Ultimate Homebrew April 28, 2008
Posted by n9ik in projects, station, technology.Tags: diy, homebrew, triode, tubes, videos
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While getting caught up with Bill – M0HBR’s podcast “Soldersmoke“, I took a look around his web site, Gadgeteer.us. There he has a video made by a French ham, Claude Paillard, call sign F2FO, showing Claude homebrewing some triode tubes. Plenty of people homebrew tube receivers and transmitters, but how many hams do you know that take homebrewing quite so far? Claude puts quite a few skills in play, and it helps that he seems to have all the right tools for the job.
Telegraph Clacks out RSS Feeds at The Steampunk Workshop April 19, 2008
Posted by n9ik in technology.Tags: cw, diy, homebrew, morse code, telegraph, videos
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Mr. “Hieronymus Isambard” (Jake) von Slatt, the Proprietor over at The Steampunk Workshop, has created a couple of very nice telegraph sounders. Taking it even further, he interfaced one with his PC to “copy” RSS feeds in Morse code! I attempted to post his video of one of the sounders “sounding off” an RSS feed in code, but I couldn’t get WordPress to accept it. Take a look at his description of the project.
Getting on the air. April 17, 2008
Posted by n9ik in operating, portable, station.Tags: blt, cw, keys, portable, qrp, rockmite, station
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I finally got an antenna in the air temporarily this afternoon, and got out my RockMite 40, BLT and Nye Master Key. The 40 meter band seemed very active; at least there was lots of activity around 7.030 MHz, which is the frequency of the crystals currently installed in the RockMite. Everyone that I heard was a bit fast for me; I was able to copy only about 15% or 20% of what I was hearing.Most of the calls that I was able to copy were in 4-land. One person was having a ball with his “bug” slowed down to about 15 wpm – I forgot to write down their call, but they had a very distinctive “fist”, with comparatively long dashes.
The photo above shows my portable station: Battery pack with 8 “AA” cells, RockMite transceiver on 7.030 MHz, Nye-Viking Master Key (model 330-001), NorCal BLT (Balanced Line Tuner) modified to also tune unbalanced feed lines, and my cheap, worn-out Koss UR/29 headphones. The BLT is feeding a speaker-wire doublet as an “inverted-V” with the apex up only about 25 feet or so. The tuner handled it easily.
Looking for a cheap GPS. Found it! April 16, 2008
Posted by Thor in humor.Tags: comics, humor
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I’ve been looking for a cheap GPS to use for APRS in my car. I think I’ve found it!
Salt Water Burns April 13, 2008
Posted by Thor in science, technology.Tags: energy, fuel, invention, videos
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Strange CW keys from OH6CD April 12, 2008
Posted by Thor in humor, keys.Tags: cw, humor, keys, videos
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Ever want to get on the air with CW, but couldn’t find your key? OH6CD solves this problem with some inventive, and strange, solutions. He improvises keys using everything from a toaster to a trailer hitch.
Visit his “Strange CW Keys” page at http://tinyurl.com/3wf725.
Here’s a video of his bicycle pump hey:
"Radio Hams" Film April 12, 2008
Posted by Thor in humor.Tags: cw, emergency, humor, sar, videos, youtube
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I found this old film on YouTube.com this morning. It is a Pete Smith Specialty film titled “Radio Hams”, circa 1939, or thereabouts, and was posted to YouTube by “WA6TKQ” (can’t find that call at qrz.com). This news real comedy film is from a couple of decades before my time, but I remember seeing it years ago. Quite fun…
NT9K Homebrew Amplidan Key April 10, 2008
Posted by Thor in keys.Tags: diy, homebrew, keys, pictures
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Following a link to the home page for Bill, NT9K, I was delighted to see some photos of his homebrew “Amplidan” key.
As you can see from the photo above (I hope you don’t mind my using it Bill), it is made of beautifully finished wood, with polished chrome and aluminum fittings. Inspirational!
Since I can’t really afford to buy any of the keys that I would like to own, homebrewing “copies” is an excellent idea. Now all I need are the proper tools to do a proper job…
Good thing my kids aren’t cardiac surgeons… April 3, 2008
Posted by Thor in humor.Tags: comics, humor
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