More Metal Bashing and Precision Locations.

It was hot in the garage yesterday and I took advantage of the heat to sweat off a few pounds. I just sweated but didn't lose many pounds!

Yesterday's work scope was to install the shielded RF Final enclosure, install the 12GE5 tube socket, the Pi Network and line up the area allocation. This singular installation will drive further installations both on the top and underside of the mounting plate.

I near got a hernia using the chassis punch to cut and 1- and 1/4-inch diameter hole for the 12GE5 in the 1/8-inch aluminum plate. This is where you have to eat your Wheaties.

There was extensive measuring, more measuring and still more measuring before cutting any metal. As a starting place I am using a Pi Network from a Junker SBE-33. The loading cap is a high value padder cap. So, the plan is to set that padder value once and then the front panel Tune Control will bring the tank into resonance. This is like the Pi Network in the Hallicrafters SR-160. (No panel mounted Loading Capacitor.)

Another factor is the panel meter which will be mounted on the control panel in front of the RF Enclosure and above the Plate Tune control. It is all about clearances and space allocation.

Topside Space Allocation

Them that know can make things go! Yesterday was a very productive day!

Surprisingly there were lots of views of the Home Depot Biometric Surveillance issue. A nagging question, we all have, is the Biometric data collected by Home Depot and Others used only for Theft Deterrence and/or are ICE and DHS also getting a feed as a part of the alien roundup? There is no doubt you are being watched and if your immigration status is in question... Caveat Emptor!

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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