QRZ! Ham Radio 4/QRZ Ham Radio Callsign Database - Volume 4.iso/files/qrp/archives/current.txt/text0002.txt

Text File | 1994-11-27 | 18.4 KB | 449 lines

> 1. There's a tiny little key pictured on page 18 of SPRAT #53.
> Anyone know who made that and if similar little keys are available?
> I would think that a lot of the dyed-in-the-wool QRPers would
> like to have one like it.



Boy, I'd sure be interested in such a cool little key.  I'll await
someone's response.

- Tom

Dr Tom Kerns, Professor of Philosophy
North Seattle Community College
9600 College Way North
Seattle, WA 98103
email: [e-mail]
voice/voicemail: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
Amateur radio callsign: AA7ZG
Packet: AA7ZG @N7DUO.WA.USA.NA

   Fly Fishing is The Answer.

From [e-mail]  Sun Jul  3 02:33:28 1994
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           Sat, 02 Jul 1994 23:48:28 +0800
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Date:      Sat, 02 Jul 1994 23:48:27 +0800
From: "W. Daniel" <pandora![e-mail]>
Reply-To: "W. Daniel" <[e-mail]>
To: pandora![e-mail]
Subject:   Iambic Keyer boards: Setback
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Hi Gang,

        Some bad news. I had a friend do a run of 24 boards for me but he
didn't do it quite as well as I had hoped, below my own expectations. So now
I feel bad charging anyone for work below standards. I am thinking of
sending out the boards anyway, for free, and if you want to donate some
money, please do so. How does this sound to you guys? Or, should I do the
boards myself which will be much better quality and carry on as before,
$US2.30 per board? Alternatively, I could send the boards out for free and
if you like it you could ask me and let me re-do the boards for you.

        The reason I asked my friend to do the boards in the first place was
because he had the board cutting tool which I do not have. Fibre-glass is
very abrasive and tends to destroy normal cutting tools (jigsaw etc.) This
one is a diamond saw. Shucks, now I remember what they used to say, "If you
want it done right, do it yourself!".

        Please give me some feedback so I know how to proceed.

        While you are at it, I am still looking for somewhere (ftp site) to
put layout patterns for 3 boards I have made, postscript format. The three
boards are:-

        1.      Mini-Iambic keyboard
        2.      Frequency counter (ARRL Handbook 1994)
        3.      MOSFET Amplifier 10-25 watts output (depending of Vcc)

        The Handbook provides a board layout but that board has some
problems:-

        1.      No regulator on board.
        2.      Double sided.
        3.      Not compact.
        4.      Pre-amp is off-board.

        My board layout is smaller, about 3.5" by 1.9", and works fine with
small rigs like the NN1G, Gary Breed, probably Norcal 40. The board is quite
dense and to do this right you need to print with a laser printer direct on
the transparency for best results. I have made 3 of these and all work
perfectly. I am not going to do these boards as they take too much time to
drill. Displays only the last 4 significant digits so you can tap signal off
the VFO direct. Includes some modifications or extra instructions to go.
Actually, if the ARRL is looking for a better layout, I'd be glad to
contribute. I built mine on double sided board with one side as the ground
plane but it will work fine on a single sided board as well. For those of
you wishing to soup up the NN1G, Sierra, Norcal ... you may be interested.

        The amplifier accepts 1-2 watts input and uses two MTP3055E's in
push-pull configuration. Delivers some 12 watts with a +13.8V power supply.
Has autosensing T/R switching relay on board with filters already on board.
Also has variable biasing for linear operation. Board measures 3.8" by 1.75"
and should be built on double sided board with one side as the ground plane.

