1 Jul 94 07:34:19 PDT (1.38.193.5/16.2) id AA19096; Fri, 1 Jul 1994 09:34:19 -0500 From: Randall Rhea Posted-Date: Fri, 1 Jul 94 9:34:19 CDT Received-Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 09:34:19 -0500 Message-Id: <9407011434.AA19096@atlas> Subject: Re: Wanrted Ann Landers of QRP help To: bmitchel@CBA.Kodak.COM Date: Fri, 1 Jul 94 9:34:19 CDT Cc: qrp@Think.COM In-Reply-To: <199407011343.AA06694@hobby1.cba.kodak.com>; from "Brad Mitchell" at Jul 1, 94 9:43 am X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11] Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Dear Ann Landers, My mother-in-law came over for a visit last night. She couldn't have been more rude. She criticized everything: the house, my "wimpy old" car, my "fat" wasteline, those "buck-toothed kids who look too much like me", etc. But the final straw came when she saw my new Norcal 40 QRP rig. She took one look at it and laughed hysterically. "My daughter's ex-boyfriend had a Henry Radio floor model linear- he wouldn't be caught dead on 40 with less than a killowatt. He could beat the living bejeezus out of you. I wish she had married him." Later that night, she was in the bathtub, and asked me to hand her the shampoo. Instead, I handed her a 50-amp power supply. She's dead now, and I'm worried that I did something illegal or something. Did I do the right thing? Signed, KB6FG (Killed the Battle-axe Six Fried Grandma) Dear KB6FG, Yes. Signed, Ann Landers =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Randall Rhea Informix Software, Inc. Client Services Engineer randall@informix.com From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 10:35:25 1994 Return-Path: <01HE6R5FIBX2936DSG@tntech.edu>; Fri, 1 Jul 1994 09:35:32 CDT Date: Fri, 01 Jul 1994 09:35:32 -0500 (CDT) From: "JEFF M. GOLD" Subject: lck, sold To: qrp@Think.COM Message-Id: <01HE6R5FIBX4936DSG@tntech.edu> X-Vms-To: QRP X-Vms-Cc: JMG Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk all, I think the LCK is sold. I have a Yaesu 301S older, super good condition transceiver that does CW, SSB, FSK and AM (even CB). It works great on SSB and puts out to about 12 watts. it works great off a gel cell .. thinking about selling it for $300+shipping. Also have a Century 21also have a Century good condition, new finals. sell for $150 +shipping. look for other stuff in the near future. 73 Jeff, AC4HF From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 10:36:11 1994 Return-Path: id AA05371; Fri, 1 Jul 94 07:35:20 PDT id AA18160; Fri, 1 Jul 94 07:35:24 PDT id AA06655; Fri, 1 Jul 94 07:37:31 PDT Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 07:35:51 -0700 (PDT) From: stark Subject: Re: LCK for sale To: "JEFF M. GOLD" Cc: qrp@Think.COM In-Reply-To: <01HE6O2FGOMA9368P9@tntech.edu> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk On Fri, 1 Jul 1994, JEFF M. GOLD wrote: > I have a Kanga (English) L.C.K transceiver for sale .. it is a > compact unit .. built on two pc boards about 6x2x4.5. It is for 80 > meters. the receiver section is a superhet complete with crystal > lattice filter made with 4.608 Mhz crystals. Two NE602s are used > in the receiver.. current drain is only 15 ma 9volts. > > the transmetter section uses the output from the oscillator int > the receiver. 2-3 watts. on board low pass filtering. > > I think I have most of both sections built.. it has the air > variable included.. may have a couple of coils left to wind. > > I purchased this from Bill Kesley for a review. so only catch is > that if you buy it..you need to finish it and write about it on > the net and let Doug publish it in the QRPp. > > Kit sells for $70 without air variable... $40 shipped. > > 73, > > Jeff, AC4HF Hi Jeff, I'll take it if no one else has spoken for it. For those who havn't tried 80m qrp it's a blast. But then all cw is a blast! Let me know and I'll send the address. 73's, Ron ........................KU7Y........................ .................Monte "Ron" Stark.................. .................Sun Valley, Nevada................. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 10:40:05 1994 Return-Path: id AA05383; Fri, 1 Jul 94 07:38:06 PDT id AA18221; Fri, 1 Jul 94 07:38:10 PDT id AA06670; Fri, 1 Jul 94 07:40:17 PDT Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 07:38:02 -0700 (PDT) From: stark Subject: Re: Field Day Results To: Mark J Schreiner Cc: QRP@Think.COM, owner-qrp@Think.COM In-Reply-To: <9407011325.AA26069@Early-Bird.Think.COM> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk On Fri, 1 Jul 1994, Mark J Schreiner wrote: > VERTICALLY-CHALLENGED -- C'mon, we don't need to be politically correct on > behalf of trees! If they were short, call them short! If the salt water > makes them not as green, call them brown! PC is getting to much when we use > it for plants and other animals. > > Mark, NK8Q/3, APCS (Anti-Politically Correct Society) Hey Mark, I'll join that club. I'm 58 yrs old, been to 3 babby shows and 4 goat roppings and will be damned if I will use the PC *&$#%. Viva APCS 73's, Ron ........................KU7Y........................ .................Monte "Ron" Stark.................. .................Sun Valley, Nevada................. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 10:48:17 1994 Return-Path: id AA05405; Fri, 1 Jul 94 07:47:20 PDT id AA18598; Fri, 1 Jul 94 07:47:24 PDT id AA06715; Fri, 1 Jul 94 07:49:31 PDT Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 07:41:55 -0700 (PDT) From: stark Subject: Re: Wanrted Ann Landers of QRP help To: Brad Mitchell Cc: qrp@Think.COM In-Reply-To: <199407011343.AA06694@hobby1.cba.kodak.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk On Fri, 1 Jul 1994, Brad Mitchell wrote: > Hello all. We started a club about a year ago, not necessarily qrp, but > ham radio in general. > My interest in ham radio was regaining after a big slump. > Well, to make a long story short, I met several (anonymous people) > that were interested in building qrp rigs as was I. > > We had building sessions with qrp rigs as the basis, we copied several > designs and brought them to the club, we brought copies of Danny's catalog > etc. A lot of people were having fun. Interest by other people was sprouting > and other non qrp projects were showing up. Everything was great.. > but there were certain parties that apparantly despised the qrp stuff, and > suggested things like "we do projects that people want to do" instead of that > same old qrp stuff. When it was suggested that they come up with a group > project, they always seem to come up with an excuse not to do it. > My question is for all of you with some club experience.. > > 1. Is it time to break off the qrp sector and go solo? > > 2. Is this just one of those things that is common with all clubs, > and I should just ignore it? > > 3. Why are there jerks in this hobby, I thought that the 20 wpm test was > a pretty good filter.. :-) That's a joke guys.. > > Signed: QRPieved Dear QRPieved, Once in a while I have to put up with something at work that I don't like. Even a jerk now and then. But with my hobbies, I refuse to get upset. I do what I like and let the others do what they like. IMHO clubs should be the same. If you don't have a common goal for the group and if people won't work towards that goal it will never be fun. So I would suggest at least sub-groups. If there are people there that really keep all the rest upset, take a vote and maybe ask that person to leave. But remember FUN. If it's no fun, change it. Keep doing that till it is fun. (Don't forget that fun to some is keeping others up in arms!). Just my 2 cents worth from a very PC soul..... 73's, Ron ........................KU7Y........................ .................Monte "Ron" Stark.................. .................Sun Valley, Nevada................. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 10:54:18 1994 Return-Path: id AA12514; Fri, 1 Jul 94 09:53:50 CDT To: qrp@Think.COM From: bcieslak@mkelan5.remnet.ab.com (Brian Cieslak ) Subject: QRP Homebrew Contest Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 09:54:56 Message-Id: Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I need a ruling .......Does my NOrcal 40 count as homebrew as far as the contest goes? Brian - AE9K QRP ARCI # 4641 From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 11:20:57 1994 Return-Path: id AA14508; Fri, 1 Jul 1994 11:20:32 -0400 id AA26843; Fri, 1 Jul 94 11:22:26 EDT id AA28642; Fri, 1 Jul 94 11:22:25 EDT Message-Id: <9407011522.AA28642@kaos.ksr.com> To: QRP@Think.COM Subject: Not Field Day Results In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 01 Jul 94 07:38:02 PDT." Date: Fri, 01 Jul 94 11:22:24 -0400 From: "John F. Woods" Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Attributions deleted to protect the guilty. > > VERTICALLY-CHALLENGED -- C'mon, we don't need to be politically correct on > > behalf of trees! If they were short, call them short! If the salt water > > makes them not as green, call them brown! PC is getting to much when we use > > it for plants and other animals. > I'll join that club. Oh for heaven's sake. If one can't make fun of the PC movement because one fears complaints from *both* the foaming PC zealots and the frothing anti-PC zealots, it is truly a sad day indeed. > I'm 58 yrs old, been to 3 babby shows and > 4 goat roppings and will be damned if I will use the PC *&$#%. You might check if the PC has a spelling checker. Can we get back to ham radio now? Grumpily yours, John, WB7EEL From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 11:47:41 1994 Return-Path: id AA20168; Fri, 1 Jul 94 11:50:42 -0400 Reply-To: bmitchel@CBA.Kodak.COM (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4); Fri, 1 Jul 1994 11:46:10 -0400 Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 11:46:10 -0400 From: Brad Mitchell Message-Id: <199407011546.AA06844@hobby1.cba.kodak.com> To: qrp@Think.COM, bcieslak@mkelan5.remnet.ab.com Subject: Re: QRP Homebrew Contest Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk > I need a ruling .......Does my NOrcal 40 count as homebrew as far as the > contest goes? > > Brian - AE9K > QRP ARCI # 4641 > > OH NO, NOT AGAIN... :-) From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 12:25:15 1994 Return-Path: id AA06064; Fri, 1 Jul 94 09:14:40 PDT id AA773079349 Fri, 01 Jul 94 09:15:49 PST Date: Fri, 01 Jul 94 09:15:49 PST From: janderson@polycom.com Encoding: 213 Text Message-Id: <9406017730.AA773079349@ccsmtpgw.polycom.com> To: qrp@Think.COM, "JEFF M. GOLD" Subject: Re: lck, sold Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Jeff: What bands does the 301 cover, and what year was it made? (I've never seen one, so was wondering what the specs were...). - Jeff, WA6AHL From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 12:44:36 1994 Return-Path: id AA16416; Fri, 1 Jul 94 11:44:59 CDT To: qrp@Think.COM From: bcieslak@mkelan5.remnet.ab.com (Brian Cieslak ) Subject: Re:QRP Hombrew Contest Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 11:46:05 Message-Id: Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Sorry...I fer got myself....I forgot the thread that this started last year..... What was I thinking.....Disregard request......Yipes..... 73, Brian AE9K From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 14:03:35 1994 Return-Path: by marel.is (1.37.109.4/smail2.5/27-06-89); Fri, 1 Jul 94 18:02:09 GMT Date: Fri, 1 Jul 94 18:02:09 GMT Message-Id: <9407011802.AA18864@marel.is> X-Sender: kiddi@marel.is Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: qrp@Think.COM From: kiddi@marel.is (Kristinn Andersen) Subject: schematics + PCB software? X-Mailer: Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Can anyone suggest a software package for schematics drawing and PCB layouting? Some requirements: - MS-DOS and preferably Windows compatible. - Inexpensive (will be used for personal / ham radio purposes). Preferably not with a hardware/software key. - Autorouting not necessary; manual routing with a mouse will do. - Single-layer PCB only is OK. Please respond directly to me at: kiddi@marel.is I'll post the results if they look promising. 