Left Coast Political Scene

It is so nice to have AC power. Earlier this week SCE (power company) advised they were once again going to preemptively shut us down. That did not happen and so here I am at 5AM on the computer, eating my hot oatmeal and having a cup of coffee. Today I thought was a good time to share my tribal knowledge on how to build things. Keep in mind you won't see much on the how to of ugly construction or gluing down pieces of copper squares. My personal take on those methods is akin to doing brain surgery with a rusty spoon.   Neither will I speak about CNC Milling as that puts you into the mode of having to do up front design work to create the G Code and to understand about tolerances and circuit layout. An aside note here is many hams do 3D printing but avoid CNC milling. In reality the processes for either are very much related and there is a knowledge transfer for those processes. Simply put if you can do one --that opens the door to both. So, you ask what is left? Now that my j...

A Bi-Lateral Amplifier Stage using a single MMIC Device. Watch and Wonder. Good friend, Todd, K7TFC in his most recent Mostly DIY RF. com newsletter released a new product which is the MAR-6SM+ MMIC device mounted on a circuit board.   For those homebrewer's who will only use W7ZOI TIA amplifier stages or only use circuits from the original Bitx20 in their projects, it is OK to color outside the lines. By this I mean that the MMIC amplifier devices are inherently termination insensitive, they are 50 Ohms in/out and can supply 20dB of Gain from DC to several GHz. They are SMD parts mounted on boards from Todd, so get over it.   My first published article in QRP Quarterly involved the use of three bilateral MMIC stages employing the AG-303-86G. These devices made by Tri-Quint are obsolete but a sub in the form of the Mini-Circuits MAR-6SM+ is a drop in after changing one bias resistor.  So, how does this amp work? With +12 VDC applied to the two "R" points Diodes D1 and D3 ...

A bit of fun is to revisit projects that are older than 15 years because in that time span technology has quickly moved forward. That same project 15 years later would most likely have less parts and be more capable. I think the KWM-4 is perhaps the most complex project I ever designed and built. Mind you I did not simply build someone else's project -- this one was all mine. Prior to the KWM-4, I tried my hand building a solid-state version of the Heathkit HW-100. The HW-100 project went so far as to use the Heathkit Filter and Heterodyne Crystals and ditto for the BFO Crystals. It also had the Heathkit S Meter.  In my build I chose to make it a tri-band rig covering 40M, 20M and 15M. Lessons learned on the HW-100 were incorporated in the KWM-4.  Main Board Front Panel on Three Bands This SS HW-100 is well documented and if you follow the link, there are schematics and lots of construction photos which are presented. There is even a clever band pass filter included used solel...

  With a temporary lull while we await the next power shutdown it is time to ponder new projects. But 1st is to finish the tube final for the Hybrid rig. As a nation there is a lot to ponder. If the new administration moves forward with annexation of Canada, the Canal Zone and Greenland what would be their call signs. The Canal Zone used to be KZ5, but no precedent for Canada or Greenland. Heavy stuff. Maybe the plan is to deport the 11 million illegals to Greenland. But not even God knows. Or perhaps an agreement with Russia to send them to Siberia. It would be such a deal for the king deal maker. Ridiculous you say -- nothing is off the table with those who will soon lead you. Pray for those affected by the LA fires --recovery will be long and painful. 73's Pete N6QW

I can best describe the past three days as Chu Lai circa 1965: No lights at night, C Rations and warm Beer. We are safe as the QTH is 40M NW of downtown LA so there was no fire activity close up and personal. But the power company shut off the juice as a precaution. The 1st thing I did is make a cup of coffee and cooked some eggs in the microwave. Let me not kid you the devastation in Los Angeles is on a scale of the bombed-out cities in Germany during WWII. Statements from one individual as to the cause are simply not validated and shows a lack of understanding. But hey you have to throw red meat to the followers on a regular basis so why not use a catastrophic event to whip up the crowd. Sad and this reflects the poor choice. In an informal discussion with a couple of neighbors who after the last blackout went and bought some stuff. One neighbor spent $1100 for a system comprised of a battery, solar panel and an inverter. Another neighbor bought a 1500-watt gasoline generator. Both w...

Title says it all. If you have a battery powered homebrew QRP rig you are all set. Your IC7300 will drain the battery pretty quick. Here is my emergency QRP rig. The Palisades Fire is about 40 miles SE of my QTH. JIC (Just in Case) you forgot Happy 90th Birthday Elvis Presley. Pete