        I am now working on a miniaturized Gary Breed, possibly using a SMT
version of the MC3362, the MC3362DW. I like this design because it does not
require the use of an air-variable. A multiturn pot takes up considerably less
space and I am aiming at having a modified design with a better band-pass
filter, MMIC (MAR-6) RF pre-amp, RIT, AGC, audio filter and amplifier, and
possibly an S-Meter output, all on a board the size of the NN1G. Wish me luck.
I am now awaiting some parts to arrive from OHR before starting as I need to
know some of the component sizes. I hope the Gary Breed performs well, with no
birdies in the RX range, and good input figures. My NN1G is exhibiting
considerably IF (10 MHz WWV) breakthrough. Not sure which part of the circuit
is responsible but I suspect that the RF band-pass filtering is not ideal. an
anyone tell me whether I should go with a miniaturized NN1G or a
miniaturized/modified Gary Breed? All this in terms of:-

        1.      Sensitivity, S/N ratio, etc.
        2.      Dynamic range, strong signal handling
        3.      VFO stability
        4.      Signal purity/birdies etc.

        I'd like some opinions so as to help me decide which one to soup up.
I actually prefer a diode-ring mixer and a front-end similar to the one used
in the ARK or the OHR. My aim is to finally produce a really-really compact
mono-band tranceiver, with a frequency counter and about 6-8 watts maximum
RF output. Will appreciate any help along these lines. RX must be superhet,
for best performance. Synthesized VFO is out of the question as that will
certainly take up even more board space.

        So there. Tks for reading to this point, HI HI :)

73,
Daniel
--
+-------------+-------------------------------------+
| Daniel Wee  | [e-mail]             | ** Man needs more
| UUCP1.12b   | [e-mail] |  than a new start, he
| SNEWS 1.91  | csah.com!pandora!daniel             |  needs a new heart! **
+-------------+-------------------------------------+

From [e-mail]  Sun Jul  3 02:33:29 1994
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           Sun, 03 Jul 1994 00:07:10 +0800
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Date:      Sun, 03 Jul 1994 00:07:09 +0800
From: "W. Daniel" <pandora![e-mail]>
Reply-To: "W. Daniel" <[e-mail]>
To: pandora![e-mail]
Subject:   NN1G question
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Hi Gang,

        Just wanted to check something. I noticed 2 things about the NN1G (Mk
II) which puzzled me. I noticed that C9 on the RX board was not specified in
the component list nor provided with Dan's kit. Looking at the design however,
I suspect that this should be there and has the same value as C5. This is of
course inferred from the expected symmetry of the crystal filter. Can anyone
confirm this for me.

        I also noticed that on the RX board, U3 (NE602AN) should have a 47 pF
from pin 7 to ground but the tracks for the board appears to run the 47 pF from
pin 7 of U3 to pin 1 of U2. I have since changed the tracks to reflect the
schematics but was wondering if anyone else noticed this. Can anyone please
fill me in on any other corrections to this board.

        I am experiencing WWV breakthrough, what should I do?

73,
Daniel
--
+-------------+-------------------------------------+
| Daniel Wee  | [e-mail]             | ** Man needs more
| UUCP1.12b   | [e-mail] |  than a new start, he
| SNEWS 1.91  | csah.com!pandora!daniel             |  needs a new heart! **
+-------------+-------------------------------------+

From [e-mail]  Sun Jul  3 09:10:05 1994
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    id AA23433; Sun, 3 Jul 1994 09:09:30 -0400
    id AA00818; Sun, 3 Jul 94 09:11:28 EDT
    id AA09213; Sun, 3 Jul 94 09:11:21 EDT
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: "W. Daniel" <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: NN1G question
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sun, 03 Jul 94 00:07:09 +0700."
             <[e-mail]>
Date: Sun, 03 Jul 94 09:11:21 -0400
From: "John F. Woods" <[e-mail]>
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>         I also noticed that on the RX board, U3 (NE602AN) should have a 47 pF
> from pin 7 to ground but the tracks for the board appears to run the 47 pF from
> pin 7 of U3 to pin 1 of U2. I have since changed the tracks to reflect the
> schematics but was wondering if anyone else noticed this. Can anyone please
> fill me in on any other corrections to this board.

