| (no subject) |
[Jan. 4th, 2010|09:40 pm] |
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Who here has GNRL or EXTRA? Anyone in the Pacific Northwest? I would like to talk to some of you guys on the weekend. It seems I have no problem working the PacNW on 20M SSB. |
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| Game Night |
[Jan. 4th, 2010|09:02 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  relaxed | ] |
Game night returns this weekend, January 9th. I'll be hosting it at my house of course, starting at 7:30. I'll have drinks, snacks, and other goodies. I've been looking into games, and I'm curious, has anyone played Ticket to Ride? If so, what are your thoughts on it. |
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| Happy New Years and FWA! |
[Dec. 31st, 2009|08:19 pm] |
Well, first, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I would have come to the party, but I have to be at work tomorrow morning early and it just wouldn't have worked out very well. I hope everyone has fun and doesn't miss me too much. *ROFL* Also, I have been having a mild stomach ache all day too, so I wouldn't be very good company anyway. lol
Anyway, I was thinking of going to FWA in March. After I looked at the prices for the Hilton, I decided that another place was much more preferable. If anyone is interested in staying with me, or, if someone has space in their room and perhaps a ride to the convention handy, I would love to discuss it. :) |
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| New Years Final |
[Dec. 31st, 2009|11:15 am] |
All are welcome All are welcome.
Plans -
5PM if there are no objections (Ruby tuesdays, Capital Circle between Mahan and Centerville, Near Famous Daves)
7PM - Meet at the cat and dog house for New Years eve party going till after the ball drops in Times Square NY
We will provide the following
Relish Tray (Pickles, Olives, Stuffed Celery)
A Cheese board
Deviled Eggs
Spinach Dip with Carrots, Celery, and some chips
Sparkling grape juice and glasses for toast at midnight
Party Favors
Recommend others bring
Chips and such
Desert type items
Other items you like for New Years eve
Events planned
Camp fire weather permitting (Bring your own sitting device)
Games --- (Night Eyes can you bring the stuff for Furry Pictionary)
Movies
Watching the ball drop in times square
Midnight toast
Kovu DaLion
Call 583-0848 if you need directions (you may need to use a land line as some cell phones wont work) |
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| 2 meter converter project |
[Dec. 29th, 2009|08:17 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  accomplished | ] |
Well, this turned out to be more of a project than I had anticipated.
I bought this converter kit from Kanga US. Very basic information, just a PC board, components, schematic and a parts list.
The parts list gave the instructions for winding the assorted coils, but when I finished the converter, I could not get it to function.
What I found was that the air wound coils were not resonating at the proper frequency. Far from it! The parts list said to wind 8 turns #24 tinned copper wire around a 3/16" drill bit. I found after much experimentation that it only took 4 turns to bring it to the proper resonant frequency.
So, I had to re-do 8 coils... 4 of them with taps to get this thing to work properly. Still, I'm not 100% sure it is working as well as it could.
Here are two images of this project. The first shows the original 8 turn coils I built first.
The second shows the rebuilt 4 turn coils.
I also found a tidbit of information tonight on the Kanga US website of another similar project that the coils are probably supposed to be wound on a 1/8" drill bit rather than a 3/16". I'm having the guy who sells the kits look into this, and maybe we can save another person from frustration.
Yeah, it seems to be working, though finding 2 meter CW and SSB activity isn't easy :P |
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| 2 meter converter project |
[Dec. 29th, 2009|08:16 pm] |
Well, this turned out to be more of a project than I had anticipated.
I bought this converter kit from Kanga US. Very basic information, just a PC board, components, schematic and a parts list.
The parts list gave the instructions for winding the assorted coils, but when I finished the converter, I could not get it to function.
What I found was that the air wound coils were not resonating at the proper frequency. Far from it! The parts list said to wind 8 turns #24 tinned copper wire around a 3/16" drill bit. I found after much experimentation that it only took 4 turns to bring it to the proper resonant frequency.
So, I had to re-do 8 coils... 4 of them with taps to get this thing to work properly. Still, I'm not 100% sure it is working as well as it could.
Here are two images of this project. The first shows the original 8 turn coils I built first.
The second shows the rebuilt 4 turn coils.
I also found a tidbit of information tonight on the Kanga US website of another similar project that the coils are probably supposed to be wound on a 1/8" drill bit rather than a 3/16". I'm having the guy who sells the kits look into this, and maybe we can save another person from frustration.
Yeah, it seems to be working, though finding 2 meter CW and SSB activity isn't easy :P |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 29th, 2009|07:15 pm] |
The lack-of-sunspots continues. To be honest it's getting to be deeply depressing: the odd occasions when 14MHz-and-above become open for decent contacts are few and far between.
3.5 and 7MHz are problematic for me: my ex-military PRC320 only does USB and the old ham-radio constraint of "LSB below 10MHz" means that people on the LF bands generally don't hear me. My preferred LF region of 3.615MHz double-sideband-and-full-carrier AM gets trampled all-over by ill-mannered Europeans which leaves my 7.5 watts of Controlled Carrier AM[1] at a major disadvantage.
[1] Basically it's 'traditional' double-sideband-AM but with the resting carrier managed so the carrier-level rises and falls in correspondence with the audio modulation. When there's no actual audio [like in the gaps between words] the carrier drops away to about 10% of the full-audio carrier level. Which is great for saving power when you're running a manpack-portable radio off batteries, but it tends to freak out the AGC on the current generation of Japanese ham-gear. |
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| New Years at the Cat and Dog House |
[Dec. 29th, 2009|11:45 am] |
Myself and Kerne will be hosting a New Years Eve Party at our house. We will provide some munchies but request that everyone who comes bring some munchies. We are also open to meeting for dinner prior to the event.
Possible events
Movies
Games
Watching the ball drop in NY
Snacks
Camp fire in the back yard (Weather Permitting) please bring your own seat
Time to come over will be decided (Depending on if we meet for dinner). Please let us know if you want to come over for the party, Meet for Dinner, or Both.
Kovu DaLion |
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| 2 meter converter |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|09:29 pm] |
Today, I finished a kit I bought at the Ft Wayne Hamfest. I have yet to try it out as it will need some alignment first, but here it is.
Nope, its far from a tube radio ;)
This is a 2 meter converter which will convert a receiver tuning the 40 meter band to receive the 2 meter band. It is designed by Rick Campbell KK7B and I got it from Kanga US
The coils were the most challenging part as each one had to be fabricated. L9 in the upper right was the most tedious. 42 turns of #32 on a little toroid core.. *Whew*
I plan to connect it to the MicroR2 40 meter receiver which is another kit I built from Kanga US.
Maybe I can find some CW or SSB on 2 meters? Who knows! |
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