I heard a little activity on 30m but the antenna doesn't work well there, so I went down to 40m and heard W6JL call CQ. Don was in Fallbrook, CA and running a homebrew "phasing" rig with a DDS VFO running at 0dbM on the RX frequency and with amplification at 450W. Needless to say, he had quite a strong signal, and told me about the DDS and the advantages of direct generation with the DDS. He said he drives his amp with a KX1 sometimes. Don gave me a RST:589 and says his RX design is 100 years old, but I think it is quite a bit updated with the Analog Semi 9854 DDS!

After we said 73 he had 2 other stations calling him on 7037.5.

- posted by Leigh @ 22:24 z 0 comments

I activated the PARC XEACT truck at 2200z and made 2 contacts on battery power with the Kenwood TS-440S at 100w to the truck-mounted Cushcraft R5. It loaded up on 17m so I worked N4KZ Dave in OMFrankfort, KY and got a 5x6 on 18.161 SSB. Dave had moved down from 10 and 15m where he heard nothing. Dave was 5x7.

- posted by Leigh @ 22:00 z 0 comments

I got a Radio Shack PowerUp 12v/12ah car starter on close-out for $19.95. Chris K6DBG ordered a couple of PowerPole chassis mounts (HS-8) from PowerWerx and I fit mine into the case.

1. First I removed the heavy, unfused battery clamps and set them aside, probably to re-use the wire for something else.
2. Next, I used double spade lug connectors from West Marine to hook the plus and minus leads from the PowerPoles together and to the plus side of the battery breaker and the minus side of the battery and its charger (which I had to cut and crimp again).
3. I routed the negative leads through the upper part of the handle area, to keep them away from the charger heat sink, but when I put it together, it still got a bit close.
4. I covered all exposed + leads (battery, circuit breaker) with electrical tape, to protect them during reassembly. I also put a strip on the back of the charger circuit board as the negative wires ran a little close; something harder would be better.
5. I cut a small amount of plastic from the thin vanes on the case so that the PowerPole chassis mount would fit. This unfortunately left some holes around the square area where the lighter hack was. I covered these with electrical tape for now.

Here is the connector I made, the inside without the connector, the installation location, and the finished view from the side:

Gotchas:

• The plus lead from the charger to the battery pulled off the charger board, giving me a few anxious moments until I noticed that there was a solder pad with wire impressions still in it, so I found out where it went.
• I unnecessarily cut the yellow wire on the transformer, because I didn't know that it popped right out.
• If I had it to do again, I would make the negative leads on the connector shorter to keep them further away from the charger voltage regulator heat sink.

Next steps:

• Make a plastic frame to cover the remaining holes around the powerpoles.
• Check to make sure that the negative wires aren't getting too warm and close to the charger voltage regulator heat sink.
• Saw the plastic posts off the back.

- posted by Leigh @ 21:57 z 0 comments

I found an HP-33e calculator in box with manuals and charger being discarded. The batteries had corroded and broken a small tab on the battery door, and when I cleaned the corrosion off the battery tabs on the calculator, one of the broke off. The battery holder itself was in good shape, but it requires NiCd's without tips, so I used some copper flashing (also found discarded) to fashion an end spring. It works great! Here it is before I did the rework, running off an external AA pack.

- posted by Leigh @ 21:37 z 0 comments

Following W0RW Paul's directions, I made a top-hat for my PAC-12 short vertical out of landscaping flags ($0.48 for 4) and a UGG-177 (SO-239 backend shield). I used Anderson PowerPole connectors to make it disassemble and stow easily. I haven't tried it on the air yet, of figured out how to attach it securely to the PAC-12. Paul used a set-screw or a thumb screw in his succesful designs.

- posted by Leigh @ 19:10 z 0 comments