I don't have the schematic handy, but if it is what I think it is, that
capacitor really is grounded:  if there is a .01 or .1 cap from pin 1 to
ground, that's (almost) as good as grounded for RF.  Wiring directly to ground
won't hurt, of course, unless the wire run is longer than the other path.

>        I am experiencing WWV breakthrough, what should I do?

Put it in a metal box (that solved it for me).  If it isn't in one, make sure
the input filters are tuned right (did you remember to remove the capacitors
from the ^&#%$#$ IF transformers?).  I had a devil of a time tuning up the
transmitter until I realized that I'd missed one...

From [e-mail]  Sun Jul  3 14:23:03 1994
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    id OAA09812; Sun, 3 Jul 1994 14:22:38 -0400
    id AA00134; Sun, 3 Jul 1994 14:22:37 -0400
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 1994 14:22:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: howie cahn <[e-mail]>
Subject: Survey results - Ham magazines/computers
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Wow!
I've gotten well over 30 (and counting) responses to the survey questions
I asked a few days ago. Thanks to all who responded! The following are
the results of a preliminary compilation of the data. First is a
somewhat subjective summary, and then the raw data. I'll be doing a
final analysis later, so, you still have time to get your vote in.

Publications - No real surprises.
QST: Just about everybody reads it (all but 3 respondents). Several people
thought it's improved recently (the Rhode receiver articles were mentioned),
one person complained about the League's "discriminatory advertising policy".

CQ: Read by less than half. Many said it was too contest-oriented with
not enough project articles.

73: Read by about half. Some liked the construction articles but others
were put off by "Wayne's ramblings".

QEX: Not too many comments. Two people would like to see a different
focus of article subjects.

Communications Quarterly: Several comments about it only being a barely
adequate (or not adequate) replacement for its indirect predecessor "Ham
Radio". Several complained about its price but others thought it was the
best of all of them in terms of technical content.

Nuts & Volts: Not too many comments.

Various QRP club magazines: Most were mentioned favorably especially (!)
QRPp (confirming the thread here recently about how the Nor Cal QRP Club
has grown). Similarly nice things were said about the NE QRP Club, but 72
isn't as widely read. ARCI and MI QRP don't seem to have a presence
here proportional to their overall membership numbers. Others mentioned:
K5FO (sorry Chuck for leaving you out of the original list), NW QRP, Okla
QRP, and Colo QRP clubs.

Others magazines mentioned: The Computer Applications Journal (nee
Circuit Cellar Ink) was highly recommended. others mentioned: World
Radio, Electronics Now, Practical Wireless (and several other European
publications), Radio Fun, RF Design (professional journal). HamBrew was
only cited once, by someone who intends to let his subscription drop.

Raw numbers --
Magazine:        read by:
QST            30
73            16
CQ            13
QEX            13
Communications Qrtly    9
Nuts & Volts        9

QRPp            16
QRP Qrtly        12
72            9
T5W            9
SPRAT            7
K5FO            4
NW QRP            2
CO QRP            2

Computer Operating Systems -
To me the interesting thing was how the responses differed from the
general home computer market. I think it's fair to say that, in the
general market, Windows is now dominant, DOS fading, Macs have a fanatic
following of about 20% of the market, and nothing else counts much. Here,
Macs and UNIX based-systems are very highly over-represented. This isn't
really a QRP topic so I don't want to go into it too much here, but if
anyone wants to continue a discussion about O/Ss, mail me direct.

Raw numbers:
O/S         used            used as 'primary' (several picked
                    more than one)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

DOS        23            12
UNIX (various)    12            6
Mac (sys 6&7)    13            11
Windows        16            9
OS/2        2            1

Others mentioned: OS9 (6809), Amiga, C64/128.
Surprisingly (to me), NT and other new Microsoft Windows versions (Chicago,
Daytona) were not mentioned.


