An Exciting New Toy to be released from https://www.mostlydiyrf.com... The Mouse Knob!

But 1st, the MHST had its first 40M QSO yesterday with a check in to the Jefferson Noontime Net. The temptation was too great and that weird in band signal is not totally gone -- but the MHST does work and now a real incentive to get it working 100%.

But the real news of the day which I proudly present forthwith is the "Mouse Tuning Knob". I have wanted this capability for a long time on my SDR Rigs and arising from the depths of the Silicon Forest is the Mouse Tuning Knob. This is a real boon for those of us with Fat Fingers and whose eye hand coordination may be on a downhill slide.

Some detractors of SDR complain about the lack of knobs, especially a Tuning Knob. Complain no more! This is so cool and a real aid to those of us with FFS. The Mouse Tuning Knob is revealed.

I am just an Alpha Tester and had no involvement in its development, but this is one sweet tool. Sign up for Todd's newsletter at his website. https://www.mostlydiyrf.com as the product release will be announced via that newsletter.

Once again to respond to the detractors from the Howdy Doody Peanut Gallery, the K7TFC creation has been tested on Linux based and Windows based SDR software as well tested with high end SDR Software such as Thetis and SDR Console (watch the video). It may be yet a bit before you have one in hand as this is an Alpha Test of the prototype. However, that does not prevent you from signing up for the newsletter or also contacting K7TFC to express an interest in acquiring The Mouse Knob.

Them that know can make it go!

Easy on the Jellybeans and Cadbury chocolate eggs when you raid the grandkids Easter baskets tomorrow. Happy Easter and enjoy the time with the family especially your XYL or Partner. This year I will miss hearing "stay out of the chocolate bunnies!"

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

Pay More and Get Less. Flash the Cash!

Search This Blog