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By John AE5X, February 24, 2012

For most of March & part of April, I’ll have a lot of spare time on my hands and not many of life’s normal distractions – a dangerous combination. And I’ll be in that hotbed of cultural activity – Oklahoma City.

As William Clark said upon reaching the Pacific Ocean in 1805, “O! The joy!”

To fill in the idle hours I’ve arranged a series of projects that I’ll be posting about here: Continue reading 'Upcoming for March'»

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By John AE5X, February 23, 2012

Pending permission to use one of his photos, here is a text-only description of a new kit about to be available from designer extraordinaire, Steve Weber KD1JV:

Steve  is currently prototyping a new rig which will be named either the MTR (Mountain-Top Rig) or ATS-3C.

It fits into an Altoids tin and differs from versions prior to the ATS-3B in that it offers only 2 bands. Continue reading 'Mountain-Top Rig de KD1JV'»

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By John AE5X, February 4, 2012

I’m not the most enthusiastic builder of kits containing SMD devices but with only a small handful of parts I’m not expecting much ado. With only one cap to tweak and no coils to wind, construction ought to be a snap and will add HF reception to the FCD’s already broad spectrum of coverage.

This second round of kits seems to have sold out quickly but their website promises to make the kit available for at least another round.

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By John AE5X, February 2, 2012

This blog generates a stream of email – some of which are the basis for posts you’ve read. Others update me on material presented in previous posts. Here are some of those:

A Tree-Mounted Yagi

Last months’ post about Leroy N7EIE and his uniquely mounted triband Yagi may have jinxed him. Larry has the good fortune to be surrounded by trees that make my tall pines look like shrubs. Being the practical individual that he is, he saw them as organic towers – just as I would. In a follow-up email, Larry reminds me of Newtonian mechanics with photos of his Yagi’s submission to gravity. Actually, it was the tree limbs that fell in Washington state’s worst ice storm in 40 years.

From Leroy:

I learned that with a vengeance last week during Washington’s worst snow/ice storm up here in 40 years.

As you can see from some of these pictures, Continue reading 'Misc: De-tree’d Yagi, capacitance meter and 80m DXing at the far end'»

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By John AE5X, January 25, 2012

A few months ago I wrote about a new transmitter kit for WSPR. A receiver kit for this mode is now available from a different source (also available fully built).

Of more significance than the fact that we hams have a new kit available is the idea that WSPR is a great science project for non-hams…and therefore a great way to introduce ham radio to those outside the hobby. Continue reading 'A stand-alone receiver kit for WSPR'»

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By John AE5X, December 19, 2011

FunCube Dongle & HF converter

Thanks to RW3AH’s blog I learned that the FunCube Dongle is once again available for sale.

Finally!

For those who may not know, the “FCD” is a small, USB thumb drive sized SDR receiver that covers 64-1700 MHz. An add-on kit developed by CT1FFU and CT2IRW extends the range of the FCD down to HF.

A combined price of around $225 results in a tiny receiver capable of any mode supported by SDR software – ie, all of them (FWIW, just the FCD together with shipping from the UK is 112GBP, which amounts to $178).

A stroll around the internet shows them being used to successfully receive a variety of FM and digital hamsats, demodulated weather sat maps, HF CW and on and on… Continue reading 'FunCube Dongle + HF converter kit = DC to 1.7GHz all-mode receiver'»