More Progress on the MHST

More progress on the MHST rig and thus some more sharing. I note that when there is nothing but boring words, the interest level drops. This often happens on the weekend posts. So, for this last day of March 2025, hopefully more interesting stuff.

The MHST project has two main elements and these are of course the hardware and the software. The more visible of course is the hardware and even then, not much of that. The not so much seen of course is the software. Both are needed to be working for the total rig to work.

I posted a video about some of the progress and problems if only to show it was alive. One comment -- hey you have the presence of the opposite sideband image. That was true as the video was done without any adjustments. Contained internally within the QUISK software is a means to compensate for not so perfect hardware where component tolerances do not create the perfect 90-degree phase shift. In fact, you have the capability to make these adjustments over the whole band of operation.

So, to that commenter here is very short clip of an SSB signal where the opposite sideband image has been dramatically reduced. There are adjustments for both transmit and receive.

With help from the VWS Maker's Group I now have both the SPOT and PTT buttons working in QUISK. Hit either button on the QUISK dashboard and the software goes into Transmit and the Relay that activates the T/R sequence works.

What doesn't work is that I don't see any audio streams going into the ADE-1's on Transmit. Not sure in which pile is the problem. It has to be something in the settings that directs the signal from the Microphone Sound Card into an I and Q streams. More opportunities.

One more photo. I got 40M FT-8 receive sort of working and again a matter of the right settings.

Them that know can make it go.

73's

Pete N6QW

January 26, 2024. A simple CW Transceiver/Transmitter

Cruise through the lower part of the ham bands bands and what do you hear? Well, FT-8 and CW. Often you will not hear any SSB stations yet go to the lower part of the bands, and it is a cacophony (I love that word) of bad sounding signals and some high-speed keying. Fast is not so much of the issue as is bad, run together and jerky keying. But none the less our hobby started there. So, you could crank down your ICOM 7300 and watch the waterfall on CW or you could homebrew a radio. Actually, to do CW right you need more thought up front than you do with a SSB transceiver. Often, I will state that a CW Transceiver is much more difficult to build than a simple SSB rig. I published two articles in QRP Quarterly on CW transceivers and all I got was a yawn so maybe history will repeat itself. Yawn! 30M CW Transceiver with RIT! Of interest is that the LO is a Varactor tuned LC oscillator using a NE602. Look closely at the RIT circuit which is only activated on ...

March 31, 2024. Happy Easter to those who celebrate this day.

What a great day to Binge on Chocolate and experience the pain of that filling that has been leaking. I would be in that category with the leaking filling(s) had I not just spent an amount equivalent to one of the fancy new uptown appliance box transceivers on two filling repairs. Well at least I can binge on the Chocolate bunnies without fear of pain. Regrettably everything appears to have jumped in price including the price of parts. Well not so much the parts as the shipping costs. That notably is seen in the eBay treasures. I spotted a nice heathkit DX-20 for about $50 and the shipping was $65. Likely it is a twofer with part being a way to in effect charge a higher price by inflating the shipping and in part by increased shipping costs. Shipping with insurance across the US was about $150 for this jewel and that was three years ago. 6AM on the Left Coast ~ 20M Easter Sunday! My only hope is the cost of Chocolate Bunnies remains steady although a pound of See's Candies f...

August 30, 2024. A PNP 20M SSB Transceiver

Shown below is the Block Diagram for the 20M PNP SSB Transceiver steered in the Transmit Mode . The components shown in the dotted block are relay steered so that the block module is single pass and amplifies in a single direction. The Block diagram show steered in Transmit. Essentially the steering process works so that the IF Module input follows the Balanced Modulator on Transmit and then the input side follows the Receive Mixer on Receive. All done with some relays and a bit of RG174U coax. For those who count things in detail, this block diagram is not unlike what was used for the PSSST Transceiver which can be found on my website . Yes, a warmed over P3ST only using PNP devices. TYGNYBNT. 73's Pete N6QW

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