31
New member welcome / Re: Hi from New Zealand
« on: January 02, 2017, 04:57:39 PM »
Greetings Tony and welcome aboard. Glad to have you join us.
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
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32
Design, Project / Re: Chrystal Tester Build
« on: December 30, 2016, 09:19:41 PM »
Here are some pics of the finished tester
Here you can see the inside of the box with the BNC connector and the RCA connectors. They are in parallel for the output.
Next is the inside from the other end of the box. You can see the 12V DC input and the "crystal socket".
I used an 8-pin IC socket for the crystal socket and mounted it on the front of the tester box. I used some small 6-32 nuts as stand-off spacers to keep it from shorting to the case. There is lots of room on that circuit board to add an amplifier and buffer in case it is needed in the future.
Here is the box all buttoned up and ready to rock. Both front view,
and back view
It's a neat little test device. To use it I just connect the 12 volts, and plug in a crystal to the IC socket then connect my old Heathkit frequency counter IM-2410 to the BNC connector.
Now I am ready for step #2 of designing crystal IF filters.
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
PS: I hope you all have a safe and Happy New Year
Here you can see the inside of the box with the BNC connector and the RCA connectors. They are in parallel for the output.
Next is the inside from the other end of the box. You can see the 12V DC input and the "crystal socket".
I used an 8-pin IC socket for the crystal socket and mounted it on the front of the tester box. I used some small 6-32 nuts as stand-off spacers to keep it from shorting to the case. There is lots of room on that circuit board to add an amplifier and buffer in case it is needed in the future.
Here is the box all buttoned up and ready to rock. Both front view,
and back view
It's a neat little test device. To use it I just connect the 12 volts, and plug in a crystal to the IC socket then connect my old Heathkit frequency counter IM-2410 to the BNC connector.
Now I am ready for step #2 of designing crystal IF filters.
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
PS: I hope you all have a safe and Happy New Year
33
Want Adds / Re: Wanted Tektronics 2220 O-Scope service manual
« on: December 29, 2016, 09:30:27 PM »
Buddy,
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
I've been cleaning and tinkering the scope most of the day today. I got it working in spite of having no manual but the manual will be needed when it is time to align it etc.
I'm amazed at how dirty the controls and some switches were. The previous owner must have stored it in a tobacco shop. It has that brown residue all over it. Luckily it is mostly on the outside and the inside looks pretty clean. But the stuff got into the front panel controls and screws pretty badly.
Thanks again, Buddy. You are a life saver my friend.
Regards,
Frank
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
I've been cleaning and tinkering the scope most of the day today. I got it working in spite of having no manual but the manual will be needed when it is time to align it etc.
I'm amazed at how dirty the controls and some switches were. The previous owner must have stored it in a tobacco shop. It has that brown residue all over it. Luckily it is mostly on the outside and the inside looks pretty clean. But the stuff got into the front panel controls and screws pretty badly.
Thanks again, Buddy. You are a life saver my friend.
Regards,
Frank
34
Want Adds / Wanted Tektronics 2220 O-Scope service manual
« on: December 29, 2016, 03:30:08 PM »
I picked up an old Tektronix 2220 O-Scope and none are found with Google search. Anybody have a link to the manual? Thanks in advance,
Frank
Frank
35
Antennas and Towers / What's all the fuss about antennas?
« on: December 28, 2016, 02:36:03 PM »
Here is another of those antenna articles I published in our club newsletter back in St Louis. My apologies for the lack of pictures but if you want to know about SWR and how antennas and feed lines work in general terms, this article may help. The BIG point it makes is that unless you have your antenna tuner installed right at the antenna, you might be losing a lot of power due to your feed line.
I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think. Future posts on this topic will include lots more pictures.
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think. Future posts on this topic will include lots more pictures.
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
36
Post your Shack, Shop, Repair room / Re: Radio repair bench
« on: December 27, 2016, 02:34:29 PM »
Looking good, Jim
Regards K7RMJ Frank
Regards K7RMJ Frank
37
Electronic Video Blog / Re: #88 Tripp Lite PR 60 Power Supply Repair and working
« on: December 26, 2016, 07:27:02 PM »
Well done, Buddy.