73/72 de Kris, TF3KX From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 14:14:07 1994 Return-Path: id AA07038; Fri, 1 Jul 94 11:12:47 PDT id AA02193; Fri, 1 Jul 94 11:12:50 PDT id AA08421; Fri, 1 Jul 94 11:14:57 PDT Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 11:12:45 -0700 (PDT) From: stark Subject: Re: Not Field Day Results To: "John F. Woods" Cc: QRP@Think.COM In-Reply-To: <9407011522.AA28642@kaos.ksr.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk On Fri, 1 Jul 1994, John F. Woods wrote: > Attributions deleted to protect the guilty. > > > You might check if the PC has a spelling checker. If my spelling bothers you, don't read it. > Can we get back to ham radio now? > > Grumpily yours, > John, WB7EEL Ron, ........................KU7Y........................ .................Monte "Ron" Stark.................. .................Sun Valley, Nevada................. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 14:51:08 1994 Return-Path: id AA25649; Fri, 1 Jul 94 14:54:36 -0400 Reply-To: bmitchel@CBA.Kodak.COM (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Fri, 1 Jul 1994 14:46:46 -0400 Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 14:46:46 -0400 From: Brad Mitchell Message-Id: <199407011846.AA07007@hobby1.cba.kodak.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: Wanted Ann Landers of QRP help Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Thanks to everybody who replied! There were some really good suggestions... that sounded an awful lot like my wife's suggestions..... To be honest, this is a real situation, but I thought it might be good to get to the lighter side of QRP on a day before the holiday. 73 to everybody and have a safe and fun 4th of july.. and to the other countries listening besides the U.S., have a great weekend! Brad WB8YGG P.S. I might try qrp portable from The homeland (michigan) on the 5th, 6th and or 7th sometime around 9:00 pm EDT, 7.040 or so.. Maybe I'll hear some of you. From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 15:07:15 1994 Return-Path: id AA21232; Fri, 1 Jul 94 14:07:43 CDT To: QRP@Think.COM From: bcieslak@mkelan5.remnet.ab.com (Brian Cieslak ) Subject: Source of Solar Panels Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 14:08:47 Message-Id: Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Just before FD I picked up a solar panel from the American Science and surplus here in Milwaukee. It was a 21v unloaded, 12V@892 ma panel in a glass and aluminum frame. It was orignally designed for topping off batteries for RV's I guess. They claimed it was new and it looked it. We ran it for our FD natural power contacts with an Hw-8...no battery. It cost me $99.95....Was it a good bad or average deal? Too late now. They had several left. They also had several other types of panels there at lower ratings that cost more and didn't look as nice. 73, Brian - AE9K From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 15:53:08 1994 Return-Path: id AA12679; Fri, 1 Jul 94 09:51:54 HST Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 09:51:54 -1000 (HST) From: Jeffrey Herman Subject: Re: QRP Homebrew Contest To: Brian Cieslak Cc: qrp@Think.COM In-Reply-To: Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Uh oh... ``Kits are NOT homebrew!'' ``Yes they are!'' ``No they're not!'' ``Are too!'' ``Nope!'' ``Phooey on you!'' ``Same to you and more of it!'' Jeff NH6IL (who still thinks that kits are 50% homebrew...) On Fri, 1 Jul 1994, Brian Cieslak wrote: > I need a ruling .......Does my NOrcal 40 count as homebrew as far as the > contest goes? > > Brian - AE9K > QRP ARCI # 4641 > > From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 20:24:56 1994 Return-Path: id <01HE7DVZB71O9AMVF2@delphi.com>; Fri, 1 Jul 1994 20:24:34 EDT Date: Fri, 01 