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I earned my first SOTA points a week ago as an activator, and again this morning as a chaser. (My amateur radio call sign is K7EDS.) Activators pack a complete amateur radio station to the summit of a qualifying mountain. … Continue reading
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The hearing of my Chinese Pixie is much better now. Pixie is a ultra-minimal ham radio transceiver that started several decades ago. The circuit has been tweaked, modified and improved over the years with the same goal of super small … Continue reading
This gallery contains 6 photos.
(Click any picture to enlarge. Descriptions are in the comments for each.) I drove two hours west from Phoenix last Saturday to Quartzite, Arizona for the swapfest at the end of 2016’s week long Quartzfest. The pickings were slim, however, and I came … Continue reading
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If we talk on amateur radio, we might exchange QSL cards. On the back, I’ll write the UTC (universal date and time), frequency and mode (voice, CW, PSK) and some brief remarks. When a ham (amateur radio operator) receives a QSL card, … Continue reading
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Why Mac? For one thing, if you do many different things throughout the day, it’s extremely easy to switch focus because the Mac can have all things going at once. The screen shot is my current set of desktops, and … Continue reading
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Ok, Ok, you’re right. It’s a new toy and I wanted to show it off. You’re absolutely right. But I learned some things and can do better on my next wire antenna. So, take this as a sales pitch or a … Continue reading
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Grand knows his stuff — thank you, Sir! More flux did the trick. If you’ve been following the action here, you’ll know that I botched my first attempt with the integrated circuit you see here as “The Problem”. The two … Continue reading
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It’s only 1/8″ across so those five wires sticking out each side are very close together. The tip of the soldering iron I tried to use is too big – it bridges all five wires at once. I should’ve stopped … Continue reading
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The green circuit board seen here is the first of three major assemblies, the DDS (Direct Digital Synthesis) board on which the transmit signal will be generated. Shown also are the tools and especially the large magnifier in the upper-right … Continue reading
In the previous sections, we eavesdropped on a live conversation between two ham stations, one in Windsor Ontario and the other in Venezuela on the northern coast of South America. And I mentioned that while you’ll find hams of all … Continue reading