You have motivated me to start watching eBay for more "tech specials" radios LOL. This part of the hobby could be addictive
You have motivated me to start watching eBay for more "tech specials" radios LOL. This part of the hobby could be addictive
38
Post your Shack, Shop, Repair room / Re: My Ham Radio station and workshop/Man-cave
« on: December 26, 2016, 06:23:17 PM »
Thanks Buddy, I think I got it figured out now. I was able to do the same thing to the second image file that you did to the first.
You ROCK!!
You ROCK!!
39
Post your Shack, Shop, Repair room / Re: My Ham Radio station and workshop/Man-cave
« on: December 26, 2016, 03:50:54 PM »
Hi RJ and thanks for the kind words. It will be a lot nicer when I finish putting it all together and cleaned up.
I finished installing the station ground bus this morning. I made it out of a 5' long piece of 3/4" copper tubing. The copper tubing is much softer than copper pipe and easier to drill. I hammered one end of the tubing flat then installed it on top of the radio table across the back edge next to the window.
Then I bolted the Station ground wire to the flattened end. Then the fun began. Behind each piece of equipment I drilled a small pilot hole in the ground bus tubing and secured a ground strap to it. The other end of the strap has a ring connector soldered on it and is connected to the ground terminal on each piece of equipment. No ground loops that way.
The cabling behind the equipment was pretty neat before this project began LOL
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
I finished installing the station ground bus this morning. I made it out of a 5' long piece of 3/4" copper tubing. The copper tubing is much softer than copper pipe and easier to drill. I hammered one end of the tubing flat then installed it on top of the radio table across the back edge next to the window.
Then I bolted the Station ground wire to the flattened end. Then the fun began. Behind each piece of equipment I drilled a small pilot hole in the ground bus tubing and secured a ground strap to it. The other end of the strap has a ring connector soldered on it and is connected to the ground terminal on each piece of equipment. No ground loops that way.
The cabling behind the equipment was pretty neat before this project began LOL
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
40
Post your Shack, Shop, Repair room / Re: My Ham Radio station and workshop/Man-cave
« on: December 26, 2016, 12:57:33 PM »You have a window, that's a plus.
Thanks for the comment, Jim. Yes, I really love that window in front of the ham station. It gives the "cave" an opening to the rest of the world LOL. I need to wash that window but it was raining when I took the picture.
So far I have seen quite a bit of wildlife out that window. Deer, a Wildcat, several tree rats (squirrels), chipmunks and a really weird neighbor LOL. I only have the one neighbor that is fairly close to the house. All the other lots surrounding me are not buildable lots so no houses will ever be built on them. It gives me a huge area to put up lots of wire antennas.
73 DE Frank K7RMJ
41
Post your Shack, Shop, Repair room / Re: My Ham Radio station and workshop/Man-cave
« on: December 26, 2016, 12:50:25 PM »Nice station. Just too darn clean lol. You have some good equipment there. I like it. You should see mine. It is a mess!
Here is a tip. hen uploading pictures resize them to 640 X 480. (large web) Makes it fit the forum nicely. Then you can link them.
Example below.
Good job on the station and work bench setup.
Thanks for the tip, Buddy. I wondered what the secret was to imbedding them into the text of my replies. I tried it with just the "Insert Image" button but that didn't work so I used the filename where I wanted the image to go. I'll give that a try next time.
Thanks, Frank
42
Home Brew And Tech Forum / Small QRP Receiver build Part-3 it's finished
« on: December 25, 2016, 03:52:23 PM »
It is finally completed. Man, that took a lot longer than expected but it was fun 
This little gem actually works much better than expected. When I first turned it on I thought it was not working because it was so quiet. There is almost no background noise generated in the circuit. I'm told this is one of the advantages of a Direct Conversion receiver. You hear both upper and lower sidebands when you tune the receiver.