Jul 1994 20:24:34 -0400 (EDT) From: N8ET@delphi.com Subject: R2/T2 Info has been e-mailed To: qrp@Think.COM Message-Id: <01HE7DVZB71Q9AMVF2@delphi.com> X-Vms-To: INTERNET"qrp@think.com" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I have e-mailed the detailed info on the R1/R2/T2/miniR2 including pricing and ordering info to everyone (all 60 !!) who had expressed an interest. If you did not get the e-mail from me - send me a note and I will get a copy off to you. 72/73 - Bill - N8ET Kanga US n8et@delphi.com From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 20:24:48 1994 Return-Path: id <01HE7DVIBT0G9AMVF2@delphi.com>; Fri, 1 Jul 1994 20:24:16 EDT Date: Fri, 01 Jul 1994 20:24:16 -0400 (EDT) From: N8ET@delphi.com Subject: St. Louis & Okla. QRP Club Address?? To: qrp@Think.COM Message-Id: <01HE7DVIC2NM9AMVF2@delphi.com> X-Vms-To: INTERNET"qrp@think.com" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk I am in the last stages of getting my next Kanga catalog out. It has a list of QRP Clubs in it - and I need the address and membership info for the St. Louis and the Oklahoma QRP clubs to add to the list. There must be someone on the list that can e-mail that info to me..... I have the following clubs already: ARCI G-QRP Nor-Cal Michigan CW Operators QRP Club (Australia) QRP Club of New England U-QRP Club (Russia) OK QRP Club K5FO's QRP Newsletter Northwest QRP Club (could someone confirm this one as N7MFB 2418 55th etc) Are there any others I have missed?? When I get the info I will post it to the list. Perhaps this is the start of a FAQ?? 72/73 - Bill - N8ET Kanga US n8et@delphi.com From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 23:14:17 1994 Return-Path: id XAA22346; Fri, 1 Jul 1994 23:14:01 -0400 (from nshore!seastar!jjw for qrp@think.com) id m0qJvCb-0002HmC; Fri, 1 Jul 94 22:53 EDT id m0qJuKF-0004p2C; Fri, 1 Jul 94 20:57 CDT Message-Id: Date: Fri, 1 Jul 94 20:57 CDT From: jjw@seastar.seastar.org (John Welch) To: qrp@Think.COM Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Newsgroups: qrp Path: jjw From: jjw@seastar.seastar.org (John Welch) Subject: Re: Source of Solar Panels Date: Sat, 2 Jul 1994 01:56:56 GMT Message-ID: <1994Jul2.015656.280@seastar.seastar.org> Distribution: local References: Reply-To: jjw@seastar.seastar.org (John Welch) Followup-To: qrp Organization: Welch Research Laboratories. As quoted from by nshore!usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu!mkelan5.remnet.ab.com!bcieslak (Brian Cieslak): > Just before FD I picked up a solar panel from the American Science and > surplus here in Milwaukee. It was a 21v unloaded, 12V@892 ma panel in a > glass and aluminum frame. It was orignally designed for topping off batteries > for RV's I guess. They claimed it was new and it looked it. We ran it for our > FD natural power contacts with an Hw-8...no battery. It cost me $99.95....Was > it a good bad or average deal? Too late now. They had several left. These are the same amorphous 'big' panels available from several sources in Nuts & Volts for about $25 plus shipping. The amorphous cells lose some capacity with time - I recall it to be about 20%. Not, in general, a good deal, but better than no power source at all. I have one of the smaller ones in the window in the Dead Radio Room to keep the 12V regulated power supply charged. Its big advantage? It fits in the window, and won't overcharge the battery too much. -- While (its_not_working()) John Welch, N9JZW mess_with_it(); jjw@seastar.org -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- From owner-qrp@Think.COM Fri Jul 1 23:52:54 1994 Return-Path: id UAA01016; Fri, 1 Jul 1994 20:49:37 -0700 Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 20:49:37 -0700 Message-Id: <199407020349.UAA01016@holonet.net> To: qrp@Think.COM From: rohrwerk@holonet.net Subject: INETers on the air Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk Finally worked my first member of this list: VE3VAW on 40 meters, 6/30/94 (UTC), 0229Z. My 