Pay More and Get Less. Flash the Cash!

  The 128X160 ST7735 Color TFT. The 1st Step in the Resurrection Process is to build a replacement LO/BFO and that was done yesterday. I had mentioned this project started on the wrong foot with a Black and White Nokia display and was quickly replaced with the ST7735 color display. However, that ST7735 was a 128X128 thus going to the larger 128X160 required extensive software changes to fit the old code on a larger screen.  I put two LO's in the code so with a flick of a switch one could check for band activity on FT-8. That is a quick test as often the band seems dead, but a listen at FT-8 will show the band is alive and open to DX. As usual this code has LO memory. BTW smack dab in the middle of the screen is a teeny tiny frequency readout with a small green dot. The plan is to include in the code -- split operation and that would show the transmit frequency. That is not fully operational as yet but certainly on the to do list. Try that with your analog VFO.  Those with...

[Just found out you can buy the Big Boy version of newly announced 500-watt Integrated FLEX SDR Radio for about $10K (with a few options). Sell the wife and kids, mortgage the boat and get on the Reservation List.] Today we will cover another Resurrection Radio. This rig built close to 10 years ago has been hardly used. Was it a Turkey Radio? Often when I suggest a particular item is a Turkey, it is to disparage something I bought or built. You know... It's a real Turkey! I built this Rig long ago but to this day am searching for a reason why it has been in a closet for nearly a decade Aside from one circuit element everything else was a proven circuit and used previously. This one circuit element was something entirely new to me. Now I have homebrewed over 50 Transceivers with most of those being SSB and so you sort of get a feel of what works and what may be needed to have something work better. This was an attempt to see if there was something better This rig bypassed the shelf ...

Several years ago, there were a few in the scientific community who touted that Cycle 25 would be amazing. Well, we are very near its peak and the results are anything but that. In a common vulgar vernacular, it was suggested a pair of 44DD's, and it turns out to be an anemic pair of 29A's. The current chart from early May suggests we are at the peak and it's all downhill from there. The smoothed number is a peak of slightly better than 150. In contrast, I was 1st on the air in 1959 (Cycle 19) and a comparable chart looks like this below. That smoothed peak is nearly 300 or 2X Cycle 25, thus my 44DD versus 29A analogy. In fact, a good comparison is to look at Cycle 20 sitting next to it which has a smoothed peak near 150. Hey scientists that is the comparison. In fact, Cycle 25 is now seen as "common" and perhaps a miniscule less than Cycle 24. This is data and perhaps an embarrassment to those few in the scientific community who suggested a revisit of 1959. I hav...

I have in hand several years' worth of Hard Data that supports the concept of three. Say What? The number three is the number of continuous postings on the same subject before there is a huge dip in blog readership. Yesterday's blog was more evidence to support that concept. So, no more about the 40M Channelized Radio (#3 and a big dip was observed).  Too bad as I did order a keypad from Jameco Electronics and will next implement channel selection with the pad as well as up down RIT tuning using two of the pads. But that will not be posted since that would be a fourth in that series and beside myself not too many readers would be interested in that posting. The second part of today's posting is boring so you can stop here, and hope tomorrow's posting will be whiz bang, chock full of tribal knowledge and will untie the Gordian Knot.  I was asked a question recently by a person who a ham is not, knows little about ham radio, and whose technical knowledge extends to the le...

You will absolutely hate yourself for ignoring my suggestion about buying a Heathkit Crystal Filter on eBay. There are 3 for sale right now for around $15 bucks. Do it and avoid the ruminations of a failure to act. Yesterday I spent retrofitting the 40M Channelized transceiver with the Heathkit SSB Filter. The code changes took all of 5 minutes and the physical install of removing the Yaesu Filter and installing the Heathkit unit took about 90 minutes total. A good portion of that time was spent designing and milling a new bracket baseplate for the Heathkit and that was done on my manual milling machine. The matching transformers have a 40:1 ratio achieved with a solenoid winding of 19 Turns tapped at 3 Turns. Those joined at the hip with the TIA topology that 40:1 transform will match 50 Ohms to the 2000 Ohm Zin/out of the Heathkit filter. It is truly a shame that many hams will only try one circuit like the TIA amps and miss out on the chance of experiencing other topologies. Remembe...