You can tune in an AM station with the built-in VFO but it is difficult to exactly, zero beat the carrier to get good audio. It does a pretty good job on SSB and CW although with the very sensitive tuning of the VFO it is difficult to tune in an SSB station properly. A much larger tuning knob would help that issue a lot. However, on the plus side, with the VFO you can tune the entire 40 Meter ham band from 7 MHz to 7.300 MHz plus a little.
The VXO, or Variable Crystal Oscillator, does a much better job of tuning in stations. However, a VXO is very limited in tuning range. I got about +/- 8 KHz with it.
Let me know if you enjoyed this. I enjoyed putting it together. All the photos were taken with my Samsung "NOOK" tablet. It doesn't do very well with close up photos any closer than about 6 feet. My apologies for the slightly fuzzy pictures.
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
This little gem actually works much better than expected. When I first turned it on I thought it was not working because it was so quiet. There is almost no background noise generated in the circuit. I'm told this is one of the advantages of a Direct Conversion receiver. You hear both upper and lower sidebands when you tune the receiver.
You can tune in an AM station with the built-in VFO but it is difficult to exactly, zero beat the carrier to get good audio. It does a pretty good job on SSB and CW although with the very sensitive tuning of the VFO it is difficult to tune in an SSB station properly. A much larger tuning knob would help that issue a lot. However, on the plus side, with the VFO you can tune the entire 40 Meter ham band from 7 MHz to 7.300 MHz plus a little.
The VXO, or Variable Crystal Oscillator, does a much better job of tuning in stations. However, a VXO is very limited in tuning range. I got about +/- 8 KHz with it.
Let me know if you enjoyed this. I enjoyed putting it together. All the photos were taken with my Samsung "NOOK" tablet. It doesn't do very well with close up photos any closer than about 6 feet. My apologies for the slightly fuzzy pictures.
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
43
Post your Shack, Shop, Repair room / My Ham Radio station and workshop/Man-cave
« on: December 25, 2016, 10:20:23 AM »
I am still working on getting the place wired, cleaned up and organized. Lots of stuff still in boxes because we just moved here in January (11 months ago LOL).
First the Ham Station
Left to right, SB-200 Linear, Drake MN 2700 Tuner with Astron RS-35M 12V power supply on top of it, Yaesu FT-950 Transceiver with MFJ-492 CW Keyer on top of it. filename Station1.jpg
Next is another pic of the station that includes the Kenwood SP-930 speaker and Yaesu MD-100 mic on the right. Ignore the cable mess under the bench. filename stn2.jpg
I routed the ground cable and the antenna feed line coax across wall above a set of shelves next to the window. You can also see the DC power distribution panel mounted on the side of the window frame. Filename cableroute.jpg
The station ground cable connects to the cold water plumbing pipes. You have to look close but this is a pic of the connection to the pipes. I couldn't solder it to the pipes without taking the pipe connection apart and draining the water out of the pipes so I cleaned the pipe with Tarnex and used a hose clamp to bond the ground cable to the pipe. Yes, I have to take the connection apart and clean the pipe again with Tarnex about once a year. You can also see the hole in the wall I brought the coax cable through. filename cablntrnc.jpg
This is the messy workbench and some of the storage bins for small parts on the bench. I could only fit 6 of the small parts bins on the workbench. But that is another story by itself. filename = wkbnchmess.jpg
Storage shelves next to the workbench filename storage.jpg
And last is the computer and audio amp for the station. The amp is an old Sherwood R-325 Audio/Video receiver I resurrected. It was a tough repair I picked up at a ham-fest. The problems it had were all due to a blown fuse on a circuit board. filename compooter.jpg
That's the rundown for my man-cave. There are several more shelving units but I doubt you are interested in old dead radios, half full paint buckets and other treasures that only a home-owner can appreciate LOL.