Personal plug --
Two people asked if I had any articles coming out soon. In the next QST
(August) I have one called "Direct Digital Synthesis -- An Intuitive
Introduction", a tutorial about DDS,  and in (most likely) the Winter '95
issue of Communications Quarterly I'll have a construction project
about adding DDS to existing QRP radios. The projects that I mentioned
that I'm working on now should be out somewhere, next spring.

Thanks again to those who replied to the survey!!

72/73... howie
[e-mail]

From [e-mail]  Sun Jul  3 15:09:05 1994
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Date: Sun, 3 Jul 1994 13:13:05 -0600 (MDT)
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Subject: Field Day Brag...
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Well why not... its a slow Sunday!

Location:  Small hill about four miles East of Idaho Falls, ID -- completely
           devoid of any trees to spoil the view (or hold up antennas...).

Rig:  TenTec 509, 3 to 5 watts out.

Antennas:  10/15/20m trapped dipole and 180 ft long wire (80/40/20m) held up
           by 20 ft TV masts.

Power source:  Deep cycle RV battery connected to a 25W solar panel.

Operating class:  1B

Call used:  W1HUE/7

No. operators:  1

Operating time:  About 18 hours

Results:  Band    CW    Phone
          -------------------
          80m     21      0
          40m     81      4
          20m     45     12
          15m     19     12
          10m      2     25
                 ----   ----
                 168     53   (221 total QSO's)

Total claimed score (including bonus points):  2145

High winds (50 - 70 mph) came up Saturday night; by late Sunday morning the
dipole had blown down and the center of the long wire was just above the sage
brush -- but I was still making contacts on 40!  Luckily I was in an RV and
not a tent!

Observation:  I think a lot of folks don't make contacts because they are too
far off the frequency of the station they are calling, and don't listen off-
frequency for stations calling them.  I had several stations answer my CQ's
more than 1 kHz from my frequency.


73E-2, Larry W1HUE  "Real QRPers don't use beam antennas..."

From [e-mail]  Sun Jul  3 21:49:23 1994
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 <[e-mail]>; Sun, 3 Jul 1994 20:50:19 CDT
Date: Sun, 03 Jul 1994 20:50:19 -0500 (CDT)
From: "JEFF M. GOLD" <[e-mail]>
Subject: AC4HF/P/M/QRP
To: [e-mail]
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All,

leaving for NC for a few days.. will be on the air (hopefully)
while driving..bungey corded the MFJ20mSSB in the car with a Ham
Stick.. hooked up my Radio Shack ignition noise filter (couldn't
operate the MFJ in the car before because of engine noise..
amazingly with the RS in line using the Cigarette lighter..seemed
to work when I tested it out).

should be on in the AM on 20 meter about 14.245 and maybe the
evenings.

73

Jeff

From [e-mail]  Sun Jul  3 22:42:47 1994
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    id AA00784; Sun, 3 Jul 94 20:44:05 MDT
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 1994 20:44:04 -0600 (MDT)
From: Rick Zabrodski <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Tuners and Z match
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Cc: [e-mail]
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As a collector and builder of tuners I would like to comment on the "ideal"
for balanced/unbalanced.  The Z match works for both but is NOT a
particularly user friendly.......it takes a lot of tuning back and forth.

If you like fiddling with knobs....enjoy. It will do coax as well but in
my experience not as well as a conventional t tuner.
The standard "link coupled" tuner remains my favorite for balanced lines.
They are easy to build and great for reducing interference.
Fast and easy to use?  I use the MFJ differential T tuner most of the
time, especially when in contest mode.  (But I do play with my balanced,
z match and other tuners when time is a secondary factor!

****************************************************************************
Dr. Rick Zabrodski BSc, MD, CCFP(E)       *            VE6GK "glider king"
EMAIL:  [e-mail]          *            "M.D. on weekdays"
Packet: VE6GK@VE6YYC.#cgy.ab.can.na       *          "Solar powered aviator
Phone: [phone]   Fax: [phone]     *               on weekends!"
****************************************************************************
                                    _____
                                      |
          \__________________________/ \__________________________/
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