AmateurRadio.com

Beautiful day again here in New Jersey – but extremely busy!  Lots of chores, lots of running around and I didn’t get everything accomplished that I wanted to.  But even at the end of a busy day, it’s nice to step back, take a breath and spend a few minutes engaged in “The World’s Greatest Hobby”.

This was nice as it ended up being an actual QSO.  As it turns out, it ended up being a K3 to K3 QSO!  I was at 5 Watts and Mario was at 100 Watts. We gave each other 579 reports. I was on the Butternut while Mario was on his Hy Gain vertical – so it was a K3/vertical to K3/vertical QSO.  We exchanged weather information as a matter of course; and again, I was surprised that New Jersey was just a bit warmer than Pesaro. Of course, I’m the typical American who assumes it’s always warmer on the Mediterranean than it is here!

OK – so here’s the deal.  I mentioned that I wanted to come up with a drive-on support that will allow me to use my Jackite pole as a support for wire antennas for portable non-hike type ops.  What I used to use, when I had my Buddipole, was a 4 foot plank of oak.  I bought a threaded piece of 2″ pipe and a pipe flange.  I secured the pipe flange into the plank with screws.  When I got to a suitable spot, I would drive onto the plank, screw the pipe into the flange and drop the painter’s pole that I was using as a mast into the pipe.  Viola’ – instant Buddipole support!

The problem is the Jackite pole is a way bigger diameter than the painter’s pole – 2 3/4″ in diameter compared to less that 2″ in diameter for the painter’s pole.  The biggest diameter iron pipe that Home Depot had in small, pre-cut, pre-threaded pieces was 2″.  Not gonna work.

So I took my 4 foot plank of oak and cut it into two, more or less equal sized pieces.

Then using hinges, I reverted it back into a single 4 foot plank.  Seems silly doesn’t it, at first hearing?

Ahhhhh …. but there’s a method to my madness, because now I have a vertical section as well as a horizontal section.

I added two “U” bolts to hold the Jackite pole.  And here’s what it looks like “in action”.

Two things remain to be done. First, I want to replace the hex nuts on the “U” bolts with wing nuts.  This will make it easier to tighten and loosen in the field.  Secondly, I need some sort of “support strut” between the horizontal and vertical components.  I am not sure what to use. A strut like you would find in an old style attache case or an equipment case would be ideal; but I don’t know where you’d even go about buying case parts.  The only other thing that I can think of is buying a piece of aluminum stock and fashioning my own custom “strut”.  Anchor it on one member with a screw and allow it to swing, and cut or file a “hook” into the other end and let that come to rest on a screw inserted into the other member.

I don’t want to take a chance that a gust of wind could catch this and then either blow it back onto the Jeep or even worse, out to the side (taking radios and equipment with it!).

The easy answer is to just screw a shelf bracket in place.  But that would make this thing a permanent “L”. Right now it folds down onto itself, forming a nice 2 foot long piece that fits in the back of the Jeep quite nicely, not taking up a lot of space.  I definitely want this to fold for easy storage, but yet be strong and stable enough when deployed so that there will be no worries.

Any ideas?

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Two things pointed out to me by Bob W3BBO, who directed me to the “ARRL Contest Update” e-mail, which I had just kind of glossed over without reading properly:

I picked up the office chair that I had ordered from Staples on Saturday. It is their Lockridge Manager’s chair which is currently on special. It normally goes for $89.99, but is $50.00 off for an online price of $39.99.

It is definitely filling the bill. I spent 90 minutes behind the key tonight hunting Foxes on 40 Meters. Not only did I bag two pelts, but when I got out of the chair to head upstairs, my back and hips gave nary a whimper. This sure is a far cry from that folding metal chair that I was using. When I would get out of that thing, I felt like I was ready for either a walker or a chiropractor.

Band conditions were so-so. Both Foxes were loud for a good portion of the hunt, but at times the QSB was tough to deal with.  I am also pretty sure both Foxes had high local QRN to deal with as each one was asking for multiple repeats of exchange information. Once again, persistence paid off and both Foxes were worked. Hats off to Paul K4FB and TJ W0EA.

I am going to be placing an order in the next few days with either Mouser or Jameco for some parts.  There are plans in the latest Sprat for a rather simple 40 Meter WSPR transmitter. I don’t plan to get too involved with the mode, but it looks like a rather easy build, and I am itching to really homebrew something.

I haven’t built anything in a while that wasn’t pre-kitted. I enjoy the process of buying and gathering the parts. From the looks of the article, this seems to be a project that lends itself well to perf board construction. I already have an ample supply of NE612s, so this will be a purchase of various needed resistors and capacitors, depending on whatever is not already in my junk box.

The final cost should be way under what I have seen some kit prices going for.

73 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Diz, W8DIZ of Kits and Parts dot Com, has come out with a new transceiver kit – The Flying Pigs “PigRig”.

It is a single frequency transceiver.  Sound strange?  Maybe it is, but listen to Diz’s own words:

“This transceiver was designed for Radio Clubs and/or Special Events. You turn the radio on…you listen…you do not tune…you do not switch anything…you do not search. If you hear someone on “your special frequency”, there is a good chance it could be a member of your group.

Here is what it is and is not.

It is a club radio.
It is not another me-too qrp contender
It is a single conversion design
It does not receive 2 sidebands…only one
It does have a full 5 watts output at about 13.6 volts
It does not have any tuning controls
It does have a piggie custom keyer chip
It is like a ham version of Channel 19 using CW only

The size of the PCB is only 2.5″ (63,5 mm) by 3.8″ (96,5 mm), and Yes…it does produce a full 4.99 watts RF out and it is as sensitive as just about anything else that you may have in your radio shack. Custom club/group frequencies are available for 40 meters. The name of this radio shall henceforth be labeled as the “Flying Pig Rig”.

For details – schematic and building guide as well as information on how to order, click here.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

I try very hard not to needlessly duplicate the offerings of my fellow bloggers. However, I caught Chris KQ2RP’s post and felt that it needed amplification (pun intended).

Rex Harper W1REX, member of the QRP Hall of Fame and primary owner/operator of QRPme has come up with a great idea – the “QRP Kit of the Month Club”.

This is such a cool idea!  Personally, I think it’s one of the best unexpected gifts a QRPer could find himself being on the receiving end of. Wow – bad sentence, but you know what I mean.  🙂

I’d much rather receive a QRP kit every month rather than a piece of fruit, or a cheese ball, or a beef log, or a jar of jam or jelly.  You can opt into different subscription plans; but for the full boat of 12 months, it works out to 12 kits at $15 a clip – not bad at all.  I know that sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t when you think of how it breaks down.

Kudos to Rex for coming up with an innovative idea!  It will be interesting to see if any QRPers are gifted this way.  I may have to start leaving some obvious hints myself, starting this coming October and November.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least.