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
First the Ham Station
Left to right, SB-200 Linear, Drake MN 2700 Tuner with Astron RS-35M 12V power supply on top of it, Yaesu FT-950 Transceiver with MFJ-492 CW Keyer on top of it. filename Station1.jpg
Next is another pic of the station that includes the Kenwood SP-930 speaker and Yaesu MD-100 mic on the right. Ignore the cable mess under the bench. filename stn2.jpg
I routed the ground cable and the antenna feed line coax across wall above a set of shelves next to the window. You can also see the DC power distribution panel mounted on the side of the window frame. Filename cableroute.jpg
The station ground cable connects to the cold water plumbing pipes. You have to look close but this is a pic of the connection to the pipes. I couldn't solder it to the pipes without taking the pipe connection apart and draining the water out of the pipes so I cleaned the pipe with Tarnex and used a hose clamp to bond the ground cable to the pipe. Yes, I have to take the connection apart and clean the pipe again with Tarnex about once a year. You can also see the hole in the wall I brought the coax cable through. filename cablntrnc.jpg
This is the messy workbench and some of the storage bins for small parts on the bench. I could only fit 6 of the small parts bins on the workbench. But that is another story by itself. filename = wkbnchmess.jpg
Storage shelves next to the workbench filename storage.jpg
And last is the computer and audio amp for the station. The amp is an old Sherwood R-325 Audio/Video receiver I resurrected. It was a tough repair I picked up at a ham-fest. The problems it had were all due to a blown fuse on a circuit board. filename compooter.jpg
That's the rundown for my man-cave. There are several more shelving units but I doubt you are interested in old dead radios, half full paint buckets and other treasures that only a home-owner can appreciate LOL.
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
44
Home Brew And Tech Forum / Small QRP Receiver Build Part-2
« on: December 23, 2016, 08:01:40 PM »
Here is what I managed to get done today on the little receiver kit project in spite of the Honey-Do list. I hope you enjoy it because I sure am LOL.
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
45
Home Brew And Tech Forum / Small QRP Receiver Kit Build Part-1
« on: December 23, 2016, 04:31:48 PM »
I ordered a small 40 meter ham radio receiver kit from the 4-States QRP Club over a month ago and it finally arrived. It would have only taken 2 days to get here but good ol' PayPal sent them my old address in St Louis to ship it to even though I corrected that address on PayPal back in January when I moved down here to Arkansas. As soon as I discovered that the original order was sent to the wrong address, I contacted PayPal and they had no explanation on how it happened, but had me submit a claim.
Then I contacted the 4SQRP Club and Johnny sent me one out the same day and said it was not necessary to send them more money since I had given them the correct shipping address when I ordered the kit. It arrived 3 days later. WOW, that is what I call good customer service. He had the Club's PayPal representative checking into it the same day too. Now I am just waiting for them to credit the money back to my credit card. I'll send Johnny at 4SQRP the money as soon as PayPal lives up to their part.
Okay, enough of my whining about PayPal. Everybody makes mistakes once in a while and they seem to be working to get it fixed quickly.
This little receiver is a direct conversion circuit rather than a superhet circuit. You can find more information on the internet about it. I will list a link to a really good set of videos on You Tube about building this receiver in the final part of this build listing. ZI suspect it will take 3 or 4 parts but we will see what happens.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all.
73 DE K7RMJ Frank
Then I contacted the 4SQRP Club and Johnny sent me one out the same day and said it was not necessary to send them more money since I had given them the correct shipping address when I ordered the kit. It arrived 3 days later. WOW, that is what I call good customer service. He had the Club's PayPal representative checking into it the same day too. Now I am just waiting for them to credit the money back to my credit card. I'll send Johnny at 4SQRP the money as soon as PayPal lives up to their part.
Okay, enough of my whining about PayPal. Everybody makes mistakes once in a while and they seem to be working to get it fixed quickly.
This little receiver is a direct conversion circuit rather than a superhet circuit. You can find more information on the internet about it. I will list a link to a really good set of videos on You Tube about building this receiver in the final part of this build listing. ZI suspect it will take 3 or 4 parts but we will see what happens.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all.
73 DE K7RMJ Frank