It is all about a strategy and having a mind that can see a path to gaining information without making it obvious that is not what you are doing. I am not describing myself. In yesterday's post I mentioned that while it would be nice to have 12 Channels on the band switch, using the Color TFT chewed up quite a few of the pins and so 5-positions was a certainty with a possibility of adding just a few more without going to a pin expander or using the Mega 2560. Honestly that is what my brain was telling me. Well, emails from three separate Blog readers suggested I could have a large number of positions using just one pin (Analog to boot) on the Arduino. So how can that be?  Well, you set up that Analog Pin, so it is reading an Analog voltage which is changed with a switch. The internal Arduino logic would then test the voltage read (allowing for a small range of voltage) and then if the test is met you would load a specific value of frequency into the Si5351. A0 is the One Pin Analog...

The subject of today's posting was mentioned in yesterday's blog and now you can see it 1st hand. I converted the 60M five channel radio to 40M. Here is the Proof of Life. 40M Channelized Radio Just think with this sketch a channelized commercial radio could be modified so it is both Channel and VFO operated.  There are such radios now on eBay. (Some are reasonably priced.). The eBay radio listings are from Canadian Marconi and from Hallicrafters. There are other possibilities like modifying a 23 channel SSB CB transceiver using this channelization approach and that could result in a very nice (and cheap) 10M rig.  There are some hidden gems in this design. Take for instance the BPF as it was a 40M BPF tuned down to 60M by the addition of two fixed caps and retuning 5 trimmers.  Back to 40 Meters involved desoldering the two caps and a trimmer retuning. About 2 minutes of work as it was designed that way initially using LT Spice. Moving it to 20 M involves desoldering two...

I must be a magnet for anything SDR as a page from Digi-Key showed up on my smart phone. (LINK) A new device from Analog Devices essentially is an SDR Transceiver on a chip and of course you need the FPGA to do the number crunching. Right now, the frequency range is 30MHz to 6GHz but in time, we will see the lower frequency end drop to cover the HF bands.  There are some additional refinements, like BW, as it can be selected for narrow or wide and the narrow is 12kHz -- we would probably like 10Hz -- in time my friend. The price point is $500 in single lots but beyond this chip not too much more in the box. Final Done: A rig would be in the $3K to 4K range and this would position it in the market with the competition. For the average homebrewer, this would be a huge hill to climb and likely most applications would be from commercial manufacturers in Chine (China) as they are faster, better and cheaper with more modern factories and lower labor rates. You can tariff all you want b...

You are an elite member of a very small group (0.01%) who actually takes to heart some of the suggestions I make on this blog. There you go, you bought the Heathkit Crystal Filter for less than $15 and the burning question is how to install this filter in a circuit?   The P3ST IF Module is a great starting place as shown below. The 500 Ohm resistor smack dab in the middle of the schematic is for simulation purposes representing a 500 Ohm Filter. To use this schematic for the Heathkit Crystal Filter you simply insert the Filter where the resistor is shown and modify two of the filter matching transformers.  The original primary (L3) is set for a 50 Ohm to 500 Ohm transform. L3 is changed from 6 Turns to 3 Turns so now that 50 Ohms looks like 2000 ohms to the input side of the filter. The secondary remains at 19 Turns thus 361/9 = 40 since the 2000 to 50 Ohms is a 40:1 transformation. On the second transformer, the secondary is likewise changed to 3 Turns and you are there. The ...

Who doesn't like knowing the best kept secret  which I am about to unveil. So here goes. I will always suggest for those considering a homebrew SSB or CW transceiver and who for them, is a 1st time outing on such a project to use a commercial crystal filter. Once you have successfully built the complete radio, then is the time to get on with the science project of homebrewing a crystal filter. One problem at a time is always a good approach So, what is the best kept secret? It is a Heathkit Crystal Filter found in many of their rigs. Many can be had for under $15 like this one. I guess the low price is based on that these filters are of a low frequency like 3.395 MHz and a set of BFO crystals will cost more than the filter. Most of the Filters have a Zin/out of 2K Ohms. Actually, the filter is the best kept secret part. With an Arduino and a Si5351 for about $20 you get the whole digital LO and selectable BFO RF sources. The added bonus no drifty analog VFO! Now the low Center Freq...

