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Messages - AB5NI

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Electronic Video Blog / Re: #80 Realistic HTX-100 diagnostic and repair
« on: December 06, 2016, 01:30:26 AM »
I'll try to post here more often, Buddy. I mainly reply to your videos on YouTube more out of convenience than anything else. 73, Randy AB5NI

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Electronic Video Blog / Re: #83 Back to Basic Radio Troubleshooting
« on: December 06, 2016, 01:27:35 AM »
Great video, Buddy. As you mentioned, as hams, we can use these rigs, as long as we clean up their spectral purity. That really shouldn't be that big of a deal.  I'm pretty sure we could just properly align these rigs and add a decent low-pass filters for 10 meters.

I'm wondering if you ever considered building a 10 meter FM repeater out of these "radios? "  There are a couple of them on 10, and most of them are linked to their 2 meter repeaters, allowing the users to work DX from 2  while driving around in the car. Even if the band is dead, locals can use the repeater, offloading traffic from 2 and 440. All they require is a remote 220 MHz link  -- no duplexers at this frequency :D -- a  few miles of spacing, and a couple of dipoles, and you're ready to rock. Well, they require a bit more than that, of course, but you get the idea.

BTW, I sent the FCC folks in charge of enforcement an e-mail, and I asked them if their was an auction that sold these rigs and other confiscated equipment to hams, and I have yet to get a response. Should I not receive one, I'm going to get some friends of mine in government to find out why this isn't happening and see if they can correct this error :D. 73, Randy AB5NI

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Electronic Video Blog / Re: #81 Shop Talk Homebrew Test Gear PT 2
« on: November 28, 2016, 12:33:46 PM »
Yo, Buddy!

Great use of the "DOSY-DOH!" meter movement, my friend! I'll be on the lookout for one for sure. Should be a wonderful addition to my test gear. BTW, if you keep this up, I'll wind up having projects that go well beyond the winter months :D.

73,

Randy AB5NI

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Electronic Video Blog / Re: #81 Shop Talk Homebrew Test Gear PT 2
« on: November 28, 2016, 05:07:16 AM »
BTW, it is also important to note here that this wattmeter is a piece of test gear and meant to be used with a dummload, folks. Please don't try
to use this as a station wattmeter while transmitting on air. Your end results will not be kind, especially if you are trying to run a rig in the
milliwatt range. For those who wonder why this is so, it is a direct-sampling wattmeter, tied directly to the center conductor. It is robbing a
large portion of the RF to drive the meter circuit; moreover, it is changing the input and output impedance, and it will no longer be 50 ohms.
You could probably get away with it by using an antenna coupler on the output, but the direct sampling and the tuner will rob too much power
for QRPp operation. I guess you could get away with using it with a few watts of power, but I'm not sure I'd try using it that way either.

73,

Randy AB5NI

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Electronic Video Blog / Re: #81 Shop Talk Homebrew Test Gear PT 2
« on: November 28, 2016, 04:36:29 AM »
Wonderful use of the Dosy meter, Buddy! I don't know if this is true, but I hear that that particular meter (the circuitry) is not too accurate.

I have the perfect dummy-load to go along with it, if you or anyone else is interested. Here's what you need:

  • An old, glass baby-food jar with a metal lid
  • An SO-239 or BNC connector
  • Some mineral oil
  • 2 100-ohm, 3-watt resistors in parallel
  • A short run of 50-ohm coax

FIrst, take the lid off the baby-food jar, and then punch out (or drill out) the center of the lid so it can accept your desired connector.
Mount the connector to the lid, with the female portion of the connector on the top of the lid. This is where you'll screw in your coax.
Next, solder the coax to the center/positive connection on the connector, attach the ground of the coax to the lid/connector, and then
solder the other end of the coax to both sides to two paralleled, 100-ohm resistors, making sure that the parallel resistors wind up
centered inside the baby-food jar. Fill up the jar with mineral oil, and then insert the coax and resistors into the mineral oil and screw
down the lid.

When done, what you'll have is a baby Heathkit "cantenna" that should be able to handle around 10-15 Watts or so, but don't push the thing
too hard or you'll wind up letting out the magic smoke :D.

73,

Randy AB5NI

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