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An amateur band at 40MHz would be really useful as I suspect the F2 MUF has been in this region several times in the last few years. There are a very few beacons around 40MHz (UK and Denmark only I believe) but wouldn’t it be good to have even 100kHz around this frequency? Sadly it is very unlikely, but I would happily lose 100kHz at the top of 10m in exchange.   It would also be a very useful Es band.

Somehow I can’t see this happening, more is the pity.  The world of radio science would really benefit. This would have been so much more useful than 146-147MHz recently released to UK amateurs by NoV.  I know a handful of UK amateurs are trying narrowband DTV but the 2m band is mainly Japanese “black boxes” and is mostly white noise in most areas.

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.

Steam coming off the water down at the lake

The little motor in the antenna

Today is supposed to be one of the coldest days this winter and up to this point we have had some very cold days! This morning I went out to get our food shopping done and going from the car to the market it was so cold it took your breath away. We live in a condo and in the underground garage the temp was -7C, most of the time it's well above 0C but not today. The temp this morning without the windchill was -22C and the weather is forecasting later later today with the windchill it  will drop to around -40C!! Today is a good time to stay indoors and play radio. The MFJ 1788 seems to have no problem in this cold weather. As a matter of fact the colder the weather be better the SWR, the little motor that operates the large capacitor has no problems in this weather. This afternoon I'm hanging out on 20m at the QRP watering hole of 14.060 calling CQ and listening. I was calling on 15m and it really did not seem like the band was open I then moved up to 20m. Since I was calling CQ I checked the Reverse Beacon Network and noticed that on 15m I was spotted by F5MUX from France. This is the first spot EVER for me from my new location being spotted  outside of the U.S. Well it's getting late in the afternoon and I was skunked on the bands today…..oh well maybe later this evening!
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Click for bigger image.

The Tenner is a very simple CW rig for 10m. It produces about 500mW output and has worked across the Atlantic on many occasions. Offset RX-TX seems to work out at about right, although no special circuitry is employed. This simple circuit just works. Although I used an “at hand” SBL1, any double balanced mixer is likely to be OK. Although I did not try it, a homebrew DBM would be fine.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/lapthorn/tenner.htm

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 75 is now available for download.

Building the Northwest Digital Radio DV3000 D-Star Hot Spot. A new device with new capabilities. Tommy and George’s Radio Shack bargain shopping. Capital City Hamfest Go Kit competition, JLO and Don Wilbanks. Peter installs Cinnamon Linux.

1:15:05 of ALTV Fun

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YouTube

George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

It's time to sell off some more items to get some ham bucks. These are things that have not been used in the shack and are just gathering dust!
1)The qrpometer is a great portable power and watt meter it's a kit that is no longer sold. The power levels go as low as 100mW's and up to 8 watts. I made a case for the unit and added an external battery compartment for easy battery changes. Also it has BNC connectors for easy connect and disconnect. For more info on this great unit follow this link  the price for this unit is 50.00 dollars

2) A balun from from Balun designs it's a 1:1 balun and works great for coax line isolation. It's rated up to 300 watts for more info click on this link
The price of the balun is 25.00
3) Mini Circuits splitter for those of you with a K3 and have the subRX this is very handy to have. I have a link from the Elecraft reflector that better explains this pairing this unit with your K3

The price is 25.00
4)  The rig runner 4005 great for fusing and running your shack accessories and radios.
The price is 50.00
5) KX3 PCKT cables for the KX3 these are brand new and never used.
Price 20.00 including shipping 

6) LP Pan and E-MU 0202 external sound card, the LP Pan is set up for the K3 all the cables are included. Also a  power cord for the LP Pan complete with Anderson Power pole connector and quality USB cable for the E MU 0202 as well as quality coax jumper for LP Pan to K3 or P3. The price for both is 270.00

Extra connectors

7) Elecraft spare VFO A and VFO B knobs the set  for 15.00.











Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Calibration of the M328

I have previously explained how to go about building the M328 in Part (1)



Now this is where it all gets very interesting!

When I watched the VK3YE  video (A number of times may I add), I had always wondered about the 35pF offset and why Peter couldn't eliminate it? I had read the manual written by Karl-Heinz Kubbeler, upside down and inside out around the area of calibration (Section 3.2). I had felt maybe Peter had missed a step, or maybe two? But it would only be when I finally built the project I would be able to put my theory into action! After all I couldn't just pop over to Melbourne and explain, it is not a couple miles down the road from the UK is it, and doubtful some nut with a theory would be welcome asking for a phone number anyway??








Before you start calibration you will need to make yourself a three pronged shorting link, and a get a 100nF (0.1uF) Capacitor. The Value can be greater, but not less than 100nF, which will be required for the final part of the Cal procedure:







You then insert the link into all three terminals (1,2,3) on the bottom terminal block, make sure the connection is tight. Press the On button this will put the unit into Self Test Mode:




When it gets to "T4 Isolate Probe" which I assume means Test 4? Remove the Link smartly! Do NOT touch any parts of the unit:






Let it move on, until it gets to the last screen which at this point you will require the 100nF Cap and Insert it between Terminals 1 & 3



Leave the Cap connected, you will see this value pulsate on the bottom line of the display as it is calibrating. Mine read 91nF. It will keep pulsating the value until the test concludes (can take about 2 mins?). When the test finishes it will exit the calibration mode as indicated on the display, reverting to testing the Capacitor and indicating the value being tested as below:

(Sorry about the breadcrumbs on the bench, this is how one works when into resolving problems)
 



The unit then times out after about 30 secs and switches off.

Now if you have gone about this procedure correctly, when you next turn on the unit it will no longer display the 35pF offset as shown at the start of this blog,  the Display will show the following after the initial Volts check and sign on etc:

 


You are now ready to start testing your components. Which we will come to in Part 3.

Notes:

Shortly after I proved my theory about the elimination of the 35pF offset, I contacted VK3YE via email. Peter came straight back with a BIG thank you, after he too had tried my method out, and it had worked on his unit first time! The only problem he had found, he couldn't then test small value capacitors? Eg: 47 pF measured fine (48pF) but 22pF was not recognised Hmmm!

I spent my teatime reading the manual again, and found it!:
 




 

Steve, G1KQH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from England. Contact him at [email protected].

Just a reminder about the 630m crossband activity night this evening. There have been two updates to the plan. VE7SL will start one hour later than originally planned and John, VE7BDQ, will be listening on both 160m and 80m QSX frequencies for callers.

The frequencies will be:

• VE7SL TX 473.00KHz QSX (listening) 1808KHz (160m) and 3535KHz (80m)

• VE7BDQ TX 474.00KHz QSX (listening) 1813KHz (160m) and 3532KHz (80m)

John will operate from 0200Z (1800 PST) - 0700Z (2300 PST) while I will start one hour later. Both stations will call several CQs at the top of each hour segment, at full eirp,  and listen for any callers on the specified calling frequencies.




The last time this was done, transcontinental contacts were completed ... hopefully conditions will continue to co-operate and propagation will be good tonight.


Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].