Radio W4KAZ

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Hexbeam Broadbanded

I was really hopped up when I ran across the web site of G3TXQ. I was particularly hopped up by his documentation on his hexbeam experimentation, particularly the modified geometry broadband version.

I played around with my own experimental hexbeam for 17m/15m/10m, back in 2000-2001, right after I had re-licensed. There’s no magic to the antenna, but it does give one the performance of a 2 element yagi in a much smaller physical space. The hex design is right at the top of my “really interesting stuff” list. Its one of the things I corresponded with W4RNL over. ‘RNL was not a great fan of the design, but agreed that it did have its place. I’m not sure of the reason for my own illogical interest – just one of those things.

But back to G3TXQ. He has taken the step of modifying the geometry of the reflector. He indicates that this change will improve the f/b ratio and also gives a broad match that is closer to 50 ohms. The classic Hexbeam design has an impedence in the 20 to 25 ohm range. The G3TXQ version has a flat SWR across the 20m through 15m bands, and most of 10m. Way Cool. Even better, the modeling shows the best SWR and best f/b ratio seem to happen at approximately the same frequency.

I’m thinking about a 15m monoband version now. I guess its also time to go back and surf the hexbeam yahoo group again.

If I Don’t Do It, Who Will?(or “How to Sponsor a Contest”)

Faced with an ethical dilemma today. Subscription notices.

I’m not really a big fan of the current crop of ham radio publications. Not that there is anything wrong with the publications. I sure can’t do better. But for my own part, the advertisements are often the most interesting content. Facing facts, it is improbable that any hard copy publication can print content that will always be of immediate interest to so wide a niche audience. The subject area is just too wide and the interests of the all-too-narrow audience are just too diverse.

So upon receiving the third request to re-subscribe, I found a way to rationalize the subscription.

Continue reading If I Don’t Do It, Who Will?(or “How to Sponsor a Contest”)

Yaesu FP-1023 & Samlex Sec-1223

Well, it turns out I have a lot of stuff to add to the FP-1023/Sec-1223 page. So much so that I’m trying to figure out a better way to organize the website for presentation of multiple related pages. It is a content management issue.

I’d like the power supply content to be more easily accessible than normal blog posts. I would just rather not get bogged down in re-programming WordPress, creating a bunch of external pages, or writing a custom WordPress plug-in. (Aughhhh! Plug-in suggestions appreciated!)

I may get to that point one day – but not now.

Until then, there are some additions coming, including some close up shots of the new PS, and an interesting article sent me by Oliver, DG7XO on a nice digital meter project. Oliver included photos of his power supply with the meter mod.

So until I get all of the content organized, here is the DG7XO meter project as a teaser.

LOTW and Special Event Stations

Last year, I was part of two special event operations N4Q and N4A. Yesterday, I finally got the logs uploaded to LOTW. It turns out this process was simple, once I found it documented. Had I actually thought about it, it would have been obvious. (Too bad thinking has become so sporadic inside W4KAZ’s ‘brayn’…) This process is the same as uploading logs for a portable operation in a different call area or country(eg, “w4kaz/5″ or” w4kaz/m”).

NE1RD outlines the process in a posting titled “Adding a QTH to LOTW“. It is really just that simple. Request a certificate for the special event call, wait for ARRL to process the request, receive the cert e-mailed from ARRL, load the certificate, mark the log, upload the log.

It sounds more complicated than it really is, but NE1RD has it laid out step by step, with screen prints of the process. So there are now about 500 new LOTW QSL confirmations’s out there on the 2800 combined Q’s that I uploaded. The documentation work done by NE1RD has paid dividends to the ham community too.

Hopefully, uploading the QSLs will help someone reach an award goal. Even if it doesn’t, I feel better about it. I get a project closure, and the final loose end tied up.

Samlex 1223-Power Supply Update

After discovering that the Samlex was so ‘very similar’ to other well known brands, I bought one to replace my dead switching supply.

I’ll need to make some updates to my FP-1023 page. The new Samlex has some changes in the output filtering section. The new supply has a toroidal inductor for L2(instead of the rod) and different, larger value capacitors for the RF bypass at the outputs.

An initial comparison and search for birdies turned up very little, and nothing of concern, compared to the loaner Astron RS-35. The switcher had a few more birdies on 15m and 10m, but actually had NO birdies on 40m, while the Astron had three or four(one significant). Most of the other birdies were consistently present with either supply.

I plan to put the supply under load(i.e., the second radio transmitting into a dummy load), and hunt for birdies under load. After that, I’ll update the page, including photos of the new parts layout.

My Power Supply

After a bit of internet digging, and a few helpful e-mails, I turned up references to the website of N0SS. Tom’s web site is a trove of good advice on a variety of things. One of those things is the Samlex 1223 switching power supply. It just so happens that the Yaesu FP-1023 is a re-branded Samlex(i.e., made for Yaesu by Samlex).

I have put together a separate page to document some of this power supply information. That page will be updated as new info rolls in. Enough said here for now.

MikeRowFones-The Series

I just realized that I had not created a page listing all of the SSB Mythbusters articles. Well, the page is done, and it has earned a spot in the blogroll as a ‘best of’ entry.

MyCrowFones- Infiltrating the Continuous Wave

MyCrowFone – Infiltrating the Continuous Wave – SSB Myth Busters Chapter 4 (a call to arms for PVRC Phone operators to stretch their wings for 2007 ARRL CW Sweeps)

Tempus Fugit! Okay. Last year at this time, I went on at length at how the CW operators should not rest on their laurels, but should take the plunge and try to find their MyCrowFones for the second half of ARRL Sweepstakes.

But this year, it is a more difficult task – convincing the Foney operator that he too can earn additional points by modulating the Continuous Wave in the first half of the ARRL Sweepstakes. Yes, I know the mere suggestion will have the elite CW ops cringing, but I am living proof that even mere lids such as myself can in fact substantially bolster their overall Sweepstakes score by infiltrating the CW portion of ARRL Sweepstakes.

ԅgadsԬ I imagine you thinking, Գurely this W4KAZ lid is daft?Ԡ Continue reading MyCrowFones- Infiltrating the Continuous Wave

Sweepstakes 2007

With my other hat on, I’ve updated the PVRC-NC page of Sweepstakes content. The revised page has a bit of new content, and has been made more generic to appeal to a wider audience. Feel free to share the link.

Splices

Sometimes I’m amazed at the quality of the information available on the internet. Sometimes I find it odd that I can’t find anything about a subject.

This is a case of the first. I saw a post somewhere that referred to the Western Union wire splice. I don’t have the formal electronics education that so many hams do, so I had never heard that term, although I’ve ‘discovered’ the method on my own while tinkering. But the search term ‘western union splice’ turned up a whole pile of interesting websites that illustrate some very basic how-to’s.

So now I see I need a new page to begin documenting some of this sort of thing. In the meantime, NASA has a good online document on basic workmanship standards that is focused on useful info and also fairly wide in scope. The illustrations could be a bit larger, but they are comprehensive, and even recognize the dead bug technique.

There’s also a scanned document from 1926 available that shows many of these techniques are not new.

More to come when the WX is not so pretty outside. My yard work beckons.