8 watt homebrew got me a 559 report. That was the best of a string of real discouraging QSO's under awful band conditions. I was using my new compact transmitter on the air from the back patio, testing out a 40m delta loop thrown into the trees. After poor reports for a few QSO's, I came in out of the Minnesota mosquitoes and operated the big rigs (boo!). But the night of 7/1/94 UTC things were much better; back to QRP, and a nice string of QSO's to NJ, MI, AL, NC, GA (inside, using my 80m horizontal loop) with reports ranging from 569 down to 339 (but that only as the band faded out). Just gotta keep the faith, folks; it can only get better, and even now some little shining spots of decent propagation pop out. John K0JD -> Alice4Mac 2.3 E QWK Eval:05Mar94 From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sat Jul 2 03:13:04 1994 Return-Path: id AAA10550; Sat, 2 Jul 1994 00:07:54 -0700 Date: Sat, 2 Jul 1994 00:07:54 -0700 Message-Id: <199407020707.AAA10550@holonet.net> To: qrp@Think.COM From: rohrwerk@holonet.net Subject: Tuners Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk On 07-01-94 JimN0OCT@aol.com wrote to qrp@Think.COM: > I'm also building a Z-match (recent issue (late 93?) of Communications > Quarterly). Nice thing about the Z-match is that it requires no balun > to run coax, random wire or balanced feed line. We used one at FD > built by WN9V, and it too will match darn near anything. Can you track this down further? My current dilemma is coming up with ONE design that really works for either balanced or unbalanced. For example, my balanced version of W1FB's "Simple Resonant ATU" has the link wound in the middle; this is less than optimum for unbalanced.... * John Seboldt...Mpls, MN...As a ham, K0JD...as a human...well,... * | rohrwerk@holonet.net | * J.S. Bach of Borg: "Your style will be assimilated." * -> Alice4Mac 2.3 E QWK Eval:05Mar94 From owner-qrp@Think.COM Sat Jul 2 03:13:42 1994 Return-Path: id AAA10548; Sat, 2 Jul 1994 00:07:52 -0700 Date: Sat, 2 Jul 1994 00:07:52 -0700 Message-Id: <199407020707.AAA10548@holonet.net> To: qrp@Think.COM From: rohrwerk@holonet.net Subject: Happy "G5RV" antenna chan Sender: owner-qrp@Think.COM Precedence: bulk On 07-01-94 turner@safety.ICS.UCI.EDU wrote to qrp@Think.COM: > P.S. Can anyone recommend the best articles / texts on general, very > basic antenna tuner circuits? I would like to know about the basic 5 > or 6 designs, and elementary theory of operation. I have the ARRL > Antenna book, which is not what I want. QRP Classics gives us "A Simple Resonant ATU" (I made a cobbled-up balanced version), and "A QRP Transmatch for Balanced Lines" (a variant of one of my favorite designs) My favorite: Feb. 1990 QST, page 28ff details "A *Balanced* Balanced Antenna Tuner". Basic premise: Most commercial tuners put a 4:1 toroid transmission-line transformer on the output and call that suitable for balanced lines. This is nuts, because they don't perform under reactive, unmatched conditions (the usual situation in tuned lines) and aren't balanced to give equal *current* in both legs under all circumstances. You need equal *currents*, not *voltages*, in a balanced line to keep it from radiating. Solution: put your balun on the INPUT -- a choke balun of coiled coax is cheap, ugly, but very effective. Can also use ferrite sleeve balun, like the W2AU. And, use a balanced L network, where you split the series elements in both legs of the balanced line. My version: ____UUUUUUU_______________< / Roller inductor 1 | / | Coax choke balun< Var. cap.= Bal. ant. 20' RG58 \ | on 5" form \_ __UUUUUUU_________|____ < Roller inductor 2 (mechanically linked to #1) Little RF in shack since I put this in! Your balun could also be a ferrite sleeve balun, or a 1:1 CONVENTIONAL transformer of adequate power rating. * John Seboldt...Mpls, MN...As a ham, K0JD...as a human...well,... * | rohrwerk@holonet.net | * J.S. Bach of Borg: "Your style will be assimilated." * -> Alice4Mac 2.3 E QWK Eval:05Mar94