All of us have experienced a visit with an old friend. Most often it is like putting on a pair of old comfortable shoes. Your feet love them, and it just feels right. But you also note that the age factor has somehow entered the equation. You know it is like that old girlfriend that at one time certainly had a "perky pair" but with the cruelty of the time factor are now simply a "dumpy duo". But it is the wiseman who realizes the big picture and not one single frame.  So, it is with homebrew radios that are over five years old. In 5 years, the technology has moved through two generations and what was leading edge is now the trailing edge; but that does not mean that old rig is still not useful.  The other day I pulled out a rig I built some five years ago, and this was like meeting an old friend. I find myself cycling through these old radios because either my antenna is broken or my prediction about Cycle 25 was correct.  Dismal is the propagation and overnight we ...

If I had $800 in pocket change (I don't) this would be the place to spend it. This truly is where the technology is taking us. A perfect example of an all band, all mode radio. Regrettably it did not come out of some garage in Campo, California or Port Hadlock, WA or Jerome, AZ, or Arnold, PA, but out of Chine (China). At 20 watts, it is more than QRP and a serious candidate for POTA and SOTA ops. PMR-171 Transceiver If you click on the link above, I am not specifically touting this radio, but more of the concept of what it is saying it can do and at the price point. How come FLEX, Elecraft or some of the US Boutique suppliers do not have something like this? The answer is simple -- they cannot meet the price point. A KX3 from Elecraft starts at $1500.  There is another problem and that is the US engineering capability is not used to FBC (Faster, Better, Cheaper). Gone is the hands-on capability that often starts at age 10 where there is endless experimentation and learning. H...

I promise-- this is the last posting about Midway Island (Sand Island). Midway Island Moaning Bird My 1st night on Midway (1963), I was quartered in the old wooden BOQ, built during the island buildup program just prior to Pearl Harbor. The building smelled awful and included a population of very large rats. I caught a 13-inch-long rat (nose to tail) in my room using an industrial sized rat trap. The old BOQ housed the very junior officers (like me), the schoolteachers and other civilian contractors. My next-door neighbor, a civilian contractor, seemed to have connections with the ladies of the isle. Back to the 1st night there and about midnight I heard this eerie sound and concluded it was one of the ladies of the night visiting my neighbor. Listen to the video and see why I reached that conclusion. Well as it turned out it was not a lady of the night but one of a unique species of birds that occupy Midway. After the rat incident, I managed to get assigned to the new concrete constru...

Yaesu FTX-1 Field A new offering for you POTA aficionados, a mere $2500 for a 100-watt radio that can be operated as a 5-watt radio without the amp strapped on the back. I think it was a hot seller at Dayton this year I was appalled to see the state of decay of my 1st Duty Station on Midway Island. It happened on the FWS watch. There is but one way to reverse this terrible process. We need what's his name to turn Midway Island (Sand Island) into a Namesake Golf Resort. The island does have an 8000-foot air strip with a 3000-foot overrun and an easy hop from Oahu.  A side bonus would be to restore the Rhombic Antennas so ham DXpeditions could operate from Midway. What better place to use the $5M Gold Card.  BTW the snorkeling and scuba diving are superb as Midway is surrounded by a coral reef.  You might also like to do an Internet search on the 1964 Midway Island Bird Abatement Project. Some 22,198 Gooney birds were removed from the runway areas as bird strikes were a se...

QSL Card from Midway Island  Gooney Birds of Midway Island Midway Island is actually Midway Islands, comprised of two distinct islands those being Sand Island (1440 acres at low tide) and Eastern Island (the smaller at 450 acres). In 1963 these two islands had distinct call signs starting with KM6. Two club stations existed on the islands with KM6BI on Sand Island and KM6CE on Eastern Island. Individual hams had KM6 call signs. Short story Midway stations (all 7 of us at the time) were a distinct radio entity and considered rare DX. In 1963 I was a newly commissioned Ensign assigned to Midway and at that time was 21 years old. My first day on the Island I visited the Officers Club and was asked to show my ID. The bartender was an off-duty sailor who starts by saying: we don't serve underage dependents, and I said I am not a dependent where he said I need to see your ID. The next morning when we held "morning quarters" I could see the stark look of terror on that sailor...