Milliwatt QRP Books – eBook Download 8 - April - 2012
Posted by k9zw in Amateur Radio, K9ZW, K9ZW Just Rambled, QRP.Tags: K9ZW, K9ZW Just Rambled, QRP
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Some good reading on subjects QRP.
History of the 5W QRP Group as a PDF eBook: http://www.qrpdxpropagationantennas.com/uploads/QRPhist1968-81.pdf
General Link to Milliwatt QRP Books
73
Steve
K9ZW
A few Hours of Interesting Band Conditions 7 - April - 2012
Posted by k9zw in K9ZW Just Rambled, K9ZW Operations, DX Interests, Amateur Radio, K9ZW.Tags: DX, K9ZW, K9ZW Just Rambled
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The last few times at the radio the bands have been interestingly decent.
Here is smattering of the last group of SSB contacts worked 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m and 10m:
- ARGENTINA
- ARUBA
- AUSTRIA
- AZORES
- BALEARIC ISL.
- BELIZE
- BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
- BRAZIL
- CANADA
- CANARY ISL.
- COSTA RICA
- CROATIA
- CZECH REP.
- DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
- ECUADOR
- EL SALVADOR
- ENGLAND
- FAROE ISL.
- FRANCE
- GREENLAND
- GUATEMALA
- GUERNSEY (BAILIWICK OF)
- GUYANA
- HONDURAS
- HUNGARY
- IRELAND
- ITALY
- JAMAICA
- JAPAN
- JERSEY (CHANNEL ISL.)
- MALPELO ISL.
- MARTINIQUE
- MOLDOVA
- MOROCCO
- PANAMA
- POLAND
- PORTUGAL
- PUERTO RICO
- RUSSIA (EUROPEAN)
- SCOTLAND
- SLOVENIA
- SOUTH KOREA
- SPAIN
- SURINAME
- SWEDEN
- TANZANIA
- THAILAND
- TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
- UKRAINE
- URUGUAY
- USA
- VENEZUELA
- VIRGIN ISL.
- WALES
These are only the eQSL members out of the last bunch of contacts.
Hopefully the bands will continue to be “interesting!”
73
Steve
k9ZW
K9ZW Shack Reconfigured – Expert Amp and Palstar AT-Auto Tuner 5 - April - 2012
Posted by k9zw in Amateur Radio, K9ZW, K9ZW Just Rambled, K9ZW Shack.Tags: AT-Auto, DDUtil, Expert 1K-FA, Flex-5000, Flex-Radio, K9ZW, K9ZW Just Rambled, Palstar, SPE Expert
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Have been doing some reconfiguration in the K9ZW Shack.
To keep all the bits talking to each other I’ve started running DDUtil
This Utility allows for “passive listening” devices doing frequency following of a transceiver’s VFO and will control or read the Array Systems PowerMaster SWR Meter, the Green Heron Rotor Control, the Expert 1K Amp, the Palstar AT-Auto Tuner and of course the Flex-Radio Flex-5000A Transceiver.
Here is a sample of what my dual screen set up looks like. The blue window behind MixW is Flex Radio’s monitor, as I was debugging at the time.
The SPE Expert 1KW Amp is doing very well! I quite enjoy its instant-on feature, and how it syncs with the Flex-5000A through DDUtil.
I am a bit less convinced about the Palstar AT-Auto Antenna Tuner. I only need a tuner on 80m and 160m, as all other bands tune 1:1.15 or better barefoot. This particular tuner is a bit of an orphan due to some legal wrangling that has left Palstar unable to service the unit, and the successor a complete unknown. It is also pretty slow tuning between bands.
Here is a close-up of the Right Hand Screen – the Business Screen.
Power SDR is running at the bottom, then clockwise the DDUtil SPE Expert Amp Panel Control, next to it the DDUtil Rotor Control Program, above that the Map Display from MixW, next to it (smallest item) is MixW Frequency Output, the MixW DX Cluster is running top center and then to the right the main DDUtil Program.
I am still tweaking this setup, and hope to have the bugs worked out soon.
73
Steve
K9ZW
QRPme – QRP Kit of the Month 2 - April - 2012
Posted by k9zw in Amateur Radio, K9ZW, QRP.Tags: K9ZW, K9ZW Just Rambled, QRP, qrpme, W1REX
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W1REX and the team at QRPme (which is really W1REX and family) have launched an interesting idea of a parallel group build on a subscription basis with his QRPme Kit of the Month Club program.
Sounds like an excellent idea for any budding builder!
The information from the website:
QRPme Kit of the Month Club – 1 Year Subscription
Price: $180.00
US orders:
DX orders:
QRPme is undertaking a new & interesting project: Produce 12 unique kits with a new kit shipping each month. These kits will be interesting and useful to all builders. There will be no extra shipping & handling charges or DX disparity. One price gets a kit delivered to your door. I did break it down into 3 options; however, to allow for a modest investment for either budget or evaluation purposes.
So:
1 year subscription = $180 ($15/kit)
6 month subscription = $108 ($18/kit)
3 month subscription = $60 ($20/kit)
As you can see, the price of each kit is modest. (especially when you consider that all mailing costs are included) You won\’t be receiving a top of the line kit each month for that price but each kit will be useful and will have an educational content that will be worth your time and expense.
The current lineup for the 1st 6 KotMC kits are:
MARCH: Pocket Electronics Lab: a shirtpocket friendly solderless breadboard system
APRIL: 4 Port Directional Coupler which is the ‘engine’ of a power/VSWR meter
MAY: Audio Amplifier
JUNE: ‘Fireball’ Style Transmitter
JULY: IC Prototype Board Project
AUGUST: ‘Universal’ Low Pass Filter module
And I will make a further promise: If at any time, you decide that you want to cancel your subscription, I will refund the price of any remaining undelivered kits in your subscription.
Subscriptions will be accepted now with the first kits being shipped in the middle of March. The first kit: the Pocket Electronics Lab, is in the hands of a few evaluators and will be available in about 2 weeks.
Read more at URL Link: QRPme – Can it!
I know that I won’t have time to keep up, having about six kits on the bench to build to just catch up. Perhaps I will be caught up enough to catch QRPme’s second season of QRPme Kit of the Month.
73
Steve
K9ZW
